He wasn’t expecting to encounter the Headsman so soon into his journey. With their chances of survival now dropped significantly, Kihet anxiously prepared for the worst. A chill ran down his spine, and his body broke out in cold sweat as he held back every ounce of emotion on the verge of sending him into a raging frenzy and focused his attention towards escape.

The Headsman dragged its guillotine axe across the floor, marking a line under the layer of mist then it heaved it onto its shoulders. It then reeled itself for a strike when suddenly, it lunged forward and put Kihet in its range. The blade narrowly missed Kihet’s arm as he barely sidestepped it. There was then a crack that immediately split the floor with a scar leading to and up the wall.

As previously tested, materials that created the dungeon were unordinary. Not even Kihet using his full strength could put a dent in it. If Kihet had blocked the attack instead, his body would’ve been separated into two halves. Such strength was impossible, not even the physically strongest person of his kind, his friend Draigh, could have done that.

Now that his enemy was close, Kihet had no choice but to engage in combat. He went for a counter as his foot stepped on the handle of the Headsman’s axe, thrusting the Nagamaki forward. At the last second, the Headsman let go of its weapon and wove past Kihet’s thrust. It formed a fist and plowed it into Kihet’s stomach, sending him flying into the wall after some contents of his previous meal vomited out.

After it dealt with Kihet, the Headsman turned his attention towards the rest.

That was when Priqet ambushed it from behind. The Grasshopper slashed at its back, only to miss. Priqet felt the air suddenly changed as the Headsman reached for its axe and flicked it upwards at him. The grasshopper quickly used his shield as a launchpad, sacrificing it and watched it split into two from a distance.

“Tomoe, go get the Oracle! We’ll try to buy you a few seconds.” Priqet dove back and challenged the Headsman again. “It’s quick with such a large axe. It’s almost unfair for it to use such a weapon while being so slim.”

His serrated club clashed against the broad side of the guillotine blade, setting off a shower of sparks each time he struck. Knowing his enemy’s strength was beyond any of them, Priqet set his priority to stall as much as possible using speed as his advantage.

While he kept the Headsman pinned down from a continuous flurry of strikes, the air above them was being stirred.

“Priqet, it’s ready! Get back!” Yixy warned.

A vortex of wind crashed down on the Headsman, now holding its blade overhead, fighting against the wind pressure pushing it down. Slowly, but surely, its knees straightened as it overcame Yixy’s magic. With an earth-shattering strike, it forcefully ended her spell.

“Hey, hey! That spell was my ace!” Yixy exclaimed.

“That just shows the difference of power between this thing and us.”

“Isn’t this an emergency? If something like this is so close to the capital, Vivrus could be annihilated.”

“Agreed! We must inform of the Queen as soon as possible of such a creature. Tomoe, how’s the Oracle?”

Lily managed to move the last piece of rubble off Kihet and took out healing items. She saw his crumpled shield, dented inwards over his stomach. It was because of his shield, Kihet managed to avoid any critical injuries, but broke two ribs and his entire left forearm was swollen.

“Kihet, Kihet! Are you okay?!”

“Shit. I let my guard down.”

“Hang on, I’m going to apply some healing ointment right now-. Oh no, the containers all spilled out!”

“That’s fine. Urgh… Just put some Stredhime cream over my arm. Healing ointments won’t do us good anyways. I need this pain to go away.”

After getting treated, his first task was to examine his surroundings. The insectoids were putting up a fight, keeping the Headsman in one spot. Kihet set his eyes on the room with the fountain and spotted the metallic gates still opened.

He picked himself and his weapon back up. “You two, we’re going through the way that thing came from!”

“Do have any plans to keep the thing away after we make a break for it?” Yixy asked.

“Move fast and don’t look back. Lily, grab the arrows the monster from earlier dropped and secure the gate. We’ll catch up.”

“En!”

Lily quickly rushed to gather her scattered arrows and bolted towards the gates. Noticing this, the Headsman immediately launched itself at her, enduring all damages Priqet and Yixy inflicted. Before its axe came down, Kihet intercepted the Headsman with [Blooming Petals].

His blade sparked as he tilted at a steep angle, redirecting the devastating blow off to the side. After his opponent’s weapon hacked into the floor, he delivered two quick slashes.

“I swear I’ll kill you for that day. I’ll make sure to get revenge for Malth and Lemi.”

Kihet unleashed a barrage of swift strikes, stopping the Headsman before it could prepare its guillotine axe. However, he wasn’t able to keep his flurry of attacks long when the pain in his ribs throbbed. He quickly disengaged only to find the Headsman preparing itself for a ‘sure miss’ swing.

As the Headsman pulled back its axe, Kihet felt something amiss. He heard mechanical cogs and clamps clicking. In mid swing, the back half of the axe flicked out like a switchblade, extending its reach twofolds.

“Incoming!”

Priqet came through with a sliding kick, knocking Kihet down before the blade reached his neck. From one slash, a deep scar suddenly dug into the walls that contained them.

“What vile trick. How are your injuries, Oracle?”

“Keep your focus up!”

Kihet grabbed the grasshopper by the armor strap and flung Priqet back while bending away as far as he could. After dodging, Kihet swapped to his sword and thrust into its side. The situation was a repeat of last time with it dropping its axe and throwing a fist at Kihet.

This time, Kihet was the one to move past its fist with [Crescent Moon Dance], positioning himself from behind as he successfully plunged his blade into its back. He channeled as much of the Oracle’s power into the tip of his sword, detonating the largest explosion he mustered. The blast sent the Headsman tumbling across the floor and into the wall as payback.

“Move! To the gates now!”

Everyone immediately bolted to the gate where Lily cleared the vicinity of Shadows. The mist on the floor began to fade, an indication of the Headsman’s whereabouts, as they moved farther into unknown territory.

“Did you get em?” Lily asked.

“If only it was that easy.” Although he was a touch proud of himself, Kihet still thought that wasn’t enough. “That thing’s an Acolyte. It’s only going to get harder now.”

“An Acolyte?”

“I’ll answer everything once we’re safe.” Kihet said then called out to Priqet. “Hey you, find us the exit.”

“With pleasure! But first…”

Priqet cracked opened the case he carried, taking the contents and threw the container away. It contained two machetes and a scroll that burned by artificial flames after he unknotted the string that had sealed the spell. Although the scroll was activated, there was no visual sign of magic being used not that Kihet saw but heard.

“A magic scroll?”

“As much as I’d like to preserve this rare item, we need to call for reinforcements. I hope the message reaches them in time.”

Through these narrow pathway, the party mowed through countless hordes of Shadows as the trembling behind them grew stronger. No doubt, the Headsman slowly closed the distance, dragging its oversized weapon with it through the halls.

“Can’t you use magic to slow it down?”

“It’d slow us instead.” Yixy answered. “If I use wind magic in a place like this, it’d create a vacuum, pulling us towards that monster. Offensive wind magic isn’t suited in tight spaces like this until we’ve reached a chamber.”

“And it’d distort my senses a bit.” Priqet added. “There’s an open area just not too far now.”

Kihet was about to make a remark about the abilities of the insectoids being incompatible when suddenly, he spotted a flicker of light behind him. His ears caught a faint lullaby, the song of magic, a spell.

“Get behind me!”

A surge of silver fire travelled down the entire corridor behind him. While Kihet fought against the magical force trying to pierce through the Oracle’s anti-magic flames, the blunt tip of the guillotine cut through the flames. It caught Kihet’s chest, launching him backwards. He was then caught by an outstretched arm and carried into the next room.

As it knew he was the Oracle, a threat to its existence, the Headsman separated Kihet from the others in order to defeat the root of the problem.

Before he was thrown, Kihet mustered enough strength to slip free. He used the momentum to roll forward and jumped on his feet. Without missing a beat, he noticed Shadows that occupied this room and spread silver flames around to clear the area. He then threw a sword at the Headsman, meaning to inflict a deep cut. Instead, the Headsman swatted it aside.

He was acutely aware the wounds from earlier had affected his form of swinging his weapon. Nonetheless, he gave it his all despite knowing the vast difference of strength and armaments. He was desperate to get him and Lily out alive. There were things he had to do as one of the last of his kind and friends he had to find.

However, that desperation slowly turned to despair as he realized he was all alone against the Headsman.

“Die! Die! Finally, the murderer gets what he deserves! Die by the hands of this monster!”

“There’s nobody to save you! Face death with open arms!”

Voices that haunted him poured into his thoughts, breaking his resolve. His ears drowned out all noise as the only sound he heard was the rapid beat of his heart. His mind immediately held one thought:

Live!

Lily and the others bolted out of the tunnel only to find Kihet flat in the layer of mist. The Headsman on the other hand, was pierced by various burning swords, knives and the Nagamaki. It marched towards Kihet as it was about fulfill its mission.

It tore off the blades one by one, even the Nagamaki that pierced its heart. The rings of flames over the wounds that prevented it from regenerating was rapidly overwhelmed by the miasma, repairing its body at an unfathomable rate. To anyone’s eyes, it was immortal.

“Get away from him!”

Lily roared as she loosened projectiles all with pinpoint accuracy. All of them struck the back of the Headsman’s head, only to find out it was ineffective even blessed by the Oracle’s flames.

The Headsman ripped the batch of arrows off its head and continued its bold stride towards Kihet. Lily found herself dashing at the enemy without a second thought.

“Tomoe, that’s reckless get back!” Yixy yelled. “Dammit Priqet, help her while I go heal the Oracle!”

Lily charged at the Headsman when she saw its axe raised overhead. As a veteran practitioner of Xu’s martial arts, she was able to use [Crescent Moon Dance] to its full potential and unleashed a flurry of slashes as she moved around her enemy. Each slash connected, but she lacked raw power like Kihet and as a result, her strikes were shallow.

Continuing the offensive, she drew a rigged arrow. While withdrawing, she struck the tip along the floor to create a spark. The sparks produced by the steel and flint tip ignited the oil soaked fuse attached to it as the flame raced towards the cylinder. It was then loosened in one fluid motion.

But the Headsman acted with its hand prepared to snatch the arrow mid flight. That was until a white orb popped into existence and swallowed the explosive arrow and the second orb spat it directly at its face in less than a split second.

Boom!

It produced a loud bang and smoke rose from its face. As much as she wished that was that, she nocked five arrows and peppered the Headsman. So far, she had the agility to outmaneuver it, but she wasn’t sure how long until it adapted to her tactics.

“Yol, Ulos, Foram, Zek, Ruo, Val, Nalus-.”

“Tomoe, get away quickly! That’s magic!” Yixy warned.

However, it was too late as a black orb leading to nothingness materialized over Headsman’s palm. It swiped down at Lily and absorbed something but failed to catch her. Instead, Priqet came to the rescue, pushing Lily away and severed his own limb as the orb absorbed it. He sacrificed both his right arms to leave the black orb satiated as it vanished.

“Priqet!”

“It’s just a minor inconvenience!” Priqet brushed off Lily’s cry. “I’m more afraid if the Queen learns if you or the Oracle suffered permanent wounds, she will have my head.”

“That’s one thing that can’t be joked about!” Yixy claimed. “Tomoe, I’ve patched up the Oracle. He’s alive, but in critical condition.”

“We move him?” Lily asked.

“Not possible without keeping that monster away. The only way we see it, is if help does arrive.”

“Help? We in dungeon! Who come help?!”

“Hey, girls! I really do appreciate the help you two are providing!” Priqet interrupted as he flew in front of them. “It’s already hard being two arms short. Yixy, has any word from help arrived?”

“We need to hang in there for a few more minutes.”

“A few more minutes? I don’t know if we could hang on for that long when there are Tower monsters closing towards us fast.”

“I’ll slow them down. You and Tomoe keep that thing busy.”

Yixy tore in her bag for a vast collection of vials. Her wings brought her to each tunnel connected to the room and splashed yellowish white solutions that quickly grew fungus spores all around the entrance. When the Shadows came into view, she used wind magic to blow them back until they ran into the spores and got themselves trapped by a sticky substance.

“Yixy, how ya doing?”

“It’s holding back most of them, but not all!”

Meanwhile Priqet and Lily aggressively attacked the Headsman, stopping it from swinging its axe. It was stamina taxing, but if they weren’t able to continue cornering it, its next devastating attack would decimate their party.

Priqet’s attack would always strike twice with an extra arm moving in the same direction. However, his right side was undefended, but Lily would cover for him whenever possible. Her arrows pierced the Headsman’s wrist, stopping it from gathering strength behind each swing.

“Doram, Gruk, Val, Dupil, Zepar, Brac, Jeltz.”

It wasn’t long until the Acolyte’s hand crackled with red lightning. The concentrated cloak of energy was then released and zapped everything within a large radius around it, including Lily and Priqet. They collapsed on the floor, paralyzed.

A second one was then slammed into the flat blade of the guillotine as a large magic circle formed at the blunt tip, transforming its weapon. Neon red lines quickly branched out all over the axe until it reached the edges. One of the folded blades suddenly split apart, revealing the core that was aimed at Lily.

“Oracle, stop! You shouldn’t be moving!” Yixy yelled, but she was forcibly turned back towards the Shadows slowly moving past her adhesive trap. “Dammit!”

Kihet flew in at the last second, ramming into the Headsman from its blindspot. The laser turned away from Lily and swerved upwards uncontrollably.

With bloodshot eyes and the sigil on his arms burning bright, Kihet felt his body became lighter and his strength increased as adrenaline ran through his veins. He pounced at the Headsman in a raging frenzy and threw punches. He delivered a right hook at its face then drove his fist into its stomach with enough force to shake the air. His already broken arm was now added with a broken wrist. When both his arms were caught, he head butted the Headsman and snatched the guillotine.

He purified the miasma on it revealing a strange blade with many cogs and magic circuit. It was a complex weapon that must’ve weighed a lot, but Kihet carried it with ease. It didn’t matter how, but a weapon was a weapon. While the Headsman disarmed and vulnerable, Kihet swung the guillotine high into the air. He unleashed a bloody roar as the axe split his foe down its collarbone and stopped at its stomach.

Then there was silence. With the Headsman slumped down, everyone looked around, breathing ragged. It seemed all too easy.

Just as Kihet’s bloodlust wore off, the Headsman suddenly pried the weapon off itself. Its body glued itself back together as the silver flames on its body were quickly extinguished.

“The key. Will be mine.”

The Headsman shaped its hand into a blade and chopped into Kihet’s left shoulder. After tearing what muscles and bones held it together, it proceeded to rip out his arm. Blood poured out like faucet as Kihet was thrown in his own puddle of blood and stepped on. Air was being pressed out of his lungs while hearing the ribs snap one by one. His eyes wandered in all directions and eventually spotted Lily.

Stunned, Lily looked at him horrified, wailing as she tried her hardest to reach for him and struggled to pry her upper half off the floor. Her voice was being drowned out. Everything was turning dark.

Staying true to its name, the Headsman lifted its guillotine over Kihet and prepared his execution.

To think Kihet was supposed to gather Heroes to subjugate the Acolytes. They were like demi-gods, with powers Kihet was expected to contain. Even if he believed there was a day the Heroes he gathered would rival their destructiveness, it appeared he wouldn’t live another day.

“And now, for the other half.”

Once the axe was up, it took a step forward and decapitated Kihet. It was the end of the Oracle, and the world’s last embers.

Or it should’ve been.

“Elen?”

A ghostly figure of a girl with an outstretched hand startled the Headsman for a split second. When it blinked, the ghost was no longer there. The blade was a hair’s diameter away from touching Kihet’s neck.

It was then discovered javelins pierced through the Headsman joints, locking it in place.

A gust of wind kicked up dust out from one of the tunnels and slammed into the Headsman, throwing it across the other side of the wall.

Standing before them, a small child sized insectoid with many, many spears sheath on its back stared down at Kihet. Using this chance, it doused bandages in water. It wrapped Kihet’s severed arm in wet rags then picked up the enchanted Nagamaki. It tapped each of his javelins individually, spreading the Oracle’s flames on them.

A small plank of wood dropped in front of Yixy that was written with [Help them].

“On it!” Yixy saluted, curing the paralysis affecting Priqet and Lily.

“I-it’s you…” Lily muttered.

“That’s some serious reinforcement.” Priqet grinned. “Sir Aten, mind if you take over?”

The Dragonfly facing the Headsman gave a big great nod. Aten fanned out his arms each equipped with a weapon and braced. The Headsman spun, bringing its guillotine at Aten’s head, but of course, his unusually large compound eyes allowed him to see everything.

He vanished, moving at blinding speeds into the air and dived down, only to be swatted aside after plunging four spears into it. The force behind the Headsman’s swing pulverized Aten’s exoskeleton, spraying his innards and blood all over the walls. It would’ve been certain death but not for Aten. His curse immediately activated as his body reassembled itself then jumped back into the fray.

After gauging his opponent’s strength, Aten went for a feint. Once the guillotine flew at him once more, he changed flight direction and vanished as he ducked. He reappeared from behind, anchoring Kihet’s Nagamaki to its foot not without losing his head.

The Shadow lingering within Aten quickly sowed it back on as he held out more spears and exchanged blows. For every weapon that was lost, Aten would have one more to replace it, even if it meant raising one half of a snapped spear.

Not even the Headsman could outmatch the dragonfly in terms of speed. Multiple spears plunged into it before it managed to catch the Dragonfly vulnerable. Once it had a chance, it yanked the javelins off as it watched Aten crawling back from the brink of death just as it did. It finally understood the dragonfly was as immortal as it was.

“Why do you have the mist?”

The two fell into silence as neither were interested to continue their short-lived conversation.

The Headsman reached for its face, tearing off its mask. Shadows receded from it, revealing it was polished like a mirror as it reflected everything within its view.

The fog around them grew dense.