Remi tiptoed down a corridor like a throat of shadow, cold air clinging like damp moss.
The gloom pooled like stagnant water; any normal spine would ice over.
But Remi’s heart was a drum; fear slid off like rain on oil.
She followed that uncanny filament, a spider-silk trail tugging her toward Flan.
She soon faced a sealed iron door, dark as a tombstone.
Her gut flared like a lantern—Flan was inside.
She lifted her right fist without a blink and slammed it down, thunder packed into bone.
The door drank the blow like a deep lake; its skin shivered in ripples, then went still.
Refusal burned like pepper in her throat; Remi swung again, fists a storm of hail.
“Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora!”
The barrage poured onto the iron, ripples stacking like scales; the door stayed pristine, a calm cliff.
After flurries that changed nothing, despair dropped her to her knees.
Her palms hit the floor; her fingers bit through iron plates like wet clay.
“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Give Flan back!”
Tap-tap—footsteps pricked the air behind her; Remi snapped her head toward the sound.
The newcomer’s gaze skimmed her like a measuring blade, approval glinting cold as steel.
“Not bad. You actually got out of there. Looks like your secrets aren’t simple.”
The voice rang familiar, a bell in her bones—Alpha.
Remi sprang up and grabbed Alpha’s collar, fury coiling like hot smoke.
“Bastard! You said you’d spare Flan! You said if I took you to Ska Village, you’d let us go!”
Alpha let his mana breathe; a push like a sudden wave tossed Remi hard to the floor.
He wiped the spot she’d touched with a handkerchief, disgust flicking off him like dust.
“Little girl, you’re still green. Playing word games with a god is plain stupid.”
Confusion pooled in Remi’s chest, a sour tide; dread pricked like thorns.
“What do you mean? What are you talking about?”
“As you can see, we gave you ‘freedom.’ In our eyes, nowhere is freer than this.”
“We didn’t restrict your freedom, and we didn’t endanger your lives. Gods like us keep our bargains.”
His calm words crushed Remi’s last light; hope blew away like ash.
“Why… why lie to us?”
“Huh? Why? No real reason. I meant to honor the deal.”
“But you tried to trip me with words, and we gods hold grudges.”
So… was this all because of me?
“Well, that’s part of it. When your strength spiked for no reason, I knew a secret was hiding in you.”
“So I set up something… interesting.”
So they wanted her change—her metamorphosis.
“Then release Flan. If you let her go, I’ll cooperate with anything.”
Cold words splashed her face like ice.
“Don’t kid me. Sister-play is great, isn’t it?”
“Enough talk. Go see your sister. She might already be mostly remodeled.”
The word “remodeled” stabbed her; Remi’s head snapped up, eyes like knives locked on Alpha.
Alpha didn’t care; he grabbed her like a kitten and carried her into the room.
Ling bucked for a moment, anger sparking like flint.
Even with her new strength, she couldn’t break his grip; she hung there, helpless.
“See? Your sister’s right there. Want a closer look?”
Remi looked into the room; her gaze got pulled like iron to a magnet.
What waited there?
A golden-haired girl lay pinned to the floor, four iron rods spearing her hands and feet.
A magic circle burned around her, pale light pulsing like a sick moon.
She lay still in its heart, a flower pressed under glass.
If only that golden-haired girl weren’t my sister…
“Flan!!!”
Power surged through Remi like a breaking dam.
She tore free of his hand and rushed into the circle; shock widened Alpha’s eyes.
She reached to lift Flan, then saw purple runes crawling on each iron rod, pulsing like venom.
So these things were the shackles that froze Flan?
She gripped a rod.
A harsh current bit her palms and ran roaring through her body.
Pain stung every nerve like hornets.
Her hands didn’t loosen; her will locked on like iron.
“Stop. Humans can’t touch that.”
Remi didn’t care; his words slid past like wind.
“Flan!!!”
She roared and poured in everything; the steady rods began to shift, tremoring like roots in a flood.
Surprise cracked Alpha’s calm; he snapped to his men.
“Quick! Bind that girl!”
Dozens of staves flared.
Dozens of harsh chants gathered.
Dozens of magic circles caged Remi like a net of light.
A pressure like a mountain settled on her; strength slipped like sand through fingers.
Current burned and circles gnawed; her body went numb, her mind washed blank.
But Flan was right there.
Flan was waiting—waiting for me, her sister.
Crack—the sound of something breaking cut the air.
The first iron rod wrenched free; the other three shattered as if in sympathy.
The circle’s light sighed out and vanished, leaving silence.
Remi spent and falling, collapsed beside Flan like a felled tree.
Even as darkness pulled her under, her hand clasped Flan’s, an unbreakable knot.
Alpha stared, stupefied.
Then a twisted smile bloomed, like someone who finally pulled a rare SSR after burning five grand.
“Found it! Found it! Finally found the perfect material!”
“Take them to the lab. Now!”
