The forest ended.
It didn't fade into meadow or dissolve into gentle slopes of grass. No—one moment there were trees, choking and clawing at their every step, branches slashing like skeletal fingers, and the next… there was nothing.
The three of them stumbled into open air, their momentum nearly carrying them off the edge. Rick caught himself at the last possible instant, boots skidding against loose stone. His heart lurched violently as he dragged Piu back from the lip. Sun, pale and panting, swayed dangerously close to the drop before falling to his knees, dagger still clutched in trembling hands.
Before them yawned a chasm that defied reason. It wasn't simply deep—it was infinite, a wound torn into the flesh of the world. Crimson light pulsed far below, veins of molten glow threading through the darkness like arteries of some monstrous heart. Every pulse shook the ridge, a low vibration that thrummed in their bones. The air tasted of iron, sharp and metallic, coating their tongues with the flavor of blood.
Behind them, the forest writhed.
Branches twisted as if alive, leaning outward as though unwilling to shield them any longer. Shadows bled from the treeline, thickening, stretching forward like smoke made solid. And then—he emerged.
Devil.
He didn't need speed. He didn't need rage. His calm, measured pace was far more terrifying than any mad charge. Each footfall sank into the earth, splitting cracks outward, the world bending to acknowledge his dominion. His crimson eyes glowed steady now—no flicker of humanity left. And his smile… cold, sharp, merciless… belonged to something that had never known compassion.
Piu's sob caught in her throat. She pressed against Rick, her small fingers digging into his arm. Rick barely felt the pain. His own chest burned from earlier, the cursed wound scorched into him still glowing faintly, but he refused to show weakness. Not now. Not in front of her.
Sun dragged himself upright, knuckles white around the hilt of his dagger. It looked pitiful, a toy in his shaking hands. His breaths came ragged, but his eyes fixed on Devil nonetheless.
"Stay back!" Sun shouted, though his voice cracked under the weight of fear.
Devil stopped at the edge of the shadows. The silence that followed was worse than noise—it was expectation, inevitability. The abyss seemed to lean closer, crimson light flaring, as though it too awaited his command.
"You can flee," Devil said at last. His voice was soft, smooth, but carried easily across the abyss. It wasn't simply sound—it was pressure, vibrating through the marrow of their bones. "But you cannot escape the claim of blood."
The ridge trembled. Pebbles slid into the void, vanishing into the glow. Piu whimpered, clutching Rick tighter. He wrapped his arm around her, shielding her with what little strength he had left.
"If it's blood you want," Rick rasped, his throat raw, "take mine. But leave them."
Devil tilted his head, studying him. Amusement flickered across his sharp features, like a cat toying with prey. "Loyalty," he murmured. "How quaint."
He raised his hand. Shadows obeyed instantly.
They surged forward in a tide of black tendrils, writhing like serpents, devouring stone, swallowing light. Sun lunged to meet them, slashing desperately. Steel screeched against unnatural darkness. Every strike dissolved a tendril for a heartbeat, only for it to reform thicker, hungrier, closer.
"Move, Rick!" Sun shouted, his voice hoarse. "Get her out of here!"
But Rick didn't move. His boots felt cemented to the stone. The abyss loomed in front of him, Devil's crimson eyes blazed behind, and the tide of shadow rushed to close every escape. His mind screamed for him to run, but his body refused. He couldn't leave. Not while Piu's terrified sobs shivered against his chest.
A tendril shot forward.
It wrapped around his throat with blinding speed, burning cold as it seared into his skin. Rick gasped, the air torn from his lungs. His feet lifted from the ground, his body dragged forward toward the abyss.
"RICK!" Piu shrieked. She lunged, clawing at the tendril with bare hands, but another lash of shadow knocked her aside. She hit the ground hard, dust rising around her as she coughed violently.
Sun slashed desperately at the tendril, sparks shrieking as steel met shadow, but it was like cutting smoke. The tendril reformed instantly, squeezing tighter. Rick's vision blurred. His chest screamed, his veins burned with fire and ice all at once.
Devil's laughter followed, rolling low and hollow, echoing across the abyss. It wasn't human. It wasn't madness. It was inevitability, ancient and cruel, as though the abyss itself were laughing through him.
Rick clawed at his throat, fighting to breathe. The crimson light below pulsed brighter, as if responding to Devil's claim. The abyss wasn't simply a pit. It was alive. It was listening. And it wanted him.
Piu screamed his name again, crawling forward despite the shadows lashing at her. Sun stood at her side, his dagger shaking but raised, eyes burning with desperate defiance. Together, they looked so small—two fragile sparks against a storm that could devour worlds.
And yet—
For the faintest moment, Devil's hand trembled. His crimson eyes flickered. The smile faltered. Somewhere, buried deep beneath the infernal glow, a whisper of the man they had once called their friend stirred.
"Run…" The word was faint, almost lost beneath the abyss's roar. But it was Devil's true voice.
Rick's eyes widened. His body screamed in protest, but he twisted, kicking desperately against the tendril. Sun surged forward, slashing wildly, not to destroy but to distract. For a single heartbeat, the shadows recoiled. Enough for Rick to wrench free.
He collapsed to the stone, coughing, clutching his burning throat. Piu scrambled to him instantly, pulling him up with shaking hands. Sun grabbed his other arm.
"Move!" Sun shouted. "Now!"
They stumbled backward, dragging each other. The shadows surged again, Devil's hesitation gone. His eyes blazed brighter, his voice echoing like thunder.
"You cannot run from what you are…"
"You cannot fight the blood…"
"The claim is eternal…"
The abyss split wider, stone crumbling beneath their feet. Every step they took was a gamble between ground and nothingness. The world itself seemed to unravel around them.
And still they ran.
Branches whipped their faces, roots clawed at their boots, though there were no more trees—only shadows, twisting into grotesque shapes, reaching to drag them back. The abyss roared, crimson veins throbbing, the very air saturated with the stench of iron and smoke.
Behind them, Devil followed. He did not rush. He did not need to. His footsteps were slow, deliberate, inevitable, each one shaking the ridge as though the earth itself bowed to his presence.
Rick's lungs burned. Piu sobbed as she clung to his arm. Sun hacked a path through living shadow with his useless dagger, his strength failing but his will unbroken. They stumbled, scrambled, fought against the very world—and still Devil came.
Until the ridge split beneath their feet.
With a thunderous crack, the stone gave way. Piu screamed as the ground dropped, Sun cursed, and Rick grabbed desperately for anything to hold. His fingers caught jagged rock, slicing his palm open, blood dripping into the abyss below.
The crimson glow surged violently.
And then—
A single tendril of shadow lashed upward, coiling around Rick's throat once more.
His eyes met Devil's across the distance. Those crimson fires blazed, merciless and eternal. The abyss answered with a roar.
The last sound before the world vanished was Devil's laughter—low, endless, inhuman—as the night itself closed its jaws around them.