Tom's legs felt like stone. He stood there, staring at what was left of Rhea. His thoughts were bending in an unknown confusion....
He tried to think, but his thoughts stumbled over themselves.
His hand trembled at his side. He wanted to look away, but his eyes wouldn't move. The image was carved into his skull already, like the scene and his eyes were glued.
Behind him, footsteps came. Two shadows entered through the flap.
Arlong was first. He froze the instant he saw inside. His cheerful tone was gone, his bow lowered uselessly at his side. He whispered in a torn, broken, helpless voice.
"...Rhea…?"
Johan stepped past him, slower, more controlled, but even he went stiff at the sight. For a moment he didn't speak at all. His face twitched, eyes narrowing not only with shock but with something darker, deeper like he thought the corpse would become a zombie.
Johan's eyes lingered on the body, then the tent walls, then the floor as if searching for signs. His hand touched the hilt of his blade unconsciously, then released it.
"I had doubts," Johan said at last, voice low, heavy. "I thought she might be hiding something. That maybe she was…. involved."
Arlong snapped his head toward him.
"You thought Rhea was the culprit? The one sending parasites into her own guards?"
Johan didn't flinch.
"Yes."
Tom felt anger twist inside him. He didn't like hearing it. Especially not after seeing her torn apart like that.
" If she was the culprit, then who killed her? Why rip her apart like an animal?"
The three of them stood in silence again as they knew they have no answer to it.
Johan's gaze hardened. He muttered, almost to himself, "Then that means.… the real culprit is still here. There is still an imposter among us."
Arlong shifted his spot and sat on the chair. His eyes darted to the shadows in the corners of the tent.
"You think it's someone from the camp?"
Johan looked at the body once more, his face unreadable. "Not just someone. Whoever it is they wanted to show us an example. They wanted fear to spread."
Tom was feeling traumatised, forcing himself to turn back to Rhea's corpse. His chest ached with a weight he couldn't name.
He whispered quietly, "Then we're already too late."
All on a sudden,
One guard stepped forward, his face twisted in a grin that didn't belong to him.
"We killed her," he said.
Another followed, echoing, "We killed Rhea."
Then another. And another. Until the tent filled with a chorus of voices—forty throats chanting the same words in perfect, horrible rhythm,
We killed her. We killed her. We killed her.
Tom staggered back, his breath hitching.
Arlong reached for his bow, his voice cracking, "The hell—?"
Johan didn't wait. His blade slid free with a hiss. "Ready yourselves!"
They hurled themselves forward with unnatural speed, their fingernails lengthening into claws, their jaws stretching wider than human.
The first wave slammed into the three. Tom twisted his body and slashed, cutting through the neck of one. The head rolled in midair, blood spraying.
But before it touched the floor, the wound sealed. The head reattached. The eyes glowed red.
Johan burned another down with a column of blue flame, hot enough to melt diamond. The creature fell writhing, its skin peeling off.… only to knit back together, fresh muscle and sinew growing beneath the charred remains.
Arlong loosed arrow after arrow, his barrier shimmering as claws struck against it. Still, one slipped through and raked his arm. He gritted his teeth, blood soaking through his armor.
"Dammit—they heal faster than I can shoot!" he shouted.
Tom ducked as another beast crashed toward him. He spun his dagger and carved across its spine, then flicked his Face, HTC....
rotating the air so violently it twisted the guard's body backward, snapping bone. Soldiers were in bad shape but the monsters inside them refused to die, its arms clawing at the ground, dragging itself toward him.
The three of them tightened their formation. But the guards kept coming, an endless tide of red eyes and snapping teeth.
The temperature was dropping. The air itself started to take a horror atmosphere.
Something larger than shadow unfurled across the tent. It swallowed sound, swallowed breath, swallowed even the courage that had held them upright.
Tom felt his knees tremble.
The guards stopped. Their snarling mouths went slack, their bodies slumping like puppets on strings. Their red eyes glazed over, fixed on nothing. Then, in perfect unison, they bowed to the shadow.
The shape loomed over the three.
A vast, writhing silhouette that stretched from floor to ceiling. Hundreds of hands, or wings, flickered in and out of existence around its core. Its presence pressed against their chests until breathing became pain.
The shadow looked at them.
With that glance, all three were thrown back.
Tom hit the wall, blood spilling from his lip. Arlong crashed against a pillar, his bow snapping in half. Johan slammed into the dirt, his flames sputtering.
They tried to rise. Tried his best to counter. Unfortunately, their limbs refused to obey. The pressure was too great.
The shadow shrank, folding into itself. From its collapsing form stepped out a woman.
She moved like smoke yet stood solid as stone. Her violet peplos flowed around her, sleeves trailing like river currents. Indigo bracelets circled her wrists, not worn but orbiting, each one glowing faintly, dripping sparks like dying stars.
Her hair was impossible to describe. It was rainbow, yes, but not the soft pastel of a rainbow after rain. It burned, each strand shimmering with violent brilliance, alive, searing the eyes if you stared too long.
She smiled faintly. It was warm, motherly almost. Still it carried cruelty older than memory.
"Greetings," she said. Her voice was velvet wrapped in knives. "Children of dust, Thieves of light."
Tom forced himself upright, his dagger shaking in his grip. "Who…. who the hell are you?"
Her bracelets spun faster, leaving streaks of violet fire in the air.
"I am Ghira, Queen of Darga. Mother of Seduction, Servant of nothing!!"
Tom's face darkened, sweat trailing down his temple reminding him something. He whispered, "Ghira? Impossible.…"
She looked at him, tilting her head slightly, the way a predator regards prey it's already claimed.
"You know my name, Lad? Then you must also know what comes next."
Johan's blade caught flame again, but his grip faltered. "You.… you were supposed to be dead."
"Death," Ghira said, stepping closer, "is a cage meant for lesser beings. Not for me."
Arlong struggled to his knees, clutching his broken bow. "What do you want?"
Her eyes glimmered like oceans of color, each shade shifting, impossible to fix on. She extended a hand, and the guards in silence, rose like mannequins, standing behind her.
"What I want?" She laughed, a sound like bells tolling at a funeral. "I want what was promised. I want to devour the Abyss!"
Tom clenched his teeth. "Talk straight."
Ghira's smile widened. Her bracelets spun, cutting small lines of violet light into the air. "I want the Overseer to descend. To unfurl its wings over your world. To tear away the thin veil of lies you call reality. You live in shadows of shadows, blind to the truth. I will bring chaos and clarity through chaos."
Johan took a step forward despite the weight crushing his chest. "You'll kill everyone."
"Kill?" Ghira laughed again, louder. "Those who burn will rise anew. Those who resist will dissolve into the hymn of eternity. All of you, part of the grand descent. You should be honored."
Tom's hand was shaking. He lifted his dagger. His voice didn't help, but he forced it out, "You murdered Rhea, didn't you? You turned her people into monsters. What is your emnity with them?"
Ghira's eyes softened, almost pitying. "Rhea was a vessel of mine. The person you talked to all this time was me, choadheads!"
She bursted in laugh crazily ripping her own face with nails.
Hearing the truth, three were stunned like getting backstabbed by their own child.
As She stopped laughing, her face healed automatically.
" Gosh, I had to nerf all those soldiers spreading the unknown decease. They were too divine and powerful to have control on. Thankfully, it worked. The death of Rhea may fill the Overseer's hunger."
Arlong spat blood. "If you think we'll just watch you—"
She raised a hand, silencing him instantly. His body froze, pinned in the place by nothing visible.
"You will do nothing," she said softly. "Because you cannot. You are just dogs. Fragile, fraying threads. I am the one who will unravel your chest apart."
She stepped forward, her bracelets orbiting faster now, cutting arcs of purple flame. Behind her, the guards snarled again, their bodies twitching, ready to pounce at her command.
Johan's blade burned blue, but still shaking bit under her sight.
Ghira spread her arms wide, her voice explode everywhere as if the tent could not contain it.
"The Overseer is waking. When the reality opens its eyes…. your world will vanish like mist in the sun."
The three stood battered, cornered, their hearts pounding against their ribs.
Ghira smiled one last time with radiant and cruel expression.
"Welcome, little hunters.... to the final night of yours...."