Reigns remained silent.

Nyxara slowly tightened her grip on his arm.

"Every day, people are dying out there."

"So many parents are losing their children, and many children are losing their parents."

Her red eyes quietly drifted across the mourning hall, taking in the grieving families gathered within.

"This is the play of destiny."

"And if you don’t like it..."

Her voice grew colder and firmer.

"Then you need to get stronger and reach the end to stop this farce."

The moment Reigns heard those words, his eyes widened slightly.

His lips slowly parted open as if he had just realized something important. He was about to say something.

But suddenly...

BOOOOM! BOOOOM!

A terrifying quake violently shook the entire mourning center.

The ground beneath everyone’s feet trembled heavily.

People screamed in shock as flower vases shattered across the floor.

Several memorial photographs toppled over while candles scattered in every direction.

Reigns and Nyxara instantly raised their heads.

At the same moment, a terrifying crimson intent swept across the surroundings like a monstrous wave.

The pressure was so overwhelming that everyone inside the mourning hall froze in fear.

A few people collapsed to the floor immediately while others turned deathly pale.

Even the air itself felt suffocating.

Small cracks spread along the walls as the entire building continued trembling nonstop.

Reigns felt chills run down his spine as his instincts screamed danger.

Then a blinding crimson light erupted throughout the entire mourning hall.

"W-What the hell is happening?!"

People panicked instantly.

Some tried running toward the exits while others covered their heads in fear.

The crimson light only became brighter and brighter until it swallowed everything in sight.

Reigns instinctively grabbed Nyxara’s hand tightly.

The space around them began distorting violently.

The floor beneath their feet twisted unnaturally while the surroundings blurred, fractured like shattered glass.

"Reigns!!!"

Lira’s terrified scream echoed from behind.

Reigns immediately turned his head and saw Kellar rushing forward, desperately trying to deploy a shield around them.

A faint barrier had barely started to form.

But it was already too late.

The crimson light swallowed them completely.

The entire world distorted around their bodies.

Reigns felt his stomach twist painfully as though the space itself had folded inward.

His vision blurred.

The sounds of screaming, trembling, and falling objects mixed together into pure chaos.

_____

Nyxara slowly regained consciousness amid the violent rumbling.

Her head throbbed, and her vision remained slightly blurred as she pushed herself up from the shattered floor.

Broken flower vases, fallen memorial frames, and scattered candles littered the surroundings.

The mourning hall had already descended into complete chaos.

People were screaming everywhere.

Some cried in panic while others desperately searched for their loved ones.

Nyxara’s purple eyes immediately darted around restlessly.

She searched for only one person.

"Darling..."

Her body shuddered as her gaze swept through the crowd again and again.

But the next instant...

Her body froze.

A massive dungeon gate had appeared right in the middle of the mourning center.

The gate glowed with a terrifying crimson light while dark energy continuously leaked from its surface like bloody smoke.

The pressure emanating from it alone forced people to their knees.

At the sight of that horrifying gate, Nyxara couldn’t help but grit her teeth.

Even her usually cold and composed expression cracked.

For a brief moment, disbelief flashed across her face.

Just what kind of cruel joke was this?

People had come here to mourn the dead.

They had come here to pray for the deceased and grieve peacefully.

Yet now a dungeon gate had appeared in the middle of the memorial to harvest even more lives.

Nyxara felt anger boiling within her chest, but at the same time she also felt disoriented by the sudden chaos.

Still, she forcibly calmed herself.

"No... I don’t have time for this. I need to search Darling..."

With that, she immediately began looking around frantically once more.

"Darling!"

"Darling!"

Nyxara shouted at the top of her lungs as she pushed through the panicking crowd.

Her voice echoed throughout the ruined mourning hall.

But no matter how much she searched...

She couldn’t find Reigns anywhere.

That realization made her heart tremble violently.

A horrifying thought flashed in her mind.

"No... don’t tell me Darling is inside..." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Her face instantly went pale.

Without hesitation, Nyxara rushed directly toward the crimson dungeon gate.

BOOM!

The floor cracked slightly beneath her feet as she launched herself toward the entrance.

However, the moment she tried to enter the gate, an invisible force violently hurled her backward.

Nyxara’s eyes widened.

She immediately tried again.

But once more, she was blocked completely.

No matter how much force she used, she simply couldn’t enter.

"Red Gate!"

A terrifying realization struck her.

The moment those words escaped her lips, Nyxara’s face completely lost its color.

Her entire body trembled violently.

A Red Gate...

Once someone was trapped inside, nobody outside could enter until the dungeon itself was cleared or completely destroyed.

And the survival rate of Red Gates was absolute hell.

Nyxara grabbed her hair tightly as panic finally shattered her calm composure.

"NOOOOO DARLINGGGGGG!"

_____

Reigns slowly opened his eyes, a painful groan escaping his lips.

His entire body ached terribly.

For a few moments, his vision remained blurry while his ears rang heavily from the earlier explosion of light.

He found himself lying atop broken debris, shattered concrete, bent steel rods, and massive boulders scattered all around him.

Dust continuously drifted through the air while pieces of rubble occasionally crumbled nearby.

Reigns slowly grabbed his throbbing head and pushed himself upright with difficulty.

"Damnn..."

He clenched his teeth as pain shot through his body.

After finally sitting up properly, he slowly raised his head and looked around.

The moment he saw the surroundings, his expression stiffened.

The entire place looked like a destroyed wasteland.

Collapsed buildings stretched endlessly into the distance, while broken roads cracked apart like spiderwebs across the ground.

Ruined vehicles burned in scattered locations while black smoke rose toward the sky.

And above it all, a crimson sky burned across the world.

Dark red clouds swirling overhead, giving the entire landscape an ominous and suffocating atmosphere.

The air itself felt heavy and hostile.

Reigns slowly stood up and brushed the dust from his clothes.

His eyes carefully scanned the surroundings as he tried to understand where the hell he had ended up this time.

But before he could think any further...

SKREEEECH!

A horrifying screech erupted nearby.

Reigns immediately snapped his head sharply toward the sound.

The next moment, several jagged monsters slowly crawled out from behind the ruined debris.

Their bodies looked twisted and malformed, with sharp bone-like spikes emerging from their skin.

Their mouths stretched unnaturally wide while thick saliva dripped from rows of crooked teeth.

[Lv 11... Lv 13...]

Their bloodshot eyes locked directly onto Reigns.

Seeing the monsters approaching, Reigns’ already terrible mood instantly worsened.

A dark expression slowly spread across his face.

"Great..."

He slowly cracked his neck while staring at the incoming monsters.

"I finally found someone to vent on."

His fingers clenched into a fist as a dangerous glint flashed in his eyes.

"Now come here, bitches..."

A faint murderous air slowly leaked from his body.

"I am gonna rip you to shreds, you dirty bastards."

"BLOOM!"