Zack held Celia tightly, his eyes closed, his breathing heavy. The icy, creeping fear of approaching death crawled over his skin. He waited for the claws, the sharp teeth, the demonic laughter that would overwhelm him.

  But the end did not come.

  Instead, through his closed eyelids, Zack saw a flash of white light—so bright it sliced straight through his fear. What is that? he wondered. An unexpected thought, in a moment where all thoughts should have vanished. Carefully, he opened his eyes.

  And there, in the darkness before them, stood a young man holding a lamp in each hand. Two blazing points of light pierced the night, cutting through the shadows and reigniting Zack’s instinct to survive.

  There was a slicing sound as blades tore through the air—a sound of chaos and destruction. At the edge of the clearing, where the lamplight shone brightest, clouds of pitch-black smoke began to rise. One by one, the red eyes of the C-rank demons vanished into nothingness. The shadows retreated.

  “Who are they?” Celia whispered, her voice hoarse with disbelief.

  A voice answered back—sharp and authoritative, like a commander on a battlefield. “Run that way!” The voice belonged to a woman standing beside them. Zack looked up and saw an imposing, powerful figure pointing toward the side of the clearing where the demons had just been cut down. It was the only escape route.

  Celia did not hesitate. She grabbed the young man with the lamps by the hand and sprinted into the darkness.

  Zack turned and ran toward Gina. He couldn’t leave her behind.

  The imposing woman seized his arm. “She’s lost,” she said coldly. “We can’t carry her. We have to go.” Her grip was iron, her words like knives.

  “No!” Zack shouted. “We can’t leave her!” His voice cracked with desperation. He tried to pull free, muscles tensing, but he was too weakened from the fight to resist. He was dragged away.

  As he was pulled back, he looked over his shoulder, tears streaming down his face, his eyes wide with grief and frustration. He saw Gina’s broken body lying alone in the centre of the clearing, bathed in pale moonlight. He saw the remaining demons slowly closing in on her, like vultures circling their prey. It was an image that would be burned into his memory forever.

  ?

  As the last clouds of black smoke faded from the clearing, Zack, Celia, and their unknown rescuers reached the entrance of a cave hidden behind a dense tangle of bushes and branches. The imposing woman spoke, her voice calm and commanding amid the chaos of the night.

  “This is the entrance to our bunker,” she said. “We’re safe here.”

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  As they stepped inside, they were greeted by the warm, gentle glow of an oil lamp. The space was small but cosy—a simple living area with a worn couch, a table, and six mismatched chairs, as if gathered over many years.

  The woman stepped forward. “My name is Natasha,” she said. “This is Thomas,” she gestured to the young man with the lamps, standing quietly beside her, “and Kevin.” She pointed to another young man whose face still carried an unnervingly calm expression. “We’re from the Research Team.”

  Zack’s blood boiled. The words were a spark in a powder keg. The rage he had suppressed all night—the helplessness, the pain over Gina—exploded.

  “Research Team?!” he shouted, his voice cracking with fury. “Because of your new technology, the Hellfire Wall didn’t activate! That’s why all of this went wrong! And you left Gina behind!” The accusations flew from his mouth like daggers as he stepped toward them, fists clenched.

  “Zack!” Celia’s voice cut sharply through the tension. “Stop!” She stepped between him and Natasha, arms spread like a shield. “These people just risked their lives to save us! This isn’t their fault!” Her voice was firm, but her eyes begged him to calm down.

  Natasha remained composed under Zack’s outburst. She looked at him with eyes that seemed older than time itself. “I understand you’ve had a terrible night,” she said. “Try to get some rest. Thomas will give you water. When the sun rises, we’ll take you back to the Wall.” Her words were gentle but unyielding, leaving no room for argument.

  ?

  Zack sank onto the worn couch, holding a dented metal cup of water. He stared at the oil lamp as its flame danced, casting long shadows across the walls. Thomas sat down beside him.

  “I’m a scientist,” Thomas said softly. “And also the doctor for our team. Do you want me to take a look at your arm?”

  Zack nodded. Thomas carefully began unwrapping the bandage Celia had tied around his arm earlier that night.

  At the table, Celia sat with Natasha and Kevin. She looked at Kevin, her eyes full of questions. “How were you able to kill so many demons at once?” she asked. “They need five strikes to the heart or brain.”

  Kevin smiled faintly. “I use a special spear,” he replied. “Thomas and Natasha designed it for me. It contains demon DNA, which makes it stronger. It only needs a single thrust instead of five.” He paused. “But it only works on C-ranks.”

  Natasha studied Celia closely. “I can tell you’re part of the Royal Guard,” she said suddenly. “You must have your reasons for being on this side of the Wall. But… we’re still looking for a fighter, and you seem suitable. Would you consider joining the Research Team?”

  Celia fell silent, startled by the question. Before she could answer, Zack spoke.

  “We both want to join the Research Team,” he said firmly. He looked from Thomas to Natasha and Kevin. “We both share the same goal: killing all demons. And tonight we saw that the best way to do that is with you.”

  Celia looked at Zack, warmth spreading through her chest—a sense of connection, of shared purpose. She didn’t need to blush. With a confident smile, she nodded.

  “Yes,” she said with conviction. “We’re in.”

  Natasha nodded, a rare smile appearing on her face. “Then it’s decided,” she said, clearly pleased. “From now on, I appoint you as members of—”

  “Natasha,” Thomas interrupted calmly. “You can’t decide that.”

  Natasha’s face flushed bright red. “Hey! Why do you always ruin my moment?” she snapped. “They clearly saw me as the leader!”

  Kevin couldn’t hold back his laughter. A soft, almost inaudible chuckle escaped him. Zack and Celia looked back and forth, confused. The tension of the demon hunt gave way to an awkward, very human squabble.

  Kevin’s laughter abruptly stopped when Thomas, with a calmness that contrasted sharply with the chaos, turned his attention back to Zack.

  “Wait,” he said. “Why are you even wearing this bandage?”

  Zack looked down at his arm.

  To his surprise, the deep, bleeding gash that had been there earlier was gone. Completely. There was no wound—nothing at all. His skin was smooth and unbroken, as if it had never been injured.

  Zack’s gaze snapped to Celia. Her face, moments ago filled with admiration, turned pale with panic.

  “Y-yeah,” she began awkwardly, her voice high and strained. She let out a dry, nervous laugh. “Zack, I thought that was strange too. Why are you wearing that?” She tried to salvage the situation, but the look in her eyes betrayed the lie.

  The silence that followed was thick and heavy, filled with unspoken questions and buried secrets.

  ?

  At that exact moment, just as the tension reached its peak, two soft but clear knocks echoed against the metal door of the bunker. A few seconds passed—everyone holding their breath—before three heavy blows followed.

  “Could be a B-rank,” Kevin whispered, his earlier confidence gone. “They’re smarter. They can talk.”

  The pounding grew louder, faster. A muffled but unmistakable voice called through the thick metal door:

  “Zack… are you in there?”

  Everyone turned to look at him.

  The fact that a voice—possibly a demon’s—was calling his name made the moment terrifying. Was it a trap? How could a demon know who he was? The others stared at him in fear and disbelief. Zack felt as though he had become the centre of an unfamiliar nightmare.

  What is the real danger in this chapter?