The stairway to the Second Floor was quiet.
Kara's breathing was shaky beside Edward. Every step up the ancient, spiraling staircase echoed like a gunshot. Dust floated in the stale air, and none of the remaining survivors—ten strangers besides them—said a word. No one had anything to say after watching a scythe slice through screaming bodies like paper.
They were climbing to another death play.
Edward wasn't sure anymore.
The walls were pulsing faintly. Faint cracks in reality flickered in the stone like static. He rubbed his eyes.
"Did you see that?"
Kara frowned.
"Yeah."
Suddenly, the steps beneath them flickered.
A humming sound grew louder—no, not sound. It was like pressure behind the ears. A strange pressure that made the brain itch.
The world twitched.
Then—
Everything went dark.
When Edward opened his eyes, he was no longer on the stairs.
He was standing in an endless white corridor. Smooth marble. No shadows. No walls, no ceiling, no source of light—but somehow, everything was lit.
The others were there. Kara was still beside him, her hand gripping his sleeve. Ten others blinked, turning in circles, confused.
"What... what the hell is this?"
A woman whispered.
"I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die."
"Shut up woman! No one wants to die either."
Barked a tall at the woman with frustration.
Just then, at the far end of the corridor, a door appeared.
It was ornate, gold-trimmed, and huge—easily thirty feet high. From its cracks, something blue and misty leaked like gas under pressure.
A low, childlike giggle echoed.
A laugh so sick that made everyone froze.
A stocky guy with a military haircut swore.
"I swear I will kill the one who pulled up this stupid shit."
Edward's system pinged.
[Floor 50 - Unknown]
[Warning: Floor Error Detected]
[Proceed With Caution.]
"Fifty?!" Kara's voice broke. "That can't be right—how?!"
Then the door opened.
The figure that stepped out was wrong.
He looked like a man. Maybe early twenties. Pale skin with a strange bluish hue, like a corpse in winter. Long pale blue hair fell messily over his eyes. He was shirtless, ribs visible through sickly skin, and barefoot, his movements loose, twitchy.
And he was smiling.
A slow, crooked, delighted grin, as if someone had just handed him a birthday present he'd been waiting his whole life for.
Nobody spoke.
Then he giggled again—high-pitched, breathless. And walked toward them.
"Back off."
Edward whispered.
The door slammed shut behind them.
A man yelled and sprinted toward the blue-haired freak, fists clenched.
"Who the hell are you?! Where are we?! Talk, damn it!"
The freak just tilted his head.
Still smiling.
He moved his finger and the man exploded in pieces.
There was no other word for it.
One moment he was running—next, his entire torso had caved inward, bones cracked like twigs, blood spraying out in every direction. His body flailed back like a ragdoll before crashing into the wall with a sickening thud.
The others screamed.
Edward grabbed Kara and dove behind a marble pillar. His heart was slamming against his ribs, louder than the screams.
"What the hell was that?! What the fuck was that?!"
Kara was shaking uncontrollably.
He didn't answer.
He peeked around the pillar.
The blue-haired man was walking again.
He stepped over the corpse and bent down with childish wonder, poking the twitching hand. He giggled and bit one of the fingers off like a snack.
He started eating the corpse.
Someone puked.
Another woman, in a nurse uniform, tried to run.
She didn't even make it five steps before her leg bent backward at the knee with a loud crunch. She screamed and collapsed.
The blue-haired man strolled over and picked her up by the neck.
She kicked and cried trying to resist in desperation.
He looked at her like a cat does a mouse. Then he jammed his thumb into her eye. Deep.
Her scream was inhuman.
He didn't stop until her head cracked open like a melon.
Her body hit the floor.
The others were fleeing now. Running in different directions. There was nowhere to go—but panic didn't care.
One by one, he hunted them.
A boy no older than sixteen tried to fight with a plank of marble. The blue-haired man laughed and punched his jaw clean off. It landed a few feet away, teeth still in it. The boy gargled blood before collapsing in spasms.
Another woman was folded in half. Literally, Spine snapped like a breadstick.
Two tried to hide behind a statue. He flung the statue at them like it was made of paper. Their bodies were paste when it landed.
None of them even got close to hurting him.
It wasn't a fight.
It was a massacre.
Kara was sobbing.
Edward was pressing a hand over her mouth, trying to keep her quiet. His own eyes stung with tears. He didn't even know if they were from fear, pain, or just the sheer wrongness of what he was watching.
The blue-haired man paced, dragging the last survivor—a screaming guy by his ankle—across the marble. He was still laughing, as if every sound of agony fed him like candy.
Then he snapped the guy's spine like a twig and tossed him aside.
Silence.
Only Edward and Kara remained.
The madman turned and their eyes met.
For the first time, Edward saw them up close.
Such empty eyes. It was like a void. Like someone with no emotion.
Lifeless, hollow sockets filled with nothing but madness. It was not rage, not hatred, just pure joy. The joy of chaos. The joy of watching things break.
He walked toward them slowly.
Like a man savoring the last slice of cake.
Edward stood. Arms shaking.
"Kara… run."
The man stopped a few feet away and stared.
Then, slowly, he tilted his head.
Kara was in adrenalin rush. She was breathing heavily in fear and pure terror.
She hung tightly on Edward's chest waiting for her death.
Edward was also waiting for his moment but surprisingly he didn't do anything.
Infact he was looking at him as if he examining him.
"Hehehahaahahahaha...."
Somehow he seemed satisfied but Edward was dumbfounded not understanding anything.
"WHAT THE FUCKK!!"