The world flipped upside down.
Stone and dust swallowed them as the floor collapsed, dragging them into a spiraling abyss. Wind howled past their ears as they fell through the black void. For a heartbeat, there was nothing but weightless terror.
"Everyone, hold onto something!" Sayos shouted, spinning mid-air, trying to summon wind to slow their descent.
Lucy dug her claws into Mizu's cloak, her glowing blue eyes wide. Rika reached out, grabbing Mizu's wrist. "Don't you dare let go!"
"I'm not letting go!" Mizu yelled back, struggling to control his breathing as his crystal pulsed erratically.
The air shifted around them—gravity bending as strange runes flared along the walls of the abyss. Then, just as suddenly as the fall had begun, they crashed.
But not on stone.
They landed on something soft… shifting… *alive*.
---
Mizu rolled to his feet instantly, helping Rika up. The ground beneath them pulsed like flesh. It wasn't stone at all—it was some kind of organic surface, like they'd landed inside a living creature.
Sayos groaned, rubbing his shoulder. "I'm going to start charging Ranshin rent if we keep falling into these cursed pits."
"Quiet," Lucy growled. Her nose twitched, ears flat. "We're not alone."
The floor trembled again, this time deliberately. The fleshy ground parted, forming massive ridges as if reacting to their presence.
Then came the roar.
From the shadows ahead, a monstrous shape pulled itself free—a beast unlike any they'd seen. Its body was skeletal yet covered in sinewy muscle, and violet veins glowed beneath its translucent skin. Dozens of tendrils writhed behind it, each tipped with razor-sharp bone.
Honkai's eyes hardened. "Ranshin doesn't waste his resources. This is a guardian."
"Of course it is," Sayos muttered.
---
The beast charged, tendrils lashing like whips.
Mizu blocked the first strike with a wall of water, but the impact sent him sliding back. Rika countered with a flaming arc, slicing one tendril in half—but the severed piece twitched, regenerating almost instantly.
"Great," Rika spat. "It heals."
Sayos dashed to the side, wind blades cutting through two tendrils. "We need a plan before this thing eats us!"
Lucy leapt onto the beast's back, tearing into its glowing veins with her fangs. For a moment, the beast shrieked, thrashing violently.
"Mizu!" Honkai shouted. "The veins! That's its weak point!"
Mizu's eyes narrowed. He gathered his energy, focusing the flow of his water into a sharp, spinning drill. He dashed forward, weaving through the te