The last hunter crawled up from the ground, his face scraped, blood running from his nose. His sword shook in his grip, his eyes wide with fear.
He looked left, saw one brother choking for air. He looked right, saw the other coughing blood. His knees bent, trembling, as he stared at Liu Yang.
Liu Yang stood there, shadow long on the wall, his horns sharp, his eyes glowing faint. He raised his hand slow, pointed one finger at him.
"Next. The Last Hunter."
And then—
[System Anomaly Detected]
Liu Yang blinked fast. His head jerked. "Eh—what the fuck?!"
[Foreign Interface Detected]
[Unkno?? Sou??ce… Taking… Co??ntro??]
[Checking Permissions…]
His body stiffened, his finger still pointing, his chest rising sharp, his breath caught halfway.
[Permission: Granted]
"What—wait, wait, wait! Taking control?! Of me?! This is not funny! Who the hell hacks a System in the middle of a fight?!" Liu Yang shouted, his voice cracking.
But his arm moved by itself. His finger twitched without him wanting it to.
[H??st… Over??de… In Pro??ress.....]
"Oi oi oi! This isn't some VR game! Don't you dare puppet me like some NPC!"
[H??st… Over??de… In Pro??ress.....]
His eyes went wide, panic crawling up his neck. "Wait wait wait! Hold on! This is just three low-level hunters! I don't need some hidden plot armour hack to save me here! Save that for a dragon or at least a final boss!"
[H??st… Over??de… In Pro??ress.....]
[???? Sou??? Taken over host]
"Wait… what… where am I?"
It was dark all around him, no light, no sound, just dark, it felt like a place where nothing lived and nothing moved.
He was floating there, his body see-through, not flesh but like smoke, his arms and legs light like air, and there was nothing under his feet, no ground, no floor, no wall to lean on, just him hanging in that empty space that looked like it had no end.
"Helloooo… helloooo…" He yelled long, his arms waving, but even his own voice didn't echo back. The silence ate it.
[Ahem, Ahem… Attention Host. Due to mysterious interference from ???, your soul has been temporarily yeeted into a Safe Zone.]
[Don't panic. Your body is fine. Probably.]
[Estimated time until re-entry: a few minutes.]
[And while you wait—good news! You finally get your anime opening music.]
[Better news: No copyright strikes! This world isn't under any multiverse licensing agreements.]
[Sing loud, Host. Even if you butcher the lyrics, no lawyers can touch you.]
Liu Yang's mouth dropped. His brows twisted. "What the hell is this—did you just turn my near-death into an anime opening?!"
"Oi Oi Oi Oi, System! Why no copyright? Why can I do anything here?!"
[Because here, Host, you are nothing but a floating soul in an empty void.]
[No audience. No witnesses. No one to complain.]
[You can scream, sing, or bark like a dog… nobody cares.]
[Even copyright lawyers can't find you here.]
Liu Yang's face went blank, his mouth twitching. "Wait—did you just—"
Meanwhile, in the real world.
The hunter's sword rattled in his grip. The blade quivered, scraping against the torchlight. His lips moved, but no words came out, only dry air slipping through his teeth.
Liu Yang's grin was still there, but it wasn't the same grin from before. It stretched longer, sharper, colder.
His finger moved through the air, slow and steady, like judgment being passed down, like a judge calling the end of a trial.
The torchlight shook in the hunter's hand. The flames bent, shadows stretched long across the wall, twisting and growing until Liu Yang's shadow wasn't a boy's shadow anymore—it was a monster standing tall behind him.
Then his body blurred. He was gone. Just gone. Like the cave swallowed him whole, like a shadow crawling back into the dark.
The last hunter stood stiff. His knees locked. His sword pointed forward, but his arms shook. His eyes darted left, then right, searching. He didn't even realize. He didn't even feel it. Liu Yang was already behind him.
His eyes gleamed black in the dark, cold and hollow. His hair hung straight and still, not moving even when the air trembled around him. His hand dropped down light, soft, tapping the hunter's shoulder like one friend greeting another.
The hunter froze. His jaw fell open wide. His skin crawled. Goosebumps rose sharp, stabbing all over his body. His legs shook so hard his armor clattered. Slowly, shaking, his head turned, like he didn't want to see, but couldn't stop himself.
And there it was—Liu Yang's face. Close. Too close. His mouth stretched wide in a whisper grin.
"Peek-a-boo…"
The sound slipped into his ear like a sharp knife.
Liu Yang leaned in closer. His voice dropped low, heavy, pressing against his bones.
"Who's the clown now… tell me… tell me."