The cell where Neptune and Astariel had been was quiet. Too quiet to be normal.
Both silhouettes were gone.
Heavy footsteps approached. A tall, humanoid figure, unnaturally muscular, face hidden behind a mask, opened their door. It was time for another round in the arena. The Abomination scanned the cell, ready to throw the chain around the fighters' necks. But the cage was empty. Or so it seemed.
The beast summoned its war axe — still slick with blood — and stepped into the cage. A crucial mistake.
Two dark shapes dropped from the metal ceiling behind it. They crashed through the cell, slammed the iron door shut, and locked it with a bone-rattling bang.
The Abomination whirled, trapped in the prison that had once held Neptune and Astariel. It growled low, raking its claws along the bars, but neither of them looked back. They were already sprinting down the corridor, faces like stone.
"Rot in your own prison," Neptune spat.
Their plan had worked.
However, it was only the beginning.
They needed to find the control room, the hub that governed the cells and doors. From there they would find the secret button that opened a buried bunker at the far right corner of the Colosseum's prison. Down in that bunker lay a deadly maze… and a legendary charm. Astariel had told him about Nightmare King Gray's private vault: treasures hoarded by the Archdemon himself, and one artifact capable of turning the scales.
It wasn't going to be easy.
A shrill alarm screamed to life, ripping through the corridors. Red lights began to flash, painting the walls in urgent crimson.
"Have we already been caught?!" Neptune barked.
They tore past another row of cells. Doors were exploding open all along the block.
"What the hell is going on? Why are the doors opening? That wasn't supposed to happen!" Neptune shouted over the wail of the sirens.
Astariel shrugged, shouting back so he could hear. The lights stabbed at their vision; bright flashes blinded them for a heartbeat. The prison dissolved into motion and noise.
They ran. Through smoke. Past fallen bodies. Through the stench of blood and metal. Chaos was eating the Colosseum alive.
A stray Corrupted Creature lunged from a dark doorway, long, malformed tentacles waving like whips. Its silhouette vanished and reappeared in the strobing red light. The monster had escaped when the doors opened.
Tentacles lashed for them.
Neptune drew Crownbreaker and sliced tendrils cleanly in half. Astariel did the same using her claws. For some reason, Neptune felt much safer in the darkness than in the sunlight. This was probably due to his armor, which made him much stronger in the darkness.
They ducked a corridor, slid a sharp turn, and barreled toward the control room. Tentacles lashed again but another beast crashed into the corridor, colliding with the first with a bone-shaking impact. Growls, screaming, metal, and the alarm's keening, noise layered on noise. The prison had become a battlefield.
Sound hammered Neptune's head, but his charm, Predatory Instincts, pulled a thread of sense from the chaos. He sensed another creature beside him and swung his blade. Steel met something thick and wet with a terrifying thunk; the thing roared and reared back, but other beasts closed in, teeth and claws tearing at each other in the dark.
Dozens of shapes clashed, tearing and shredding in the red-lit corridors.
A massacre had broken loose.
They ran until at last they skidded to a halt before a heavy metal door. Astariel's face was calm, but her eyes were sharp with warning.
"The control room. Stand back!" she shouted above the din.
Neptune obeyed. She planted her foot and kicked the door with everything she had.
BOOM!
The door exploded inward.
They stumbled into a grey-stone chamber. Blood spattered one wall. The room was almost empty: a long carpet led to a wooden desk crowded with buttons of every color.
On the carpet lay a dead guard—masked, sad-faced, slashed to ribbons. Beside him stood the elf from before: Elion Vaesir. Blonde, handsome, armor spattered with gore. He looked at Neptune and Astariel with an irritating cocky grin.
Neptune swallowed when he realized who it was.
"You opened the cells, didn't you? Who are you?" Astariel demanded, claws extended.
Elion shrugged and shouted back, "I did. What are you going to do about it?"
Astariel's expression went darker. "Step away from the buttons, or we'll kill you," she hissed, voice cutting through the alarms.
Neptune grabbed her shoulder as she crept closer. "Astariel! Don't—he's stronger than we are. We can't take him now! We won't get the charm if we're crippled!" he shouted.
She hesitated, then nodded once.
Elion's face twisted into anger. "You think you can just waltz in and leave? I'm not going to miss the chance to behead both of you, rats!"
Neptune tightened his grip on Crownbreaker.
"Curses," he breathed.
Elion didn't hesitate. He exploded forward with impossible speed.
At the same moment, the concrete wall between the control room and the prison ruptured. A massive Corrupted Creature was hurled through the barrier, concrete shattering in a cloud of dust.
BOOM!
Stone and smoke filled the room. Neptune dropped to the floor to avoid flying debris, coughing. He blinked through the grit.
Astariel and Elion collided in a blurred storm of steel and shadow. Elion's strikes landed because of his insane speed, but Astariel's reflexes let her evade most of them. Their blades and claws sang a savage duet amid the wreckage.
"No way... No ordinary two Vessel bearer would fight like that. They are on a whole different level!"
Astariel spared Neptune a quick glance and shouted, "What are you standing there for, fool? Go find the charm! I'll keep him busy!"
Her voice cut through the chaos like a command.
Neptune hesitated. He could not leave her, she was holding a battle she likely couldn't survive.
But the plan was the plan.
They needed the charm.
He shook his head, forcing himself to be rational, and sprinted through the smashed wall of the control room into the ruined prison beyond.