The moment the severed head clicked back onto its shoulders, whatever little courage was left in the hall disintegrated.
Desperation turned the crowd into a stampede.
Boots slammed against crystal floor, elbows shoved through shoulders, and screams bounced off the high pillars as over a hundred students scrambled away from the walls.
“Don’t separate!” Miss Grace’s voice cut over the din, throat raspy as she planted a boot into a charging duplicate’s ribs, sending it skidding back.
“Toward the center!
Keep moving!” A reflection lunged out from behind a pillar, locking eyes on Tunde.
Ayomide didn’t hesitate.
Stepping in, he delivered a brutal, unchivalrous kick straight between the duplicate’s legs.
The sheer force and sudden momentum threw the creature off balance, and Ayomide followed up with a hard shove using the jagged crystal shard in his right hand.
The duplicate lurched sideways, its wide grin twitching.
Tunde stared at Ayomide, hands instinctively dropping to protect his own crotch.
“Bro…
you’re ruthless even to yourself!
You get mind oo!” “Shut up and keep moving,” Ayomide grunted, dragging Tunde by his jacket.
“Or I’ll leave you.” “Omo…” Tunde panted, scrambling to match his pace.
“I swear this one pass everything I don watch for film.” A few yards away, another duplicate lunged at Kemi.
Before Kemi could even shriek, Adesewa stepped into the space.
Elbows tucked, knees slightly bent, her fist snapped out in a crisp, sharp jab straight into the creature’s nose.
BANG.
The duplicate staggered.
Adesewa shifted her weight, driving a heavy right hook into its temple, followed by a straight left that forced it back three paces.
For a split second, memories of weekend sessions in her late father’s garage—gloves wrapped tight around small hands before he passed away—snapped into muscle memory.
Clean, efficient, no wasted motion.
She isn’t trying to kill it, Ayomide noted as he ran past.
She’s just clearing a lane.
Kemi’s eyes went wide.
“Bae!
I didn’t know you could fight like this!
Give am blow!” Stepping out from behind Adesewa, Kemi delivered one frantic kick to the creature’s shin before ducking right back behind her friend’s shoulder.
A boy running beside them blinked in utter confusion.
“Why are you just hiding behind her?!” Kemi pointed proudly at herself.
“Can’t you see I’m giving back-up support?!
Abi you blind?!” Daniel suddenly froze mid-stride, narrowing his eyes through his fogged glasses at the darkness beyond the pillars.
“What is that…?” Emma stopped beside him, her jaw dropping.
“A gate…” Godwin followed their gaze, his face lighting up with sheer desperation.
“Miss Grace!” he roared at the top of his lungs, pointing forward.
“Look ahead!
There’s a gate!” Beyond the forest of crystal pillars, a massive archway stood against the void, pulsing with a warm, liquid-gold light.
Ayomide’s eyes narrowed as he kept moving.
Had it always been there behind the pillars…
or did it only appear after we survived long enough?
Miss Grace forced another reflection back with a sharp side kick, her eyes catching the glow.
“The gate!
Everyone, head for the gate!
Don’t stop!” The objective was clear.
The crowd surged forward in a frantic wave.
Behind them, the smiling duplicates gave chase—their movements unnaturally silent, footsteps making no sound against the crystal.
Tragedy struck in seconds.
A girl tripped on a shattered fragment, hitting the floor hard.
“Help me!” she sobbed, reaching up.
Her friend stopped, eyes wide with horror as three duplicates closed the gap behind them.
Their eyes met for one brief heartbeat—then the friend turned and sprinted away into the crowd.
Farther ahead, another student was tackled mid-stride, disappearing beneath a swarm of reaching hands as blood splashed across the pale floor.
Nobody looked back.
Fear had taken complete control.
Up ahead, Success stumbled, her legs giving out as a duplicate closed in fast.
She froze, paralyzed by fear.
Ayomide caught the movement.
Without slowing down, he lunged across, raking his jagged crystal shard violently across the duplicate’s forearm.
The force threw the creature off balance just long enough.
Ayomide clamped his hand around Success’s wrist, jerking her back to her feet.
“What are you waiting for?
Run!” Success’s eyes lingered on him for a heartbeat before she forced her trembling legs to move.
“…O-Okay!” They sprinted after Tunde, joining the desperate surge rushing into the light.
The golden arch swallowed them in a chaotic rush.
Emma, Daniel, and Godwin vanished first, plunging straight into the glare.
Victoria and Ella hit the boundary right behind them, hands locked tight.
Kemi gripped Adesewa’s arm like a vise.
“You no go leave me, abi?” Adesewa gave a quiet, firm shake of her head, pulling Kemi through the threshold with her.
Ayomide, Success, and Tunde hit the threshold together.
Tunde let out a shaky, desperate breath.
“If we survive this…
I swear I no go complain about assignments again.” Ayomide glanced back over his shoulder at the tide of smiling faces closing in.
“Survive first.” They stepped into the gold.
Miss Grace stood at the edge, holding the line until the last lingering student scrambled past.
She took one final look behind her.
Hundreds of identical faces watched her from the dim crystal hall, grins fixed, silent, waiting.
“Please…” Miss Grace whispered to the empty air.
“Let my students live.” She stepped back into the light.
The golden glare swallowed everything.
Silence.
Darkness.