FWSH—!
Yuri's eyes snapped open.
His skull throbbed. His vision warped and bent, like reality itself was still trying to settle around him. He sucked in a breath as the world reformed — broken metal, shattered concrete, twisted buildings yawning into an ash-gray sky.
He was back in the wasteland.The dead echo of what the world used to be.
He realized he was sitting — legs folded awkwardly on the rooftop of some ruined multi-story building. Wind scraped dust across the surface like sandpaper. The taste of iron hung thick in the air.
And standing over him…
Zeek.
Calm. Expression unreadable. Shadows trailing faintly at his heels.
Zeek: "Good. You're awake."
Yuri blinked multiple times, mind scrambling to catch up.
Yuri: "Z-Zeek? How did we—? Weren't we in the world of pillars yesterday?"
Zeek didn't even look surprised.
Zeek: "Not a world. A simple plane of existence. Which I haven't solidified just yet."
The explanation went straight over Yuri's head. He remembered the Palace of Pillars. A month of training. A month of frustration. A month of Zeek's sarcasm.
Yet now… all of it felt distant. Dream-like. Like memory wrapped in fog.
Zeek: "Look, it's better if we don't waste time on your '101 questions' right now. I'll explain everything later. But as we discussed, the main focus now is moving forward. To the next level."
Yuri swallowed down the swarm of questions clawing at his tongue.There were too many.Far too many.But Zeek was right — they had a mission.
Yuri: "Mhm— yeah, sure. We need to defeat the final boss, right?"
Zeek: "Yeah. That's what I said."
Yuri: "Well then. Let's get to it!"His voice carried a shaky enthusiasm — but it was real.
Then—
Something shifted.
A breeze died.The air froze.The world exhaled a cold Yuri had never felt before — not even in death's shadow.
A silence dropped like a guillotine.
Yuri's breath caught.
Wh… what just happened?A-am I… scared? How—?
He swallowed hard.
Yuri: "Hey… are you doing some shadow thing…?"
No response.
His heartbeat punched at his ribs.
Yuri: "Zeek? You're freaking me out. Say something…"
Then finally — a voice.
Except it wasn't Zeek's.
Zeek's back was turned, but the sound that came from him was deeper. Rougher. Venom soaking through every syllable.
??? (through Zeek): "It's amusing… watching you act so confident. It disgusts me… makes me sick to my stomach…"
Yuri froze.
That voice—
No.No, it couldn't be.
The figure standing before him began to distort. Zeek's long mimicked hair shortened as if shaved by invisible blades. His dark clothes evaporated like smoke sucked into a void.
A new silhouette emerged.
Yuri's blood turned to ice.
A form he recognized.A form he never wanted to see again.
Himself.
But twisted.Corrupted.A perfect contrast.
White, flowing hair — unnaturally pure.Demonic horns curling from the sides of his head like a corrupted lamb.And a body swallowed by pulsing darkness — the kind that breathes, the kind that hates.
Malicious, cold eyes stared directly into him. They stripped away every defense, every thought, every scrap of courage.
Yuri couldn't move.Couldn't breathe.Couldn't blink.
His muscles locked one by one, as if the very concept of motion had been stolen from him.
Then—
DARKNESS.
The world was consumed.Light died.All that existed was Yuri and the demon wearing his face.
Demonic Yuri: "You feel it, don't you? The fear. The cold restraints of your own patheticness. Hopeless. Pitiful. That's who you are…"
The words weren't spoken — they were injected directly into him, echoing through bone, blood, and soul.
Demonic Yuri: "What? Did you think you were special? You thought you mattered? That you had purpose?ABSOLUTELY. DISGUSTING."
Yuri shattered internally.
For a moment — a long, stretching, suffocating moment — he wanted death.He longed for it.Anything to escape that crushing, devouring presence.
The darkness crawled up his throat. His chest. His mind.Every thought turned to ash before it could form.
The demon laughed — loud, fracturing reality, splitting through Yuri's sanity.But beneath the roar…
A whisper.
"Yuri… I love to see you in pain—"
Everything snapped.
Yuri woke violently — collapsing to his knees as his stomach twisted.
He vomited.
A thick, burning dark substance splattered onto the rooftop, sizzling as if alive. His throat seared. Sweat poured down his face. His hands shook uncontrollably.
He forced his head up—
And saw Zeek.
But Zeek was standing inside a crater.Clothes ripped.Body torn.Blood dripping across the broken concrete.Eyes glowing like raw amethyst fire.
He turned toward Yuri — gasping, staggering—
Then fell.
A heartbeat later, Yuri fell too — his body finally giving out, the last of his strength evaporating into the ruined air.
Their eyes slowly shut…
And in the darkness of their fading consciousness—
A message burned through the void:
"CONGRATULATIONS – LEVEL 2!!!""ONE STEP CLOSER."