"We're going back… to the Reaper."
Copper's voice was nearly broken, each word cut short by ragged breaths. Every syllable tore into the thick air like a blade.
Ren faltered for half a step. His feet still moved, but his eyes wavered.
"Are you insane...?"
He didn't speak the words aloud, but the question pounded inside his mind. Still, Ren knew, there was no time to ask. Because at that very moment, the summoning glow of a monster flared ahead.
Magic circles flickered on the stone floor, swirling deep into the darkness like open wounds.
Ren gritted his teeth...no hesitation.
He dashed straight through the light before the monsters could take form. Dust and glowing shards exploded under his feet.
Roars, crashes, and the hoarse shrieking of bone monsters erupted behind them like a tsunami of death.
As soon as the newly summoned beasts, giant, slimy corpse-eating toads, appeared, they were instantly swallowed by the tide of bones rushing from behind.
No one stopped.No life remained strong enough to stand against what was coming.
Ren and Copper kept running, like plunging into the throat of a colossal beast.
Just a few minutes, but it felt like an eternity. Finally, they returned to the massive corridor where the Fatal Scythe silently waited at the far end.
Their footsteps pounded heavy, each one landing like a hammer blow to the heart.
They weren't breathing anymore. Only the sound of blood pounding in their ears, bones cracking beneath their feet.
The sea of white bones was no longer confined by the maze's narrow corridors.
As they entered the vast hallway an open space like a cavern built by gods or demons, the full form of the monsters was revealed.
No longer scattered clicks and rattles.
But a true army of the damned.
Piles of bones crawled, slithered, dragged, and leapt atop each other like a flood of dead flesh crashing forward.
They churned like a tsunami in a boundless ocean, eyeless, heartless, tireless.
And then...
BOOM!!
The sea of bones exploded.
From behind, the massive skeletal centipede surged forward like some ancient wrath unleashed.
Legs sharp as spears shredded through swarms of monsters in its way. Each impact was an earthquake. Each slam against the ground...an explosion from the underworld.
Nothing could stop it.
The bone soldiers were flung aside like weeds before a storm. They screamed, shattered beneath the weight and fury of a creature they could no longer control.
Ren felt every tooth in his mouth tremble from the shock. The centipede's roar shredded the air, echoing like a train whistle straight out of hell.
It wasn't just chasing now.
It was charging.
Its massive body slithered like a tsunami, undulating through the obsidian hall, surging straight toward the two worn-down figures ahead...
Ren and Copper.
Two silhouettes, lost in a world that no longer belonged to them.
But they kept running.
Running like they existed only on the edge between life and some primal despair.
Because behind them… it wasn't just a sea of bones.
It was death itself, riding atop that sea, crushing everything to devour the final two.
Then came a gust, howling like the scream of a god of death.
It twisted into a band of immense pressure, tearing the air in the hall, slicing through the dark like an invisible blade.
The atmosphere detonated. A massive rupture tore through the air, dragging with it shards of stone and fragments of shattered bone.
"Move!!" Copper roared like thunder. Without waiting, he hurled himself to the left, rolling like a shadow through the storm.
Ren didn't think. Instinct kicked in. He leapt to the right, his body taut mid-air for a split second...
...then the ground collapsed.
The bone centipede shot through like a runaway train, ripping through the black stone floor, cleaving a gaping chasm between the two of them.
The sheer pressure it carried blasted the air, flinging blood and sweat from Ren's face.
He slammed into the ground, tumbling across the cold, trembling floor. His head spun, one cheek scraped against a jagged rock, and his vision blurred momentarily.
The metallic tang of blood filled his nose. His ears rang out of sync.
The sound of metal grinding stone echoed, like the maze itself was crying out.
The monster, a grotesque body of undeath stretched long as a serpent god, skidded across the hall. Bone legs as thick as columns clawed at the ground to slow its momentum, leaving deep gouges in the stone.
It came to a stop.
Not because it was tired.
But because it was turning around.
"Run! Run! Run! Run!!" Copper screamed like a final alarm, harsh, desperate, stripped of the calm he once had.
Ren clenched his teeth, his legs melting under the weight of exhaustion and fear, struggling to stay upright, forcing his aching feet to move, feet that felt like they were bleeding.
He didn't look back. Didn't dare look at the horror behind. Because even a second of hesitation... could mean death.
A bone leg slashed past, tearing through the corner of Ren's cloak as if the next swing could sever his neck without mercy.
He ducked low, wind hissing past the nape of his neck like death's cold kiss. But his feet didn't stop. They couldn't stop.
The ground trembled violently. The pounding echoes from behind never ceased, the sound of bone legs striking stone like execution drums.
From above, the colossal centipede twisted and crawled like a living nightmare, slithering up a black pillar that stretched to the ceiling of the labyrinth. It paused, not to attack... but to observe.
To watch the two tiny beings struggle to survive in this deadly game it knew far too well.
And then, before them...like a lighthouse in a stormy night, was the boundary. A thin dividing line between the labyrinth and the realm of the Reaper, the black-robed scythe-wielder who had forced them to turn back minutes ago.
Copper didn't hesitate.
He charged straight in!
Ren clenched his teeth, cast away fear, cast away every lingering doubt in his mind, and followed. The two figures were swallowed by the eerie glow of the death room.
BOOM!!!
A devastating impact shook the entire corridor. The giant bone centipede plummeted from the ceiling like a massive spear, striking with unbelievable speed and force.
The shockwave hurled both of them into the air, their bodies flipping before crashing onto the black stone floor of the boss room.
Their HP bars instantly dipped into the danger zone, flashing with relentless warnings.
Ren groaned, one shoulder numb from the blow. Copper rolled several times but immediately leapt up, as if time were counting down at his back.
They had crossed the boundary.
But that also meant... the Reaper could now strike.
The silence was suffocating.
At that moment, the bone centipede coiled its monstrous body, preparing to lunge. Nearby, Fatal Scythe still hovered mid-air, its blood-red eyes wide open as if just awakened.
Both monsters were ready to kill them.
And they... were caught in the middle.
The screech of metal echoed like the scream of a world being torn apart. No signal, no warning, The two terrifying creatures clashed.
The scythe of death swung high, carving through space in an arc soaked with killing intent.
The bone centipede roared, its endless body lashing out like a flaming whip.
Two ancient forces collided in the shadowy hall, unleashing shockwaves that tore up stone tiles and shook surrounding pillars like they were about to collapse.
Ren and Copper were thrown aside, bodies tumbling like rags caught in a hurricane.
No warning.
No regard.
The monsters completely ignored the two unfortunate souls.
As if their existence was too insignificant to bother with.
Ren gritted his teeth, blood dripping from his forehead onto the stone floor, shattering into dark ruby dust. He scrambled upright, staring at the impossible scene...
The massive scythe sliced through the centipede, crushing human bones beneath its colossal, jet-black blade.
"They're... fighting each other?" Ren gasped, not believing his eyes.
Copper pushed himself up from afar, face pale, breath ragged. "No... not fighting over territory. It's instinct."
"Instinct?" Ren repeated.
"The instinct of something... born to destroy everything else," Copper growled. "They're the result of corruption... of something monstrous... of a broken order."
Roars echoed. Massive bones flew. Darkness flickered under the glow of magical cracks spreading from the stone floor. Neither of them knew who would win. But one thing was certain.
If they stayed here any longer, they'd die before either monster fell.
"Run now!"
No more words were needed. Ren and Copper locked eyes, one nod was enough.
They poured everything they had left into their sprint.
"One..." Ren whispered, his count fading into gasps and footsteps echoing off the stone.
"Two..."
The count wasn't for rhythm.
It was for survival.
Faint light appeared ahead, dim but clear, the safe zone.
"We're saved!" Copper shouted, eyes lighting with hope as they neared the glowing edge.
He surged forward, about to leap into the light.
Then....
A force yanked him back.
Cold wind slashed his cheek, stinging like a blade.
The Reaper's scythe swept past in utter silence, leaving only a chilling void.
Ren twisted around, grabbing and pulling him up. "Damn it! The centipede's down... way too fast!"
Copper gritted his teeth, panic in his eyes, but not paralysis.
"Quick, quick, quick... two beats, it strikes again after two beats!" Ren hissed.
Copper understood instantly.
One beat to pull the scythe back.
One beat to strike.
"One..."
Just a few more steps to the light. Just a few steps...to live.
"Two..."
The scythe rose.
Right by their necks.
One blink away from death.
Their lives dangling by a thread.
But then...
Light exploded around them, a white glow enveloping them like a protective cocoon.
They had stepped into the safe zone.
The scythe froze mid-air, silent, like an executioner denied his kill.
Ren collapsed to his knees, panting, sweat mixing with blood.
Copper laughed like a man teetering on madness. "Ha... saved... we're still alive..."
Just barely.