The silence after the Threshold Devourer's death didn't feel like peace.
It felt like breath being held.
Like the dungeon itself was waiting.
Aria stepped back from the dissolving corpse, her blade trembling slightly in her hand—not from fear of the monster, but from the way Elias had killed it.
Kellan braced Jarek, who looked seconds away from fainting.
Elias was the only one who stood without wavering.
But even he felt it.
A presence rising from below.
Slow.Cold.Deliberate.
Not climbing.Not crawling.
Ascending.
Jarek swallowed hard, voice cracking.
"What… what else is down there?"
Kellan answered first.
His voice was low, grim.
"Something that scares even the watchers."
Aria didn't look away from the pit.
"Something that shouldn't be in a cadet trial."
Elias didn't blink.
He felt pressure pushing against his chest—like invisible fingers gripping his sternum, testing him.
The air vibrated.
Then—
A sound.
Soft.Wet.Rhythmic.
Click.Click.Click.
Not footsteps.
Tendrils hitting metal.
Slowly rising.
Aria took a single step back.
"We have to move," she said."Now. We can't fight whatever that is."
Kellan nodded.
"I'm with you. We run."
Jarek tugged weakly at Kellan's sleeve.
"W-We can make it back, right? If we stay quiet?"
Elias didn't turn.
"No."
Aria shot him a look.
"Why not?"
Elias lowered his head slightly, eyes fixed on the pit's edge.
"It already knows where we are."
Something scraped against the metal directly below them.
Aria's breath hitched.
The creature emerged.
Slowly.
Like it wanted them to see every inch of its ascent.
Its body was thin—too thin—like stretched sinew over bone.Six limbs, jointed backward.A ribcage that expanded and contracted with unnatural rhythm.And its head…
Its head was divided.
Vertically.
Split open like a book, two halves lined with teeth.But its eyes—
Not two.Not six.
Twelve.
Twelve pale eyes scattered across both halves of its skull, each one opening and closing independently.
Kellan exhaled one trembling breath.
"Oh hell…"
Aria's voice cracked.
"A… Split-Mind Wraith."
Jarek collapsed to his knees.
"No. No, no, no—those things aren't supposed to exist outside of cataclysm zones—"
The Wraith's twelve eyes swiveled, all landing on Elias.
Every single one.
Kellan stepped between them instinctively, staff raised.
"Stay behind me—"
"No," Elias said quietly.
Kellan glanced back."What?"
"It's not looking at you."
The Wraith extended one limb, its claw dragging along the metal with a soft ringing sound.
It leaned forward, head splitting further—
And let out a whisper.
A whisper that felt like it came from inside their skulls:
"…found… you…"
Aria stepped forward, blade raised.
"Ward, we're leaving. Now."
Elias didn't move.
The Wraith shifted, its limbs spreading across the walkway, blocking every exit.
Kellan cursed.
"It's cutting us off."
Jarek sobbed.
"We're going to die… we're going to die…"
Aria grabbed Elias' arm.
"Move. I don't care what it wants—MOVE."
Elias finally turned to her.
His eyes were clear.
Too clear.
"If we run, it will follow."
"Then we run faster!"
"We can't outrun it."
Aria's grip tightened.
"And you think we can fight it?"
Elias looked at the creature again.
The Wraith's twelve eyes expanded—wide, hungry, recognizing something inside him.
He spoke quietly.
"No."
Aria froze.
Jarek choked.
Kellan lowered his staff slowly.
"So what then?" Aria whispered.
Elias shut his eyes.
Inside him, something pulsed.Not a skill.Not a technique.
An instinct.
Old.Heavy.Ruthless.
His veins burned.His ribs throbbed.His vision blazed white for a heartbeat.
When he opened his eyes again, Aria stepped back without meaning to.
Elias whispered:
"We don't fight it."
The Wraith tilted its head, amused.
Elias finished:
"We make it fight itself."
Aria frowned.
"What does that—"
Elias stepped forward.
Toward the Wraith.
Aria hissed.
"WARD—!"
He raised his hand slightly.
And the air shifted.
Not a blast.Not a glow.Not power.
Pressure.
The same pressure the Wraith emanated—the same threshold energy—turned back on itself.
The creature froze.
Its head twitched.Its eyes flickered.Two limbs clawed at its own ribs, confused.Panic rippled through its body—pure, instinctive panic.
Kellan stared in disbelief.
"He's… redirecting it. He's turning its hunting aura inwards—!"
Aria whispered:
"That's impossible."
Jarek didn't speak.He was too terrified to breathe.
The Wraith screeched, its split head convulsing.It slammed itself against the wall, eyes shutting one by one as if it couldn't bear what it was sensing.
Then—
Its own limbs pierced its torso.
Elias didn't move.
He just watched until the creature collapsed, shrieking and dissolving into ash.
When the last trace of it evaporated, Elias swayed where he stood.
Aria caught him.
"Ward!"
He blinked slowly.
His voice was strained, barely there.
"…too much."
Kellan knelt beside him.
"That kind of instinct… that would break a normal person."
Aria held Elias upright, her grip firm.
"What's happening to you?"
Elias didn't answer.
Because he felt it again.
Another presence rising.
Far below.
Even bigger.
Even colder.
Even older.
Aria saw his face pale.
"What now?"
He forced the word out.
"…more."
Kellan frowned.
"How many more?"
Elias stared into the abyss.
And whispered:
"…all of them."