Chapter 11

  The sound of glass shattering reverberated behind Kelix's group, wrecking his focus.

  It was not the crack of a bottle underfoot. It was a violent burst, like an entire wall of windows had been struck at once.

  The noise rolled through the park and bounced off steel frames and dead signage, multiplying into something that made Kelix's skin tighten. He spun, and he spotted a ripple of crimson lightning surging through the air.

  It moved like a storm passing through a room. Not as a bolt. Not a as single strike. As a wave!

  The hairs along Kelix's arms lifted, and the cold from Finn's body suddenly felt thin and irrelevant, swallowed by that red heat.

  Kelix learned the hard way that the second threat was usually the one that killed you.

  He wanted to be wrong, but with the way the space behind them fractured, he was brimming with uncertainty. The phenomenon made no sense to him.

  Ahead, the fractured space didn't crack pavement nor shatter metal, but instead the air itself splintered into angular fragments that hung far too long like broken mirror shards. Within those shards, there was movement, and the movement was large.

  A three meter tall figure stepped out of the fragmented space as if it had always been there and the world had simply failed to notice.

  It was bipedal. Its silhouette was too clean, too deliberate, like a myth had decided to stand up and walk. Antler-like horns rose from its head, branching and jagged, and where a face should have been there was the dark shape of a deer-like skull. The skull was smooth and wrong, bone-white with deep hollows where eyes belonged.

  Those hollows glowed crimson. Not the glow of life. The glow of something that had burned itself empty and still refused to go out.

  The figure stepped forward, black armor covered its torso and limbs, plated and knightly, edged with sharp lines that caught the fading light. A tattered cloak hung from its shoulders, fluttering even though the air had gone still. Red electricity surged through the fabric in threads and bursts, crawling along the torn edges and dripping off like sparks.

  In one arm it carried a tall shield, broad enough to hide a person behind. In the other it held a battleaxe, the head heavy and brutal, the handle long enough to make its reach obscene.

  Kelix's mind gave it a name before anyone spoke. His brain did not like blanks.

  Death. It looked like death had decided to wear armor!

  Finn's snarl cut through his musing. The Fenrir's body went rigid all over again, but this time the restraint was not the same as before. This was Finn being held in place by instinct so sharp it became paralysis.

  The frost mist that poured from his jaws in thick, uneven bursts, did not spread far. The crimson lightning in the air ate it.

  Celeste took a step back. Her sword remained raised, but her grin was gone. Her eyes were wide in a way Kelix had never seen on her in class.

  Meanwhile, the horned creature with the magenta and black aura turned slowly, its cultured smile slipping into something else. It breathed a name.

  "Endigo Zest…!"

  The words sounded wrong coming from its mouth. Blasphemous, like it had spoken a prayer backward. Then it muttered, low and disdainful, "Still you pursue me!"

  Endigo Zest did not react to the name. It did not react to the group either. It only walked forward.

  It passed Kelix's group without a glance, without harm. The static thickened the air, crawled over Kelix's skin, and his chest tightened as his body braced for the certainty of lightning that never came.

  The thing did not care about them. That was worse than hostility. Hostility could be predicted. Indifference meant they were beneath notice, and if they were beneath notice, collateral was acceptable.

  Kelix's eyes tracked it as it moved toward the magenta aura creature, and he saw what he had missed in the first shock.

  Endigo Zest was damaged.

  Particles leaked from it as it walked, shedding from the edges of its armor and cloak like ash drifting off a burnt log. The air behind it shimmered with those fragments, and the fragments faded before they could touch the ground.

  Something was wrong with its left side.

  Beneath the cloak, where an arm should have swung, there was a jagged column of lightning instead. Not a clean limb made of energy, but a rough shape, flickering and unstable, held together by force and stubbornness. It sparked against the inside of the shield grip and made the metal hum faintly.

  Its left leg was the same. A lightning limb, crackling and imperfect, each step leaving a brief scorch of red light on the pavement that vanished a moment later. It should not have been able to walk like that. It should have stumbled, collapsed, dispersed.

  It did not.

  Something like resilience held it upright. Not strength in the way muscles held a body. Not healing in the way time repaired wounds. A refusal. A rule. An insistence that it would remain standing until it decided otherwise.

  Kelix swallowed hard. He could feel the weight of Endigo Zest's presence now that it was close. It was not like the magenta creature's aura, which pressed and coaxed and negotiated. This was a cold certainty that pushed everything else into the background.

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  The park felt smaller with it in it.

  His right hand tingled faintly. He clenched his fingers slowly, forcing himself not to react.

  The magenta creature straightened, axe-staff settling into a more guarded angle. Its polite voice did not change, but something in it tightened.

  "You arrive at an inconvenient time."

  Endigo stopped a short distance away, shield angled forward, axe lowered but ready. It didn't speak. The crimson in its hollow eyes flared brighter, and the lightning in its cloak surged once, snapping like a whip.

  Damian whispered, barely audible, "That is… that is not a monster you meet outside a sealed zone."

  Sheryl's breath hitched. "It is a harbinger class."

  The suit man’s lips moved, but no sound came out. His eyes had gone glassy. His fingers twitched at his wristwatch as if he wanted to summon something bigger than his construct and knew he could not.

  Kelix leaned slightly closer to Finn, voice low and clipped. "Stay."

  Finn didn't answer. His eyes were locked on Endigo with the kind of focus Kelix had seen in him only once before, when Finn had stared at a monster that had threatened something Finn cared deeply about. Kelix did not like the implications of that.

  The magenta creature spread its arms and hands, a gesture of mock welcome. The ritual circle to its left continued to glow, patient and humming. The Dissonance Rift to its right still gaped open, showing that damp corridor beyond.

  Endigo's head tilted a fraction as if it was listening to the rift's hum. The crimson lightning along its cloak crawled toward the tear in space, then recoiled, snapping back into itself. It took one step forward, and the air cracked.

  Kelix flinched. The crimson ripple it carried pushed against the magenta aura like two storms colliding.

  The magenta creature's smile sharpened. "You're falling apart, Zest. You leak with every step. How long do you intend to continue this performance?"

  Endigo's axe lifted slightly. No voice came from it. The response was a surge of lightning that ran along the edge of its shield and into the ground, drawing a jagged line between it and the other creature. The line burned, then faded, leaving the smell of scorched metal.

  The magenta creature clicked its tongue. "Still silent. Still dramatic."

  Kelix's brain moved fast, faster than he wanted it to. Two entities, both beyond anything an E-Rank party should face. One had been manipulating a crocoraptor, opening rifts, negotiating with threats. The other had arrived like a blade and did not care about negotiation.

  The rift remained open. The ritual circle remained active.

  If these two fought, the park would become shrapnel.

  Kelix's eyes flicked toward the corridor beyond the rift again. Damp stone. Darkness. The suggestion of something deeper. A dungeon the magenta creature could not enter.

  A dungeon that might close if the rift collapsed.

  Or a dungeon that might become the only place to hide if the park became a battlefield between two monsters that treated humans like dust. Kelix could already feel the shape of the choice being forced.

  The magenta creature's gaze slid over Kelix’s group as if they were inventory. Its eyes paused on Endigo for a fraction of a second with something like annoyance, then returned to Kelix.

  It smiled, warm and invasive. "Do you see? Even now, you are useful. Even now, you have options. Choose quickly."

  Kelix did not answer. His eyes were on Endigo's lightning arm.

  A thought struck him, sharp and unpleasant.

  Endigo Zest looked broken. Incomplete. Held together by will or rule. Like the pale flanker had been incomplete. Like something had been pushing pieces into the world and forcing them to stand.

  Kelix's pulse climbed. He looked toward the debris field again, toward that gap his mind wanted to ignore, toward the edge of the fight that felt like it had an unseen listener.

  He did not see Aria. That absence felt heavier now.

  Sheryl whispered, "We cannot fight either of them."

  Kelix agreed silently. Yet Finn did not. The Fenrir's body had lowered slightly, as his weight shifted. He looked like he wanted to spring, even knowing he might die.

  Kelix tightened the leash. Harder this time.

  Finn's head snapped toward him, eyes furious.

  Kelix kept his voice low. "If you move, you die."

  Finn's lips peeled back. "If I don't move, we die."

  Kelix did not have an argument for that.

  Ahead, Endigo Zest took another step toward the magenta creature.

  The magenta creature sighed, almost bored. "Very well. If you insist on being rude, I will finish this quickly."

  It lifted its axe-staff, and the symbols etched into it pulsed. The ritual circle flared brighter. The rift hummed louder.

  Kelix felt the air tighten around his skull, pressure building, as if a headache and the world itself was bracing. He stepped forward without realizing it.

  Damian noticed and hissed, "Do not." But Kelix did not stop. His brain had latched onto a simple truth. If they stood here, they would be caught between them. If they ran, they would be chased by something that could open space like glass. If they entered the dungeon, they might survive.

  And if they didn't, they would almost certainly die.

  He looked at the magenta creature, forcing his voice into steadiness. "That entity—Endigo Zest is here for you."

  The creature's smile did not falter, it kept its gaze on Endigo. "Yes."

  "And you still have time to make deals?"

  The creature's gaze lingered, amused. "You think you are negotiating?"

  Kelix felt his right hand tingle again. He ignored it and kept going. "Close the ritual circle. Keep the rift. Let them enter. It buys you time. It removes us from the field. You can deal with your problem."

  Celeste's head snapped toward him. "Kelix." His name in her voice hit him like a shove.

  Kelix did not look at her. He kept his eyes on the creature. "You said you would lure another group if we fail. That means you can wait. You are not desperate. You're annoyed."

  The magenta creature's eyes gleamed. "You are bold."

  Kelix's stomach churned. Bold was probably another word for foolish. He didn't want to be either. "I'm trying to not die."

  The creature laughed, cultured and cruel. "Very well. I will humor you."

  It glanced at Endigo, and for the first time its smile looked strained. "Only because my guest insists."

  Endigo's crimson gaze didn't shift; instead It raised its shield slightly, as if readying for a strike.

  The magenta creature snapped its fingers.

  The ritual circle to its left dimmed, not vanishing, but lowering like a restrained flame. The pressure in the air eased by a hair.

  The rift remained.

  Kelix exhaled once, shallow.

  The magenta creature's gaze swept the party. "Enter. Now. Take the corridor. Don't waste my patience."

  Celeste took a step toward the rift, sword still up. Her eyes flicked to Kelix again, sharp and disbelieving. "What are you doing here?"

  Kelix finally looked at her. His expression stayed mild because it was the only expression he trusted himself with right now. "Same as you. Trying to survive."

  Celeste bit her bottom lip. "You're not Chimeron."

  Kelix didn't answer. Not because he did not want to. Because Endigo moved again. It surged forward, lightning snapping, axe rising. The magenta creature lifted its axe-staff in response, aura swelling. The air screamed.

  Kelix snapped his head toward the rift. "Move!"

  Sheryl stumbled first, almost tripping as she dragged herself toward the corridor. The ferret creature clung to her shoulder, eyes squeezed shut.

  Damian followed, book hovering tight to his side, staff raised defensively. The suit man barked something at his construct, and the hulking machine lumbered after them, each step shaking the ground.

  Celeste hesitated only a fraction, then advanced toward the rift, eyes never leaving the two monsters. Her blade remained poised. Competent even in retreat.

  Kelix grabbed Finn's leash and pulled. "Now!"

  Finn didn't want to go, and Kelix felt it in the resistance, in the tremor running through the Fenrir's body. Finn's gaze was locked on Endigo like it was a personal enemy. Like it was a debt.

  Kelix yanked again, harder, and Finn finally moved, claws scraping.

  They sprinted toward the rift as the first clash detonated above them. Crimson lightning collided with magenta-black aura, and the park lit up like a nightmare.

  The monsters took the fight to the sky.

  Kelix didn't look back. He did not want the image burned into his mind.

  He ran toward the damp corridor beyond the tear in space, knowing that whatever waited inside might be worse, and choosing it anyway because outside had stopped being survivable.