Madison’s mind spun with confusion and suspicion. Leimia had vanished in an instant, there one second and gone the next.
She rounded on Johan, eyes flashing. “Leimia was literally right here when I went to the bathroom. She wouldn’t just leave without a word. What did you do to her?”
“This is the Holy Cathedral, and you’re under the Saint’s protection. If you truly felt threatened by Marcello Teres, you could have requested judgment against him. But you didn’t.” Athanas’s words struck like acid rain, eating through my already paper-thin defense.
Water trickled down bare skin, turning light hair several shades darker. Wet strands stuck to their shoulders and back, outlining a figure that could’ve been mistaken for female at first glance. But the angular pale hips and sinewy thighs made it clear this was a man.
As I stood there, lost in thought, what Reyes said about distortion suddenly came to mind. The most terrifying thing about it isn’t just being under its influence, but knowing you’re affected, knowing you have the power to break free... and choosing not to.
Johan’s eyes sparkled with a mix of excitement and reverence as he gazed up at the haunted house looming before him. It was an ominous sight, but one that filled him with anticipation—a fitting response, considering the long, incredible journey that had brought him to this moment.
“So, the second we draw our swords, it’s a fight to the death?”
It was a absolute mess of a duel.
The air crackled with tension, thick and electric—less like some formal historical duel and more like the moment before a storm breaks. No crowd watched with bated breath, no officials inspected their weapons, none of that ceremonial garbage.
Let’s be honest, you’d have to be abnormal to even entertain the thought that the Dark Realm was real.
Yeah, the devs love to hype it up with their fancy marketing jargon, claiming it’s “modeled after the deepest layers of reality” or whatever.
Knock, knock, knock...
Barely a sound, that knock. More nervous than anything else. Seojun held his hand flat against the wood, but a shiver of apprehension started working its way down his back.
I clutched my head as the message window popped up, letting out a scream of pure frustration.
“Are you actively trying to screw me over? F*ck, why! Why! Why the hell would you pull something like that right before leaving?”
“Ah, shit…”
Seojun squinted against the midday glare, the brightness stabbing at his eyes. His hands flew to the steering wheel as he twisted the key, cutting the truck’s engine.