Day 1.
The sound of footsteps echoed outside the mansion.
Dozens of them.
It was impossible to determine how many figures were moving in the darkness beyond the walls.
Alert, Kunal quickly made his way down to the ground floor.
The moment he reached the center of the mansion hall, something strange happened.
A black object suddenly appeared in midair… and dropped onto the floor with a dull metallic sound.
A dice.
But this was no ordinary dice.
Dark symbols were carved into its surface, faintly glowing as if something alive existed within it.
The air around the dice felt distorted, as if reality itself was bending slightly in its presence.
Kunal frowned.
“What… is this?”
Before he could move closer, a voice echoed through the mansion.
“Let’s begin.”
Without anyone touching it, the dice began rolling on its own across the floor.
It finally stopped.
The number facing upward was three.
At the exact same moment, the mansion’s main gate burst open violently.
Kunal turned toward the entrance — and his eyes widened.
Three figures were walking inside.
Soldiers.
The same soldiers who had come with him earlier.
The same ones who were already dead.
A chill ran through his spine.
“How are they here…?”
Before he could process it further, one of the soldiers suddenly lunged forward and attacked him with a knife.
Kunal instantly crossed both arms and blocked the strike, pushing the attacker away.
But then—
The environment around him shifted.
The mansion blurred.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Walls moved.
The floor twisted.
Within seconds, he found himself inside a completely different room.
The cub was gone.
Somewhere else.
A second later, the three possessed soldiers appeared inside the same room as the cub.
The cub in room began growling loudly.
From a distance, Kunal could faintly hear the cub growling.
Then more movement.
More bodies.
Possessed humans started entering the room from different directions.
Their movements were unnatural.
Jerky.
Controlled.
As if something else was operating their bodies like puppets.
Kunal immediately understood.
“They’re possessed…”
The door behind him slammed shut.
Locked.
No escape.
His mind raced quickly.
If I disable them… maybe I can buy time.
He pulled out his knife.
One possessed body stepped forward holding a sword.
Kunal’s eyes focused.
Before the body could react, Kunal moved first.
A single clean strike.
Within seconds, he had taken down five attackers standing in front of him.
But then he realized something.
These bodies were stronger than normal humans.
Much stronger.
As another attacker approached, Kunal noticed something lying on the floor nearby.
The rusted sword.
The same sword from the grave.
He grabbed it immediately.
Another room, the possessed soldiers had captured the cub.
The cub struggled, growling aggressively.
At that moment, the door suddenly burst open.
One of the possessed soldiers was thrown backward violently, crashing into the wall.
His eyes had turned completely red.
He attacked Kunal with full force.
Kunal spun the sword in a circular motion.
One strike.
The soldier’s body split apart and collapsed.
For a brief moment, Kunal remembered a training memory — fighting with wooden-sword against three sword specialist years ago.
Instinct took over.
Movement became precise.
Controlled.
Efficient.
Within seconds, he defeated the remaining soldiers, grabbed the cub, and rushed out of the room.
Then—
A sound came from behind him.
He turned.
The dice rolled again.
This time, the number was four.
Immediately, the mansion entrance filled with even more possessed bodies.
Some were human.
Some looked like wild animals.
And then the mansion shifted again.
Rooms moved.
Floors rotated.
Walls changed positions.
This wasn’t random chaos. There was a pattern hidden beneath the madness.
Kunal finally understood the pattern.
“When the dice rolls… the top number increases attack intensity… and the bottom number controls how many times the mansion shifts and rotate…”
If top was four… bottom must be three.
Which explained why the room had rotated multiple times.
This time, he and the cub fell onto a wall instead of the floor due to the shift.
Now the cub remained beside him.
They began moving through the mansion together.
Every room they entered contained possessed figures.
White eyes.
Emotionless faces.
Controlled bodies.
Kunal gave a faint smile.“Stay behind me,” he told the cub calmly.
He think If the cub died here… everything he had fought for would feel meaningless.
The cub’s eyes got widen and watching his every moments.
The blade scraped across bone before tearing through the torso.
Soon, Kunal defeated everyone in the room.
Walls, floor, ceiling everything bore deep cuts from the sword.
Silence filled the space
Then—
The dice rolled again.
The number on top was six.
Instantly, Kunal and the cub were teleported to the mansion entrance.
This time, there were no possessed bodies.
Only shadows.
Spirits.
Dozens of them.
The temperature dropped instantly, frost forming across the floor beneath his feet.
As they rushed toward him, the mansion bell suddenly rang loudly.
A deafening metallic sound echoed everywhere.
In the next second—
Every spirit vanished.
Every possessed body disappeared.
Silence returned.
The mansion rearranged itself back to normal.
The gate slammed shut again.
Kunal stood still, breathing heavily.
“What… just happened?”
Before he could think further, the voice echoed again.
Cold.
Emotionless.
“Prepare yourself… for Day 2.”
Somewhere in the mansion, unseen eyes were observing his every move.
The mansion fell silent once more.
Day 1 was over.
This wasn’t a battle for escape anymore.
It was a battle to survive whatever rules this place was built upon.
? Kunal Singh
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