Don't change for someone—make them change.
I wipe the blood off my cheeks. I scan Max from head to toe. He looked just fine. His clothes were in good condition, no blood on them. I look around—nothing new. We were trapped in the darkness. The ground slowly returned to normal: dirt and grass, like a normal forest floor.
But before I could relax, the ground shook. I stumbled back, unlike Max, who careened forward. We exchanged looks, but soon both our attention was drawn to a slit that appeared in the dark sky. I scanned the sky. The moon was nowhere to be found. The stars were gone, just like the clouds.
The slit was big enough to fit a dinosaur. The only thing visible through it was red. No sun, no moon, no clouds—nothing but red. Wine red had always been my favorite color, but this time, as I saw it inside the slit, I felt disgust. It wasn't something I could control.
I turned to Max, who was staring in my direction—but not at me. My gaze followed his. I froze. There was nothing. But I felt a chill run down my spine. I swallowed hard. My body refused to move, no matter how much I tried. Even breathing felt hard. My eyes couldn't leave the dark space.
"Hey loser, snap out of it, unless you want to be a real loser," I could hear Satan say. Caelith's voice followed Satan's.
"Come on, move."
I have to move. I have no other choice. No matter what's over there, I have to move. If I don't, it won't just be the end of my life—but Max's too.
Anger and frustration started bottling up inside me. Satan's and Caelith's voices didn't stop, only adding to the pressure. Meanwhile, Max was still—at least, that's what I could tell, because I couldn't hear him move.
All of a sudden, I felt warm breath heating the back of my neck, causing a shiver to run down my spine. Soon after, something touched my bare arm. Instinctively, my body finally moved, and I turned around. There was nothing there.
I scanned my surroundings, hoping Max was nearby—but he wasn't. Max may be older than me, and on top of that, a master swordsman. But a normal sword like his can't hurt demons or fallen angels. If he used magic, he'd have a higher chance to survive—but his mana is far too weak to even leave a scar on a demon.
Everything around me turned pitch black—even the sky was gone. Every step I took felt like I was risking a fall into endless darkness. I reached to check if both my swords were in place—and they were. What made me think they were gone was the Himmika's haunter trap. It created an illusion to make me believe my swords were missing.
To be continued…