Blight Dimension
Sosuke lay flat on the grassy hill, elbows pressed into the dirt as he scanned the cave entrance through a pair of binoculars. Nothing moved. The place looked empty and hollow, like a wound sealed over.
"What're you doing?"
He didn't turn. He only shifted the binoculars enough to bring Rin's face into view. "I'm being covert."
Rin grinned while kneeling beside him. "Really? Looks convincing. Maybe we can get the jump on the blights with your expert scouting skills."
"You say it like a joke, but you'll take it back when it happens." Sosuke lowered the binoculars into his bag and sat up beside her. He tipped his head back, staring at the massive Crimson Tree in the distance. It towered over the land, bright red veins twisting along its trunk like living symbols. For a world soaked in darkness, the tree felt impossibly beautiful.
"Hmm." Rin placed a hand on her chin and let the silence stretch. "We're going to be here a while. I should get used to the scenery before the homesickness hits."
"It didn't even cross my mind that we'd get homesick." Sosuke folded his arms. "Shit. Now I'm thinking about it."
Rin pushed herself onto her feet. The grass held the faint imprint of her shape. "Like something that small would stop you. Where's your spirit soldier? Let's move."
"Alright, alright." Sosuke rose after her. "You don't have to be so bossy."
Rin bumped him with her elbow. "You sure you don't like it? Maybe it triggers something in you."
That earned her a look. "Now it's weird. I'm not a freak." He tried to focus on the mission, but the idea of squeezing into some long, echoing cave made his shoulders tense. If the relic sat deeper underground, they might end up trapped in tunnels for days. A small shiver crawled up his back.
The cave entrance eventually loomed above them, only a few feet away. Sosuke stepped to the edge and looked down. The drop swallowed all light, leaving nothing but a thick sheet of black. He shaded his eyes with one hand, even though it made no difference. "We're going to need your flames."
Rin rested a hand on her hip. "You know my black flames don't light anything."
"I didn't say use those. Just normal fire." Sosuke straightened himself and stepped back from the void. "No need to strain your core technique."
Rin approached and opened her palm. A small flame blossomed there, warm and familiar. "You worry about me too much."
"Me? You shouldn't talk."
She crouched, the flame spreading its glow across rough stone walls and uneven edges leading toward the drop. Rin drew her arm back and concentrated. The flame tightened into a small sphere. She lobbed it downward. It painted the inside of the cavern as it fell, growing dimmer until it kissed a dark pool far below. A hiss followed.
"Looks like water at the bottom." Rin flashed a bright smile. "Ready to take our first risk? Because I am."
Sosuke frowned. "I really don't like the sound of that. What're you planning?"
"Let's jump." Rin leaned in until her eyes nearly touched his. Her excitement was real. In this place, even a reckless thrill counted as joy.
He hesitated. The limitations of their damaged cores pressed at his mind. Their mana output was difficult to accurately control. If the pool wasn't deep and they misjudged their reinforcement…
Rin waited with a spark in her eyes. It pushed him past his hesitation.
"Let's do it." Sosuke met her grin with one of his own.
They approached the edge together. The cavern's cold breath rose to greet them. Their fingers intertwined. The emptiness below seemed to pull at them even before they moved.
"Ready?" Rin asked.
Sosuke nodded. "If I die, at least it's with you."
They jumped.
Air swallowed them at once. The rush tore at Sosuke's clothes and pushed tears from the corners of his eyes. Rin's hand stayed locked with his, their arms stretched between them by the fall. The darkness broke open as their eyes adjusted. Stone walls shot past like streaks of ink. Wind roared across Sosuke's ears and drowned out every thought except one: too fast.
Moisture hit his face a moment later, thin droplets drifting upward from the pool below. The temperature dropped. The scent of wet stone filled his lungs. Rin laughed beside him, the sound sharp and fearless.
Their bodies tilted slightly in freefall. Gravity spun them, pulling their feet downward. Sosuke felt the faintest tug as he forced what little mana he could gather into his limbs. The reinforcement came out uneven, almost grainy, but it was better than nothing.
Light from the distant mouth of the cave dimmed, swallowed by shadows. The pool expanded beneath them, no longer a distant speck but a solid sheet of black water rushing up with alarming speed.
Sosuke tightened his grip on Rin's hand.
Cold swallowed everything.
Sosuke opened his eyes in the deep water. The world around him stretched into a blue that felt endless, soft and unreal. He drifted without effort, suspended in a space that seemed far too wide for a cave. Then a flicker appeared. White shapes glimmered in the distance like stars scattered underwater. The weightlessness pulled at him. His vision warped. His limbs slackened as if something stole his strength.
A hand seized his collar. Rin hauled him upward and dragged him onto rough stone. Air hit his face like a slap.
"Christ, you could've drowned. What were you doing?"
Sosuke braced an arm against the ground, chest heaving. Cough after cough rattled through him, each one forcing water from his lungs until his ribs ached. "I don't know. I started seeing things. Maybe I'm going crazy already."
"That's fine as long as you don't get so hungry you want to eat me." Rin thumped his back, trying to help the rest of the water out. "With this cave so close to the tree, anything's possible. The place is soaked in magic."
"Of course it is." Sosuke rose slowly and wiped his nose clean. He squinted ahead. A narrow path carved into the stone snaked forward, leading toward a thick metal gate. "I'm getting deja vu."
"That gate does look familiar." Rin tilted her head as she stepped beside him. "It's almost the same as the one with the skeleton. Long time ago now, huh?"
Sosuke had already begun walking, following the trail without hesitation. "Sure was. Figures though. All dungeons came from the blights. This just confirms they built them. They didn't show up magically."
A glowing white orb drifted through the gate and hovered in the stale air. The light washed over the stone and cast thin shadows along the walls. Both of them felt the wrongness in their bones. The room ahead was too familiar.
Rin stepped forward, cupping the orb in both hands.
"Open."
The gate shifted with a grinding scrape. The doors eased apart and revealed an arena that seemed left behind by centuries. Ancient pillars leaned like brittle teeth. Cracks cut across the floor, glowing faintly from the lava beneath. All streams fed into a single pool of molten orange in the arena's center.
"This place…" Sosuke muttered.
"It's the exact same." Rin turned in a slow circle. "This is bad. Either something is playing with our minds, or we are about to learn something we won't like."
Sosuke tapped her shoulder and pointed. At the heart of the arena lay a pile of bones beside a broad slab of iron that served as a sword. He studied the sight with a furrowed brow, his mind racing through possibilities.
He lowered a hand toward the sheathe at his belt. "Rin, we'll be fine. Even in this state, we're stronger than we were back then."
"Right, but aren't you even a little worried? There's no way the boss is the same strength. It's probably much stronger." Rin swallowed as unease coiled through her gut. "Think about it. We're close to the center of mana in this entire dimension."
"If you're worried, then I'll go first." Sosuke stepped toward the bones, his eyes fixed on the heap that had begun to tremble.
"Wait, Sosuke. I'm stronger. Let me go first."
The bones clamped together in a single snap. A skeletal hand shot out, reaching for Sosuke's face. He caught the strike with a parry that shook the stone beneath him and stumbled back with clenched teeth.
The blight crouched low as it gripped the massive sword. Mana rose around its body in a rough spiral, forging plates of steel along its arms and chest.
Rin's palm erupted with black fire. Her burst slammed into the skeleton before its armor could fully form, sending it flying into a leaning pillar. Stone dust rained down when the column cracked in two.
"You even saved me again." Sosuke's breath rasped out. The attack had nearly caught him clean.
"That was just you being stupid." Rin pressed a hand against her stomach. A burning ache swirled deep in her core. It frightened her more than she let on.
Already? I barely used my technique. Why does it hurt this much? I can push through. I have to.
A heavy step shook the arena. The skeleton advanced toward Sosuke, dragging its blade until sparks scratched across the stone. It swung with a burst of speed. Sosuke blocked, but the weight blasted him backward. His heels skidded along the ground before he fell hard.
The blight turned and spun, bringing the sword down toward Rin. She thrust both palms upward, flames rushing across her hands. The slab of iron crashed into her grip. Heat flared bright as she caught the blade with a strained groan, her arms trembling from the force.
Sosuke cut in from the side. Sparks chased up his fist, lightning gathering into a tight flare. The moment he struck the skull, the light erupted in a burst of shifting colors. The impact combined his lightning with lingering fire.
Bone shattered. Shards scattered. The body collapsed without its head.
Rin pivoted out of the sword's path and let its weight topple away. She exhaled long and slow. "It was the same after all."
Sosuke used an arm to steady her and nudged her back. She blinked in confusion, then felt a cold thread coil through her chest.
"It's not the same." Sosuke unsheathed his katana. "Look closely. Last time, the bones fell apart. Why is it still together?"
"You could be overthinking it…" Rin said, though the doubt in her voice betrayed her. She already knew he was right. She just didn't want him to be.
Mana pulsed from the ribcage. It carved through bone and molded it. Flesh grew in tight coils around the skeleton. Muscles bulged into shape. Armor of green-tinted skin formed across the torso. Fur-lined patches wrapped along the shoulders and arms. The creature rose with a slow, steady breath, a towering body with no head at all.
Sosuke burst forward with lightning crackling around his feet. His speed was sharp but nowhere near enough. A green fist crossed the gap and hammered his chest. The blow threw him across the arena. His body rolled until it stopped near the lava pool.
"Sosuke!" Rin's heart lurched into her throat. He lay still. Unconscious. She spun back toward the monster, flames curling up her palms. The creature's red glow flickered in the cavity where its head should have been, the same glow from years ago. It understood them. It remembered them.
"You know us. You're the same one. The fire in your eyes back then was full of revenge. It's still there. I can see it."
The ground erupted beneath a fist as the blight struck. Stone shards shot upward. Rin launched herself aside, climbed its arm, and drove her flaming fist straight into the open neck wound. Heat tore through the creature's insides. Her flames roared stronger, searing bone and new-grown flesh.
Pain ripped through her core with brutal precision. Her stomach felt filled with molten iron. Her vision blurred at the edges, but she forced more fire out, refusing to let up.
The blight's chest swelled. Then it burst open, spilling blood and torn flesh. It had rebuilt an entire body from a skeleton, yet she still managed to tear it apart.
Rin leapt off and landed hard, stumbling as she clutched her stomach.
A loud thud rang out. The blight slammed onto the floor. Cracks raced across the ground like roots. Its mana flickered out completely.
Sosuke blinked awake at the noise. His head pounded. Thoughts came slow and heavy until he spotted Rin on one knee. Somehow, even dizzy, he forced himself up and staggered toward her.
"Rin."
She struggled to breathe. Sweat ran down her jaw, and her hand pressed tightly against her stomach to contain the burning in her core. "My limit was so low. I thought I had more. That thing wasn't even close to a lieutenant."
"You did enough." Sosuke placed a hand on her back. "I couldn't even hold my own against its first form. What good am I, huh?" He gave a tired grin. "You pushed past your limit. Maybe I need to work harder. Don't quit. I'm counting on you."
Her eyes widened. She bit down on a gasp. "It hurts. I can't take it." She let her legs slide out and fell onto her rear, pushing herself back against a pillar.
Sosuke froze. Words wouldn't help. Empty comfort meant nothing when pain crawled through her body. He needed to act. He needed to do something real.