The first coffin shattered completely, stone fragments scattering across the burial chamber. Dust clouded the air, but Hikaru didn't need perfect visibility to know this was bad—very, very bad.
The thing that stepped forward wasn't just big. It was wrong.
Draped in half-rotted golden armor, its body was a mix of decayed flesh and something that shouldn't exist. Its face was hidden behind a mask—ornate, ancient, and eerily untouched by time.
It moved smoothly.
Not like a corpse. Not like a puppet.
Like something that had been waiting.
And the worst part?
It wasn't alone.
Across the chamber, more coffins cracked.
Budi exhaled sharply. "Yeah, okay. We need to go."
Selene's silver runes flared, forming a protective barrier around them. "They shouldn't be waking up."
Hikaru flicked a card into his palm. "Great. But they are. So let's deal with reality first and your expectations later."
The gold-masked figure turned its head toward them.
And it spoke.
Not in words. Not in any language Hikaru recognized.
But in echoes of something erased.
A sound that didn't belong in this world.
Budi tensed. "Tell me you have a plan."
Hikaru smiled. "I always have a plan."
The figure took a single step forward.
And the entire room bent.
The stone beneath their feet cracked inward, the air warped, and Hikaru felt his vision split—as if for a brief moment, he existed in two places at once.
Selene clenched her fist, reinforcing the barrier. "It's distorting the space around it."
Hikaru gritted his teeth. He hated magic like this.
But this was still a game.
And games could be won.
He flicked a card into the air.
[Skill Activated: ♠Q – Mirage Shuffle]
For an instant, reality itself stuttered. The gold-masked figure twitched, its posture shifting, as if it was seeing multiple versions of Hikaru at once.
Hikaru moved.
Not forward. Sideways.
To anyone watching, it looked like he disappeared and reappeared three steps to the left.
Budi reacted at the same time.
Not with a weapon. With his body.
He lunged in, his movements fluid, deceptive—Pencak Silat's brutal efficiency meeting complete unpredictability. His hands twisted mid-strike, feinting an open palm before pivoting and slamming his knee into the figure's torso.
It connected.
A solid hit.
For half a second, Hikaru thought it worked.
Then the figure didn't move.
Budi's knee was still pressed against the armor. But there was no reaction. No impact.
As if Budi had struck something that existed in a different time entirely.
Then—
The thing raised its arm.
Budi twisted away just in time as the figure's fist swung through the air, leaving behind a distorted ripple—a moment where reality itself wavered.
Hikaru exhaled. "Okay. So that's unfair."
Budi landed in a low stance, his mask darkening slightly. "Yeah, I felt that."
Selene moved her fingers in a sharp gesture. Her runes flashed again—this time brighter.
"This isn't an undead."
Hikaru flicked another card between his fingers. "Yeah? Then what is it?"
Selene's voice was firm.
"A god."
The room dropped ten degrees colder.
Budi stared at her. "You could have led with that."
The other coffins burst open.
More gold-masked figures emerged, stepping forward in unnatural silence. Some were armored, others draped in ceremonial robes, but all of them moved the same—with absolute control.
Selene clenched her fist. "They were never human."
Hikaru exhaled slowly.
His mind raced.
If this wasn't just some ancient burial ground—if this was a prison for gods—then why had they been locked away?
And more importantly—
Who was letting them out?
The first figure raised its hand.
The air bent around it again.
Then—it moved.
Hikaru's instinct screamed before his mind caught up.
He jumped back just in time as the space where he had stood folded inward, crushing stone into itself like a collapsing black hole.
Budi cursed. "We are so outmatched."
Selene spread her arms, silver magic crackling around her. "You need to run."
Hikaru adjusted his glasses.
"Selene."
She turned her head slightly.
He grinned.
"We're already running."
The floor cracked beneath them.
And then—
It collapsed.
Hikaru was falling.
Not into darkness.
Not into another level of the dungeon.
Into something deeper.
For a moment, he wasn't sure he existed.
Then—
His back hit solid ground.
The impact knocked the breath out of him, but the fact that he felt the ground at all was a relief.
He groaned, rolling onto his side. "Okay. That was awful."
A second later, Budi landed nearby. He flipped midair, adjusting his posture just before he hit the ground. He still let out a small grunt of effort.
Then, after another second—Selene landed.
But not gracefully.
She hit the ground hard, her magic flaring instinctively to absorb some of the impact, but Hikaru still heard a sharp crack.
Budi was already moving. "Selene."
She hissed through gritted teeth, holding her side. Her wrist was bent at an unnatural angle.
Hikaru clicked his tongue. "Great. That's not ideal."
Selene took a slow breath, her silver eyes still glowing faintly. "It's fine."
Budi gave her a look. "That's not fine."
Selene forced herself upright. "We don't have time to argue."
Hikaru sat up fully, adjusting his glasses. "Okay. Where are we?"
The space around them was silent.
Not just quiet—truly, completely absent of sound.
They weren't in a dungeon.
They were in a chamber beneath the chamber.
And at the far end—
Something was waiting.
A single door, massive and ancient, stood sealed shut. It was covered in more sigils, but different from the ones before. These weren't glowing.
They were cracked.
Hikaru felt his gut twist.
Something was behind that door.
Something that wasn't supposed to wake up.
Selene exhaled, still clutching her wrist. "This is what they buried."
Budi cracked his neck. "Any chance we just leave before something else goes wrong?"
The sigils on the door flickered.
Hikaru grinned.
"Too late."
The door groaned.
And something knocked from the other side.