The fracture widened until it split the cathedral wall in half.
Golden light poured through the abyss like fire, burning away bone and ichor wherever it touched. The rib-like pillars collapsed in heaps, the skull-mosaic floor cracked wide open, and the cathedral trembled as though the world itself was being torn apart.
And through that impossible wound in reality—something came.
First a hand. Then an arm. Then a body.
A figure stumbled through the fracture, landing hard on the floor of skulls, coughing violently as the abyss's stench filled their lungs.
A Human Among Monsters
The newcomer wasn't abyssal. Not chained. Not Vanessa's spawn.
A human.
A young woman—dark hair plastered to her face, clothes torn as if she had been dragged through glass. Her chest heaved with shallow breaths, her eyes wide with panic. She looked nothing like the denizens of the labyrinth. She looked alive. Too alive.
Her gaze darted around the collapsing cathedral, her lips trembling as she whispered, "This… this isn't real…"
Selene, broken and fading in Argon's arms, managed to lift her head enough to see. Her weak breath caught. "That's… impossible…"
Vanessa's eyes, however, lit with hungry delight.
Vanessa's Prey
The chains around Vanessa writhed like starving serpents, rattling eagerly.
"Oh, how perfect," she purred, stepping toward the fallen outsider. "A lamb has wandered into the slaughterhouse."
Her eyes flicked back to Argon, sharp and knowing. "Darling… don't you see? She's not a player. Not a piece. She doesn't belong here. Which means…" Her smile widened, cruel and gleaming. "…she can't survive here. Unless one of us decides to keep her."
Her chains lashed forward, coiling toward the trembling woman.
The Will's Rage
The chained giant roared, its laughter turning into fury.
"OUTSIDER!"
The entire cathedral shook, fissures cracking wider across the skull-strewn floor. More chains snapped as the giant thrashed against its bindings, desperate to reach the intruder. Its masked face tilted toward the fracture, its voice a storm of rage.
"THIS IS MY DOMAIN! NONE ENTER UNINVITED! NONE!"
The golden light of the fracture flared brighter, resisting the will's pull, and the outsider flinched as the echoes rattled her bones.
Argon's Choice
Argon staggered to his feet, Selene still clutched in one arm, his crimson blade twitching in the other. His veins blazed with light, his mind torn between the abyss's hunger and Selene's fading tether.
The outsider lay sprawled before him, helpless. Terrified.
Vanessa's chains closed in. The chained will bellowed in fury. Selene whispered his name, weak but insistent.
Every path pulled him apart.
Protect the outsider—and risk Vanessa and the will turning their full wrath on him.
Abandon her—and let her die before his eyes.
Or use her as leverage in a Game already breaking apart.
His jaw clenched, his crimson eyes blazing.
The Outsider Speaks
Before he could decide—
The outsider lifted her head, her voice trembling but clear. Her eyes locked directly on him.
And she spoke.
"Argon."
The sound of his name on her lips froze him where he stood.
His crimson blade stilled. Vanessa's smile faltered. Even the chained giant paused in its thrashing.
She shouldn't have known his name. She couldn't have known it.
But she had.
And in that moment, the Game itself seemed to stop.
Cliffhanger
Selene's breath hitched. Vanessa's eyes narrowed. The chained will hissed, its voice a storm of suspicion.
"…How?"
The outsider coughed, trembling, and whispered again.
"I came here… for you."
The cathedral roared, chains snapping, fractures widening, as Argon stood frozen—caught between abyss, obsession, and an outsider who should not exist.
Next Chapter Preview
The outsider claims to know Argon, shattering the rules of the Game. Vanessa hungers to claim her, Selene clings to life, and the chained will demands answers. Argon must uncover who this intruder is—and why she speaks his name.