The roar was from Matsune again, and Ariyama released the distant sounds he was hearing were coming from her as well, probably to stop him from coming down. But his highest adrenaline had boosted every part of him except for his hearing, apparently.

So now that he was here, what was going to happen?

He heard more running footsteps from behind, and he knew Takemichi and the others were probably standing in the darkness with everyone else now too.

He focused his attention back on the thing glowing dimly further in the darkness. It had an odd shape, almost like a long stick or a dagger…

Or even a sword.

But before his mind could wander too much, a painful vibration blasted through Ariyama's whole body, starting at his feet. The room shook and Ariyama felt like he was about to lose his dinner all over the smooth stone floor.

Huh, smooth again.

So this room was similar to the stairwell, in the way it was oddly well-kept, unaffected from the elements like the higher parts of the building were.

The shuddering from the ground suddenly stopped, and there was a horrible screeching sound of stone and stone, as Ariyama watched a wall of hard cement jitter upwards, sealing off the room from the foot of the stairs. Vaguely, he heard the far-away shouts of panic and disbelief from Jack and Yasami and everyone else.

Ariyama began to get queasy again.

No way that just happened.

What is this place?

Even a ghost couldn't do this.

What is this place?

As he pondered the question, the unearthliness of the building didn't end, as a sudden flashbang of blue light filtered into the room and Ariyama's eyes – which had gotten adjusted to the darkness for a long time at this point – watered and squeezed shut.

Ariyama waited a few moments, feeling the sudden influx of coldness on his skin, yet the bright light burning through his eyelids. He forced his eyes open, and stared.

Seven torches on either wall of the room had lit up in their brackets, on full display unlike the ones lining the stairwell. They glowed a bright and deep blue, and yet let off no heat. The chill that flew against Ariyama all of a sudden was definitely from those things.

They lit up the whole room in the strong glow, so Ariyama could see everything now. Takemichi, Jack and Yasami behind him, trying to force the cement seal open to escape up the stairs again, and Yaranagi with Matsune ahead, her hand on his arm, forcefully keeping him from moving any more forward. Yaranagi could've easily broken free and stomped on over to the glowing shard, but maybe the severity of her grip made him hesitant.

As for the glowing shard of a blade, it rested on an ornate pedestal on the top wall of the room, hovering slightly off its surface, bobbing up and down in the air like it was floating on water. Staring at slightly more, Ariyama noted that it was indeed a sword, yet its blade was snapped off halfway up, the severed blade ending in a strip of jagged steel. It looked like it had been blown off or even torn off, as opposed to just cut through.

The hilt was longer than usual, seemingly built for two or even three hands to grasp it. The hilt was spread like a hawk's wings.

He could see everyone now. In the shade of blue that illuminated their faces, he saw the confusion in Yarangi and the look of pure terror in Matsune. Why was she acting so strange? Everything was not normal, of course, but why was she of all people acting so much more intensely?

“Everyone, please! I can't explain right now, but I know what this is now! I had a feeling since the beginning but now I'm sure! We have to run now if we're going to survi–”

Then came Takemichi's meek voice, cutting through Matsune's with a weak scream.

“What the hell is that!?”

Instantly, Ariyama looked over to where Takemichi had been pointing.

The room itself was made of the same smooth gray stone as the stairs, and was relatively tall and wide. And over on the right hand side wall, there was a spot where there were no flickering blue torches. Instead, a large crack split the section of the wall down the middle.

For a moment, Ariyama was confused as to why Takemichi was screaming over a crack in the wall, but then he saw it.

The crack opened just slightly along the fracture, wide enough to see something glinting from the darkness. A flash of something metallic, yet weathered with age, draped in vines and dripping with moss and mud.

There was a loud creaking sound, as a massive figure broke through the crack, opening it open into a large wound in the stone.

And the figure who bled from the wound was a massive creature.

It was like a medieval knight, standing at least ten or more feet, in armor rusted and cracked from either battle or time. In its hand it held a massive saber that was so long it's tip scraped against the adjacent wall, spraying orange sparks that contrasted against the blue filter covering the sealed room.

Ariyama felt his stomach plummet. His knees shuddered and he had to force himself with all his might to stop them from giving out.

“Wh-what is…”

He couldn't even put together words. He was vaguely aware of the explosion of panic around him. Takemichi was screaming, Jack and Yasami and Yaranagi cursing and stumbling back. But once again, Matsune acted differently. Her face was drained of color, but she seemed to steel herself before running forward. That silver bracelet on her right wrist gleamed again, as it always did.

But it was different this time.

It glowed. But it glowed a purple-pink color.

Before Ariyama got a good look at what she was doing, the charging knight reached them.

And zoomed right past Ariyama.

It suddenly got very quiet.

And Takemichi's screaming was cut off.

Ariyama didn't want to look, he wanted to keep staring at Matsune and continue trying to ignore her beauty. Everything would be back to normal, like it always was, but Ariyama knew he had to.

He didn't want to, but he craned his neck around anyways.

Matsune was crying out, and everyone else was swearing, unable to stay standing straight and falling over themselves

When Ariyama saw it, he swallowed the burning bile that rose in his throat. His hands at his sides squeezed so tight it hurt.

The knight had its head ducked, its knees bent. It was facing the wall, its saber extended through the smooth stone.

But pinned against the wall, the sword piercing through his chest, his blood running down his pant leg and pooling at his feet…

Takemichi looked up at Ariyama, open mouth dripping blood. His face was aghast with shock, the rest of his body rigid and unmoving, even as his head swiveled to look at him.

“You… promised me you would…”

But he didn't have enough strength to even finish a single sentence. Takemichi Yuno's slight shoulders slumped and his head lolled forward, his chin touching his chest.

His blood-splattered glasses fell off his nose and cracked against the floor below him.

And then he was dead.

Just like that.

The bile rose in Ariyama’s throat again, but he felt too cold and too hot to stop it. He lurched forward onto his hands and knees, vomiting over the floor.

Tears mixed with his snot and vomit, and Ariyama let out an anguished cry. He wanted to die.

Die and wake up. Die and wake up and then everything would be fine because everything was a dream – a nightmare – and nothing was actually real and Takemichi didn't actually just die in front of him.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

You promised you would protect me.

Those were the words Takemichi was trying to say in his final moments, the look of shock and betrayal on his face burned into Ariyama's mind.

He had.

He had promised.

And he had failed.

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!”

Yaranagi roared at the statue-like knight, thundering forward, fists clenched, tear bared like an animal.

“YOU KILLED HIM! YOU BASTARD, YOU KILLED–”

“Yaranagi-kun, watch out!”

That was Matsune, and she ran after Yaranagi. Her eyes were wild and her cheeks were tear-stained. But somehow she had the resolve to keep going.

Another vibration shook the room, and Ariyama fell on his ass. His breathing was wild and uneven, his fingers dragging painfully against the stone, leaving trials of his blood.

But the stinging in his hands and in his elbows and knees wasn't anything compared to the pure distress he felt when he glanced at Takemichi, the poor boy's corpse pinned against the wall, the knight's sword still running him through.

The world felt like it was about to collapse in on itself. Nothing was real, not the chill that ran down Ariyama's spine, nor the burning heat he felt rising from his core.

Takemichi was dead.

He would never move again.

Ariyama fell to his knees, bile rising in his throat again. He couldn't move, even if he wanted to.

Even as the knight pulled its blood-stained sword free from Takemichi's body, the boy flopping to the ground like a fish, the blood pooling beneath him.

It stood at its full height, nearly twice the size of anyone in the room. As it moved, every crevice in its armor shedded rust and creaked like old furniture.

As it rolled its neck, Ariyama finally felt something in his throat other than bile. It was a scream.

He screamed.

He screamed and fell back onto his hands, scurrying away from the scene, wanting to get away, wanting to leave this place and go home.

“What the hell is happening!?”

Ariyama paused his retreat, looking to his left, and he saw Yasami break away from Jack and begin pounding on the sealed concrete door.

“Let us out! What did we do to deserve this? I SAID LET US–”

Another horrible sound, like shrieking stone.

A section of the ceiling over them opened up, and from it flew a swarm. The members of this massive infestation were like locusts, only with wings much bigger than their whole bodies, not to mention their faces.

Grotesque, misshapen and vaguely human in characteristics. Every one of them let out a withering moan, wheezing like an old person but feral like a beast.

Their disgusting looks made Ariyama's stomach do a flip, and he found himself rooted to the floor again, the blood in his veins freezing like ice water, his whole body rigid like a statue.

As the swarm came down in a horrendous frenzy of buzzing and shrieking, Ariyama watched in silent terror as it charged for Yasami, still pounding away at the seal, his fists bloody. But, seemingly unsatisfied with their victim, the swarm suddenly changed its course and headed directly for Jack instead.

The boy's droopy eyes widened with fear, his irises gleaming purple in light from the blue torches, as he tried to duck.

The locusts seemed to fly harmlessly over him, but then they began exuding a weird yellow gas from their stingers. The spore-like mist descended over Jack, so thick that he was submerged in a sea of yellow.

All Ariyama could hear was his coughing and strangled cries for help.

As the room shook again, again, and again, Ariyama felt like curling up into a ball and letting whatever supernatural creature devour him.

He'd never felt so scared in his life.

Cold sweat ran down his neck, his teeth were chattering and his fingers were shaking so much that he couldn't even close them into fists.

All of a sudden, there was a hand on his shoulder.

Ariyama looked to meet the face beside him.

Pretty. Black hair. Blue eyes.

Matsune.

Her face was twisted into shock, but also with a hint of determination, a trail of sweat down the side of her face, her mouth set in a straight line.

From the start of all this, Ariyama had a gut feeling Matsune wasn't acting right. Like she knew something about this place, and as a result wasn't breaking down in fear due to a lack of knowledge on the situation, like everyone else was.

“Matsune, what are you…”

Ariyama spoke quietly and simply, his throat raw from screaming, his lips dry and cracked.

Matsune only pushed him lightly to his knees.

“It's going to be OK. Just stay there and don't move a muscle–”

As she offered him words in a soothing but strained voice, over to their right, the massive knight moved again. Its joints groaned with age as it turned to face them.

Ariyama's heart sank through the floor.

But it paused there, if only for a moment, as if surveying them. It didn't stop for long, however, as it instantly broke into a quick sprint. Its tree trunk-like legs propelled it across to the middle of the room where the two of them were in just three strides.

It was on them instantly, and Ariyama squeezed his eyes shut, knowing it would all be over soon, in one gruesome swing of that massive sword…

But his thoughts of death vanished as he heard a reverberating clash of stone on metal. A bright spark lit up his eyelids.

The impact made his heart jump so violently he thought it might burst. But it also compelled him to open his eyes, his breathing sharp and panicked.

In that single moment in time, Ariyama took in the many things he saw before him.

Matsune stood in a hunched stance, blocking the massive sword from cutting him open, her arm raised up, the aftermath of having seemingly thrown it up in a sharp arc.

And her silver bracelet.

The bracelet that always gleamed in an unearthly fashion was glowing once more, but know

And that bracelet.

Again, it glowed a brilliant purple hue.

The massive stone knight stumbled slightly, its huge blade somehow parried from some other force.

Then Ariyama saw it.

Snaking out from the bracelet was a long chain that glowed purple, a kunai at its end. Moving to grip the chain in two hands, Matsune cried out with effort as she swung the luminescent chain down.

It descended sharply and clipped against the knight's shoulder, missing its neck as it dogged out of the way.

Ariyama's breath caught in his throat.

It must have been a trick – some sort of illusion. A hallucination conjured up due to his vulnerable current mental state. He was likely just seeing things.

After all, there was no way Matsune was doing something so… supernatural.

But maybe it made sense…

Just a few moments prior, Ariyama had caught a glimpse at her bracelet, as it glowed that same purplish color.

And even before that, Matsune had been acting weirdly the whole night. Almost as if this was something she was as equally unnerved by – like everyone else – but also something she had some sort of advanced knowledge about.

Ariyama had only even figured out that blood-color Shrine Gate from reading that history book. Had she a copy of the same one, and had just read more extensively than he did?

Ariyama's mind was cluttered with way too many thoughts, and so he focused back on what was happening right in front of him, sweat running down his neck.

Matsune had stumbled away from him slightly from the backlash from her magic chain weapon hitting off the stone armor of the knight. She righted herself and when she dashed back in front of him as a shield, she was like a panther, her agility inhuman and yet weirdly graceful.

The sounds of everyone else screaming, of the whole room shuddering, of his own gasping breaths, seemed to fade away as Ariyama was pulled into a tunnel vision of just the battle between Matsune and the stone monster.

The knight righted itself too, its joints groaning along with the spray of dust. From this distance, it looked like it was barely being kept apart, spiderwebs of cracks running up and down its armor.

But from what Ariyama had seen before, that visual weakness meant nothing when it came to how quick and menacing the giant bastard actually was.

Its right leg bent as it hunched over, holding its sword straight out in a two-handed grip.

And, like a huge stone spearman, it charged like a bull towards Matsune, who had her back to Ariyama.

All he could see was her dirtied and ripped coat, so Ariyama could only imagine the expression she was wearing. Was it one of conviction, of confidence, of fear?

He had no way of getting an answer, and could only look on as she moved to meet the dashing form of the stone knight.

For a second, he thought they would collide entirely, expecting to see Matsune erupt in a gorey mist of blood and body parts, dead on impact.

Just like Takemichi.

Just like Takemichi.

No, don't think about him. Not now. Not–

At the last possible moment, right before the impact, Matsune ducked and rolled beneath the tree trunk legs of the beast, her long chain whipping a fifteen feet line behind her as she avoided it.

The knight faltered, skidding to a stop almost instantly. It raised its massive blade and twisted its rock hips sharply, spinning with unnatural speed behind itself, its sword striking down at the space Matsune stood.

No.

The place she had been standing at.

She had miraculously avoided another fatal attack, now rolling to its right. As she got up in a crotch beside its right arm, she came back into full view, and Ariyama could make out her expression now.

Teeth gritted, nostrils flaring, and her eyes…

A mix of pure terror, pure exhilaration, and pure determination, among other things.

Dirt and sweat clung to her but she stayed solid, even as she jumped back three meters with one leap.

The attack the knight had just thrown had left its blade stuck halfway in the ground. Taking this opportunity, Matsune raced forward like a bullet, leaping onto the up-turned blade and running the length of its wide side. Reaching the hilt, she kicked off, twisting in midair, her chain curling and unfurling around her, as she plummeted towards its neck, ready to kill.

But it seemed she wasn't the only one with a knack for miraculous last-second saves, as the monstrous knight let go of its sword handle and threw itself back, narrowly maneuvering past the purple slash that opened up the floor, spewing sparks and chunks of rock.

Then it seemingly canceled all its backwards momentum instantly, and diverted it into forwards momentum, retaking its original spot in a fraction of a second and lashing out with its forearm.

It hit Matsune with a loud crash and threw her off-course, her body flipping through the air before landing painfully on the stone floor about ten or so meters from where Ariyama kneeled, shivering and afraid.

It was over. What little protection he had was gone now, and all he could do was accept his death and let the beast of the earth cut into him.

Just as he was about to die, Ariyama became aware of a great many things.

Of the fact he never got a chance to get a girlfriend – even if it wasn't his top priority –, of the fact his mother would now be alone without him or his father, of the fact he'd promised the meek Takemichi that he would protect him and yet failed spectacularly.

Of the fact all of this was really his fault. If only he hadn't opened that goddamn door–

The knight was there now, standing over him, sword already descending to eviscerate him.

Ariyama closes his eyes as the stone blade reached him and–