Laughter shattered the eerie silence like a blade cutting through fog.
Daigo slung an arm over Yeaga's shoulder, a grin spread wide across his face. "Man, I swear, if that last fight didn't kill me, your ugly-ass face might."
Yeaga didn't even spare him a glance. "Move your arm, or I'll break it."
Ishigo, adjusting his blood-splattered glasses, groaned in exasperation. "Can you two shut up for once?"
Daigo flashed a toothy grin, unbothered. "Come on, lighten up! We just cleared an entire damn level. Shouldn't we celebrate?"
Yeaga shot him a look that could freeze fire. "By what? Laughing like brain-dead apes?"
Daigo gasped in mock offense, clutching his chest. "So cruel. And here I thought we were brothers in arms."
Yeaga shrugged him off. His voice dropped, quieter, almost bitter. "I don't have brothers. I have burdens."
Ishigo pinched the bridge of his nose. He was already regretting following these two. "We're about to enter Level 3. Can we focus for once?"
Daigo clicked his tongue. "Yeah, yeah. Just saying, it wouldn't kill us to have some fun."
Yeaga shot him a side-eye. "We're literally fighting things that could kill us."
"Exactly," Daigo shot back with a wide grin. "So we should live a little before that happens!"
Ishigo threw his hands up in defeat. "Idiots."
Ahead of them, the battlefield stretched out—a twisted land where the wind howled like the screams of the dead. The air was wrong. Thick with malice. Above, dark storm clouds twisted into shapes too unnatural to be natural. Shadows danced, too quick to track. The ground cracked and groaned, like it was alive.
The trio slowed, instincts screaming.
Daigo cracked his knuckles. "Alright, I take it back. This place might actually kill us."
Yeaga exhaled slowly, a rare moment of peace in his voice. "Finally, some quiet."
Ishigo's gaze, however, was sharp and watchful. He could feel it. Something was watching them. The wind seemed to whisper—no, it wasn't the wind. It was something else.
A voice, soft and taunting, slid through the air.
"Three little mortals. Three little worms. How long will you last?"
Daigo grinned. "Depends. How long can you scream?"
Ishigo tensed, his senses on full alert. "Something's coming. Fast."
"Stay sharp,"Yeaga muttered, eyes already scanning the landscape. The calm in his voice was unnerving, his presence alone like a coiled serpent, deadly but still.
Suddenly, the air shifted. Like a ripple, a presence slammed into their senses, warping the world around them. Yeaga's eyes flickered—there, ahead. Movement.
Ishigo's pulse quickened. "It's not human."
Reika stepped into the frozen expanse of Level 3. The world shifted, her breath instantly crystallizing in the air. A shiver ran down her spine, not from the cold—but from the suffocating stillness that clung to the land like a curse.
The ice beneath her feet was perfect, untouched, like it had never known warmth, like it had never known life. The silence was thick, unnerving, as though the earth itself was holding its breath.
But it wasn't the cold that made her heart race—it was what stood ahead.
Shikibans.
At first, she thought they were statues. Tall, translucent figures standing in the distance, their bodies frozen mid-motion, frozen in a crystalline glow. Perfect. Too perfect.
But they weren't statues. They moved.
A chill like ice water flooded her veins as she watched them shift, their fluid motions unnatural and eerie, like they were part of the wind itself. Glowing, blue eyes—dead eyes—locked onto hers. And suddenly, she felt the weight of a thousand years pressing on her chest.
A terrifying silence stretched as the ice-cold figures began to glide toward her.
No words. No emotion. Only pure, crushing presence.
Reika's breath caught in her throat. She couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. The world narrowed to their eyes—those cold, empty eyes—and she could feel her body trembling, unable to escape. Fear gnawed at her soul, dragging her into the depths of helplessness.
They were beautiful. They were horrifying.
The Shikibans weren't enemies. They were something older. Something beyond her comprehension. Their beauty was a mask—a mask that hid a terrifying, ancient power.
Her legs shook, the ice beneath her feet creaking, cracking with each shift in her weight. Reika took a step back, but it wasn't enough. Not far enough. The figures advanced, gliding across the ice, their steps slow, deliberate. Each one moved with a grace that was so alien it made her blood run cold.
Her pulse quickened. It wasn't just fear anymore. It was awareness.
She wasn't just fighting a monster.
She was facing the cold of the universe itself.
The air thickened, suffocating her. The ground beneath her feet cracked with an eerie finality.
This is it. Her heart pounded in her ears. I'll die here. Alone. Frozen.
But in the pit of her stomach, there was something else. A spark. A fire.
Am I really going to die like this?
No.
Her fingers flexed, the cold biting into her skin. I am not dying here.
The Shikiban before her moved, its icy form shimmering in the frigid light.
You think you can freeze me? she thought, her grip tightening into fists. You think you can control me with fear?
Her voice, a whisper lost to the wind, slipped through her thoughts.
"Not today."
With a roar, she surged forward, the ice cracking beneath her feet. In that moment, fear became something else—a weapon. Every ounce of terror she felt ignited her power, propelling her forward.
The Shikiban lunged, and Reika was ready.
Back on the other side, Yeaga's eyes flickered toward the horizon. He didn't need to speak. His presence alone commanded silence.
"She'll be fine," he said, voice calm, detached, as if it was a simple observation.
Daigo, ever the carefree fool, furrowed his brow. "You're so sure of her?"
Yeaga didn't even glance at him, his gaze locked on the distant battlefield. "I've seen it. She has something inside her."
Ishigo blinked, confused. "What do you mean?"
Yeaga smirked slightly, though there was no humor in his expression. "Something none of us have."His eyes hardened. "Something stronger than fear."
Reika's fists collided with the first Shikiban, shattering the ice like glass. The force of her strike cracked the ground beneath her, and for a moment, the world seemed to hold its breath. She didn't feel fear anymore—just power, pure and unrelenting.
The Shikiban recoiled, its icy form freezing the air around it, but Reika was already moving. Her thoughts were clear, focused. This was no longer about surviving. It was about winning.
And she wasn't going to stop.