Luke and Angelica were trapped in a dark, suffocating stretch of the mine, where the air was thick with dust and the metallic scent of crushed stone. They had fallen there while fleeing from the Midnight Wardens, and now, surrounded by unstable rock, they were caught in an oppressive silence broken only by their shallow, uneven breaths.

A dry sound escaped Angelica's throat. She coughed hard, and blood oozed from the corner of her lips—dark and thick, staining her pale skin with a glossy red sheen. The coughing wracked her body, as if each spasm threatened to tear her apart from within.

"It wasn't a Midnight Warden who did this to me… it was Paul."

Luke froze, the name hitting him like a punch to the gut.

"Paul?" His voice came out shaky, heavy with disbelief. For a moment, he couldn't even blink—his mind refusing to accept what he had just heard.

"He set everything up." Her voice trembled, but there was a grim clarity in every word. "He planned it with others. They lured the Wardens here. It was him... that bastard planned everything. From the very start."

Luke stared at her, struggling to process.

"But why? Why would Paul do that?"

"Because he's lost his mind." She drew in a shallow breath, each word costing her more than the last. "He believes living inside this tutorial is better than going back to Earth. He's the one who did the same thing years ago. He killed my brother."

Angelica pulled him closer. Her coughing worsened now, more blood dripping down her chin. Her hand guided Luke's to her kukri, pressing the blade against her own chest.

"For years," she murmured, her voice thick with emotion, "I wanted to end it. But I never could. Every time I held the blade, I saw my brother. And I couldn't do it." Her eyes were glassy, catching the dim light like small pools of pain held in place.

"Now, I want to ask you a favor, Luke... kill me."

Luke tried to pull back, every instinct inside him screaming to let go of the kukri and escape the impossible choice. But Angelica clutched his hand with a strength he never would've expected from someone so close to death. Her fingers locked into his like invisible chains. She wouldn't let go.

"You're the only one I trust. You actually want to get out of this place. Really escape. Not even Bartholomew wants that. Paul told me. They've been in it together all along."

"I-I-I can't," Luke stammered. "Killing someone like this… someone I… know and care about…"

"I've been poisoned," she cut in. "I won't last much longer."

She coughed again. Her eyes were already starting to lose focus.

"Back then, when they solved the statue puzzle... the mechanism gave another one. The answer was 'Full Moon.'"

Luke barely blinked. His mind was spinning in circles, trying to make sense of a puzzle with half the pieces missing. Angelica's words echoed through him—about Paul, her dead brother, the moons, the tutorial… It was like sinking into quicksand. The more he thought, the heavier it became.

"In the first mechanism, my brother saw four large moons. Beneath each one, four smaller moons. Each sequence started with the biggest. The order was: Full Moon, Waxing Moon, Waning Moon, New Moon. In the second fortress, there will be a panel. The moons are buttons. Press them in the right order, and the mechanism will appear."

Angelica closed her eyes for a moment, utterly drained. When she looked at him again, the pain and urgency were written plainly across her face.

"Listen to me. Don't hesitate. I have less than a minute. Paul did this. He stabbed me. Left me here to die, either by poison or at the hands of a Midnight Warden. He wanted me to suffer."

She pressed the kukri harder against her own chest. Luke tried to resist, but her fingers tightened around his, unwavering.

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"Please, Luke… if I die like this, Paul wins. But if you… if you kill me, a part of me will live on in you through everything I've learned. I want revenge through you."

Tears streamed down her face, unchecked.

"I want you to carry me with you. I want to see him die through your eyes."

She rested her hand on his shoulder.

[An item has been added to your inventory]

[An item has been added to your inventory]

"I'm giving you my first bow. My first quiver. Kill that bastard with them, Luke. Kill Paul for me… and maybe then, I can finally rest."

With trembling, bloodstained fingers, Angelica raised Luke's hand once more. She guided the kukri slowly, with a near-ceremonial gesture, until the blade pressed against her chest—right where her heartbeat fluttered, weak and fading.

"Now…" she whispered, so faintly her voice barely rose above the sound of his breath. "Kill me."

Luke pulled back, his voice cracking. "I'm sorry. I… I can't."

She gripped him with what little strength remained, her face streaked with blood and tears.

"I'm out of time, Luke," she murmured, her voice breaking with every word. "My body's failing... I can feel it." She gasped, coughing more blood. "I don't want to die here for nothing. I don't want this to be meaningless. Let me go, please… let me leave with a shred of peace, some kind of dignity. I… I…"

Her gaze began to drift, unfocused.

"Please…" she whispered.

Tears slid silently down his face—hot, bitter. Luke stared at the kukri. The blade felt impossibly heavy now. His fingers trembled, every muscle locked as if resisting on instinct what his mind had already accepted as inevitable. For a moment, he closed his eyes—then opened them slowly, locking his gaze into hers.

Angelica leaned forward, resting her forehead gently against his. A simple, intimate gesture—soft, final—one that said more than any words ever could.

And then, with clenched teeth and a shattered heart, Luke drove the blade forward.

He felt the kukri's hot steel pierce flesh, crack through brittle bone, and reach the heart with a dull, sickening sound. Angelica gasped, and a peaceful, almost grateful smile touched her lips.

"Thank you..." she whispered, her eyes holding his with tenderness and surrender.

Then, slowly, the light faded from her gaze. Life slipped away like sand through cupped hands.

[You have slain a Human - Lvl 24 (Archer - Lvl 43)]

[You have gained +1 Soul Fragment]

Angelica's body collapsed against his chest with a soft, heavy thud—still warm. Luke caught her instinctively, as if trying to keep her soul from escaping. His arms trembled but did not let go. He couldn't. The scent of blood, the weight of death—it was all there.

He held her tightly, face soaked with tears. "I'm sorry…"

The cavern began to shake. Stones crashed down. Cracks spiderwebbed across the walls, as if the entire mine had been waiting for this exact moment.

A furious voice tore through the air.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

Luke lifted his head.

High above, at one of the openings, Jonathan was staring down at him—wide-eyed, seething with fury.

"YOU KILLED ANGELICA!" Jonathan's voice ricocheted off the cavern walls like thunder. There was a raw desperation in his words, something primal, as if his entire world had shattered in that moment. His eyes burned with rage and disbelief, locked onto Luke like molten daggers.

Luke looked down at the body in his arms.

"I… I can explain…" But the words barely made it out. Guilt was already rising inside him like a slow, relentless tide.

"YOU KILLED THE WOMAN I LOVED!" Jonathan's voice wasn't just anger. It was grief in its purest form. He stood trembling at the top of the structure, fists clenched, breath sharp and broken, trying to process what he was seeing. The pain in his voice outweighed any battle cry.

The ground shook again, but to Luke, everything seemed to slow down—as if time itself had folded under the weight of what he'd just done. The falling rocks tumbled in slow motion, each fragment spinning through the air as if mocking the last remnants of his emotional balance. Reality was collapsing alongside the cavern.

And then—an explosion.

From the hole they had fallen through, stone erupted in all directions. Dust filled the air.

A monstrous roar drowned out everything else.

Something—massive, grotesque—dropped into the chamber. The impact made the ground quake, and dust rose in thick waves, swallowing everything in sight. Luke squinted through the haze, but all he could see was a silhouette. A twisted, hulking shape, like darkness itself had grown legs and started to move.

Two glowing red eyes pierced the fog.

"YOU'RE DEAD!" Jonathan shouted, his voice growing distant as he ran down the tunnel.

A heavy footstep landed just in front of Luke. A massive sword cut through the dust like a scythe. The creature stepped fully into view.

The system chimed, sharp and cold. A notification flickered in front of Luke's eyes, pulsing like a death sentence:

[Midnight Warden – Lvl 40]

Luke would have to face this enemy alone.

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