"Uh...?" Nara's eyes widened, staring at the massive wall of gold that gleamed before him. Alpha stood behind it, hands on hips, grinning like she'd just saved the world.
"The plan worked. And just in time," she said, turning to Nara with a wink.
He let out a deep sigh, relief washing over him as the memory of the plan played back in his mind.
...
"We can't beat that demon with brute force alone. Its skin is basically a walking fortress, and worse—it always sees me before I reach the seal," Nara said, resting against the wall, hand on his chin like some strategic genius.
"So, what do we do?" Alpha asked, eyes flicking between Nara and the demon with mild concern and mild boredom.
"That's where gold comes in!" Nara said, slamming his fist into his palm with enthusiasm.
"Tch." Alpha clicked her tongue.
"Also... I'll need your help. You and the gold."
"Yeah, yeah," Alpha waved him off lazily. "As long as I get the pass," she added with a sly grin.
"Arrgh," Nara sighed, exasperated but focused. His gaze locked on the demon.
'I've studied how this thing fights. If my hypothesis is right... this plan is the perfect counter!' Nara thought, puffing his chest out like he'd just solved world hunger.
"Oi!" Alpha interrupted, shooting him a flat look.
"Oh, right!" Nara chuckled, scratching the back of his head.
Then his tone dipped serious. "This is the plan."
"After fighting it, I've figured something out."
"What's that?" Alpha leaned in, interest piqued.
"It can only target one person at a time."
"Huh?" Alpha blinked.
"In all the fights so far, it's only ever focused on me. Not once has it attacked you."
"Hmm..." Alpha tapped her chin. "Maybe it's 'cause I'm cute?" she said, tossing her hair.
Nara stared at her flatly.
"Get real."
Alpha pouted.
"So here's the trick... we confuse it," Nara said, raising a finger like some professor.
Alpha's eyes lit up. She clapped, the sound echoing throughout the room.
Nara stood tall, arms on his waist like a god descending from the heavens. "Yeah, yeah... I know..." he said, cheeks faintly flushed.
Then Alpha stopped clapping. "Nice speech, but I don't get how that helps."
"Ah?! Then why'd you clap?!"
"Hmph. I just wanted to make a musclehead happy."
Nara staggered as if struck by lightning.
"Musclehead...?"
The word echoed through his soul.
'That must've been why Ken abandoned her,' he thought dramatically.
"Ahem," he cleared his throat. Alpha looked away with faux innocence.
"So how do we confuse it, genius?"
"With gold," Nara said, now back in full strategist mode.
"Polished gold isn't a perfect mirror, but it reflects well enough. So if we surround the demon with a gold wall, the reflections will multiply."
Click.
Alpha's eyes sparkled.
"Wait... you mean—"
"Exactly," Nara cut in. "Surround it with reflections so it can't tell which is real. It'll be too confused to target anyone."
"Whoa! That's genius!" Alpha beamed.
"However..." she added, brow furrowing, "it could just blow everything up with one of those creepy orbs."
Nara smirked.
"Got that covered."
"How?"
"Tenzen harmonizes at different frequencies with different metals, but gold has the rare ability to absorb and reflect, making it the ideal candidate. We reinforce the gold with tenzen. If we pump it full until it overflows, any anti-tenzen the demon fires will be neutralized by the residual tenzen escaping the structure."
Alpha nodded, impressed. "You really thought this through."
Nara grinned sheepishly. "Hehe... yeah... totally me..."
In his mind:
'Hina actually explained this when I almost got blown to pieces in Blackthorn Forest...'
A memory of him coughing dust, buried under rubble, flashed. He shivered.
'Eeeeh... I never want to experience that again.'
"So... who's gonna do the tenzen filling?" Alpha asked casually.
Nara blinked. "Shouldn't you already know that?"
...
Back to the present
"Yeah... just in time," Nara echoed, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
'It was all thanks to Alpha,' he admitted internally.
'She's literally a tank. Her tenzen reserves are insane—like two first-grade sorcerers smashed together... shame she has no clue how to use it.'
"What an irony," Nara muttered.
He walked up to Alpha, who stood opposite the golden wall.
"Let's wrap this up," he said, eyes glowing red.
***
The whole room laid in ruins, blood and debris everywhere, and at the center of it all, stood Khalzheroth; the tormenter, and the figure.
"Ohh..." Khalzheroth muttered, taking two steps back, eyes narrowing at the figure ahead.
'This human... I didn't even sense him until he struck.'
A twisted grin crept across his face.
'This might actually be... interesting.'
The smoke slowly cleared, and a low, rumbling growl echoed through the chamber.
Grrrrrrrr...
At first, it sounded like some hulking beast—but then the figure stepped out of the haze.
And it wasn't a monster.
"Arrgh..." Ken groaned, hunched over. His back was curved, his tattered clothes clung to a body smeared in blood, dirt, and exhaustion.
His black hair was soaked in dried blood, eyes sunken and distant—like he hadn't slept in days.
Khalzheroth's mouth twitched. "Ugh...?"
Ken's gaze drifted around slowly, pained. He looked at the floor—the sinew, the torn flesh, the blood-soaked remains—and then his eyes landed on something nearby.
An eyeball.
But instead of horror, hunger bloomed in his eyes.
"Is... is that egg?!" Ken exclaimed, eyes lighting up with an unnatural glint, mouth open as a drop of drool slipped down his chin.
"...What?" Khalzheroth blinked.
"Egg!" Ken shouted with glee, stumbling toward it with outstretched arms.
But—
CLANK!!
A loud, metallic clash rang out.
Ken reeled back, sword now raised in defense, a fresh cut bleeding across his cheek.
He blinked, touched the wound... and laughed softly.
"Oi, oi, oi..." he growled, wiping the blood away with the back of his hand. His voice dropped low.
"Is that how you welcome a guest, uh? And most importantly, that egg's mine! I'm not sharing it with you..."
His stomach growled again, long and thunderous.
His dark gaze locked on Khalzheroth.
"Unless you really want to die that bad," he whispered, the words soaked in venom.
The air grew heavier.
An ominous aura unfurled from Ken's broken, starved form—an invisible pressure that made even Khalzheroth take a slow step backward.
'What... is this?'
Khalzheroth's grin faltered.
'This human... Something's wrong. He's...'
A bead of sweat rolled down Khalzheroth's face.
'He's absolutely empty.'
'No tenzen. No power signature. Not even a soul-level presence. He's a walking corpse on the edge of life.'
But he had blocked Khalzheroth's attack.
'That's impossible... An entity without tenzen cannot exist...'
And yet, there he was.
Clutching two blades, bleeding, dying, and smiling.
Khalzheroth's mind raced.
'Why do I feel this? I...I shouldn't?'
His red eyes widened, and for the first time in his long, sadistic life...
Khalzheroth felt fear.
***
TBC