The cave was dead silent. Everyone held their breath as their eyes darted between Han and Cydney. One perched on top of the metal bird, the other affixed on solid ground, Han and Cydney were staring each other down as if in a face-off.

A strange mixture of emotions ran across Han's face: a sharp gasp, followed by a slight tremor in the lips, a grimace, and then a smile—the kind of smile that sent shivers down Lyn's spine.

"Oh. You." Han looked at Cydney without even lowering his pointy chin.

"Yes. Me." Cydney glanced around the cave before glaring back at Han. "These patterns on the wall... What are you intending to do?"

Han's mouth twitched. A fog of amused lull clouded his eyes. "What do you think I'm doing, Sīn-Sīn? I'm helping the old man with his lifelong quest, of course, after you refused to help."

"Hasn't he killed enough people already?" Cydney's voice was trembling as much as her clenched fists. "Why is he still doing this?"

"Oh, you know it never worked again after us, silly, and he's been trying for years. It's probably because of the common folks he kept getting, you know?" Han combed his oily, black hair back with his fingers as he widened his grin. "To get the elites like us, we need the sacrifice of the elites too."

"Sacrifice?" Lyn could not help but mutter.

Was this blood magic? Was that what the runes were for? The sense of dread that had been brewing inside her heart exploded into a frenzy.

"Like this group," Han continued, spreading his hands out, as though he was a proud, eccentric collector, and everyone else was his eclectic selection of trinkets. "Honestly, I'm very pleased with this group here. These people are so much more powerful than the usual treasure-hunting folks I see. Perhaps I have a talent for advertising, eh? Maybe I should've done that in Uni instead."

"You are not sacrificing anybody except yourself today," Cydney said with an uncharacteristic snarl. She crouched and slammed her hands on the ground.

Once again, tremors filled the entire floor. Lyn barely maintained her balance as Emily lost balance and fell into her arms. A trail of crumbling rocks encircled Cydney and the metal bird as if a bunch of moles had decided to surround the two Asians. Slabs of stone protruded out from the circle of decayed ground, enclosing Cydney and Han in a makeshift caged arena. Lyn, and the rest of the questers, were stuck outside. They could not even see anything beyond the opaque stone fence.

"Oh no, Cinna..." Lyn looked around frantically. She noticed a tiny gap in between two slabs of boulder that she could squeeze through, but before she could make her way there, a hand held her back.

"Lyn, isn't that..." Emily was still leaning on Lyn, her feet seemed to have lost all strength. She stared at Lyn as realization dawned on her; the expression on her face was one that Lyn had gotten so used to right before they broke up. "You came here to meet her? You know she's wanted by the QA, right? Lyn, why would you—"

"Sit here and stay back, Em." Lyn gently pushed Emily off from her. "You're hurt."

"You risked your career for her, and now you want to risk your life too?" Emily's hand refused to let go. "Do you actually love her or are you just reckless as hell?"

"Why does it matter to you?"

"Why does it... Do you know just how much everyone's worried—"

"Lyn, Emily!" Irene had found them. She was running towards the two of them, next to a frowning Neil. Waving her hands about in the vague direction of Cydney, she sputtered, "Is that- Is that who I think it is?"

Emily's grip loosened at this point, so Lyn pulled her hand away. "Irene, take care of Em, would you? She sprained her leg badly."

"Oh shit." Irene ran up to Emily as she dug into her backpack for potions. "Hang on, Emily."

With the rest of her friends safe and together, Lyn turned towards the gap again.

"Hey!" Neil called out. "Where are you going?"

Before she could say anything, however, Irene snapped, "Just let her be, Neil. She's always like this."

Irene's biting tone pierced Lyn in the heart, but she still sprinted away from the group. No matter how much her friends might resent her right now, there was nothing she was worried about more than Cydney, and the loud crashes coming from within the stone cage.

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She squeezed through the mini gap and found herself inside an octagonal caged arena. Numerous sharpened rocks and metal spikes hurtled around the space, crashing into one another or plunging into the ground. A haze of sand would erupt at every one of these collisions, obscuring Lyn's view momentarily, but a new flying object would whiz past it and clear it up almost immediately. The battle scene was in a constant state of blurring and clearing as if a water mage was trying her best to keep water off the windows during a thunderstorm.

The metal bird in the middle had been completely skinned, with only the bloodied theatre seats left in the middle. Han was thus no longer elevated. Only a few feet away from Cydney, he was slowly advancing towards her while the objects around them attacked one another viciously. Their hands waved around with urgency, as a horde of metal and rock flew around them like swarms of bees, following the motions of their palms.

They were the queen bee of the debris, the conductor of this cacophony. The sight was both impressive and frightening at the same time.

Lyn clenched her fists. Yet again, no electricity buzzed. There was nothing she could do to help. Why couldn't she ever help Cydney? Or anybody, for that matter? What could she even do? She had been so helpless and so damn useless for a long time.

While she was berating herself, Han had finally gotten himself to be within arm's reach of Cydney. A sword somehow materialized in each of their hands, and the two of them began their sword fight in the middle of an already chaotic mess.

Similar to that fateful duel almost a year ago, the two swords thrashed around in a fierce battle of strike and parry—Han clobbering wildly while Cydney blocking expertly. The arena looked as though there was a storm of battling spears and rocks, with the main pair of fighters right inside the eye of the hurricane.

"You fucking bitch! Just! Die! Already!" Han shouted, slashing his sword at every word.

Lyn could not see Cydney's face, but the petite girl's back remained straight and steady, parrying Han's sword with the precision and strength she always had. Han's face, however, was bright as day to Lyn. It was contorted in the most disturbing way she could ever imagine; the sheer amount of vitriol dripping from his eyes made him resemble the reincarnation of the devil.

Then, the devil was blown away.

A gust of wind had shot out from Cydney, pushing him so far back that he slammed into one of the stone slabs. His screams echoed throughout the arena, while the flying metals dropped onto the ground with a loud thud.

Before Han could regain his composure, five spikes flew towards him, grazing his skin and pinning him onto the wall.

"You want me to die?" Cydney said, her voice shaky and strained. "Then why didn't you kill me that night eight years ago? I would've much preferred that."

Han whimpered as he struggled against the spears. Tiny drops of blood decorated his shoes.

"Why didn't you kill me the whole five years that I was imprisoned in that godforsaken place?" Cydney continued as she walked towards Han. "Why did you and Gazini keep me around? Why did you let me suffer?"

As the smoke in the arena settled, questions ignited within Lyn's mind. She had no time to mull over them, however, as Han ripped his hands off from the spikes and grabbed Cydney by the neck.

"I should've fucking killed you a long time ago, you elitist slut!" he bellowed, squeezing her neck with his mutilated hands.

"Cinna!" Lyn cried out as she dashed towards them.

She did not get close enough when blood burst out from the duo. Her heart skipped a beat.

Cydney was doused in red all over, from her face to her hood—but Lyn realized that she was otherwise unscathed. The man opposite her, however, had his torso covered in fresh blood and new scars. The frays of his torn clothes dangled outwards, as though they were cut from the inside, as though they were cut by the blood of the wounds.

Trembling, Han let go of the dark-haired girl and staggered backward. His pale face was littered with the red and white mixture of blood and sweat.

"This is for all my scars." Cydney's voice—soft, firm, and full of bitterness—rang across the arena. "All two hundred and forty-four of them."

She raised her quivering hands and Han let out another shriek. His back hunched as he clutched his groin.

"You fucking bitch!" he yelled. "What did you do to me?"

"This is for all the times I had to put up with you. And for all the women in the world. They will never have to deal with you, ever again."

Han was kneeling on the ground now, bent over in pain. His howls were mixed with sobs, as fear seemed to have taken over him.

"And this is for ruining my life, for taking everything away from me," Cydney choked out the words before lifting up her sword.

She was ready to kill Han, right there and then.

For some inexplicable reason, Lyn rushed next to Cydney and grabbed her hand.

"Don't."

Cydney turned around. Her obsidian eyes—the only part of her face that was not discolored by the gore—were shimmering with tears.

"Lyn..." she muttered. Tears streamed down her bloodied cheeks, and her sword slipped out of her hand.

"Cinna, I'm so sorry..."

"What the fuck are you doing this whole time, Teach?" Han suddenly shouted, looking in a vague direction behind where Lyn stood. "Help me!"

The runes around the cave shone, their bright red light seeping through the gaps between the arena walls. Lyn heard groans coming from outside the stone fence before a pang of exhaustion hit her like a truck.

Oh no, oh no, oh no... Her eyelids drooped and she felt her head hit the ground. She barely registered the pain as drowsiness enveloped her mind. she forced herself to remain awake, to fight back whatever Forbidden Magic this was, to hold onto Cydney's crying voice...

"No! Lyn! Stop!"

Cinna... Not again...

Why can't I help you, ever?

As much as she tried, her world slowly faded into darkness.

When she opened her eyes again, Cydney's gorgeous face was hovering in front of her. Her silky hair was so messy that it almost looked frizzy, while her body was still drenched in blood. As their eyes met, she broke into a relieved smile. "Thank God," she breathed, "you're okay now."

With that, the petite girl collapsed onto Lyn's chest, revealing the piercing brightness of the sky.

Ah, Lyn could finally see the sky again. She had almost forgotten that she was on a picturesque tropical island. Did the ceiling topple, or something? How long did she pass out? What the heck happened here?

Filled with unending questions, she watched as blue beams of light punctured the clouds.

Damn it. The QA was here.