Haru gasped from the pain burning in her chest. It was caused by some kind of affliction that fell upon her when the demon struck. In her ear, the dull drone of the server was replaced by a wretched whisper that urged her to continue assaulting the beast. But realizing what was happening, the witch resisted despite the rage that welled within her heart.

When utterances and pain wouldn’t work, the voice then evolved.

It changed, sounding like a distorted version of Astra. “Look at the silly weakling Haru.” The voice condescended. “Hates attacking players huh? What do you call what you’ve just done?”

The witch steeled herself against the verbal barrage. She clutched her staff and clenched her teeth, closing her eyes. She didn’t want to be someone everyone feared. To cause frustration or anger was a nightmarish idea. What made Haru the happiest was the thought of players having fun and laughing together. And such ideation was used to endure the demon’s verbal assault.

Still mimicking Astra, the voice continued to berate her. “Hypocrite.” The voice snarled. “Liar.”

Leonora looked shocked at the sight of Haru on one knee, clenched and in pain. The pirate reached toward her. “Roo, are you alright?”

The witch coughed more iridescent purple goo into her glove, then leaned away from her friend. “Don’t come closer.”

Worry washed over Leonora’s face.

Haru displayed her soiled glove to her friend. “I’ve reached my limit. I’m sorry I got us into this mess.” Desperation filled her voice. “This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have been so afraid to speak out. I had a second chance to make things right and I blew it.”

“What do you mea—” The pirate started, then saw the coughed-up residue on the witch’s hand and gasped.

“Nor, run away. It’s all over for me.” The witch spoke through labored breaths.

The demon’s form congealed and became human-like once more. He descended to the ground, and his sabretooth stood its ground. With his recompositing, definite features emerged. He had short black hair with a streak of red flame on the side. His eyes were lined with streaked pitch. He was shirtless, thin but with well-defined muscles. The demon’s grey pants weren’t long enough to conceal the circular tattoos on his legs that reached to his ankles.

The pirate shook her head at the witch. “I’m not leaving my best friend behind. You can make things right when we get back.”

The demon sauntered towards them.

The voice in Haru’s head quieted. Leonora brandished her cutlass at him but hesitated to attack, likely fearful of taking on both the sabretooth and the demon at the same time.

“Is that all that I can squeeze from you?” The demon called out. His voice echoed. “All that power and you’re but a single drop of water in the desert. How disappointing.”

Haru grit her teeth and forced herself to stand, despite the growing pain. “Who are you? Why are you doing this?” She leaned against her staff, out of breath.

“I am Irae.” He crossed his arms and the tendrils that wagged behind him fell limp. “I have come to extract all that I can from this place.”

“What are you going to extract?” Leonora shouted.

Irae smiled deviously. “That is for me to know, and you to not worry about.” The tendrils on his back tensed and began to sway violently. “You won’t be around long enough for it to matter anyways.”

A small stone soared through the air from behind the demon and smacked him in the head. The devious joy in his face melted in an instant and he spun. The tendrils on his back lashed out in the direction from which the rock was thrown. The sabretooth was dragged with it. The cat-demon smashed down on the far side of the cave near one of the gaps leading out to the beach.

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As the gap between the demon and Haru opened, her pain subsided slightly. She turned to Leonora. “We have to get out of here.”

With a nod, the pirate took a step toward the way out behind them. But with a great leap, the demon blocked their path. He set himself down gently and his smirk returned.

“No, no, that won’t do. We’re not through yet.” Irae shook his head.

Another rock sailed through the air, this time over the two girls’ heads and smacked into the demon. At the other far side exit was a silhouette against the lava ocean.

The stranger shouted. “You can’t get me. I’m a thousand lightyears ahead of you.” He goaded the demon.

Recognizing the voice, Haru gasped. It was the trapped player that she helped in the cave. It must have been his footprints that she spotted back on the beach. He followed her here.

With a sonorous cry that evoked a shriek out of both Haru and Leonora, the demon bounded toward the silhouette.

“Run!” The odd player demanded while Irae was still midair. Then he stretched out his arms and shouted at the demon.

Without a second thought, the two sprinted away from the arena and down the glassy beach flanked by the lava ocean. Smoke filled the air as the shipwrecks continued to burn. Haru, pushing through the hurt, led her friend back toward the scar that brought her here, still lingering on the base of the mountain which flanked the beach.

On the far side of the cove, the demon burst from the rocky structure and careened through the air. The stranded player fled from the demon in pursuit, skirting the lava as he ran. It continued to slam its sabretooth minion, to smash the player. Each missed strike caused the tiny glass shards that was once beach sand to clatter.

The two girls reached the fissure.

Haru pointed to the sight of the real beach shown inside the gap. “Go through first.”

Leonora nodded and reached up to pull herself in. The witch turned her back and watched the demon’s movements far away, much closer to the lava ocean. A sudden jolt from behind shocked Haru and she staggered forward. Leonora fell onto the witch.

“What was that?” Haru couldn’t hold back the surprise from her voice.

“It threw me away. It has some kind of a force field, a barrier that has to be pushed through.” The pirate stood up and brushed herself off.

Propping herself up with her staff, Haru motioned to try again. This time the witch leaned against Leonora and began shoving her through. The fissure fought against Leonora’s passage and Haru’s push.

Then Irae suddenly turned and sprinted toward the two girls, abandoning his chase with the stranded player.

Slowly, progress was made to get Leonora through the gap. First her shoulders made it through.

The demon closed on the two.

Seeing that his diversion no longer worked, the stranded player turned and bolted for Haru.

After Leonora’s hips passed through the fissure, her legs went with her and she flopped onto the other side, returning to the real beach. She motioned to Haru to follow her, though despite that the pirate was clearly shouting, no sound passed through. Then panic dowsed Leonora’s excited expression.

Irae was almost upon Haru.

The witch reached up and grabbed hold of a jutting rock to pull herself up, but the pain returned and weakened her. She couldn’t even manage to raise her heels from the ground. With her legs threatening to give out, she embraced her staff, closed her eyes, and tensed her whole body in anticipation for Irae’s coming strike.

A great force lifted her from the ground. The suddenness impulsively opened her eyes. Over her head, against the blood-red sky, the demon’s silhouette loomed and was poised to strike. A deep rumbling growl emanated from him. The sabretooth minion descended to slam upon where Haru stood.

From her flank, the stranded player dashed and scooped her up by the waist, staff included. In her weakness, she nearly folded in half from the impact of his arm. Keeping his momentum, the player used the force to hammer Haru into the hole, back-first. His shoulders crashed against the jutting rocks surrounding the scar, stopping him from going through himself.

A white light surrounded Haru, and in a few moments, she found herself tumbling head-over-heels onto sand.

“Are you alright?” Leonora stood over her and helped Haru up.

The weakness left the witch’s body as the sea breeze blew in from the ocean. They were still standing in the void created by the fissure. She peered into the gap, hoping the player would also manage to make it through the portal. But before he could recover, Irae’s sabretooth slammed down. The force shuttered the scar, and the scintillation dissipated along with the unnatural darkness surrounding them.

Haru gasped in shock from the sight of her rescuer being crushed as the beach returned around them.

Then the demon’s voice returned in her mind. “You may have escaped this time, but never forget, you’re trapped in here with me.” Irae cackled with delight.

Swallowing her grief, Haru turned to her friend. “We have to get to HomeRoom.”

It was time to stop running and face judgement, whatever that would be. Especially if it meant saving the game from total shutdown at the hands of this demon.