The implications made his head spin violently. If the Blood Monarch was built into the game's very structure, programmed as part of his character's development, then why was the system treating its appearance now as a catastrophic error? What had triggered its premature manifestation?

It made him wonder.

'What are avatars? Why wasn't this in the beta test and how do I deal with this?'

His thoughts spiraled like water down a drain, questions piling upon questions with no answers in sight. The darkness around him seemed to pulse with malevolent energy, as if the void itself was alive and watching his distress with cold amusement.

[ATTEMPTING CONTAINMENT...]

[CONTAINMENT FAILED]

[ENTITY CANNOT BE SUPPRESSED FROM CURRENT LOCATION]

[SEARCHING FOR ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS...]

"Alternative solutions?" Akhil's voice cracked, rising with desperation. "What the hell does that mean? What's happening out there?! TELL ME!"

He stared frantically at the scenario window, willing it with every fiber of his being to show him something—anything—but it remained frustratingly vague, displaying only the ominous countdown and the word "DEATH" in stark, unforgiving letters.

'I'm going to die here. Alone in this darkness. And everyone outside is going to die too because of what I unleashed. Because I wasn't strong enough. Because I lost control.'

Just as despair threatened to drag him down into complete hopelessness, another notification appeared. But this one was different—calmer, more deliberate, almost gentle compared to the harsh warnings:

[INCOMING MESSAGE: VIDEO TRANSMISSION]

[SOURCE: PLAYER ???]

[ACCEPT? Y/N]

Akhil froze, staring at the prompt in utter disbelief.

'A message? From another player?'

That shouldn't be possible. The lobby was supposed to be isolated, a personal liminal space between consciousness and unconsciousness. Video messages could only be sent when both players were in the waiting lobby simultaneously, which meant...

'Someone else is in here? Right now? With me?'

His mind immediately jumped back to his first time in the lobby, when he'd wondered how this space even existed after the game had supposedly crashed and killed everyone in the beta test. The mystery had never been resolved, pushed aside by more immediate threats and concerns.

But now it was back, more pressing and terrifying than ever.

With trembling fingers, barely able to control his movements, Akhil reached out and selected "YES."

The void rippled like disturbed water. A rectangular screen materialized before him, flickering to life with soft static that gradually cleared. The image sharpened, revealing a face that made Akhil's breath catch painfully in his throat.

It was the man from the beta test—the one who had led all the initial players through the tutorial with such confidence and warmth, who had welcomed them to the game with that encouraging smile that had made everything seem safe and exciting.

The man who should have died when the game crashed.

The man who shouldn't exist anymore.

"Hello, Player Nexus," the man said, his voice calm and measured despite the weight behind his words. There was something in his eyes—a deep knowledge, a burden of terrible understanding that seemed to press through the screen itself and settle on Akhil's shoulders. "My name is Rao Shin, and I am one of the co-producers of this game."

He paused, as if letting the words sink in, giving Akhil time to process the impossible.

"If you're seeing this message," Rao Shin continued, his expression grave, "then it should mean that you've died"

-----

Meanwhile, the moment Akhil's eyes rolled back and his body went limp, Langdon saw his chance.

"Now! While he's down!" Langdon's voice cracked with desperation as he scrambled at the bot's controls. His fingers flew across the emergency manual override, redirecting what little auxiliary power remained. "I can still—"

He never finished the sentence.

The blood array pulsed once—a single, violent throb that sent a shockwave rippling across the battlefield. The tendrils that had been writhing lazily suddenly snapped taut, then lunged forward with terrifying speed.

They pierced through the bot's reinforced hull like it was paper.

Langdon's scream was cut short as the tendrils burst through the cockpit, wrapping around him, pulling him through the shattered viewport. For one horrible moment, he hung suspended in the air, eyes wide with terror and disbelief.

Then the tendrils squeezed.

Blood exploded outward in a crimson mist. What remained of Langdon's body dropped to the ground with a wet thump, unrecognizable.

The crowd stood frozen in stunned silence.

Then someone cheered.

"HE DID IT!"

"LANGDON'S DEAD!"

"WE'RE SAVED!"

The relief spread like wildfire through the crowd. Adventurers who had been holding their breath, certain they were about to witness another massacre, suddenly erupted in celebration. Some collapsed to their knees, others embraced, tears streaming down their faces.

"I can't believe it... he actually won..."

"Against two Titans AND Langdon!"

"He's a legend! A—"

[ERROR]

[CRITICAL ERROR: UNAUTHORIZED ENTITY MANIFESTATION]

[WARNING: SCENARIO INTEGRITY COMPROMISED]

[ALERT: THE TITAN; BLOOD MONARCH HAS ENTERED THE SCENARIO]

The notifications appeared simultaneously in everyone's vision, harsh red letters that seemed to burn into their retinas. The cheering died instantly, voices catching in their throats as confusion and fear replaced the celebration.

"What... what does that mean?"

"The Blood Monarch? I thought he was—"

"Something's wrong. Something's very wrong."

On the battlefield, Akhil's body began to move.

But it wasn't Akhil.

The white form rose slowly, almost lazily, black eyes opening to reveal something ancient and hungry gazing out from behind them. The blood array beneath pulsed with renewed vigor, the tendrils writhing with barely contained eagerness.

A smile spread across his face—cold, cruel, and utterly devoid of the warmth Akhil had shown.

The Blood Monarch turned its gaze toward the crowd of spectators, scanning them with casual interest, as if examining livestock.

Then its eyes locked onto a single adventurer near the front—a young man who had been cheering just moments before.

The man froze, his celebration dying on his lips.

"W-wait... why is he looking at—"

The Blood Monarch's smile widened.

The man's eyes went wide with sudden, terrible understanding. He opened his mouth to scream, to run, to do something—

And then he exploded.

His body burst apart from the inside out like an overripe fruit, blood and viscera erupting in all directions. Chunks of flesh scattered across the scorched earth, painting the ground and nearby spectators in crimson. The wet sound of impact echoed sickeningly across the silent battlefield.

Someone retched. Others screamed. Most simply stood paralyzed with horror.

Where the man had stood, only a crater of blood remained, still steaming in the cold air.

The Blood Monarch tilted its head, observing its handiwork with detached curiosity. Then its gaze slowly swept back toward the crowd, that terrible smile never wavering.

And in that moment, every single person present understood with crystal clarity:

The nightmare was yet to end.

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