The first time Akhil had used the skill Mosquito Bite, that was when he'd started feeling the presence of the Blood Monarch.

It had been overwhelming—a hunger so vast and consuming it felt like it would swallow him whole. The desire to devour, to drink blood far beyond what he needed, to tear and rend and feed endlessly. The presence had been filled with such destructive energy that it terrified him, even as it gave him power.

After killing Samxon with that ability, Akhil had sworn to himself that he'd never use it again. The skill frightened him in ways he couldn't fully articulate. There was something deeply wrong about it—the way it made him feel, the way his thoughts twisted into darker shapes, the way control seemed to slip through his fingers like sand.

He'd had a terrible feeling that when he activated Mosquito Bite, he wasn't the one truly in control. The Blood Monarch was.

That was why he'd avoided it. Why he'd searched desperately for other ways to fight, other abilities to rely on.

But desperation had forced his hand. Against Langdon and the Titans, he'd had no choice. And now...

'And right now—'

Akhil's eyes snapped open to absolute darkness.

Not the comforting darkness of sleep, but the void—that endless, suffocating pitch-black expanse he'd been in once before. His body felt weightless, suspended in nothingness, and for a disorienting moment, he couldn't remember how he'd gotten here.

Then the memories crashed back like a tidal wave.

The battle. Langdon. The arrays draining everything from him. Using Mosquito Bite despite knowing the risks. The demon's smile as consciousness slipped away.

"No... no, no, no!" Akhil's voice echoed through the empty void, panic rising in his chest like a physical thing trying to claw its way out of his throat.

Because he knew exactly what had happened.

He'd lost consciousness while Mosquito Bite was still active. Which meant the Blood Monarch—that overwhelming, destructive presence—now had free rein over his body.

'What is it doing out there? What is it doing with MY body?'

His hands flew to himself, patting frantically, checking for wounds, for blood, for anything. He was whole. Physically intact. But that brought no comfort whatsoever.

Because he knew where he was.

"Player Nexus, welcome to the Games Waiting Lobby," the familiar mechanical voice announced, crisp and emotionless.

The sound sent ice through his veins.

Akhil's breath came in short, sharp gasps. His mind raced, thoughts spiraling into darker and darker territory with each passing second.

'I'm unconscious. Outside, in the real world, I'm lying there helpless—or worse.'

The scenario window materialized before him, glowing softly in the oppressive darkness:

{Scenario: The King's Life Hangs By A Thread}

{Time Remaining: ???}

{Clearing Conditions: ???}

{Penalty: Death}

"Death..." Akhil whispered, the word tasting like ash on his tongue.

His hands trembled violently. If no one figured out how to wake him—if no one could give him the blood he needed—he would die here. Trapped in this void while his body withered away in the outside world.

But that wasn't even the worst part.

'The Blood Monarch is free.'

Cold dread settled into his bones, so heavy it felt like it might drag him down into some deeper darkness. The demon had been waiting for this exact moment—for when his consciousness faded, for when his grip on control slipped completely.

And now it had what it wanted.

'What is it doing with my body right now? Right this second?'

Horrifying images flashed through his mind in rapid succession, each more nightmarish than the last. The arrays, uncontrolled and ravenous, consuming everything in sight without discrimination. His friends—his comrades who trusted him—trying to help his unconscious body, only to be devoured by the very power that was supposed to protect them. The demon wearing his face like a mask, using his abilities to slaughter indiscriminately, reveling in the destruction.

Langdon and the remaining Titans would be nothing compared to what the Blood Monarch could do if fully unleashed.

"Please... please let them be okay," Akhil breathed, his voice cracking with desperation. His fists clenched so hard his nails dug crescents into his palms, drawing phantom pain even in this incorporeal state. "Please don't let it hurt them. Please, please, please..."

The helplessness was suffocating, crushing him from all sides. He was trapped here, powerless to do anything but float in this cursed void while that thing puppeted his body. He couldn't warn anyone. Couldn't stop it. Couldn't even see what was happening.

'How long have I been here? Seconds? Minutes? Hours?'

Time felt meaningless in the void, stretching and compressing in ways that made no sense. For all he knew, days could have passed in the outside world while he'd experienced only moments here.

'They're going to try to save me,' he thought, anxiety gnawing at his insides like a living thing. 'They'll see my body lying there and think they just need to help me wake up. They have no idea what they're dealing with. They don't know about the demon. They don't know what will happen if they get too close.'

His breathing grew more ragged, coming in harsh gasps that echoed strangely in the empty space. The darkness pressed in from all sides, seeming to feed off his fear, growing heavier and more oppressive with each panicked thought.

'I can't die here. I can't leave them alone with that thing wearing my face.'

But what could he do? He was stuck in the waiting lobby with no way out, no way to communicate, no way to warn them, no way to—

[ERROR]

The sudden notification flashed across his vision in harsh, angry red letters, startling him so badly he jerked backward instinctively.

[ERROR: UNAUTHORIZED ENTITY DETECTED]

[ERROR: BLOOD MONARCH MANIFESTATION PREMATURE]

[ERROR: SCENARIO PARAMETERS BREACHED]

Akhil's eyes widened, his heart hammering so hard against his ribs he thought it might break through. "What... what does that mean?"

More notifications cascaded down like a waterfall of warnings, each one appearing faster than the last:

[WARNING: Blood Monarch manifestation not scheduled for current scenario]

[WARNING: Entity must be contained]

[WARNING: Timeline disruption detected]

[CRITICAL: Player safety compromised]

[CRITICAL: Game integrity at risk]

[EMERGENCY PROTOCOLS INITIATING...]

"Timeline disruption?" Akhil muttered, his mind struggling desperately to process the flood of contradictory information. "Not scheduled for current scenario?"

His brows furrowed in confusion that only deepened his fear. The system's wording was bizarre—'not scheduled for current scenario' heavily implied that the Blood Monarch was meant to manifest eventually, just... not now. Not like this. Not at this point in the game.

'Is the demon actually part of the game's design? Was it always supposed to appear at some point in my progression? Or maybe....'

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