Ryan sat in a silent spot, trying to rest. The surroundings were so eerily quiet that even his own breathing sounded like a thunderous roar. Five members of the Special Forces had already perished—including the scientist among them. From their team, only one had fallen. They'd descended nearly 120 kilometers deep now. The oxygen masks showed only 30% left. They had no idea what to do. The further they advanced, the more horrifying things appeared before them. They didn't even have the courage to turn back.
They hadn't slept for two days. For three days straight, they'd been walking non-stop, taking two- or three-hour breaks here and there for rest. They were in a dire situation. Damn it.
Suddenly, Kaito sat down beside him. He asked, "How did you take down that giant python all by yourself back then? I was unconscious, so I didn't see the fight."
Ryan replied quietly, "I just used some of my best techniques. Nothing more."
"Oh, okay. Do I know those techniques?"
"No. You only know the Blood Moon Slash."
As they talked among theirselves, Grace and Nora came over and sat beside ryan . They were staring at him with strange expressions. Ryan started feeling nervous.
Then Grace spoke up, "Ryan, I need to talk to you about something."
Her tone was off -there was an angry edge to it.
He said, "Okay, go ahead. What is it?"
She demanded, "Tell me the truth who are you? Some kind of superhuman?"
Her words caught him off guard.
"What? What are you talking about? Have you gone crazy from fighting monsters?"
"I'm serious. I felt an energy inside you. And not just me Nora felt it too."
Ryan had no idea what they were saying. Kaito, sitting nearby, was listening in surprise.
"Grace, I don't understand what you're saying. Explain it to me."
Nora chimed in from the side, "I'll say it. When you were fighting the centipede, your eyes were glowing. A blue aura was emanating from you. It made you look like a complete monster."
Ryan pondered this for a moment, then said, "An aura from my eyes? What a joke. You must have seen wrong."
Grace insisted, "No, I didn't. And Nora saw it too."
"Fine, if that's what happened, then maybe I don't know about it. But I have blue-colored contact lenses in my eyes. They let me zoom in up to a kilometer away. The Russian government gave them to me. Maybe they added some high-tech feature that makes my eyes glow in reaction to something."
"Yeah, that makes sense. It could be that," Nora said with relief.
But Grace didn't seem satisfied with his answer.
After a few moment, they resumed their journey.
This tunnel was ancient. The deeper they went, the more oppressive the atmosphere became.
Suddenly, Kaito called out to him from the side.
"Ryan, I'm hearing a strange sound. Like a demonic laugh."
Ryan took him seriously and tried to listen for it himself. But he couldn't hear anything.
Still, he had this feeling that someone was following them.
Suddenly , everyone froze. No one was moving forward.
Kaito asked, "What's going on? Why aren't you advancing?"
They were all staring ahead. Ryan and kaito were at the back, so they couldn't see what was up front. Ryan pushed past a few people to get to the front and he was stunned.
A short distance away, a girl was floating in the air. She looked in terrible shape, almost like a zombie. Her eyes were red.
Grace screamed from beside me, "Hey, she looks a lot like Ayaka—but how?"
Ryan looked at the girl more closely now. And he was shocked.
"Yes, Grace, you're right. It is Ayaka."
She suddenly turned toward us, laughing, and uttered just one word: "Fools."
With that, she attacked them. But the attack was completely different. She was hurling small fireballs at them. But how? How was this possible? Ryan couldn't understand.
They all scrambled to dodge her assaults.
Albert shouted, "Is this really Ayaka? She's using some kind of magic, which shouldn't be possible. And besides, she's supposed to be dead."
Ryan replied, "I think she didn't actually die. It seems like some evil spirit has taken control of her body."
Daniel overheard his words.
He said, "Whether this girl is Ayaka or not, we have to kill her. The way she's attacking us if we don't do something now, we'll all die."
He raised his gun to fire, but ryan stopped him.
Then he called Mr. Jackson and told him to take everyone back. Kaito and he would handle this.
After that, he told Kaito to draw her attention. He'd use the opportunity to attack from behind and knock her out. But Kaito, can you handle this? It's risky.
"Trust me," Kaito said.
With that, he charged at her. Seeing him approach, Ayaka unleashed some ice-magic-like attack on him. It was tough for Kaito to counter.
Just as she prepared a powerful strike against him, ryan struck from behind.
Phantom Eclipse Strike!
He hit her straight on the head with his sword's scabbard. The impact knocked her unconscious, and she fell to the ground.
They all gathered around her afterward. They were astonished because this girl was none other than their Ayaka.
Ryan stared at her in disbelief. His mind was reeling. Hadn't he seen her die right in front of his eyes? Now she was alive again. So many questions swirled in his head.
A few moments later, Ayaka opened her eyes. She murmured, "Where am I? And why does my head hurt so much?"
Nora asked her, "Ayaka, are you okay?"
Ayaka looked at her and jumped up in shock. "Nora, you're here? Am I seeing things? Didn't I die?"
No one understood what she meant. Ryan was standing a bit away. Her eyes suddenly fell on him. Seeing him , she started crying and said, "Master, are you really here, or am I dreaming?"
Hearing her call him 'Master' again made him emotional. Ryan said, "No, you're not dreaming. This is real."
Then she got up, hugged himtightly, and sobbed loudly.
He couldn't believe it—a girl he'd seen die was now standing before him, alive. Calling him 'Master' in that sweet voice again. Thinking about it made him even more emotional.
Ryan saw his little sister in her. That's why he felt such affection for her.
After a moment , he calmed her down and asked if she remembered what had happened just moments ago.
She said, "I vaguely remember Kaito attacking me, and I was about to counter. After that, nothing."
"Try to remember more. See if you can recall anyone trying to control you."
She thought hard, trying to recall.
Everyone waited for her answer.
Suddenly, she clutched her head in intense pain. "She must be remembering something," Grace whispered.
Then Ayaka said, "Yeah. I remember a bit now."
She began telling us what had happened to her.
Flashback (ayaka's pov)
As I was dying, a dark figure appeared before me. It said it was the soul of a witch. Her body had died, but her soul hadn't. She needed a body. So she made a deal with me: She'd take control of my body every full moon night, and the rest of the time, I'd have control. I agreed because otherwise, I'd have died anyway.
Flashback end.
Evan, hearing this, said, "Oh, so there's a witch's soul inside you."
Ayaka nodded yes.
She added, "When the witch's soul took control of my body, I connected with her and saw some visions. In one, she entered this tunnel through a very secret path. It was like a teleport gate, with bright light coming from it."
Kaito asked her, "So, can you find that secret path?"
"I'm not sure, but I can try."
After that, they all set out with her to search for that secret gate.
*But what awaited thier ahead? Would that gate truly grant their freedom, or lead to even greater peril?