In the dark hallways, Seed stood his ground, shivering. He stared into the silhouette of Leo's body as it began to fade, listening as formless whispers resounded around him.
Panicking, he looked frantically into the surroundings. In this absolute darkness, even his system-granted night vision was heavily weakened, leaving him blinded in a harrowing nightmare.
Seed tried to manipulate his shadow, attempting to force it to rise from the ground, but he quickly realized his mistake—there was a complete absence of light, meaning there were no shadows to manipulate.
"Damn it! Why does the world hate me?" Seed muttered, cursing his tactical oversight.
Yet, he could still feel the blood pumping furiously in his veins. His Adrenaline Heart was primed, ready to be activated. He opened his system screen, and shimmering words materialized in the void before him.
[Night Collar, your trial begins.]
"Trial? What trial?" Seed's panic spiked. The total lack of knowledge about this space made him shiver.
He immediately summoned his sword from the system inventory. A royal, electric-blue glow shimmered into existence, illuminating his hand as the blade materialized. He gripped the hilt so tightly that his pale hands looked entirely bloodless.
"You think this suspense scares me?" Seed shouted into the dark, but the tremor in his voice betrayed his terror.
Suddenly, laughter echoed from all directions. A sinister voice, deep and chaotic, vibrated through the blackness: "You are our first test subject." The voice paused to laugh mockingly before continuing. "Oh, I am going to have a lot of fun playing with you, Night Collar. Or should I call you what Leo calls you? What was it again? Ah... Seed Armo."
Seed's body instantly tensed. Sensing immediate danger, he scanned the dark for the source of the sound.
"Play? You speak of playing? Well, come on then, let's play together," Seed said, trying to aggravate the voice into revealing its position. He narrowed his eyes. "I am more dangerous than you could ever think."
"Oh, Seed, my friend..." Seed spun around, unable to pinpoint the location. He tightened his grip on the blue sword. Every time the voice hit a vowel, it abruptly changed direction. "Do you think I am afraid of you?"
The ground beneath his feet began to shake violently as the voice boomed. "That I am hiding from you?"
Then, an eerie quiet settled over the hallway.
Looking around, Seed caught an ominous movement in the dark. It resembled a human figure, though its form was heavily blurred by the shadows. As it stepped closer and closer, Seed's heart began to beat rapidly, preparing for whatever was emerging.
Finally, the figure drew close enough for Seed to fully comprehend its horrific anatomy.
First, the head entered his line of sight, followed by a long, unnaturally slender neck and body. The creature tilted its head clockwise, staring down at Seed. It possessed astonishing, hollow purple eyes—the kind of eyes Seed could easily lose himself in from pure fear. Its mouth parted to reveal jagged, sharp teeth completely uncovered by skin or lips. It wore a tattered, dark tunic.
Seed glanced down at its hands—or what were supposed to be hands. They were massive, razor-sharp claws with nails that looked capable of piercing the thick hide of a rhino.
The creature opened its jaw wide. "So, Seed... do you think I'm still scared of you, you little imp?"
Did he just call me an imp? Seed thought, his instincts screaming at him. I need to get out of here. I don't think I can take this bastard on.
"What? No words, Seed? It's like you are almost afraid of me!" It was the same chaotic voice, but this time it was perfectly directional, throwing out from the mouth of the hideous creature standing right in front of him.
"I'm just evaluating my status here," Seed countered, trying to buy time. "What do you want from an imp like me?"
"Just to kill you, Seed. To see how resilient you truly are."
The creature suddenly coiled its body like a spring. Noticing the explosive movement, Seed's biological engine shifted, automatically activating his Adrenaline Heart to force a +50 BPM spike. He raised his sword, preparing to block an incoming strike.
He frantically tried to trigger the Adrenaline Heart a second time to force a higher mutation, but a system alert cut him off.
[Warning: Adrenaline Heart has already been used. Cooldown: 15 seconds remaining for subsequent usage.]
Damn it! Seed cursed internally. I can't push my BPM past 150. I can't transform my limbs!
Left with no choice, he guided the existing adrenaline surge directly into his veins. Releasing one hand from his sword hilt, he leaped backward, narrowly avoiding the creature's sweeping claws. While mid-air, he swung his free hand in a wide arc, releasing five lines of blood-enhanced energy straight at the monster.
"Oh, you are a fast and nimble one, aren't you?" the creature mused. "Oh, where are my manners? You can call me Eeyore."
The blood slashes landed across Eeyore's chest, leaving shallow scratch marks.
"Please," Eeyore said dismissively.
Suddenly, Eeyore's neck elongated like a snapping spring, his jaws aiming straight for Seed's torso. Because of the distance he had cleared mid-air, Seed managed to react just in time to dodge the snapping teeth. Eeyore let out a dark, mocking laugh.
"My time is over, Seed. You have already proven yourself."
Seed instantly realized something was wrong. The first half of Eeyore's sentence had been delivered in his usual calm, playful tone—but the second half was completely flat and indifferent.
Before Seed could process the shift, a sharp, agonizing pain pierced through the center of his body.
Seed looked down. Eeyore was already standing directly in front of him, his clawed hand buried deep inside Seed's chest cavity.
[-15 HP]
"Shhh, Seed," Eeyore whispered softly, his voice terrifyingly gentle. "Everything will be just fine."
With a sickening crack, the creature's neck rippled like a whip. The sharp points of his jagged teeth landed squarely on Seed's throat, crushing the muscle and violently ripping the tissue apart.
A cold, mechanical system notification resounded in his fading consciousness:
[HP: 0. The user has died.]
Even though his vision went completely black, Seed's hearing remained active. Above the wet, horrific sound of the monster actively munching on his neck, Eeyore's calm voice echoed one last time through the void:
"You have proven yourself enough to pass the first trial."