The passage behind them pulsed as if it were breathing.
The group advanced through the newly opened rift, illuminated only by the trembling torch Mia held tightly. The corridor was narrow, stifling, and the air felt as if it had been trapped for centuries. Every step made the sound ripple along the walls, as if something alive were listening.
The deep hum they had heard earlier no longer came from the stones — it came from the depth of the darkness itself.
Kazuko walked close to Arthur, his hand still on the spot where the shadow had touched him. His skin was pale and marked, as if wounded from the inside.
Shirō observed everything in silence, his eyes fixed on the cracks that seemed to shift places when no one looked directly at them.
— The environment changed… — Mia murmured, glancing around. — It feels… like another place.
Arthur felt it too. A subtle pressure, different somehow. As if the air were displaced. As if time itself had taken a step backward, an impossible step.
The torch finally illuminated the end of the corridor.
And they froze.
The chamber ahead didn't look carved from stone — it looked carved from giant bones, twisted pillars rising like a ribcage. Thick chains crossed the ceiling, descending to a single point in the center, where a massive silhouette knelt.
Still.
Motionless.
But alive.
A colossal creature, the height of ten men, skin dark as obsidian, muscles shaped like carved rock. Long black hair fell over his shoulders like a heavy mane. His skin was dark-gray, marked with deep, ancient wounds that had never healed.
The students held their breath.
The creature lifted his head.
And two yellow eyes, deep and lifeless, opened toward them.
— What… — Ayame swallowed hard. — What is that…?
The giant's voice echoed through the chamber, deep and weary, as if coming from a body that had given up fighting ages ago.
— Humans? Here…?
He raised his neck, the chains stretching and groaning. — I must be hallucinating. Humans don't enter my cell. Humans don't exist here.
Arthur tightened his grip on the torch. — "Here"… where?
The colossus tilted his head slightly, as if confused by the question.
— You are not Katlônios. You have no horns. No claws. No skin worthy of battle. So why are you in the prison of the cursed warriors?
Kidero immediately stepped forward, sword already igniting in flames.
— He's a Katlônio? That? — He spat the name with contempt. — Katlônios are weak. They're nothing but—
— Kidero — Arthur cut in. — Don't provoke him.
But it was too late.
The giant lifted his face a little, and even chained, the pressure of his presence was suffocating. Like standing before a trapped beast that still remembered how to kill.
— You speak as if you know me. — The voice came slow. — But I know none of you. I have never seen a human… only heard stories.
A chill ran down Arthur's spine.
What is happening? he thought.
Mia frowned. — That's impossible…
— Nothing is impossible down here — the giant said. — Not when one has been imprisoned far too long.
Kazuko took a hesitant step forward despite the fear. — Imprisoned… for what?
The colossus gave a bitter smile.
— For fighting too much. For winning too much. For killing too much. For… existing too much.
The chains creaked with every movement of his neck.
Shirō, who hadn't taken his eyes off the giant, murmured: — He's… weakened.
And that was when Kidero lost his patience.
— Enough talk! — He raised his sword. — If he's a Katlônio, he's our enemy! I'll end this now!
— Kidero, NO! — Arthur yelled.
But the fire had already been unleashed.
The blade, charged with light and heat, struck one of the chains holding the giant's right arm. The chain vibrated, glowing incandescent for a second…
And gave way.
The colossus felt it instantly.
He pulled the freed arm, and the impact made the entire ground tremble.
Ayame stepped back. Mia yanked Arthur away. Kazuko nearly dropped his sword.
Seeing a chain break, the creature finally rose — still partially restrained, but with enough strength to test his limits.
— That… was foolish, little fire boy. — He smiled, showing teeth that looked like natural blades. — Now I can move.
Kidero tried to retreat, but the giant lunged forward with impossible speed for something of his size. He yanked another chain with brutal force; it snapped with a sharp crack.
Shirō already formed a defensive shadow.
Ayame activated electricity in her hands.
Kazuko lifted his sword, trembling.
Mia raised the torch — their only light, the only thing capable of keeping shadows away.
Arthur stood still.
The giant faced him.
Directly.
And deep in those yellow eyes there was something none of them expected: Fear.
— You… — murmured the Katlônio. — What are you?
Arthur had no answer.
But the moment didn't last.
The creature shattered the last chains and fell forward, making the ground quake like an earthquake. Then he roared — a roar that seemed determined to break every bone in the chamber.
The battle began.
Kidero attacked first, launching a wave of intense flames. The giant walked through the fire as if it were nothing and tried to crush him with one massive hand.
Ayame dashed to the side, punching the creature's arm with a burst of electricity that flashed blue. The colossus' skin trembled — not in pain, but in annoyance.
Shirō tried to conjure a shadow to bind him, but the creature walked through it like mist.
Kazuko attempted a side strike, but the poison magic seemed to fade under the overwhelming presence of the colossal being.
— He's too strong! — Mia shouted, retreating.
Arthur sliced the air — trying to activate even a minimal dimensional cut. The space vibrated, and a thin fissure slashed across the floor…
And that was when everything started collapsing.
The crack widened uncontrollably. The ground beneath them quaked, breaking toward the walls. The whole chamber twisted — as if alive, reacting to Arthur's attack.
A massive rift opened behind Mia.
She tried to step back.
The floor vanished.
— MIA! — Arthur screamed.
She fell.
Time seemed to freeze for a second.
Arthur jumped after her without a single hesitation.
— Arthur, NO! — Ayame screamed.
Kazuko rushed to the edge, but another crack opened under his feet. Kidero cursed and bolted toward the staircase they had descended.
— Climb! — Shirō shouted. — NOW!
They ran up the bone staircase.
The walls shuddered. The giant roared behind them. The mountain was reacting — alive, enraged.
When Ayame, Kazuko, Shirō, and Kidero reached the top, the last part of the staircase collapsed behind them.
And the entrance they had come through…
Sealed itself.
As if it had never existed.
Down below, in the absolute darkness, there was only the distant sound of Arthur and Mia falling — toward a place none of them could reach.
And none of them knew if they would ever see them again.