The staircase spiraled downward, its steps worn smooth by time and footsteps long forgotten. Kai led the way, torch held low, its flame throwing long shadows across the walls. Cana followed close behind, the rope between them slack but present, a quiet reminder that in this place, separation was a luxury they couldn't afford.
The deeper they went, the more the ruins changed.
Above, the walls had been rough stone and natural cavern. Here, they were deliberate—carved blocks fitted together with precision, wooden beams reinforced with metal brackets long since rusted. It felt less like a cave and more like the buried heart of a city.
Murals lined the walls.
At first, they were familiar—people gathered around symbols, building homes, celebrating harvests. But as they descended, the tone shifted. The figures grew thinner. The symbols multiplied, crowding the stone. Faces that once smiled now stared wide-eyed, mouths open in silent screams.
Cana slowed her steps. "These are…getting worse"
Kai hummed quietly. "Yeah..."
She glanced at him. "That doesn't sound comforting coming from you."
Further down, the murals became frantic—people who once built and danced now running, clutching their heads, collapsing mid-step.
Dark shapes loomed over them, abstract at first, then sharper, more defined. One carving showed a massive hollow shape at the center of a spiral, lines drawn from people into it.
Cana swallowed. "That thing again."
Kai nodded, eyes narrowed. "Same symbols we saw before but with a new variable."
They moved on.
Soon, the air changed.
It smelled different—not just old stone and dust, but sweat. Metal. Oil. The faint coppery tang of blood.
Cana noticed first. "Kai… do you smell that?"
He stopped instantly, torch lifting. "Yeah."
Footprints appeared in the dust—boots, human. Some staggered. Some dragged.
"The archeological team ,did they come this way?" Cana asks softly.
Kai just nods ,"That should be the case."
They followed the trail, tension coiling tighter with every step. Broken equipment littered the ground—discarded packs, snapped tools, drained lamps.
Then they saw them.
The archaeological team lay scattered across a wide chamber, bodies slumped against walls or sprawled across the floor.
There were seven of them.
All alive—Kai could tell.
Barely."
Cana rushed forward, kneeling beside the nearest man. "Hey—hey! Can you hear me?"
No response.
She shook him gently. Nothing.
Kai crouched beside another, fingers pressing against a wrist. "He's alive," he muttered. "Barely."
Their magic was gone. Not suppressed—empty. Like drained containers. Even their equipment looked wrong, metal warped and cracked as if brittle.
Cana's voice trembled. "Kai… we need to take them outside to doctor but we can't carry all of them like this."
"Dont worry we can drag them." he added quietlly.
He straightened, jaw tight, then reached into his pouch.
Cana blinked as he pulled out a flute.
Her eyes widened. "Kai—what is tha—"
"Modified Lullaby ," he said. "Don't freak out i already showed you what it does."
He placed it to his lips and played.
The sound that emerged was nothing like the death-song of legend. It was soft, low, vibrating through the chamber like a heartbeat. Warmth spread through the air, subtle but present.
Cana felt it immediately—her aches fading, fatigue lifting slightly. Scratches she hadn't noticed knitting closed.
But it was slow. Weaker than before—like the song itself was being starved.
Kai grimaced as he played, sweat beading at his temple. The drain hit him harder—his shoulders sagged, breath hitching.
Still, the wounded remained unresponsive confining his doubts.
Kai lowered the flute, breathing hard. "Wierd…"
Cana steadied him. "That helped, didn't it?"
"Enough to confirm that they aren't physically harmed," he replied. "Not enough to wake them , just check their bodies see if you find a report or something."
Cana nods checking over them while kai went to the leftover people.
As they both were searching kai empties a bag from one to the people causing several objects to fall as he grabs a leather-bound notebook from one of the fallen packs, flipping through quickly.
"These are the research notes" he calls to cana before continuing. "It seems they found some kind of core mechanism—structure beneath the ruins. It's drawing in ethernano towards one direction from everywhere like feeding something."
Cana felt a chill. "Something like… that thing in the murals?"
"Proabably."
He snapped the book shut calmly, " Alright we got what we came for now we just need to get them out , help me tie them up."
They began preparing—binding arms, testing weight—when Kai froze.
Every instinct screamed.
"Cana—move!"
He shoved her sideways just as something slammed into him from the dark.
The impact was monstrous.
Kai flew backward, crashing through stone walls like paper, debris exploding around him. The torch skidded across the floor, light spinning wildly.
"KAI!" Cana screamed.
Something moved in the dust.
A shape rose—tall, hunched, grotesque. It was humanoid in the loosest sense, skin blackened and stretched tight over a massive frame. Claws scraped against stone. Its face was a hollow mask, eyes empty pits, mouth split wide in a perpetual scream.
It screeched.
The sound pierced Cana's skull and froze her blood in place.
She stumbled back, hands shaking as she threw her cards.
"Card Magic: Thunder Bolt—!"
The spell struck the creature squarely—
—and slid off it like rain.
Harmless.
Her breath caught. "What—?"
The monster lunged.
Cana barely had time to scream before cloth wrappings snapped around the creature's torso, yanking it backward with violent force.
Kai emerged from the dust, blood running down his temple, eyes blazing.
He vaulted over the creature, twisting the bindings and using its momentum to *hurl* it down the corridor. It smashed into the wall, stone cracking outward.
Cana sagged in relief. "Kai your bleeding—!"
He didn't look at her. He grabbed her arm, grip iron-tight.
"We need to run."
She stared at him, heart pounding. "But the team—!"
"We can't fight that thing here," he snapped. "This place will eat our magic alive. Grab what you can for now!"
They quickly grabbed the book and some badges before running.
"Kai—are you injured ?!"
Cana's voice cracked as she struggled to keep pace with him, boots skidding over loose stone and broken debris. She glanced back only once—and wished she hadn't. The corridor behind them seemed to breathe, dust and darkness churning as something massive moved within it.
Kai didn't slow. His grip on her wrist remained firm, grounding, even as blood trickled down from his hairline and stained the collar of his already torn clothes.
"I managed to reduce most of the impact using feather fall" he muttered, breath controlled but tight. "But now is *not* the time to talk just run."
Before Cana could argue, a screech ripped through the air—far closer than before.
It wasn't just loud. It was *wrong*. The sound vibrated through bone, clawed into the mind, dragged terror up from places Cana didn't know she had.
Her heart lurched. "It's coming—!"
The thing burst from the shadows, moving with terrifying speed for something so large. Stone cracked under its feet as it launched itself forward, claws tearing gouges through the walls as it closed the distance.
Kai cursed under his breath and increased his pace, practically dragging Cana with him. But the difference between them was cruelly obvious—his movements were sharp, economical. Hers were frantic, uneven.
The creature was gaining.
Cana felt it before she saw it—air splitting, pressure building behind her.
"Kai—!"
He growled and yanked her to the side just as shadows exploded outward from his body, thick and twisting like living smoke. He planted his foot, turned, and let the creature crash into him
But instead of being overwhelmed, Kai used feather fall to reduce the impact before using its large size to his advantage.
He twisted with the momentum, shadows reinforcing his limbs as he caught the creature's mass and hurled it sideways down the corridor. Stone shattered as the monster slammed through a wall and vanished into rubble.
Cana stumbled, barely staying upright. "What—what *is* that thing?!"
Kai didn't answer.
Because the creature didn't stay down.
A claw burst through the debris, anchoring itself into the floor. With a screech, it pulled itself free and charged again, barely slowed.
"Damn it," Kai hissed.
Cana panicked, cards already flying into her hands. "Get back!"
She flung one forward, wind magic erupting into a violent blast that slammed into the creature—
—and did nothing.
The air bent around it, force dispersing uselessly against its blackened hide. The monster didn't even flinch.
Cana froze. "…It ignored it."
Before she could react further, Kai vanished.
The shadows beneath his feet folded inward, swallowing him whole.
The creature lunged again—
—and Kai reappeared beside it in the same heartbeat, unseen, unheard.
The kick came fast and brutal.
Kai slammed his foot into the side of the creature's knee, the joint bending the wrong way with a sharp *crack*. The monster roared, collapsing partially as it tried to turn—
—but Kai was already moving.
"Not this time," he muttered.
He stepped inside its reach, body blurring as he drove a precise kick into its side.
"**Shadow Monk Arts: Piercing Echo Strike.**"
The impact itself was devastating—but worse came a split second later when the creature tried to attack again.
A second strike echoed from within the creature's body, invisible force detonating outward. The monster was launched back again, smashing into the wall with enough force to fracture stone.
It screeched, rage and pain tearing from its hollow throat.
Cana stared, breath caught. "Kai—!"
But even that wasn't enough.
The creature rose again, body already knitting itself back together. The broken joint snapped into place. Cracks sealed like clay smoothed by unseen hands.
Kai clicked his tongue. "Fucking tank it's eating my attacks."
As if responding to his words, the monster surged forward again, jaws opening wide as claws came down toward him.
Kai rolled away just in time.
An explosion detonated behind the creature—Cana's magic, another card bursting into flame and force.
But the blast was weak.
Drained due to the ruins.
The monster rushed at her, irritated more than injured, and lunged for her.
Cana screamed and stumbled back, heart hammering. "My magic— why it's not working!"
Kai's eyes snapped to her.
A magic circle flared beneath his feet, dark and sharp-edged ' internal magic is working ok'.
"**Shadow Monk Arts: Body Strengthening.**"
Steam poured from his skin as his muscles tensed and swelled, veins standing out beneath shadow-wrapped flesh. The air around him distorted as his presence *changed*—heavier, denser, like gravity itself had bent toward him.
He vanished.
In an instant, Kai appeared behind the creature and grabbed its leg just as it swung at Cana. The strike missed her by inches, slamming into the ground and pulverizing stone.
Cana leapt back, gasping.
Kai roared and *swung* the monster by its limb, slamming it into the floor with brutal force. The impact cracked the ground outward in a spiderweb pattern.
The creature kicked violently, claws raking across Kai's arm. He released it and rolled away as it surged up again.
But now—he could keep up.
Kai sidestepped a wild swipe, grabbed the extended arm, and used it as leverage to leap upward. He landed on the creature's shoulders, shifting to its back in a fluid motion.
He drove his elbow down.
Hard.
The hollow eye socket collapsed inward as the monster slammed face-first into the ground.
Cana covered her mouth in horror.
Kai didn't stop.
He drew his elbow back again, shadows condensing around it.
"**Shadow Monk Arts: Piercing Echo Strike.**"
The blow detonated downward.
Stone shattered. Walls buckled. The ground itself collapsed beneath them as the echo ripped through the structure. The creature shrieked—a sound filled with something close to real pain.
It twisted around and lashed out blindly with a claw swipe.
Kai flipped over the strike, twisting midair before bringing his heel down in a brutal axe kick straight into its skull, driving it deeper into the broken floor.
He landed lightly, already turning back toward Cana.
"Run," he snapped, grabbing her arm.
She stared at him, eyes wide, shaking. "Kai—my magic isn't working on it!"
"I know," he said grimly, already pulling her forward. "This place is already weakening our magic outside our body and that thing's likely immune to most magic. Its body's too dense—too reinforced. Normal spells won't pierce it. Big spells *might*, but this place is draining us."
Cana swallowed hard. "Then… I shouldn't use magic?"
"Unless it can actually break through," he said. "Using it just drains us."
Her blood ran cold.
Behind them, stone cracked again.
The creature stood up once more, its body repairing itself as it turned its hollow gaze toward them and charged—faster than before it's screech echoing in the entire place.
Kai looked back once, irritation flashing across his face.
It was gaining.
And Cana was slowing.
Even if he carried her, it wouldn't be enough.
He growled, exhaling sharply as steam poured from his body once more.
"We can't outrun it," he said. "We escape another way."
Cana stopped with him, heart pounding. "Tell me what to do."
Kai's eyes locked onto the approaching monster.
"I'll immobilize it," he said calmly. "On my count—prepare a strong blast . Destroy the roof and walls over it. Don't hold back."
Before she could respond, he vanished again.
He appeared directly in front of the creature, too close for it to react.
Kai slammed a kick into its right knee.
The joint snapped.
The monster collapsed to one knee, screeching as it reached for him—
—but Kai disappeared into the shadows again.
He reappeared behind it, spear already in hand. He drove it straight through the back of the creature's left leg, pinning it to the ground.
It howled in agony.
Kai cursed as he saw the flesh already starting to mend.
His wrappings lashed out, binding the creature tightly as he dragged it bodily through the wall, stone exploding outward. With a roar, he hurled it down the corridor.
"NOW, CANA!"
She didn't hesitate.
She flung a card toward him. Kai caught it midair and hurled it upward.
The explosion ripped through the ceiling.
Everything collapsed.
Stone, wood, dust—an avalanche of ruin crashed down as Kai sprinted back to Cana ,scooping her up as he ran, steam rising from his body cana could feel how much his body was warming up the blood flow everything. He didn't look back, punching through walls, kicking apart stone, sealing paths behind them with raw force.
Corridor after corridor collapsed.
Cana clung to his back, eyes squeezed shut, unsure how long they ran.
Then suddenly—Kai stumbled.
He fell forward, sliding across the rough stone floor before stopping hard. Cana tumbled over him, gasping as she scrambled upright.
Steam faded from Kai's body as he lay there, breathing heavily his body unmoving, tired.
Cana looked around.
Every path was sealed.
Collapsed.
Blocked.
She exhaled shakily and whispered, "We're… safe."
For now.