The statues moved.
Stone scraped against stone, a sound like grinding teeth echoing across the chamber. Dust cascaded from their shoulders as the two executioners stepped down from their posts, axes heavier than siege gates dragging shallow scars across the floor.
They were enormous. Towering. Featureless faces carved in the likeness of judgment itself.
And they were meant for me.
I ran.
The moment their axes lifted, I was already moving, my foot slamming into the stone as I traced a circle mid-motion.
ᚲᛋ ᚠᛏ ᛋᚱCrucis Flux – Vector Step(Force Conversion – Directional Burst: converts kinetic Axiom into instantaneous propulsion.)
The ground detonated beneath my heel—not outward, but backward—and I was flung sideways as an axe came down where my head had been a breath earlier. The impact cracked the floor, sending shockwaves rippling through the chamber.
I didn't stop.
Another circle. Another burst.
I vaulted, twisted, rolled—barely staying ahead of execution itself.
As I moved, my mind worked.
Every dungeon beast I had killed had carried an Axiom crystal.
Every one.
These statues were no different.
They weren't flesh. They weren't bone. They were stone and rubble—unfinished bodies wrapped around something far more important.
A core.
And unlike monsters, theirs wouldn't be buried beneath muscle and sinew.
"Easier to break," I muttered breathlessly.
I skidded behind a fallen pillar and slammed my palm against the ground, drawing a full circle this time. Not combat. Construction.
I adjusted the values carefully.
Material density: high.Duration: seconds.Stability: minimal.Purpose: resonance.
The runes flared as the circle locked.
ᚨᛚ ᛏᚱ ᚲᛋAlloy Triaxis – Projection(Material Projection: forms a temporary metal–Axiom alloy construct.)
Metal burst from the circle like liquid light, wrapping itself around my forearms. I clenched my fists as the gauntlets solidified—rough, imperfect, but heavy with force.
Then more circles bloomed around them.
ᚺᚱᛞHardening
ᚲᛋ ᚠᛏKinetic Charge
ᚠᚱᚲForce Amplification
Three magic circles. One purpose.
I sprinted straight at the nearest statue.
Its axe came down.
I launched myself upward, chaining propulsion into the air, twisting my body mid-flight, and drove my fist forward.
The impact erased sound.
Stone didn't crack—it ceased. The gauntlet shattered into raw Axiom, dispersing instantly, but the statue's head… vanished. Reduced to rubble and dust in a single strike.
I landed hard, hands burning, skin bruised and torn—but I was grinning.
"Got you."
The statue kept moving.
My smile died.
Headless, it stepped forward, axe lifting again with mechanical precision.
"—What?"
A shadow casting me from behind swallowed me.
I glanced back—
—and saw the other statue mid-swing, its massive axe tearing through the air straight toward my back.
I cast blindly.
ᚲᛋ ᚠᛏ ᛋᚱVector Step
The burst twisted my trajectory just enough.
The axe missed me and struck the other statue.
Stone exploded. The torso caved inward, rubble collapsing—and there it was.
A crystal.
Red.
Huge.
At least four meters long, pulsing like a heart torn from the dungeon itself.
"That was close," I gasped. "But now I know where it is."
The axe was lodged deep in the wreckage, stuck fast. The remaining statue tugged, stone grinding, unable to free it.
My chance.
I cast again—speed, lift, direction—all at once.
And then—
"S—shit!"
The statue tilted its head.
Its hand came out of nowhere.
The impact was absolute.
I was a ragdoll, flung upward, spine slamming into the ceiling hard enough to crack stone. Pain detonated through me. I bounced, crashed down, coughing blood before I even hit the ground.
I tried to heal.
ᛋᚾᚱ ᛚᚨSeneris Latus(Sustain Form)
It barely slowed the bleeding.
Something was wrong.
This one wasn't mindless.
This one was watching me.
"A boss…" I rasped. "Why is there a boss here…?"
The statue's face crumbled.
Stone peeled back like flesh, revealing a maw where a face should have been.
And it spoke.
"How darest thou oppose the hand that granted thee growth?"
My blood ran cold.
"It can talk…?"
"The dungeon fed thee. Tempered thee. And now thou bares thy fangs at thy benefactor?"
Its voice was ancient—layered, echoing, wrong.
"That which rises from the soil must return to it. Such is the covenant."
Then my body moved.
Not by my will.
A force seized my mind, yanked me backward—and I was slammed onto the pedestal once more, forced into the execution position. My vision swam red. Blood dripped into my eyes.
Skulls lay beside me.
More than one.
The statue stepped forward, axe rising again.
"The ceremony demands a head. Thy blood shall empower the Nexus."
Nexus.
So that was it.
The door wasn't guarding treasure.
It was guarding the dungeon's heart.
"So this is the scheme," I whispered. "Make us strong… then eat us."
"I refuse to die."
Again.
"I refuse to die."
My fingers brushed something warm.
The shattered crystal.
The red axiom crystal core from the other statue.
I knew what would happen.
Absorbing it would kill me.
And I did it anyway.
I grabbed it and the world screamed.
Axiom howled as it tore into me. My skin split. Blood poured from my mouth, my nose, my eyes. My right arm burned crimson, veins glowing like molten wire.
I screamed.
The statue roared and brought its axe down—
And time stopped.
I stood in white.
Across from me stood... myself.
Sixteen. Clean. Noble. Wearing the family sigil.
He looked at me with wide eyes.
"What happened to you?"
I laughed weakly. "Long story."
He stepped closer. Saw the scars. The blood. The rage.
"You're still me," he said softly.
"I know."
Faces flickered behind him—Mother. Father.
"No need to worry about me," he said. "Advance. You'll always be you."
The white shattered.
The axe froze inches from my skull.
Threads of runes wrapped around me, weaving faster and faster until they exploded outward.
Power erupted.
My hair bleached white.
My right arm fused with crystallized Axiom.
My eye burned.
I opened them.
"I'm tired of executions."
The statue screamed and swung—
I caught the axe with my bare hands.
Runes shattered. Axiom flowed into me. The statue cracked, then collapsed.
I stood alone before the door.
Still alive.
Still burning.
And I opened it.