Yuto sprinted toward Tami.

His boots struck the stone in fast, uneven rhythm, echoing through the cave as he closed the distance. For a brief moment, everything else faded behind the single thought in his mind.

Don’t be dead.

Not him.

Not like this.

"Tami!"

He dropped to one knee beside him hard enough that his leg scraped the ground.

Tami was sprawled against the broken wall, half-slumped where the impact had left him. Blood ran from a cut above his eyebrow, tracing a thin line down the side of his face before disappearing into the dust on his cheek.

Yuto grabbed his shoulder immediately.

"Tami!"

No response.

His chest tightened.

For a moment that stretched too long, he couldn’t hear anything except his own breathing. The cave, the beast, the others, everything blurred into the background.

Then he looked closer.

Tami’s chest moved.

Barely.

A shallow rise and fall, uneven but present.

Relief hit Yuto so fast it almost made him dizzy.

Unconscious.

Not dead.

He let out a slow, shaky breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.

"Idiot," he muttered under his breath, though there was no real anger in it.

He gave Tami’s shoulder a light shake once more, then forced himself upright.

There was no time for anything else.

The fight hadn’t paused for them.

The cryptid was still there.

Still moving.

Still advancing like the cave belonged to it.

Yuto turned back.

And ran.

⸻

The cryptid surged forward.

The sound came before the motion, a heavy shift of mass that rippled through the cave floor. Yuto barely had time to register it before instinct took over.

A claw dropped from above.

He raised both swords.

Steel met scale.

The impact was immediate and overwhelming.

It wasn’t just strength, it was weight behind speed, a full-body strike delivered through a limb larger than his entire torso. The force drove through his arms instantly, rattling his bones on contact.

His knees buckled.

Stone cracked beneath him as he was forced down, one knee hitting the ground hard enough to scatter dust outward in a ring.

For a moment, he couldn’t move.

Maya arrived from the side without hesitation.

Her blade moved cleanly through the chaos, precise even under pressure. She slipped between two shifting scales beneath one of the necks and drove her sword in.

The cryptid roared.

Not in pain alone, but in reaction, as all three heads adjusted at once.

Shiny followed immediately.

He darted in from a different angle, his sword flashing as it carved across one of the creature’s faces. Blood spilled, dark and fast, trailing down rough scales before dripping onto the cave floor.

At the same time, Beetle charged.

Its armored frame slammed into the beast’s flank with a deep, resonant impact that shook loose dust from the ceiling.

For a brief second, it looked like they had managed to slow it.

Then the creature responded.

One head snapped toward Maya.

She moved back fast, boots sliding across stone as the jaws passed where she had been standing moments earlier.

A second head lunged from the opposite side.

She twisted her body to avoid it, her shoulder brushing against stone as she narrowly escaped being pinned.

The third came from above.

Too fast.

Too well-timed.

It struck her directly in the shoulder.

The impact sent her staggering sideways.

Before she could recover, a massive claw swept across the space between them.

It caught her cleanly.

There was no chance to brace.

Her body hit a stone pillar hard enough to crack it down the middle.

A sharp fracture echoed through the cave.

Maya dropped to the ground.

Still.

Yuto’s eyes widened.

"Maya!"

Shiny reacted instantly.

Something in his voice changed, sharp and unrestrained, as he launched forward.

He sprinted up a broken slab of stone and used it as a ramp, pushing himself into the air.

His sword drove straight into one of the creature’s cheeks.

The cryptid roared again.

This time it shifted violently.

It threw its body sideways in a single motion.

The cave wall exploded under the force of the movement.

Rock shattered outward in chunks.

Shiny disappeared into the impact zone beneath falling debris and scales.

When the beast pulled away, he was thrown across the cavern floor.

His sword slid from his hand, scraping loudly across stone until it came to rest near a crack in the ground.

And then shiny dissolved.

Beetle moved next.

It charged again without hesitation, slamming into the cryptid’s side with full force.

For a brief moment, Yuto thought it had regained control of the fight.

Then one of the heads moved.

It snapped down and seized Beetle by its horn.

The creature lifted the summon off the ground.

For a second, the sheer size difference became obvious in a way that felt almost unreal.

Then it brought Beetle down.

Hard.

The impact echoed through the cave.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Stone cracked beneath the repeated blows.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Cracks spread across Beetle’s armor, faint at first, then widening as the pressure continued.

Then, abruptly, the summon vanished.

Dismissed.

Yuto understood immediately.

Their damage had crossed its limit.

The connection broke.

Now he was alone.

The cryptid turned toward him.

All three heads aligned in his direction.

Three sets of glowing blue eyes fixed on him.

Still.

Measuring.

Waiting.

Not rushing anymore.

As if it already knew the outcome.

Yuto stood there for a moment, breathing heavily.

His grip tightened on his remaining sword.

His other arm hung lower than it should have.

Pain spread through his body in dull waves, each breath pulling at something inside his ribs.

And for the first time since entering the Astral Realm, a thought formed without resistance.

Maybe it was already over.

Not as panic.

Not as shock.

Just recognition.

His gaze shifted briefly.

Tami, unconscious against the wall.

Maya, still not moving.

Shiny, down.

Beetle, gone.

Everything they had brought with them had already fallen apart.

Only he remained upright.

Barely.

He let out a low breath that almost sounded like a laugh, though there was no humor in it.

Other people had lives that moved forward cleanly.

Paths that made sense.

Strength that came without constant breaking.

Progress that didn’t demand everything every time.

He had never had that.

Every step forward had cost something.

Every gain had been paid for in damage.

Blood.

Pain.

Loss.

More of all three than anything else.

The cryptid took a step closer.

Stone shifted under its weight.

Yuto’s fingers loosened slightly around his sword.

His arms felt distant now, like they belonged to someone else.

The question came quietly.

Not shouted.

Not forced.

Just there.

Why keep going?

Another fight like this?

Another loss?

Another moment where everything broke anyway?

His shoulders lowered slightly.

The grip weakened further.

For the first time, completely without resistance, he allowed the thought to finish itself.

Maybe it’s better if I die.