The fall ended in silence.
Argon's body slammed into something soft yet unyielding—like flesh stretched over stone. Blood burst from his mouth, ribs shattering under the impact. He clutched Selene against him, his arms tightening even as agony tore through his chest.
The abyss was no longer empty. It was alive.
The ground beneath them pulsed like a beating heart, veins glowing faint crimson. The air was thick, suffocating, filled with whispers that slithered into his skull. Shadows writhed endlessly around them, twisting into grotesque shapes—faces, claws, teeth—before dissolving into smoke.
Selene coughed weakly, blood spilling down her lips. Her eyes fluttered half-shut, her skin pale, her wound still bleeding from the sacrifice.
Argon pressed his forehead to hers, his voice hoarse. "Stay with me. Don't you dare give up now."
Her lips trembled, but no words came.
The Presence
Then it spoke.
Not the Game. Not Vanessa. Something older. Something deeper.
"At last… my vessel has come."
The shadows rippled, folding in on themselves. A colossal figure rose from the void—faceless, formless, a mass of endless limbs and mouths, each dripping black ichor. Its voice was everywhere, inside Argon's head, inside his bones, inside the air itself.
"The Game feeds me. Every scream, every cut, every sacrifice flows into this pit. And now… you fall willingly into my grasp. How delicious."
Argon staggered to his feet, hacksaw trembling in his grip. His crimson eyes burned, defiant. "You don't own me."
The abyss laughed, a thousand mouths opening in unison.
"You already carry me inside you. Every kill. Every choice. Every taste of her corruption was mine. I am not your master, Argon—I am what you have always been."
Selene's Desperation
Selene groaned, trying to push herself up, her shadows flickering weakly. "Don't… listen… it lies…"
But even her voice wavered, uncertain. Because part of her knew it wasn't lying.
The corruption that had burned through Argon wasn't only Vanessa's doing. It was something deeper. Something that had been waiting for him.
Argon clenched his teeth, shaking his head violently. "No. I am not yours."
The abyss leaned closer, its countless mouths stretching into a grotesque smile.
"Then prove it. Strike me down."
The Battlefield of Memory
The ground split. Shadows surged upward, twisting into shapes—familiar, haunting.
His parents' corpses.
The first victim he ever killed in the Game.
The twisted reflection he destroyed in the Mirror Chamber.
And finally, Selene—bound in chains, bleeding, begging him not to leave.
The abyss whispered, "Every choice you've made was mine. You are nothing without blood. Nothing without me."
Selene screamed, her voice cracking, "ARGON! Don't let it decide who you are!"
Her shadows burst weakly against the chains, but the abyss laughed, tightening its grip.
Vanessa Reaches Down
Above, Vanessa wasn't idle.
At the Arena's edge, she pressed her palms to the ground, whispering words in a tongue older than the labyrinth itself. Veins of crimson light spiderwebbed across the floor, reaching into the abyss below.
Her voice slid through the void, seductive and commanding.
"Darling. Come back to me. Don't let that thing claim you. You're mine. Mine."
The abyss snarled, its many mouths dripping venom.
"She would make you her pet. I would make you a god."
The Breaking Point
Argon dropped to his knees, clutching his head. Whispers tore at him from both sides—Vanessa's sweet poison, the abyss's thunderous hunger, Selene's desperate plea.
His veins blazed crimson. His flesh split, glowing light seeping through cracks in his skin.
The hacksaw shook in his hands. He could feel it changing, pulsing with something alive.
Selene crawled toward him, dragging her broken body across the bleeding ground. She seized his arm, her blood-slick fingers trembling.
"You're not theirs," she whispered, her voice breaking. "You're you. Argon. The man who leapt into hell to save me. That's who you are."
Her touch burned against his skin—not like corruption, but like truth.
Cliffhanger
The abyss roared, a thousand voices shrieking as one. Chains shot upward, coiling around Argon, dragging him toward its maw.
Vanessa's voice screamed through the void: "DARLING, CHOOSE ME!"
Selene's voice cracked with blood: "ARGON, FIGHT IT!"
And the abyss whispered with hunger: "Obey me."
Crimson light erupted from Argon's body, searing the darkness, shattering the chains. His roar split the void as his hacksaw transformed—its jagged blade glowing, reshaped by his will.
The abyss howled in rage.
And then Argon raised his weapon—not at Selene, not at Vanessa, but at the ancient presence itself.
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Argon defies the abyss, turning his blade against the ancient presence. But striking at it will come with a cost—and the labyrinth itself may not allow its true master to be challenged.