Chapter 3: The Rib-Cage Trap

The first blow shattered Kaiser’s balance.

Steel slammed into his ribs with a force that knocked the air from his lungs, sending him skidding across the cavern floor. Stone tore at his palms as he rolled, breath exploding from his chest in a broken wheeze.

He barely had time to gasp before the knight was on him.

Heavy. Relentless.

The armored figure moved with terrifying precision, each step measured, each strike deliberate. Kaiser scrambled backward, dragging himself away on elbows and heels, vision blurring as the knight’s blade bit into stone inches from his face.

“Kaiser—MOVE!” Kai shouted.

Kaiser tried.

His body didn’t listen.

Pain screamed through him as he forced himself upright, legs buckling instantly under his weight. The knight’s gauntlet crashed into his stomach, folding him in half. He hit the ground hard, bile burning his throat.

This wasn’t a fight.

This was an execution in progress.

Kaiser clawed at the stone, fingers slipping on damp rock as he struggled to breathe. The cavern felt smaller now, the air thicker, every sound swallowed by the knight’s looming presence.

Another kick sent him sprawling.

His vision flashed white.

“Kaiser!” Kai’s voice cracked. Gone was the usual sarcasm—only raw panic remained. “Get up. Please. You can’t stay down.”

Kaiser coughed, blood spattering the stone.

“I’m… trying,” he rasped.

The knight stopped a few steps away.

For the first time, it spoke.

Its voice echoed hollowly from within the helmet—calm, ancient, utterly indifferent.

“Unfit.”

The word pressed down on Kaiser harder than any blow.

The knight reached behind its back and drew something forth.

A book.

Its cover was dark, cracked with faint crimson lines that pulsed slowly, like a living heartbeat. The air around it felt wrong—thick, heavy, suffocating.

Kai went silent.

Not frozen.

Not gone.

Just… quiet.

The knight extended the book toward Kaiser.

“Submit,” it intoned. “Accept. End suffering.”

Kaiser’s vision swam as he stared at the thing in the knight’s hand. Every instinct screamed at him to reach for it. To grab it. To make the pain stop.

His body trembled violently.

This was the easy way.

This was surrender.

Kaiser laughed.

It came out broken. Wet. Ugly.

“No,” he whispered.

The knight tilted its head.

“You will die.”

“Yeah,” Kaiser coughed, forcing himself onto one knee. “Who are you to decide that.”

"He just whopped you're a** few minutes ago", Kai replied. 

"Please shut up", said Kaiser.

The knight advanced.

Not fast. Not slow.

Certain.

Kaiser tried to stand.

His leg folded immediately.

The axe came down.

“Kaiser!” Kai shouted. “Move—please—just move!”

Kaiser rolled, barely avoiding the swing. The axe bit into the cavern floor, stone exploding outward. Kaiser crawled away on his elbows, breath coming in broken, wet gasps.

The knight grabbed him by the hair and hauled him upright.

Kaiser’s vision swam. Blood dripped down his face, warm and blinding.

The grimoire floated forward.

Its pages opened.

“Submit,” the knight said. “Bind to the grimoire. Become a vessel.”

Kai’s voice cracked completely.
“Kaiser… please. Take it. We can survive. We can—”

Kaiser laughed weakly.

It hurt.

“No.”

He spat blood onto the knight’s armor.

The cavern went still.

“…Then I shall force it,” the knight said.

It raised the axe.

The blade punched through Kaiser’s chest.

Not clean.

Not quick.

The impact lifted him off the ground, steel erupting from his back in a spray of blood. His body convulsed, breath tearing out of him in a broken gasp.

Kai screamed.

“KAISER—!”

Kaiser’s hands trembled as they wrapped weakly around the axe handle, blood soaking his fingers. His eyes searched blindly for Kai.

“…Hey,” he rasped. “Guess… I didn’t get it.”

The knight tried to pull the axe free.

It wouldn’t move.

The cavern shuddered.

Stone cracked. Dust poured from the ceiling.

The knight froze as he started to turn into dust.

The grimoire began to shake violently, runes flickering erratically.

The knight took a step back.

“…This is not-.”

The world began to unravel.

Stone turned to ash. Light fractured into jagged lines. Kaiser’s vision dimmed, the sound of Kai’s voice fading into static.

His grip loosened.

His head slumped forward.

And everything collapsed into darkness.