"Wait for me! If I'm going to die, I won't go down alone!" shouted Lucien.
"Go to hell!" Asti shot back, still running.
"Come on, at least let me run next to you! That way, if they catch me, they'll catch you too!" Lucien teased.
"Your new lung has made you completely insane, I swear! You'd better not get anywhere near me!" Asti retorted, picking up his pace, with Lucien hot on his heels.
"Darlius, you hear that too?" asked Simone.
"Yeah, there are people coming," Darlius replied.
"Are they really that eager to kill us or what?" grumbled Aconé.
As he ran, Lucien tripped. Thinking it was the lunatics from outside, he grabbed Asti's ankle, causing him to fall too. The two rolled on the ground before coming to a stop.
Lying on the ground, staring up at the wall, Asti said, "This is the last time we team up, you and me, Lucien. It's like you want to get yourself killed!"
Simone, trapped in a cage, overheard Asti. "You two, get us out of here!" she yelled.
"And who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?" Asti replied, sarcastic.
"Are you doing this on purpose? It's Simone!" Lucien cut in.
"No, it might not be her. And I'll remind you, I'm not listening to you—you're not in your right mind," Asti snapped.
"I feel fine, though," Lucien insisted.
"And me? Do you recognize my voice?" called Aconé.
Just from the sound of his voice, Lucien knew it was Aconé. He walked up to the cage where Aconé was and stopped in front of him.
"You know, the cannibal we fought said he'd sent someone after you. Honestly, I thought you were dead. But no, you're still alive. So I'm guessing you killed your pursuer, which means you could help us in this fight," Lucien said.
"Lucien, calm down," Asti said, grabbing his arm.
"Let me finish!" Lucien growled, shoving Asti back.
"You know, until today, I was still suffering from that fight. I lost a lung, and even though I was alive, I could feel it—if I didn't find a solution, I was done for!" Lucien shouted.
A heavy silence followed. Aconé knew his actions had been cowardly, selfish, and wrong.
"But dwelling on the past won't get me anywhere. If you're alive today, it means you've chosen to face this world as it is: terrifying, unjust, horrible. And me, I got my lung back… But if you come back with us and pull something like that again, I swear I'll hunt you down across this entire planet!" Lucien threatened.
"Wait, you got your lung back?" Simone asked, stunned.
Asti explained what he had seen.
"I see, I see… But then, if she used a Mantra to heal him, she must have Mantras to create barriers," Simone whispered.
"That makes sense. So, offensive and defensive ones, maybe more," Aconé added.
"Yeah, but for now, let's focus on the barriers," Simone decided.
"You said she used a cup and mentioned the word [Infinity]. It'd make sense to think it's a God, and the cup was an altar for the ritual," Simone analyzed.
"But what does an altar look like? They can take all sorts of forms," Lucien pointed out.
"Wait, for your ritual, she had to use her blood. So that doesn't mean she always uses blood for her rituals," Asti shared.
"What are you thinking, then?" Simone asked.
"Plants, inscriptions, or carvings, followed by a chant," Asti replied, inspecting Simone's cage.
"Yeah, that's it," he said, examining the other cages. "On the top of each cage's door, there's the same mark: an open eye."
"Well, destroy it so we can get out of here!" Aconé shouted.
Picking up a sword lying on the ground, Asti moved to destroy the symbol. But at the last moment, Lucien stopped him.
"What's wrong with you now?" Asti snapped, glaring at Lucien before noticing the seriousness in his eyes.
"If you do that, we're all going to die," Lucien declared.
His words brought an immediate, grave silence.
"What do you mean?" Asti asked.
"I don't know exactly, but I can tell you this: if you destroy that symbol, something like the pressure we felt outside will come for us—and it'll kill us."