Chapter 27: Last Stand

The clash between Tobias and Marcus was a brutal, grinding affair.

Speed against power.

Marcus was a darting serpent, his daggers seeking flesh, but Tobias was an avalanche, each swing of his claymore a seismic event that forced Marcus to give ground.

“You’re... too slow, Tobias,” Marcus hissed, his breath ragged but his grin still wide, manic.

He danced around Tobias, his dual daggers flashing, striking with precision but never landing a killing blow.

Finally, with a guttural roar, Tobias found his opening.

He deflected a desperate lunge and slammed the heavy edge of his blade into Marcus’s chest.

The sound was a sickening, wet crunch of bone and armor.

Marcus’s eyes flew wide, a look of pure, uncomprehending shock freezing on his face.

He didn't cry out. He just crumpled, his body folding to the blood-slicked stone like a puppet with its strings cut.

Tobias stood over him, his massive chest heaving.

Blood, his own, Marcus's, it was impossible to tell, dripped from his sword and stained his armor.

His eyes, hollow and haunted, found mine across the chamber, then to Lily.

She drew her bow, and pointed at Tobias.

"Lil—"

Before he could finish his words, she fired an arrow, it flew and struck Tobias in the shoulder.

He grunted, the force of the impact pushing him back a step, but he didn’t fall.

He stood tall, his gaze narrowing as he turned toward Lily.

“Why are you doing this?” Tobias asked, his voice a low growl, pain lacing his words.

Lily faltered for a moment, as if the question had caught her off guard.

But then she shook her head, the fierceness returning to her eyes.

“I am sorry, I have no choice, Tobias!” she snapped. “I have to survive. I have to.”

He tried to speak, to form some word of protest or despair, but only a ragged gasp escaped.

His strength, both physical and moral, was utterly spent.

His knees buckled, and he stumbled back, his weapon clattering to the floor as he slumped against the wall, a broken monument.

"Rest in peace," I said, the words short, flat. A statement of fact, not a blessing.

Now, it was just the three of us. Me, Lily, and Evelyn.

Lily’s breath hitched, a sharp, panicked sound.

Her hands trembled as she nocked another arrow, but the fierce hunter was gone.

In her place was a cornered animal, her eyes wide and wild, her face pale with a terror that went deeper than any goblin or minotaur could ever inspire.

“You…” Her voice was a frayed wire, buzzing with unstable energy.

But the arrow tip aimed at my heart was steady.

I remained silent.

What words could possibly bridge the chasm the dungeon had opened between us?

There was nothing to say that wouldn't be a lie or a cruelty.

She loosed the arrow. It was a shot born of panic, not precision.

I saw its path the moment it left the string. I didn't flinch, didn't move to avoid it.

The arrowhead grazed my cheek, a sharp, stinging line of fire.

A single drop of warm blood traced a path down my jaw.

I just watched her.

Her eyes darted from my bleeding face to Marcus's broken form, to Tobias's still body.

She was searching for an anchor, for a reason to keep fighting in this sunken place.

She found none. The fight drained from her in a visible wave.

Her shoulders slumped, the tension evaporating into a profound, weary defeat.

The bow slipped from her fingers, clattering on the stone.

The sound was deafening in the sudden quiet.

Her voice was a ghost of a whisper, meant for no one but herself.

“I thought… this raid would be normal. I thought it was supposed to be a simple one. I thought I could make it back. I thought...”

I took a single, deliberate step forward, my gaze never leaving hers.

“I am sorry.”

It was the only truth I had left to offer.

The last vestige of strength left her legs. She didn't crumple dramatically; she simply folded, sinking to the floor as if her bones had turned to water.

She was gone. Not from a wound, but from the sheer, soul-crushing weight of it all.

Silence.

Now, there were two. Me, and Evelyn, huddled in the corner.

The system's demand echoed in the stillness.

'Only one may advance.'