'Wait, what—?'
Before he could even wrap his mind around what was happening—.
"Trial Four: The Twin of Hypocrisy."
Another gate opened up in the place.
The first cockroach rushed toward Akamir once again.
Without hesitation, he stabbed at the thinner joints between its torso and limbs.
This time, the blade bit deeper, black blood spilling from the wound.
The creature screeched in agony, flailing wildly.
The third cockroach seized the chance and leapt, its heavy body crashing toward him.
'Fuck.'
Akamir cursed under his breath, kicking off the wounded one and throwing himself to the side.
He hit the ground hard, pain flaring in his shoulder, but he forced himself up.
The three monsters regrouped quickly, now moving even more aggressively, their bodies blurring with unnatural speed.
'Think... the vines. The vines reacted when I approached the crib.'
His eyes darted to the rotting vines that still pulsed faintly across the walls and floor.
Akamir narrowed his eyes, tightening his grip on the hilt of his sword.
'They're connected.'
It was a risk, but a risk worth taking.
Instead of focusing on the cockroaches, he sprinted toward the vines, dodging the snapping mandibles and slicing legs coming at him from every angle.
The monsters screeched and scrambled after him, realizing his intent too late.
Akamir swung his blade downward.....
....Only to be stopped by a throwing blade.
His instinct screamed as Akamir twisted his head.
Swish!!
A blade rushed past where his head once was.
Biting his lips, Akamir looked at the two beings who walked out of the open door.
"What are you doing, brother?"
"How can you do this to your dear brother, Asher?"
...They both had Asher's elder brother's face.
One continuously smiled and the other cried continuously.
'Are they trying to trigger my regret?'
Too bad he wasn't actually Asher and only saw them as monsters, not his brother.
The three cockroaches also began to rush toward him once again.
Akamir clicked his tongue and jumped back, barely avoiding the cockroaches as they tore up the ground where he stood.
'So that's the Twin of Hypocrisy...'
One smiling, one crying, both radiating the same unsettling pressure.
He couldn't afford to get pinned down between all of them.
The smiling twin twirled another thin, gleaming knife between his fingers, while the crying twin clutched a rusted, heavy-looking sword with trembling hands.
'Two humanoids and three cockroaches... Wonderful.'
Akamir gritted his teeth and lowered his stance.
The cockroaches charged first, screeching and slamming their armored bodies toward him like battering rams.
The smiling twin hurled another throwing knife.
This time, Akamir deflected it with a sharp twist of his sword, sparks flying from the impact.
"—Tch!"
He pivoted, allowing the first cockroach to miss him by an inch, but the second and third closed in dangerously fast.
The crying twin dragged his sword behind him, moving sluggishly, but Akamir knew better than to let his guard down.
'No... That one's slow on purpose.'
Akamir sidestepped a spear-like leg, his mind racing with ways to get out of the trap.
He needed a plan, fast.
'If I take too long these things will tear me apart.'
He glanced at the nearest wall the vines there still writhed weakly.
'If I can't reach the cradle, maybe... I can try cutting down the vines.'
He took a deep breath, forcing his lungs to take in as much oxygen as possible.
Akamir suddenly sprinted sideways, aiming not for the monsters, but for a cluster of pulsing vines on the side wall.
The cockroaches, confused by his erratic movement, faltered for a split second.
The twins, however, didn't.
The smiling one dashed forward at an inhuman speed, knives flashing toward him.
The crying one stumbled after, weeping louder with every step.
Just as the smiling twin slashed at his back—.
Akamir planted his foot against the wall and kicked off, flipping himself toward the vines.
His sword arced down sharply.
Slice!
A burst of sickly green mist exploded from the severed vines.
The mist spread unnaturally fast, clinging to the cockroaches and the twins alike.
The cockroaches screeched horribly, their armored bodies sizzling and twitching.
Even the smiling twin's manic grin faltered, his face twisting into something more grotesque.
The crying twin wailed louder, staggering and coughing violently as the green mist wrapped around him.
Akamir landed in a low crouch, grimacing as the edge of the mist brushed against his skin, burning slightly but nothing he couldn't endure.
'It's working.'
He tightened his grip on his sword, forcing his aching body to move.
The cockroaches, though still alive, were slowed, their limbs jerking erratically as they struggled against the poison eating into their joints.
The twins were weakened too but not out of the fight.
The smiling twin flicked another knife toward Akamir with shaky hands, far less precise than before.
Akamir swatted it away, dashing forward without giving them time to recover.
His target was the first wounded cockroach.
One clean strike.
His blade cleaved through its weakened shell, splitting it open with a disgusting crunch.
Black blood sprayed across the floor.
'One down.'
But there was no time to celebrate.
The second cockroach lunged blindly, half-mad from the mist, snapping its jaws.
Akamir twisted aside, slicing its leg as he passed, making it crash heavily to the floor.
The third tried to circle him but stumbled awkwardly, its movements sluggish.
The mist was doing more damage than he thought.
'Good.'
He turned his gaze toward the twins.
The smiling one had dropped to one knee, still trying to force himself up, while the crying twin gripped his rusted sword with both hands, dragging it in front of him like a shield.
They were vulnerable but not helpless.
Akamir dashed toward the smiling twin first.
He raised his sword high but hesitated for a brief instant.
The smiling twin's body shifted unnaturally, like a puppet yanked by invisible strings, and in a blur, he was standing again, a crazed grin splitting his face.
Akamir brought his sword down!
Clang!!
The smiling twin parried with the handle of a broken dagger, forcing Akamir's strike to slide off course.
Akamir's arms rattled from the impact.
The crying twin, howling pitifully, lunged forward with surprising speed, swinging his rusted blade like a club.
Akamir barely rolled aside, feeling the blade carve a deep gouge into the stone floor where he'd been standing.
'They're pretending to be weak!'
Akamir gritted his teeth, pushing off the ground and slashing horizontally.
His sword cut deep into the crying twin's side but instead of reacting like a human would, the twin simply sobbed louder, as if the pain wasn't even real.
The smiling twin lunged again, grinning widely.
'Fuck.'
Akamir snarled and twisted his body, narrowly dodging the twin's gleaming knife.
The cockroaches, meanwhile, thrashed and writhed in the background, slowly dying, but they weren't the real threat anymore.
The smiling twin launched a flurry of rapid strikes, each knife arc forcing Akamir onto the back foot.
Feigning a stumble, Akamir let the smiling twin close in.
The grinning twin lunged, knife gleaming toward Akamir's throat, but Akamir twisted low at the last second, letting the blade graze past him harmlessly.
In the same motion, he drove the front of his sword hard into the smiling twin's gut.
Thud!
The twin gasped or tried to his grin faltering.
With a roar, he drove his knee into the twin's face, breaking his skull.
The crying twin wailed louder, charging blindly, swinging his massive sword overhead.
At the last second, he sidestepped, letting the rusted blade crash uselessly into the floor.
Before the twin could recover, Akamir shifted his grip on his sword and stabbed upward straight through the crying twin's chest.
"B-brother?"
A pathetic, shuddering sob tore from his lips, tears streaming down his broken, hollow face.
Then, slowly, the light dimmed from his eyes, and his body collapsed, limp and heavy, to the ground.
Akamir ripped his sword free, panting heavily.
"Argh!"
Akamir checked his shoulder, which was dislocated from the last attack.
His hand dangled on his skin.
"Fuck."
He grabbed his wrist tightly and—.
Crack!!
"Arghh."
Pushed his joint back into the socket.
"Huff..."
Akamir drew in deep breaths as he felt his body scream in pain.
"Trial of the faithless has been initiated."
The voice echoed once again.
Akamir's face contorted in annoyance.
"Not this shit again."
"Survive the onslaught."