"Why… why us?" Kage's voice trembled in the dark. "Why always us? I'm tired, Weller. I'm so damn tired."
Weller slowed his steps. The torchlight painted deep hollows beneath his eyes, shadows that spoke of sleepless nights and wounds left unhealed. For a long moment he said nothing. Then his tone softened—gentler than Kage had ever heard it.
"When I was a child," Weller began, "I heard stories about my family. About my poor mother. But she never...,never showed me the truth,she could have gotten rid of me,but she didn't, she never, but always loved me without asking anything in return. And I realized something: if a human hates, he'll hate until his last breath. If he loves, he'll love the same way—till the very end. That's all we are. Hate and love, both chains we never break."
Kage swallowed, his throat dry.
Weller stopped walking and turned toward him. His fists were trembling, but his eyes burned steady. "But don't you have someone you love? Someone who gave you a promise?, someone who you made a promise to?, Remember that, Kage. It's not over until you fulfill it. I swear to you—I'll get you out of here alive. And you… promise me you'll do the same for me."
The cavern seemed to pause, listening.
Kage's lips parted, shaking. Memories clawed back—faces, smiles, warmth . His chest tightened. "I… I remember. I do." He looked at Weller, his eyes glistening. "And I promise. We'll catch that bastard. We'll finish this. And then… we'll leave."
Their words echoed through the cavern, a fragile vow in a place that devoured hope.
---
On the other side, Hakari and Nicolas had chosen their path.
"Alright," Hakari muttered, breath catching in his throat. "Here we go."
The darkness was a suffocating ocean. Their footsteps stirred whispers across stone. The air carried the damp scent of rot, and in the unseen distance came the skitter of legs, the chirping of bats, the hiss of cockroaches.
"Hell," Hakari whispered, voice unsteady. "We're deep… too deep."
"Luckily," Nicolas grunted, lifting a branch, "I picked this up before we entered." He snapped his fingers, a small flame crawling across the stick's tip. The sudden light bled across stone, stretching shadows like black serpents slithering away.
"Now we can see clearly." Nicolas lifted the torch forward. The tunnel stretched ahead,. To the right—nothing. But to the left—
Hakari froze. His pupils shrank. "What the… fuck."
At first he thought them cockroaches—just insects. But they weren't. They were colossal, their shells like black stone, their mandibles glistening with slime. Each one was larger than a man, feasting on bats torn from the ceiling. Their wings buzzed with a vibration that rattled his bones.
Hakari gagged. "What the hell are those—"
"Move," Nicolas hissed, grabbing his arm. They slid past, hearts pounding as the creatures cracked bat bones in their jaws, too consumed to notice the intruders.
When at last the sound faded behind them, Hakari doubled over. "Ufff… gods. I'm still seeing it. Those things. Eating—" His voice broke. "What the fuck are those creatures?"
Nicolas shook his head grimly. "Things that should not exist."
---
The tunnel opened wider. In the gloom, something shifted.
Hakari narrowed his eyes. "What is that? A bug?"
They drew closer. The torchlight revealed a shape—long and coiled. Its body was serpentine, scales glistening wet like oil. But its head… too large, grotesquely swollen. It was feasting, jaw buried in something unidentifiable on the ground.
"I can't see its face," Hakari whispered.
"Don't try," Nicolas answered. "As long as it's eating, we move."
On their toes, they crept. Step. Step. Step. Their heels never touched the ground. Every sound felt like a hammer blow.
But then Nicolas froze. His breath caught in his chest.
"Hakari…"
Hakari frowned. "What? Don't stop—"
His eyes followed Nicolas' stare. And realization struck like lightning.
"We've fallen," Nicolas whispered hoarsely. "Right into its trap."
The creature stirred. Slowly—agonizingly—it turned.
The torchlight spilled over its face. Hakari's stomach twisted. His knees nearly buckled.
The thing's mouth stretched across its forehead, jagged teeth dripping. Below its nose were its eyes—black pits that swam with hunger. Its ears flared outward, vast and wrinkled like an elephant's. The proportions were wrong, twisted, like a would say god's cruel experiment,but the thing is, this was not god's.
Then it screamed.
The sound was low, but louder than thunder—so piercing it stabbed their eardrums like a thousand needles. Hakari clutched his head, agony ripping through him.
"AAAH! It's—like my skull is splitting!"
"If he keeps this up," Nicolas roared, blood trickling from his ear, "we'll lose our hearing—maybe worse!"
The monster slithered forward, each movement shaking the stone.
---
Elsewhere, Yushi stumbled blind through a narrowing corridor. The air was thick, choking. His hands grazed stone slick with moisture.
"Where… the fuck… am I?" His voice cracked, breaking against silence.
Then—light. A butterfly. Burning, golden-red. It fluttered before him, its wings leaving trails of fire in the air.
"What the hell—" Yushi gasped, but his legs moved, chasing the light.
His mind frayed. Endless walls. Endless turns. No end. His knees buckled. He collapsed to the stone, pressing his forehead against it. "I can't. I'm too weak. Too tired. Too lost."
The butterfly's glow dimmed.
Then a voice whispered. Not in his ears, but in his mind.
Walk. Continue. Crawl if you must.
"I can't," Yushi croaked. "I'm… I'm done."
The voice spoke again, only two lines:
For me, how much are you willing to sacrifice?
Yushi's eyes flew wide. His heart pounded. The words struck like an arrow, piercing marrow and memory.
His lips moved without thought. "For you, my dear… I'll do anything. Everything."
His body shook, his vision blurred. "What—what did I just say?" His breath trembled. "Why?"
But the butterfly blazed brighter, and Yushi forced himself upright. His legs trembled, but he moved. Forward. Always forward.
---
Far away, Weller and Kage pressed on. Their bodies bore bruises, their arms bore cuts, but their eyes carried fire.
At last they reached a chamber. The air shifted—heavy, electric.
They stepped inside. And froze.
In the center of the chamber floated a cube. Inside it, pulsing with bright light, was the— Code Crystal. Its glow painted their faces in shifting colors, filling their chests with awe and dread alike.
Kage's throat went dry. "Code Crystal"
Weller's fists clenched. "Yes. It is,it sure is."
---
Meanwhile, Hakari and Nicolas faced the abomination. The monster coiled, body rising high, eyes gleaming with hunger.
Hakari's chest heaved. His instincts screamed to flee. But his feet planted firm. "Nicolas. I have… a gamble."
Nicolas snarled. "Now's not the time—"
"If I control it—we win. If not… I lose."
"What?"
Hakari's hand lifted, his voice low but firm. "Hai-Key, Command… Miracle."
Light flared. Nicolas vanished.
Hakari's heart hammered. "Shit—did it fail? Did I just—"
The monster launches his attack, But before the monster could strike, a fist erupted from behind its skull. Bone cracked. Flesh tore.
Nicolas reappeared, his arm buried in the beast's head. With a roar, he crushed its skull in a single blow. The abomination fell, thrashing, then collapsed lifeless.
Hakari staggered back, wide-eyed. "Wha—what? Did… it work?"
Nicolas pulled his fist free, breathing hard. Blood dripped down his arm, but he was smiling—just barely. "Your command is ridiculous. I was gone. In a void. An eternity of nothing. But somehow… I saw a light. I pushed through it. And when I came back…" He glanced at the monster's corpse. "I killed it."
Hakari exhaled, his chest burning. "Then… the gamble paid off."
"Yeah." Nicolas smirked faintly. "This time."
Hakari's vision blurred, but he forced himself steady. "Tch… only twenty seconds, and it nearly drained half my energy reserves."
They stood together, panting, gazes locked on the endless dark ahead.
"There are still many challenges," Hakari said grimly. "More than we can imagine."
Nicolas nodded. "Then we keep moving. With caution."
---
In three different paths, three storms moved forward.
Hakari and Nicolas, stepping over corpses.
Weller and Kage, standing before a glowing crystal.
Yushi, chasing a butterfly of fire through endless dark.
Each of them uncertain. Each of them trembling.
But all of them—moving beyond.
Beyond the walls.
Beyond the cave.
Beyond their imagination.