The cathedral no longer stood.
Where walls once rose, only fractured pillars remained, glowing with cracks of molten gold. Outside, the city was drowning in light—tendrils stretching like roots across every street, coiling up towers, sliding over statues.
The hymn was deafening now. Not just sound. It was inside their bones, inside their heads. Every breath Elara took carried the taste of ash and fire.
---
[07 Hours : 01 Minute Remaining]
Her timer glowed violently, the red digits so bright it hurt to look at. Every pulse dragged at her chest, like her heart was chained to the abyss beneath.
Aelric stood a few feet ahead, facing the cracks where the god's light bled through. His corrupted arm twitched uncontrollably, black veins crawling up his jawline, his eye darkening at the edges.
Still—he grinned.
"Seven hours," he muttered, voice hoarse but steady. "That's nothing. We've already survived worse."
Elara shook her head weakly. "Worse than this? There's nothing worse than this."
He glanced back, grin sharp. "You're wrong. Worse is lying down and letting it win."
---
A tendril crashed through the roof, smashing into the ground between them. Marble exploded outward, spraying shards.
Aelric moved instantly—his corrupted arm lashing out like a whip, black smoke wrapping the tendril. The two forces hissed and screamed against each other—corruption gnawing at godlight, godlight burning through corruption.
The clash blinded Elara. She staggered back, clutching her ears as the hymn rose into a shriek.
> [Warning: Corruption Surge +8%]
Current: 82%
Aelric staggered, blood dripping from his mouth. His grin faltered for a second—but only a second. He forced it back.
"See? Still standing," he rasped.
Elara's tears burned. "You can't keep doing this! Every time—every time it eats at you—"
He roared over her. "Better me than you!"
---
They retreated into the streets. The city was unrecognizable now. The cracks had swallowed entire districts, towers leaning at impossible angles. Pools of molten light spread across the cobblestones, glowing like inverted suns.
Everywhere, the hymn whispered. Not just in Elara's head this time—out loud. In the voices of the dead.
She froze when she heard her mother's voice.
"Elara… give yourself. Just one sacrifice. End the pain."
Her breath caught. "No—no, you're not—"
Aelric grabbed her wrist sharply, dragging her forward. His grin was gone, his face hard.
"Don't listen. None of it's real. It's just the god wearing masks."
Tears spilled from her eyes anyway. "But it sounded like her—"
"Of course it did." His voice was bitter. "That's what hunger does. It takes the shapes you can't ignore."
---
[06 Hours : 31 Minutes Remaining]
They collapsed into the ruins of a marketplace, hiding beneath a half-fallen arch. The tendrils moved slower here, feeling their way through the rubble.
Elara leaned against him, her breaths shallow. Her body was weaker now, drained. Even lifting her lantern felt impossible.
"I don't… think I'll last, Aelric," she whispered.
His grin returned, jagged but fierce. "You'll last. Because I'll drag you through it if I have to."
Her tears streaked through the dirt on her cheeks. "Why do you keep pretending? You're falling apart."
He looked down at his corrupted hand, smoking, twitching, the skin split open to reveal something black writhing beneath. His grin faded for a moment.
Then he laughed—ragged, broken.
"Because if I stop pretending, we're already dead."
---
The hymn surged again. Louder. Clearer.
Choose. Offer. End the noise. End the pain.
The system's notice blazed before them once more:
> [Secondary Condition Active.]
Sacrifice Required. Options: Self | Other | Object of Value.
Elara sobbed, covering her ears though it did nothing. "It won't stop… it keeps asking—"
Aelric slammed his corrupted arm against the ground, snarling. The black veins pulsed outward, cracking the stone like spiderwebs. The system flickered, glitching.
> [Sacrifice Demand—Suppressed.]
The hymn faltered, distorted, breaking into static.
Aelric's grin was blood-slicked now. "See? Still cheating."
But the veins spread higher up his face. His eye was half-black, smoke leaking from his mouth.
Elara's heart ached. She wanted to scream at him to stop, to rest, but she knew he wouldn't. He couldn't.
---
[05 Hours : 59 Minutes Remaining]
Time crawled. Tendrils brushed closer, sometimes sweeping through entire streets. Each time, Aelric fought them off—not with weapons, but with his infection, letting his corruption clash with godlight until both recoiled.
Every time, he bled more. Every time, his timer flickered violently.
Elara sat in the rubble, clutching her useless lantern, whispering to herself. "Just five more hours. Just five. Please…"
Her eyes burned as she looked at him. His grin was still there, but thinner, cracked at the edges.
Finally, she whispered the words she had been holding back for too long.
"Aelric… I'm scared."
For once, his grin softened into something almost human. He staggered over, collapsed beside her, and leaned his forehead against hers. His corrupted hand trembled as it cupped the back of her head.
"I know," he murmured. "So am I."
Her tears fell freely. "Then why do you keep—"
"Because," he whispered, eyes closing. "Fear doesn't matter. What matters is spitting in its face anyway."
---
The city roared. The cracks widened all at once, streets folding inward. Dozens of tendrils burst upward together, writhing like a forest of molten trees.
The hymn screamed.
> [Entity Fully Aware.]
Final Phase Approaching.
[05 Hours : 01 Minute Remaining]
Elara clung to Aelric as the ground shook beneath them. The god was rising, piece by piece, heartbeat by heartbeat.
Aelric's grin burned through blood and smoke. His voice was raw but steady.
"Five hours, Elara. Five. Let's make them choke on every one."
The world split open.