The cathedral of bone shuddered as if it were alive.
The rib-like pillars groaned, veins glowing brighter with each thrum of the chained figure's heart. The masked giant sat upon its throne, chains pulling taut as it stirred, its whispers threading into every corner of the abyss.
"Argon… you are mine. Not hers. Not theirs. Mine."
The words were soft, yet they shook the marrow in his bones.
Selene on the Edge
Selene lay crumpled against the floor of skulls, her breaths shallow, her eyes glazed with pain. The shadows that once swirled like blades around her hands were nothing more than flickers now, slipping away like smoke.
Her trembling hand clawed toward him. "Argon… fight it. Please…"
Her blood seeped into the floor, and the cathedral drank it greedily. The skulls beneath her twitched, grinning wider.
Every second, she was dying.
Vanessa's Fury
Vanessa moved like a storm, chains slamming into the bone pillars, shattering fragments into dust. Her hair hung wild, her eyes glowing like twin obsidian flames.
"NO!" she screamed, voice raw, dripping with jealousy and madness. "You don't say his name! He is not yours!"
Her gaze snapped to Selene, cold and merciless. "And you—" she raised a clawed hand, chains rattling, "—you don't get to keep what I bled for!"
Argon shifted instantly, stepping between Selene and Vanessa, hacksaw raised.
"Try," he said, his voice low, his eyes burning.
Vanessa's lips curled into a trembling smile. "Oh, darling, I was hoping you'd say that."
The Will Tightens Its Grip
But before the clash could ignite, the whispers deepened, spreading through Argon's veins like molten fire.
"Why fight? Why choose between broken toys? Cast them aside. Take me. Take freedom."
The veins on his arms bulged black, crawling higher up his throat, across his jaw. His grip on the hacksaw wavered as the voice smothered his thoughts with velvet insistence.
Selene's fading voice reached him. "Don't… don't let it take you…"
Vanessa shrieked, her chains cracking against the floor. "Ignore her! She's weak! With me, you'll be everything you were meant to be!"
The Collapse
The cathedral walls cracked.
Skulls rained down like broken glass, bone dust filling the air. The giant figure on the throne strained against its chains, the sound of breaking iron ringing like thunder.
Every link that groaned sent a shockwave through the abyss, shaking Argon to his knees.
Selene coughed blood, whispering his name again, weaker this time, almost drowned by the echoes.
Vanessa charged, her chains slicing through the dust, aiming straight for Selene's throat.
Argon Breaks
"ENOUGH!"
The word ripped out of him, more roar than voice.
His hacksaw burned black, the veins along his body pulsing violently. But then—something else erupted.
Not Vanessa's corruption.
Not Selene's shadows.
Not the chained giant's whisper.
Something new.
A surge of crimson light tore through his veins, spilling from his skin in jagged streaks. His hacksaw warped, expanding, shifting into something grotesque yet magnificent—half-blade, half-limb, pulsing with life of its own.
The cathedral shook harder. Even the chained will paused, its masked head tilting as though surprised.
Vanessa froze mid-strike, her eyes wide. "What… what is that…?"
Selene, barely conscious, whispered in awe. "That's… not the abyss…"
Argon staggered forward, his body trembling as the crimson light coiled around him. He didn't recognize it, couldn't control it—but it was his.
And it terrified even the labyrinth.
Cliffhanger
The chained giant's voice returned, sharper, almost eager.
"Yes. Yes! Finally—show me. Show me what you are!"
Vanessa screamed, half in rage, half in fear.
Selene whispered his name, clinging to her last breath.
And Argon raised his warped blade, crimson light flooding the cathedral, as the abyss itself trembled before him.
Next Chapter Preview
Argon's new power tears through the cathedral, shaking the balance of the Game itself. Vanessa sees an opportunity, Selene clings to the man beneath the monster, and the chained will hungers to claim the force now raging within him. But Argon's first strike will change everything—and nothing in the labyrinth will remain the same.