Shadow Over the Heavenly Throne

The mist was as thick as milk, swallowing sound and distorting the shapes of the ruins. Moisture clung to their armor, slowly seeping through layers of fabric, making skin feel damp and clammy. Every step echoed softly against the stone walls, but even that sound felt unnaturally muted—as if the Labyrinth itself was swallowing all noise, unwilling to betray their presence.

Veynessa paused for a moment, her gaze settling on the wall to her left. There were marks—deep, jagged gouges, as if something had tried to tear through the stone not once, not twice, but dozens of times. Claws or fangs? It was hard to tell, but one thing was certain—whatever had done this hadn’t acted in a blind rage. 

"Something fought here," she murmured, running her fingers over one of the gashes. Around the cracks, a scorched trace remained, almost like a residue of Qi. But the Qi here was... different. Thinned out. Unpleasant. As if it had been burned away from the surroundings.

Pharos stepped closer, examining the marks.

"No signs of human presence," he muttered, his voice calm but wary. "This is recent. Maybe a day ago, maybe just a few hours."

"So the scouts didn’t see everything," Calista noted quietly, keeping her gaze on the wall. There was no nonchalance or indifference in her voice—only cold, measured analysis. "Maybe it was luck. Or maybe these creatures only started moving after they left."

Veynessa lifted her gaze, scanning the ruins ahead. The Labyrinth looked the same as always—stone walls, twisting paths, mist thick enough to obscure vision. And yet... something felt off.

"The beasts are turning on each other," she said slowly. "The Guardian is gone, and with it, balance has vanished. Without control, the monsters are tearing each other apart."

"That happens when a dominant force disappears," Pharos nodded, his expression watchful. "But that doesn’t explain this energy."

Veynessa closed her eyes, letting Qi flow through her body. She inhaled deeply, reaching out—to the air, to the mist, to the surroundings...

And then she felt it.

The Qi was unstable. Not dead—but weak, scattered, as if broken into countless fragments that couldn’t reconnect. And in some places... completely absent. As if something had devoured it.

"This isn’t natural," she said at last. "Someone tampered with it."

"Not just the Qi." Calista gestured toward the ground. More markings—this time, blood. Black, thick, clinging to the stone like a viscous tar. "Look at this. It’s still sticky. Something died here recently."

Suddenly, something shifted in the mist.

Pharos raised a hand, signaling silence. Instantly, they froze, senses sharpening. The mist stirred lazily, as if nudged by something unseen. But it wasn’t the wind.

It was a sound.

A faint scrape of stone, as if something heavy was dragging across the ground. Heavy, irregular footsteps.

Veynessa’s fingers slid toward the hilt of her weapon. Calista did the same, her face impassive, but her eyes scanning the fog with razor-sharp focus.

And then it emerged.

A beast.

Nearly three meters tall, its massive form covered in rough, tattered skin—not from battle wounds, but as if its very body was unstable, shifting, struggling to maintain its shape. Its eyes... were empty. There was no intelligence, only raw, unbridled aggression.

But that wasn’t the worst part.

More appeared behind it.

Another. And another.

Veynessa exhaled slowly, never taking her eyes off their enemies.

"They’re stronger than usual," she said quietly. "And there are more of them."

Pharos said nothing. His gaze remained locked on the creatures, as if trying to decipher their intent.

And then, the mist trembled with a roar.

A roar so loud that the stones beneath their feet quivered.

And then the mist moved.

Not one. Not two. But dozens of beasts began shifting all at once, throwing themselves at each other, bodies slamming against walls, claws and fangs tearing into their own kind.

This wasn’t a battle.

This was madness.

Veynessa didn’t hesitate. Her sword flashed in the pale mist, her movements fluid, almost like a dance. Her blade sliced through the first creature in a single, perfect strike—its body collapsed, its blood evaporating into the air, leaving only an eerie trace behind.

She didn’t stop.

She had already moved on to the next.

Calista was right beside her. Unlike Veynessa, whose style was based on precision, her strikes were brutal yet equally lethal. She evaded a clawed attack from one of the beasts, using the stone wall to propel herself forward and driving her blade straight into the creature’s nape. Before it could make a sound, its head separated from its body.

"They’re fast, but they lack technique," she noted coolly, dodging another attack. "This is pure fury."

Veynessa spun, slicing through another opponent from shoulder to hip.

"And fury means nothing when it meets controlled power."

But they weren’t the only ones demonstrating their superiority.

Pharos stood unmoving. He hadn’t even drawn a weapon. His gaze, filled with something indescribable, fell upon a group of beasts attempting to surround him. For a brief moment, they hesitated, their movements slowing, becoming unstable. And then…

They retreated.

One after another, most of the creatures backed away instinctively, their eyes filled with sudden, inexplicable fear. With shrieks of terror, they scattered in different directions, as if fleeing was their only option.

But not all of them.

A few—larger, more determined, or simply more foolish—hesitated only briefly before lunging at Pharos. Their roars tore through the air, claws glinting in the mist, ready to tear into his flesh.

Pharos didn’t move. His eyes narrowed slightly, as if watching the misguided efforts of insects. He raised his hand slowly, but not in defense—it was an expression of disappointment.

The first beast leaped.

Then Pharos looked at it.

There was no scream. No sound of battle. The beast froze mid-air, its body suddenly rigid, its eyes clouding over. Its muscles went slack, and a fraction of a second later, it collapsed to the ground, lifeless, like an empty husk drained of all vitality.

The next two halted mid-step. One attempted to move forward, but its limbs refused to obey, as if it had suddenly forgotten how to function. Its body trembled before it, too, crumpled to the ground beside its fallen kin.

Pharos exhaled softly, lowering his hand.

"Beasts that fail to understand the true difference in power are nothing more than waste," he murmured, unimpressed.

Veynessa and Calista had finished their battles just as swiftly as they had started them. The mist around them remained dense, but now it carried the scent of blood.

Pharos turned to Veynessa and Calista, folding his arms with a faint smirk.

"Not bad," he said evenly. "You’ve improved since the last time I saw you fight. You used to rely solely on Qi—now you can battle with pure physical strength. Pure technique, no wasted movement."

Veynessa exhaled slowly, wiping her blade against the corpse of a fallen beast.

"We didn’t have a choice," she replied. "The Qi here is too unstable to risk wasting it."

"True," Calista agreed, wiping blood from her face.

Pharos glanced at the swirling mist around them, which seemed to move like a living entity.

"Interesting. I wonder if this is just a coincidence or if someone deliberately restricted our capabilities," he mused under his breath.

Veynessa surveyed the battlefield shrouded in mist. The lifeless bodies of beasts lay scattered across the stone ground, the air thick with the metallic scent of blood. Her grip tightened around her sword—not from fatigue, but from growing vigilance.

"If the Qi here is unstable, we have to assume this won’t be our only problem," she said, glancing at her companions. "We can fight without it as long as we’re only dealing with creatures like these. We can only use the Qi we already possess, but we won’t be able to replenish it. The deeper we go, the more we’ll have to conserve it for emergencies."

Calista nodded. "Also, did you notice? These beasts were stronger, but still chaotic. They weren’t fighting us with purpose—it was as if they were running from something."

Pharos turned his gaze toward the depths of the Labyrinth, where the mist grew even thicker, unnaturally dense.

"Whatever is happening here, there’s only one way forward," he stated calmly, taking the first step into the darkness.

Veynessa and Calista exchanged glances before silently following him.