"Urgh…" The man staggered to his feet, his breath ragged as he swayed unsteadily in the vast, echoing chamber. His armor, once gleaming and proud, now hung heavy and blood-soaked, and crimson trickled down his face, blurring his vision.
His once unbreakable will was gone. All that remained was a broken figure, stripped of pride, spirit crushed beyond recognition.
How did it come to this? He couldn't understand, no matter how his mind raced to piece together the events.
One moment, there was calm. The next…
Blood.
A sea of it. Bodies lay strewn around him—men who had pledged their lives to guard "it," now lying cold in pools of their own making. He stood frozen, the lone survivor in a massacre he could barely comprehend.
"Ugh…" He managed, his gaze drifting leftward to where she stood—silent, composed, an eerie calm amid chaos. She observed the fallen without a flicker of emotion, her eyes drifting over the dead as though they were mere obstacles removed from her path. Then, her gaze met his.
A chill slithered down his spine. Instinct screamed at him.
Run.
But it was too late.
—BOOM!
His body was hurled through the air, flung like a ragdoll toward the far side of the chamber. His scream tore from his throat as he collided with one of the ancient pillars, his body cracking on impact.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Her footsteps echoed through the chamber, sharp and deliberate. Her gaze remained fixed on a single object amidst the wreckage, the reason behind all this carnage.
"The First Sin," she whispered, her eyes locked on a box—a simple, unassuming thing, yet it was the reason this hidden place even existed.
"Where…" she murmured, her gaze shifting to the man who had somehow pulled himself upright, though he looked ready to crumble at the faintest touch of air. "Where is the key?"
His eyes widened with horror as the reality sank in.
"No… PLEASE! You cannot open that box! Take my life if you must, but please… it must remain sealed!" he begged, stumbling forward in a desperate attempt to end this nightmare.
After all… he knew what lay within.
"You're reluctant, I see." Her voice was soft, almost sweet, but as her words sank in, he felt it…
…a crushing force that defied all logic.
He wasn't surprised.
It was how his men had died—all of them—crushed by a power dismissed as weak.
Telekinesis.
"I'll ask again. Where. Is. The. Key?" she pressed, stepping closer, her presence an unbearable weight.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Agony. Sharp, unyielding agony ripped through him. He couldn't understand it—how a mere girl, no older than his own daughter, could wield such power, power that defied reason.
"STOP! PLEASE!" he screamed, his pride shattered to dust. He was helpless, utterly at her mercy, sanity slipping through his fingers.
"Tell me what I want to know," she commanded, her tone devoid of any hint of mercy.
Click.
Another step, and with it, the pain surged anew, a searing force that stripped him down to raw nerve. He couldn't fathom what she was doing to him, only that he hovered in midair, dangling on the precipice of madness.
"Please… you cannot open that box!" he rasped, the plea barely a whisper amidst his suffering. He was one of the few who knew the truth of what lay within.
No. They all knew.
It could not be slain.
It could not be contained.
If released, it would never again be bound. Not by men. Not by gods.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The torment intensified, clawing through his very soul. It felt as though his insides were being torn apart, one excruciating shred at a time.
"Oh," she mused, pausing as though something had just occurred to her. "A soul eater… Well, no matter. You'll talk."
"Please… stop…" he gasped, broken.
"I didn't ask for your opinion." Her words were as cold as the grave.
"You don't know what you're trying to unleash!" he croaked, voice desperate. "It will end us all—even the gods in there deaths, won't be spared! IT WILL RETURN!"
And then…
A smile.
No, not a smile.
A dark, twisted grin crept across her face, chilling him to his very bones.
"IT…? That's exactly what I want."
And in that moment, he understood.
This lady was a psycho.