The bile rose in Ariyama’s throat again, but he felt too cold and too hot to stop it. He lurched forward onto his hands and knees, vomiting over the floor.

  Tears mixed with his snot and vomit, and Ariyama let out an anguished cry. He wanted to die.

  Die and wake up. Die and wake up and then everything would be fine because everything was a dream – a nightmare – and nothing was actually real and Takemichi didn't actually just die in front of him.

  You promised you would protect me.

  Those were the words Takemichi was trying to say in his final moments, the look of shock and betrayal on his face burned into Ariyama's mind.

  He had.

  He had promised.

  And he had failed.

  “WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!”

  Yaranagi roared at the statue-like knight, thundering forward, fists clenched, tear bared like an animal.

  “YOU KILLED HIM! YOU BASTARD, YOU KILLED–”

  “Yaranagi-kun, watch out!”

  That was Matsune, and she ran after Yaranagi. Her eyes were wild and her cheeks were tear-stained. But somehow she had the resolve to keep going.

  Another vibration shook the room, and Ariyama fell on his ass. His breathing was wild and uneven, his fingers dragging painfully against the stone, leaving trials of his blood.

  But the stinging in his hands and in his elbows and knees wasn't anything compared to the pure distress he felt when he glanced at Takemichi, the poor boy's corpse pinned against the wall, the knight's sword still running him through.

  The world felt like it was about to collapse in on itself. Nothing was real, not the chill that ran down Ariyama's spine, nor the burning heat he felt rising from his core.

  Takemichi was dead.

  He would never move again.

  Ariyama fell to his knees, bile rising in his throat again. He couldn't move, even if he wanted to.

  Even as the knight pulled its blood-stained sword free from Takemichi's body, the boy flopping to the ground like a fish, the blood pooling beneath him.

  It stood at its full height, nearly twice the size of anyone in the room. As it moved, every crevice in its armor shedded rust and creaked like old furniture.

  As it rolled its neck, Ariyama finally felt something in his throat other than bile. It was a scream.

  He screamed.

  He screamed and fell back onto his hands, scurrying away from the scene, wanting to get away, wanting to leave this place and go home.

  “What the hell is happening!?”

  Ariyama paused his retreat, looking to his left, and he saw Yasami break away from Jack and begin pounding on the sealed concrete door.

  “Let us out! What did we do to deserve this? I SAID LET US–”

  Another horrible sound, like shrieking stone.

  A section of the ceiling over them opened up, and from it flew a swarm. The members of this massive infestation were like locusts, only with wings much bigger than their whole bodies, not to mention their faces.

  Grotesque, misshapen and vaguely human in characteristics. Every one of them let out a withering moan, wheezing like an old person but feral like a beast.

  Their disgusting looks made Ariyama's stomach do a flip, and he found himself rooted to the floor again, the blood in his veins freezing like ice water, his whole body rigid like a statue.

  As the swarm came down in a horrendous frenzy of buzzing and shrieking, Ariyama watched in silent terror as it charged for Yasami, still pounding away at the seal, his fists bloody. But, seemingly unsatisfied with their victim, the swarm suddenly changed its course and headed directly for Jack instead.

  The boy's droopy eyes widened with fear, his irises gleaming purple in light from the blue torches, as he tried to duck.

  The locusts seemed to fly harmlessly over him, but then they began exuding a weird yellow gas from their stingers. The spore-like mist descended over Jack, so thick that he was submerged in a sea of yellow.

  All Ariyama could hear was his coughing and strangled cries for help.

  As the room shook again, again, and again, Ariyama felt like curling up into a ball and letting whatever supernatural creature devour him.

  He'd never felt so scared in his life.

  Cold sweat ran down his neck, his teeth were chattering and his fingers were shaking so much that he couldn't even close them into fists.

  All of a sudden, there was a hand on his shoulder.

  Ariyama looked to meet the face beside him.

  Pretty. Black hair. Blue eyes.

  Matsune.

  Her face was twisted into shock, but also with a hint of determination, a trail of sweat down the side of her face, her mouth set in a straight line.

  From the start of all this, Ariyama had a gut feeling Matsune wasn't acting right. Like she knew something about this place, and as a result wasn't breaking down in fear due to a lack of knowledge on the situation, like everyone else was.

  “Matsune, what are you…”

  Ariyama spoke quietly and simply, his throat raw from screaming, his lips dry and cracked.

  Matsune only pushed him lightly to his knees.

  “It's going to be OK. Just stay there and don't move a muscle–”

  As she offered him words in a soothing but strained voice, over to their right, the massive knight moved again. Its joints groaned with age as it turned to face them.

  Ariyama's heart sank through the floor.

  But it paused there, if only for a moment, as if surveying them. It didn't stop for long, however, as it instantly broke into a quick sprint. Its tree trunk-like legs propelled it across to the middle of the room where the two of them were in just three strides.

  It was on them instantly, and Ariyama squeezed his eyes shut, knowing it would all be over soon, in one gruesome swing of that massive sword…

  But his thoughts of death vanished as he heard a reverberating clash of stone on metal. A bright spark lit up his eyelids.

  The impact made his heart jump so violently he thought it might burst. But it also compelled him to open his eyes, his breathing sharp and panicked.

  In that single moment in time, Ariyama took in the many things he saw before him.

  Matsune stood in a hunched stance, blocking the massive sword from cutting him open, her arm raised up, the aftermath of having seemingly thrown it up in a sharp arc.

  And her silver bracelet.

  The bracelet that always gleamed in an unearthly fashion was glowing once more, but know

  And that bracelet.

  Again, it glowed a brilliant purple hue.

  The massive stone knight stumbled slightly, its huge blade somehow parried from some other force.

  Then Ariyama saw it.

  Snaking out from the bracelet was a long chain that glowed purple, a kunai at its end. Moving to grip the chain in two hands, Matsune cried out with effort as she swung the luminescent chain down.

  It descended sharply and clipped against the knight's shoulder, missing its neck as it dogged out of the way.

  Ariyama's breath caught in his throat.

  It must have been a trick – some sort of illusion. A hallucination conjured up due to his vulnerable current mental state. He was likely just seeing things.

  After all, there was no way Matsune was doing something so… supernatural.

  But maybe it made sense…

  Just a few moments prior, Ariyama had caught a glimpse at her bracelet, as it glowed that same purplish color.

  And even before that, Matsune had been acting weirdly the whole night. Almost as if this was something she was as equally unnerved by – like everyone else – but also something she had some sort of advanced knowledge about.

  Ariyama had only even figured out that blood-color Shrine Gate from reading that history book. Had she a copy of the same one, and had just read more extensively than he did?

  Ariyama's mind was cluttered with way too many thoughts, and so he focused back on what was happening right in front of him, sweat running down his neck.

  Matsune had stumbled away from him slightly from the backlash from her magic chain weapon hitting off the stone armor of the knight. She righted herself and when she dashed back in front of him as a shield, she was like a panther, her agility inhuman and yet weirdly graceful.

  The sounds of everyone else screaming, of the whole room shuddering, of his own gasping breaths, seemed to fade away as Ariyama was pulled into a tunnel vision of just the battle between Matsune and the stone monster.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  The knight righted itself too, its joints groaning along with the spray of dust. From this distance, it looked like it was barely being kept apart, spiderwebs of cracks running up and down its armor.

  But from what Ariyama had seen before, that visual weakness meant nothing when it came to how quick and menacing the giant bastard actually was.

  Its right leg bent as it hunched over, holding its sword straight out in a two-handed grip.

  And, like a huge stone spearman, it charged like a bull towards Matsune, who had her back to Ariyama.

  All he could see was her dirtied and ripped coat, so Ariyama could only imagine the expression she was wearing. Was it one of conviction, of confidence, of fear?

  He had no way of getting an answer, and could only look on as she moved to meet the dashing form of the stone knight.

  For a second, he thought they would collide entirely, expecting to see Matsune erupt in a gorey mist of blood and body parts, dead on impact.

  Just like Takemichi.

  Just like Takemichi.

  No, don't think about him. Not now. Not–

  At the last possible moment, right before the impact, Matsune ducked and rolled beneath the tree trunk legs of the beast, her long chain whipping a fifteen feet line behind her as she avoided it.

  The knight faltered, skidding to a stop almost instantly. It raised its massive blade and twisted its rock hips sharply, spinning with unnatural speed behind itself, its sword striking down at the space Matsune stood.

  No.

  The place she had been standing at.

  She had miraculously avoided another fatal attack, now rolling to its right. As she got up in a crotch beside its right arm, she came back into full view, and Ariyama could make out her expression now.

  Teeth gritted, nostrils flaring, and her eyes…

  A mix of pure terror, pure exhilaration, and pure determination, among other things.

  Dirt and sweat clung to her but she stayed solid, even as she jumped back three meters with one leap.

  The attack the knight had just thrown had left its blade stuck halfway in the ground. Taking this opportunity, Matsune raced forward like a bullet, leaping onto the up-turned blade and running the length of its wide side. Reaching the hilt, she kicked off, twisting in midair, her chain curling and unfurling around her, as she plummeted towards its neck, ready to kill.

  But it seemed she wasn't the only one with a knack for miraculous last-second saves, as the monstrous knight let go of its sword handle and threw itself back, narrowly maneuvering past the purple slash that opened up the floor, spewing sparks and chunks of rock.

  Then it seemingly canceled all its backwards momentum instantly, and diverted it into forwards momentum, retaking its original spot in a fraction of a second and lashing out with its forearm.

  It hit Matsune with a loud crash and threw her off-course, her body flipping through the air before landing painfully on the stone floor about ten or so meters from where Ariyama kneeled, shivering and afraid.

  It was over. What little protection he had was gone now, and all he could do was accept his death and let the beast of the earth cut into him.

  Just as he was about to die, Ariyama became aware of a great many things.

  Of the fact he never got a chance to get a girlfriend – even if it wasn't his top priority –, of the fact his mother would now be alone without him or his father, of the fact he'd promised the meek Takemichi that he would protect him and yet failed spectacularly.

  Of the fact all of this was really his fault. If only he hadn't opened that goddamn door–

  The knight was there now, standing over him, sword already descending to eviscerate him.

  Ariyama closes his eyes as the stone blade reached him and–

  “SAATO!”

  Ariyama felt a big body crash into him, and his eyes flew open as Yaranagi tackled him out of a lethal cut from the sword. The blade still sliced him badly, opening a long gash down his arm, red seeping through his clothes.

  Ariyama grunted in white-hot pain as he landed on his injured arm, twisting and turning as he fell in a tangle of limbs with Yaranagi.

  The bigger of the two got up first, helping Ariyama to a seated position.

  Yaranagi spoke in a broken, shaken voice.

  “What the hell, dude? You can't just freeze up like that. Takemichi… Just don't think about that right now, OK? We need to get out of here before…”

  His breath hitched and he scrunched up his face, baring his teeth in frustration.

  “Damn it. I messed with the guy so much and now he's… gone.”

  Ariyama could see the look of pure disbelief and anguish in Yaranagi's eyes. He hadn't been as big an asshole to Takemichi as Jack had, but everyone knew he liked to intimidate and ‘fool around’ with him. But now the boy was dead, and Yaranagi had no chance to take it all back.

  Damn it, there he was again. Thinking of Takemichi, even though it helped nothing about the situation they were in. He and Yaranagi were curled up on the floor, Takemichi was dead, Matsune was fighting that stone giant with a glowing chain, Jack was gone somewhere in the haze of yellow gas that remained obscuring the right side of the room. As for Yasami, the whole time he had been banging on the sealed door, his fists bloody from trying to reach the stairs leading out of this place.

  “Let us the hell out of here! What kind of sick damn prank is this?”

  Did he really think this was one big prank, after all this? Ariyama almost laughed in hysterics at his idiocy.

  As Ariyama glanced at Yasami's direction for a moment, he could only watch in horror as the wall beside him exploded outwards all of a sudden, scattering dust and rock, the sound of crashing reverberating through the floor.

  Yasami cursed and stumbled away, hands raised to block the debris from hitting his face.

  And from that new hole in that wall came a long, fleshy thing, veiled by the darkness.

  But as it peeked out further and became illuminated by the blue light from the torches, Ariyama could make out its full form now.

  It was a massive tentacle, colored a hot pink riddled with veins and cuts. On its underside, it had stingers like an octopus.

  And then the tentacle noticed the cowering boy to its left.

  And it flew at him.

  And when Yasami was touched by those stingers, his whole body jolted violently like he had been electrocuted. Wide-mouthed, body stiff, eyes bulging, Yasami collapsed onto his back like a flesh and blood statue.

  Its prey neutralized and vulnerable, the hulking tentacle wrapped itself around Yasami's leg and whisked him away.

  And Oichi Yasami was dragged back in through the hole into the wall, unable to even scream as he was pulled into the tentacle's den.

  Ariyama was having difficulty breathing, his eyes glazed over due to his drained energy and his thundering heart.

  When Takemichi had died, Ariyama was screaming and crying and throwing up.

  But now that Yasami was dead, he felt nearly nothing, save for a dull throb in his chest. Yasami had been an asshole and a tool – a pawn – used by Jack. He was big and dumb and could only talk with his fists hitting innocent flesh.

  But he also had a family, Ariyama knew. He knew he had a mother and a father, and a little sister, who was the only person he actually loved.

  He was a bad person, but he was still young. He could've been saved, been redeemed.

  But now his life was cut short by just another of the mystical and terrible creatures that resided in this ‘Shrine’.

  The massive stone knight, the swarm of locusts dispensing esoteric yellow gas, and now a massive tongue-like tentacle with stingers that render the human body function-less.

  All of it didn't seem real – none of it could be real. Just that morning, Ariyama had been worrying about homework and Jack being a jerk to his friends, and now, not a day later, he was fighting for his life in an underground structure against fantasy-like creatures of all variations.

  “...to… aato… SAATO!”

  It was Yaranagi. His voice was pained and distant, as if he was screaming from the opposite side of a cavern.

  Ariyama gasped, inhaling the dusty air of the Shrine, suddenly able to feel his body again after losing focus. The warm rush of blood through his veins, the hurtful pounding of his heart, the slight weight of his chattering teeth in his mouth.

  “Y-Yasuke? That was Yasami. He's dead now… just like–”

  “Shut up! Don't talk about that now. How many times do I have to tell you? Come on, we have to move now–”

  And in that moment, Ariyama realized what Yaranagi was talking about.

  The stone knight was back, diving from them in an almost desperate state, swinging its sword wildly. It seems to be slowly losing its calm and imposing nature from before, descending into something with more bestial qualities.

  “Oh, I see..”

  Ariyama spoke with such calmness and indifference that he scared himself. But why did it matter? Why did any of this matter? Two, maybe three, of them were already dead. Now it was just Ariyama and Yaranagi about to be cleaved by that massive sword with nothing to defend themselves.

  Well, they had nothing.

  But not no one.

  Speeding like a swan diving for a fish in water, Matsune came into view out of nowhere, clothes tattered and skin dirtied. She planted herself between the two of them and the knight, twisting her hips and bringing her mystical chain and kunai around in a sharp arc.

  The kunai hit the tip of the stone blade and deflected the blow. A long crack ran down the saber held in the knight's hand, almost reaching the hilt and breaking the blade in two.

  A low, crunching growl came from under its earthen helmet, and Ariyama could feel the deadly glare from its invisible eyes.

  Matsune righted herself again, chest heaving from no breath in her lungs, slight shoulders shaking.

  Ariyama had a faint view of her face, and he was surprised at just how different she looked.

  In school, she did of course take part in many sports and athletic-themed clubs, so she wasn't unfamiliar with getting a little sweaty, even if she held herself with such natural and casual beauty while in classes.

  But now, in the middle of all this, she didn't look like a schoolgirl or even an average teenage girl.

  She looked like a warrior, the look in her eyes showcasing some sort of experience and knowledge of the situation.

  But even from the start, Ariyama knew she had that experience and knowledge, even if he didn't want himself to believe it.

  “What is she?”

  Yaranagi spoke quietly through gritted teeth, more of a question to himself than anything else. Matsune was known by everyone as that perfect girl, after all.

  As Matsune Sasya continued her desperate last assault on the knight, Ariyama couldn't even feel his legs anymore. He wouldn't have been surprised if he had looked down to see they had been unknowingly chopped off at some point, and his panicked adrenaline was the only thing keeping him conscious.

  But he was lucky, because Yaranagi was there, like he always was.

  “Let's move.”

  Yaranagi's voice was more reserved now, the fury he had shown before sapped from him. While on shaky knees himself, he got Ariyama to his feet, wrapping his non-injured arm over his broad shoulders and dragging him back, further to the opposite end of the room.

  As Ariyama looked up, he made out that pedestal through the blue haze, and the fractured sword that hovered slightly off its surface.

  He let out a little gasp, as much as the air in his lungs could muster. That sword…

  They had no defense whatsoever, except for Matsune and all her acrobatics and her fantastical chain weapon. So if they could just reach that blade, maybe they could have a sliver of a chance at defending themselves. Not from anything like the stone knight, obviously, but at least they could fight back against something smaller, like if those grotesque locusts decided to return to spew more toxic gas at them.

  “Yasuke, that sword…”

  “Already on it, Saato. Stay close, OK?”

  Yaranagi's voice was still sounding as gruff as ever, and in the light of the blue torches, Ariyama thought he could make out a shine of tears brimming in his eyes. Tears of frustration or tears of sadness, he didn't know.

  As the two of them hobbled, silently but at a quick pace, towards the sword, the sounds of battle dying out behind them. Matusme was fighting for her life, and what could Ariyama do? Jackshit, that's what.

  But she was clearly more equipped for this situation, despite how freakish of a situation it was.

  His breath was wheezing through his chest, the wound in his arm burning like it was on fire.

  But still Ariyama Saato trudged on, hanging off Yaranagi's broad frame, his own state of mind not much better.

  Within a few moments of walking at their brisk pace, they finally reached the end of the steps leading up to the pedestal. And hovering above that pedestal; the broken sword. Their one chance at defending themselves.

  “Go.”

  Yaranagi spoke in a strangled tone, sweat beading down his face. Ariyama frowned up at him, holding onto his bloody injury.

  “What are you on about? I'm the one with a sword wound and you're fine. A little shaken, maybe, but not–”

  Ariyama's words died on his lips as he saw the look on Yaranagi's face, his eyes. His scarlet eyes were widened with a fear Ariyama couldn't begin to imagine. It made his heart miss a beat.

  Yaranagi Yasuke, the thug who was always acting hard and extraverted and confident, but now was shivering on the spot, unable to even walk a few steps.

  Ariyama wasn't the only one reeling from all the death and trauma suffered today.

  Swallowing thickly, his tongue dry and heavy in his mouth, Ariyama rasped.

  “You know what? It's OK, I got it. Just stay here and… don't die, I guess.”

  Untangling himself from Yaranagi's bone-breaking grip, Ariyama ascended the half dozen steps towards the pedestal. Every step made him feel like his knees were going to cave in and make him fall back onto his neck.

  But through all the tribulation, he persevered.

  Ariyama let out an audible moan as he reached the top, leading over the pedestal, staring down at the floating sword.

  He only noticed it now, but as he had been scaling the steps, the temperature in the air was going higher and higher. At the end of the steps, it was as cold as it was before, but now, as he stood over the sword, Ariyama felt some burning iridescent glow on him that he couldn't see, but just felt.

  He turned around, looking down the steps to where Yaranagi stood rigidly. Ariyama managed a defeated smile.

  “Yo, Yasuke, I've got it–”

  There was massive boom, so loud the whole room shook, and Ariyama's heart nearly burst out of his chest as he saw the floor splinter like wood and Yaranagi stumble into one of the fissures, half of his body disappearing down the gap before he reached out to grab the ledge.