Chương 28: Chaos

"Hey, that's rude."

"What's rude? Wasn't it rude to do what she did?" Renn hissed. Just a minute ago, all the kids were shifting towards following my plan, but the instant I spoke Lania's name, the atmosphere completely changed. They looked at me with a mix of fear and anger.

"Wasn't it rude to just watch her getting bullied?" I countered. I didn't want to do this. I had thought about this before, and I couldn't get myself to agree with what Lania had done, nor could I get myself to feel much remorse for her bullies. But after hearing that it was all deliberately orchestrated by Father Aran to push Lania to the very edge, my thoughts had changed a little. Right now, I was absolutely hating what I was doing. But I had to do it.

"It wasn't me who bullied her," Renn retorted, his glare hardening. But he knew what he had done wrong.

"But you didn't try to stop them, did you?"

"They wouldn't listen."

"Did you try your best?" I hate myself.

"You act like the leader for these kids." I am a piece of shit for doing this.

"Weren't you just scared of becoming their new target?" Tears started forming in Renn's eyes. I was fucking disgusted with myself. I desperately wanted to stop, but I also needed to save Lania, and I needed his help to do that.

"You were glad it wasn't you." A single tear fell down Renn's cheek. Sil immediately stepped in front of Renn, blocking me from him. She stared daggers at me, her silent glare daring me to say another word. It wasn't only her. It was every single kid in the room. God, how much I wanted to punch myself in the face for doing this.

"I—I," Renn wiped his tears, snorting and recovering his breath. He put a gentle hand on Sil's shoulder and whispered, "I am alright." He moved back to the front, standing tall. What did this world do to make a child this strong?

"You are right," Renn said, his voice trembling but firm.

"Maybe I was scared, and I should have tried harder. But wasn't Aran behind…yeah, I am making excuses again. Lania took the worst of all of us. While the experiments on us lasted for an hour or two, she was put through it for days. She didn't deserve it." He took a deep breath, strengthening his resolve.

"I won't forgive her."

"You don't have to."

"But I don't want her to stay here either."

"I don't either. I don't want any of you to stay here." He turned around, looking every kid in the eye and sharing a firm nod with every single one of them. They all reached a silent, unbreakable agreement. He turned back to me.

"What's the plan?" I couldn't help but smile, then felt disgusted on the words I had to use to convince him.

"The plan is to cause absolute chaos. You guys cause enough of a distraction for me to sneak to Aran and kick his ass."

"You?" Renn inspected me from top to bottom, then scoffed.

"You will fight Father Aran?" This brat was rude, but after what I just did to him, I definitely deserved it.

"I am stronger than I look."

"That's a really low bar to clear... You won't be able to defeat Father Aran alone."

"Who said I am alone? And no, my partner isn't Filki."

"Then who is it?"

"That's a surprise." I reached out and ruffled his hair. He fought hard to bat my hand away.

"Focus on the plan. How are you guys going to cause the distraction?" Renn won the battle against my hand, glared at me, and hastily fixed his hair. He looked over at Filki, who simply nodded at him. It was nice having someone support me.

"Fine," he said.

"We will need Milo."

"Did someone say my name?" a cheery voice perked up from behind. Milo came walking into the room.

"Did I catch you guys talking about my awesomeness?" He let out a loud burp, then flashed a bright smile. It was the kid I had seen in the Chef's Refectory, getting spoiled with food by Burtic.

"Oh, Filki, hi there. Who is this guy?"

"Hello, Milo. This man here is Clark."

"Nice to meet you, sir." This kid was far more polite with his words than every other kid I had met in this facility, but he certainly wasn't polite with his gaze. He, too, inspected me from top to bottom, taking in my torn shirt, jagged jeans, and the big toe peeking out of my shoe. Well, I kinda agreed that my outfit was hard to ignore, but still, it was rude.

"You don't look like you work here." I smiled at him.

"Because he doesn't," Renn answered for me.

"An outsider? It's my first time seeing one! What is he here for? To free us out of here?" Milo joked. When no one laughed, he stopped, his smile dropping into a deadpan expression.

"You can't be serious."

"We are," Renn said.

We needed Milo because, after Pyiari, he was the one who knew the maze the best. Not all of it, but he knew the hidden routes between his hideouts and the kitchens perfectly. That was enough. With Milo and Filki's combined knowledge, we were able to map out most of the facility, pinpointing the exact route I needed to take to reach Aran and where all the patrols were stationed. It was weird that I hadn't met a single patrol while roaming alone or with Filki earlier.

Was I just incredibly lucky, or was this another one of the Rift's hidden mechanics? If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Now, only one last thing was left. How the fuck was I going to defeat Aran? I stood separate from the group, staring at the three cards floating in front of me. One diamond rank and two silver rank. Skillmerge, Shadowstride, and Rotary Rend.

Rotary Rend When the gladiator Varnav faced the Iron-Shelled Basilisk, his heavy sword bounced off its scales, and his iron spear shattered on impact. Backed into a corner and stripped of conventional weapons, he remembered the violent cyclones of his homeland that could tear ancient trees from their roots.

Realizing that the greatest destructive power lay not in a straight line, but in a violent spiral, Varnav twisted his broken shaft with all his might at the exact moment of impact, drilling through the impenetrable armor and tearing the beast apart from the inside. Recorded in the Akashic system in the year 211. Rotary Rend allows the wielder to impart a violent, high-speed centrifugal force to their weapons or body parts.

This rotational momentum turns a simple physical swing or thrust into a devastating, drilling impact capable of tearing through defenses. I was suffering from a massive predicament right now. Do I merge Shadowstride and Rotary Rend together or not? These two skills were so fundamentally different that I didn't have the slightest idea what might come out. Would combining them give me a Gold card? There was no guarantee. Would whatever new card I got be better than using these two separately?

I thought hard about it and ultimately decided against merging them. They worked perfectly fine individually—the supreme mobility of Shadowstride and the raw, destructive power of Rotary Rend. It was way too big of a risk. I would only think about merging them if I found myself backed into a corner with no other options.

We started making preparations. First, we raided the pharmacy; I needed those potions. Raided the Chef's Refectory, Milo said there are knives and flour to blind them, in reality he just wanted more to eat. Then, we set up traps.

"We are ready," Renn whispered, crouching behind a barricade. Every child was spread out, clutching makeshift weapons and supplies, ready to unleash chaos.

"Let's begin then." The first alarm went off faked by Milo. It was a deep, bone-rattling klaxon that screamed through every single corridor at once, bathing the facility in flashing red light. And yeah, there were patrols. As soon as the alarm rang, dozens of black sludge monsters poured out. Garn the Warden Garn believed that absolute order was the only thing standing between society and total collapse.

As the head of security at Life's Last Hope, he viewed the restless children not as patients, but as chaotic variables that required an unbreakable wall to contain them. His obsession with maintaining perfect discipline and punishing those who strayed led him to accept the miracle drug, eager to transform himself into the very impenetrable barrier he always wished to be. Recorded in the Akashic system in the year 13665. Vek the Hound Vek always possessed an uncanny talent for tracking.

Before coming to the facility, he made a living finding lost people in the harsh wilderness. At Life's Last Hope, his role shifted to hunting down children who dared to wander out of their quarters at night. He took immense, twisted pride in the chase, viewing the terrified children as mere prey. When offered the chance to continue the hunt for all eternity, his predatory instincts gladly consumed what little humanity he had left. Recorded in the Akashic system in the year 13681.

Where the hell were they hiding until now?

"Push it, push it!" Renn yelled. A group of kids shoved a massive metal shelf with all their might, tipping it over with a deafening crash and completely blocking a hallway. Before the advancing sludge hounds could climb over the wreckage, another group of kids chucked stolen bags of kitchen flour directly at them. The bags burst on impact, filling the corridor with a blinding, choking cloud of thick white dust.

The monsters shrieked, blindly swiping at the air as the powder coated their sludge, clumping up and throwing off their senses. Glass shattered as kids knocked over medical trays, scattering caltrops made of broken syringes and sharp vials across the floor. It was absolute, beautiful mayhem.

"That's our cue," Filki said, remarkably calm for an old woman leaning on a cane in the middle of a facility-wide panic.

"Go. I'll get the kids to the maze exit. You go get Lania."

"Filki—""Clark." She fixed me with a look that had probably terrified better men than me for the better part of a century.

"I have spent my entire life trying to save these children and failing. Let an old woman finish what she started. Go." I went. The facility I sprinted through no longer resembled the sterile, orderly nightmare I'd first woken up in. Blaring alarms bled red light down every corridor, casting long, frantic shadows. Somewhere to my left, I heard the unmistakable crash of an entire storage shelf coming down, followed by the cheers of rebellious children.

Suddenly, from the left hallway, a hand completely covered in black sludge shot out, gripping the corner. Soon, it peeked around the corner, revealing a horribly distorted face. Slith the Reacher Slith suffered from a paralyzing fear of letting things slip away. As an orderly in the facility, she was constantly anxious that the children would run off and get into places she couldn't pull them back from. Over time, this protective anxiety twisted into a suffocating, violent need for control.

She took the miracle drug to ensure she would never lose a subject again, her body warping to match her endless desire to keep everyone firmly within her grasp. Recorded in the Akashic system in the year 13670. It screamed loud enough to send chills straight into my bones. Its limbs were stupidly long—at least a full meter in length. It lashed out, its elongated arm whipping through the air to grab me by the throat. This wasn't my fight. I focused my magika, channeled Shadowstride, and vanished into the darkness.

Its massive palm smashed into the floor right where I had been standing a millisecond prior, cracking the tiles. It lifted its hand, looking around in mindless confusion when it couldn't find my crushed body. But I was long gone. I ran. Filki had given me the exact route and warned me where Aran's personal guards would be stationed. Bael the Sentinel Bael was a man of few words but absolute, unwavering loyalty. He owed his life to Father Aran and swore a blood oath to shield the man from all harm.

Standing outside the Chapel doors, he envisioned himself as a mountain—unfeeling, unmoving, and unbreakable. When the opportunity arose to make his vow eternal, he gladly sacrificed his fragile human flesh to become the ultimate, unyielding shield for his master. Recorded in the Akashic system in the year 13692. Corv the Sentinel Corv never liked making his own decisions. He found comfort in following orders and working entirely in the shadow of a greater cause.

Paired with Bael to guard the Chapel of Salvation, he learned to move in perfect, mindless synchrony with his partner, striking down anyone who dared approach the heavy doors. Taking the miracle drug to become immortal was just another order he followed without question, permanently fusing his mind and violent purpose with his partner. Recorded in the Akashic system in the year 13692. They were pacing outside a set of grand double doors, clearly confused.

So many alarms ringing at the exact same time had never happened before.

"Go check what it is," a deep, commanding voice echoed from deep within the room behind them. It was Aran. The two heavily armored guards grunted, hefted their weapons, and sprinted down the hallway toward the chaos. I hid tightly in a dark corner, holding my breath and waiting for them to leave. Their heavy footsteps faded into the distance. Only silence remained, disturbed only by the periodic wailing of the distant sirens.

I walked quietly down the hallway to the grand double doors where Aran's voice had come from. Chapel of Salvation When the staff at Life's Last Hope first began their grueling work, the chapel was built as a quiet sanctuary for them to pray for the sick children. But as the years bled on and the relentless pursuit of immortality corrupted their minds, their prayers shifted. They stopped praying for the children's salvation and began praying for their own.

Under Father Aran's guidance, the holy sanctuary was twisted into a desecrated altar where forced evolution and eternal life were worshipped above all else. Recorded in the Akashic system in the year 13028. It was the boss room for this rift. I gripped my fists, prayed to God to not make me fight Aran and the rift boss at the same time, and pushed the heavy doors open.