But it was already too late.
In just a split second, the creature's four swords flared with a deep crimson glow, as if forged from dried blood and hatred.
They carved deadly arcs, slashing down in a sequence of movements nearly unreadable.
A diagonal slash cut across the chest, blood didn't spurt in streams, but burst forth in fragmented red pixels, like crushed ruby dust, suspended in midair before fading away.
–400
Ren screamed in silence, flung backward like a torn puppet. He rolled across the cold stone floor, crashing into a pile of gold, sending the entire mound scattering like a swarm of bees shattered from their hive, ringing with a sharp, deathly chime.
Copper wasn't faring any better.
He dropped to one knee midair as the blade struck him, vivid red blood streaking behind him like a smear of burning charcoal.
He tried to rise, one hand gripping his sword, the other clutching the wound on his chest...but before he could regain balance, another strike tore through the air.
The fourth sword didn't attack, it executed.
It sliced through space like a crack in reality, descending with emotionless coldness, its style no longer that of instinct but a symphony of death.
Ren sprang up, staggering like a ghost that had survived an explosion, but he knew, if one more strike like that landed, either of them would never stand again.
Ren yanked open a health vial, draining the bitter, burning liquid that scorched his throat. No time to think. He stood.
Beside him, Copper stumbled as he crushed an empty HP potion in his fist, as if swallowing his final hope.
They said nothing. They didn't need to.
They both understood clearly: if they stayed another minute, they'd be crushed, like insects under the hand of a giant.
Ren glanced around, his heart pounding like a war drum. The door, their only exit, was completely blocked by the grotesque creature.
The four-armed knight, with a mirrored mask reflecting their own twisted, shredded, and pitiful forms.
It didn't move. Didn't attack. Just stood there.
Guarding.
Only when Ren and Copper, almost unconsciously, began creating distance, drawing the creature away, did it halt.
Its metal-armored legs rooted into the ground like stakes driven into stone. It tilted its head, as if listening to something. Then slowly turned back toward the door.
A limit? An invisible boundary?
"Wait…" Copper gasped, a flicker of fragile hope in his eyes. "I think... it can't leave that range."
Ren furrowed his brows. He sensed it too. Not out of fear. But because... it had a purpose.
To guard the door.
"We can use this…" Ren murmured, tightening his grip on his sword, "…to get out of here."
A sliver of light in the abyss. But was it enough?
Ren scanned the room, heart squeezed under the weight of this space. He rushed to the spot he remembered well, the hole that had once opened in the middle of the room, the only path he had used to flee this nightmare that day.
But this time...
Nothing.
Just cold, silent stone, flat and unyielding, as if nothing had ever existed there.
Sealed.
He froze for a moment, fingers trembling as they touched the place that once led to freedom. Everything… erased, as if it had never been.
All paths… now led to one.
Ren turned to Copper. He had come to the same realization. But neither of them spoke.
They both knew.
Their eyes met, then shifted toward the far end of the room.
The black iron door, veiled in moss, half-buried in the golden light of the treasure hoard, stood silently, like a cruel invitation.
And just before it, the mirrored knight.
No movement. No sound. No breath.
Just standing there, a living riddle daring anyone to come near.
But unlike its bulky form from before, now its every movement was disturbingly graceful. No longer heavy. No longer sluggish.
Each step like a deadly waltz.
Its wrist turned as softly as wind brushing the surface of water. Its heel touched the floor without a sound. Each advance increased the pressure in the room, as if a noose was tightening around both players' necks.
"…He's waiting," Copper murmured, voice dry.
"Or... inviting," Ren replied, his eyes locked on the four swords slowly lowering, an opening pose to a massacre.
One exit. One gatekeeper.
Only one choice left.
Ren narrowed his eyes. The air had thickened, as if every particle was burning under the creature's hostile will.
He knew well... one misstep, one breath out of sync with that thing...
And death would be instantaneous.
"Listen to me," Copper whispered, silently moving closer to Ren without making a sound, as if afraid to disturb the fragile fabric of reality around them. "I'll draw its attention. You find a way to circle around and open the door. If there's a chance… escape."
Ren didn't answer immediately. He simply stared at the knight, the faceless creature slowly tilting its head, as if... eavesdropping.
"And leave you to die here alone?" Ren asked. His voice wasn't loud, but clear enough to pierce straight into Copper like a needle.
Copper didn't reply. He gave a faint smile, the kind worn by those long familiar with despair.
"You think we're the same, don't you?" Ren continued, voice tightening. "Then you're wrong... I won't do what you would…"
Without waiting for another word, he gripped his sword tightly.
At that moment, the golden knight moved.
One step.
Tiny golden particles drifted from the four swords like crushed morning mist.
Two steps.
The first arm lifted, the gleam of steel reflecting the distorted figures of Ren and Copper.
Three steps.
All sound vanished. The world held its breath. No more rolling coins. No more groaning metal.
Only the breath of two living souls, and the footsteps of something not human.
"Now it's either survive... or vanish as if we never existed," Ren whispered, not clear if to Copper or to himself.
Click.
The familiar sound rang out. But this time it didn't come from any mechanism. It came from the sword, as a faint blue glow began running along its spine.
Copper had taken position as well.
His eyes flared with a deep crimson hue, the color of a special skill, of survival in the blink of death.
And then... they charged.
The first clash wasn't just between swords, it was a collision between will to live and the instinct to kill.
Ren came in from the right, the sword skill "Stap" erupting in a blue streak straight at the knight's sword-hand by its waist.
One of the creature's other swords instantly swung from behind, retaliating as if it had eyes in all directions.
Ren clenched his jaw, sliding his body with a spin, sparks bursting from the clash of blades.
Clang!!
At the same time, from the left, Copper appeared like a phantom. "Shadow Fang!"
Three quick slashes, one at the wrist, two at the midsection, delivered with dizzying speed.
No blood flowed. But faint golden cracks appeared on the metallic creature's body.
The knight didn't groan. It didn't resist with emotion.
It fought only by instinct. And that instinct was flawless.
Two blades slashed down like guillotine knives, forcing Copper back. Ren surged forward again.
They alternated like that.
Attack... retreat... rotate... misdirect.
As if they had trained for this. As if they'd breathed through life-or-death battles together a hundred times before.
But all their efforts amounted to nothing when the creature, with its mirrored face like molten gold...
…it could activate the very sword skills they had used. Every move, every flash, every rhythm of the blade seemed to mirror the essence of each of them.
As if it was reflecting not just their strength, but their deepest fears... their memories.
As if it were reenacting them, twisted and mocking.
"We have to break that mirrored mask!!" Ren shouted through clenched teeth, dodging a sweeping strike crackling with violet sparks, while countering with a thrust straight to the creature's chest.
"It's not that easy!!" Copper growled, breath ragged, raising his sword like a shield. Metal clashed with metal, sending shockwaves that split the air like thunder.
Ren slashed harder, pressing in, but was blocked.
Copper struck at the gap beside him, but blocked again.
They were locked in a deadlock.
Blades ground against each other, sparks flying, ringing like a wailing wind, three figures tangled in a deadly dance.
And then, in that moment of chaos, the creature suddenly lowered its head.
A sudden, savage movement...like a beast.
It headbutted Ren. No sword, no skill, just pure, blunt force like a warhammer.
The blow dazed him. He staggered back, too slow to recover, immediately, two swords from either side flung Ren away like a cyclone.
He fell, spinning in the air before crashing into the stone floor, red pixels scattering like blood-dust.
The knight didn't stop, didn't let them breathe.
It lifted its foot, not hurriedly, not wastefully, then kicked Copper square in the gut.
"Gah!!"
The kick thundered like a drumbeat, sending him flying, limbs flailing like a ragdoll ripped from its last thread.
Ren crawled, fingers dragging across the cold floor, hands numb and trembling. It felt like something in his skull had burst, like his brain was rattling inside a cage echoing with the groan of metal.
But before he could stand…
A sharp sword tip hovered at his forehead.
The blade suspended in midair, gleaming icy-cold, stopping just before Ren's wide, trembling eye. One more breath, and it would plunge through the eyeball, into the skull, and end it all.
He held his breath, frozen, unable to scream, unable to blink.
But the blade... did not strike.
It stayed. Silent. As if it were just a reminder, not a killing blow.
Ren looked up, and saw his own warped, helpless face reflected in the polished golden mirror of the creature's mask.
That image made him tremble, not from the fear of death, but from a helplessness so real, it felt like the world itself was mocking the courage he was trying to hold on to.
The monster looked at him or rather, reflected him, and then withdrew its sword.
No words. No roar. No need for victory.
It turned, step by step, walking back toward the door, as if nothing here was worth destroying any further.
A gesture of absolute contempt.
A cruel dismissal...