CHAPTER 144: [DON’T DIE, DIE!]

Moments earlier...

’What...is this?’

After what felt like an eternity of dings, endless notifications flashing in the corner of his vision, Eli’s hazy eyes had drifted up at the system’s screen.

Bound, half-dragged and half-carried by a screaming Kairo, he couldn’t look away.

There was a new message.

[SYSTEM WARNING]

Player is under a [MIND CONTROL] caused by S-CLASS Mindshroud Octopus. If this persists, System will initiate a mind reboot.

’Mind reboot? I don’t need a fucking—’

Ding.

[SYSTEM WARNING]

Due to Player’s ignorance of previous notifications, System mind reboot will now commence.

Do not worry. It might hurt but Player’s body will not react as to not alarm TARGET [KAIRO].

’What the hell does that even—’

And then Eli felt it.

Not a sting. Not a burn.

Excruciating, mind-numbing pain.

It ripped through every nerve at once, a lightning bolt of agony threaded into his spine, his skull, his lungs. His instincts screamed to convulse, to thrash, to claw at his head—

—but his body didn’t move.

It didn’t even twitch.

He stayed rigid in Kairo’s arms, caught between consciousness and a nightmare, eyes wide but unblinking.

Pain.

It didn’t stop.

It grew.

’God—no—this hurts—’

It was pain, more pain, stacked over itself until his mind became a single white scream.

And somewhere inside that screaming:

Kai—

The thought curled jagged and poisonous at the edges.

Ding.

[SYSTEM WARNING]

Due to persistence of the influence of mind control, System will now push mind reboot at a higher level.

’This isn’t a reboot. You’re—’

Pain again.

Pain.

Pain.

PAIN.

...pain?

His brain felt like it was being peeled apart. Memories flickered out of sequence, colors bleeding over one another. His chest tried to heave, but nothing moved.

’What—what’s happening—why—’

His eyes rolled, focusing on the only thing they could—the world around him.

Kairo.

He saw Kairo’s back, broad and tense, water splashing as he pushed forward.

He felt the leather binding his arms tight against his chest.

’Why would Kairo tie me...did I—’

The thought cracked open something darker.

He wanted to kill Kairo.

The words weren’t his but they were there, buzzing like a wasp’s nest in his skull: kill Kairo.

He wanted to—

Oh.

Oh no.

’SYSTEM—WAS I JUST BEING CONTROLLED?’

It was possible.

He couldn’t move.

He couldn’t even speak.

He could only dart his eyes, watch his own body be carried like a weapon he no longer owned.

No.

It wasn’t Kairo’s fault.

Nothing about this was Kairo’s fault.

And yet—

"Captain! Eli! Where are you?!"

The shout tore through the cavern like a blade. For a sliver of a second Eli seized on it as salvation — Mio’s voice, raw and frantic — but something under the sound crawled like rot.

The edges rang wrong.

Immense danger.

His danger sense flared, a hot spike behind his eyes.

The voices weren’t anchors; they were bait. They were lies dressed in familiar tones.

Kairo answered before he even heard the warning, boots thudding through the flood. "I’m coming."

’No. No, Kairo... No...’ Eli thought. The thought wasn’t steady; it trembled like a leaf on a string.

He forced himself to move, to pry his lips open, to shove past the static battering his skull.

’System... let me speak. Let me warn him.’

Something pushed back. He tasted iron and salt, felt the leather bite his wrists where Kairo had tied him. Still, a breath slipped out and he found the word like a flint. "S—"

’Here we go.’

"Stop." The syllable fell in the water, small and ragged, but it hit Kairo hard enough that the hunter froze—just a beat, a twitch—and that tiny gap felt like a lifeline.

Kairo’s shoulders hardened. "What?" His voice was flat; the suspicion in it was a blade waiting for a nick.

Eli forced the next words out. They came as if from the bottom of a well, slow and wet: "Stop... don’t... go there."

Silence stretched. For a heartbeat it felt like the sound of his own blood pounding in his ears was the only real thing left.

Then Kairo’s black eyes pinched, testing. "What are you saying, Eli? Speak up." The tone carried command—soft, lethal.

Eli looked up. Kairo’s face was carved from stone and shadow; distrust sat heavy in the set of his jaw.

’He’s really doesn’t trust me right now.’

The thought stabbed at him with cold shame.

"I..."

He remembered flashes — hands he’d used, words he hadn’t meant, the pressure in his chest when the command replayed itself in his head. He wanted to apologize.

He wanted to say:

"I’m sorry; it wasn’t me."

But the thing inside his skull rose first, like a mouth forcing words he didn’t own.

The scream tore out raw and ugly. "I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Ding.

[SYSTEM WARNING]

Player is once again getting controlled. If you continue to get controlled, the system will have no choice but to reboot.

The text burned across his vision, but before the pain from the reboot even reached him, another pain tore through first—sharp, electric, all-consuming.

His danger detection ability.

It wasn’t a flare anymore; it was a blade driven straight through his skull.

His entire body shuddered as the warning roared louder than his own heartbeat.

For an instant, it felt like waking up mid-fall.

His mind was caught between two worlds—one a swamp of rage and whispers, the other his own flickering consciousness clawing toward the surface.

’This is urgent. I don’t know when it’s going to take me again.’

The thought forced its way through the static, jagged but his own. He latched onto it, breathing ragged through clenched teeth.

He had to move.

He had to speak before the words weren’t his anymore.

"Kairo..."

It came out as a croak, his voice cracking like dry wood. He forced air past the stone in his throat. "Go back. It’s not... them. It’s—"

The whisper cut him off like a knife. It slithered up from the depths of his skull, oily and sharp, latching onto his tongue.

’No. Keep going. Keep going to your death so you can—’

His head jerked, his mouth twisting as if pulled by invisible hooks.

"DIE! DIE! DIE!"

The scream wasn’t his own. It ripped from his lungs raw and guttural, echoing off the wet stone.

His body convulsed, torn between two commands—one desperate to warn, the other desperate to destroy.

’Stop—stop it—it’s not me,’ his real voice howled inside, clawing at the walls of his mind. ’Kairo, please understand.’

"Captain! Eli! Make a sound! Let us hear you!"

"Please, Captain! Show us you’re alive!"

"Captain!"

"CAPTAIN!!"

Eli’s head throbbed like it was being split open from the inside.

Each word stabbed through his skull — Mio’s voice, Zaira’s — the sound of their calls felt real, but his danger sense screamed otherwise.

No. They weren’t real.

And yet—

Kairo kept walking toward them.

Every step echoed, heavy, deliberate, splashing through the flooded stone. Eli’s chest seized tighter with each one.

’Stop. Stop walking. Please—’

The pressure in his head built until it felt like his brain was being crushed under invisible weight. His pulse was a drumbeat, his breath a rasp.

"Kairo, don’t... stop—"

He looked up weakly — Kairo didn’t even glance at him. The man’s eyes were locked forward, jaw tight, determined, like Eli’s words were nothing but background noise.

’He’s tuning me out... he doesn’t believe me.’

"Captain!"

"Please, answer us!"

The fake voices grew clearer.

Louder.

Too real.

Each echo drilled deeper into Eli’s skull until the pain turned blinding.

Mio.

Zaira.

Close.

Too close.

"Kairo!" His voice cracked, desperate now, raw enough to scrape his throat. "Stop! Don’t go there!"

The words left his mouth, but his body wouldn’t follow — he couldn’t move, couldn’t even raise his arm. His mind was his only weapon left.

And then, darkness.

For a moment, everything went black — a blank void swallowing the pain, the noise, the light.

When his mind flickered back to consciousness, he didn’t recognize his own voice anymore.

"I’ll kill you!"

The words ripped out of him unbidden. They weren’t his. They couldn’t be.

"LISTEN TO ME!" he shouted again, fighting his own tongue, but Kairo didn’t turn around.

Of course he didn’t.

Why would he?

To him, Eli was just babbling — mind-controlled, unstable, a threat.

Eli’s chest ached, a cold, hollow ache that hurt worse than the pain in his skull.

’Please... just listen. I’m not your enemy. I’m trying to save you...’

His throat burned.

His body trembled.

Every nerve screamed confusion and despair, emotions tangling until he couldn’t tell which were his anymore — anger, fear, guilt — or the monster’s influence twisting them inside out.

Still, he forced himself to speak. To warn. To try.

But then—

"Captain!"

That voice.

Kairo froze mid-step.

Eli’s blood ran cold.

"Mel...?" Kairo breathed, the word escaping like disbelief.

And then came another voice.

"Kai!"

That voice — Mel’s — sharper, louder, too close.

Eli’s body convulsed as his danger sense detonated inside his head.

Pain.

Searing, unbearable pain.

His vision split. His breath hitched. It felt like his skull was fracturing, like something inside him was trying to claw its way out.

’No... no, no, no!’

He forced his eyes downward — and his blood went cold.

Beneath the surface, dozens of phantoms clawed their way up from the water, eyes glowing red instead of blue. Their skeletal hands reached, twisted, ready to drag them both under.

’Fuck.’

The realization hit like a punch to the gut.

’Fuck. FUCK.’

Eli’s voice tore out of his throat — pure panic, pure urgency.

"IT’S THE PHANTOMS!"

But it was too late.

Kairo got pulled.