Cana stared at Kai for several long seconds.
Dust drifted through the corridor in slow spirals while weak torchlight stretched long shadows across the ancient stone. Her lungs still burned from whatever nightmare he had just dragged her through, and her heartbeat refused to settle.
Kai, meanwhile, looked almost relaxed.
Almost.
The illusion broke the moment she looked closer.
His breathing was heavier than usual, faint wisps of steam curling from his body whenever his reinforcement magic fluctuated unevenly. Exhaustion lingered beneath his eyes now that the adrenaline had faded, making it painfully obvious he was running on fumes.
Emotionally, though?
Completely unbothered.
Which somehow made him even worse.
Cana finally found her voice.
"…What the hell was that?"
Kai glanced at her before dragging a tired hand through his already disheveled hair.
"Shadow Step," he said. "One of the spells you already know about."
A brief pause followed.
"And before you ask, no, I don't feel like explaining it right now."
Cana stared at him in disbelief.
"THAT'S your explanation?"
Kai looked genuinely confused. "Who said I was explaining?"
Before she could argue further, he walked past her, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her upright in one smooth motion.
"Now get off your ass," he muttered. "We're moving."
Cana stumbled before regaining her balance.
"You are unbelievably annoying."
Kai merely hummed in response as he continued deeper into the corridor.
Cana narrowed her eyes.
"What's with that half-assed response?"
"It wasn't a response," Kai replied calmly. "I was just humming."
For one deeply satisfying moment, Cana seriously considered hitting him.
Unfortunately, the situation made that difficult.
Her eyes drifted toward the massive black wall behind them.
The barrier separating them from the guardian.
Or supposedly separating them.
The thought alone made her chest tighten again.
"…What about that thing?" she asked quietly. "Are we seriously ignoring the possibility that it comes through?"
Kai continued walking ahead of her.
This level of the ruins felt different.
Not safer.
Just quieter.
The walls here were smoother, formed from dark stone threaded with metallic veins that glimmered faintly beneath centuries of age. Ancient runes pulsed in circular formations across the surfaces—not decorative, but functional.
Mechanical.
Like pieces of some colossal buried machine.
Cana hurried after him before he could leave her behind.
"Kai, say something."
"It's possible," he answered without looking back.
Not reassuring.
"But it's still the guardian," he continued. "Even that thing probably won't damage a mechanism tied directly to the structural stability of the ruins."
His boots echoed softly against the stone as they descended farther underground.
"If it breaks the wrong support points," he added, "half this place could collapse."
A beat passed.
"So we're probably safe."
Cana frowned.
"…Probably?"
Kai shrugged lightly.
"You want guarantees now?"
That somehow made it worse.
"Either the ruins eventually allow it passage—which seems unlikely, considering we only encountered it on the second level and nowhere else—or…" He scanned the glowing walls thoughtfully. "This floor has its own guardian."
Cana immediately paled.
Kai sounded only mildly inconvenienced by the possibility.
"So let's find the core and finish this grave digging before either scenario happens."
A cold shiver crawled down her spine.
Another creature like that?
No.
Absolutely not.
She shoved the thought away and followed closer behind him.
The corridor sloped steadily downward. The deeper they traveled, the heavier the air became, thick with concentrated ethernano. Cana could almost feel it pressing against her skin.
Even the torchlight behaved strangely here.
Shadows stretched too far.
Edges moved when they shouldn't.
Every few seconds, she found herself glancing behind them just to make sure nothing was there.
Kai eventually slowed beside another section of glowing wall. His fingers brushed lightly across the rune patterns etched into the stone, tracing them with careful attention.
Cana watched him for a moment before speaking.
"So why didn't you use Shadow Step to bypass the first door?"
Kai hummed.
"I like exploring ruins. That includes understanding their structure."
Cana blinked.
"…That's your answer?"
"It's a subject I enjoy," he replied. "A hobby."
"No, it isn't," Cana shot back.
He ignored her entirely.
"And like I told you earlier, Shadow Step only works properly if I know the destination point is safe before transitioning."
His fingers tapped lightly against one glowing rune.
"Otherwise," he said casually, "there's the issue of material overlap."
Cana grimaced immediately.
Right.
The wall thing.
She hated how casually he described horrifying situations.
"You are way too calm about that."
"It only happened once."
Cana froze.
"…Once?"
Kai continued walking.
"Anyway—"
"WAIT, WHAT DO YOU MEAN ONCE?!"
He ignored her panic completely.
Cana opened her mouth again, ready to keep yelling—then hesitated.
A memory surfaced.
Darkness.
Pressure.
Those figures.
Her expression tightened uneasily.
"…Those things we saw during Shadow Step," she said more quietly. "The figures watching us."
Kai blinked in confusion before realization crossed his face.
"Oh. Those were hallucinations."
Cana stared.
"…What?"
"You can't actually see inside Shadow Step, idiot."
His tone remained maddeningly calm.
"Your brain lacked environmental information, panicked, and filled the void with hostile stimuli. Fear response. Survival instinct."
He gestured vaguely beside his head.
"Basic psychology."
Cana frowned.
"…So there wasn't really anything there?"
Kai shrugged.
"Nothing we could perceive."
That answer somehow made it worse.
Before she could press him further, Kai stopped.
Instantly.
His posture changed.
Not dramatically.
But enough.
Cana noticed it immediately.
"Kai?"
Without taking his eyes off the darkness ahead, he slowly raised one arm in front of her.
Stop.
The corridor fell silent.
No tremors.
No screeching guardian.
Only the low hum of ancient runes pulsing through the walls.
Kai tilted his head slightly.
Listening.
Cana swallowed.
"…What is it?"
He didn't answer immediately.
His focus stretched outward through the silence.
Then his brow furrowed.
Confusion.
"…That's strange."
"What is?"
His gaze fixed deeper into the corridor.
"Either my hearing's getting worse," he muttered, "or we have company."
Cana instantly grabbed her cards.
Her pulse quickened.
"What kind of company?"
Kai glanced around slowly.
"I don't know what it is yet," he said quietly. "But run on my signal."
Cana tightened her grip on the cards.
"How are we supposed to run in this visibility? We could get lo—"
Kai moved.
Without warning, he grabbed her around the waist and threw her over his shoulder.
"HEY—!"
The world blurred.
Kai accelerated violently down the corridor, shadows erupting beneath his feet as stone walls stretched into streaks of darkness and torchlight.
Cana nearly lost her grip.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"
Kai didn't answer.
His senses had expanded completely now.
Listening.
Tracking.
Searching.
Until—
Movement.
A smirk crossed his face.
"…Got you."
Before Cana could process what he meant, darkness swallowed them whole.
Shadow Step.
Her stomach dropped as the world vanished.
Pressure crushed inward for one unbearable instant—
Then light returned.
They reappeared exactly where they had started running from.
Kai dropped her onto the floor.
Cana staggered hard, breathing unevenly.
"What the HELL is wrong with you?!" she snapped. "What happened?! Why did we—"
"Look ahead, Brownie."
Kai's voice had gone flat.
Sharp.
Calm.
"The welcoming committee's here."
Cana turned instinctively.
Then froze.
Shapes filled the corridor ahead.
Small.
Twisted.
Dozens of them.
They crouched unnaturally low to the ground, black flesh shifting like liquid shadow beneath the torchlight. Long claws scraped across stone with metallic shrieks.
And their faces—
Cana's stomach dropped.
Bone-white masks.
The same hollow, skull-like faces as the guardian above.
Only smaller.
Smaller and wrong.
Like malformed offspring.
One creature clung halfway along the wall instead of the floor.
Another's neck jerked violently sideways with an audible crack before its empty face slowly tilted toward them.
Then every creature stopped moving at once.
And stared.
The corridor became deathly silent.
Cana could hear her own heartbeat.
"…Kai," she whispered.
One creature slowly opened its jaw far wider than anything natural.
Click.
Another answered.
Click.
Then another.
The sound spread through the corridor like insects communicating in the dark.
Kai's expression didn't change.
But Cana noticed the faint tension settling across his shoulders.
"…Well," he muttered tiredly, "that's unfortunate."
One creature dragged its claws slowly across the floor.
SCREEEEEECH.
Sparks burst across the stone.
Then the entire pack lunged at once.