Collision.
They didn't see the strike. The bodies of Kai and Skyler were hurled through the air like broken dolls, The air was ripped from their lungs.
A harsh spin…No up ,no down. Only a force crushing them from a direction that didn't exist.
Then, Impact.
The rock cracked beneath their backs. Kai choked on his breath, his chest burning, the old wound erupting in pain as if the strike had been delivered from inside him.
Skyler rolled several meters, his weapon slipping from his hand, and his body didn't stop until it collided with the sticky wall.
Another strike. Invisible. Skyler's body was violently thrown to the side.
"Damn.!!!!!!"
He didn't finish. The air itself pressed him to the ground.
Kai tried to get up… His knees trembled. Something was off. Terribly off. His sense wasn't working. He closed his eyes tightly. Focused. Nothing, The void he was always used to seeing… had disappeared. As if a whole sense had been torn out of him.
"Skyler… I..."
The ground shook. Not a tremor. Footsteps very close.
The darkness before them bent slightly, as if something immense was moving within it.
The sound. An explosion of raw anger.
"——ai…"
The sound didn't echo. It sank into their bones.
Kai froze. Skyler lifted his head with difficulty. The voice continued, deeper… heavier… filled with primal hatred:
"You dare…"
The air became suffocating. The pressure increased over their shoulders. Kai's knees buckled against his will. Skyler clenched his teeth until his jaw cracked.
"…Damn…"
The word came out with absolute contempt.
"I will curse you."
An explosion of invisible force struck them both at once. The ground beneath their bodies cracked.
Kai screamed. The pain was not only physical, Something was digging into his mind. Memories twisted. The sense of direction collapsed.
Skyler reached for his weapon… But his hand moved with horrifying slowness, as if the air had turned into thick water.
"Stay… behind me…"
He said it, even though he couldn't see Kai at all.
The darkness moved. Not the absence of light, But a black substance spreading. Before them, a shape began to form.
An eye large open. Shining within the darkness, without a body.
Kai's heart skipped a beat. A gasp. Blood immediately flowed from his nose.
"Kai!"
Skyler shouted, but his voice broke under the pressure.
The entity took a step closer. The ground sank under its weight. The voice returned… quieter. More dangerous.
"I will make you...."
It paused. As if the next word was a pleasure in itself.
"…understand…the difference."
The darkness around them exploded. Movement. Limbs. Teeth. Eyes. The sounds of sticky friction. The air soured with the stench of rot.
Kai realized only one thing: They were not one. They were… many.
A drop of hot saliva fell near his face.
Skyler finally gripped his weapon. The energy inside it trembled. It emitted a faint light And for a single second… The cave was revealed.
And time froze. Before them… things. Not creatures. Not animals. And not demons in any form they knew.
A colossal bulk of flesh crawled along the wall, multiple mouths opening and closing out of sync.
A single eye in the center of the body… rotating slowly toward them.
Next to it, a gigantic human leg, But at the knee, a mouth with long teeth licked the air. Something fell from the ceiling. A hand Human.
But the palm split open, an eye appeared inside it, and the fingers transformed into rows of teeth. The hand spoke.
"Mother… may I have this?"
The light trembled. A second flash, The scene expanded. Dozens…
No... Hundreds. Bodies without bones. Heads without necks. Limbs growing… then melting away. The air was filled with the sounds of chewing… breathing… and friction.
Skyler whispered:
"…We're surrounded."
Then, Something moved in the depths. Weight. A single step made the ground sink. The smaller creatures immediately retreated, as if making way. The darkness there… was deeper. A massive shape began to appear.
Horns. Enormous shoulders. Skin rough like cracked stone. Two eyes burning with primal hatred. The voice came from it.
"You call us… weak?"
The air trembled. Kai felt blood flowing from his nose again. Skyler plunged his weapon into the ground to stay upright.
The voice continued, each word like an earthquake:
"I will make you… wish… for death."
Around them, the creatures began to crawl. Friction. Hunger. Slow approach.
Kai clenched his fist despite the pain.
"Skyler…"
Skyler didn't look at him. His eyes fixed ahead.
"I know."
A faint smile appeared on his face Not confidence. But defiance. The energy inside his weapon ignited.
"So then…"
He raised the blade. The light exploded stronger.
"Let's see… who will curse whom."
And at that very moment, The first creature leaped toward them. And everything stopped… On the edge of impact.
_
Elsewhere
A step. Its sound struck the solid ground… then echoed in the void. A second step.
Akira did not stop. His cloak moved behind him as he advanced… His eyes fixed straight ahead… without hesitation.
The scene opened. He stood… before a palace. A colossal palace… Made entirely of dark gold tinged with red… Intricate engravings covering the walls…
Columns rising until they vanished into the upper fog… And wide staircases extending toward him like the tongue of a silent kingdom.
This place… In the heart of a mysterious kingdom… Not appearing on human maps… And most demons dared not approach it.
The Kingdom of the Sealed Throne.
The palace… was empty. No guards. No servants. No sounds.
Only, A heavy silence… suggesting that everything here… was above the need for any protection in the first place.
Before Akira, Twelve doors. Massive. Arranged in a semicircle… Each door bearing a different symbol… Engravings moving slowly across the golden surface… as if alive.
A moment of silence.
One door… opened. Slowly. The sound of deep metallic friction filled the empty hall.
Akira immediately bowed. Knee on the ground. Head lowered. Absolute… respect. From inside… light emerged. Red… mingled with gold… A color resembling blood glistening under the sun.
The room behind the door wasn't large… But the pressure emanating from it… was enough to make the air heavier. Akira spoke. His voice low… steady:
"My lord… I have taken care of it."
A voice. It wasn't loud… But it pierced the bones directly.
"Good."
A calm tone… But within it, something… ancient… terrifying. The light inside the room shifted slightly… As if a shadow had seated itself upon an unseen throne. The voice continued:
"We must… prepare…Aihtilil."
Akira did not raise his head.
"As you command… my lord."
A brief silence.
Then, The air changed. The pressure suddenly increased. The voice grew deeper:
"Before… it arrives…"
It paused. A moment. As if the name itself carried weight.
"…Ukogij*_*_*_."
A single pulse. Akira felt a shiver run through his spine… despite remaining still. The voice finished the sentence:
"The time… draws near."
The light inside the room dimmed slowly. The door… began to close. The door shut. Silence returned. The golden palace… remained motionless. And Akira… still kneeling. Without moving.