18: 12.
armour 18: 12.
armour In the Library.
Lomro and the others crouched in the store room.
Silent.
Frozen.
The darkness pressed against them like a living thing.
“What do we do now?” Lomro whispered.
His voice was barely a breath.
His heart was a drum in his chest.
The Karbu was still outside.
Annie slowly opened a tiny gap in the door.
She peered through.
The creature was searching.
Hunting.
Its head moved in slow, deliberate arcs.
“Karbu can’t smell,” Lomro whispered.
His eyes were fixed on the door.
“It couldn’t smell blood,” he added.
A small hope.
Through the gap, Inose saw a book lying on the floor.
The light caught its spine.
A shadow fell across it, and in that shadow, words appeared — revealed by the angle, by the light, by fate.
HYBRID WORLD.
She remembered Blinc’s words about the rainforest.
About the tower.
About the world upside down.
Something clicked in her mind.
A puzzle piece finding its place.
“Lomro!
Lomro!
Where is that walkie-talkie?” Inose asked.
Her voice was urgent.
Desperate.
“Stop!
That thing will hear us!” Zendaya hissed.
Her face was white.
Her hands were shaking.
“Let’s get out of here,” Annie said.
She loaded the gun.
Her movements were quick.
Practiced.
“Now it’s all right.
But we have only two shots.” “Where did you learn that?” Cult asked.
Genuine curiosity beneath the fear.
“From books,” Annie whispered.
The footsteps outside the store room stopped.
Silence.
Absolute.
Terrifying.
The Karbu broke through the door.
Wood splintered like paper.
The creature screamed — a sound that tore through their bones.
Zendaya screamed.
Inose screamed.
Lomro and Carla screamed.
Pure, primal terror.
Annie fired.
The shot was deafening in the small space.
She missed.
The bullet hit the Karbu’s neck.
Black blood sprayed across the walls.
The Karbu’s scream stopped.
It stumbled back.
Wounded.
Angry.
They ran.
Inose grabbed the book.
Her fingers closed around it like it was salvation.
The Karbu recovered.
Its black eyes found them.
It chased.
Fast.
Relentless.
It jumped.
Grabbed Zendaya.
It ate her head.
One bite.
Clean.
Horrible.
Carla screamed, staring at Zendaya’s headless body.
The sound was inhuman.
The sound of a mind breaking.
The Karbu grabbed Carla’s head and leg.
It tore her body in two.
Blood pooled on the floor.
Hot.
Wet.
Endless.
The Karbu turned.
Inose was on the floor.
The Karbu stood in front of her.
Its black eyes stared down.
Empty.
Hungry.
She couldn’t move.
Her legs wouldn’t obey.
Her voice wouldn’t come.
The Karbu moved toward her.
Silent.
Certain.
A bullet hit the Karbu’s head.
Clean.
Perfect.
The creature collapsed.
Dead.
Annie stood there.
Blood was streaming from her head.
She had hit the table corner when she fell.
The red ran down her face like tears.
She swayed once.
Twice.
Then she collapsed.
Unconscious.
Blood dripped from Inose’s nose.
Her vision blurred.
The world tilted.
She fainted.
Lomro and Cult stood there.
Two boys.
Surrounded by bodies.
Surrounded by blood.
“What the fuck,” both whispered together.
The words were a prayer.
A curse.
A surrender.
— In the Tower.
“That leaf.
Maybe it’s up there?” Lara asked.
Her voice was hopeful.
Desperate.
“Yes,” Blinc replied.
Certain.
He had seen it.
In the vision.
In the memory.
“But what if it’s not there?” William asked.
The practical question.
The fearful question.
“Yes,” Lara accepted.
The doubt was real.
“Then I come back.
We don’t have any other way,” Blinc said.
His voice was steady.
Resigned.
William thought for a second.
His mind was racing.
“Okay.
I’ll come with you.” “No.
You stay here.
If I see something weird, I will shout.
Then you run,” Blinc said.
He looked at William.
His eyes were serious.
Final.
“Okay.
But if you don’t come down in ten minutes, we will come up,” Lara said.
Blinc nodded.
Then he turned and climbed the stairs.
He passed the blood pool room.
The astronaut’s body still hung there.
Headless.
Silent.
Waiting.
He reached the hall entrance.
He stood there.
Blood was on the ground, but there were no Karbu.
Just silence.
Just cold wind.
He took a step forward.
A sound came from the throne.
The ground opened.
Blood poured into the dark space below.
A staircase.
Going down.
Into darkness.
Blinc stopped.
His eyes stared at the opening.
Silence.
No voice.
Just the cold wind.
His black long coat floated around him.
He was confused.
Nothing happened.
He took another step forward.
Then — a footstep.
From inside.
A metal sound.
A helmet appeared.
Blinc’s eyes went wide.
Fear flooded through him.
He remembered.
The dream.
The armored man.
The sword.
His head falling.
An armored man stepped out.
Silver armor.
A helmet covering his face.
A long sword on his wrist.
Two short swords on his back.
He moved without sound.
Without hurry.
Blinc’s face was wet with sweat.
“Who are you?
What do you want?” he shouted.
His voice echoed and died.
No answer.
Blinc stared.
Afraid.
Then he straightened.
His body became calm.
His breathing steadied.
He found his voice.
“I don’t know who you are.
I don’t know what you want.
But I know what you are doing.” He paused.
Breathed.
“When I examine every past incident — the first time we came here, on that cliff, that Karbu came from the ground where Amili was standing.
After that, we came to this world.
You caught Amili.
After that, we came back to save her.
You just tried to make us leave.
You tried to kill us.” He calmed down.
His chest heaved.
“After you caught Amili, everything started.
The lights shut off in Monovi.
The forest appeared.
All of it — after you took her.
You want something from Amili.” “I don’t know what you want.
I never fought like this before.
Before I got this power, I was a totally different person.
I don’t know how I got these powers.” He paused.
His expression changed.
Confidence filled his eyes.
“But that prisoner…
and I have the same eyes.
I transform.
So it is just predicted — that person is imprisoned by you.
That person gave me his powers.
To save.” The armored man drew his sword.
Long.
Sharp.
Silent.
Blinc transformed.
Swords in his hands.
Ready to fight.
Thunder covered him.
Blue light glowed from his skin.
But now — black crack marks lined his face.
Something new.
Something dark.
The armored man stepped back.
Then he ran.
Wind swirled around him.
He was too fast.
Blinc moved to dodge.
The armored man tracked him.
Changed direction in a heartbeat.
He was taking support of the wind.
Every move released a gust of air.
He was too fast.
He hit Blinc with the sword.
The fist blurred in Blinc’s vision.
His body snapped back before his mind could catch up.
His hands flew up in a desperate, pathetic shield.
His swords crossed.
Sparks exploded from the clash.
A blast rocked the hall’s ceiling.
Stones cracked.
Dust fell.
Blinc was thrown to the ground.
The floor shattered beneath him.
The armored man threw his sword down.
It broke.
Blinc’s swords broke.
The armored man ran and hit Blinc’s face.
Blinc couldn’t see him moving.
He was so fast.
Blinc fell out of the hall.
He tumbled down the stairs.
His body hit the stone.
Pain exploded through him.
“Blinc!” Lara shouted from below.
Her voice was pure terror.
From above, through the dust, the armored man attacked.
He jumped from the upper stairs.
Blinc appeared between them.
He stopped the punch with his own hands.
A strong wind erupted.
It shook the tower.
The lake outside churned.
Violet waves hit the shore and crashed over the bridge.
Blinc was injured.
He sat on his knees.
Holding his arm.
Pain in his eyes.
Heavy breathing.
“Go,” Blinc said slowly.
He got to his feet.
He hit the armored man’s chest.
The armor cracked.
Thunder sparked.
He grabbed the armored man’s hand and threw him outside the tower.
The armored man crashed into a three-floor building.
Stone collapsed around him.
“Go!
Take that leaf and be careful,” Blinc said.
Heaviness in his voice.
Blinc ran out of the tower with lightning speed.
He went toward the armored man.
But he was not there.
Blinc stopped.
Looked around.
Nothing.
Suddenly, from behind a pillar — a blow.
Blinc was hit.
The armored man moved his leg.
Lightning speed.
Came toward Blinc.
Hit him.
Blinc blocked.
The building collapsed from the pressure.
It fell on both of them.
To be countinue