The boy opened his eyes.
And the world was wrong.
Everything had frozen. The golden creature mid-lunge, the knights with their swords half-drawn, even the blood in the air hung suspended like crimson dew. Time itself had stopped.
And in front of him…
Something crouched.
Ten meters tall, its skin a grotesque, pulsing red, arms too long for its twisted frame, fingers dragging along the ground like knotted roots. Its head…
The boy's mind recoiled.
It wasn't a face. It was a thing, a shifting nightmare of angles and teeth and eyes that blinked in wrong directions.
And it was laughing.
"Heh… heh… heh…"
The sound slithered into the boy's skull, sticky like oil. His fingers scrambled for the dagger beside him.
Then froze.
The creature tilted its head.
"Oh? Still fighting?"
Its voice was a chorus, too many tones at once, some high like a child's giggle, others deep enough to tremble the earth.
The boy's throat tightened.
"W-what are you?"
"Heh… heh…"
The creature's neck rotated, spinning in a full, impossible circle before snapping back into place.
"So unoriginal. Always the same question."
It leaned in, its breath reeking of iron and burnt sugar.
"Better question, what do YOU want?"
The boy didn't hesitate.
"Vengeance."
The creature went still.
"BORING!"
It threw its arms up, the motion sending ripples through the frozen air.
"Vengeance? Revenge? So small. So petty."
Its voice dropped, suddenly serious.
"Why not burn it all down instead?"
The boy blinked.
The creature's grin stretched wider.
"This world. This Tower. These people."
A clawed finger gestured at the frozen knights, the smirking girl.
"They built this hell. They feed on the weak. They enjoy it."
Its voice twisted, mocking.
"Oh, but they'll call you a monster if you fight back. How dare you bite the hand that chains you?"
The boy's hands clenched.
The creature's many eyes gleamed.
"So? What's your answer?"
The boy didn't speak.
He thought of Ingward's corpse. Of the girl's cold dismissal. Of the way the knights had watched.
His chest burned.
"Yes."
The creature's laughter shook the air.
"Good. Then… give me your heart."
Silence.
The boy stared.
"...What?"
"Your heart, little meat."
The creature tapped its own chest, the sound like a hammer on rotted wood.
"Not the fleshy thing in your ribs. The real one. The one that burns."
The boy hesitated.
Then—
He plunged the dagger into his own chest.
The pain was everything.
He screamed, tears streaming down his face as he carved through muscle and bone, his fingers slick with his own blood. But he didn't stop. Couldn't stop.
And then—
He held it.
His heart. Beating. Glowing faintly in his palms.
He wasn't dead.
But the pain was still there.
The creature loomed closer, drooling.
"Ahhh… there it is."
It reached out.
The boy jerked back, clutching the heart to his chest.
"No. The power first."
A beat.
Then the creature howled with laughter, its body contorting in impossible glee.
"HEH… HEH… HEH…! FINE!"
It leaned in, its breath hot against the boy's ear.
"Let's see how long you last, little monster." The world shattered