The hologram flickered out, leaving Liam and Aria in suffocating silence. The ruins around them felt heavier now, the air thick with the weight of what they'd just learned.
Aria was the first to speak, her voice a blade in the dark. "They're farming us."
Liam stared at the golden orb in his palm—Soulbind, the SS-Rank skill they'd nearly died for. It pulsed like a trapped heartbeat. "And we just auditioned for the lead role."
A notification flashed:
[Skill Analyzed: Soulbind (SS-Rank)]
Effect: Temporarily fuse with a target's essence, borrowing their abilities.
Cost: For every minute bonded, lose a fragment of your own soul.
Warning: Overuse may result in becoming Hollow.
Liam's throat tightened. "Well. That's fantastic."
Aria snatched the orb from him. "We're not using this."
"Agreed. Unless—"
"No."
A distant rumble cut him off. The ground trembled, cracks spiderwebbing through the asphalt. From the horizon, a pillar of blue fire erupted, twisting into the shape of a serpent before dissipating.
[Astral Beacon Detected]
[Location: Sector 7 – Former Corporate Tower]
[Message: "The Show Must Go On."]
Liam's drone buzzed, zooming in on the skyline. The tower was a skeletal husk, its upper floors sheared off, but now it glowed with unnatural energy. Figures moved atop it—Astrals, their silhouettes distorted by rippling light.
Aria's grip on her staff turned lethal. "They're not hiding anymore."
Liam exhaled. "Guess we're going to Sector 7."
The city was a graveyard of broken illusions. Streets they'd navigated days ago were now warped, buildings melted like candle wax, gravity bending in pockets where the Astrals had "remodeled" for their games.
Aria stepped over a puddle that reflected a crimson sky instead of the ashen one above. "They're terraforming Earth into a stage."
Liam's boot sank into something fleshy. He recoiled—a Tutorial Reject, one of the early monsters, half-dissolved into the pavement like it was being recycled. "Or a soundstage."
A screech echoed from an alley. They turned as one, weapons raised.
Nothing. Then—
[Ambush: 6 Hostile Players – Level 12-15\]
The squad dropped from rooftops, their armor marked with Veyl's screaming mask sigil. No humans here—these were Astrals in stolen flesh, their movements too fluid, eyes glowing cobalt.
The leader grinned, lips splitting unnaturally wide. "The Arbiter wants you alive. But he didn't say how alive."
Liam activated Soulbind before Aria could stop him.
The world fractured.
Liam's consciousness tore in two—one half screaming in his body, the other pulled into the lead Astral's mind. For a second, he was them: a thousand years of conquering worlds, the thrill of the hunt, the contempt for these fragile humans.
Then the knowledge flooded in:
[Skill Theft: Shadow Rend (A-Rank)] – Claws that cut through dimensions.
[Weakness: Their cores are in the spine.]
Liam snapped back to his body, gasping. His nose bled, and his left eye wouldn't focus. Soulbind's timer ticked in his vision: 00:00:45 used 00:14:15 until Hollowing.
Aria was already moving, staff a silver streak. "You idiot"
The Astral lunged, their claws extended and Liam [Shadow Rended] through its chest.
Black lightning arced from his fingertips, shearing the Astral in half. Its core, a pulsating blue orb, shattered on impact.
The remaining Astrals froze.
Liam wiped his nose, grinning through the pain. "Surprise, assholes."
They arrived at the corporate tower as the sun died. The beacon's light painted everything in eerie cyan, revealing a path of floating debris leading upward—a makeshift staircase.
Aria grabbed Liam's wrist. "Your eye."
He blinked. His left pupil had dilated unnaturally, the iris now streaked with blue. Hollowing: 5%.
"Worth it," he lied.
The climb was a gauntlet. Gravity shifted, forcing them to leap between chunks of concrete that shouldn't hold weight. Halfway up, the debris moved, forming a bridge directly to the summit.
[Message: "We've been expecting you."]
The rooftop was a nightmare amphitheater.
Astrals lounged on floating thrones, their laughter like shattering glass. At the center stood Veyl, his mask repaired, flanked by two Hollowed players—their bodies half-shadow, mouths sewn shut with glowing thread.
And above them all, suspended in a cage of light, was Pandora's Box.
But it wasn't a box.
It was a heart.
Glistening, pulsing, veined with gold and black, it beat in time with Liam's own.
Veyl spread his arms. "The finale begins! Will our star survive the twist?"
Aria's whisper was venom. "We're leaving."
Liam's drone activated on its own.
[Livestream: Mandatory Broadcast]
[Viewers: 100,000 Astrals and counting…]
Veyl's grin widened. "Oh, little streamer. You don't get to walk away from the spotlight."