The scroll trembled in his hand. Letters carved themselves into the surface, glowing with a faint, ghostly luminescence.
''All paths lead to the Heart of the Palace,'' Leo whispered. ''The Crown is the Path of Authority. It tests the minds and wills of the lords through illusions and psychological traps. The Sword is the Path of Attrition. It is a straight line of endless combat, testing the stamina of the combatants against wave after wave of guards.''
Leo's gaze moved to the final description. ''The Skull... it is the Path of Mortality. It is the hardest of the trio, filled with traps that target the soul and the physical body. But if you are brave enough, it is the shortest route to the Heart.''
The parchment disintegrated into gray ash, its mystical essence exhausted.
''The shortest route,'' Hye-na murmured, her gaze fixed on the grim visage of the Skull door. ''I suggest we take it. There is no legacy without a descent into danger, and we might as well stake everything on this path.''
''The Skull is a calculated gamble,'' Leo added, his voice low. He scanned the faces of his party, noting Ben's lingering tremor and the sharp, expectant look in Noel's eyes. ''It is designed to either grant us swift passage or a quick end. We should move before the hall becomes more crowded.''
With the group's consensus reached, Hye-na announced their intent to the room. ''We take the Skull.''
Elias narrowed his eyes, his mind whirring with suspicion. 'What did that scroll reveal to them to spark such sudden confidence?' he wondered.
''Move out,'' Leo commanded. He began his stride toward the gate, but his path was immediately obstructed. Rose's team erupted in murmurs of discontent; they felt slighted by Leo's group acting with such autonomy while they were still debating.
A bald man in his twenties named Paul, a known lackey for Steven, stepped into Leo's personal space. ''Hold it, friend. We have not reached a decision yet. What makes you think you can walk past us like we are nothing?'' he spat.
''Perhaps lower-class trash lacks basic etiquette. Though I suppose with Hye-na as your shield, you feel you do not need any,'' Steven interjected, his smile sharpening with malice.
Leo let out a weary sigh, his eyes locking onto Paul. ''You people are truly exhausting my patience.'' For a fraction of a second, his irises burned with a predatory crimson light.
Paul, emboldened by his status as a Lockwood branch-member, prepared to escalate. ''Stop acting like—'' The words were choked out of him. A sudden, searing heat flooded his veins. He doubled over, coughing violently as his face turned a scorched, sickly red. 'What is this?' he thought frantically, the air refusing to enter his lungs.
"Paul, what's wrong?'' Steven stepped forward, but then his eyes met Leo's. He saw a man who looked like an abyss, staring at Paul with the cold detachment one might show to a corpse.
''What have you done?'' Steven roared, his hand flying to his hilt. Paul collapsed, his moans of agony cut short by a fresh torrent of blood spilling from his throat.
Paul's world turned into a red haze. He felt as if his very organs were attempting to claw their way out of his chest. He looked up at Leo, his eyes wide with a plea for mercy. ''Pl—easeee,'' he rasped, reaching a blood-slicked hand toward Leo's boot.
Noel watched with visible delight. ''Hehe, the Leader really is in a league of his own,'' he whispered.
Ben and his team turned away, unable to stomach the visceral display. Leo prepared to flex his will once more, intending to end Paul's life by rupturing his cardiovascular system, but a single, sharp clap echoed through the hall. Rose had stepped forward, and a wave of neutral ether surged outward, severing Leo's connection to Paul's blood.
''I believe that is quite enough,'' Rose said, her voice like silk over stone.
Paul lay shivering in a pool of his own vitals, weeping with primal terror. ''Heal him, now!'' Steven barked at his subordinates. He stared at Leo, his heart hammering against his ribs. The realization that Leo could inflict such carnage without a single gesture terrified him, though he fought to keep his expression neutral.
Rose approached Leo, her carefree smile back in place. "My apologies. I'm having trouble keeping my team on a short leash. Please, do not let us delay you further.''
Hye-na watched the exchange, her mind racing. She suspected Leo was utilizing a high-tier artifact, yet she was equally intrigued by Rose, who was able to dismantle it with a simple gesture.
''Impressive,'' Leo remarked, his eyes lingering on Rose for a moment before he continued toward the gate.
Rose offered a small nod and turned back to her followers. She let out a soft sigh of frustration. 'What a fool,' she thought of Steven. 'To challenge a man who walked away from a Bridge Sentinel.' She knew that if anyone had the giant's scent on them, it was Leo, and the fact that he was standing here spoke volumes.
The three factions took their places. The emerald light of the hall flared, illuminating the Crown, the Sword, and the Skull. With a deep, tectonic groan, the gates swung wide. Leo and Hye-na stepped into the dark gloom of their path, their team following close behind.
''Steven, stop being an idiot, focus on the trail,'' Emma White said dismissively as she led her team into the Crown.
''Let us move,'' Rose commanded her group.
'I will show them all,' Steven thought, his jaw tight as he stepped into the Sword path. 'I will show them what a true Lockwood can do.'
The heavy stone doors of the Skull Gate ground shut behind them with a final, echoing thud. The transition was instant; the warm, scented air of the entrance hall was replaced by a frigid, oppressive dampness that smelled of wet earth and ancient metal.
Leo stood at the front, his eyes adjusting to the deep emerald gloom. The fog here was not just a visual obstruction; it felt heavy against his skin, like walking through chest-deep water.
The silence in the corridor was broken only by the sound of their own breathing. Noel walked close to Leo, his daggers out and his eyes darting around the shadows.
''These walls are creepy,'' Noel whispered.
Leo glanced at the walls. They were not made of simple stone. They were embedded with thousands of tiny, polished skulls that seemed to hum with a low frequency.
Suddenly, a voice echoed from the thousand skulls: ''OMHI HORA.''
The words were a psychic hammer. Leo's vision fractured into dizzying shards, and a high-pitched ringing drowned out the world. He clutched his temples, stumbling as the emerald haze birthed a nightmare.
It was a shambling horror of dried, bloodless flesh. Its eyes were unnervingly large and stretched, and its canine teeth were jagged and coated in rust. It stood on its hind legs with the predatory hunch of an ape, its arms unnaturally long and ending in three-pronged, razor-sharp claws. At full height, the beast was a twelve-foot monument to decay.
Its tongue flickered like a serpent's as it lunged. While the lords remained paralyzed by the sonic resonance, the creature blurred through the mist with impossible speed. Leo's instincts fought through the haze, his blurred vision following the streak of grey flesh.
'No... Luna!' he thought, his heart leaping into his throat.
The monster's claws swept down in a lethal arc toward Luna's head. She stood frozen, her eyes wide but unseeing. A heartbeat before the rusted points could tear through her, the silver bracelet on her wrist flared with a cold, protective light, projecting a translucent shield that caught the blow in a shower of sparks.