"You two morons!! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Gegee shrieked from where she hung off the flat rock ledge, her tiny arms trembling. "Come and—urgh—help me! I swear I'll break a bone or two if I fall from this damn height!"

But Lilian and Sylvia weren't listening.

The air between them was thick with hatred.

Lilian's metal gauntlets gleamed under the fake sun on the sky as her fists clenched, body pulsing with raw rage. Sylvia, in contrast, gripped her axe with her arm.

"You traitorous bitch!!" Lilian growled, her voice feral, teeth bared like a beast. "You're still bitter about your useless arm, aren't you?! You killed the Master for that?!"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Sylvia barked back, eyes wide, face streaked with fresh tears. "You're the one who whispered that filth! You and that human pet—that thing!" She jabbed her axe toward Gegee. "Turning the Master against me! Calling me a traitor! You'll choke on your lies!"

Then she lunged, screaming as she swung the axe high over her shoulder, the blade shrieking through the air.

Lilian sidestepped cleanly, her footwork sharp and vicious. The axe missed her cheek by inches. In a blur, she appeared behind Sylvia and slammed her armored fist into the dwarf's backhand. The force shattered Sylvia's grip, her weapon flew and thunked into the dirt and her legs twisted as she tumbled forward. Her small frame smashed face-first into the ground, spitting out dirt and blood, groaning.

Lilian didn't hesitate, or give her time to stand up.

She ran forward, leapt, and brought her boot down hard into Sylvia's stomach. A grotesque squelch echoed as air and something wetter shot from Sylvia's mouth. Saliva and pinkish bile dribbled down her chin.

Sylvia gasped, fighting to move, to breathe. But Lilian pinned her wrist under her boot and sneered.

"Try it, cripple. Try swinging now."

Sylvia struggled to lift her arm, but it was useless. Her fingers twitched like worms in the dirt. Lilian crouched low, and without hesitation, she drove her fist into Sylvia's ribs.

A sickening crack!

Sylvia let out a high-pitched scream, her voice raw, and animalistic as blood poured from her lips in spurts, dripping onto her chest. Her vision blurred. The pain was unbearable.

"F-fucking… bitch!" she wheezed between coughs. Her body spasmed as her lungs fought for breath, punctured and broken.

Lilian wasn't finished. Her next punch slammed into the other side of Sylvia's ribs with bone-crushing force.

"Tch. A traitor like you doesn't deserve a quick death." Lilian spat, eyes wide with lunacy. "You dared raise that pathetic axe to Lord Divine Shade? You scarred his beautiful face!? You deserve divine punishment!"

She grabbed the fallen axe, grinding her heel into Sylvia's chest.

"I'll slice off your other arm. Then your legs. Then I'll leave you here to rot, limb by limb, like the crawling worm you are!"

Meanwhile, Gegee dangled from the rock, her fingers burning. Her grip was slipping. Her breath was ragged.

Then—

[DING!]

[1 S-Rank Tsukuma Detected]

[Trial Mission: Defeat the Tsukuma or Perish]

[As the only player, if you die, or kill yourself, the NPCs will survive!]

[But if you're alive, the presence of a player here means they're also drawn to the game.]

[What's it gonna be?]

[Self-Implode?] [Fight?]

Gegee's pupils shrank. Her vision shook.

Tsukuma?

What the fuck is that!?

"Fight," she hissed, selecting the option without a second thought.

No way in hell she was ending it here. Not after being reborn. Not after losing her cloning skill. If she still had it, she'd have made a clone to help herself out of this mess. Instead, she was stuck depending on two psychotic NPCs who'd tormented her, seduced his lover and brother Gerald, killed Shin, and now tried to kill each other over nothing.

Her fingers slipped.

She let go.

Her body plummeted like dead weight, crashing into the ground. Her small legs absorbed the fall, but—

Crack!

Pain screamed up her right ankle as it twisted grotesquely under her tiny body. She collapsed, shrieking with a sharp cry. Her vision blurred with tears. The ankle was swollen, pulsing red, maybe even broken.

But there was no time to cry.

Something was watching.

Gegee caught a glimpse, just for a heartbeat—of a feminine figure, peering at her from behind a tree. The moment her eyes locked on them… they vanished.

Hallucination?

Or the Tsukuma?

Back near the fight, Lilian lifted the axe, ready to sever Sylvia's remaining arm. But Sylvia, running on fumes, twisted her legs and managed a desperate kick to Lilian's back.

Lilian stumbled just enough for Sylvia to yank her arm free and stand up!

Coughing blood, she pulled her Master's sword from her hip, trembling but determined. The blade shimmered silver beneath the sun.

Lilian, snarling, dropped into a stance.

They circled.

Then—

The world glitched.

Like an old VHS tape, the terrain flickered. For a second, paradise melted into chaos—skies blackened, trees died, the soil turned to rot—and then it reverted. But the illusion was cracked now.

Lilian blinked rapidly. Something was wrong. She could feel it. Her memory… had holes.

What's happening to me?

"I saw it," Gegee muttered from where she lay belly-down. "The bastard behind all this. This place—it's too beautiful. It's fake. An illusion." She clenched the grass tightly in her hand. It felt real, but…

It wasn't.

She focused on her interface, seeing that she only had three skills: Soul Hop. Hivemind. Phantom Seed.

If only she could still be able to make clones, she'd have done something to clear up all this illusion! And get the missing holes in their memories back! And defeat the tsukuma!

Then:

[Soul Hop: Searching for potential soul-less bodies within 50 meters…]

[12 bodies detected.]

[Hop? Confirm | Decline]

She froze. Since when was she able to hop into dead bodies. Then, her face twisted in horror.

Twelve bodies… around me? Where are they?

She pressed confirm.

Instantly:

[Host can't completely hop into an unknown body with full consciousness.]

[New Skill Unlocked: Soul Split]

[Your core remains in your main body. If the core dies, the host dies. Protect the main body at all costs.]

Then it happened.

Her chest lit with an eerie glow.

The terrain glitched again—this time hard. The sky cracked like broken glass, reality pulsing. From the corrupted earth, a corpse began to rise.

A man. His chest had a sword lodged deep in it, ribs torn open. His eyes were glassy and lifeless until they weren't.

The body twitched.

Staggered forward.

One foot. Then another.

His head snapped up and inside, Gegee smiled.

The undead flesh groaned as it moved, limbs half-paralyzed, half-willing. Blood bubbled from its mouth, leaking onto the torn shirt. The sword still jutted from his ribs like a grotesque badge of resurrection.

She controlled it.

Like a zombie puppet.

Her zombie puppet.

And now, her voice echoed from his throat, distorted, deep and unholy.

"Let's knock some sense into these idiotic NPCs…"

TBC