The corrupted student lunged with unnatural speed.
Aiden barely ducked.
A claw—yes, an actual claw—scraped across the stone wall, carving a deep gash like it was butter.
Elara pulled Aiden back.
"Don't let it touch you!"
The creature twisted its head unnaturally, bones cracking, one remaining eyeball rolling wildly.
"Aiden…
Why didn't you SAVE ME?"
Aiden's spine chilled.
The way it spoke—
like its voice was layered with something else beneath.
Something inhuman.
He raised the damaged gauntlet.
It sparked violently.
The System flashed:
[WARNING
Gauntlet integrity: 12%
Next use may DETONATE]
"Of course," Aiden muttered.
The creature screeched, charging again.
Elara shoved Aiden out of the way, but the force still hit her—sending her rolling across the cavern.
"Elara!"
The creature didn't follow her.
Its remaining eye locked only on Aiden.
"You were weak…
So I had to DIE…"
It pounced.
Aiden threw his arm up.
The gauntlet flared—
B A N G!
A shockwave blasted the corrupted student backwards, slamming it into the cavern wall so hard the stone cracked.
Aiden staggered back, the gauntlet now smoking, metal bending.
[Gauntlet integrity: 5%]
[Detonation risk: CRITICAL]
Elara scrambled to her feet.
"Aiden, we need to run! We can't kill it!"
Aiden wasn't listening.
Because the creature was already standing up.
Its spine snapped back into place.
Its face reformed.
Its chest sealed.
Aiden whispered:
"…It regenerates."
The System chimed coldly:
[Correct.
Corrupted trainees regenerate unless the core is destroyed.]
Aiden scanned the creature—
a pulsing black mass beat faintly under its ribs.
"That thing," Aiden said. "The core."
Elara shook her head furiously.
"No! You can't destroy it with your current strength!"
"Don't care," he said. "It's either that or we die."
The corrupted student shrieked.
Its arms stretched grotesquely as bone spears grew from its forearms.
"AIIDEEENN…"
It sprinted.
Aiden didn't move.
He waited—
Closer—
Closer—
NOW.
He sidestepped, grabbed the creature's wrist, and slammed the gauntlet against its chest.
The core pulsed.
The creature howled.
Aiden shouted:
"Do it!"
BOOOOM.
An explosion erupted from the gauntlet—
not outward, but inward.
The energy speared directly into the creature's chest, blasting a hole straight through.
The corrupted student staggered, body trembling.
The core… flickered.
Then—
CRACK.
It shattered.
The creature finally collapsed, crumbling like ash.
The cavern fell silent.
Aiden dropped to one knee, chest heaving.
The gauntlet…
fell off his arm in pieces.
[Gauntlet destroyed.]
Elara ran to him.
"Aiden! Your hand—"
He looked at it.
Red, blistered, burned, shaking.
But still attached.
Aiden let out a shaking breath.
"I'm fine."
Before Elara could argue, the System chimed again.
[Floor 2 Event Complete]
[Survival Bonus Granted]
[Skill Unlocked: CORRUPTION RESISTANCE Lv.1]
Aiden stood up slowly.
Then the cavern trembled.
Not from the creature.
From the other side of the tunnel.
A new voice echoed, calm, deep, and disturbingly familiar:
"So this is where the failures crawl to die."
Elara stiffened.
Aiden's heartbeat stopped.
Footsteps approached—confident, controlled, powerful.
A silhouette stepped into the cavern, and the fog parted around him as if afraid.
Not a student.
Not a monster.
A fully armored figure with an obsidian mask and a flowing black coat.
A symbol was etched into his chestplate:
[RANKED INQUISITOR — FLOOR EXECUTIONER]
Elara whispered in pure terror:
"No…
Why is an Executioner here…? This is only Floor 2…"
Aiden swallowed hard.
The Executioner raised a blade large enough to cut the cavern in half.
When he spoke, his voice was cold steel:
"Aiden Vale.
You survived a room meant to kill you.
You killed a corrupted trainee without permission.
And you interfered with a classified trial."
His blade lowered, pointed directly at Aiden's throat.
"Therefore—
your death is authorized."