The echo of screams and moans faded, plunging the Dragon Bar into a deadly silence. Only Pratt Zanola's weak groan cut through the darkness—he was the sole living soul amid the carnage.
Bound to a chair by heavy chains, Pratt croaked, "Okay, okay… Let's talk."
"I'll give you a hundred gold coins, prime land in In Medias Res… and a few slave girls for your pleasure."
Zack and K remained utterly silent. A candle was lit beside Pratt's eye, so close its flame trembled against his skin. As Zack leaned in, a cold smile curved his lips. The Black Eyes of the Void bore into Pratt, who now trembled in sweat, gasping for air.
"Speak up, you bastard!" Zack snapped—but Pratt stayed mute.
On the floor, the scattered bodies emitted a strange whisper: a thin, high-pitched groan that swelled into delirious laughter. The severed heads cracked unnatural smiles; blue eyes flared like beacons, bathing the room in pure, ghostly light.
"What the hell is this?!" Pratt screamed, panic overtaking him.
"My God, this is sick…" He covered his ears, but the dead kept on laughing.
In a twisted chorus, the corpses chanted:
"The night comes… the black bird has flown… our children have rotted… what remains? Only our eyes… BUT SKULL stole them! Skull is coming! Hahaha, oh great Skull!"
It was a mad anthem.
Zack pulled his hand away from Pratt's ears and growled, "Listen, you son of a bitch! Where is Mel?"
Pratt writhed, biting his own lips until blood ran down his chin. His violet eyes spun in spirals. Sanity fled him.
"Mel… I gave her to the monst—"
In a single swift motion, Black Moon rose and, in an instant, Pratt's head landed on the floor, even as his final, crazed laughter echoed.
K shouted with fury, "He delivered himself! That bastard got the end he deserved!"
Zack raised his arm, eyes aflame, "What end, K? Every day, we feed the Void—and nobody cares!"
K fell silent—she knew the bitter truth. The hunt never changed; it only fueled the darkness's appetite.
Zack roared, "Go on, K. I'll finish the job and purge every last soul here before they summon a Void beast. The negative energy is too strong."
K clenched her fists, "I'm not leaving you—stop talking nonsense."
She stepped closer, locking eyes with him. For a heartbeat, they faced each other.
"I'm sorry…" Zack whispered, his voice cracking.
In an instant, K struck him with a solid punch to the mouth. Zack tumbled to the floor, Black Moon landing atop him. Blood trickled from his lips.
They lay frozen for a moment. Then hoarse laughter burst from both of them—and joined the lingering echoes of the severed heads.
Zack pulled himself up, wiped blood from his mouth, and grinned:
"Let's finish this, K."
There, surrounded by choking smoke and famished shadows, they readied themselves for the final strike in the Dragon Bar.
The putrid mist oozed through the crack of the half-open door, spilling along the creaking corridors of the Dragon Bar. Zack and K pressed forward in silence, the Skull's infernal laughter thundering in their ears. Black veins crawled across the walls, linking the profane hall to the corridor—a living conduit of dark energy.
"Door by door," Zack murmured, voice as cold as steel. "We finish the nobles, free the slaves, destroy everything trapped here."
K clutched the parchment to her chest. With every step, the ritual's whispers swelled into a maddening chant.
First Door
They kicked down the frame. Inside, a noble couple toasted over mutilated corpses. Black Moon sang in Zack's hand: a single, precise strike severed the man's head; a second blow hurled the woman into the marble wall, splintering bone and staining the stone red.
K invoked Fraco, swapping the noble's blade-strength into her own limbs and cracking open a slave's shackles. He bolted away, tears of relief in his eyes.
Note: Each use of Fraco drains K's stamina—she could feel exhaustion creeping into her bones.
Second Door
Laughter and moans echoed through the corridor. Dark energy coalesced into a nightmarish horror: sixteen twisted heads, gaping maws and spiraling eyes. Some wept in sorrow, others roared with manic glee.
"K, break the ritual!" Zack ordered, planting Black Moon into the floor to raise a shadow-shield.
K drew her purifying vial and recited the ancient incantation. As the verses echoed, freed abominations from the bar's shattered cages lunged forward.
She danced in fluid capoeira sweeps and brass-knuckle punches, shattering ribs and cracking skulls. Every swap of Fraco transferred the monsters' brute force into her strikes—yet each was a step closer to collapse.
K's Thought: I've burned half my energy… any moment now I'll freeze.
Confrontation with the Main Entity
Zack stormed toward the ritual's heart. Amid the chaos, Pratt Zanola's mocking laughter rang out: his head spun in spirals, violet eyes glaring vengeance.
"Pratt!" Zack bellowed, gripping Black Moon. "Look what you've become!"
Pratt jeered, "Justice? Only more death!"
Zack's eyes hardened. "No. I bring vengeance."
He struck his breastplate twice, the metal ringing like funeral drums. A dark spark flared, weaving crackling black lightning around him.
The Power Fulfills Itself
"Come, thunder!" Zack roared.
A storm of shadowed lightning erupted, ebony veining from his eyes down his arms. The tamed Void power lashed out, shredding the nightmare's cores. Heads slammed together until they burst in a cascade of dark shards.
Post-Battle
The corridor trembled, the chant splintering into a final scream of agony. Sparks of steel and drifting ash danced in the hush before settling. The air reeked of burnt metal and arcane residue.
K sank to her knees, lungs heaving. The parchment lay reduced to dust; the vial lay shattered. She raised weary eyes to Zack.
He approached, aura still crackling. Wiping blood from his lip, he offered her a hand.
"We're done," he whispered.
She nodded, voice raw: "The Void endures… but not here."
Together, they stepped through the Dragon Bar's threshold into the silence of their hard-won victory.