The Box: Fate
Chapter 23 — The Living Prison
The common room of the inn was silent as the group gathered around the small girl Kataki stood by the fireplace his Void Sight scanning the air He could see things the others couldn't—the very molecules of mana in the room were vibrating with a frequency that didn't belong to a digital simulation
Ever since we arrived Kataki began his voice cold and echoing we looked for a logout button We waited for a Game Over screen or a server announcement We treated the monsters like pixels and the NPCs like scripted code
He turned his blindfolded gaze toward the window But look at this girl's tears Smell the iron in the blood on our bandages This isn't a game and it never was The Box wasn't a console it was a gateway We haven't been teleported into a program We've been summoned into a dying dimension
A chill ran through the seventeen players The realization hit them harder than any physical blow If they died here there was no respawn There was no waking up in their beds back home
The old mill Kataki continued his hand tightening on the hilt of his blade It isn't a dungeon floor It's a feeding ground And the one who took this girl's parents isn't a scripted Boss He is a high-ranking lieutenant of the Demon Lord—a servant of the Architect who rules this reality
The group moved quickly They reached the outskirts of the city where the river turned gray and sluggish The old mill stood like a rotting tooth against the horizon As they approached the air grew thick with the smell of sulfur and decayed magic
Suddenly the ground beneath them began to liquefy into black sludge From the shadows of the mill a tall gaunt figure emerged He wore armor made of bone and carried a jagged Greatsword that bled dark smoke His eyes glowed with a sickly crimson light
Summoned heroes the demon hissed his voice a chorus of tormented souls The Architect said you were persistent I am Malphas the Soul-Reaper I don't just kill I harvest
He pointed his sword at the mill Inside they could hear the muffled screams of the girl parents trapped in cocoons of living shadow that were slowly draining their life force to power a dark portal
Move! Akira shouted drawing his sword
The seventeen players charged but Malphas was a monster of a different caliber With a single swing of his Greatsword he sent a wave of demonic energy that blasted Axel and Aaron Moses backward His speed was terrifying his strikes heavy enough to crack the very earth
He's too fast! Murasaki cried out her Shadow Violet being deflected by Malphas bone armor
Kataki stood still in the center of the chaos He felt the black markings on his skin burn He knew that regular skills wouldn't work against a lieutenant of the Demon Lord He had to tap into the forbidden again even if it cost him his soul
Step back Kataki commanded
The air around him turned into an absolute vacuum The light of the setting sun seemed to be sucked into his silhouette Behind him the terrifying image of the hooded skeletal figure appeared once more towering over the battlefield
The Angel of Death! Kataki roared
The moment the skill activated Malphas froze The demon's crimson eyes widened in genuine fear For the first time a creature of this dark world felt the presence of a predator higher than itself
Kataki didn't run he simply appeared in front of Malphas Every time he swung his blade it didn't just cut flesh—it cut the demon's connection to this reality The Angel of Death was the ultimate law of the end and even a demon lord's servant could not argue with the grave
You... you carry the scent of the Void! Malphas screamed trying to block a strike but his Greatsword shattered into dust the moment it touched Kataki aura
With a final decisive strike Kataki drove his blade through Malphas's chest The demon didn't dissolve into pixels He shriveled his soul turning into a withered husk before being completely erased by the power of the Angel of Death
Kataki collapsed to his knees as the skill deactivated his breath coming in ragged gasps The blindfold over his eyes pulsed with a violent silver light
The mill... Kataki choked out Save them... before the portal closes
Akira and Zanaki rushed into the mill slashing through the shadow cocoons The girl's parents fell out gasping for air but alive As the sun finally dipped below the horizon the seventeen players stood in the ruins of the mill looking at the saved family
The truth was now undeniable They were warriors in a real war and the game they thought they were playing was a battle for the survival of two worlds
We aren't going home anytime soon Zanaki said looking at the sunset But at least now we know what we're fighting for