Dense clouds of dust choked the air as the entire subterranean monument shuddered violently, large boulders plummeting from the vault above and shattering against the floor with cracking impacts that split the bedrock. Tera stood firm, her hand trembling as she kept her blade leveled directly at Benji. Her eyes darted wildly through the haze, her mind racing against the encroaching chaos.
"Come on, Tera, you've got to stop this, can't you see? If he truly cares for you that much, your safety would've been his first priority" Benji shouted from his knees, straining beneath Yomi’s unconscious weight strapped to his back. "We're all going to die if we don't escape together!"
"No... no, it can't be," she whispered, her bewildered eyes wide with terror as another massive pillar collapsed nearby, sending a concussive shockwave and a wave of fine grit over them both. They instinctively shielded their faces as the wind whipped through the chamber.
"Tera! Snap out of it!" Benji screamed over the roar.
He turned his head to scan the collapsing hall, his breath catching in his throat as a silhouette materialized through the curtain of dust.
Toka walked with slow, deliberate steps, picking his way through the falling debris. Though battered and bloody, he moved with steady purpose, navigating the crumbling ruin.
Benji’s eyes lit with sudden hope. "It's Toka!"
Through the haze, Toka squinted, searching for a path clear of fallen pillars and shattered stone. Slumped over his shoulder, supported by his functional hand, was the limp body of the another.
"Don't worry, Kairo," Toka rasped softly, watching his footing on the shifting gravel. "Hang on. We're getting out of here alive."
Benji waved his arm frantically through the air to signal their position.
Tera’s eyes widened in horror as the dust settled further, revealing Toka and Kairo.
"No... it can't be!" she choked out, her grip loosening as the knife slipped from her fingers and clattered onto the stone. Her heart hammered against her ribs. She turned toward the open chamber, her hand reaching out into the haze as if searching for something that was no longer there. "No... it can't...!"
Toka closed the distance, stepping up beside Benji and completely ignoring Tera's state of disbelief.
"Sorry I'm late," Toka said, his voice strained as he carefully eased Kairo off his shoulder and lowered him to the ground. "We need to get out of here, fast."
Benji looked over at Tera, who was slowly taking agonizing steps toward the collapsing center of the hall, her body trembling.
"Tera, come on!" Benji pleaded, genuine worry lining his face. "We need to save ourselves! Please, come with us!"
Tera froze for a fraction of a second, her face pale, before suddenly surging forward.
"Tera!" Benji whispered.
Before he could reach out, her feet left the threshold as she sprinted headlong into the destruction, vanishing into the billowing dust of the collapsing monument.
"Tera, don't!" Benji shouted, trying to haul himself up, but Toka’s hand clamped down firmly onto his shoulder.
"Don't bother," Toka said. "It's hopeless at this point."
Benji turned his head, his voice shaking with disbelief. "So you're saying... we just let her die?!"
"What?" Toka grunted, his gaze sharp and unyielding. "Come on, don't be stupid. She made her choice. Now it's either we move, or we get buried right alongside them. Do you still have the rope?"
Benji swallowed hard, his face drawn with sorrow as he looked down. "Yeah... yeah, I do," he murmured, reaching behind his waist.
Through the choking veil of dust, Tera sprinted blindly, paying no mind to the shattered stone collapsing around her. Her chest heaved, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.
Then, her boots skidded to a halt.
Amid the haze, a lone shadow staggered toward her. As the silhouette resolved into focus, a wave of cold relief washed over her, and her eyes welled up. Without a second thought, she rushed forward, ducking under his arm to take his weight against her shoulder.
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"Don't worry, baby... I've got you," she murmured, a desperate, fragile smile breaking across her face as Haramuci slumped heavily against her.
Haramuci’s dark eyes sharpened, his brow furrowing into a bitter contortion. "The escape plan..." he whispered hoarsely against her shoulder. "You remember the plan, don't you?"
"Yes, yes, I know, baby," she rasped, tightening her grip around his waist. "Please... just hang on."
"Those bastards..." Haramuci choked out, his voice trembling with a terrifying blend of rage and uncertainty. "They'll pay for this..."
Slowly, she guided him toward the rear of the chamber, navigating the debris toward the ancient stone throne rooted into the heart of the monument.
Near the exit, Benji’s eyes widened as he glanced back over Toka’s shoulder. Through the falling rock, he caught sight of the two figures nearing the altar.
"Tera...!" Benji choked out.
Toka, who was currently struggling to secure Kairo against his back with the coarse rope, glanced back for a brief second before snapping his attention back to the knot. "Come on, Benji. Leave the lovebirds alone and help me tie this thing, my hands are burning."
Up on the raised dais, Tera braced Haramuci as he dragged himself toward the side of the massive stone throne. Releasing her shoulder, he pressed his back against the ancient structure. Tera watched anxiously, her hands clutched tight against her chest as he dug his boots into the stone floor, pouring every ounce of his remaining strength into shoving the throne aside.
A deep, grinding groan echoed from beneath the altar.
Beneath their feet, two sharp fissures spiderwebbed across the floor, stretching outward like taut wires. Tera’s breath hitched, her eyes wide as the stone floor began to split.
Gritting his teeth, Haramuci gave one final, desperate push. The monolithic throne shifted, grinding heavily along its groove to reveal a dark, circular shaft beneath it, fitted with a heavy rope ladder that descended into the deep dark.
The fissures around the shaft began to widen rapidly.
"Baby!" Tera cried, her voice trembling as Haramuci immediately swung a leg into the dark shaft, grabbing the rope ladder.
Before she could step toward him, the ground fractured violently. The stone beneath Tera gave way, sending her crashing flat onto her belly. Screaming in terror, she scrambled against the breaking floor, her fingers tearing at the rock as she reached desperately toward the opening.
"Baby! Wh-what are you doing?!" she sobbed, stretching her hand out toward the hole.
Haramuci paused on the ladder, his face rising out of the shadow of the shaft to meet her gaze one last time.
"I love you, babe," he said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "But there's a change of plans."
The words echoed in her ears, freezing the blood in her veins. Her mouth worked uselessly, no sound coming out.
"You don't..." she choked out, her vision blurring. "You... you can't..."
Without another word, Haramuci broke eye contact, descending rapidly into the dark abyss.
A massive boulder crashed onto the upper dais, shattering the stone structure and severing the floor completely. The tilt of the collapsing floor sent Tera sliding backward, her body tumbling down the incline of the altar toward the roaring pit of dust and falling rock below.
Suddenly, a hand shot out from the haze above, snapping tightly around her wrist mid-slide.
"Hey! Snap out of it!"
Tera gasped, her eyes flying upward. Toka stood anchored against the upper lip of the split altar, his bloody left hand gripping the fractured stone edge while his right arm, the nerve pathways newly reconnected and burning with strain, held her weight completely.
Toka gritted his teeth, his face contorting as he hauled her upward against the falling debris. "Dammit... how the hell do I keep finding myself in these messes?!"