"Kh… kh…"
The air scraped inside my throat.
Dry.
Thick.
Like I was breathing ashes.
"Sh… shit… wher—"
My voice didn't even sound human.
Another sound escaped me, deeper, almost a strangled growl:
"Ngh… can't… breathe…"
I barely moved—
and a sharp pain tore through my chest,
like a blade twisting inside the wound.
— What… happened…?
No answer.
Only my ragged breathing
and the echoes of a fight I couldn't quite grasp.
— Where… is everyone…?
"Kh… kh…"
My breath still wouldn't settle.
My lungs burned like iron heated white-hot.
— I can't… remember…
The end of the floor…
the resting zone…
the start of the ninth…
then… pain in my chest…
but…!
I coughed again, a mixture of air and blood:
"Kh… kh… I was…"
— So how…?
Thana?
Can you hear me…?
Nothing.
No response.
No stir.
No active presence.
— Thana…
Silence.
I could still feel her trace, her Magia, her mark carved inside me…
but it was buried deep.
A heavy sleep.
A stasis.
A state I couldn't reach.
— …Fine.
I'll deal with that later.
I forced my fingers to move.
One by one.
Like they didn't belong to me anymore.
— I have to… at least try… to stand…
and figure out what's… going on…
My breath shook again, one last "Ngh…"
before I tried to fully open my eyes—
And then…
Blur.
A gray curtain over my vision.
Barely there.
Like the world itself was flickering between breaths.
I saw silhouettes.
At first wavering shadows, indistinct,
like ghosts projected too far for me to recognize.
Then slowly, their outlines sharpened.
A movement.
An impact.
A blade cutting through the air.
It looked like a fight.
A one-sided fight.
A silent massacre happening too fast for me to catch up.
The first silhouette I recognized was Gravyor.
His raw aura, his build,
the way he struck like each blow was meant to shatter an entire world.
Then Kiyoshi—
filtered through the veil of blur,
but unmistakable in the precision of his movements,
in the taut vibration of his stance.
And by deduction—
because it was obvious,
because it could only be her—
I guessed Veda.
A faint smile tugged at my cracked lips.
Warm.
Fragile.
Just relief.
She was alive.
Standing.
Whole.
They were fighting.
For me.
But the enemies…
I couldn't make them out.
The blur stayed at the edges,
as if reality refused to show me something I wasn't ready to face.
I narrowed my eyes.
Again.
And right as the shapes finally started to form—
A sharp pain struck me.
A dagger-stab to the skull.
Violent.
Brutal.
Instant.
My vision lurched.
A white flash tore across my field of view.
I inhaled sharply, as if the air suddenly vanished.
My hand slid against the ground.
My breath cut off.
And the pain returned, even stronger.
It spread behind my eyes,
pulsing like a foreign heart beating inside my skull.
One second.
Then two.
And suddenly—
My vision stabilized.
The blur tore apart like a ripped veil.
Colors snapped back.
Depth crashed in like a wave.
And the world slammed into me with near-painful clarity.
I finally saw.
And what I saw—
Pinned me to the ground.
Gravyor, covered in blood — not his own —
muscles drawn to breaking point,
striking again and again,
like a cornered beast determined to bite until its last breath.
Kiyoshi, hands trembling on the hilt of his weapon,
eyes reddened,
but his strikes still unnervingly precise,
as if he refused to yield even a millimeter.
And Veda…
Veda at the front,
her golden aura pulsing like an ember about to erupt,
a line of blood trailing down her temple,
but her legs planted firmly before me.
They formed a wall.
My wall.
My last rampart.
But they weren't what stole my breath.
It was the ones standing in front of them.
Just a few meters away,
in that lingering haze—
Belzebuth.
Standing.
Calm.
His smile stretched into pure indecency,
like he savored every second.
And just slightly behind him—
Adam.
His eyes empty.
His posture submissive.
But his aura… warped.
Twisted.
Like something else was breathing behind his eyes.
And behind them—
a little farther back,
hands folded neatly behind his back,
like a master observing a stage—
The replacement Guide.
Perfectly still.
Perfectly clean.
As if he floated outside the scene,
above human stakes.
My throat tightened.
My breath locked.
My heart hammered too hard under my ribs.
They were three.
My friends were alive.
Fighting for me.
And in front of them—
Death.
Veda, caught mid-exchange,
glanced back by pure reflex.
One second.
A blink.
And what she saw—
Rooted her on the spot.
Kael.
Eyes half-open.
Aware.
Awake.
Breathing.
Alive.
Her heart leapt.
Her eyes widened, then immediately filled with tears.
A smile split across her face,
so wide it nearly reached her ears—
an absurd contrast to the carnage around her.
She let out a shaky breath, half a laugh,
a mix of relief, exhaustion, and raw joy.
— Finally… pffiouuu…
She allowed herself to drop her guard just a little—
a microsecond, no more—
just to savor it.
Then, still panting,
still covered in blood,
she threw over her shoulder,
half-exhausted, half-mocking:
— Finally awake…
You know you scared the hell out of us, right?
Sleeping Beauty in the middle of the ninth floor…
You're completely insane.
And despite everything—
despite the Prince,
despite the replacement Guide,
despite Adam's twisted aura—
She was smiling.
Truly smiling.
Because I was alive.
Because I was back.
Because they weren't alone anymore.
The smile lingered one second too long.
Just one.
Then reality slapped her.
A shockwave struck the ground a few meters ahead—
the impact of a fist,
or maybe an aura too heavy to be contained.
Veda blinked.
Her expression shut down instantly.
Her breath stilled.
Her heart snapped back to battle mode.
The warmth vanished.
She turned fully to me…
then pivoted sharply back to the front,
resuming her stance.
Her smile died.
Her face hardened.
Her fingers tightened around her weapon.
Her feet rooted deeper into the stone.
Her neck muscles tensed,
and her eyes regained that fierce spark—
the one she only had when dying was a real possibility.
— Alright…
she exhaled, her voice cold again.
No time for reunions.
She slid her weapon along her forearm,
resetting her guard as if she'd never stopped fighting.
— Stay there, Kael.
Just… stay there.
The warmth from earlier was gone.
This wasn't the friend.
This was the fighter.
The protector.
The one who could stand against a Prince still alive.
A red crack tore open the ground in front of her—
Belzebuth was moving.
Veda inhaled,
set one foot forward,
and lowered her center of gravity with a sharp motion.
Ready.
Completely ready.
Except in the distance…
Adam, still dazed from the sphere's explosion,
caught sight of me.
Awake.
Eyes open.
And worse—
starting to rise.
His expression froze.
As if his brain refused the information.
Then his pupils contracted.
Something clicked in his gaze.
A dry snap.
He vanished.
His body literally dissolved into the shadow at his feet,
swallowed, erased,
as if he had never existed.
Only to reappear
in the shadow right behind me.
A dagger already raised.
The blackened metal vibrated with an aura that wasn't his.
Kiyoshi reacted at the last possible moment.
A reflex.
A miracle.
He lunged forward,
placing his daibo in the exact instant needed—
blocking Adam's blade a breath away from my neck.
The impact rattled his entire arm.
Adam pressed harder,
a new strength pulling every fiber of his body taut.
— You…!
Kiyoshi growled through clenched teeth.
Adam didn't answer.
His face looked hollow,
unplugged,
as if an outside will was animating his muscles.
Then, in a sharp movement,
he slid to the side—
an impossible dodge.
Faster.
Sharper.
Almost inhuman.
Kiyoshi lost half a step.
Gravyor cursed.
Veda snapped her head back toward me.
— WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!
Time froze.
Breathless, vision still blurry,
I managed to speak:
— Wait…
I stared at Adam—
still wrapped in lingering shadow,
still trembling with an aura that didn't belong to him.
— Before this starts again… explain, quickly, what happened while I was unconscious.
Veda took the lead.
— I'll summarize fast, listen well…
…
— …and in the end, we barely made it out until now.
— Wait a second— Adam walked out of the sphere in one piece?
Veda nodded.
— Yes.
We don't know how.
And… he looks stronger than before.
A pulse stabbed through my skull.
I inhaled shakily.
My mind connected the dots:
Adam alive.
Adam strengthened.
Thana's sphere destroyed from inside.
And a new ability appearing… out of nowhere.
I clenched my teeth.
A system window appeared in front of me,
and a brief smile flickered across my lips.
— That's what I thought. Thanks.
But something still didn't fit…
— …No.
Wait…
I lifted my head, eyes widening despite the pain.
— This…
this looks like a pact.
A pact.
Like the one I'd been forced to sign with ■■■…i… ■■■…
on the previous floor.
Veda turned toward me, startled.
— A what?
I swallowed, my throat dry.
— A pact.
Like the one I had to make with—
I tried to say the name.
Just a name.
The only comparison that made sense.
But the sound cracked in my throat,
like something smothered it before it could escape.
"Lil… i… th…"
A glitched word.
Chopped.
Distorted.
More noise than name.
Veda frowned.
— Huh?
You said what?
I didn't hear anything.
Kiyoshi shook his head.
— We heard… a buzzing. Not a word.
A cold shiver crawled down my neck.
I understood.
They simply didn't have the authority to hear that name.
I breathed out slowly, then concluded:
— …on the previous floor.
My breath trembled as I continued, voice unstable but firm:
— You need to know two things.
First… I think he unlocked a skill that lets him land behind — or at least very close to — his target.
I clenched my jaw as pain pulsed in my temple.
— I don't know if he can use it multiple times in a row, but I doubt it.
Second…
My expression hardened.
— Second, I'm absolutely certain of this: Belzebuth's weak point… is Adam.
Veda blinked.
Kiyoshi stiffened.
Gravyor frowned.
I raised a hand, cutting them off before any objection.
— It's too long to explain. Not now.
But listen: focus Adam first.
Trust me.
And above all… prioritize your survival.
I closed my eyes briefly.
And everything returned.
In flashes.
In shocks.
In burning fragments:
The signature.
The mark.
The unlocked power.
The backlash.
The price paid.
I looked at Adam — his warped aura,
his sharp movements,
his presence bent as if something else was breathing behind his eyes.
— It's the same feeling, I said.
The same… scent of sealed power.
Kiyoshi's eyes widened.
— You mean Belzebuth… and Adam…
I nodded slowly.
— Yes.
It's the only logical explanation.
Another pulse hit my temple, stealing my breath.
— And that ability… the shadow-step…
probably came from that.
I inhaled, breath trembling.
— But…
I can't be certain.
Not yet.
Not without proof.
My tone darkened.
Heavy.
Weighted.
— …But it looks exactly like it.
A shiver slid down Veda's spine.
Gravyor's fists clenched, knuckles whitening.
Kiyoshi swallowed hard.
And Adam…
From across the platform…
watched us in silence.
Eyes empty.
Aura trembling with his new power,
vibrating like a living wound.
The replacement Guide observed the scene
like it was nothing but cheap entertainment.
Then he tilted his head,
a perfectly polite smile curving his lips.
— Oh.
I believe… the next act is about to get much more entertaining.