The creature watched, frozen as Ryven yanks an Odachi out of the rift.
His fingers trembled as his arms waned under the weight of the gigantic blade.
Its edge was extremely long, easily five feet of curved steel that gleamed with an otherworldly sheen, its edge seemingly catching light that didn't even exist in this void. Greyish black wrappings spiral down along the dark, elongated handle, and along the blade's surface, he could make out a few faint etchings that seemed to shift and writhe like living shadows as he moved the blade.
The weapon felt incredibly heavy, and almost impossible to balance with Ryven's weak body.
Weirdly enough, the weapon seemed to release some heat from its hilt, pulsing through his hands and up his arms, settling in his chest like a second heartbeat.
The spider's multiple eyes narrowed, all six crimson orbs focusing on the blade.
It was then that the air shifted.
A stillness so total it felt manufactured. Even the endless void around him seemed to freeze.
Then it came, a sound so deep and ancient it seemed to ring through bone, not air.
A bell.
Not a cow bell, nor any metal cast by human hands.
This one boomed like a heartbeat through stone, through void, and through reality itself.
Each toll sent vibrations crawling across the ground, cracking the false horizon.
The homeless man's lips continue to stretch into a large sideways crest.
"So you can hear it?" The spider asked. "How miraculous."
Approaching closer, the creature continued to speak.
"The Death Knell echoes." The spider whispers, dragging itself upright on jagged limbs. "It seems like I've let you linger for too long as the bells of St. Dunwyn's in the waking world have begun to ring."
It tilted its head, listening, the sound almost reverent. "When their chime crosses into this plane… it means that our time is nearly spent."
Another toll shook the air, louder, closer.
The void around them fractured like glass. Light bled from the cracks, forming ribbons that snaked toward Ryven's feet.
The spider's mouth stretched into a grin far too wide for a human face.
"I advise you to pray, for you will soon meet your god."
Confused, Ryven stares back up at the spider, yet it is already gone.
His eyebrows raises in surprise as he rushes to lift his Odachi, slashing upwards at the falling beast.
Its legs slam down like an executioner's axe, trying to cut through its victims neck.
The weight of the spider smashes down upon the scrawny teen who seemed far too weak to resist it.
Coming in contact with one of the spider's legs, sparks form in the air as the chitin clashes with cold metal.
Overpowering him, Ryven is knocked to the ground as a second leg flashes down before his eyes.
Panicking, he quickly rolls to his side, the Odachi flailing with him as he dodges its leg.
Jumping back to his feet, he watches as the spider lands before him, no longer bearing any trace of the man it once pretended to be. It looks nothing like a human anymore, only an arachnid with its hairy, and chitinious body. It was just like the spiders he had always feared, just much bigger, and far more intimidating
It lurches forward, legs blurring, a flurry of glinting black shapes. Ryven stumbles, twisting his torso and swinging his Odachi wide like one would a baseball bat. The weapon's large curve seemed to pull against him, his wrists jolting as steel blocks chitin.
At the moment of collision and resistance, Ryven quickly twists his body once again, turning his blade over and swinging like a whirlpool. The Odachi screams through the air, its momentum building as he spins. The blade catches one of the spider's legs mid-strike, and this time, it digs deep. The creature screeches, and for a moment, it even seems killable.
The bell rings again, this time causing white cracks that look more like frozen thunder to appear all over the fake city's concrete sidewalks, roads, walls, and even the black void above.
Pulling the Odachi back, Ryven was leaning forward, hands on his knees. He was tired. Yet the creature was hurt.
The spider recoils, its previously expressionless face scrunching as it hisses at him.
Hearing the bell ring again, the cracks getting even bigger, the spider stares back once again at Ryven.
"Die. Please die." It mumbled, jumping at Ryven again, yet this time, it was far slower.
By now, Ryven realized that something was wrong. 'Why was it so desperate to kill me now?' He wondered, jumping backwards. 'And why does it seem so much weaker?'
Continuing to dodge back, the answer hit him like ice water.
The bell. The cracks. The spider's desperation.
It wasn't trying to kill him because it wanted to, it probably needed to kill him before the last toll of the bell.
"Just die." The spider hissed again, lunging with jerky, uncoordinated movements.
Yet that didn't explain as to why the creature was getting weaker.
As another leg flashed at him, Ryven realized that he had no time to think about this. He just needed to gamble with his life on the line.
He turned and ran.
The Odachi dragged behind him, its tip scraping against the concrete as he bolted down the crumbling street. His lungs burned, his legs screamed in protest, but he didn't stop.
Behind him, the spider shrieked as it bolted after him.
"DON'T RUN FROM ME BOY!"
The skittering of its legs echoed through the void, faster than he expected, but not as fast as before. It was weakening, and Ryven's confidence was rising.
Another toll shook the world.
BONNNNNG.
The buildings to Ryven's left collapsed inward, crumbling into nothing. Not rubble. Not dust. Just… gone. Erased. The white cracks spread like wildfire across every surface, consuming the fake city block by block.
Ryven vaulted over a fractured curb, nearly tripping as the ground beneath him buckled. A streetlamp dissolved into particles of light as he passed it.
The spider was right behind him, legs slamming into the pavement with wet, desperate thuds.
"FIGHT ME!" It screamed, its scratch loud and cluttered with a mix of clicks.
Ryven didn't respond. He couldn't. All his focus was on moving forward, on staying ahead, on surviving just a little longer.
The bell rang again.
BONNNNNG.
The entire street vanished beneath his feet.
Ryven yelped, falling, but not into nothing. He landed hard on a floating shard of concrete, a jagged piece of the city that hung suspended in the cracking void. All around him, the fake world was disintegrating. Buildings, roads, the black sky, all of it broke apart into enormous fragments that drifted in the darkness like shattered glass.
The spider landed on a piece nearby, its legs scrambling for purchase on the tilting surface.
Ryven jumped.
From shard to shard, he leaped, the Odachi clutched tight in both hands. Some pieces were the size of cars. Others are no bigger than dinner tables. They tilted and spun slowly in the black, and with each toll of the bell, more of them cracked and fell away into nothing.
The spider followed, relentless, but slower now. Clumsier. Its legs slipped on the unstable surfaces. Black ichor dripped from its wounded limbs, evaporating before it hit the void below.
"Let me give you a blissful death!" It pleaded.
"There is nothing blissful about death." Ryven chuckled, continuing to run.
BONGGGGGG.
The shard beneath the spider shattered.
It screeched, legs flailing as it fell, but caught itself on another fragment, claws digging into the stone. It pulled itself up, panting, its six eyes wild with terror.
As the bell continued to toll, more and more pieces shattered until only a few remained.
Ryven landed on a shard no bigger than a master bedroom.
Realizing that he had almost nowhere else to go, he spun around, raising his Odachi defensively.
The spider crouched on a shard across from him, trembling.
For a moment, they simply stared at each other.
BONNNNNG.
The fragment beneath Ryven's feet cracked down the middle. He stumbled, barely keeping his balance as it split in two. All around them, the remaining shards were falling faster now, dissolving into the void one by one.
The spider lunged one final time, a last desperate attempt.
Ryven swung.
The Odachi caught it mid leap, not cutting deep, but enough to send it careening off course. It crashed onto a crumbling piece of concrete, legs scrabbling, eyes wide with panic.
Quickly trying to regain its balance, Ryven was the one who made the next move, leaping forward with his Odachi raised.
It was then that the bell rang for the last time, all of the shards shattering into the void below.
As they were falling, Ryven could hear a noise, a voice.
"Please Ryven. Please wake up." Someone cried.
And all of a sudden, everything went dark.