Dark opened his eyes.
This time, there was no confusion.
No emptiness.
No helpless crawling.
Only madness.
Pure, fractured madness.
His pupils trembled violently inside bloodshot eyes while uneven breaths tore through his throat like rusted blades. Sweat slid down his face in thin streams, mixing with dried blood still staining parts of his skin from deaths his body should not have remembered.
But it did.
Somehow—
it did.
Fragments.
Screams.
Gunshots.
Fire.
Bones snapping.
Alya crying.
His own body evaporating into golden smoke.
All of it lived inside him now like parasites chewing through his skull.
Dark slowly lifted his head toward the staircase.
The stone steps looked endless.
Like the mouth of some ancient beast waiting to swallow him whole again.
Then—
a whisper crawled through the darkness.
Not around him.
Inside him.
"Go up."
Dark's breathing stopped for a moment.
His lips slowly stretched upward.
Too wide.
Far too wide.
A smile that no human face should have been capable of making.
A wet laugh escaped his throat.
Then another.
Soon his entire body shook with silent laughter.
Not joy.
Not amusement.
Just a mind collapsing inward.
He rose from the floor slowly, joints cracking violently as he stood. His posture twitched unnaturally, shoulders jerking every few seconds like invisible strings were pulling at his limbs.
Another whisper slithered through his skull.
"They're already inside."
Dark tilted his head.
The smile widened further.
His eyes lost the last traces of humanity.
Then—
he began climbing the stairs.
Fast.
Too fast.
Bare feet slamming against stone.
One step.
Two.
Three.
His hands occasionally dragged against the walls for balance, fingernails scraping hard enough to leave bloody streaks behind.
The whispers giggled softly inside his head.
"Good…"
"That's good…"
"The hunt begins now."
Far ahead of him, the others walked deeper into the corridor completely unaware of what was coming.
The hallway stretched endlessly beneath dim yellow lights that flickered overhead like dying stars. Moisture dripped from the ceiling in slow intervals, each drop echoing through the ancient stone labyrinth.
Minho looked around with curiosity.
"This place seriously feels like some horror movie set."
Airi laughed softly while adjusting her camera.
Kimberly kicked a loose rock across the floor.
Miriam studied the structure of the walls carefully.
Adermat looked fascinated.
They still believed they were exploring.
They still believed they had time.
That illusion wouldn't survive much longer.
Miriam finally crossed her arms.
"We should split up."
Everyone stopped.
"If we cover more ground, we'll find an exit faster."
Adermat nodded calmly.
"Agreed."
One by one, they separated.
Minho entered a corridor lined with mirrors.
Xia Jing disappeared into a narrow alleyway.
Airi wandered into a damp photography-like corridor filled with puddles.
Miriam chose one infested with movement deeper inside.
Adermat headed toward the labyrinth.
Alya and Kimberly continued forward together.
And somewhere behind them—
Dark entered the hallway.
Silently.
His breathing echoed softly beneath the flickering lights.
His smile remained carved across his face like a wound.
The corridor itself seemed alive around him now.
The walls pulsed faintly.
The lights dimmed as he walked beneath them.
The whispers became louder.
Hungrier.
"Find them."
"Break them."
"Tear them apart."
Dark began walking.
Then faster.
Then faster.
Until finally—
he was running.
Violently.
Like an animal set loose after starving for centuries.
His footsteps exploded through the hallway while laughter leaked from his mouth in broken fragments.
Not sane laughter.
Not even emotional laughter.
Just noise produced by a shattered mind.
His shoulder slammed against the corridor wall as he turned a corner too quickly, skin peeling open on impact.
He didn't react.
Didn't even blink.
Blood ran down his arm.
His grin only widened.
The whispers guided him.
Every turn.
Every corridor.
Every heartbeat.
"The boy with mirrors first."
Dark stopped instantly.
His head snapped toward the left corridor so sharply his neck cracked loudly.
Mirrors.
Minho.
A low chuckle escaped his throat.
Then he began walking toward the corridor.
Slowly.
Patiently.
Like death itself had finally learned how to hunt.
The corridor of mirrors stretched endlessly into the dark.
Cold.
Silent.
Wrong.
Minho walked slowly between the towering reflections, hands buried inside his pockets as his footsteps echoed softly across the wet stone floor. Thin streams of water crawled down the walls like veins beneath rotting skin, dripping rhythmically into shallow puddles below.
Every mirror reflected something different.
In one, Minho's smile looked too wide.
In another, his eyes were completely black.
One reflection moved half a second too late.
Another kept staring even after he turned away.
But instead of fear—
Minho laughed quietly.
"This place is insane…"
His voice bounced through the corridor in distorted fragments.
"Would honestly make a perfect horror movie set."
He approached another mirror and tapped its surface lightly.
Glass.
Cold.
Solid.
At least… it looked solid.
He leaned closer.
His reflection leaned closer too.
But its grin didn't match his own anymore.
Minho blinked.
The reflection blinked later.
His smile faded slightly.
"...Okay. That's creepy."
Still smiling nervously, he moved on.
He had no idea he was already dead.
Far behind him—
Something entered the corridor.
Bare feet stepped through shallow water with soft splashes.
Slow.
Uneven.
Patient.
Dark.
Blood dripped steadily from his left arm.
Fresh.
Warm.
He had torn the flesh open himself moments earlier, fingernails digging into skin until meat split apart and crimson poured freely down to his fingertips.
But he didn't seem to feel it.
His expression was empty at first.
Then—
The smile appeared again.
Too wide.
Too still.
The whispers curled around his ears like invisible parasites.
"Forward…"
"The tenth mirror…"
"Left side…"
Dark obeyed instantly.
He walked slowly beside the mirrors, head twitching occasionally as distorted reflections surrounded him from every angle.
Some mirrors showed him smiling.
Others showed him without eyes.
One reflection stood completely motionless while the real Dark kept walking.
Another version of him was covered entirely in blood.
Another was missing its jaw.
Another was laughing silently.
Dark ignored all of them.
Because the whispers already knew the correct path.
Ahead—
Minho continued examining the corridor with childish curiosity.
He punched one mirror lightly.
"No hidden passage…"
Another.
"Not this one either…"
Then another.
"Damn. Would've been cool though."
His reflection smiled back at him.
But this time—
The reflection moved first.
Minho froze.
A cold sensation crawled up his spine.
His smile weakened slightly.
"...What the hell?"
Behind him—
The tenth mirror waited silently.
Its surface rippled.
Not glass.
Liquid.
Black viscous fluid trembled across its surface like living oil.
Dark emerged from it soundlessly.
Inside the hidden passage beyond the mirrors, the air smelled rotten.
Wet flesh.
Mold.
Old blood.
Dark moved through the narrow hidden tunnel on all fours at impossible speed, fingers scraping violently against stone as the whispers guided every movement.
"Closer…"
"Closer…"
"Kill him."
His breathing became uneven.
Excited.
Animalistic.
The smile stretched wider.
Too wide for a human face.
Minho stopped walking.
Something felt wrong now.
Truly wrong.
The corridor had become quieter.
Too quiet.
Even the dripping water seemed distant.
He slowly turned his head—
And saw movement inside the mirrors.
Not reflections.
Something behind them.
Crawling.
Fast.
His eyes widened.
"Who's there—?"
The mirror exploded outward.
Dark burst through the glass like a feral beast.
Shards tore through the air.
Several sliced across Minho's face before he could even react. Thin red lines opened across his skin as blood sprayed onto the mirrors behind him.
Minho staggered backward—
But Dark was already on him.
One hand grabbed his jaw.
The other seized the back of his skull.
Minho's eyes widened in confusion.
Recognition flickered for half a second.
"D-Dark…?"
CRACK.
Dark twisted.
Violently.
Brutally.
The sound echoed through the corridor like a tree trunk snapping apart.
Minho's neck rotated completely backward.
One hundred and eighty degrees.
Bone burst through flesh.
Blood exploded from his mouth in a thick spray across Dark's face and chest.
Minho's body spasmed violently.
Arms twitching.
Fingers clawing uselessly at the air.
His eyes remained alive for three horrible seconds.
Three full seconds where his brain still understood what had happened.
His mouth trembled soundlessly.
Then—
Nothing.
His corpse collapsed into the water with a heavy splash.
The puddle beneath him slowly turned red.
Dark remained standing over the body.
Breathing hard.
Head tilted slightly.
Watching.
The whispers vibrated happily around him.
"Good…"
"Again…"
A long strand of blood and saliva dripped from Dark's lips.
Then—
He smiled.
Wider than before.
He stepped over Minho's corpse, disappearing back into the mirror passage as crimson footprints stained the floor behind him.
And the mirrors—
The mirrors kept smiling long after he was gone.
The alley was wrong.
Xia Jing realized it almost immediately.
Not visually.
Not structurally.
But instinctively.
The narrow corridor stretched forward beneath dim yellow lights that flickered weakly overhead, illuminating ancient stone walls soaked with moisture and thick veins of moss. Water dripped steadily somewhere deeper inside the darkness.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Each sound echoed too long.
As if the alley itself were hollow.
Alive.
Watching.
Xia Jing narrowed her eyes carefully while walking deeper inside.
"This place wasn't here before…"
The thought crossed her mind naturally, but she dismissed it just as fast.
That wasn't possible.
None of them had explored every path yet.
Still…
Something about this corridor made her uncomfortable.
The air felt heavier here.
Like breathing inside a sealed tomb.
She exhaled slowly and kept moving.
Far behind her, hidden beyond the darkness—
something moved.
Quietly.
A shape dragging itself along the stone wall with unnatural silence.
Dark.
His breathing was uneven.
Wet.
Animalistic.
Blood from previous injuries still crawled down his arms in thin streams, dripping from his fingertips onto the floor below.
Yet he didn't notice.
Didn't care.
The whispers guided him.
"Closer…"
"She hasn't seen you yet…"
"Good…"
"Very good…"
A smile stretched across his face.
Too wide.
Too empty.
His eyes no longer looked human.
There was no rage inside them.
No hatred.
Only hunger directed by something else.
Xia Jing stopped walking.
A cold sensation crawled across the back of her neck.
Someone was behind her.
Her fingers twitched instinctively.
A small current of wind spiraled around her wrist.
She turned sharply—
Nothing.
Only darkness.
Only dripping water.
Only silence.
Her heartbeat slowed again.
"Maybe I'm getting paranoid…"
She sighed softly before continuing deeper into the alley.
Behind her—
Dark began to run.
Bare feet slamming violently against wet stone.
Fast.
Too fast.
The whispers exploded inside his skull.
"NOW."
Xia Jing heard the footsteps.
Her eyes widened.
She spun around—
Too late.
Dark's arm pierced directly through her chest.
The impact sounded horrific.
A wet explosion of flesh and shattered ribs echoed through the corridor as his hand burst out from her back clutching her still-beating heart.
For one impossible second—
silence.
Xia Jing looked downward slowly.
At the arm inside her body.
At the blood flooding from her mouth in thick crimson streams.
Shock froze her expression completely.
Dark tilted his head.
Almost curious.
The heart twitched inside his hand.
Still alive.
Still beating.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Xia Jing tried to breathe—
but her lungs filled instantly with blood.
A violent choking sound escaped her throat.
Her knees buckled.
Dark ripped his arm back violently.
Fragments of shattered ribs tore free alongside sprays of blood and ruined organs that splattered across the wall behind her.
The heart remained in his hand.
Beating weaker now.
Xia Jing collapsed backward into a growing pool of crimson.
Her body spasmed uncontrollably.
Fingers twitching.
Legs kicking weakly against the stone floor.
Her mouth opened repeatedly trying to speak—
but only blood came out.
Dark stared at her silently.
Then smiled wider.
The whispers laughed with him.
"Beautiful…"
"Look at her…"
"She's breaking…"
Dark squeezed the heart.
It burst between his fingers.
Warm blood ran down his wrist.
Xia Jing's remaining eye widened weakly at the sound.
Her body trembled once more—
then stopped.
Completely.
Silence returned to the alley.
Only the dripping water remained.
Dark stepped forward slowly until he stood over her corpse.
Blood spread beneath his feet.
Warm.
Sticky.
Human.
He crouched beside the body.
His fingers touched her face carefully.
Not affectionately.
Curiously.
Like an animal examining something dead on the roadside.
Then—
the whispers spoke again.
Colder this time.
More urgent.
"Leave her."
"There are more."
"The hunt continues."
Dark stood immediately.
Obedient.
Blood still covering his hands.
His smile remained carved into his face as he disappeared back into the darkness of the corridor—
leaving Xia Jing alone in the alley.
Her sightless eyes staring endlessly into the ceiling above.
While blood continued flowing slowly from the hole where her heart used to be.
Airi walked alone through the corridor with her camera hanging from her neck.
Unlike the others…
she was smiling.
Not because she felt safe.
But because this place fascinated her.
The hallway stretched endlessly ahead of her, damp stone walls covered in moss and moisture reflecting the weak light overhead. Water dripped rhythmically from the ceiling, forming shallow puddles across the uneven floor.
Every flash from her camera illuminated the corridor for a fraction of a second—
then the darkness swallowed everything again.
Click.
Flash.
Click.
Flash.
Airi giggled softly while reviewing one of the photos.
"This place seriously looks like something from a horror movie…"
Her voice echoed weakly.
No answer came back.
Only dripping water.
She raised the camera again and took another picture of the corridor ahead.
FLASH.
For a split second, the light revealed something far away behind her.
A silhouette.
Tall.
Motionless.
Then darkness returned.
Airi blinked.
"…Hm?"
She turned around casually.
Nothing was there.
Just the corridor.
Empty.
Silent.
She laughed nervously.
"Okay… that one actually scared me a little…"
Click.
Another photo.
FLASH.
This time the silhouette was closer.
Still motionless.
Its head tilted unnaturally to one side.
Airi's smile weakened slightly.
"…Minho?"
No response.
The darkness behind her remained perfectly still.
She lowered the camera slowly.
The silence changed.
It no longer felt peaceful.
It felt like something was breathing nearby.
Something wet.
Something patient.
Airi swallowed nervously.
Then laughed again, trying to calm herself.
"You're overthinking…"
She turned away and kept walking.
Her footsteps splashed softly through the puddles.
Behind her—
another step echoed.
Not hers.
Airi stopped walking instantly.
The second set of footsteps stopped too.
Her fingers tightened around the camera.
"…Who's there?"
Silence.
Then—
drip.
drip.
drip.
Airi slowly turned around again.
Nothing.
But now several mirrors lined the wall beside her.
She frowned.
"…Were those always there?"
The corridor hadn't contained mirrors before.
At least…
she didn't think it had.
Her breathing became quieter.
Slower.
Instinct was beginning to whisper something terrible into her mind.
Don't look too long.
Don't stand still.
Don't let the darkness behind you breathe.
Airi lifted her camera again with trembling hands.
"Okay… very funny…"
Click.
FLASH.
The figure was directly behind her.
Smiling.
Her breath caught instantly.
The camera slipped slightly in her hands.
The flash vanished.
Darkness returned.
Airi froze.
She could hear breathing now.
Right behind her ear.
Warm.
Uneven.
Animalistic.
A slow smile stretched across Dark's face inside the darkness.
His eyes looked empty.
Not angry.
Not emotional.
Just hollow.
Like something inside him had already died.
Airi tried to scream—
CRACK.
Dark smashed a broken mirror shard across her face before the sound could fully escape her throat.
The jagged glass pierced directly into her left eye.
Airi's scream exploded through the corridor.
Blood burst across her cheek instantly, dripping through her fingers as she collapsed backward against the wall.
The camera hit the ground.
Still recording.
Still flashing.
"A—AHHHHH—!!"
She clawed at the shard embedded inside her eye socket, shrieking hysterically while blood poured between her trembling fingers.
Dark stared at her silently.
Then smiled wider.
Not human.
Too wide.
Too empty.
Airi looked up through her remaining eye—
and saw him rushing toward her.
The second shard struck before she could move.
THUNK.
The glass buried itself into her remaining eye.
The scream that came out of her no longer sounded human.
Blood streamed from both ruined sockets as she stumbled blindly, collapsing into the puddles while convulsing violently.
Her hands desperately searched the ground for the camera.
For anything.
For help.
Dark reached her in seconds.
His footsteps splashed through blood and water alike.
Airi tried to crawl away blindly, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Please—PLEASE—!"
Dark grabbed her by the hair.
Hard.
Airi shrieked as he dragged her across the wet stone floor.
Skin peeled from her arms as her body scraped violently against the ground.
The camera flash illuminated everything again.
FLASH.
Her blood trail.
FLASH.
Dark's smiling face.
FLASH.
The open pit ahead.
Airi realized what was happening too late.
Her body twisted desperately.
Her fingers clawed uselessly against the stone floor.
"No—NO—PLEASE—!"
Dark lifted her effortlessly.
Then threw her into the darkness.
Her scream echoed downward for several seconds.
Then—
CRUNCH.
Silence.
The sound at the bottom did not resemble a body landing.
It sounded like something breaking apart.
Completely.
Dark walked slowly toward the edge of the pit and stared downward.
Far below, twisted pieces of Airi's body rested among shattered stone and black water.
One arm bent backward.
Her jaw hanging open unnaturally.
The camera beside her still flickering weakly.
FLASH.
FLASH.
FLASH.
Each light illuminated her ruined corpse for a split second before darkness consumed it again.
Dark tilted his head.
Watching.
Listening.
Then—
the whispers returned.
Soft.
Satisfied.
"Good…"
"Keep going…"
"There are more…"
Dark smiled again.
And picked up Airi's camera.
The corridor breathed.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
The walls expanded in slow pulses, damp stone swelling and contracting like diseased lungs hidden beneath layers of ancient rock. Wet sounds echoed from the darkness ahead—flesh dragging across stone, clicking mandibles, the scraping of sharpened limbs against the floor.
And in the middle of it all…
Miriam walked calmly.
Her boots crushed the corpses beneath her feet with sickening crunches.
Green fluid splashed around her ankles.
One of the spider-creatures convulsed near the wall, its crab-like pincers twitching violently while black foam leaked from the hole she had punched through its skull with a spike moments earlier.
Miriam looked down at it with disgust.
"How revolting."
Another creature lunged from above.
Eight skeletal legs unfolded from the ceiling with a wet snap.
Its snail-shell carapace scraped against stone as it descended directly toward her face—
A spike erupted from the floor.
CRACK.
The spike pierced straight through the creature's mouth and exited through the top of its shell in an explosion of green viscera.
The impact pinned it to the ceiling.
Its limbs spasmed wildly.
Then stopped.
Miriam sighed.
"Too weak."
Dozens more crawled through the darkness.
Their pincers clicked together.
Their swollen abdomens dragged across the wet floor, leaving trails of mucus behind them.
Miriam barely looked at them.
The corridor exploded with spikes.
Hundreds.
The stone floor burst upward like a field of blades.
Bodies tore apart instantly.
Legs detached and flew across the passage.
Shells shattered.
Green organs burst against the walls in thick splashes.
One creature was impaled through all eight limbs and continued twitching helplessly while another spike slowly pushed through its jaw and split its head open from the inside.
Miriam continued walking through the massacre without changing expression.
Blood.
Acid.
Mucus.
Chunks of shell.
Everything coated her boots.
But she remained elegant.
Untouched.
Cold.
A queen walking through her garden.
"Professor Adermat would probably call this 'interesting.'"
A small smile crossed her lips.
"I call it tedious."
Another spike erupted beneath a creature.
Its body split vertically.
Half its torso slid off the spike with a wet tearing sound.
Its internal fluids poured onto the floor.
Miriam stepped over it.
Then—
Something changed.
The corridor became quieter.
Too quiet.
The creatures stopped moving.
The clicking ceased.
Even the dripping water seemed distant now.
Miriam's eyes narrowed.
The air felt heavier.
Like the corridor itself was holding its breath.
Behind her—
A sound.
Metal scraping stone.
Slow.
Deliberate.
SHRRRRRK.
SHRRRRRK.
SHRRRRRK.
A blade dragging against the wall.
Sparks illuminated the darkness briefly.
Miriam stopped walking.
The smile disappeared from her face.
She turned slowly.
And saw him.
Dark.
Standing at the far end of the corridor.
Head lowered.
Body covered in blood.
Some of it his.
Most of it not.
Xia Jing's sword hung loosely from his hand, its blade leaving sparks against the wall as he dragged it behind him.
His neck was twisted slightly too far to the side.
As if something inside him had already broken.
His grin stretched unnaturally wide.
Not happiness.
Not rage.
Just…
Wrong.
His eyes looked empty.
Completely empty.
But the smile remained.
That contradiction made something primal crawl beneath Miriam's skin.
Dark took one step forward.
Then another.
Slow.
Steady.
Like he already knew how this would end.
Miriam summoned spikes around herself instantly.
The floor trembled.
Sharp black thorns erupted upward in layers around her body.
"Dark?"
No response.
Only that smile.
SHRRRRRK.
The sword continued scraping behind him.
"...What happened to you?"
Dark suddenly vanished.
The sound barrier exploded.
BOOM.
Miriam's eyes widened—
CLANG.
The sword slammed into her spike-wall hard enough to send vibrations through the entire corridor.
Cracks spread across the spikes instantly.
Sparks erupted everywhere.
Miriam reacted immediately.
Dozens of spikes launched toward Dark's chest.
He moved.
Too fast.
His body twisted unnaturally between them.
One spike pierced his shoulder.
Another tore through his thigh.
A third ripped across his ribs.
Blood exploded from the wounds—
But he didn't stop smiling.
He didn't even react.
Dark crashed against the wall, kicked off it violently, and swung the sword again.
CLANG.
Another impact.
The spike-wall cracked further.
Miriam's calm expression finally shifted.
Confusion.
No.
Fear.
Very small.
But real.
"That's not possible…"
Dark attacked again.
And again.
And again.
Each strike faster.
Heavier.
More feral.
The wall began collapsing.
Miriam launched another storm of spikes.
This time hundreds.
The corridor transformed into a death trap.
Black thorns pierced every direction at impossible speeds.
Several impaled Dark instantly.
One entered through his arm.
Another pierced his calf.
One sliced across his forehead, splitting skin open and sending blood pouring down his face and into his left eye.
But he kept advancing.
Smiling.
Bleeding.
Laughing softly now.
A horrible sound.
Not human laughter.
Something broken trying to imitate it.
Miriam's breathing became uneven.
"What… are you?"
Dark tilted his head.
Bones cracked inside his neck.
Then he lunged again.
Miriam reinforced the wall—
Too late.
The sword pierced through the spikes.
Straight toward her throat.
Miriam barely blocked it.
The impact shattered half the barrier behind her.
Dark suddenly released the sword.
Miriam blinked—
And in that instant—
His hand wrapped around her throat.
Hard.
The pressure was immediate.
Violent.
Miriam's feet left the floor.
Her eyes widened in shock as Dark lifted her effortlessly with one arm.
His fingers dug deeper into her neck.
CRK.
The first vertebra shifted.
Miriam reacted instantly.
Spikes erupted from every direction.
Several pierced Dark's torso.
One entered through his stomach and exited through his back.
Another impaled his side.
Blood flooded down his body.
But the grip only tightened.
CRRRRK.
Miriam clawed at his arm desperately now.
Her composure shattered completely.
Dark stepped closer.
Still smiling.
Blood ran from his forehead into his eyes.
His jaw trembled violently.
Like his body was struggling to contain itself.
Miriam tried to form another spike—
Dark slammed her against the wall.
CRASH.
Stone cracked.
Another slam.
CRASH.
Blood poured from the back of her head.
Dark leaned closer.
Their faces inches apart now.
And for the first time—
Miriam understood.
This thing in front of her…
Was no longer Dark.
The corridor had hollowed him out.
And left only hunger behind.
CRRRRKKK.
Her neck bent unnaturally.
Her body spasmed once.
Twice.
Then went limp.
Silence returned.
Dark remained there for several seconds, still holding the corpse by the throat.
Smiling.
Breathing heavily.
Blood dripping from both of them onto the floor.
Then slowly…
He released her.
Miriam's body collapsed into the mountain of dead creatures beneath her with a wet crunch.
Dark picked up the sword again.
Turned.
And continued deeper into the corridor.
Still dragging the blade behind him.
SHRRRRRK.
SHRRRRRK.
SHRRRRRK.
Like death itself wandering through stone corridors searching for the next door.
The corridor had become a slaughterhouse.
Broken shells of crab-legged spiders twitched across the wet stone floor, their green innards slowly leaking into cracks between the ancient rocks. The air reeked of rot, burned acid, and blood.
At the center of it all stood Miriam.
Calm.
Breathing steadily.
Dozens of black spikes floated behind her like the tails of some abyssal beast, each one dripping with the remains of the creatures she had massacred moments earlier.
Then—
A sound.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Metal scraped softly against stone.
Miriam slowly lifted her eyes.
Dark emerged from the shadows at the end of the corridor.
Blood covered him from head to toe.
Xia Jing's sword dragged behind him, its edge leaving sparks against the ground. His clothes were soaked crimson. Some of the blood belonged to him.
Most of it did not.
And his smile—
That smile was wrong.
Too wide.
Too empty.
Too dead.
Miriam's expression hardened immediately.
"...What happened to you?"
Dark didn't answer.
The whispers answered for him.
"Kill her."
His body moved instantly.
Dark exploded forward.
The floor cracked beneath his feet as he rushed toward her with monstrous speed, raising Xia Jing's blade overhead.
Miriam reacted immediately.
A wall of spikes erupted from the ground between them.
Dark's sword slammed into the barrier—
CLANG.
Sparks burst violently through the corridor.
The impact alone fractured several spikes.
Miriam's eyes narrowed.
That strength wasn't human anymore.
Dark attacked again.
And again.
And again.
The sword became a blur of silver and blood, each strike smashing harder than the last. The spikes trembled violently under the assault.
Cracks spread across Miriam's defense.
Her expression shifted slightly.
Not fear.
Calculation.
"This thing… isn't fighting like Dark."
Another strike landed.
BOOM.
The spike wall partially shattered.
Dark's smile widened further as shards of black stone-like spikes rained around him.
Then Miriam counterattacked.
Hundreds of spikes erupted from every direction simultaneously.
Floor.
Walls.
Ceiling.
A complete execution zone.
Dark twisted violently mid-motion.
One spike missed his throat by millimeters.
Another tore through his shoulder.
A third pierced straight through his calf.
Blood exploded across the floor.
But he didn't scream.
Didn't even flinch.
He just kept moving.
Like pain no longer reached him.
Miriam immediately understood the problem.
"He's not ignoring pain…"
Her eyes widened slightly.
"He genuinely can't feel it anymore."
Dark rushed through the storm of spikes.
Miriam fired more.
Faster.
Sharper.
The corridor became a black forest of impaling death.
Dark deflected some with the sword.
Dodged others by pure instinct.
But several still pierced him.
One spike tore through his forearm.
Another ripped through his side.
A third punched directly into his abdomen, exiting through his lower back in a spray of blood and organ tissue.
His body jerked violently—
But he kept running.
The sound alone was horrific.
Wet tearing flesh.
Bones cracking.
Blood splattering against ancient stone.
Yet the thing wearing Dark's face only laughed softly through blood-filled lungs.
Miriam finally stepped backward.
Not from fear.
From realization.
"If I let him get close…"
Dark vanished.
Miriam's pupils shrank.
Too late.
He appeared directly in front of her.
The sword swung horizontally toward her neck.
Miriam leaned back just enough to avoid decapitation, but the blade still sliced across her cheek—
A line of blood appeared instantly.
Dark's empty eyes locked onto hers.
Then his free hand shot forward and wrapped around her throat.
CRACK.
The force nearly crushed her trachea instantly.
Miriam's eyes widened as her body slammed against the wall hard enough to crater the stone behind her.
Dark tightened his grip.
Harder.
Harder.
The bones in her neck began to groan.
Miriam immediately retaliated.
Spikes erupted directly beneath Dark's feet.
Three impaled his legs.
One pierced through his lung.
Another tore through the side of his jaw and exited his cheek in a burst of teeth and blood.
His head snapped violently sideways—
But his grip never loosened.
Miriam's composure finally cracked.
Dark leaned closer.
Blood poured from his mouth onto her face.
Warm.
Thick.
Endless.
And still—
That smile remained.
Not joy.
Not rage.
Just broken insanity.
Miriam grabbed his wrist with both hands, trying to pry him off while more spikes erupted into his torso repeatedly.
His body looked less human with every second.
A corpse being puppeteered by hatred.
Then Dark moved again.
Fast.
Violent.
He smashed Miriam against the wall once.
Twice.
Three times.
Stone shattered behind her skull.
Blood spilled from the corner of her mouth.
Dark squeezed harder.
Miriam's vision blurred.
Her spikes began firing wildly through the corridor, destroying walls and impaling the remaining creatures nearby in blind desperation.
Dark ignored every wound.
A spike pierced straight through his neck.
Another entered beneath his ribs.
One even punctured his eye—
yet he continued crushing her throat with impossible force.
Miriam finally understood.
This wasn't a battle anymore.
It was a predator finishing prey.
Her breathing became uneven.
Her body weakened.
Dark tilted his head slowly.
Then—
He squeezed.
CRRRRRACK.
The sound echoed through the corridor.
Miriam's body suddenly went limp.
Her neck twisted unnaturally sideways.
Dark held her there for several more seconds.
Still smiling.
Still staring into her lifeless eyes.
Blood dripped steadily from the dozens of holes covering his body.
Then he finally released her.
Miriam collapsed onto the floor like a broken marionette.
Her head bent at an impossible angle.
Dark stared silently at the corpse.
The whispers returned immediately.
"Good."
"Keep going."
"There are more."
Dark bent down slowly.
Picked up Xia Jing's sword again.
And continued walking deeper into the corridor.
Leaving bloody footprints behind him with every step.
Adermat walked through the labyrinth slowly.
Not cautiously.
Reverently.
His fingers brushed across the ancient stone walls as though touching the remains of a forgotten god. Dust clung to his gloves. Moisture dripped from the ceiling in slow, rhythmic taps that echoed through the maze like the ticking of an impossibly old clock.
The corridors twisted endlessly around him.
Too symmetrical to be natural.
Too precise to be random.
And yet…
Too alive to be architecture.
A faint smile crossed his lips.
"Remarkable…"
His voice echoed softly into the dark.
Unlike the others, Adermat was not afraid of the sanctuary.
He was fascinated by it.
Every wall. Every corridor. Every impossible structure.
It all confirmed theories humanity had dismissed for centuries.
Ancient arcane construction.
Primordial magic.
Not modern sorcery. Not contemporary pathways.
Something older.
Something that existed before human civilization had language for it.
He stopped beside a cracked section of wall and adjusted his glasses.
The stone shimmered faintly beneath layers of moss.
Ancient runes.
Half-erased.
Half-alive.
His eyes widened.
"So it's true…"
His heartbeat quickened with excitement.
"A dimensional prison…"
He knelt beside the wall carefully, studying the symbols.
"The sanctuary wasn't made to protect treasure…"
His fingers traced the carvings.
"It was made to imprison visitors."
Silence answered him.
But the maze listened.
Somewhere far away, stone groaned softly.
Like something turning in its sleep.
Adermat rose slowly.
His mind raced.
"According to the oldest grimoires… the Primordials created isolated dimensional folds to trap intruders beyond conventional space."
He continued walking deeper into the maze.
"Sanctuaries blessed by entities beyond human comprehension…"
Another turn.
Another corridor.
Another impossible angle.
"If an outsider entered without permission…"
A slow breath escaped him.
"They would never leave."
The realization should have terrified him.
Instead—
He smiled wider.
Because now he understood.
This place was real.
Everything he had spent years studying… years being mocked for… years being dismissed over…
Was real.
The Primordials.
The Void.
Arcane distortion.
Dimensional fractures.
It was all real.
And he was standing inside it.
For the first time since entering the sanctuary…
Adermat felt alive.
He activated his LC.
Energy surged faintly around his fist.
He punched the wall once.
A loud crack echoed through the corridor.
Then—
Time accelerated around the impact point.
The stone aged instantly.
One hit became hundreds.
Tiny fractures spread rapidly through the wall as centuries of damage manifested in seconds.
Chunks of rock collapsed onto the floor.
Dust exploded outward.
Adermat crouched beside one of the fragments and picked it up carefully, examining its structure with almost childlike wonder.
"Incredible…"
The stone was not entirely stone.
Veins of dark crystalline material pulsed faintly beneath the surface.
Organic.
Alive.
His breathing grew uneven with excitement.
"This architecture reacts to temporal pressure…"
He placed the fragment inside his coat.
"No modern magical civilization could replicate this…"
He turned another corner slowly, completely absorbed in thought.
And because of that—
He never noticed the sound behind him.
Soft.
Metal scraping stone.
A rhythmic sound.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Shhhhk…
Shhhhk…
Shhhhk…
Dark walked through the labyrinth dragging Xia Jing's sword along the wall.
Sparks burst around him with every step.
Tiny flashes of orange illuminated his face in fragments.
Blood covered him.
Not fresh anymore.
Drying.
Blackening.
Cracked across his skin like rotting paint.
Minho's blood.
Xia Jing's blood.
Airi's blood.
Miriam's blood.
Some of it had dried around his mouth.
His smile remained stretched unnaturally wide.
Too wide.
Far too wide for a human face.
His eyes looked empty.
Not angry.
Not emotional.
Just hollow.
As though the person behind them had already died.
The whispers guided him through the maze.
"Closer…"
Dark tilted his head slightly.
The voice continued.
"The old man is close…"
Another spark exploded beside him.
Shhhhk…
Shhhhk…
"Kill him."
Dark giggled softly.
A broken sound.
Childlike.
Wrong.
Adermat froze.
The sound finally reached him.
Metal against stone.
His smile faded slightly.
He turned his head.
The corridor behind him was empty.
Dark.
Silent.
Still.
Standing at the far end of the hallway.
Sword hanging loosely from one hand.
Head tilted sideways.
Watching him.
Neither moved.
For one long second…
The labyrinth itself seemed to stop breathing.
Then Adermat frowned slightly.
Something felt wrong.
Very wrong.
That presence…
That posture…
That smile…
"Dark?"
No response.
Only silence.
Then—
Dark started walking forward slowly.
One step.
Another.
Another.
The sword continued scraping against the wall.
Sparks exploded across the stone.
Adermat narrowed his eyes.
And finally understood.
That was not Dark anymore.
Whatever stood in front of him…
was wearing Dark's body like clothing.
Adermat immediately raised his guard.
Temporal energy gathered around his hands.
"Whoever you are…"
His voice hardened.
"You've chosen the wrong target."
Dark stopped moving.
The whispers grew louder inside his skull.
"Kill him."
"Tear him apart."
"Make him scream."
Dark's grin widened.
And then—
He vanished.
Adermat's eyes widened.
Too fast.
Far too fast—
A violent impact exploded against his shoulder as Dark crashed into him like an animal.
The sword descended instantly.
Adermat barely twisted aside.
The blade carved through flesh instead of skull.
Blood sprayed across the wall.
Adermat stumbled backward, clutching his shoulder.
Pain shot through his body.
Dark laughed.
Not loudly.
Not maniacally.
Just…
Quietly.
Like this was fun.
Adermat accelerated time around himself instantly.
The world blurred.
He moved backward faster than human perception allowed—
But Dark followed.
Still smiling.
Still laughing softly.
Impossible.
Adermat's heartbeat spiked.
"How—?"
Dark slammed into him again.
The sword pierced through Adermat's abdomen.
Straight through.
The tip emerged from his back in an eruption of blood.
Adermat gasped violently.
Warm liquid flooded from his mouth.
Dark stared directly into his eyes.
Expressionless now.
Almost curious.
Then he twisted the blade.
A wet cracking sound echoed through the labyrinth.
Organs ruptured.
Blood poured down the steel in thick streams.
Adermat tried to activate his LC again—
Dark headbutted him violently.
CRACK.
His nose shattered instantly.
Vision exploded white.
Dark ripped the sword upward.
The blade tore through stomach, ribs, lung—
A fountain of blood erupted across the corridor ceiling.
Adermat collapsed onto his knees choking violently.
Pieces of torn flesh slid from the wound.
Dark stood above him breathing heavily.
Tilting his head.
Watching.
The whispers hissed happily.
"Finish him."
Dark raised the sword again.
Adermat looked up one final time.
And despite the agony…
despite the horror…
there was still fascination in his eyes.
Because even now—
He realized something terrifying.
The sanctuary wasn't merely trapping them.
It was studying them.
Breaking them apart.
Rebuilding them into something else.
And Dark…
was the first successful result.
The sword came down.
Straight through his skull.
The impact split bone apart with a sickening crunch.
Blood and fragments of brain matter exploded across the stone wall behind him.
Dark yanked the blade free.
Adermat's body collapsed twitching onto the floor.
Dead.
The labyrinth fell silent again.
Only dripping blood remained.
Dark stared at the corpse for several seconds.
Then—
He started laughing.
Quietly at first.
Then louder.
And louder.
Until his broken laughter echoed endlessly through the maze like the cries of something no longer human.
And somewhere deep inside the sanctuary…
Something laughed back.
The labyrinth breathed.
Not literally.
But every second spent inside it created the illusion that the walls themselves were alive.
The ancient stone corridors curved unnaturally, twisting into impossible angles beneath the weak amber lights hanging from chains above. Moisture slid slowly across the cracked rock like sweat running down diseased skin. Shadows stretched too far. Sounds echoed too long.
And somewhere inside that maze…
Something was hunting.
Adermat walked carefully through the corridors, one hand gliding across the stone wall as excitement burned behind his eyes.
Unlike the others…
He wasn't afraid.
He was fascinated.
"This structure…" he muttered softly. "Impossible…"
His voice echoed through the maze.
"These walls should've collapsed centuries ago."
He adjusted his glasses and crouched beside one of the cracks in the stone. Strange symbols were carved deep into the rock—symbols that shifted subtly when viewed from the corner of the eye.
Ancient.
Wrong.
Alive.
A smile slowly crossed his face.
"This really is arcane construction…"
He touched the markings gently.
"The Primordials…"
His breathing quickened—not from fear, but obsession.
"The grimoires were telling the truth."
Far away…
Footsteps echoed.
Slow.
Uneven.
Dragging.
Adermat paused.
Silence returned.
He narrowed his eyes.
"…Hello?"
No answer.
Only the distant sound of metal scraping against stone.
SKRRRRRKKKK—
Adermat turned sharply toward the darkness ahead.
The sound stopped instantly.
His expression shifted slightly.
Not fear.
Awareness.
"Someone's here."
He straightened up and activated his LC subtly, time distortion flickering around his fingers like invisible heatwaves.
But then—
He smiled again.
"Perhaps one of the students."
The thought relaxed him immediately.
That was his mistake.
Several corridors away…
Dark walked through the labyrinth slowly.
His movements were wrong.
Too stiff.
Too sudden.
Like a corpse learning how to imitate life.
His blood-covered fingers dragged Xia Jing's sword against the stone wall beside him.
SKRRRRRRRKKKKK—
Sparks exploded behind the blade.
The sound echoed endlessly through the maze.
Dark tilted his head.
Listening.
The whispers flooded his skull immediately.
"Closer…"
"He's close…"
"The intelligent one…"
"Kill him before he understands…"
A huge grin stretched across Dark's face.
Too wide.
Too empty.
Blood ran from the bullet wound in his neck, soaking the front of his clothes in dark crimson layers. His skin looked pale gray beneath the dim lights. One eye twitched constantly.
But he kept walking.
Step.
Drag.
Step.
SCRAAAAAPE—
The sword continued carving sparks from the walls.
Adermat heard it again.
Closer this time.
SKRRRRRRRKKKK—
He frowned.
"That's not normal."
The sound carried something unnatural inside it.
Like fingernails scraping against bone.
Like metal screaming.
Like warning.
Adermat raised his hand carefully.
Time distortion intensified around his arm.
The air vibrated.
Then—
Silence.
Complete silence.
Even the dripping water stopped.
Adermat slowly turned around.
Nobody there.
His pulse accelerated slightly.
"…Who's there?"
No answer.
Only darkness.
Then something moved above him.
Too fast to process.
A shadow crossed the ceiling.
Adermat's eyes widened.
"What—"
Dark dropped from the wall like an animal.
The sword came down instantly.
CRRRRSSSHHHKKK—
The blade split through Adermat's skull diagonally.
Bone exploded apart.
Blood and fragments of teeth burst from his mouth in a violent spray as the impact forced him to his knees.
But he didn't die immediately.
His LC activated instinctively.
Time around his body distorted violently.
The wound tried to reverse itself—
Dark grabbed his face.
And slammed him directly into the stone wall.
CRASH—
Adermat's nose flattened instantly.
CRACK—
His jaw shattered sideways.
Blood flooded down his neck.
Dark smashed his head into the wall again.
And again.
And again.
Each impact painting the ancient stones darker red.
Chunks of scalp stuck to the rock.
One eye burst inside its socket.
Still—
Adermat twitched.
Still trying to survive.
Still trying to activate his ability.
The whispers screamed inside Dark's mind.
"DON'T LET HIM THINK."
"DESTROY THE HEAD."
"DESTROY HIM."
Dark obeyed.
He raised Xia Jing's sword with both hands.
Adermat looked up weakly through the blood pouring over his ruined face.
For one tiny second…
Recognition appeared in his eyes.
"…Dark…?"
The sword came down.
SCHHHKKKK—
It pierced through the top of his skull and exited beneath his jaw.
The impact pinned him directly to the floor.
Blood exploded outward beneath him in a massive pool.
His fingers twitched weakly.
Then stopped.
Forever.
Silence returned to the labyrinth.
Only breathing remained.
Wet.
Uneven.
Animalistic.
Dark stared at the corpse for several seconds.
Head tilted.
Smiling.
Blood dripped slowly from the sword tip onto Adermat's destroyed face.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Then the whispers spoke again.
Soft now.
Satisfied.
"Good…"
"Very good…"
"Keep going…"
"Two more remain…"
Dark slowly pulled the sword free.
The sound of tearing flesh echoed through the maze.
SHRRRKKKK—
Part of Adermat's brain matter slid out with the blade and splattered onto the floor.
Dark giggled quietly.
Then louder.
Then louder.
Until hysterical laughter echoed through the labyrinth like something inhuman.
HA…
HAHA…
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—
He walked away dragging the sword behind him again.
SKRRRRRRRKKKK—
Sparks followed him into the darkness.
Leaving Adermat's mutilated corpse alone inside the maze.
And somewhere deep within the labyrinth…
Something else laughed too.
The corridor had changed again.
It always changed.
That was the cruelest part of the sanctuary.
Nothing stayed the same long enough to trust.
Walls moved. Passages vanished. Doors appeared where death once lived.
And hope—
hope was always placed exactly where it would hurt the most.
Alya walked slowly through the narrow stone passage, her pistol trembling slightly in her hand.
The silence surrounding her felt unnatural.
Too complete.
Too heavy.
Even her breathing sounded intrusive here.
Each inhale echoed faintly against the damp rock walls before disappearing into the endless dark ahead.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Water fell somewhere far away.
Steady.
Patient.
Like the corridor itself was counting down toward something inevitable.
Alya tightened her grip around the pistol.
Her boots moved carefully across the wet floor, avoiding puddles when she could.
She had already learned this place punished noise.
Punished hesitation.
Punished existence itself.
But this path…
this path felt familiar.
Her eyes scanned the corridor carefully.
The cracked stone. The patches of moss. The strange claw marks embedded in the walls.
Recognition slowly crawled across her expression.
A cold sensation spread through her chest.
"This place…"
She had been here before.
Or something close to it.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
Like remembering a nightmare moments after waking up.
Her heartbeat quickened.
Several loops ago— though she had no memory of loops—
this was the place where she had mistaken Dark for a monster.
The place where fear had pulled the trigger before reason could stop it.
The place where hope became murder.
But now…
something was different.
The corridor where the reptilian creature once lurked—
was gone.
A solid wall stood there now.
Ancient stone.
Unbroken.
As if the monster had never existed at all.
Alya frowned.
Slowly approaching the wall.
Her fingers brushed against the cold surface.
Solid.
Real.
"What…?"
Confusion flickered through her eyes.
The sanctuary was rewriting itself again.
Behind her—
far away—
something moved.
Fast.
Very fast.
But Alya didn't hear it.
Not yet.
She turned left carefully, entering another corridor branching deeper underground.
This one was narrower.
The ceiling lower.
The air hotter.
Almost suffocating.
The walls here looked… wrong.
Dark stains stretched across the stone like old blood smeared by human hands.
The moisture coating the walls reflected faint light in a way that resembled twitching flesh.
The deeper she walked—
the more the corridor stopped feeling constructed.
And started feeling alive.
Her breathing grew quieter.
Controlled.
Instinctive.
Every survival instinct inside her screamed now.
Something was nearby.
Something watching.
She raised the pistol slowly.
Click.
The sound echoed softly.
Behind her—
footsteps exploded through the corridor.
Not walking.
Running.
Sprinting.
Alya's eyes widened instantly.
She spun around—
and fired.
BANG.
The muzzle flash illuminated the corridor for a fraction of a second.
Enough to reveal him.
Dark.
Covered in blood.
His expression twisted into something inhuman.
Eyes wide.
Pupils trembling violently.
A smile stretched across his face so unnaturally wide it looked painful, like his skin might split apart at any second.
He didn't slow down.
CLANG.
The bullet ricocheted away.
Dark had blocked it with Xia Jing's sword.
Alya's breath caught violently in her throat.
"What the hell—?!"
BANG. BANG. BANG.
She fired again and again.
The deafening gunshots shook the corridor violently.
Sparks exploded each time the blade intercepted another bullet.
Metal screamed against metal.
The impacts tore fragments from the walls.
Dark kept running.
Closer.
Closer.
Closer.
Alya stumbled backward, panic taking control.
Her pulse slammed against her ribs hard enough to hurt.
This wasn't possible.
No human moved like this.
No human smiled like that.
Another shot rang out.
This time—
the bullet pierced Dark's neck.
Blood erupted outward in a violent spray.
The force twisted his body slightly—
but he didn't stop.
Didn't scream.
Didn't hesitate.
Didn't even blink.
The blood running down his chest only widened his smile further.
Alya froze.
Pure terror locking her muscles for a fatal second.
Dark suddenly twisted his body—
and threw the sword.
The blade spun through the corridor at horrifying speed.
A metallic shriek tore through the air as it rotated toward her head.
Alya dropped instantly.
The sword passed above her—
close enough for the wind pressure to cut strands of hair from her scalp.
CLANG.
The weapon embedded itself deep into the stone wall behind her.
For one brief second—
she thought she survived.
Then she looked up.
Dark was already there.
Standing directly in front of her.
The whispers had made him impossibly fast.
Almost unreal.
Blood poured from the hole in his neck, soaking his chest.
His head tilted slightly.
That smile still remained.
Empty.
Broken.
Wrong.
Alya's mouth opened—
but no sound came out.
Dark grabbed the sword from the wall in one brutal motion.
And swung downward.
The blade struck with monstrous force.
CRACK.
For a microscopic instant—
Alya's expression remained frozen in confusion.
Then the sword split through her skull vertically.
Bone burst apart.
Blood exploded across the walls in thick arterial sprays.
Fragments of teeth and skull shattered outward like broken porcelain.
One eye ruptured instantly under the pressure.
The blade continued downward—
through her face, through her throat, through her torso.
Her body separated violently into uneven halves.
Both pieces collapsed against the floor with a wet impact.
Organs spilled across the stone.
Blood flooded between the cracks beneath her remains.
Silence returned instantly.
Dark stood motionless over what remained of her.
Blood dripped steadily from the sword tip.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
His smile twitched wider.
Because he knew—
someone else was waiting ahead.
And this time…
the final hunt would fight back.
Alya moved carefully through the corridor.
Every breath was controlled.
Every step deliberate.
The darkness around her felt heavier than before, almost wet, like the hallway itself was breathing against her skin.
Water dripped somewhere far ahead.
Slow.
Rhythmic.
Like a countdown.
Her pistol trembled slightly in her hand.
Not from fear.
From exhaustion.
Too many things had already gone wrong inside this place.
And somewhere deep inside her chest, a feeling she could not explain kept tightening harder and harder.
Something terrible had happened.
She knew it.
She just didn't know what.
The corridor narrowed ahead of her, forcing her shoulder against the cold stone wall as she advanced.
Then—
She stopped.
A strange expression crossed her face.
The hallway had changed.
Again.
The corridor where the reptilian creature once emerged…
Was gone.
No opening.
No passage.
Only solid stone.
Her breathing faltered.
"That's impossible…"
Her whisper disappeared into the darkness.
The sanctuary was moving.
Changing.
Reshaping itself.
Like it was alive.
Like it was thinking.
Alya slowly turned left into another corridor, raising her pistol higher.
The silence became unbearable.
Then—
Footsteps.
Fast.
Violent.
Coming directly toward her.
Her eyes widened instantly.
Without hesitation, she pulled the trigger.
BANG.
The muzzle flash illuminated the corridor for a split second—
And revealed him.
Dark.
Running directly toward her.
But something was horribly wrong.
His face—
His expression—
His eyes—
There was nothing human left inside them.
Only madness.
Only hunger.
Only that horrifying smile stretched impossibly wide across his blood-covered face.
CLANG.
The bullet never reached him.
Dark deflected it with Xia Jing's sword.
Sparks exploded through the corridor.
Alya froze for half a second in disbelief.
Then panic took over.
She fired again.
And again.
And again.
The deafening gunshots shook the hallway as bullets ricocheted wildly off stone walls and mirrors embedded in the corridor.
Dark kept moving forward.
Too fast.
Too fast to be real.
The sword blurred through the darkness, knocking bullets aside in bursts of orange sparks.
One bullet slipped through.
It pierced directly through Dark's neck.
Blood erupted violently from the wound.
A thick spray painted the wall behind him.
But he didn't stop.
Didn't scream.
Didn't even react.
A wet gargling noise escaped his throat as blood flooded down his chest.
Yet the smile only widened.
Alya's breathing shattered completely.
"What the hell are you—?!"
Dark suddenly twisted his body—
And threw the sword.
The blade spun through the corridor like a circular saw.
Alya dropped instantly.
The sword passed inches above her skull—
—splitting part of her hair clean off.
CRASH.
The blade embedded itself deep into the wall behind her.
For one tiny moment…
She thought she survived.
Then—
A shadow appeared directly in front of her.
Too fast.
Impossible.
Dark had already reached the sword.
His burned hands wrapped around the handle.
And before Alya could even raise the gun again—
He swung downward.
The blade struck the top of her skull.
The impact sound was sickening.
A wet, splitting crunch echoed through the corridor.
The sword cleaved through bone effortlessly.
Down through her face.
Through her jaw.
Through her neck.
Her body separated before she even fully understood she had been hit.
Blood exploded upward in a massive arc.
The upper half of her head spun across the floor.
One eye still blinking.
Still alive for a fraction of a second.
Her body remained standing briefly—
Then collapsed.
Organs and blood spilled across the stone floor in steaming waves.
Dark stood motionless over the corpse.
Blood dripped from the sword in heavy streams.
The smile remained carved into his face.
But his eyes…
His eyes were empty.
Completely empty.
The whispers slithered through the corridor around him.
"Good…"
"Keep going…"
"Only one remains…"
Dark slowly turned his head toward the deeper corridor ahead.
Toward Kimberly.
The final hunt had begun.
He raised Alya's pistol with one hand.
Xia Jing's blood-covered sword with the other.
Then began walking forward through the river of blood.
Leaving crimson footprints behind him.
Like death itself had learned how to walk.
The corridor breathed.
Not metaphorically.
The walls themselves expanded and contracted with slow, wet sounds, as if the entire sanctuary had become a living throat swallowing darkness one pulse at a time.
Kimberly walked through it laughing softly to herself.
Not nervous laughter.
Not relief.
Something wrong.
Something hollow.
Her boots splashed through shallow puddles of crimson that reflected the dim light crawling across the stone walls. The smell of smoke still clung to her clothes from earlier battles, mixing with the copper scent of blood drifting through the passageways.
But none of it bothered her.
In fact—
she felt wonderful.
A smile stretched wider across her face.
Too wide.
Her eyes glimmered strangely beneath the flickering corridor light.
Not human.
Not entirely.
Behind her pupils, tiny golden fractures pulsed for fractions of seconds before disappearing again.
The whispers had stopped sounding like whispers long ago.
Now they sounded like friends.
Like family.
Like instinct itself.
"Good girl…"
The voice purred inside her skull.
Warm.
Affectionate.
Rotten.
Kimberly giggled.
"See?" she whispered to the empty hallway. "I told you this place was fun."
Her own voice echoed back at her slightly distorted.
Fun.
Fun.
Fun.
The corridor repeated the word like a mocking child.
Ahead of her—
the white door appeared.
The same door.
The false exit.
The sanctuary's favorite lie.
A pale light leaked beneath it, illuminating the blood smeared across the floor nearby.
Fresh blood.
Still wet.
Kimberly stopped walking.
Tilted her head.
And smiled wider.
"Someone's here."
The whispers hummed approvingly.
"Open it."
She obeyed immediately.
Her fingers wrapped around the handle.
Cold.
Wet.
Breathing.
The handle twitched faintly in her grip like muscle beneath skin.
Then—
the door slowly creaked open.
The pale light flooded outward.
And there—
standing on the other side—
was Dark.
Covered in blood.
His blood.
Their blood.
Everyone's blood.
Half his face was drenched crimson from the wound Alya had carved through his neck moments earlier. Blood continued pouring down his chest in heavy streams, soaking his clothes black-red.
One sleeve hung shredded from where Miriam's spikes had torn through his arm.
His hands trembled violently.
Not from fear.
From exhaustion.
From blood loss.
From madness.
And yet—
he was smiling.
That horrible smile.
Wide.
Empty.
Broken.
His eyes no longer looked human.
They looked starved.
Kimberly burst into laughter the moment she saw him.
Loud.
Sharp.
Uncontrollable.
"There you are!"
Dark tilted his head unnaturally.
Like a corpse trying to imitate curiosity.
In his right hand—
Alya's gun.
In his left—
the broken remains of Xia Jing's sword.
Its shattered edge dripped blood onto the floor one drop at a time.
Kimberly noticed immediately.
"Awww…" she mocked softly, stepping forward. "You broke your toy."
Dark said nothing.
The whispers answered for him.
"Kill her."
His body moved instantly.
He lunged forward.
Fast.
Far too fast.
The floor cracked beneath his feet as he sprinted toward her with murderous force.
Kimberly's grin widened.
Finally.
Something fun.
She reached beneath her jacket—
and pulled out a pistol.
Dark fired first.
BANG.
The muzzle flash illuminated the corridor in violent white.
Kimberly twisted sideways laughing as the bullet grazed her cheek, peeling flesh from beneath her eye in a spray of blood.
She barely reacted.
Instead—
she fired back.
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
Dark twisted violently as bullets tore through the corridor around him.
One pierced his shoulder.
Another ripped through the side of his abdomen.
The third shattered against the wall inches from his face.
Still—
he kept running.
Like pain no longer mattered.
Like his body was already dead and simply hadn't realized it yet.
Kimberly laughed harder.
"What are you?!" she screamed joyfully.
Dark reached her.
The broken sword swung downward toward her skull—
Kimberly reacted instantly.
A massive blade of fire erupted from her arm.
The flaming crescent collided against the sword.
BOOM.
The shattered weapon exploded apart violently.
Fragments of metal tore through both of them.
One shard embedded into Dark's cheek.
Another pierced Kimberly's stomach.
Neither cared.
Dark slammed the gun against her temple.
CRACK.
Bone split.
Kimberly staggered sideways laughing blood directly into his face.
Then drove her knife upward.
Straight into his neck.
The blade punched through flesh with a wet tearing sound.
Blood exploded across her hand.
Dark jerked violently—
but didn't stop.
Didn't scream.
Didn't even blink.
He smashed the pistol into her face again.
CRACK.
Her nose collapsed sideways.
Teeth sprayed from her mouth across the floor.
She answered by dragging the knife across his throat.
Skin opened.
Blood poured.
A bubbling gargling sound escaped him.
Still smiling.
Still trying to kill her.
The corridor became chaos.
Gunshots.
Laughter.
Blood.
Fire.
Metal.
Flesh splitting apart beneath repeated impacts.
Dark slammed her against the wall hard enough to crack stone.
Kimberly answered by stabbing him repeatedly in the ribs.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
The blade scraped bone.
Punctured lung.
Dark coughed blood directly into her eyes.
She laughed through it.
"YES!" she shrieked. "THAT'S IT!"
The whispers inside her head screamed with delight.
The sanctuary itself trembled around them.
It loved this.
Loved watching them destroy each other.
Dark grabbed her wrist suddenly.
Too hard.
Bones cracked instantly beneath his grip.
Kimberly screamed—
not in pain.
In ecstasy.
Her grin stretched wider than humanly possible.
And then—
something changed.
Dark saw it immediately.
Her eyes.
The glow behind them deepened.
Something else looked through her face now.
Something ancient.
Something hungry.
The voice that came from Kimberly's mouth next—
was not hers.
"You finally understand now, don't you?"
Dark froze.
Just for a second.
The thing inside Kimberly smiled at him.
"There was never an exit."
The hallway trembled beneath their footsteps.
Not from power.
From madness.
Kimberly laughed as she staggered backward through the ruined corridor, blood running from the massive wound Dark had opened across her forehead. The crimson liquid streamed down her face, across her lips, down her neck, soaking the collar of her jacket.
But she did not care.
Her smile only widened.
Too wide.
Far too wide for a human face.
Dark rushed toward her without hesitation.
His movements no longer resembled a person's. There was no rhythm, no caution, no readable intent. He moved like an animal driven by instinct alone—violent, sudden, wrong.
The pistol in his hand smashed against Kimberly's jaw.
CRACK.
Teeth exploded from her mouth in a spray of blood and enamel.
Her head snapped sideways violently enough to twist her neck at an unnatural angle.
Still smiling.
Still laughing.
She answered by plunging the knife upward.
The blade entered beneath Dark's ribs.
A wet sound followed.
The knife pierced deep into his abdomen before ripping sideways.
Flesh opened.
Blood spilled instantly.
Dark did not scream.
His empty eyes merely twitched.
Kimberly twisted the blade harder, dragging part of his stomach out with it in long, glistening strands.
The corridor floor became slick beneath them.
Blood mixed with rainwater and ash into thick crimson rivers that reflected the flickering firelight around them.
Dark grabbed her wrist.
Squeezed.
Bones cracked beneath his fingers.
Kimberly giggled through broken teeth.
"That hurts…"
Her voice sounded delighted.
Dark slammed his forehead into hers.
CRUNCH.
The impact shattered Kimberly's nose instantly. Bone fragments burst through skin. Blood exploded across both their faces.
She staggered backward—
Then laughed harder.
Louder.
Like a child enjoying a game.
Dark lunged again.
The pistol smashed into her temple repeatedly.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Four.
By the fifth strike, the skin above her eye had split completely open, exposing part of her skull beneath the torn flesh.
Kimberly retaliated by driving the knife into Dark's shoulder.
Then again into his chest.
Then directly through his left hand when he tried to grab her.
The blade pinned his palm briefly against his own body.
Dark ripped his hand free anyway.
The knife tore through flesh and tendons as it came out.
Two of his fingers barely remained attached.
Neither of them reacted.
Neither of them even slowed down.
Because pain no longer mattered.
Only violence.
Only destruction.
Only the beautiful insanity consuming the hallway itself.
Kimberly suddenly burst into laughter so intense that blood spilled from her mouth between each breath.
"LOOK AT US!"
She spread her arms theatrically.
"We're monsters now!"
Dark answered by firing the pistol directly into her stomach.
BANG.
The bullet tore through flesh and exited her lower back in a spray of blood and shredded tissue.
Kimberly folded slightly—
Then laughed again.
"THAT'S BETTER!"
Dark fired again.
BANG.
Her shoulder exploded apart.
The arm dangled uselessly now, connected mostly by strips of muscle and skin.
Still.
She kept moving.
Kept smiling.
Kept approaching him.
Like death itself wearing human skin.
The whispers inside the corridor grew louder.
Hundreds of voices.
Thousands.
Layered over one another.
"Kill her."
"Tear him apart."
"More."
"MORE."
The walls pulsed.
The mold spread unnaturally fast across the stone.
The lights overhead flickered violently.
The hallway itself was enjoying this.
Kimberly suddenly raised both hands.
Flames erupted instantly.
Not normal fire.
Black-red flames.
Thick.
Violent.
Hungry.
The temperature exploded upward.
Dark's clothes ignited immediately.
His skin began to blister.
Hair burned away in seconds.
Still he kept walking forward through the flames.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Like a corpse refusing to die.
Kimberly stared at him with genuine excitement.
"YES!"
"COME CLOSER!"
Dark tackled her violently.
Both of them crashed into the stone wall hard enough to crack it.
The fire spread everywhere instantly.
Up the walls.
Across the ceiling.
Through the blood covering the floor.
The entire corridor transformed into a furnace.
Dark grabbed Kimberly by the throat.
His burned fingers sank into charred flesh.
The smell was horrific.
Burning skin.
Boiling blood.
Cooked meat.
Kimberly stabbed him again.
And again.
And again.
Each thrust slower than the last as the fire consumed oxygen around them.
Dark answered by repeatedly smashing her skull against the wall.
Chunks of flesh stuck to the stone.
One of Kimberly's eyes burst from the socket under the impacts, hanging partially from the nerves.
Still laughing.
Still smiling.
Even while dying.
Their flesh blackened rapidly.
Skin split open from the heat.
Fat melted beneath exposed muscle.
The fire crawled inside open wounds, roasting organs while they were still alive.
Dark's lips burned away first.
Then part of his cheek.
His exposed teeth reflected orange firelight as he stared at Kimberly with those empty, dead eyes.
Kimberly could barely breathe anymore.
Smoke filled her lungs.
Her voice came out broken now.
Wet.
Dying.
"This…"
"This is perfect…"
Dark tilted his head slowly.
Then—
For the first time—
He smiled back.
Not happiness.
Not satisfaction.
Just pure madness.
Two shattered souls laughing at the end of the world.
The flames swallowed them completely.
Their bodies collapsed together onto the burning floor.
Even then…
Even as their flesh carbonized…
Even as their organs turned to ash…
The hallway still echoed with laughter.
And the whispers whispered one final thing.
"Beautiful."
The flames kept growing.
Not upward.
Outward.
They crawled across the stone floor like starving predators, devouring everything they touched. Mold blackened instantly. Ancient moisture evaporated with violent hisses. The walls cracked under the heat, glowing faintly orange beneath centuries of rot.
And in the middle of that living inferno—
Dark and Kimberly kept laughing.
Not human laughter.
Not even insanity anymore.
Something worse.
Two broken creatures ripping each other apart while the world burned around them.
Dark slammed the pistol against Kimberly's skull again.
CRACK.
Bone shifted beneath her skin.
Blood exploded from her scalp, running down her face in thick streams before evaporating from the heat. Part of her forehead had already caved inward slightly from the repeated impacts, exposing flashes of white bone beneath charred flesh.
But Kimberly only laughed harder.
"YES—!! THAT'S IT!!"
Her voice sounded distorted, layered.
Like multiple mouths were speaking through her throat at once.
She drove the knife upward.
The blade entered beneath Dark's ribs.
Then deeper.
Metal scraped against bone before puncturing through muscle and lung tissue.
A wet choking sound escaped his mouth as blood flooded upward into his throat.
Still smiling.
Still laughing.
Dark grabbed her wrist violently and bent it backward.
SNAP.
Her arm twisted unnaturally.
The broken bone pierced through her skin near the elbow, jutting outward in a slick, blood-covered spike.
Kimberly shrieked—
Not in pain.
In excitement.
Fire exploded from her body.
Not controlled flames anymore.
Wild.
Unstable.
The corridor itself seemed to scream as the temperature surged higher.
Dark's clothes ignited instantly.
Flames wrapped around his torso, arms, neck, consuming fabric and skin together. Blisters formed across his flesh in seconds, swelling before bursting open into streams of clear fluid and blood.
The skin on his hands split apart.
Fat beneath began melting.
Still he moved forward.
Kimberly's own flesh was already blackening.
Parts of her cheek peeled away as she laughed, exposing glistening teeth and cooked muscle underneath. One of her eyes had begun boiling inside its socket, the liquid spilling down her face like melted wax.
Yet her grin never disappeared.
"WE'RE GOING TO DIE TOGETHER!!"
Dark answered by smashing his forehead into hers.
CRUNCH.
Her nose collapsed completely.
Fragments of cartilage and teeth scattered across the burning floor.
The flames intensified again.
Both bodies were becoming unrecognizable.
Dark's hair burned away completely. His skin split open across his shoulders and chest, revealing muscle fibers cooking beneath the fire. His exposed wounds sizzled audibly.
Kimberly stabbed him again.
And again.
And again.
Each stab slower than the last as her burned muscles stopped responding correctly.
Dark responded with raw violence.
He slammed her against the wall hard enough to crack stone.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The back of her skull burst open during the final impact, spraying blood, gray matter, and fragments of bone across the burning corridor.
But even then—
She kept laughing.
The whispers inside the hallway had become deafening now.
Hundreds of voices.
Thousands.
All screaming at once.
"BURN."
"TEAR."
"KILL."
"AGAIN."
The corridor itself was enjoying this.
Dark suddenly grabbed Kimberly by the throat.
His fingers sank into burned flesh effortlessly.
Skin detached beneath his grip like wet paper.
He squeezed harder.
Her throat collapsed inward with a disgusting crunch.
Still smiling, Kimberly raised her burned hand and touched his face almost gently.
Half her fingers no longer had skin.
Charred tendons flexed visibly as she caressed his cheek.
"You… look… happy…"
Dark's smile widened further.
Too wide.
His burned lips split apart at the corners, tearing upward toward his cheeks.
Then he laughed again.
A horrible sound.
Wet.
Broken.
Animalistic.
The fire reached the ceiling.
Chunks of burning stone began collapsing around them.
The hallway was dying.
But neither of them tried to escape.
Kimberly suddenly pulled Dark closer.
Their foreheads touched.
Smoke poured from both bodies.
"Let's disappear together…"
Dark didn't answer.
Maybe he couldn't anymore.
The fire had already destroyed most of his throat.
Then Kimberly unleashed everything.
Every remaining fragment of flame inside her body erupted outward at once.
The explosion swallowed the corridor.
For one instant—
Everything became white.
The blast tore flesh from bone.
Dark's left arm disintegrated first, reduced to black ash instantly. Fire consumed his exposed ribs, his jaw, his eye socket. The remaining eye inside his skull burst from the pressure with a wet pop.
Kimberly's torso ruptured completely.
Her abdomen exploded outward, scattering burning organs across the floor. One leg detached at the knee. Her spine became briefly visible through the flames before collapsing into cinders.
Their blood evaporated before touching the ground.
Still—
Through the roar of the inferno—
Their laughter continued.
Until finally…
It didn't.
Silence.
Only fire remained.
The corridor burned quietly now.
Like a funeral pyre built for broken souls.
And at the center of it all—
Two blackened skeletons collapsed beside each other.
Still reaching forward.
As if, even in death…
Neither one wanted to be alone.