“My dear guests, let’s not be hasty,” Camity muses. “We wouldn’t want to hurt anyone, now would we?”
He gestures zily at the cavern walls. “This structure is ancient. Older than your kingdoms. Older than me.”
His smile widens, two of the teeth just a little too sharp.
“If it colpses, the miners die first. Tragic, really.”
He studies our reactions as if this is all just a game to him. Then, he shrugs.
“Well… I suppose you don’t care much about that.”
Slowly, he starts counting us off, tilting his head like a predator assessing his prey.
“My royalty.” His gaze lingers on Grant.
“Another royalty.” He fshes Ellina a knowing grin.
“A magic maid.” His eyes flick to me.
“A Knomia.” He pauses, intrigued, as he looks at Mop. “Oh? What are you, really?”
I stiffen. What did he just call her?
Knomia.
What animal spirit is she? I look at Mop, but she’s scratching her cheek. She is confused as well. She checks on me. “Mommy, Mop, Knomia?”
Camity, still grinning, moves on. “Ooh, another shadow soldier. I recognize this energy pattern.” His gaze nds on Dominic with unsettling familiarity. “A librarian…” he flicks his fingers toward Baz dismissively.
He reaches Benica. And stops.
“…Who are you?”
For the first time, he sounds genuinely confused.
Benica gres but says nothing.
Camity hums. “Ah, well, not that it matters.” His attention returns to Grant. His grin rises, sly and dangerous.
“Has our dear prince ever told you all about our little vacation back then?”
The air thickens.
My breath catches.
Grant goes completely still.
His detestable grin curls up even more.
Camity’s red eyes glow, tasting the reaction.
“How is your sister, by the way?” he asks, voice dripping with mock concern. “I heard she’s alive.”
BANG.
A gunshot echoes through the cavern.
Stone fragments rain from above—Grant’s bullet missed, hitting the ceiling instead.
I hold my rapier tight.
He is the one who hurt my Benna.
“Don’t y—you say… anything about… Benna!” Grant’s voice shakes, his hands trembling around his rifle.
But Camity just ughs.
“Alright, no talking about Benna. Oh, sorry. There I go again. Forgive me.” He snaps his fingers.
His voice softens—sickeningly gentle. “You know, Grant, I was so gd to see you again.”
His wings fold in, slow and elegant like he’s dressing up for his own amusement.
“You should be my precious. My masterpiece. The best remark I ever made in my life.”
The words settle in.
Something in Grant shakes.
Camity tilts his head, still grinning. “But look at you.” His tone sharpens—mocking, cruel.
“What a loser!”
Grant flinches.
“Grant, where is your growth, man? You’re still crawling under others’ empathy?”
His words cut.
Grant opens his mouth—but nothing comes out.
Camity leans closer, his expression turning cruel. His wings spread wide again, casting a monstrous shadow across the cavern.
He roars, “Do I need to give you another lesson?”
Grant crawls back. His body is moving before he even realizes it.
Ellina steps between them, spear raised, eyes burning. “Don’t you dare take another step!”
Camity tilts his head, amused. Then—his gaze flicks back to Grant.
“Grant, you’re going to let your little girlfriend here fight for you? Alone?” He shes out, along with a demonic ugh.
Grant flinches, covering his ears.
Camity’s smile widens as he stares back at Ellina.
“How sweet. Just like Benna.”
A sharp breath catches in Grant’s throat.
Camity clicks his tongue. “But remind me—how did that turn out st time?”
Grant’s face twists. His fists are clenched.
“Oh, right—” Camity taps his chin mockingly. “She almost died in front of you. You let her walk into hell, and you couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it.”
Grant trembles.
“And now? What? Is history repeating itself?” Camity ughs, walking closer. “Who do you want to die for you this time?”
Ellina thrusts forward. Her spear’s tip beams with energy. “I said don’t move!”
“I guess it’s you.” His fingers twitch, and his muscles tremble all over his body.
Before he can strike—
“You sadistic monster.”
Baz’s voice cuts through the air like an explosion. The weight of it sms into the air. His rage is raw, unfiltered, fury overwhelming his usual calm.
“Mop, Dominic—take down those imps and bring the miners back to the carts!”
I nod to them, gesturing urgently. No hesitation. I know these two need my confirmation.
The imps begin to swarm in toward us, their thin, grotesque wings twitching.
“Benica, take Grant back to the cart!” Baz’s second command cuts the air.
Benica dashes toward Grant.
“No, you’re not.”
Camity moves.
His hand stretches out—
Ellina strikes first.
She sms her spear’s shaft into his ankle, dragging him down mid-step. The motion is perfect, precise, and brutal.
Camity twists in the air, adjusting, wings fring outward—but Benica is here.
Her mace swings with the full force of her body.
CRACK.
It connects.
Camity’s head snaps to the side, his demonic grin faltering.
Ellina doesn’t waste a second. Using the momentum from Benica’s strike, she twists her spear’s hold and sms him straight into the ground.
The entire cavern shakes, disturbed by the violent impact.
Benica seizes the moment, gripping Grant by the arm.
“Let’s go!” she urges, pulling him up, and forcing his feet to move.
But Grant is barely conscious. His body is moving, but his mind is somewhere else.
Across the battlefield, Mop and Dominic tear through the imps, cutting them down with ruthless efficiency.
But there are too many.
For every imp that falls, another three take its pce.
I cannot sense what happened on that side. The energy flow is messed up in the cave for the magem veins. On the bright side, it’s basically impossible for him to block our energy. I would not give him time to activate any pre-prepared hexes.
I gather my Shin energy, hold it tightly, and leap.
Camity is already up, waiting.
His saber gleams in the dim light, magically infused, curved, and wickedly thin.
Our bdes collide.
Rapier against saber.
A single impact and the entire cavern rings like a bell.
“I wonder which one of you will die for him this time?”
Camity’s grin fades.
For the first time, he is serious.
A cold pressure settles over the battlefield, sinking into our bones like venom.
Baz doesn’t look up. Chanting.
His fingers move in precise, methodical gestures, tracing intricate lines into the air.
The circumancies we id through the tunnel pulse to life, veins of glowing energy surging toward the magem in Baz’s torch.
But Camity isn’t watching Baz.
His red, inhuman gaze drifts over us instead.
Studying. Calcuting. Choosing.
“Which three of you… are more important to him?”
No one speaks.
No one moves.
The cavern is deathly silent.
The only sound is Baz’s chanting, the hum of energy pulling toward it.
“Tsk. No volunteers?”
He lifts his hand.
A single gesture.
A beam of dark energy explodes forward—
Targeting: Grant and Benica.
“NO!”
Baz and Ellina shout at the same time.
GO! A voice commands me in my mind.
My body moves before my mind does.
No thought. No strategy.
Just instinct.
I throw myself forward, arms outstretched, taking the full force of the bst.
Agony.
A searing, unrelenting burn—like my very essence is being ripped apart.
A shockwave sms me into the cavern wall.
CRACK.
The impact crushes the air from my lungs.
“MOMMY!!”
A wail of pure horror.
I barely register Mop moving. But she’s already here, her small bloody hands shaking, gripping my arms—
Desperate. Helpless.
“Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!”
She tries to channel Shin healing—
But she doesn’t know how.
Dominic snaps.
His entire presence changes.
An explosion of raw fury, but he is overwhelmed by the imp army.
He thrusts himself into the imps like a monster unchained, his bdes a whirlwind of ruthless precision. To them, he is the demon now.
Benica is panting. Eyes wide in shock.
But—
Is Grant safe?
I force my head up.
I see him.
Frozen.
His eyes locked on me—staring—as if he was still processing what just happened.
Something shifts.
His breath hitches. His fingers tighten around his rifle.
The trembling in his body changes.
It’s not fear anymore.
It’s rage.
“FELICIA!”
He bolts toward me.
Benica follows, scrambling to my side.
From behind them—
A low chuckle.
“I guess it’s her.”
Camity tilts his head, mocking amusement in his voice.
Grant snaps his head toward him.
His grip on his rifle turns bone-white.
His breath sharpens. His eyes darken.
Pure, unfiltered wrath.
His body still trembles.
But this time—
He embraces it.
“Another sister, gone.”
He lifts his rifle.
Aims straight at Camity’s head.
Camity’s grin widens.
“I love that face,” he muses. “Now, we’re talking.”
I’m still conscious. I force my mind to focus.
The wound burns—hot, pulsing—but I refuse to let it stop me. I start my self-healing process, Shin energy trembles as I gather it. It’s slow and painful. Too much damage.
I cannot rely on others. The only other one who knows how to heal here is Dominic.
A voice cuts through my haze.
“Are you going to shoot or not?”
He’s waiting. Taunting. Floating in the air.
Grant grits his teeth, knuckles white against the trigger.
“Shut up!”
BANG!
The gunshot breaks through the cavern.
Camity moves.
Too fast.
“Too slow.”
Camity dives toward us.
A blur of silver and emerald intercepts him.
“Where do you think you’re looking?!”
Ellina crashes into him like a storm, both spearheads plunging into his arm. The sheer force sms him into the cavern wall, dust and debris crumbling around him.
“Baz!” she calls.
Roots surge from the ground, twisting like living chains, tangling the demon in pce.
Camity growls. His wings twitch, trying to escape.
“NOW!” Baz yells.
Ellina rips her spears free, flipping back in time to avoid the bst.
The fire converges.
Baz’s torch erupts, all the gathered energy exploding outward.
BOOM!
The bst consumes Camity, fire licking up the cavern walls, turning stone red-hot.
His scream shreds the air—low, guttural, filled with rage.
The scent of burning flesh floods the cavern.
Crack.
A deep, ominous groan rumbles through the stone.
Something is wrong.
The floor trembles beneath us.
The walls split. The ceiling colpses.
Everything breaks.
Stones crumble upon us while Baz summons roots to cover us at the st moment.
A deep silence settles.
For a moment, no one moves. No one speaks.
Baz exhales, pushing the roots aside. The cavern is completely bck. The air is thick with the scent of scorched stone, metal, and blood. Baz lights up a magem on his hand.
“Did we… do it?” Ellina’s voice is cautious and uncertain.
A figure stirs. Dominic. He emerges from the rubble, shaking off dust and ash, his face shadowed. His eyes flick toward Baz.
“Lad. Not cool,” he deadpans. “You forgot about me?”
Baz lets out an awkward chuckle as Mop and Benica carry me out carefully. “Sorry. The moment was kinda short.”
A weak ugh escapes someone’s lips. The tension eases—for a second.
“Grant?”
Ellina’s voice is the first to notice.
He stands there—frozen.
His body trembles. His gaze locked on the destruction.
“…No,” he whispers.
His rifle drops.
“I—” His voice cracks.
He stumbles forward.
Then—he sees them.
His legs buckle. He falls to his knees.
“I failed them,” he chokes out.
The words slice through the air like a bde.
No one dares to speak.
We follow his gaze.
Bodies.
Dozens.
Miners, their forms twisted and broken, half-buried beneath the rubble. Not a single one is standing.
The realization sms into us like an avanche.
Ellina stiffens and kneels beside Grant.
Baz goes silent.
Mop grips my arm, her tiny fingers tightening.
Dominic bows to the body while Benica cannot mutter any words.
Grant kneels before one of the bodies. His shoulders shake.
“I failed Omenmia again.”
The weight of his words settles like a lead stone in our chests.
No one else is alive.
Just us.
A thick silence swallows the cavern. Even the dust seems to hang in the air, still.
Somewhere in the distance—drip. A single drop of water echoes.
A voice.
“Tsk. What a waste.”
The words slice through the silence like a knife.
A shiver rakes down my spine.
We whirl around—
Camity stands behind us.
“What a waste of all my lovely little minions,” he sighs, shaking his head. His wings unfurl, dust slipping from them like ash. There is one thing different. He now has a pair of horns on his forehead.
Grant stiffens. His breath catches in his throat.
“Still crying over people you couldn’t save?”
A low, dark chuckle.
“Tell me, Grant—” Camity’s grin widens.
“How many more have to die before you finally learn?”
Grant flinches.
The words rattle in his skull, heavy and inescapable.
Then, the rubble shifts.
Dark tendrils—dozens of them—erupt from the debris.
They sh out like living serpents, rushing toward us—too fast to react.
The moment they touch me, a burning cold pierces through my bones.
I colpse. Pinned. My body is crushed to the ground.
Mop screams, silenced mid-cry.
Ellina thrashes, her spears sliding uselessly away.
Baz’s torch shatters.
Dominic snarls like an animal, trying to break free—but the more he struggles, the tighter the tendrils squeeze.
In seconds, we are all trapped.
Except for Grant.
He stands alone. Untouched.
Trapped between us.
Between our lives.
Camity sighs.
“Librarian,” he muses, turning to Baz. “Nobody taught you to check for pre-set circumancies before entering an enemy’s ir?”
Baz freezes. His eyes widen—realizing too te.
Camity’s grin disappears.
“Disappointing.”
Then—he turns back to Grant.
“One has to die today.”
His red eyes shine, reflecting the prince’s trembling form.
“Your choice.”
Silence.
Grant doesn’t move.
“Kill me, Grant!”
Baz’s voice shatters the air.
“No, kill me instead. I owe you this.”
Benica robs Baz’s moment.
Grant’s whole body locks up.
Camity flicks his wrist.
Bck tendrils coil over Baz’s mouth, sealing it shut.
One by one—
Ellina.
Mop.
Dominic.
Benica.
Silence.
Only Grant’s breathing fills the cavern.
Shallow. Ragged. Desperate.
“If you want me,” Grant’s voice is barely a whisper, “then take me.”
He swallows hard. “Don’t bring them into this.”
Camity tilts his head and chuckles.
“Oh, Grant.”
His voice is gentle.
“You misunderstand.”
He steps closer—
Slow. Deliberate.
“I don’t want to take you. I want to help you.”
Grant flinches.
“We demons… we only want to see you humans grow.”
The words curl around him like chains.
“And you, Prince Grant, need a little more motivation.”
Grant’s breath catches.
“LET THEM GO!”
Camity smiles.
“I will.”
His red eyes glow.
“After you choose.”
Silence.
Grant trembles. His knuckles turn white.
“…How does that help me grow?”
“So you’ll remember.”
Grant freezes.
“You’ll remember the moment you weren’t strong enough.”
“You’ll remember that after your sister’s demise, you still didn’t try hard enough.”
His grin returns, opening up like a hyena.
“And this?”
He gestures around us.
“This is the consequence.”
The words slice straight into Grant’s bones.
“You failed to protect someone you love.”
“Again.”
