"You are only the second to find his way in here since him," the chained woman said. Her voice was calm, but her eyes were cold glass, fixed and merciless. "How did you do it?"
The chain around his neck snapped tight and hauled him upward. His feet left the floor as the metal dragged him to her level. Her expression twisted the moment their faces aligned.
"And what," she murmured, nostrils flaring, "is this stench clinging to you?"
His chest seized. Air vanished as his neck was constrained.
"—can't—" The word broke apart as he clawed at the chain, fingers slipping, nails tearing skin instead of metal. Panic burned through him as his vision darkened.
"I asked you a question," she continued mildly, watching him struggle. "Instead of answering, you beg for your life."
Then she released him.
Sebastian hit the floor hard, collapsing in on himself. He coughed violently, dragging air back into his lungs in ragged pulls, his throat raw and burning. Tears streamed down his face as he looked up at her — an apparition framed by chains and shadow.
"Th—thank y—"
Impact.
Her knee crashed into his face, hurling him backward into the unyielding wall. Something snapped high in his back as his head whipped against stone. The world detonated into noise and colour, his thoughts scattering. Warm liquid spilled from his nose; copper flooded his mouth.
He spat blood as he slid down the wall.
She's fast. He thought.
Alex had been fast — fast enough to track. This was different. He hadn't even seen the strike. Just a shadow pulling away as he flew.
He forced himself upright, ears ringing, legs shaking, and raised his arms into a tight, closed guard. Elbows locked to ribs. Forearms shielding his face. A survival stance. His body trembled, eyes never leaving her.
"You're trying to fight back," she said softly, almost fondly. "That's adorable. But I asked you a question. What is that stench?" Her face twisted even more.
He barely had time to adjust his footing before the next blow came.
Pain erased the world as he was launched across the chamber, skidding along the stone beside the pool. He rolled, scraped, forced a knee under himself. The room tilted violently. He shoved himself up, low and sideways, hands already rising—
A shadow was suddenly there.
He struck first with his left hand.
The blow landed. He followed it instantly, driving his knee into her side, snapping his right elbow towards her face. He then twisted to move around her—
Too slow.
A force caught him mid-motion and tore him upward. His stomach dropped as disbelief flooded him. Had she recovered that quickly—or had she never been affected at all?
Something blurred toward him and he could see it, perhaps she wanted him to see it.
Supreme Fuckery
The impact slammed him into the wall at terrifying speed. This time it wasn't sharp pain — it was deeper, heavier. Wrong. His body folded as if strength itself had been ripped away. Breath tore from his lungs in a sound he didn't recognise. Pressure spread through his middle, crushing, unrelenting.
I can't fight her.
Agony piled on agony. His vision swam, darkened at the edges. Sounds warped and stretched. His legs forgot their purpose, trembling uselessly beneath him.
He was dragged along the floor by his throat, chains biting, stone scraping his skin.
"I could kill you," she said coldly. "But a covenant was made. You will die in time — like the others before you, and those yet to come."
She paused.
"Now speak. What is that stench?"
His head cleared just enough for the world to hold still.
"What… stench?" he rasped, lips bloodied.
She tilted her head. "The scent of a woman. Philanderer."
Philanderer? perhaps an insult one maybe meaning weak
He didn't respond
"Infidel," she snapped, and a chain lashed out, cracking across his face. Pain exploded. He cried out, vision flashing white.
Tears poured freely now.
"You weep," she said with contempt. "Just like the last one. Your generation is weak."
"Infid…el," he choked out, sniffing, tears threatening to spill, held back by shear will. "I… I haven't even gotten a girlfriend."
Her expression faltered.
"A girl----friend what is that, You mean you have not… consorted with a woman?"
"The only scent on me is my mother's," he cried. "Please. You've made a mistake."
She studied him for a long moment.
"It seems you take me for a fool". well they are ways to test it. Now answer truthfully have you laid with any woman"
Sebastian shook his head vigorously. "I SWEAR! I haven't… not even once!" he shouted.
"yes or no" she asked again a chain Whizzing past, slamming his legs, Sebastian screaming in agony. He clenched his fist in pain nails tearing into his palms. It was broken he could feel it the action of twisting he leg proved completely impossible only cursing him more torture.
"Nooooo!" he answered sobbing from the blinding pain
""So you haven't consummated with any woman, I see. Open your mouth—there are, after all, ways to know," she muttered coldly.
My mouth… does lying make it stink? Fuck, I haven't brushed in forever.
ಥ_ಥ
The chain coiled gently, unnervingly around his tongue, and he froze — confused and terrified. A sharp sensation followed, then nothing. The pressure vanished. The chains loosened, blood splattering on his face.
He looked up to see the chain holding a pink fleshy object. Dark grey lines snaking through it
（*゜-゜*） what is that thing he questioned
Sebastian collapsed to his knees, numb, mind blank. He tried to feel his mouth. Nothing. Something was wrong. Something vital was missing, but his body refused to understand it yet, he couldn't understand it.
He looked up.
The girl stood calmly, now feeding something unseen to a golden skull — its surface gleaming dully in the torchlight, blackened teeth fixed in a permanent grin. Unlike the others, its chain still shone gold, untouched by blood.
When he tried to stand, the held back pain returned all at once.
It wasn't sharp. It was overwhelming. Total. His vision swam violently. The world tilted. His legs forgetting what they were meant to do.
Darkness swallowed him.
"speak". She said looking at Seb's coiled up form softly
"He speaks the truth mistress" A dark and deep voice spoke. The skull teeth clanking in a dark symphony.
"and the stench Sol?" she asked
"the stench is forced on him by the other invading entity" the skull responded
"I see, lets go make quick work of the fool that made me punish my betrothed"
"A feast, then." The skull's jaw stretched unnaturally, releasing a chilling, echoing cackle from its gaping maw.
The door closed.
⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹⨹
She had been running at full sprint, heart hammering in her chest, the air around her thick with tension. It felt like the only way out of this wretched place was close, and for the first time she hoped sheer speed could save her. She had learned her lesson. Nothing in this accursed world came without a cost, not her life and certianly not a good meal.
She tore past another numbered door — 10. Unlike the others, it was rotted, brittle, almost begging to be forced open. The air smelled of mildew and decay. Each door she had passed since the 20th had deteriorated further, as though the entity in the kid had no control of this part of the labyrinth. Here, It seemed, her reach and command was weaker.
She skidded to the junction, panic tightening her chest as she realized ahead lay only a dead end. Pivoting on instinct, she tore down the next corridor. Then—something came at her. Her senses immediately screamed not to be touched and touch not she did. She didn't hesitate. Ducking low, she slammed her legs into the ground, pushing her body into a flight posture, back parallel to the floor. Her eyes locked on her assailant, a blur of lethal intent.
Useless, she thought. Couldn't he have slowed it for much longer
She hurtled past the prong of chains, twisting mid-air on passing. Her legs reaching the floor, this she promptly used to slow herself down, feet digging into the cracked stone floor, nails gouging shallow lines in the surface to arrest her momentum. She looked up — more chains were hurtling toward her, whistling like steel serpents. Reflex took over. She twisted, dodging one, then bent backward, hands slamming into the floor, springing into a backflip. She bent her elbows at the apex, launching herself away with explosive force, narrowly avoiding a chain that splintered the floor that her nails could only scratch.
She hit the ground running changing momentum from hurtling back to dashing forward, hoping to use her attackers overextension to her advantage, landing on her feet after the forward spring, lungs burning, she dashed towards the girl. The controller. Her instincts told her this one might be less lethal. The chains would take time to recall, giving her a slim window to either escape or perhaps kill.
She leapt, reaching toward the girl, fingers swiping across her face in a blur. Skin tore, a sharp sting of success and horror combined. But before she could pass, a monstrous grip seized her leg. She was jerked violently backward, flying through the air faster than she had ever moved on her own. The corridor blurred around her as she slammed into the floor.