The room fell quiet after Rosario's last words. Grace kept staring at him, lips trembling, but no sound came out. Vera stood without any movement, but his hand rested near the hilt of his weapon.
Rosario tilted his head and sighed. "You two always wanted the answers. The truth…" He tapped his chest, over his heart, "truth is heavier than any blade. Doesn't it feel bad when fate oversees your hopes? You want it? You might not like how it tastes."
Before either of them could reply, Rosario's fingers slipped into the pocket of his robe. A flicker of silver.
Something hit the ground with a sharp clink.
"Move!" Vera shout louder trying to step back.
The sound bomb, then expanded into a sphere of trembling air. The bubble stretched, swallowing walls, chairs, the ceiling. Everything bent like glass under water.
Boom!
The world shattered around them as the bubble.
Grace felt her lungs crushed, her breath ripped out of her chest. Vera tried to shield her, but both were flung into emptiness, spinning weightless.
They hit solid ground.
A gray stone floor, like glass but dry, slippery under their boots. The air was thick, too dense to breathe easily. Grace coughed, clutching her chest, while Vera rose slowly, scanning the horizon. The environment was cold and hard.
The place was endless from every directions.
Black sky, no stars. A void above, alive with faint ripples like something massive was swimming behind a curtain. The ground stretched far, broken by giant jagged hills—hollow, torn, crumbling like the ribs of a dead god. They curved in impossible angles, some floating midair before slowly grinding back into the ground.
Grace hugged her arms. "Where…. where are we?"
Her voice resounded into too many echoes, overlapping, like more than one version of her had spoken at the same time.
Rosario's voice came from everywhere at once.
"You're in my stage now."
Grace gave a steady look everywhere.
Vera's hand tightened on his trident. "Show yourself."
A laugh floated above them. It wasn't cruel, not yet. It was playful and mocking.
"This dimension is a bubble between bubbles. A place your system doesn't see, your rules don't apply. Only one law exists here…." His words stretched, recalling like webs plucked on a violin. "….my law."
Rosario stood five paces away, smiling. Then in a blink, he was gone. His image lingered like smoke before breaking apart.
Grace's eyes darted, panicked. "He, he's moving too fast!"
"No," Vera said firmly, though his chest tightened. "He's not fast. This place is something horrible. He's everywhere."
A flash of steel cut the air.
Rosario appeared above, upside down in midair, spinning lazily as though the void carried him. His hand held a small dagger, no longer than a hand's span. Its blade was narrow, crooked like lightning, edges glowing faint red as though dipped in ember.
He kissed the hilt. "Omen."
Grace's knees weakened just from looking at it. The blade seemed wrong like it was not made to cut flesh or carrots, but luck itself. Her mind whispered that even breathing near it would invite disaster.
Rosario twirled it, and sparks of black dust fell, vanishing before hitting ground.
"Omen," he said sweetly, "doesn't pierce your flesh, it will stab your destiny, hope, choices.... that's too fun. It slices good fortune. Every strike? One blessing gone like a bird flickering out from a cage after hundred years! Trip where you should've stood. Misstep where you should've survived. You'll feel the weight of every bad day you've ever avoided."
He floated closer, upside down still, hair drifting as though under water.
"This," Rosario whispered, eyes bright as fireflies, "is a duel of despair."
Vera stepped forward, calm, voice flat. "So you were always their pawn."
Rosario's grin widened, but his eyes darkened. "Pawn?" He flipped midair, landing soundlessly behind them. "No, lad. I'm the string on the violin. I'm not pawn, neither a king, I'm the sound between. And the Overseer likes my song."
Grace was trying to stay steady. Her heart pounded too hard, every letter of Rosario's words bending her balance.
The ground itself pulsed once, like a drumbeat. Faint, but real.
Vera's jaw tightened. "Grace. Stay close, don't let your fear control your movement."
Rosario licked his lip. "Good advice. Shame it won't help when Omen begins its song."
He raised the dagger.
The black void above rippled like water, and from it fell streaks of faint red, like dying stars. Each one hissed before vanishing on the gray ground.
Grace swallowed hard. "Vera.… this place feels very dangerous."
"It is," Rosario murmured, voice now just behind her ear.
Vera moved between her and the shadows, his blade ready, eyes tracking every corner of light. Rosario's laugh circled them, wrapping around like a noose.
"You two have walked into my song," he whispered. "Now dance."
A gust of wind cut across the gray ground, and Rosario's voice followed,
"Two hearts beating faster than it should.… one steady like a stone. Which breaks first? Uhm, uhm, let's see!"
He was above them, then gone. A flicker on the left, then the right. His steps made no sound, his shadow always a half-second behind him.
Vera's grip tightened on the trident. He moved slow at first, shifting his weight from heel to toe, testing the slipperiness of the stone. He already knew any sudden lunge could be punished.
Grace pressed a hand to her chest. "Fox Deity…."
A shimmer bloomed beside her. Mist spread, green and cold, smelling faintly of pine. The vixen rose, tall, its kimono flowing like ink in water. A thousand tails of pale flame unfurled behind it. The fox's eyes glowed like lanterns, and the air thickened.
Time slowed casually, the streak of falling red lights slowed, the sound of Rosario's laugh stretched long, louder.
Grace exhaled, ready.
Rosario's chuckle cut through the stillness. "Slow the world? Fine. But tell me, Grace…. are you sure you slowed me? Or did I make you think you did?"
Her heartbeat skipped. The fox faltered, its mist wavering. She blinked and Rosario was already behind her.
Vera thrust his trident sideways. Metal scraped against Rosario's dagger. Sparks scattered upwards.
The assassin flipped backward, twisting midair, his scarlet sentinel robe snapping like a banner. He landed on one hand, spun, and vanished into the void's bends.
"Keep steady," Vera said flatly. His trident dripped with summoned water, the droplets circling him like tiny moons.
Grace grit her teeth. The fox deity steadied, mist curling back, but Rosario's words lingered, gnawing. Was the slowing real? Or just an illusion he planted in her head?
She forced herself forward, slashing her short blade through green mist. Time bent again, cutting space in waves. One wave caught Rosario's leg mid-dash. His movement stuttered just for a breath.
Vera moved instantly. The trident snapped forward, kinetic force exploded in rings. Water speared out like arrows, one after another.
Rosario twisted his body midair, folding like a ribbon. The water slashes missed by hairs, slicing hills into shards.
He landed, dagger ready, his grin sharper now. "Good. You two together, that's a dance. But you're still clumsy."
After that, his tricks began to express.
Whispers filled the air. Vera heard Grace screaming but she hadn't moved her lips. Grace heard Vera calling her weak but his face was stone, silent. Both turned slightly, doubt breaking their focus.
That's when Rosario struck.
He blurred low to the ground, sliding between them. Omen flashed upward, grazing Grace's arm. She staggered but not from the attack. It barely touched her skin but her balance failed. She tripped over nothing, her leg stiff.
"See?" Rosario purred. "One blessing gone."
Vera countered fast, spinning his trident to guard her flank. Water whipped, creating a barrier. He lunged, stabbing forward, the trident tip exploding into a spiral of compressed waves.
Rosario cartwheeled over it, landing upside-down against a hill wall like a spider, dagger clutched. His eyes glowed in emptiness.
Grace called out, "Fox! bind him!"
The vixen deity exhaled a heavy mist. Time fractured, slowing Rosario's body by seconds. Vera dashed in with his trident slashed, water exploding like a geyser.
It should have landed.
But Rosario smiled even as the blade passed through. The illusion broke. His body split into smoke.
From above, the real Rosario dropped, dagger spinning.
Vera barely blocked, arms shaking from the pressure. The trident vibrated. Rosario leaned close, saying,
"Tell me, Vera.… when you swing that weapon, is it to protect everyone? Or to convince yourself you still can?"
The words sank deeper than the blade. Vera's thoughts were jumbled, but he shoved back hard, forcing Rosario off.
Grace recovered, mist swirling thicker. She closed her eyes, ignoring the tricks, focusing only on her fox. The deity howled, time folding around Rosario in jagged stutters. His movement slowed for real this time.
Vera launched forward. The trident cracked the air, bursting with water force. Rosario tried to flip aside, but the stutter trapped him mid-motion. The trident clipped his side, sending him crashing into the stone floor.
He rolled, coughing, but still laughing.
"Omen.…" he hissed, pressing the dagger against the ground. The stone cracked, luck itself bleeding out. Vera's footing slipped on dry stone. His ankle twisted.
Grace's fox lunged, tails spearing like chains. Rosario darted between them, flipping, spinning, body folding in impossible angles. His acrobatics turned their pressure into his stage.
He grinned through blood on his lip. "Good, good! Now.… show me if you can keep dancing once I rip every blessing you've ever had."