Thirty seconds felt like nothing.
Kai's eyes stayed on the pedestal as the sound behind them grew louder—slow, dragging, heavy. Whatever waited beyond the door did not rush. It knew time was on its side.
"Reflection. Violence. Transformation," the warden repeated calmly.
The black key pulsed.
Kai could feel it calling him—not with words, but with pressure, like an unseen hand tightening around his chest.
"Kai," Mei whispered urgently, "don't choose alone."
The mark on his palm burned hotter.
"I won't," he said quietly.
The growl from the darkness deepened.
Twenty seconds.
Luca stepped forward suddenly. "If this game is about sacrifice," he said, voice shaking but firm, "then let it be me."
"No," Freya snapped. "That's exactly what it wants."
The warden tilted its head, amused.
"Interesting," it said. "You still believe choice means fairness."
The eyes on the walls began to blink—slowly, deliberately.
Ten seconds.
Kai made his decision.
He grabbed the black key.
The moment his fingers closed around it, the room screamed.
Not out loud—but inside their heads.
The pedestal shattered. The lights flickered violently. The door behind them slammed shut, and the heavy presence beyond it vanished like it had never been there.
The warden stepped back.
"So," it said softly, "you chose transformation."
Mei turned to Kai. "What does that mean?"
Kai tried to answer—
But the key dissolved into black smoke, sinking straight into his chest.
He gasped, dropping to his knees.
"Kai!" Mei rushed to him, grabbing his shoulders.
His heartbeat thundered in his ears. The mark on his palm spread—thin black lines crawling up his arm like veins made of shadow.
The room darkened.
The eyes on the walls closed.
Then one opened again.
Not on the wall.
Behind Kai.
Freya froze. "Kai… don't move."
Slowly, Kai turned his head.
A shadow stood where his reflection should have been.
Same height.
Same shape.
Same eyes.
Except they were empty.
The shadow spoke with Kai's voice.
"Survival requires evolution."
Kai screamed as the shadow slammed into him.
The room went silent.
When the light returned, Kai lay on the floor, unmoving.
Mei shook him. "Kai. Kai, please."
His eyes opened.
But something was different.
They were darker now—not black, not normal—like they reflected a place with no light at all.
"I'm still me," Kai said slowly. "But… I can feel the game."
The warden nodded approvingly.
"The first stage is complete."
"What stage?" Luca demanded.
The warden raised one long finger.
"Adaptation."
The walls began to crack.
Beyond them was not another room—but a vast, shifting space, filled with doors, chains, and whispering shadows.
"From now on," the warden continued, "the Death Game will respond to you."
It looked directly at Kai.
"And if you lose control…"
The shadow behind Kai smiled.
"You will become the monster."
The floor dropped away.
They fell.