The tunnel stank of blood and steam.
Arc Modeus stood with his puppet at his side, fingers trembling despite the stillness he tried to maintain.
The bodies of the Revenants—twisted, broken, contorted—lay scattered like abandoned dolls.
Blinkstep was the first to move.
He took two hesitant steps backward, eyes wide.
"Arc… buddy… pal… that was… that was straight-up a massacre."
Titanborn didn't speak.
He looked between Arc and the corpses, jaw tight, unsure which terrified him more.
Mindwright pushed his glasses up with shaking hands.
"That level of… anatomical severing… Arc, that wasn't Act One adapted. That was a full Act Two execution pattern."
Arc didn't answer.
He stared at his hands—
hands that had pulled strings violently enough to rip monsters apart.
Grinstring dangled in his grasp, movements slow, almost affectionate.
"You're learning," the puppet whispered, echoing Elias's voice.
Arc's breath hitched.
Titanborn finally stepped forward.
"Arc… look at me."
Arc didn't.
"Arc!"
Arc's eyes snapped upward.
Titanborn took a steadying breath.
"You saved our lives. All of us. Don't twist that into something it's not."
Arc blinked.
He hadn't expected those words.
Mindwright let out a shaky exhale.
"Titanborn's right. We were cornered. You… made a choice."
Blinkstep added, voice cracking,
"I—uh—yes, exactly that. Amazing job. Love that for us. Fantastic."
Arc looked at them one by one.
Titanborn wasn't lying.
Mindwright wasn't lying.
Blinkstep was definitely lying, but the fear was honest.
Still…
Arc whispered:
"He forced me."
Mindwright stiffened.
"Elias?"
Arc nodded faintly.
Titanborn clenched his fists.
"When I get my hands on that guy—"
"You won't," Arc interrupted.
Titanborn stopped.
"…What?"
Arc faced him fully.
"You won't ever touch him."
Mindwright frowned. "Arc, that's not—"
Arc's puppet giggled.
"He's right."
Titanborn's eye twitched. "What makes you so sure?"
Arc whispered:
"He's not training us."
Blinkstep froze.
"Then who—"
Arc swallowed hard.
"He's training me."
Silence crashed through the tunnel.
Mindwright felt the cold thought slither into his mind like a parasite.
"He sees Arc as… something worth shaping."
Blinkstep hugged himself tightly.
"Y-Yeah… like a favorite pet or toy."
Arc shook his head.
"No.
Not a toy."
Titanborn growled.
"Then what, Arc?"
Arc's eyes lowered.
"A threat."
Mindwright's breath stopped.
"…A future threat?"
Arc nodded slowly.
"He wants me strong… so when the time comes, I won't die right away."
Blinkstep's face drained of color.
Titanborn whispered,
"He's raising his own rival."
Arc whispered back:
"That's what scares me."
Footsteps Above
A distant rumble echoed through the tunnel ceiling.
Mindwright looked up quickly.
"Military movement aboveground. Central Forces are sweeping block by block."
Blinkstep groaned.
"GREAT. As if we needed more problems."
Titanborn turned toward the path Elias had opened.
"We need to move."
Arc still hadn't moved.
His puppet tugged softly at its own strings.
"Arc… he's watching again."
Arc closed his eyes, took a shaky breath, and finally stepped forward.
"I know."
As they moved deeper through the broken pipes and dripping corridors, all four of them began to tense again.
Because this wasn't over.
Something else was wrong.
Very wrong.
The Tunnel Widens
The narrow maintenance shaft opened into a larger, arched chamber—walls lined with rusted support beams, the floor flooded with ankle-deep water.
Titanborn scanned the stretch.
"This place is huge… like an old underground station."
Mindwright nodded nervously.
"It's not on any current map. This tunnel must predate the mana-grid updates."
Blinkstep whispered,
"D-Does that mean no searchlights? No scanners?"
Mindwright replied quietly,
"Yes.
Which also means… no help."
Arc stepped forward, puppet bouncing lightly against his arm.
He froze.
Titanborn nearly ran into him.
"What now—"
Arc held up a hand.
He tilted his head.
The puppet's wooden finger lifted, pointing directly ahead.
To the darkness.
Titanborn whispered sharply,
"What is it?"
Arc didn't speak.
Because from the shadows…
a voice echoed back.
A voice that did not belong to Elias.
A voice older.
Heavier.
More monstrous.
"Foooouuund… you…"
Blinkstep screamed out loud.
Mindwright's blood turned ice-cold.
Titanborn charged forward, aura flaring.
"SHOW YOURSELF!"
The chamber shook.
Something enormous began pulling itself out of the shadows—
water rippling around it
support beams groaning
air vibrating with low, guttural growls.
Arc took a step backward.
His puppet whispered:
"Not his test."
Arc's eyes widened.
"Then whose…?"
A massive, scaled hand gripped the stone floor.
Red eyes gleamed from the dark.
And a voice rumbled again:
"Little… Art users…"
Titanborn's expression hardened.
Mindwright's breath caught.
Blinkstep already regretted being alive.
Arc's pulse raced.
Because this time…
Elias wasn't here.
This time…
whatever had found them did not care about tests or growth.
It only cared about killing.