2026-08-15 07:07:10[Countdown: 00:52]
Chloe backed into the corner of the elevator, her shoulders shaking. She looked at the cold, calculating emptiness in Kael’s eyes and knew there was no point in begging.
"Just... just make it fast," she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut and tilting her chin up, exposing her neck. "Please."
Kael didn't draw his weapon. He didn't even move toward her.
"Your body weight is approximately fifty-five kilograms," Kael said, his voice flat and analytical. "If I kill you, how do you propose I remove your corpse from a sealed steel chamber? If I open those doors even an inch, the neurotoxin gas from the corridor will flood this space and liquefy our lungs in seconds."
Chloe opened her eyes, blinking in sheer confusion. "But... the screen says the excess weight has to be removed. One of us has to die!"
"The system is a machine, Chloe. It operates on literal definitions, not dramatic assumptions," Kael stated, his eyes rapidly scanning the opulent interior of the Ascension Chamber.
The elevator wasn't a standard, utilitarian metal box. It was designed to match the luxurious hotel aesthetic of the second floor. It featured thick mahogany wall panels, ornate solid brass handrails, a crystal light fixture, and a floor tiled in heavy black marble.
"The rule states the excess weight must be permanently removed from the chamber," Kael said, his gaze snapping to the ceiling. "It never specified the weight had to be human."
He looked up. Directly above the crystal light fixture was a faint, square outline in the metal—an emergency maintenance hatch.
[Countdown: 00:40]
Kael tossed the heavy, rusted cleaver he had taken from the Butcher directly at Chloe’s feet.
"Pry the brass handrails off the walls. Now!" Kael barked, his voice finally carrying a sharp edge of urgency.
Chloe didn't hesitate. Survival instinct overrode her terror. She grabbed the rusty cleaver, wedged it behind the thick brass railing, and threw her entire body weight into it. With a loud screech of tearing metal, the heavy brass bar popped off the wall.
Meanwhile, Kael jumped, grabbed the crystal light fixture, and violently ripped it down, wires sparking as it crashed to the floor. He punched the ceiling panel, exposing the latch, and twisted it hard.
With a heavy clang, the maintenance hatch popped open, revealing the pitch-black, bottomless elevator shaft above them, howling with cold, foul drafts.
[Countdown: 00:28]
Kael dropped back to the floor. He needed to remove exactly 42 kilograms. The brass rails and the crystal fixture were heavy, but maybe 15 kilos at most. They needed more.
He dropped to his knees and wedged his fingers into the cracks of the heavy black marble floor tiles.
[Ability Triggered: 3-Second Precognition.]
Vision: Kael violently pulls up the center marble tile. Underneath, a hidden pressure-release explosive triggers. The entire elevator cabin is instantly vaporized in a massive ball of fire.
The vision shattered. Kael’s hands froze just millimeters from the center tile.
Booby traps even in the floor.
He immediately shifted his hands to the tiles along the far left edge of the cabin. He yanked upward.
Crack!
The heavy marble tile came loose. No explosion.
"Help me pull these up!" Kael ordered.
Chloe dropped the cleaver and dug her bleeding fingers into the edges of the marble, helping him tear the heavy, thick slabs of stone from the elevator floor, exposing the bare, industrial steel underneath.
[Countdown: 00:15]
"Start throwing it out!"
Kael grabbed a massive chunk of marble, hoisted it over his head, and shoved it through the open ceiling hatch, tossing it into the abyss of the elevator shaft.
Whoosh... Crash.
Seconds later, the sound of the heavy stone shattering against the bottom of the shaft echoed up to them.
The digital screen on the elevator panel flickered.
Current Weight: 128 kg.
Chloe hoisted the solid brass handrails through the hatch.
Current Weight: 114 kg.
They frantically grabbed the remaining broken marble, the shattered crystal light fixture, and the mahogany panels Kael had kicked off the walls, hurling them all into the dark shaft above.
[Countdown: 00:05]
Current Weight: 104 kg.
"We need four more kilos!" Chloe screamed, panic edging into her voice as the red numbers flashed violently. "There's no more loose marble!"
Kael looked down at his own feet. He was wearing heavy, steel-toed combat boots, entirely soaked in blood and grime.
He didn't hesitate. He unlaced them with blinding speed, kicked them off, and threw both massive boots up through the hatch.
Current Weight: 101.5 kg.
[Countdown: 00:02]
One and a half kilograms left.
Kael’s eyes darted around the stripped, bare-metal cabin. His gaze locked onto the heavy, rusted cleaver Chloe had used earlier.
He snatched it from the floor and hurled it out the top hatch.
[Countdown: 00:00]
Current Weight: 99.2 kg.
The glaring red numbers on the digital screen instantly turned a vibrant, soothing green.
The mechanical humming of the elevator shifted pitch. A violent jolt shook the cabin, throwing both Kael and Chloe to the bare steel floor.
"Weight restrictions met," the intercom chimed smoothly. "Commencing Ascension."
The elevator shot upward with terrifying, stomach-churning speed. The sheer G-force pinned them to the floor as the cabin rocketed through the dark shaft.
Chloe lay on her back, panting heavily, staring up at the open ceiling hatch. A hysterical, breathless laugh escaped her lips. They had actually done it. They had cheated the system's execution protocol.
She turned her head to look at Kael, expecting to see at least a flicker of relief.
But Kael wasn't relaxing. Standing in only his socks, his face was deathly serious. He had pulled his revolver from his waistband, his thumb resting on the hammer, his eyes locked dead onto the brass doors.
"Get up," Kael ordered quietly. "The game doesn't end just because we survived a ride."
With a harsh screech of brakes, the elevator rapidly decelerated. The intense G-force vanished, leaving them momentarily weightless before the cabin finally leveled out and locked into place with a heavy thud.
Ding.
"Welcome to Level Three," the intercom announced. "The Exhibition of the False Idols."
The polished brass doors slowly slid open.
There was no fog. There were no blood-stained walls or terrifying monsters waiting to ambush them.
Instead, Kael and Chloe found themselves staring into a vast, brilliantly illuminated museum gallery. The floors were pristine white marble, and the walls were lined with magnificent, towering statues of weeping angels crafted from pure gold.
But in the direct center of the room, sitting at a delicate glass table, was a young boy in a perfectly tailored tuxedo. He was calmly sipping tea from a porcelain cup.
The boy smiled warmly at them.
"Ah, the new arrivals. Please, step out," the boy said, his voice echoing unnaturally in the vast space. "We have exactly five minutes to play a game of Russian Roulette. If you refuse, I will turn your skin into parchment."
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 18: The Blind Dance
Whoosh... Whoosh... CRACK!The deafening roar of massive steel pendulums slicing through the freezing air was enough to shatter a normal person's sanity. The transparent glass bridge trembled violently beneath their feet with every near-miss.To Chloe, who could see the colossal, rusted axe blades swinging out of the pitch-black abyss, it looked like they were walking into a mechanical meat grinder.But to Kael, whose eyes were sealed beneath the heavy metallic blindfold, the world was a canvas of hyper-calculated trajectories.He didn't walk; he flowed.[Ability Triggered: 3-Second Precognition.]Vision: A blade sweeps low from the right, aiming to sever his legs. Reality: Kael casually stepped over the invisible blade, the wind of its passing tugging at his jacket.Vision: Two blades crisscross in a scissor motion directly at chest height. Reality: Kael suddenly dropped to one knee, letting the deafening clash of steel ring out mere inches above his head, raining rust down onto his
Chapter 17: The Blind Wager
The heavy pneumatic hiss of the vault door sealing shut behind them echoed into absolute nothingness.Kael and Chloe found themselves standing on a small, circular platform of solid white light, suspended in a boundless, pitch-black void. This was a Transition Sector—a rare, temporary pocket dimension bridging the gap between nightmare zones.Before Kael could even take a breath, the blindingly bright, holographic blue interface of his system expanded, filling his field of vision with a cascade of rapid text.[ATTENTION: ANOMALY DETECTED.] [Player 'Kael' has repeatedly bypassed execution protocols using unintended logic pathways.] [The VIP Observers are highly entertained.]"VIP Observers?" Chloe whispered, reading the floating text over Kael’s shoulder, her voice shaking. "Who... who is watching us?"Kael didn't answer. His cold eyes tracked the shifting text. He had suspected it from the very beginning. The elaborate traps, the theatrical intercom announcements, the impossible geome
Chapter 16: The Biometric Tribute
The blade flashed in the dim red neon light, swinging with lethal force straight toward Chloe’s skull.Chloe didn't even have time to scream. The sheer, overwhelming terror paralyzed her vocal cords. She squeezed her eyes shut, her mind completely shutting down as the cold steel descended to claim her life.SHCK!A sickening sound of severing meat and snapping copper wire echoed in the narrow, claustrophobic corridor. A shower of black, viscous fluid splattered across Chloe’s pale cheek.But she felt no pain.Chloe cautiously opened one eye, trembling violently. The matte-black blade of Kael’s combat knife was buried to the hilt in the rusted metal wall, literally a millimeter from her left ear. Pinned beneath the razor-sharp edge was a thick, writhing, leech-like black cable. It had a mechanical, jagged maw that had silently dropped from the ceiling, hovering inches away from plugging directly into the back of her spinal cord.Kael hadn't been aiming for her head. He had been aiming
Chapter 15: The Voice on the Line
RING!The third ring was already echoing through the claustrophobic, cable-choked corridor.Above them, the massive bundles of black wires were vibrating violently, shedding decades of dust and rust. Something heavy, metallic, and utterly terrifying was crawling rapidly through the cables, descending toward them.Kael didn't hesitate. Ignoring the burning fatigue in his muscles and the dizziness from his blood loss, he launched himself forward. His steel-toed combat boots pounded against the iron grating, closing the thirty-yard gap in a dead sprint.The mechanical gears inside the rotary phone whirred, preparing to disconnect the line the moment the third ring finished.Clack.Kael slammed his hand against the wall, snatching the heavy black receiver off the hook a fraction of a millisecond before the call dropped.He pressed the cold plastic to his ear."Rule Number One... you must never be the first to speak."Kael clamped his mouth shut, his chest heaving violently as he fought to
Chapter 14: The Static Apartments
The heavy iron door slammed shut behind them, the massive deadbolt echoing with a final, definitive clank.Kael and Chloe stood in the pitch-black stairwell, the frantic, demonic shrieks of the Mourner fading into a muffled thud against the thick metal. Kael leaned his head against the cold concrete, his breathing shallow. He had just successfully bypassed a rigged execution, but the physical toll was immense. His arms were shaking from the sheer adrenaline crash and the severe blood loss."Are we... are we safe?" Chloe whispered, her voice trembling in the dark."For now," Kael replied, his tone as cold and detached as ever. He didn't waste energy on relief. He pushed himself off the wall and began his descent down the concrete stairs.They walked in silence for what felt like hours. The air grew progressively staler, losing the humid, ashen scent of the gardens and replacing it with the sharp, metallic tang of ozone and burning copper.Finally, the stairs ended at a battered, reinfo
Chapter 13: The Unorthodox Bypass
[Countdown: 23:45]The faceless woman in the mourning dress sat perfectly still beneath the rusted iron gazebo, the falling ash bouncing harmlessly off her black lace parasol."The exit is just behind me, traveler," her voice echoed directly inside Kael’s mind. It sounded like a choir of whispering widows, laced with a hypnotic, toxic sorrow. "But the door is secured by three heavy locks. You cannot pass without the keys."She slowly extended her pale, featureless hand. Resting on her black velvet glove were three pristine, gleaming silver keys."The three keys to salvation," the Mourner whispered. "To earn them, you need not spill blood. You must simply step into my gazebo, sit before me, and play a game of truths. Confess your greatest sin. If your guilt is heavy enough to satisfy my sorrow, I will grant you passage."Chloe nervously tugged at the back of Kael’s blood-stained shirt. "A confession? That... that doesn't sound too bad. We just have to tell her the truth."Kael didn't m
You may also like
Rise Of The Supreme General
Anakin Detour107.7K viewsInvincible Billionaire Heir
Chanhlee83.5K viewsMy Sudden Rich System
M_jief124.5K viewsUnderestimated Son In Law
Raishico310.3K viewsThe Son-in-Law's Rise to Supremacy
Milton Hoffman81 viewsThe Dragon’s Weakest Rider
Ayra Ruthie 190 viewsBlood on the Marina
Emmanuel Cole167 viewsBREAK THE HANDLER
Chidezny238 views