The sky darkened, as always.
The smell of smoke.
The sound of footsteps on the path.
And there he was.
Lorn.
Once again.
But this time… his smile was different.
A grotesque smile, wide teeth, eyes far more alive than they should be.
"Didn't you miss something?" he whispered, spreading his arms as if welcoming an old friend.
Jin charged forward with fury.
Kael at his side.
Ragan, his father, from the rear.
Strikes came from all directions.
Swords, spears, shadows.
But Lorn danced between the attacks.
Effortlessly.
Unhurried.
Smiling.
"So predictable… so tiresome…" he murmured.
He caught Jin's blade between two fingers.
Spun his body and hurled Kael against a stone wall.
A crack.
A disturbing silence.
Kael lay on the ground, a pool of blood beneath him.
Ragan roared and charged.
A mistake.
Lorn smiled and drove his hand into Ragan's chest.
The body fell.
The blood evaporated like smoke.
Jin froze.
His hands trembled.
"Your little friend…" Lorn said, brushing against Jin's face. "I gave him a gift."
Jin didn't respond.
"Freedom," Lorn finished, his voice dripping with venomous sarcasm. "You know? Bouros…"
Jin's eyes widened.
"Bouros, I… that's why…"
"That's why he was so quiet?" Lorn interrupted with a hoarse laugh. "Yes. Hahahaha. Grotesque. Desperate."
Jin screamed, lunging in rage—
But it was futile.
Lorn pierced him with a spear of pure shadow.
Blood fell in slow motion.
Jin's body was thrown back.
And then… everything faded.
The cycle restarted.
Once.
Twice.
Ten times.
A hundred.
A thousand.
Always the same.
Until…
Something changed.
The sky darkened.
The smoke rose.
Lorn appeared, as always.
But soon after, another presence emerged.
Heavy. Intimidating. Familiar.
Bouros.
Steadfast.
Solid.
With eyes burning purple.
Lorn took half a step back.
"What… you…" he choked. "I gave you freedom. What do you want here?"
Bouros didn't answer.
His aura slowly intensified.
The air trembled.
The ground cracked.
The trees withered.
Even the shadows hid.
Lorn stumbled, looking around.
"You don't have the strength to face me here!"
Bouros smiled.
But it wasn't a friendly smile.
"I don't have the strength to defeat you… hmm."
His eyes showed a contempt Lorn had never witnessed.
"But I have enough strength…" Bouros narrowed his eyes, "…to make you regret starting this little game."
And then he advanced calmly… step by step.
Lorn tried to escape.
He couldn't.
Bouros bound him with chains of living darkness.
Buried him in the ground.
Tore his soul to pieces.
Lorn screamed.
Screamed like no god or demon had ever screamed.
For hours.
For days.
In a cycle of his own agony.
And then… Lorn was defeated.
But the cycle restarted.
Jin returned.
Lorn too.
But this time… Bouros was there as well.
And every time Lorn appeared… Bouros killed him.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Each time more humiliating.
More grotesque.
More cruel.
Slower.
Until…
In one final cycle, Lorn fell.
And didn't return.
His body dissolved.
The shadows didn't react.
Nothing restarted.
Jin stood there, frozen.
The village vanished.
The world unraveled like mist.
The blood faded from the air.
The smoke ceased.
And all that remained was the corridor.
And Jin.
Alone.
Again.
The floor of quicksand.
The walls of hands.
The ceiling of faceless visages.
Bouros's voice echoed softly:
"We're back," he murmured, his gaze fixed on the pulsing walls around them.
Jin looked around. He took a deep breath, his shoulders trembling.
At first, it seemed like he was crying—a muffled, dry, quivering sound. But then came the laughter. Low, choked, horrific.
He laughed as if vomiting something that had lingered inside for too long.
"Yes," Jin gasped between laughs, his eyes wide, almost empty. "Of course we're back. Thinking there was an escape was the funniest part… haha…! What a great joke…"
Bouros merely watched the scene, looking at him from the outside. His face remained neutral.
Jin laughed again, his mouth twisted in a warped smile, until he ran out of breath while clawing at his own face. A sound that was anything but human. Something between mockery and collapse.
Bouros observed in silence, a wrinkle creasing his brow. It was the same expression, the same eyes, the same battered and bloodied body… but there was something new.
"He looks older."
Not just physically. Not just in his muscles or face. But… inside. As if something in him had died and rotted in its place.
Jin laughed until his throat burned.
His face dripped with blood. The smile slowly faded from his face…
He began to walk again.
But now… Jin walked. Without soul. Without thought. Without pain.
His eyes black, opaque.
No spark, no past, no will.
With every step, the shadows writhed but avoided him.
The hands on the walls retreated.
The faces on the ceiling whispered, but he no longer listened.
His obedience was absolute.
Blind.
Silent.
Every small word from Bouros was a command.
Bouros walked behind him. Watching.
"Kid… stop."
Jin stopped.
Without looking at Bouros.
The silence was heavy.
The dust floated slowly, like dead snow.
Bouros took a step closer.
"Haven't you noticed anything different?" his voice echoed, deep. "You were attacked at every step… now you're alone."
Jin took a long time.
A very long time.
He didn't look away from the ground.
Bouros sighed.
"This isn't hell," he said.
Jin kept staring at the ground.
Bouros continued, his tone firmer:
"Your arm vanished the moment we returned to the corridor."
Jin slowly glanced to the side.
The sleeve of his clothing hung empty. Torn. Completely covered in dirt and blood. Worn. Dead.
Nothing below the shoulder.
No surprise. No pain.
Just… emptiness.
Bouros stopped beside him. And whispered:
"Lorn isn't a demon."
Jin's eyes flickered slightly.
Almost imperceptibly.
Bouros continued:
"If he were, he'd have recognized me.
This space… this corridor, these cycles…"
He stared at the ceiling, where the faces screamed, writhing like suffocating worms.
"This is something he created."
Jin merely raised his eyes, vacant.
The faces screamed.
But he no longer saw anything.
No longer heard anything.
Bouros frowned.
"I don't have the authority to change hell, Jin," he said.
"If Lorn did… he'd have to be, at the very least, that bastard."
Jin didn't respond.
Didn't blink.
He just… fell.
As if his soul had simply… let go.
His body collapsed.
No tension.
No strength.
No will.
The ground slowly opened.
Dark hands began to emerge, pulling him.
Dragging him like living mud.
Bouros only watched, observing the scene in silence.
And then murmured, more to himself than to Jin:
"If this is his domain… then there must be an exit."
Jin didn't hear.
Or didn't want to hear.
His eyes closed for the first time in eons.
The hands pulled him deeper.
And everything went black.
---
Elsewhere.
A barren hill.
Black stones.
And a sky red as raw flesh.
Marcus sat on a rock.
His eyes fixed on a pool.
The water red.
Or perhaps blood.
It reflected a sea of bodies.
Thousands.
Maybe more.
Some were pieces.
Others still screamed.
Demons laughed as they trampled, tore, restarted.
And all the bodies were him.
Versions of him.
Fragments of a shattered soul.
Kael was nearby, leaning against a dry tree.
Dirty.
Tired.
His eyes closed.
But alive.
Marcus finally spoke, without taking his eyes off the pool:
"How long has it been?"
His eyes were sunken, heavy with exhaustion, pain.
Kael took a deep breath.
The sound of demons in the distance was muffled.
"Since you've been here? Or since I've been here?"
Marcus smiled.
"Your humor is still awful."
Kael snorted.
He approached and sat beside him, letting what remained of his weapons slip from his fingers.
For a moment, there was no sound.
Just the quiet of those who no longer expect anything.
Not salvation.
Not damnation.
Just another cycle.
Or perhaps their end.
Kael breathed, about to respond, when the laughter sounded.
Low.
Irritating.
Dripping with venom.
Lorn appeared.
Out of nowhere.
"Such a touching scene…"
Marcus rolled his eyes, not even turning.
"Can't we have a minute of peace?"
Kael stood with a heavy sigh, pulling the shattered remains of his bow, its strings trembling like his hands.
Marcus rose beside him, sword in hand. His eyes already searching for weak points in Lorn. It was futile. But it was instinct.
Lorn laughed, observing them like lost children.
"The kid seems a bit… lost. Maybe I overdid the game. But I confess, he entertained me greatly."
But he didn't finish the sentence.
The air… froze.
Literally.
As if the entire world held its breath.
The sky stopped pulsing.
The rocks ceased crackling.
Even the demons in the distance fell silent.
And then…
He arrived.
Bouros.
Not the disguise.
Not the sarcasm.
The true form.
A small black blur… but large enough to cover the sky.
His overwhelming presence made the ground groan.
The black clouds tore apart in silence.
Sound… vanished.
He approached slowly, calmly.
The very shadows bowed before him.
Marcus's legs buckled immediately.
Kael fell to his knees, his throat tightening as if invisible hands were choking him.
Lorn stumbled. His insides churned as if something within screamed to flee.
Bouros spoke.
His voice didn't echo—it pierced.
Cold.
Cutting.
Absolute.
"The kid's fine. Don't stop the conversation just because I showed up."
His face was a sculpture of arrogance and disdain.
"Let me join in too."
Lorn tried to smile, even as he trembled.
"You seem a bit… different. Messing with your toy got you… upset?"
Bouros vanished and appeared beside Lorn in the blink of an eye.
The sound cracked through the air seconds later, like glass shattering in another dimension.
"I wouldn't say another word if I were you."
Marcus took seconds to register the movement.
Lorn's eyes widened.
Lorn felt his chest explode.
A pain tore through his torso as if a spear had been driven inside, twisted, and left to pulse.
But nothing had touched him.
Bouros looked at him with contempt.
"You've got a strange power… Scared me at first, I'll admit."
Lorn smiled, proud—or trying to pretend he still had control.
But Bouros crushed him with the next sentence:
"Now I see you're just a piece of shit. An insect… who dared to challenge hell."
Lorn paled.
"Freshly turned demon and you think you can command the darkness?"
The air froze again—but now it was as if time itself had been ripped from reality.
Kael, even without seeing Bouros directly, felt his body tremble as if the very essence of fear consumed him.
His mind painted its own image, inevitable, monstrous, a force beyond comprehension.
Marcus's eyes bled at the edges, his body taut like a rope about to snap. He no longer blinked.
Bouros took a step—a single movement, but it seemed capable of crushing mountains.
His voice rumbled, like thunder that destroys cities, an irrevocable sentence:
"The kid isn't a toy for your whims."
He paused.
Lorn forced a desperate smile.
"A demon getting attached to a human?"
The air grew dense, suffocating.
Bouros extended his hand, and Lorn found himself in a fatal embrace. There was nothing there. But Lorn saw himself bound in chains of darkness.
"This is your last chance for silence."
The world seemed to tilt.
"He is my sword."
The silence was absolute.
"Mizuto is disposable trash," Bouros continued, calm. "But I'll admit I don't have the strength to face him."
Lorn, trembling, responded with a shaky voice:
"Then we're in the same boat."
Bouros laughed.
Dry.
Short.
Terrifying.
"In the same boat?" He turned slowly toward him. "Don't fuck with me…"
He took a step.
The ground shook.
"To even come close to my level, you're missing more than strength."
Another step.
"Undo this shit."
Lorn tried to smile, but the corner of his mouth quivered.
"I can't," he murmured. "This space was created by Mizuto… I can manipulate it at will, but there's only one exit… and one entrance."
Bouros stared for a second.
The shadow behind him curled.
Even the shadows seemed afraid of being obliterated.
"I'm losing my patience."
Those words made Lorn recoil instinctively. A chill ran through his entire body.
Kael vomited on the ground, his insides churning with every word Bouros spoke.
Marcus avoided breathing—even that felt like an offense in the presence of that being.
Bouros looked into Lorn's eyes. Deeply… he narrowed his eyes…
And vanished.
Lorn stood alone for a moment.
As pale as a corpse.
He began muttering, clutching his chest:
"Damn… damn… damn… damn… what the hell kind of monster is that…?"
And then, he too disappeared.
The silence lingered.
Even after Bouros vanished, his presence hung in the air like dense, suffocating dust.
Kael trembled.
Not from cold, not from ordinary fear—but from something primal.
Something the body remembered, even if the mind tried to forget.
Marcus wiped the blood dripping from his eyes, trying to breathe deeply, but his lungs wouldn't obey.
It felt like being under the gaze of something that didn't belong to this world.
Something ancient.
Something final.
Time passed—minutes, perhaps. But there… it felt like hours.
Neither dared to speak.
No sudden movements were made.
Until the world seemed to realign. The oppression faded. But the emptiness remained.
---
Elsewhere.
The twilight wavered slowly.
Jin lay collapsed, half his body sinking into shadows. Hands embraced him, pulled him, clawed at him.
Bouros appeared beside him.
No sound. No light. He was simply there.
He looked at the boy.
Truly looked—as if he weren't a puppet, or a piece.
His face no longer carried arrogance.
Nor coldness.
Nor anger.
Just a neutral gaze.
One man looking at another.
Then, he spoke:
"Don't you dare die now… idiot."
The shadow stopped pulling.
Jin breathed—weak, but alive.