The illusion ruptured in an instant. A column of light cut through the mansion's shell, scattering shadows like insects. The shockwave blasted Tang-Ji off balance and slammed her knees into the trembling floorboards. Pain flared. Her chest clamped shut.
'Not the house—it's me. I'm breaking again.'
The chilling currents were released in waves of panic, crashing into the mansion's pillars as they wailed against the already worn-out walls. It was as if she was caught between a tornado and an earthquake; that was the incredible force that she was experiencing.
Finally, the supernatural veil was lifted. Darkness returned, not empty but crawling. Figures emerged, faceless and bent. Their limbs scraped against the floor. Husks. One after another, dragging themselves into the hall.
Ukiyo stepped forward. The shears bloomed in her hands, glinting jade. One swing. Two. Every cut split a Husk into falling shards, fragments scattering like glass in water. Tang-Ji stared, breath caught. The precision was flawless. Too flawless.
Beneath the stairwell, Kazami laid gasping. His health bar blinked a dangerous red, with only barely a pixel of red remaining. He attempted to pull himself up using the broken handrail, but his legs crumpled under him.
Tang‑Ji pushed herself along the wall and crawled toward him. Knuckles white, breath shaking.
Suddenly, a shape darted in—faster than her eyes could follow. Jaws widened, fangs ready.
Her cry tore loose, raw—cut short by a flare of jade. Ukiyo's final strike cleaved the shadow before it reached them. A second flash tore through the air—different, harsher. The Husk burst into shards.
She planted a palm and forced herself upright—half‑kneel, then a shaky stand. The wall took her weight; splinters bit her skin.
Across the hall, Ukiyo's stance wavered—one heel skidded on a scatter of shards, the other foot failing to find the stair. Tang‑Ji shoved off the wood, two stumbling steps, a lunge that came more from reflex than strength.
Tang‑Ji twisted toward Ukiyo—only to see her stagger. The calm had broken. Ukiyo's step faltered; Tang‑Ji slid a shoulder under her and caught the drop, the weight sagging into her arms, heavier than she looked.
"But… you were winning," she whispered, trembling.
Ukiyo staggered into her arms. "The cost of using a Leere... it's too much. My stamina bar is emptying faster than I thought."
"I'll be fine. I just need a moment to catch my breath." She murmured haltingly as her body limped even more before turning around to face the monsters, her movements slow and unsteady.
In that moment, the hall split open with noise. More Husks poured in, clawing over each other to get through. Their clicks rattled against the walls, swelling into a shriek of sound. The floorboards buzzed with it.
Tang-Ji clamped her hands to her ears, but it was too late. The pitch drilled through her head, and her body seized; the effect of the Clicker Husk was already activated.
Strength drained from her legs; she folded onto the cold boards with a hollow thud. Breath ragged, her eyes dragged upward, catching the faint glow of her health bar suspended above.
Although her health was almost entirely inside the green zone, she noticed a chain symbol next to her health metre. A symbol of the decay mechanic, locking the player out of action while slowly draining their health.
Her body wasn't hers anymore.
"Not yet... I need more time," Ukiyo whispered, preparing to defend them.
However, the weight of the jade shear on her hand abruptly disintegrated into dust. Ukiyo slowly turned to the familiar blue eyes. She understood what was going to come next.
"Damn it," she breathed.
She forced a smile at Tang-Ji. "Run, Ji-chan!"
She pivoted toward the tide of creatures with fangs as long as her arm; they slowly enclosed her with their numbers, ready to feast upon their new prey. With inches away from the rabble's onslaught to devour them, a gust of wind suddenly blew rapidly across her face.
Air split across her face in a sudden gust. Red and white streaks blurred past. The nearest fangs spun into the air, severed clean.
Tang-Ji froze, eyes wide. A silhouette tore through the line.
"Kazami!"
With a swift motion, he knocked the attack aside and followed through in the same breath—his oversized blade, crimson-hilted and violet-edged, cleaving a head clean. The strike thundered through the hall, the shockwave flinging others sprawling.
With his breathing heavy and sweat trickling down his forehead, he paused for a moment amidst the chaotic battle with the horde of darkness. His eyes blazed with a mix of exhaustion and resentment as he clutched his enlarged blade tightly.
He glared at the swarm, voice cracked. "Enough!!"
The word carried heavier than the roar around them.
"You don't get to make me feel weak again." His grip tightened.
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The blade erupted into being—a towering, radiant sword that cast long streaks of silver light across the darkened field. Kazami stood beneath it, dwarfed but undaunted, his fury surging as the grotesque swarm closed in.
Their forms writhed at the edge of vision—shadow-wreathed horrors with jutting bones and fangs like broken glass, crawling and skittering as if stitched from nightmare.
Adrenaline flooded his digital veins as he clenched the hilt of the unnatural weapon, every nerve primed for the coming storm.
Concentrating intently, he channelled a sword skill in preparation for calling out his skill technique. In a two-part striking sequence, "Level 1 deployment, Guard Technique: Storm Blade," he entailed a rapid body rotation followed by a downward smash with the user's sword.
Dusk Protocol's fighting system took an individual's real-life physical strength and considerably enhanced it, making it possible for players who otherwise lack the physical power to do so in real life to use such a hefty weapon.
Kazami had felt this weight before, when he tried to protect Tang-Ji from the catastrophe that occurred during the Shrine of the Beginning.
He swung the massive blade in a broad arc, creating a tremendous blast of wind that reverberated around the room. The horde was pushed back by the power of his stroke, forcing the Clicker Husks to stumble back against the mansion's colonnade.
He twisted and contorted his body as the massive blade spun in his hands, utilising the momentum to drive back the dark tide. His every action was a dance of pinpoint accuracy and overwhelming force—a tornado of devastation that held back the oncoming swarm.
'The vials. Where are they?' Kazami thought to himself before activating a wide range of search skills.
Paralysed by the degrading effect of the mobs, both the girls laid among the chaos. Although he was in his enraged state, his true intention was to get everyone back on their feet, not to eliminate all the mobs.
His gaze swept the area while his aggressive swings were still in motion. Just when he was about to exhaust all of his remaining mana, he spotted two potions. It was near the pouch that the player had left behind, glinting with a faint, restorative aura.
Before he began his investigation on the first quest, the corpse's hand on the first body had a faint glint when Kazami saw it. A closer look revealed it to be a potion with the label name "Decay Cleanser," although its usage was unclear at the time.
The preceding player must have discovered, in his last moments, that the clicking sound coming from the Clicker Husk could trigger the decaying effect. He probably just left it on the corpse of the NPC who died so that the following players could find it.
Kazami gritted his teeth before yelling out, "Drink these potions! They'll cleanse the decay effect!"
With his last-ditch effort, he slashed through the air, expertly guiding the spinning blade towards the potions. The giant blade swept them up delicately as he commanded before carrying them towards the immobilised girls.
As the potions hovered in front of them, his voice cut through the chaos, reaching their ears. "Quickly! Drink them! They'll restore your mobility!"
Their gaze locked with his as they summoned every ounce of strength they had left to catch the pods. With trembling hands, they reached out and grasped the potions, their fingers closing tightly around the vessels.
They raise the potion to their lips, drinking deeply. Almost instantly, a warm feeling coursed through their bodies, dispelling the decay effect that held them captive.
Kazami stood at the forefront of the chaos, his presence cutting through the frantic movements and sharp voices like a blade, his posture unwavering as he shielded the girls behind him.
The Clicker Husk began to swarm around him once again as their grotesque forms moved in a disorganised frenzy. His eyes narrowed, and he tightened his grip on his weapon, ready to carve a path through the masses.
Springing to her feet faster than Tang-Ji, Ukiyo dashed toward Kazami, whose movements were growing sluggish with each passing second. As their eyes met, he understood that his stamina was draining, worn thin by the relentless flurry of strikes.
He quickly pivoted his front foot, which was carrying most of the weight of the sword, on his right arm before swinging vertically downward. With a mighty swing of his colossal blade, Kazami struck the ground in front of him.
Like a rabid beast, lashing out with such unrestrained fury that even those close to him could be caught in its wake.
The icy mansion trembled beneath the force of his blow as a straight and narrow path emerged amongst the black mass. Dust and debris filled the air, momentarily obscuring the chaos that surrounded him.
However, as the dust slowly settled, a figure emerged from the periphery of the dark horde. It was Ukiyo; she was agile, evading multiple attacks from the dark tide, and now sensing the opportunity, she sprinted towards Kazami. Her steps were light and purposeful.
Just as she reached him, she leapt into the air, her body soaring gracefully through the space above the path that he had created. He slowly lowered his weapon. He left the giant blade in front of his body before exposing the flat section of his weapon.
Ukiyo landed with a flourish on the flat section of his blade, balancing herself effortlessly. She paused for a moment, her eyes locked on the path ahead, before propelling herself forward with an explosive burst of energy.
"Ready, set, fly!" He roared as he projected Ukiyo through the air.
She ascended, her hair flickering like ethereal flames and her slim form cutting through the space with precision. Time seemed to slow as Ukiyo reached the apex of her flight, a moment of suspended grace before she began her descent.
The Clicker Husks regrouped, encircling them again as the black mass awaited her below, a writhing sea of danger.
As Ukiyo descended, she activated her Leere, and the glove on her right arm began to glow prominently before settling down with the sight of a holographic blade materialising in her hand, crackling with electric energy.
At the same time, Kazami's giant blade vanished into thin air as she now held a blade that could conjure lightning at will. She struck the ground with fierce determination, the holographic blade piercing the earth beneath her. In an instant, a powerful area effect surged outward, electrifying everything within its reach.
The Clicker Husk, once frenzied and chaotic, now convulsed as the electric current coursed through their grotesque forms. They writhed and spasmed, their movements disrupted by the overwhelming power of the attack.
The black masses let out piercing screams of anguish as lightning crackled and danced over their bodies. Ukiyo was in the core of the charged cluster, her Leere was still active, and her body was emitting an electric field with a controlled intensity.
Sighing with relief and amazement, Tang-Ji was observing Ukiyo and Kazami's demonstrations of teamwork.
"Amazing..."
The horde was now severely weakened, providing a perfect opportunity for Kazami to launch a counterattack.
However, in an instant, the group stood frozen, their eyes fixed upon the ominous door behind them, which began to creak violently.
In spite of the fact that the battle was still raging on, as displayed by the incessant growls and clicking that echoed through the mansion, an unsettling silence now hovered in the air, broken only by the soft sound of Tang-Ji's own breathing.
Suddenly, the creaking noise grew louder as it pierced the stillness, drawing her attention to the large wooden door as it slowly started to move. Before anyone could react, the door that served as a bridge between the winter wasteland and the realm of chaos was severed.
In a blink of an eye, any chances left of escaping unscathed were gone. The door quickly slammed shut with a bone-chilling force, shaking the very foundation of the mansion.