"Gahhh!" Nara screamed, collapsing to his knees.
"This pain... this power…" he wheezed, dragging himself upright, using the cracked wall as support.
He leaned there, catching his breath, while Alpha lay unconscious beside him.
Then he moved barely. A shuffle, a stagger. Every step was a battle.
"The pressure… it's too much…" he muttered, refusing to fall.
Eventually, after what felt like hours compressed into seconds, he reached the wall near the exit.
He leaned back against it, chest pounding like thunder.
Badum. Badum. Badum.
He closed his eyes, forcing his breathing steady.
Then he looked at Alpha. Her chest still rose and fell gently.
She was fine.
A shaky smile found its way to his lips.
"Nah… nothing's going wrong. We're fine," he whispered.
He stepped forward - toward the exit.
One foot, then the other.
"Nothing could go wrong."
He repeated it, like a mantra.
He reached the threshold. Turned his head. Peered outside.
And stopped breathing.
The words died before they left his mouth.
"Im...impossible."
Nara's eyes widened, trembling as the image burned itself into his mind.
He let out a dry laugh.
"Hehe..."
"Hehe. Hehe. Hehe…"
"IMPOSSIBLE!!"
He stepped back. His face drained pale.
Everything was impossible.
"It's over."
Nara whispered. His hands trembled.
He looked down—slowly.
And realized...
The cube he was standing on wasn't on the ground.
It was suspended in the air.
Every cubic rooms, every corners, turning points were all floating, and separated.
Nara's mouth hung open. His breath caught in his throat. He couldn't move.
He looked down, and the ground was really far.
***
"This is bad... so, so bad," Nara whispered, his head bowed, breath uneven.
He glanced toward the exit again. Just like space—it was unfathomable. No logic. No shape. No graspable depth.
Clatter... clatter...
A moment ago, the whole domain—its cubes and corners—had followed a rhythmic pulse. Now, they moved of their own accord, rotating wildly like broken gears.
"What the hell...?"
Suddenly—
Shiuuuuun!
A thin metallic screech pierced the air.
Nara jerked his head up, eyes flaring wide. Another clang! followed, sharper this time.
"Wh-what's that?!" he gasped, spinning toward the source.
Beyond the fractured door, swallowed in an endless dark... a glow appeared. Flickering. Golden. Faint at first, like dying sparks. Then it grew.
Brighter. Closer.
Nara's eyes widened.
Something was coming—fast. Tearing through the void like lightning.
"What is—"
Skrrrrr.... swoosh!
A gust of air slapped his face, flinging his hair and cloak wildly. Then—
Blam!
A shockwave slammed into the cube, making the walls tremble.
Nara snapped his gaze to the left—and froze.
A blade.
Lodged deep in the cube wall, red-hot at the edge, glowing with a golden lattice. Tiny gems shimmered along the hilt like stars.
Nara's face lit up in realization.
"This is—"
Aaahhhhhhh!
A violent cry cut through his thought.
Slam!
Dust fell from above as the ceiling shook.
And then—
A silhouette landed.
Black hair, messy, covering half his face. A torn white shirt, loose black tie, pants in tatters, and cracked shoes. Golden blade in hand.
Nara grinned.
"Ken," he whispered.
Ken stood atop the wall, outside the cube, gaze locked on something far off.
"Yo," he replied, eyes unmoving.
Nara exhaled slowly, relief sinking in.
"We're just meeting after eight months, and all you say is 'Yo'?"
"Good grief... let's save the chat for later," Ken muttered, tone low—far from his usual lazy cheer.
"The real deal is coming."
"Huh?" Nara blinked.
Ken didn't look at him. He just stared into the void.
A silence fell.
Nara turned. And something—something—was out there.
In the dark.
Then—
Gaaaahhhh!
A twisted roar shattered the quiet.
A form emerged.
Swirling anti-tenzen engulfed the region as he stepped through.
The Tormenter.
His robe was torn, white and charred. His skin cracked with black scales and ancient marks. And above his head floated the Rubik's cube.
Nara's voice broke. "W-what... is that?"
"I'll kill you..." Khalzheroth growled, voice rough and hateful. "I'll make you scream, and twist, and beg—"
"Here he is," Ken said, a grin slowly curling onto his lips.
Nara's body tensed. Not because of Khalzheroth. Not because of the cubes or the impossible domain.
But because of the presence beside him.
Ken.
It wasn't tenzen. It was something darker.
Murderous intent.
Nara could barely breathe.
"K-Ken..." he croaked.
"Twenty seconds," Ken said flatly.
"What?!"
"I'll stall him. You get everyone out."
Gulp.
Ken nodded toward the floor. "Be careful. There's something beneath."
Nara's hand curled into a fist. "Yeah... I know. Something worse..."
Swish!
Khalzheroth raised his arm.
"Enough talk! I'll grind you both to bone and silence!"
His fingers snapped. "Twist!"
Clang!
Ken moved in a blur, blade raised. The spell fizzled—deflected.
"You're slow," Ken muttered.
And then—
Boom!
Ken launched forward, faster than sight.
He crashed through the wall behind him, and reappeared in front of Khalzheroth mid-air.
Khalzheroth roared, throwing both arms out.
"Celestial barrier!"
A translucent shield snapped into place.
Blam! Clang!!
Ken's strike hit it like thunder.
"This ain't stopping my blades!"
Shiuuun... swoosh!
His sword sliced straight through the shield—
—and then through Khalzheroth's neck.
Blurt!
His head uprooted and spun into the air faster than he could blink—
—and Ken's slash didn't stop.
It roared past, forming a golden crescent vacuum splitting the entire row of cubes behind Khalzheroth—
—into dust.
...
(A/N: a cube is large enough to size a demon the size of two churches slammed together, without the demon touching the walls.)
"Woah..." Nara's mouth dropped open as he stared at the aftermath of the slash.
"Get going already, dummy!" Ken yelled.
"Oh, yeah," Nara said, snapping back to reality and running into the cube.
"Dummy!"
That word felt like a punch to Nara's gut.
***
Ken watched as Nara vanished into the shadows. Then, slowly, he turned back toward Khalzheroth's headless form.
"How long are you gonna keep playing dead?" he muttered.
Rattle... rattle...
Khalzheroth's body trembled, muscles and sinews knitting themselves back together like a grotesque time-reversed film. Bones snapped, reformed, and his head regenerated with a squelch.
"Hehe..." Khalzheroth smirked.
'This mortal... he's strange,' Khalzheroth thought. 'No tenzen, yet he counters me with ease.'
'If I must use my true power... so be it.'
Their eyes locked.
Swoooosh—
Khalzheroth spread his arms wide.
"No one—no mortal—has pushed me this far. I commend you!"
Ken rolled his eyes. "Save the speech for your last words."
Khalzheroth's grin sharpened. "However... this is where you fall."
He raised his palm.
Clatter... clatter...
The Rubik's cube hovered into his hand, twisting and spinning violently.
"From now, I dominate! Everything—nothing and anything—bends to my will. I—"
"Shut yer yapping, scale-face!" Ken interrupted, pointing his blade forward.
"I don't give a damn what you control!" Ken snapped. "What does that matter if you're already dead?!"
"Tch!" Khalzheroth snarled. "You insolent fool! How dare a mortal speak to Khalzheroth Velmorgath like that?!"
He chuckled darkly. "You brought this on yourself. Witness my true power!"
A sinister glow bathed his face from the cube.
Ken exhaled calmly, his aura sharpening like drawn steel.
"Let's get this party started."
"Zar'khalem Vel'morr Drazuneth..."
Khalzheroth began chanting, voice deep and arcane.
The cube sparked violently. The domain heated. Anti-tenzen surged, warping the very air.
Ken didn't flinch.
"...Azarak'tol Veygrith Rubigon."
Click.
Not just the cube—but the entire domain clicked.
All the cubes and corners shifted, rotating with synchronized purpose, mirroring the Rubik's cube in Khalzheroth's hand.
Chhk... click...
Each room locked into alignment.
Khalzheroth lifted his head, eyes burning red. "This is my domain now."
"Anti-tenzen Art: Grave Axis."
***
T. B. C.