"Please," Kaida muttered, tugging at the chain between them.

After what felt like an eternity of crawling in mortified silence, the passage finally opened up.

Light.

Real, natural light streaming through an opening ahead.

"Finally!" Viktor practically lunged forward.

Bella stumbled out first, her legs wobbly, barely supporting her weight. The forest clearing beyond was bright—almost blindingly so after the darkness of the cave.

Pine trees swayed in the breeze, their scent clean and refreshing compared to the humid, musky air of the passage.

She took two steps before her foot caught on an exposed root.

"Ah—!"

She pitched forward, arms flailing.

Viktor's hand shot out, catching her arm before she hit the ground. "Careful."

Bella looked up at him, her golden eyes wide and glassy. Her face was still flushed, her breathing still uneven. "S-Sorry... I..."

"Don't apologize," Viktor said quietly. He steadied her, then let go quickly—too quickly—and stepped back.

Bella stood there, swaying slightly, her tail hanging limp behind her. She couldn't meet his eyes. Every time she tried, all she could think about was his face, his breath, the way his teeth had—

She squeezed her eyes shut. 'Stop. Stop thinking about it.'

Kaida stumbled out next, nearly tripping over her own feet. "Ugh. Freedom. Finally." She yanked at the chain connecting her to Viktor, rattling it loudly. "Now can we please focus on getting this thing off?"

Viktor shot her a look. "You mean figure out if you're actually willing to break it?"

Her face turned scarlet. "Shut. Up."

"Make me."

"I will literally—"

"Both of you, please," Bella whispered, her voice barely audible. She wrapped her arms around herself, her ears drooping. "Can we just... go? Before something else happens?"

Viktor and Kaida both fell silent, exchanging a glance.

Kaida looked at Bella, rubbing her head, as she realized that due to her experiences on battlefields, she hardly cared about her body.

Though she would not allow any pervert to touch her, she was not as sensitive as Bella.

But given how that pervert had put his face in her butt, she ruffled her hair before moving to console her, placing one hand on her shoulder and saying, "Come on... What could worse happen to us than all that stuff?"

Viktor wiped his face one more time, his expression flat. "As I said before, Kaida—your mouth is really cursed."

Kaida's eye twitched. "What? What did you just say?"

But before Viktor could respond, her eyes widened.

The three of them froze simultaneously, their gazes sweeping across the clearing.

Something was wrong.

The forest around them looked... off. The trees were too perfect, too symmetrical. The birdsong had stopped. The breeze had died completely, leaving an eerie stillness that pressed against their skin like a held breath.

"This isn't..." Bella's voice trailed off, her ears flattening against her skull.

Then it started.

The ground beneath them began to shimmer, rippling like water. Thin lines appeared in the air—grid patterns forming across the sky, crisscrossing through the trees, dividing reality into perfect squares.

"What the—" Kaida started.

The daylight vanished.

Not gradually. Not like a sunset.

Instantly.

One moment, bright afternoon sun. The next, pitch-black night, stars appearing overhead in patterns that were wrong—too bright, too close, arranged in geometric clusters that hurt to look at.

Smoke began to curl up from the ground, thick and gray, rising in spiraling columns that moved against the wind that didn't exist.

And the trees—

Viktor's grip tightened on nothing as he watched the green leaves turn brown in seconds. Autumn rushed through in a blink, then winter, the leaves shriveling and falling, crumbling to dust before they hit the ground.

The trunks followed.

They didn't fall. They retracted—pulling down into the earth like fingers curling into a fist, the ground swallowing them whole until there was nothing left but flat, empty field stretching to the horizon.

Barren. Dead. Endless.

"Kaida," Viktor said, his voice low and sharp.

She was already moving.

Her ring flashed, and the sword materialized in her hand. She tossed it to Viktor in one smooth motion.

He caught it by the hilt, the weight familiar and grounding as the world warped around them.

Kaida's daggers appeared next, twin blades gleaming in the unnatural starlight. She spun them once, settling into a combat stance.

"Bella!" Kaida called out, her hand flashing again.

A knife flew through the air.

"Catch it!"

Bella's hands shot up instinctively, catching the blade by the handle. Her eyes went wide as she stared down at the weapon in her trembling grip.

"W-Wait—why?" Her voice cracked. "What if I—what if I attack you? You shouldn't—"

"Be ready!" Viktor roared, his eyes locked on the horizon. "It's coming!"

ROAAARRR!!!!

The sound was monstrous—a predator's bellow that shook the air itself, vibrating through their bones and rattling their teeth. It echoed across the empty field, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.

Bella's knees buckled. The knife nearly slipped from her grasp as her entire body trembled.

The ground beneath them cracked.

Not small fissures. Massive fractures, splitting the earth like shattered glass. Chunks of soil and stone lifted into the air, defying gravity, spinning slowly as if caught in invisible currents.

And then they saw it.

A fin.

Massive, translucent, cutting through the ground like water. It circled them once, twice, the earth rippling in its wake like a disturbed pond.

"What the hell—" Kaida breathed.

The creature launched.

It burst from the ground in an explosion of dirt and smoke, its enormous body arcing through the air like a whale breaching the surface of an ocean.

Shadow fell over them—huge, blotting out the stars.

Viktor's jaw clenched. He raised his sword, muscles coiling to dodge, to strike, to—

SPLAT.

Something heavy and wet slammed into his face.

"Oof—!"

The impact sent him sprawling backward, arms flailing as the weight drove him down. He hit the ground hard, the sword clattering from his grip.

"Viktor!" Kaida shouted.

"Sir Viktor!" Bella's voice cracked with panic.

Both women rushed forward, sliding to a stop as they saw what had him pinned.

Bella's hand flew to her mouth, her eyes going wide.

Kaida's lips twitched. She covered her mouth, shoulders shaking as she fought to control the laughter threatening to escape.

Viktor lay flat on his back, completely covered by a massive, translucent purple slime. It was the size of a cart wheel, gelatinous and wobbly, shifting with every breath he took beneath it.

Through the semi-clear substance, they could see his face—eyes wide, mouth open in shock, his features distorted by the rippling membrane.

The slime moved.

Soft. Fluffy. Undulating like a living pillow.

And then—

"Kyuuu~~!"

The sound was high-pitched, almost cute—a chirping squeak that didn't match the creature's size at all.

Viktor exhaled sharply, his breath fogging the slime from the inside.

"Umhhhghll..." His voice came out muffled, garbled by the gelatinous mass pressing against his mouth and nose. "Can you both... for a moment... remove it?"

Kaida bit her lip hard, her entire body shaking now. A snort escaped despite her best efforts.

Bella stood frozen, knife still in hand, her brain trying to process the absurdity of what she was seeing.

"Kyuuu~~!" the slime chirped again, bouncing slightly on Viktor's chest.

"Please," Viktor's muffled voice begged. "I can't... breathe properly..."

Kaida lost it.

She doubled over, laughter bursting out in sharp barks she couldn't contain anymore. "I'm sorry—I'm sorry—but your face—"

"Not. Helping!"

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