I quickly assess the board. Five active divers left on the hall.
Rhayne is out cold on the tiles.
The surviving thug is down for the count.
The rookie cadet is still pinned to the stone wall by the iron spike, whining endlessly through his pain.
The blaring air-raid siren finally cuts out, but the emergency strobes keep painting the monumental hall in flashes of orange light.
Down on the floor, the final miniature toy train begins to accelerate. It moves at a speed completely incompatible with a simple toy, its tiny metal wheels shrieking and spitting sparks as they grind against the circular tracks.
Up on the throne, the Gatekeeper's massive clock hands spin in a rapid blur.
Clack.
They lock into place. The short hand on the 3. The long hand on the 6.
YES!
I can't help it. A genuine, exhausted smile of relief breaks across my face.
"Lola, get ready!" I call out over the hissing steam. "Two targets this round. We can do this."
Lola just gives a stiff, serious nod, tightening her grip on three new scales.
The blue flames ignite, racing around the perimeter of the room. I track the clockwise light. It hits my lantern first—position 3.
The absolute second it flashes inside the glass, I press my palm against it.
I draw Eventide a fraction of an inch, ready to strike.
But nothing happens.
The concrete doesn't crack. No inky dark mana bubbles up from the tiles.
I frown, my grip tightening on the hilt.
I glance across the room at Lola. She looks just as confused, tilting her head at my empty floor.
A few seconds later, the counter-clockwise flame reaches her lantern at position 6. She quickly taps the glass.
Instantly, the Gatekeeper unleashes a deafening, continuous blast from its steam whistles. The sound is a physical wall of noise—a shrieking, industrial nightmare that vibrates right through my teeth.
Lola breaks.
She drops to her knees, clamping her hands violently over her hoodie bear ears. Her small body rocks back and forth, completely paralyzed by the sensory assault, her eyes squeezed shut in absolute terror.
The concrete finally ruptures. But not just at our two lanterns.
Shadows tear their way out of the tiles at every single lantern in the room.
Sixteen Shadow Shellcats erupt into the hall, hissing with kill intent.
I keep processing the catastrophic shift in the mechanics. Lola is incapacitated. Rhayne is completely vulnerable on the floor.
They are sitting ducks.
A digital display splits open on the Gatekeeper's boiler chest, glowing in bright red numerals.
[00:03:00]
A countdown.
I check my reserves.
[OXI: 339/1,200]
I do the math in my head.
It has to be enough. I'll make it enough.
I ignore the two beasts clawing their way out of the floor at my own feet. I break into a dead sprint toward Rhayne, crossing the distance in a blur.
I draw Eventide mid-stride, thumbing the ignition. I pivot hard, driving the howling shadow-blade through the first beast, using the rotational momentum to bring the blade around and cleanly decapitate the second.
I cut the ignition instantly. Rhayne is safe.
I glance at the boss's chest.
[00:02:50]...[00:02:49]...
I search the room for Lola.
The beasts are already closing in on her while she sits there on the dirty tiles, rocking, trapped entirely in her own overstimulated mind.
[OXI: 221/1,200]
I reach into my pouch for one of the overpriced OXI candies.
I need fuel. I need a burst of energy to cross the room.
But as my fingers brush the wrapper, the scene unfolding ahead freezes the blood in my veins.
One of the Shadow Shellcats leaps, landing squarely on Lola's back. Its jaws snap down, violently shaking her small frame from side to side like a ragdoll.
"NOOOO!"
The scream tears my throat raw.
I break into a desperate sprint toward her, throwing my inventory interface open while I run. My mind scrambles for a solution, settling instantly on absolute tactical suicide.
If my class exists between the living and the dead, let's see how far past the line I can go.
I rip the bottle of Lunaria juice from my belt. I shove three OXI candies and three of my four hoarded Echo Fragments straight into the citrus liquid. I shake the glass bottle once, uncork it with my teeth, and down the entire toxic sludge in three massive gulps.
Not again. Not this time…
The chemical cocktail detonates in my stomach. It doesn't feel like a rush of energy; it feels like swallowing a live grenade coated in battery acid.
My OXI gauge shatters.
[Memory of Lightwaves - Active]
[System ERROR - Overdrive Detected]
[All Stats Bonus Applied - Temporary S (1★)]
[WARNING: VITAL FUNCTIONS UNABLE TO SUSTAIN]
The System says I can't sustain this. The System can watch me try.
The pain is absolute, but the speed is godlike.
I cross the massive hall in a fraction of a second. Eventide roars to life. I carve through both beasts tearing at Lola with a speed that defies earth's physics, reducing them to scattered ash before they can even register my presence.
I drop to one knee, checking her vitals.
She is unconscious but breathing. The heavy metal case strapped to her back took the brunt of the monster's teeth.
Without it, she'd be in pieces.
I lay her gently on the cold stone.
My body instantly rebels. I convulse, violently coughing up a massive mouthful of black, viscous blood that splatters across the tiles.
[OXI: 3,14ERROR/1,200]
I can feel it. It's too late. The internal damage is catastrophic.
My eyes are burning with an intense, blinding yellow light. A thick, golden mist is literally bleeding from my eyes, dissipating into the stale air of the dungeon.
I look up at the chaotic battlefield. If I stop now, the remaining beasts will overwhelm Oliver and slaughter the unconscious girls. It will all be for nothing.
[00:01:09]...
I push off the floor.
The world blurs. I become a phantom of golden light and violet shadow. I hit the cluster of beasts near the pinned cadet, Eventide shearing through shadow and stone alike, erasing the monsters before they can even turn to face me.
Next lantern...
Next...
I'm moving faster than anyone here, a butcher executing a flawless, suicidal dance. I don't feel my muscles anymore; I just feel the ghosts burning up inside my veins to fuel the slaughter.
I rip through the hall, dismantling the army of shadows in seconds.
I arrive at the last lantern, dropping the final beast that Oliver was desperately trying to hold off with his warhammer.
[00:00:12]...
The Gatekeeper lets out a loud, final hiss of steam.
Above the massive iron exit doors, the eighth green beacon ignites. The heavy gears groan, and the door slowly slides open.
I stop. The overdrive snaps.
Blood is pouring freely from my ears, my nose, and my glowing eyes.
But a bloody, genuine smile touches my lips.
"I did it... they're safe..."
My knees buckle. I close my eyes, letting the heavy, suffocating darkness take me. I surrender to the drop.
CLAP.
A sharp, echoing sound rings out across the monumental hall.
Then, a strong, resolute female voice shatters the silence, echoing with terrifying authority in my fading ears.
"VOID MONARCH!"
A sphere of absolute, condensed dark energy erupts beneath me, wrapping around my falling body. It catches me, levitating me softly in the penumbra. The agonizing, fiery burning in my bones immediately cools into an intense, soothing relief.
My lungs pull in air that no longer tastes like blood and death.
I force my eyes open for one brief, blurry second.
Rhayne is kneeling on the cracked tiles a few feet away, her hands clasped together tightly as if praying like a dark angel. Her storm-cloud gray eyes are now pitch black, deeper and darker than the abyssal ocean.
Ahhh... I think, feeling the sweet pull of unconsciousness.
My best investment...
I let the darkness pull me completely under.