[RAAAAHHHH!!!]
The roar did not merely echo; it violently ruptured the very atmospheric code of the simulated dungeon. The sound was a concussive wave of pure, unfiltered abyssal hatred that shattered the remaining stalactites hanging from the cavern ceiling, raining jagged stone down upon the battlefield.
Dratkthar, the Greater Demon General, threw his massive head back. The vertical chasm Amanda had expertly carved into his torso—a wound that would have instantly pulverized the heart and severed the spine of any mortal creature—began to bubble and hiss with a sickening, toxic heat.
He activated the absolute depths of his demonic aura. A torrent of pitch-black, liquid fire erupted from his core, flooding into the grievous wound.
The spectator Veronica, trapped behind her impenetrable, invisible wall in the void, watched in absolute horror as the demon's flesh actively refused to die.
The black fire acted as a grotesque, living suture. It violently grabbed the severed edges of Dratkthar's obsidian armor and his mangled demonic muscle tissue, dragging them back together with the screeching sound of twisting metal and tearing meat. He was not just healing; he was weaponizing his own spilled blood, forcing the torrential demonic aura to flow outward, creating a suffocating, dense shield of dark matter around his colossal frame.
[Hahaha! Look at this, human!] Dratkthar bellowed, his voice vibrating with sadistic euphoria. He spread his massive, clawed arms wide, actively showing Amanda his rapidly regenerating body. The vertical slice was already closing, leaving behind a jagged, glowing red scar that pulsed with infernal heat.
Amanda stood atop the broken pillar, her chest heaving. Her slate-grey eyes, usually so cold and calculating, widened in a rare display of genuine, unadulterated shock.
She had just successfully executed a flawless, perfectly timed Forbidden Art. She had sacrificed her own life force to bypass his guard and deliver a statistically guaranteed fatal blow. And yet... it was not enough.
'Was that truly not enough?!' Amanda asked herself inwardly, her tactical mind racing frantically as panic began to bleed into her disciplined assassin's focus. 'Do I really need to pay an even greater sacrifice in blood to put this abomination in the ground?!'
She could feel her own mana core screaming in protest, the reserves dangerously, critically depleted. She shot a desperate glance down toward the corner of the antechamber.
The dream-version of Veronica was on her knees, her face pale and drenched in a terrified sweat. She was pouring every last agonizing drop of her royal mana into maintaining the shimmering, golden 'Shield of the Stars' that protected her and the comatose Adelina from the residual shockwaves of the demonic aura. The shield was flickering, its golden light dimming with every passing second. The Princess was reaching her absolute limit.
'Haah... haah... haah... What should I do?' Amanda thought, her breath rasping painfully in her throat.
She looked back at the demon. Dratkthar was laughing at her, a booming, arrogant sound. As he laughed, Amanda watched with mounting dread as the physical manifestations of her previous attacks—the deep cuts, the blunt-force trauma from her parries—began to literally melt away, his skin smoothing out into pristine obsidian scales.
Though, her highly trained eyes noticed one crucial, desperately needed detail: the glowing white anti-magic feathers she had embedded in him were still having an effect. The debuffs remained active. His movements were incredibly sluggish, and his magical output was visibly stunted by the holy toxin coursing through his veins.
He was not invincible. He was just incredibly durable. She had no confidence that she could successfully kill him even if she managed to inflict another massive internal injury, but she had to try. She had to buy the Princess more time.
'There is still a way! I just have to sever the head entirely!' Amanda resolved, her jaw setting into a hard, uncompromising line.
She tightened her grip on the leather hilts of her twin trench knives, lowering her center of gravity and readying her blades for a final, suicidal assault.
Dratkthar, possessing centuries of combat experience, immediately noticed the shift in her posture. He saw the lethal determination reignite in her eyes. His own amber eyes narrowed, glowing with a cruel, anticipating light.
[Abyssal Art: Devourer of the Damned!] Dratkthar roared, instantly invoking a devastating 7th-tier spell without the need for a prolonged incantation.
Amanda didn't wait to see the spell manifest. She moved first.
[Night Raven Art: Shadow Step!] Amanda's physical form dissolved into a blur of black mist. She utilized the shadows cast by the demon's own hellfire, teleporting herself in a zigzagging, unpredictable trajectory through the air, aiming to strike him from his blind spot directly above.
[Midnight Garro—]
Before she could even finish calling out the name of her ultimate decapitation technique, before she could materialize her blades from the air above him... she saw it.
Dratkthar was looking directly up at the exact patch of shadow she was emerging from. He wasn't tracking her movement; he had anticipated her tactical logic perfectly.
He offered a wide, terrifying smile, revealing rows of jagged, shark-like teeth.
[Got you, little bird!]
The 7th-tier spell did not manifest as a fireball or a concussive blast.
Instantly, the very shadows Amanda was using to travel violently rebelled against her. From the darkness directly beneath her materializing form, thick, barbed chains forged from condensed agony and void matter erupted upward with the speed of striking cobras.
The black chains wrapped brutally around Amanda's ankles and calves, the jagged barbs piercing straight through her leather boots and sinking deeply into her flesh.
[ARGH!] Amanda screamed, the sudden, agonizing pain shattering her concentration.
Her momentum was instantly, violently halted in mid-air. The chains acted as an unyielding tether, and with a vicious, downward yank controlled by Dratkthar's will, they brought the Head Maid crashing forcefully down toward the unforgiving stone floor.
Dratkthar did not wait for her to land.
He closed the distance in a single, earth-shattering stride. As Amanda plummeted downward, entangled in the chains, the Demon General reached out his massive, armored hand and grabbed her by both of her bound feet out of the air.
He held her suspended upside down like a captured rabbit.
And then, without a single second of hesitation, without uttering a word of gloating, Dratkthar swung his massive arm in a brutal, horizontal arc.
He used Amanda's own body as a flail, smashing her with terrifying, apocalyptic force directly into the solid stone pillar to his left.
-CRACK!
The sickening sound of breaking stone and shattering ribs echoed through the cavern.
He didn't stop. Using the elastic momentum of her body, he swung her back across his body, smashing her violently into the opposite pillar on his right.
-CRUNCH!
[AMY!!!!] The dream-version of Veronica screamed from the safety of her golden shield, her voice tearing her throat apart as she was forced to watch her beloved maid, her surrogate mother, being brutally toyed with and broken by a demon.
After four devastating, bone-pulverizing impacts against the stone architecture, Dratkthar finally released his grip. He callously threw her broken body away like a piece of discarded trash.
Amanda skipped across the stone floor like a skipped stone, rolling limply until she crashed into the base of the simulation exit portal's dais.
She lay there, a crumpled, bloodied mess. Her pristine uniform was shredded, soaked entirely in her own blood. Her twin blades had been knocked far away from her grasp.
[U-ugh...] Amanda groaned, a wet, rattling sound escaping her lungs as she coughed up a massive pool of blood. [That... that was unexpected. Tsk... Pri-Princess...]
Even with multiple fractured ribs, a shattered collarbone, and massive internal bleeding, the legendary Deathstalker refused to stay down. Through sheer, unimaginable, inhuman willpower, Amanda planted her trembling, blood-slicked hands on the stone and desperately tried to push herself back up to a standing position. She had to protect her ward.
But Dratkthar was not finished playing.
[ACK!] Amanda's eyes bulged as all the air was violently forced from her ruined lungs.
Dratkthar had teleported directly in front of her the moment she managed to raise her torso. Before she could even process his presence, he drove his massive, armored knee squarely into her exposed abdomen.
The impact lifted her entirely off the ground.
[Your resistance is utterly futile, human!] Dratkthar announced, smiling broadly as he looked down into Amanda's pain-filled, despairing eyes. He savored the taste of her hopelessness.
She was thrown backward through the air again, landing heavily on her back.
Dratkthar stalked forward, standing directly over her paralyzed form. He raised his massive, iron-shod boot.
And he began to repeatedly, methodically kick her.
-SLAM!
-SLAM!
-SLAM!
-SLAM!
Each kick was delivered with the force of a battering ram, designed not to kill instantly, but to inflict the maximum amount of agonizing, prolonged structural damage. He kicked her ribs. He kicked her spine. He kicked her limbs, breaking her legs to ensure she could not utilize her shadow steps ever again.
While Dratkthar was deeply enjoying the rhythmic, bloody torture of the Head Maid, the spectator Veronica was undergoing a total, catastrophic psychological collapse.
Trapped behind the invisible, impenetrable wall of the void, Veronica was watching her own dream-self cower behind the golden shield, completely paralyzed by fear, unable to stand up, unable to cast an offensive spell, unable to do anything but watch Amanda be beaten to death.
"Do something!"
Veronica screamed at the projection of her past self, her voice completely hoarse, her oceanic eyes wide with absolute, unadulterated madness.
"Save her! Get out from behind that damn shield and save her, no matter what it costs!" Veronica shrieked, repeatedly punching the invisible wall with her bare fists.
-THUD.
-THUD.
-THUD.
She pounded the barrier, begging her other self to act.
"Please!" Veronica cried, turning her gaze back to the slaughter.
She saw Amanda, currently being repeatedly kicked and crushed into the stone by the towering Demon. And yet, the most heartbreaking, soul-crushing detail of all... Amanda was not trying to defend herself. She wasn't raising her arms to protect her face. She wasn't looking at the Demon who was killing her.
Through the haze of blood and agony, Amanda's slate-grey eyes were locked entirely, desperately onto the dream-version of Veronica cowering in the corner. She wasn't focusing on survival; she was using her final moments of consciousness to simply watch over her Princess, ensuring the golden shield was still holding firm against the shockwaves.
"Please stand up, Amanda! Please! Stand up and fight back!" Veronica screamed, the sound tearing through the silent void.
"ARGH!!!!"
Veronica lost all sense of rational preservation. She threw her entire body weight forward, repeatedly and violently slamming her delicate shoulder against the unyielding, invisible wall.
-CRACK.
She heard the sickening snap of her own clavicle breaking in the simulated reality of the void. She felt the blinding, white-hot flare of physical pain shoot down her arm.
But she didn't care about her broken shoulder. She didn't register the pain. Driven by sheer, psychotic desperation, she continued to repeatedly throw her broken body against the barrier, slamming the wall again and again and again, leaving smears of her own blood against the invisible glass.
"Please! Please, somebody... sniff, sniff..."
Veronica slid down the wall, collapsing to her knees in the darkness, her broken arm hanging uselessly at her side.
"Anybody... please... save her... please..." Veronica begged, pressing her forehead against the barrier, her tears flowing in endless, torrential rivers down her cheeks.
She began to bargain with the empty universe, offering her soul to whatever cruel god was forcing her to watch this.
"I'll do anything! I promise, I will do absolutely anything! I-I will change myself! I-I will stop being arrogant! I will become a good, kind person toward everyone! I will treat the commoners with respect! I will be good to Rudeus! I will stop treating him like a defect! I will change my ways entirely, and I will even start to genuinely, truly love my father! Please... I will give up my crown, I will do anything, just please save her!"
Veronica begged her desperate, pathetic plea into the infinite void. She offered every piece of her pride, every facet of her identity, in exchange for a miracle.
And yet, no one heard her.
No angel descended from the heavens. No System notification popped up to offer her a quest to intervene.
No one came for her.
No one even tried to offer her the simple mercy of closing her eyes, nor did anyone appear to help her slam her broken body against that unyielding wall.
SHE IS A FOOL!
A voice, not her own, but rather the cold, mechanical narration of the System itself, seemed to whisper directly into the darkest recesses of her fracturing mind.
A FOOLISH WOMAN CLINGING TO A BIT OF HOPE!
The whisper repeated, a rhythmic, maddening chant designed to break her spirit completely.
A FOOLISH WOMAN CLINGING TO A BIT OF HOPE!
A FOOLISH WOMAN CLINGING TO A BIT OF HOPE!
A FOOLISH WOMAN CLINGING TO A BIT OF HOPE!
A FOOLISH WOMAN CLINGING TO A BIT OF HOPE!
Veronica, hearing the relentless, mocking whispers invading her skull, finally, completely gave up. The fight drained out of her broken body. She simply lay her cheek against the cold, invisible wall, her oceanic eyes dead and hollow, slowly watching the horrific scene unfold.
Dratkthar was still kicking. He was still torturing Amanda, treating her broken body like a piece of meat tenderizing on a block.
Finally, growing bored of the physical abuse, the Demon General stepped back. He raised his massive, iron-shod boot high into the air, aiming directly for the center of Amanda's crushed skull. He prepared to deliver his final, executioner's blow.
[DIE, VERMIN!]
But, a fraction of a second before he could deliver his final, lethal kick... a single, glowing white feather—one of the toxic anti-magic constructs Amanda had lodged into him earlier—suddenly flared with intense light, dislodging itself and falling softly from his shoulder.
[!!!] Dratkthar gasped, his eyes widening in shock. He felt a sudden, paralyzing spike of excruciating, blinding pain shoot directly into his central nervous system as the delayed neurotoxin of the Featherfall art finally hit his brain stem.
[You-you goddamn, persistent bitch!!!] Dratkthar roared in agony.
His massive body was violently, forcefully brought down to its knees. His raised leg collapsed under him, hitting the stone floor with a heavy thud, missing Amanda's head by mere inches. He clutched his own head, paralyzed by the holy venom.
On the ground, amidst the pool of her own blood, Amanda's fingers twitched.
Through the sheer, incomprehensible power of a mother's protective love, Amanda forced her completely shattered body to respond. She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. Her left leg was completely broken, dragging behind her at a sickening angle, rendering her entirely incapable of walking, let alone running or performing a Shadow Step.
[A-Amy!] The dream-version of Veronica gasped from the corner, lowering her hands from her face. She was covering her mouth, caught in a violent, whiplash transition of emotion. She was overjoyed that her guardian was still breathing, yet simultaneously absolutely distraught and horrified by the gruesome, mangled state of Amanda's body.
[Haah... haah... haah... hooooh...] Amanda was gasping desperately for air, spitting out a mouthful of blood and broken teeth.
She dragged herself forward an inch. She reached out with trembling, blood-soaked hands and, one by one, picked up her discarded twin trench knives from the floor.
She used the blades as crutches, planting them into the stone and using her upper body strength to force herself to stand upright on her single, un-shattered right leg.
[As-as I explicitly stated before!] Amanda roared, her voice a ragged, bloody rasp that echoed with terrifying, absolute defiance.
She pointed her blade directly at the kneeling Demon General.
[You will have to go through me first before you will even try to look at them!]
Behind the invisible wall, the spectator Veronica widened her dead eyes in profound shock. A sudden, hysterical, completely irrational smile broke across her tear-stained face.
"Amy! I know! I know you could do it!" Veronica screamed, her voice cracking, cheering on her guardian even though she knew with absolute certainty that they couldn't hear her. The System's whispers faded, temporarily drowned out by the sheer, magnificent aura of the Deathstalker's final stand.
"That's right! Get up!"
Veronica slammed her one good hand against the wall.
"Geeeeetttt uuuuppp!!" Veronica screamed loudly, a frantic, desperate cheerleader in a stadium of death.
In the antechamber, Amanda, gasping for air, locked her slate-grey eyes onto the paralyzed Dratkthar.
She knew this was her absolute final opportunity. Her body was failing. Her mana was gone. She only had her life force left to burn.
She closed her eyes.
Suddenly, a massive, overwhelming wave of pure, concentrated [Killing Intent] surged forth from her broken frame. It was stronger than anything she had unleashed before. It was the intent of a woman who had fully, entirely accepted her own death, and was trading her soul to drag her enemy to hell with her.
[!!!!] Dratkthar felt the terrifying, chilling wave wash over him. He frantically, desperately tried to get up, trying to summon his hellfire to defend himself. But the holy neurotoxin from the feather was still actively paralyzing his motor functions, holding his massive body hostage on the floor.
[You damn woman!!!!!!!!] Dratkthar screamed in pure, unadulterated terror, realizing he was entirely vulnerable.
Amanda opened her eyes. They glowed with a terrifying, ethereal light.
[Night Raven Art: Shadow Step!]
She burned her very life force to execute the spatial technique one last time.
She disappeared from her standing position.
Dratkthar panicked. He wildly rolled his burning amber eyes, searching frantically for her entry point. Left. Right. Above.
And then, his tactical mind realized her trajectory entirely too late.
[BELOW!] Dratkthar screamed inwardly, trying to throw himself backward.
Amanda materialized directly from the shadow cast by the Demon General's own kneeling form. She erupted upward, bursting from the darkness directly beneath his chin.
[Deathstalker!] Amanda roared her own moniker as a battle cry, delivering her absolute final, most powerful assassination art.
-SWISH!
She drove both of her trench knives, imbued with the absolute last spark of her aura, directly upward, burying them deep into the soft, unarmored flesh beneath Dratkthar's jaw, driving the blades straight up into his demonic brain.
[No-nooooooooooo!!!!] Dratkthar screamed, a horrifying, gurgling sound as the blades penetrated his skull.
-BOOM!
A massive shockwave of displaced demonic energy exploded outward as the Greater Demon General collapsed. His massive body hit the floor with an earth-shaking thud, completely motionless, dark smoke pouring from his fatal wounds.
In the corner of the room, the dream-version of Veronica couldn't believe her eyes.
She immediately deactivated her golden Shield of the Stars. She didn't hesitate for a single second. She abandoned the comatose Adelina, scrambled to her feet, and hurriedly ran across the cracked stone floor toward her guardian.
[Amy! He-here! Let me heal you!] Dream-Veronica cried out, dropping to her knees beside Amanda. She immediately raised her hands, trying to summon the emerald light of her restorative magic.
Amanda, heavily, mortally injured from Dratkthar's relentless attacks and brutal torture, could no longer support her own weight. She dropped her body onto the cold stone floor, letting go of her embedded blades, exhausted beyond the point of human endurance.
[Pri-Princess...] Amanda whispered, her voice barely audible. She reached out a trembling, bloody hand and gently grasped Veronica's glowing hands, stopping the healing magic.
[Don't you dare say it! We will all get out of here! That's your promise! You promised me we will escape together!] Dream-Veronica screamed at her, fresh tears streaming down her face. She tried to pull her hands free to continue the spell, but Amanda's grip was surprisingly firm.
Dream-Veronica then held Amanda's bloody hand tightly with both of her own.
[Please... just be quiet for a while, alright? Save your energy! I don't want to hear any of it!] Veronica sobbed, knowing exactly what Amanda was about to say. Amanda wanted her to run. Amanda wanted her to take the commoner girl and escape while the demon was down, knowing that her own wounds were far too severe to survive the journey to the surface. But Veronica absolutely refused to abandon her.
Amanda just smiled warmly at her weeping Princess. She didn't fight her. She let the Princess hold her hand, savoring the warmth. She didn't offer any empty, comforting lies, because she knew the highly intelligent Princess wouldn't believe them, and she would only hate her for offering false hope at the end.
Amanda simply smiled as she turned her head, looking up at the simulated, rocky skies of the cavern, finding a strange peace in the silence.
Then—
-BOOOOOMMM!!!
The air in the antechamber violently compressed.
Dream-Veronica and Amanda simultaneously felt a massive, suffocating wave of pure, concentrated killing intent—far stronger than before—erupt from the exact location where Dratkthar's corpse was lying.
They both snapped their heads toward the sound.
Through the thick, settling smoke and dust, a terrifying, massive silhouette began to rise.
It was none other than Dratkthar.
The blades in his brain had not killed him. The demonic aura was already pushing the steel out of his skull, his flesh knitting back together with horrifying speed.
Amanda's survival instincts flared one final time.
With a sudden, violent burst of adrenaline, Amanda forcefully pushed Veronica backward, throwing the Princess away from her.
[Amy—!] Dream-Veronica gasped, stumbling backward on the stone.
Behind the invisible wall, the spectator Veronica screamed in absolute, visceral terror.
"Nooooo!!!"
Amanda, using her one good leg, forced herself to stand up one last time, placing herself directly between the rising demon and her Princess. She didn't have her weapons. She didn't have her mana. She only had her body.
She looked back over her shoulder, offering Veronica one final, heartbreakingly genuine smile.
[Run.] Then, Dratkthar bypassed the physical space between them in an instant, appearing directly in front of her.
And then.
-SWISH!
The spectator Veronica, pressed against the glass of her prison, watched with unblinking, horrified eyes as the demon enacted the exact, gruesome violence upon Amanda that she had witnessed in her nightmarish dream.
"No-no... please no... noooooo!!!!" Veronica wailed, sliding her hands down the glass.
Amanda's broken body dropped heavily onto the floor, spinning violently as she fell.
Dratkthar's flaming broadsword had moved so fast it was a blur. He had cleanly, brutally severed Amanda's left hand completely off at the wrist as she had raised her arm in a final, futile attempt to block him.
[I admit, you are incredibly powerful for a mere mortal!] Dratkthar roared, his voice thick with a mixture of rage and twisted admiration. He was bleeding profusely from his head, and he had completely lost the use of his right eye to her blades.
He then smiled, a grotesque, terrifying expression that stretched his scarred face.
[But you simply slipped up on one, crucial piece of information about me!]
He threw his massive arms wide open, basking in the hellish glow of his own aura.
[I am the Architect of Agony!] Dratkthar proclaimed, his voice shaking the foundations of the simulation. [My power does not solely rely on ambient mana! It depends entirely on how many times you, your companions, and your victims feel profound, utter agony! And even more delightfully... it feeds on the agony you manage to inflict upon me!]
He gestured to his ruined eye and his sliced torso.
[Every time you struck me, every time you felt the despair of failure, you fed my core! I do not weaken from pain; I gorge upon it!]
His remaining amber eye gleamed with absolute, maniacal triumph.
Amanda's slate-grey eyes widened in sheer horror as she lay bleeding on the floor, clutching her severed stump. She belatedly realized her catastrophic, fatal tactical mistake. Her relentless, agonizing struggle hadn't been wearing him down; it had been actively charging his ultimate power.
[That's right!] Dratkthar gloated, relishing her realization. [You just made me infinitely more powerful by refusing to die quietly!]
[HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]
[HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!]
[HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]
His laughter was a physical force, a cacophony of madness that tore at the sanity of anyone listening.
[Foolish, pathetic mortals! Be in agony!] Dratkthar roared, raising his massive, armored right hand, curling it into a fist the size of a boulder, preparing to physically crush Amanda into the stone.
[Be in absolute despair!]
Then, he brought his fist down to attack her.
-CLANG!
But, before the final, pulverizing blow could be delivered to her skull...
Amanda, defying all laws of anatomy and shock, rolled violently to the side. She reached out with her single remaining right hand, grabbing a discarded, broken shield from the floor, and barely managed to parry the glancing edge of his fist. The impact shattered the shield and broke her arm, but it deflected the lethal force.
Slowly, agonizingly, dragging her mangled body, she began getting up again.
[Ho-how?!] Dratkthar shouted, genuinely stepping back in profound, unadulterated shock. [How can you still stand?! Your body is destroyed! This is biologically impossible!!!]
[Run! Princess, I said Run!] Amanda screamed, her voice a blood-curdling shriek. She didn't even bother replying to Dratkthar's disbelief. Her entire existence was now entirely focused on a single objective.
She slowly looked back over her shoulder at the paralyzed Princess.
[Run.] She commanded, her voice softening. Then, despite the missing hand, the broken bones, and the imminent, terrifying death looming over her, she offered Veronica another genuine, achingly beautiful smile.
[I promise you... I'll catch up, alright?] Amanda lied smoothly, her eyes filled with nothing but pure, unconditional maternal love.
The dream-version of Veronica, still sitting on the floor near Adelina, stared at her guardian.
[You-you promise, right? You promise you will catch up!] Dream-Veronica pleaded, her voice trembling as she frantically scrambled backward, grabbing the unconscious Adelina by the arms and hoisting the heavy girl onto her back.
Amanda gave a slow, firm nod to her desperate question.
The spectator Veronica, locked in the viewing event, knew the absolute truth. She knew Amanda wouldn't catch up. She knew Amanda was lying through her teeth to ensure her Princess evacuated without hesitation.
But... even knowing that, watching the scene unfold, spectator Veronica felt her own heart physically ache as she watched her dream-self desperately cling to that fabricated hope.
That fragile hope that—somehow, miraculously—both of them would escape this underground hell.
That both of them would survive this impossible nightmare.
That both of them would be able to return to the surface, heal their wounds, and at least live happily after experiencing this absolute trauma.
Dream-Veronica looked at Amanda's smiling face one last time. And then, slowly, agonizingly slowly... she started walking backward. Then, she turned, hoisted Adelina higher, and began slowly, and then frantically, running away down the dark corridor toward the glowing exit portal.
Behind the invisible wall, the real Veronica completely lost her mind.
"No! Go back!" Veronica screamed, slamming her bloody fists against the barrier. "She's lying! Don't believe her, please! Turn around! Help her!"
"Don't abandon her, please! You coward! You absolute, pathetic coward!" Veronica shrieked, actively cursing and hating her own past self for choosing survival over loyalty.
As the dream-version of Veronica disappeared down the tunnel, running and escaping into the dark, Dratkthar let out a low, rumbling chuckle.
[You are a monumental fool, human,] Dratkthar said, looking down at the broken, one-handed maid standing before him. [You know perfectly well that even if you delay me here, I can easily track her scent and find her in the upper levels.]
Amanda didn't offer him a reply. She didn't waste her breath on words. Rather, she simply raised her single, unbroken right arm, dropping into a final, unarmed martial stance, readying herself to die.
[Tsk. If you truly want to die so badly, then I will oblige!] Dratkthar roared, summoning the absolute peak of his demonic aura, wrapping his fists in localized black holes of gravity and fire.
[So be it!]
Then, the two figures clashed.
The vision violently glitched. The system did not show the actual death blow.
The scene shifted entirely again.
The spectator Veronica was abruptly pulled through the void, her perspective snapping to the dark, winding tunnels leading up to the surface.
She saw her dream-self running blindly. Dream-Veronica was panting, staggering under the dead weight of Adelina, her face completely covered in dirt and tears.
As she ran, the muffled, distant sounds of the battle echoed up the tunnel behind her. She heard the explosions. She heard the structural collapses.
And then... she heard Amanda's screams. Horrific, agonizing, prolonged screams of absolute, unimaginable physical torture as the Architect of Agony went to work.
Dream-Veronica squeezed her eyes shut as she ran, tears flying from her face into the darkness. She was hyperventilating, repeating a desperate, pathetic mantra in her head.
She hopes she survives.
She hopes she survives.
She hopes she survives.
She hopes...
The spectator Veronica, watching herself run, felt a cold, philosophical numbness wash over her panic.
...Survive?
What are we actually running for?
Why are we trying so desperately to survive, sacrificing the people we love to buy a few more minutes of life, if we can just stop, turn around, and accept our inevitable death right now?
What is the actual, tangible use of running, struggling, and weeping... if our ultimate fate has already been predetermined by a cruel, mocking destiny and fate?
Veronica asked herself these questions within the safety of her imaginary void. She knew that all of this was completely, utterly useless. Her dream-self escaping, her attempting to drag this unconscious commoner girl to safety to ease her own conscience... even Amanda's ultimate, bloody sacrifice. She knew, logically, that all of it was useless. They were all going to die anyway.
And yet... watching herself stumble forward, she still desperately, inherently wanted to cling to that pathetic shred of hope.
That impossible hope that they would all miraculously survive and emerge into the sunlight.
And then—
-BOOM!
The ground beneath Dream-Veronica's feet exploded violently, throwing her and Adelina hard against the cavern wall.
The Goddess did not hear her pathetic plea of hope. The universe remained indifferent.
When Dream-Veronica slowly opened her dazed eyes and looked up, the air turned to ice in her veins.
Standing directly in front of the exit portal, entirely blocking the only path to the surface, was Dratkthar. He was covered in deep wounds, panting heavily, but he was victorious.
The spectator Veronica watched in absolute, paralyzing horror as she noticed what the Demon General was holding in his massive, clawed hand.
She saw Dratkthar holding someone's severed head by its dark, blood-matted hair.
Dratkthar grinned a terrifying, jagged smile. He casually tossed the object forward.
Dratkthar threw that head directly at Dream-Veronica.
It bounced twice on the hard stone floor, rolling to a stop perfectly in front of her kneeling form.
Dream-Veronica's eyes trembled violently. Her jaw went completely slack. Her arms gave out, and she unceremoniously dropped Adelina's unconscious body onto the floor.
She slowly, numbly reached out with shaking, bloodstained hands.
She picked up the object. She held the head.
The severed head of her only mother figure.
Her absolute last, shining hope in this dark, cruel world.
Her everything.
Amanda.
Her guardian.
And her most trusted, beloved aid.
Amanda's slate-grey eyes were wide open, locked in an expression of eternal, frozen agony. Her pristine skin was bruised and marred, her elegant bun undone, her hair soaked in her own congealed blood.
[There. That's your precious, stubborn maid's head, right?!] Dratkthar's booming voice echoed in the tight tunnel, dripping with sadistic, mocking glee.
[Hah! Look at it! I command you to look at it!!!]
The spectator Veronica, pressed against the glass in the void, slowly slid to the floor, her mind completely and utterly breaking. She pulled her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth, a high, keening wail of absolute insanity escaping her lips as she watched herself cradle the severed head.
[Look at how incredibly foolish your loyal maid truly was!] Dratkthar taunted, stepping closer, his massive shadow falling over the broken Princess.
[Look at how entirely, utterly useless her pathetic sacrifice was in the end!]
He raised his flaming broadsword, the heat singeing the damp air of the tunnel.
[Now... it is finally your turn—]
[Princess Veronica!] Dratkthar's amber eyes gleamed maniacally with the anticipation of the final slaughter, drinking in the exquisite, intoxicating aroma of her total, absolute despair.
[This cold, dark place... will be your permanent funeral.]