The scream of someone kept ringing in the air, sending chills through everyone, as if a demon was trying to escape from its cage.
Viktor was the fastest of the three. He stopped for a moment before spotting the ritual site: six cult members gathered in a circle around the ritual space, where a beating heart lay at the center and a chained woman knelt beside it.
The heart throbbed as though alive, pulsing steadily as the woman kept screaming in pain. A mark glowed faintly over her eyes, similar to Viktor's own, but hers was slowly fading. Black tears began to pour from her eyes, sliding down her face, over her neck, and along her body until they dripped onto the ground.
"Why does that woman look familiar?" Viktor whispered. He knew her from somewhere; he couldn't say how, but there was a deep sense of recognition. He quickly turned to the other two and held out a hand to stop them.
Hiding behind the trees, Enid trembled, her claws extending instinctively. Her wide eyes reflected what was happening to the woman, fear, shock, and something else.
"We need to stop them now," Enid whispered.
"Not yet," Wednesday said, loading her crossbow. "We strike when they're busy."
Suddenly, the woman's eyes widened, and her hands started to transform into claws, but one of the cult members chanted something, forcing her back into her previous form. Her scream became more desperate, more agonized.
"The mother of Tyler?" Viktor finally placed her. She was Tyler's mother, the same woman who was supposed to be imprisoned in the underground lab at Willow Hill.
"Why? Why does she keep screaming? I can't stand it anymore," Enid said through gritted teeth.
"Not now, Enid. Look at the cult members, they're preparing something. Once the ritual begins, we strike." Viktor nodded sharply, then turned to Wednesday. "When we attack, Enid, you free the woman. Wednesday, you destroy the heart; whatever it is, it's not something human should have. And I…"
Viktor's gaze hardened as he looked back at the cultists. "I'll deal with them."
Black lines began to slither into the heart, which beat faster and faster. The six cult members each pulled something from their robes, beating hearts. Now there were seven, all pulsing together. The world grew unnervingly silent until the only sound was the rhythm of the hearts.
"Hearts," Viktor muttered, glancing at Wednesday.
The chanting began. Their words merged with the sound of the hearts, like forbidden music seeping into the night. Dark clouds gathered, covering the moon.
"Now!" Viktor shouted, veins bulging on his arms as he hurled his spear at one of the cultists. The weapon whistled through the air, but just before it struck, a shadowy hand caught it.
The spear stopped an inch from the cultist's face before being yanked into the darkness. From the shadows, a monstrous creature emerged, and soon the shadows of the other five cultists stretched and split, birthing five more creatures.
They shrieked in unison. Viktor gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, then charged. Memories surged in his mind, as though he had been wielding swords his entire life. The blade danced in his hands as he struck at the shadow beasts.
Enid slashed through the chains with her claws, freeing the woman. But she didn't move; her eyes were still pitch black. End glanced toward the heart just as an arrow pierced it. It kept beating, and strange patterns began to form on its surface.
"Viktor! What do I do? She's still like this!" Enid shouted.
Viktor gritted his teeth, dodging the monster's strike. Without looking back, he shouted, "Leave her! Help Wednesday!"
He swung his sword again, but no matter how hard he struck, the blade passed through their bodies as if they were made of smoke. The shadow creatures seemed unaffected by physical attacks. Strangely, they moved unnaturally slow, almost as if afraid to hurt him.
As he prepared to dodge another attack, Viktor suddenly felt his feet freeze. A shadowy hand gripped his ankle and began pulling him down into the darkness. He struggled, forcing his body free before regaining his stance. He was at peak Level 0 strength, and judging by the pull of the shadow monster, it was only slightly weaker than he was.
"This can't go on!" he growled through gritted teeth, dancing with his sword and striking at the creatures. But every swing went through them, leaving them unharmed.
Viktor glanced at the two girls; they were still trying to destroy the heart, but nothing they did was working. "Try the cultists' hearts!"
The moment the words left his mouth, every shadow monster turned toward Enid and Wednesday, rushing to them. The distraction gave Viktor his opening. He slashed through the nearest cultist's neck and immediately stabbed the beating heart at his feet.
A shadow creature shrieked in agony, rushing at Viktor, its hand almost brushed his face before the entire creature was sucked back into the shadows and vanished.
The other cultists didn't even react. They kept chanting, as if nothing had happened. The remaining shadow monsters shifted their focus, guarding the hearts more fiercely than their summoners.
'The hearts are their weakness,' Viktor realized. 'Destroy the hearts, destroy the monsters.'
"Focus on the heart! That's the monster's weakness!" he shouted.
He rushed at another cultist, decapitating him, and stabbed the next heart. The shadow creature tied to it vanished with an ear-splitting scream.
Wednesday and Enid followed his lead, focusing their attacks on the hearts, but the shadow creatures fought harder, shielding them. Viktor darted between them, cutting down cultists faster than the monsters could react.
Soon, only four cultists remained, and four hearts still beat. Every time Viktor killed a cultist, he immediately struck the heart in front of them, leaving their shadow beast to dissolve. The remaining monsters were too focused on defending their own hearts to attack him.
For the first time since the battle began, Viktor felt like victory was close, that they might actually stop this ritual and save the world.
But then he froze.
'Why is this so easy?' he thought, breathing heavily as his eyes dropped on the monsters, the cultists, and the two girls fighting them, one hand gripping the sword tightly.
Something felt wrong. Too wrong. This cult had prepared to summon a god, a god, and yet three teenagers were tearing through their ritual like nothing. It shouldn't be this simple.
"Or maybe… I'm just too strong."
Suddenly, the cry of a baby echoed through the woods. It wasn't coming from one direction; it was everywhere, as though it reverberated inside their very chests. Viktor's head snapped toward the center of the ritual. The heart.
Flesh was beginning to form around it.
"Not good! The heart!" Viktor shouted, sprinting toward it. He brought his sword down with all his strength, but the blade barely scratched it. The heart was too tough now.
He glanced at the chanting cultists. "Then I'll cut off your voices," he muttered, rushing them, but a shadow monster leapt in front of him, blocking his path.
"Get out of my way!" Viktor roared, swinging his sword. The blade sliced through the creature harmlessly, but as it passed through, the monster let out a horrible shriek and collapsed into the shadows.
Viktor yanked the sword back from the heart and drove it straight at the chest of the cultist.
Only three cult members remained. Viktor kept cutting them down one by one; the shadow monsters couldn't stop him. Sometimes, though, he felt a flicker of confusion. It wasn't as though the shadows wanted to kill him; it felt more like they wanted to restrain him, to keep him confined.
But that hesitation gave him the edge he needed.
With Enid and Wednesday's help, the last cultists were slain. The three of them stepped into the center of the ritual site, where the heart still pulsed. Flesh was forming around it, twisting and knitting together until a small, crying baby lay before them. Its cries echoed everywhere, not just in the air, but inside their very bones.
"Now what?" Enid asked, staring wide-eyed. "This is… this is not normal!"
"Is this the god they were trying to summon?" Wednesday asked, her voice flat but her eyes sharp.
"I think so…" Viktor stepped closer, noticing a faint mark over the baby's eyes. This was no ordinary child. "This baby is the vessel for the god they wanted to bring into the world. It's in a weakened state now, but we should…"
He trailed off, exhaling slowly.
"Killing… a baby? I can't…" Enid's voice broke, her claws trembling at her sides. "I know this thing is supposed to be evil, but, Viktor, you have to do it."
"If you won't, I will." Wednesday stepped forward, reaching for Viktor's sword.
Viktor shook his head. "No. I'll do it."
He closed his eyes, took a long breath, then opened them again. For just a moment, the baby smiled at him, but he forced himself to imagine the god it was meant to become. He drove the sword straight into its chest.
The baby went limp, its skin losing all color. The cries stopped. The heart stilled.
Above them, the gathering clouds dispersed.
"Did we… did we just save the world?" Enid whispered, then let out a shaky laugh of relief. "Finally. No more stress, no more cults, ugh, I could so use a smoothie right now."
She even bounced in place, clinging to the moment.
Wednesday, however, kept her eyes on Viktor. His expression hadn't softened. "What is it? You don't look victorious."
Viktor glanced at Enid, who was still bouncing. He took a long sigh. "Don't you think something's wrong?"
"…Wrong? What do you mean by wrong?" Enid froze. Her stomach knotted, as if she already didn't want to hear what came next.
"Yes," Wednesday said, nodding slowly. "I feel it too."
"Think about it," Viktor said, gesturing around the desecrated ritual site. "These people were summoning a god. This was supposed to be their most important night. The ritual site should have been heavily guarded, secured, and yet three teenagers just walked in and destroyed everything. Easily. Too easily."
He pointed to the lifeless baby at his feet. "And… did I just kill a god?"
Enid's mouth opened, but no sound came out. "That… don't tell me—"
Her eyes suddenly widened. "Viktor! Behind you!"
A surviving cultist emerged from the shadows behind Viktor. He didn't notice, but Wednesday and Enid did, but it was too late.
Enid moved on instinct, throwing herself between Viktor and the attacker. The dagger struck, sinking into her stomach.
But Viktor's reflexes were faster than thought; his hand shot out, grabbing the blade before it could go any deeper.
Wednesday loosed a bolt from her crossbow, hitting the cultist's chest dead-on. The attacker collapsed instantly.