"RUI!"
Jin's anguished cry barely pierced through the high-pitched ringing in her ears.
Outside the crimson barrier, Zou slammed his fists against the wall, frantic.
"We need to help her! She's dying in there!"
Rui's consciousness shifted away from Jin's desperate cries and the Behemoth's triumphant roar.
She opened her eyes.
She was no longer on the battlefield.
Rui stood alone in a vast, dark stone chamber.
Each of her footsteps echoed like whispers in a tomb.
Water dripped steadily in the distance.
Her body felt light and detached from the agony that had consumed her only moments before.
"Where… am I?" she whispered.
Her voice bounced back at her, distorted by the emptiness.
At the far end of the chamber, a spiral staircase twisted upward into shadow.
With each beat of her chaos core, the stairs shimmered faintly—soft pulses of pink-gold light blooming and fading like a heartbeat.
They called to her.
