The taller boy broke the silence first. His voice carried a weight of certainty, not loud, but confident enough that it pressed against the walls of the small room.
"We should introduce ourselves," he said, tone smooth, as if he was already used to being obeyed.
Grimm looked at him properly for the first time. The boy stood straighter than the rest, his height putting him just above Grimm, his dark purple hair catching the dim glow of the candle.
His eyes were deeper still... purple, sharp, almost predatory in their intensity.
"My name is Haoran," he continued, calm but deliberate.
"The essence I carry is Mind Demon Ant."
The words settled like a stone in water, rippling through the air. Grimm felt the tension rise immediately.
Essence was more than just power, it was identity and weapon. Saying it aloud, so bluntly, wasn't just careless. It was calculated.
'He's fishing,' Grimm realized.
'He wants to see if the rest of us will spill our secrets too.'
The short-haired girl's eyes narrowed slightly, her posture straightening as if she caught it as well.
The smiling girl only tilted her head, grin stretching wider, but even that grin faltered for a heartbeat.
Grimm kept his face neutral, but his mind turned.
'Cunning. He's not just confident. He's trying to control the room.'
The grin widened before anyone else could react.
"I'll go next," the girl said, voice pitched in a lilting tone that was too cheerful for the dim, suffocating room.
"My name is Qin."
She leaned forward slightly, as if eager, strands of her black hair slipping loose from the ponytail that trailed behind her shoulders.
A small mole sat just above her left eyebrow, an almost delicate detail on a face that was otherwise strikingly symmetrical. But the way she smiled and spoke made it feel off.
Her eyes gleamed with a strange light, enthusiasm that didn't belong here, not in this place.
"My essence is…" she paused, then spoke as though savoring the words, "…Creeping Face Stealer."
The silence after that was heavy.
Grimm felt his stomach twist. That name alone was enough to spark unease.
'To take someone's face, their identity... what sort of soul would twist itself into something like that?'
Qin didn't seem to notice or didn't care. She tilted her head, smile never fading, eyes darting from one to the other like she was drinking in their discomfort.
'She's… creepy,' Grimm thought, throat dry.
'Pretty face, perfect smile, and still... she makes my skin crawl.'
Grimm's eyes lingered on Qin a second longer. That perfect symmetry, that mole, even the way her lips curled—it was too neat, too precise.
'That face… it might not even be hers,' he thought, a shiver running through his spine.
'Creeping Face Stealer… she could be wearing someone else right now.'
The silence pressed down on him until he realized it was his turn. Haoran's purple eyes were locked on him, steady and assessing.
Qin still wore her too-bright smile, and the other girl sat there with her restless energy, waiting.
Grimm swallowed. He didn't see a point in lying. They were all just trying to survive, and sooner or later, they'd have to rely on each other or use each other to stay alive.
"My name's Grimm," he said, voice steady but low. He hesitated only a second before continuing,
"My essence is… Thousand Venom Centipede."
The words hung in the air like a curse.
He felt the weight of their gazes tighten on him immediately, curiosity mixed with unease.
'Yeah… figures. A centipede doesn't sound friendly. But at least it's the truth.'
He clenched his jaw, staring at the ground for a moment.
'We're all weapons now. They should know exactly what's sitting across from them.'
The last one finally spoke, her voice calm and clear, carrying a weight that felt older than her age.
"My name is Hui," she said, resting her hands on her knees, posture straight.
"My essence is Shadow Wisdom Spider."
Grimm's eyes traced her carefully. Her black hair fell just to her shoulders, neat and sharp, and the faint line on her neck caught his attention.
'A scar? Or maybe a birthmark? Hard to tell in this dim light, but it gave her a certain edge'
There was depth in her eyes, a stillness that made it seem like she was always calculating, always watching.
She wasn't loud like Haoran, or eerie like Qin, but she had the kind of presence that made you think twice before underestimating her.
'Shadow Wisdom Spider…' Grimm thought, uneasy.
'She'll never say everything she's thinking. That one's dangerous.'
The little group sat in silence after her words, the four of them now exposed.
Grimm's mind was restless, thoughts running like wildfire.
'This group is dangerous… Haoran with his manipulative tone, Qin with her shifting face, Hui with her quiet schemes… and me, stuck in between them. All of us have powers in the mind domain, but I don't even know what that truly means yet. If it's all mental tricks and hidden daggers, then trust is impossible here.'
Haoran leaned back casually, his purple eyes narrowing in faint amusement.
He tilted his head, his voice smooth but carrying a sharp undercurrent.
"Tell me," he said, glancing at each of them one by one, "do you also want to escape?"
The question settled in the air like poison smoke. It wasn't asked lightly... there was weight in it, a risk, an opening. He wanted to see who would bite first.
Grimm's stomach tightened.
'Escape? He dares say that aloud? Either he's reckless, or he's already testing us. If I answer wrong, I could die here... not from the Black Moon, but from these three.'
Qin's lips curled into a small smile, eyes bright with something too eager.
Hui's gaze remained steady, unreadable.
Grimm kept his mouth shut, pretending to be more interested in the cracks on the stone floor than Haoran's words. But before the silence got too heavy, Hui was the one who broke it.
Her tone was calm, almost too calm. "Then what's your plan, Haoran? Don't tell me you're throwing words around without thinking ahead." She sat straight, hands on her knees, like she'd been waiting for this conversation all along.
Haoran chuckled, leaning back against the wall with one leg stretched out.
"Of course I've thought about it. That poison they shoved into us... it doesn't feel absolute. I've tested it, poked at it. It doesn't react when you just… think of running, or even mutter something against them in your head. My guess is it needs a real trigger. Either we actually act against them, or maybe someone higher up has to activate it themselves."
Qin tilted her head, her smile widening just slightly, eyes sharp as a knife edge.
"So you're saying it's not as hopeless as they made it sound? Interesting. You sound awfully confident for someone who's still breathing only because they let you."
Haoran smirked, but his eyes didn't leave Hui. "Confidence or not, facts are facts. If it was as strict as they say, half of us would already be corpses for just entertaining the thought of escape. Which means there's room to maneuver. And if there's room to maneuver... there's a chance."
Grimm glanced at the others. Hui's face was calm, unreadable, but her fingers tapped once against her knee.
Qin looked like she was enjoying every word of this, feeding on the tension.
'So that's how it is… He's not just talking. He's baiting us, measuring reactions.'