Darkness pressed in from all sides.
Ben crawled on hands and knees through the narrow underground passage, fingers digging into damp soil and tangled roots. Every movement sent sharp jolts of pain through his ribs and spine. His breath rasped, loud in his own ears, echoing off the cramped earthen walls.
Behind him, voices shouted.
"They went underground!"
"Seal the exits!"
"Burn the area if necessary!"
Ben's heart slammed against his chest.
They're not even hesitating, he realized. No warning. No negotiation.
This world didn't pause to ask questions.
It erased problems.
He dragged himself forward, teeth clenched so hard his jaw ached. The passage sloped downward, uneven and half-collapsed in places. More than once, the ceiling scraped his back, tearing fabric and skin alike.
A faint draft brushed his face.
An exit.
Ben forced his body to move faster, ignoring the fire screaming through his muscles. His hands burst through a thin wall of loose earth, and suddenly he was tumbling down a shallow incline into open space.
He hit the ground hard and rolled, barely stopping himself from crying out.
The passage spat him out into a narrow ravine hidden beneath tangled vines and thorny bushes. Sunlight filtered through in broken shards, illuminating moss-covered rock and trickling water.
Ben lay there for a moment, chest heaving, staring at the sky framed by stone.
"I really need a vacation," he muttered hoarsely.
The Omnitrix pulsed weakly on his wrist, its glow faint, unstable.
Cooldown: extended.Host condition: critical.
"Yeah," Ben whispered. "Tell me about it."
He pushed himself up slowly, bracing against the ravine wall. His legs trembled violently, threatening to give out at any moment.
Then he heard it.
A scream.
High, raw, and unmistakably human.
Ben's head snapped toward the sound.
It came from above—from the direction of the hut.
The girl.
His stomach dropped.
"No," he whispered.
Another scream cut through the air, abruptly cut short.
Ben froze.
Every instinct screamed at him to run—to disappear, to survive. That was the rule Murim had already beaten into him.
Survival above all.
If you go back, a cold voice in his mind whispered, you die.
Ben clenched his fists, nails biting into his palms.
"That's not how this works," he said aloud, voice shaking.
He staggered toward the ravine wall, grabbed a protruding root, and began to climb.
Pain exploded through his body with every movement. His grip slipped more than once, sending small cascades of dirt tumbling down. He barely hauled himself up over the edge, collapsing into the undergrowth above.
Smoke curled through the trees.
The hut was burning.
Flames licked hungrily at the wooden walls, crackling loudly as they devoured everything inside. Three sect disciples stood nearby, their robes clean, expressions bored.
On the ground between them knelt the girl.
Her hands were bound behind her back. Blood ran from a cut on her forehead, matting her hair. Her face was pale, eyes wide—not with panic, but with something far worse.
Resignation.
"She lied," one disciple said dismissively. "Claimed ignorance."
"Mortals always do," another replied. "Burn the body after."
Ben's vision tunneled.
Something inside him went quiet.
The fear. The panic. The noise.
Gone.
The Omnitrix pulsed once—slow, heavy.
Ben stepped out of the brush.
"Hey," he said.
All three disciples turned.
For a heartbeat, no one moved.
Then recognition dawned.
"It's the artifact boy!"
"Kill him!"
Qi flared as blades were drawn.
Ben didn't transform.
He walked forward.
Every step hurt. Every breath burned. But he didn't stop.
The Omnitrix glowed brighter.
Not violently.
Steadily.
Partial manifestation authorized.
Heat surged through Ben's veins—not the raging inferno of Heatblast, but something more contained. His skin warmed, faint cracks of glowing orange spreading across his arms like veins of magma beneath stone.
The air shimmered around him.
The disciples hesitated.
"This—this isn't a full transformation," one muttered. "What kind of technique—"
Ben raised his hand.
Fire didn't explode.
It focused.
A narrow lance of flame shot forward, punching straight through the nearest disciple's chest. The man stared down at the smoking hole, disbelief frozen on his face, before collapsing lifelessly to the ground.
The other two reacted instantly.
One charged, blade screaming through the air.
Ben sidestepped clumsily, grabbed the man's wrist with both hands—and squeezed.
Diamond surged outward reflexively, crystal encasing Ben's fingers and the disciple's arm together.
There was a wet, cracking sound.
The man screamed.
Ben shoved him backward into the flames.
The third disciple turned to run.
Ben moved without thinking.
Wildmutt's instincts surged through him again—not fully, but enough. His body lunged forward with predatory speed, tackling the fleeing man to the ground.
They rolled.
The disciple clawed at Ben's face, panic-stricken.
"Monster!" he screamed. "Demon—!"
Ben grabbed his throat.
For a moment, he hesitated.
Then he tightened his grip.
The scream cut off.
Ben released the body and staggered back, breathing hard, chest heaving as the firelight danced around him.
The girl stared at him.
Not with fear.
With shock.
He moved to her side, kneeling painfully to cut her bindings with a fallen blade.
"Can you stand?" he asked.
She nodded shakily.
"I—I think so."
The hut collapsed behind them in a shower of sparks.
Ben helped her up, supporting most of her weight as they stumbled away from the flames into the forest.
They didn't stop until the smoke was far behind them.
Only then did Ben collapse to his knees.
The Omnitrix flickered violently, its glow dimming as backlash tore through him. He gritted his teeth, suppressing a cry as pain wracked his body again.
The girl knelt beside him, hands hovering uncertainly.
"You shouldn't have come back," she said softly.
Ben laughed weakly. "Yeah. Probably."
She looked at him, eyes shining. "Why did you?"
Ben wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Because," he said, "I'm already in trouble. Might as well be for the right reasons."
She was silent for a long moment.
Then she bowed.
Not deeply. Not formally.
But sincerely.
"My name is Lin Yue," she said. "I am… no one important."
Ben shook his head. "You saved my life. That makes you pretty important."
Her lips trembled into the faintest smile.
That smile faded quickly as distant horns echoed through the forest.
Low.
Urgent.
Search horns.
Lin Yue's face drained of color. "They'll be coming in force now," she whispered. "Not just outer disciples."
Ben followed her gaze toward the distant mountains, where sect banners fluttered faintly in the wind.
"Then we don't stay," he said.
He forced himself to stand, legs shaking.
"Where do we go?" she asked.
Ben looked at the Omnitrix.
It pulsed faintly.
Words shimmered across its surface.
Survival Probability IncreasedRecommended Action: Leave Sect Territory Immediately
Ben exhaled.
"Somewhere," he said, "that hates the sects more than they hate me."
Lin Yue hesitated, then nodded slowly.
"There is such a place," she said. "But if we go there…"
She met his eyes.
"…there is no going back."
Ben looked once more at the burning smoke rising in the distance.
"Yeah," he said quietly. "I figured that out already."
They disappeared into the forest as Murim's horns continued to sound behind them.
And somewhere far away, sect elders began to take notice.