A dignified, noble voice rang out from beyond the gate.
The broad-shouldered guard grunted and exchanged a glance with his companion before stepping aside. The iron gate groaned as it swung open.
The guard's eyes flickered with unease as he gestured them forward.
"Follow me."
They were led into the mansion.
Eventually, they reached a large chamber.
At its center sat a man with midnight blue hair clad in elegant robes. His posture was calm, his gaze steady.
The Patriarch, Aldrich.
He studied the two men for a long moment before speaking.
"So," he said slowly, "you are the gentlemen who arrived with the man who threatened my town."
He leaned back slightly.
"What do you have to say for yourselves?"
Kaelen stepped forward.
"We believe the man you took may have been working with outsiders. There is reason to suspect he betrayed us. With that said, we wish to seek an audience with him and find some answers."
Aldrich studied him for a moment.
"I find your account credible."
He rose from his seat.
"I will give you five minutes at most. After that, you will leave this town. By then, I will deal with him before my people learn of this."
"Follow me."
"We thank you for your time," Kaelen said.
Shiro remained silent. He couldn't help but notice how different the Patriarch was this time. He was stricter, more decisive. What caught Shiro's attention most was that the Patriarch never referred to them as visitors or guests like in the last loops. He had simply called them outsiders.
'Did Daren's actions somehow change things?'
Both Kaelen and Shiro were led into the keep. The place was situated beneath the mansion, illuminated by a single lantern held by the leading guard. Its flickering light cast long shadows across the stone floor.
Not far ahead, a lone guard stood before a heavy door.
The Patriarch nodded toward him.
"Let these two in. They seek an audience with the prisoner."
He hesitated for a moment.
"I must warn you. The prisoner you seek has become quite... addled."
Kaelen raised an eyebrow.
"He keeps screaming, 'This is Shiro's fault!' 'You did this!' and other ravings. Whoever or whatever this 'Shiro' is..." The guard shook his head. "I feel sorry for them."
Shiro's body tensed as Kaelen gave him a questioning look.
"I understand," Kaelen said calmly. "Be assured, this will not take much time."
The guard hesitated before nodding.
He pushed open the heavy door.
The room beyond was dim and cold, illuminated only by pale moonlight filtering through a small, broken window.
Daren knelt in the center of the room, his wrists bound to the stone floor. His head hung low. His shoulders rose and fell with ragged breaths.
Behind him stood the head maid, her fingertips pressed against the thin green needles embedded in Daren's scalp. It was a method and skill Kaelen was familiar with. A technique belonging to the Sect, used exclusively by the Knights of the Skybound Empire.
"Is he stable?" Kaelen asked.
The head maid's fingers remained against the needles.
"Yes. I have stabilized his mind. He should be able to answer your questions without difficulty."
Kaelen stepped forward, then stopped.
Without turning his head, he raised a hand, silently ordering Shiro to remain where he was.
Shiro stopped.
Kaelen approached Daren and crouched before him.
"Who sent you?"
Daren's head remained lowered.
He said nothing.
Kaelen grabbed him by the hair and lifted his head until their eyes met.
"I asked you a question."
Daren's jaw trembled.
His voice emerged cracked and broken.
"...Duke Valdrise."
"Duke Valdrise?"
Kaelen's expression hardened.
"What were you sent to do?"
"I was sent to assassinate..." The head maid flinched before quickly composing herself.
"Assassinate who, exactly?"
Daren gave a bitter, hollow laugh.
"Kaelen Dyer."
Kaelen's expression darkened.
Without hesitation, he drew his sword and pressed the flat of the blade against Daren's neck.
The motion was so sudden it made the two guards flinch.
"What does he want?"
Daren weakly shook his head.
"I don't know. I was told to get rid of you by any means necessary in the mine. We were supposed to use the Bonehound to make it look like an accident. But the rift appeared."
"What happened to the civilian enforcement that was supposed to be here before they could report it?"
"We killed them."
Kaelen's eyes narrowed.
"And what about the kid?"
"He was a person who happened to pass by. I needed to get rid of him so he wouldn't leave evidence. You hear me, Shiro? I wanted you dead. Not because I hate you. Not because I hate anyone. But because you existed."
Shiro's expression went still.
His eyes widened slightly before narrowing again. For a moment, he said nothing, as if the words had caught him off guard more than the threat itself.
"I see." Kaelen lowered the sword from Daren's neck.
"So that's what all of this is about."
He paused.
"One more thing. Were you responsible for the Patriarch acknowledging us as guests in the last loop?"
Daren's lips parted but no words came.
The thin needles embedded in the back of his scalp pulsed with a sickly green light. Then fractured into motes of light.
"I did it... I killed them." His voice was barely audible.
The head maid's expression changed.
"What's going on with him?"
"I'm losing him."
"Can't you calm him again?"
"I'm afraid I can only do it once." The head maid spoke apologetically.
Daren's limp hands suddenly twitched.
His thin green-ringed pupils constricted.
"No..."
He grabbed his head.
"No! I can still fix this!"
Still on his knees, Daren lurched sideways, shoving the head maid away. Two more needles dislodged from his head and clattered onto the stone.
The Patriarch's cold voice came from the doorway.
"It seems this man is not holding up his end of the bargain."
His gaze settled on Daren.
"I have no choice but to rid myself of him."
Kaelen took a step backward.
"My Lord... we need to leave. Right now."
Aldrich regarded him in silence.
"...No." His expression remained composed. "We are not leaving until this matter is resolved."
Kaelen clenched his fists.
"My Lord, Daren is no longer himself."
Aldrich's eyes narrowed slightly.
"No longer himself?"
He glanced toward the two men.
"So that is your explanation?"
His voice remained measured.
"A man enters my town, murders my guards and townspeople, and now you ask me to leave without so much as an explanation."
He stepped closer.
"Why do you insist that we leave? Is it that you intended to conceal this man's crimes from me? Or is this your scheme to take my land?"
"No. That's not—"
"I have heard enough."
Aldrich snapped his fingers.
"Whether you acted willingly or not, you brought this danger into my town." His voice remained calm, yet every word carried authority.
"Detain them at once."
Kaelen reached for his sword but stopped himself before drawing it.
"We're not your enemy. Listen to me!"
A guard rushed forward and swept the shaft of his spear into the back of Kaelen's knees.
Thud!
Kaelen collapsed onto the stone floor, landing on his side. Before he could get back up, a guard forced him flat against the ground.
Shiro met the same fate moments later, forced down onto the floor beside him.
Aldrich slowly approached.
"This is not about who is or isn't the enemy," Aldrich said calmly. "I am not accusing you of being his accomplices. But I cannot afford to take that chance."
Shiro struggled against the restraint. His body ached, but he refused to give in as Daren's words kept replaying in his head.
All this time, Daren had been trying to kill him. Shiro remembered how he had suspected him back then. Now, he cursed himself for being a fool and not trusting his gut.
And now, Shiro was lying on the floor of the Rift, awaiting his death.
He couldn't stand it any longer.
'These people are nothing but illusions created by the Rift. All I have to do is kill them, find the anomaly, escape the Rift, and return to my world.'
However, he had never experienced anything like this before. He had no idea what the Rift would do next.
Two guards surged forward.
Their polearms were aimed toward Daren.
Daren was clawing frantically at his own face, leaving deep trails across his skin before suddenly jamming his fingers into his mouth.
"I can still fix this."
His jaw tightened.
With a sickening crunch, Daren bit down, severing his two middle fingers.
"No..."
He shook his head violently.
"No, no, no..."
"What the heck is he doing?" the first guard muttered, lowering his stance.
"Whatever he's doing, it's gone too far."
The broad-shouldered guard tightened his grip on his polearm and stepped forward.
The weapon swung through the air.
Crack!
The shaft struck the side of Daren's head. His head snapped sideways.
For a moment, everything went still.
Then Daren laughed. A dry chuckle escaped his throat, growing louder by the passing second.
"Yes..."
He stopped laughing. His face became completely expressionless.
"I killed them."
His eyes shifted toward the guards.
"All of you are worthless."
His breathing quickened.
"You all planned this..."
"You watched me." His hands tightened against the chains.
"You wanted me to fail."
He suddenly lunged forward from his knees. The heavy chains pinned to the floor creaked beneath the force.
"Every step... every choice... every mistake..." His expression twisted, an eerie green light slowly burning at the centers of his pupils.
"You did this to me!"
"Cease your resistance!" The broad-shouldered guard lunged forward, driving the head of his polearm into Daren's abdomen.
"GUAAA!"
The shock tore a guttural scream from Daren's throat, but it didn't stop him. It only made him more wildly aggressive.
With his rage and fear boiling together, Daren was pushed completely over the edge.
He hurled his body forward with unnatural force. The stone floor beneath him cracked.
A chunk of broken flooring tore loose and slammed into the nearest guard, crushing him into pulp. The sheer force of the impact sent a ring of debris scattering outward into the dark room.
Crash!
Aldrich froze.
For a brief moment, disbelief crossed his face as he stared at the wreckage. Another guard was dead.
The broad-shouldered guard stared at the rubble where his companion had fallen. His hands tightened around his weapon until his knuckles turned white.
"Die, bastard!" He charged.
His footsteps thundered across the floor as he raised his weapon and drove forward with a desperate, raw thrust. He no longer cared about the Patriarch's orders. He only wanted to avenge his fallen comrade.
Daren took the head of the broken polearm and hurled it toward the guard. The piece screamed through the air. Unfortunately, it missed the guard.
"You missed, idiot."
However, a sharp, wet sound cut through the room as the weapon tore through Aldrich's head.
For a heartbeat, everything went silent.
The female guard who had witnessed it stumbled backward, then dropped her shield. "No... this is not a human. It's a monster!"
She turned and ran toward the entrance of the keep, out of the basement.
Daren staggered upright, his chest heaving as the mist evaporated from most of his body, devouring portions of his flesh as it spread. Clutched in his right hand was the neck of the broad-shouldered guard.
"Damn you..." The broad-shouldered guard reached out. Unfortunately, the fingers around his neck tightened. Then bone gave way with a wet crack. After a moment, his wrist detached from his arm.
Then the air around changed.
Dark green mist began gathering around them, curling through the room like a living hue.
Shiro's eyes widened in dread.
'How in the world is this guy still moving?'
Daren's only hand reached out to the shaft of the polearm standing in the rubble, then pointed at Shiro.
"You..."
"Shiro, run! I'll hold him!" Kaelen yelled.
"You're the one who ruined everything!"
Just as Daren hurled the shaft, Kaelen stepped on the shield the female guard had abandoned, then hurled it to Shiro. All of it happened in mere seconds.
Clang!
The shield shattered upon impact.
I have to get out of here.
Shiro pushed himself off the floor and bolted toward the exit. Behind him, a broken piece of the shield struck the lantern, sending sparks into the dark green mist covering the ground.
The moment the sparks touched it, the mist ignited.
BOOM!
A torrent of fire erupted across the floor, throwing Shiro out of the basement through the mansion window into the courtyard.
"Argh!"
Daren's remains rained to the ground before fading into nothingness. His eyes moved from the mansion, which was half-engulfed by the flames, then to both of his legs which were badly fractured.
The pain from his broken arm and leg nearly made him faint.
'What kind of sick rift is this?'
His thoughts were interrupted as a flash of steel blurred past his face, grazing his cheek before the blade came to rest.
Shiro froze.
Then he pushed himself upright, using the bloody blade for support.
'No. No...' His fingers tightened around the blade as he struggled through the agony.
In the next moment, a figure with midnight blue hair descended from the sky like a vengeful star.
Shiro looked up, his eyes widened.
"This... this is definitely a dream that I can wake up from."
Then everything went black.