My ears were ringing as I lay flat on my back, the stone beneath me slick with blood and coated in ash. I coughed, fighting the smog in my lungs as I forced myself up.
Around me, the castle was ablaze; no one was left to aid me. High above, the ancient outer walls had been blasted wide open, exposing the bruised sky of this artificial world. My villagers had perished—some cut down by cold steel, others consumed by the roaring inferno. Those who had chosen to stand with me were slaughtered where they fell, turning the courtyard into a graveyard of broken shields and scattered armor.
I was surrounded by the very people I had once trusted with my life. Friends. We had bled together in the trenches, broken bread over campfire warmth, and laughed through long, weary nights. Now, their betrayal burned far hotter than the flames around us. A single tear cut a clean path through the soot on my cheek as I coughed up blood.
Six armed figures closed in, their shadows stretching long across the scorched cobble like predators encircling cornered prey. I stood at the center, sword still raised with trembling hands, though my legs felt heavy as lead. I searched their faces—those familiar, comforting smiles were the exact same ones I had known for years, only now they were twisted into cruel masks of delight at my impending demise.
Were they always like this? I thought bitterly. Did I just fail to see the malice behind their grins? No matter. This was the only way for the others to see their true colors. Soon the rest will arrive. Soon they will see for themselves.
I glanced down at my feet, where the men who had sworn to protect me lay motionless, having thrown their bodies between me and the blades. Are any of them still breathing? The thought cut deeper than any steel.
Before I could process the grief, the enemies lunged in a coordinated frenzy, their blades striking from all sides. I parried frantically, but I was already battered and running on empty from holding the line alone.
Then, the one with the most menacing glare in his eyes stepped forward. He raised his heavy broadsword high, intending to split me in two.
In that split second, I gasped out the command: "Erza... be my shield!"
The air tore open. Erza materialized in a blinding flash, slamming into the earth with a thundering crash that shattered the cobble beneath her feet. Before the dust could settle, she unleashed a glowing forcefield around us—a shimmering, translucent barrier of white energy.
The enemy's heavy blade struck the barrier with violent force. The moment metal touched the shield, a blinding surge of arc-lightning erupted. The kinetic backfire blasted him backward meters through the air; his body slammed hard into a crumbling stone wall, coughing up a spatter of blood before slumping motionless.
The remaining five enemies charged in unison, intent on overpowering the ward. Erza held her ground, releasing a pulse of kinetic energy that sent them flying back through the smoke. Through the ringing in my ears, desperate, echoing shouts broke through from the lower courtyard:
"Eden!"
The attackers turned toward the approaching voices, traded panicked glances, and beat a hasty retreat, sprinting out beyond the castle boundary.
My knees gave out. I collapsed onto my back, staring up at the smoke-filled sky.
"They actually took the bait..." I muttered, another tear escaping my eye. "For once... I desperately hoped I was wrong."
I had spent days telling myself this cold calculation wouldn't break me, that I was ready for the answer. So why was my chest aching like this? Why couldn't I stop crying?
More figures rushed into view, surrounding me, but their faces blurred into smudges of light as my vision began to fail.
"Traitors! You are all traitors!" Ms. Peach's shriek echoed over the roar of the fires as she scrambled to my side.
"I'll be fine, Peach..." I whispered, the light fading completely as darkness pulled me under.
As unconsciousness claimed me, my mind retreated into the quiet depths of memory, sifting through the desperate chain of events that had brought us to this brink.
Against my better judgment, I had used myself as bait. The risk was absolute, but it was the only trap capable of flushing the conspirators into the open. The painful truth was that a foolish, naive part of me had desperately wanted them to prove me wrong—to hear their warm words and believe them. But that gut-wrenching instinct, the persistent instinct that whispered of deceit, had refused to go away.
And now, the truth was laid bare.
I remembered how we had all ended up trapped in this domain—our very souls torn from our reality and bound into this sick, high-stakes arena. This whole realm was a cage. Every battle, every heart-wrenching loss, every mind game executed by false friends was engineered for one purpose: the sadistic amusement of the unseen entities watching us from beyond the sky. We were nothing more than playthings in a cosmic colosseum, forced to destroy each other for their entertainment.
I have to survive this, I vowed, holding fast to the thought as I drifted into the void. I won't let our pain be their show. I can't fall here... not until I tear this prison down and set us all free.