Rayn and Hacker were running with the girls, but at a slow, controlled pace. Their footsteps kept thudding against the tunnel walls — like everyone was descending into some unknown, pitch-black abyss.

  The girls’ eyes were glassy with terror. None of them dared to look back. Some had lost the strength to even walk properly and were clinging to Rayn’s hand just to stay on their feet.

  Inside Rayn’s head, a storm was raging:— “What the hell did I do… I should’ve stayed with Haarun. He’s fighting them alone… what if…”

  Right then, Rayn suddenly stopped.

  The girls jerked in fear, and when Hacker looked back, he saw Rayn frozen — eyes wide in some strange disbelief.

  Rayn spoke in a cold, low whisper — almost like he was talking to himself:— “Are they even… mafia?”

  His thoughts were exploding inside his skul:l— “Something felt off from the start… Their movements are weird, almost mechanical. Power like C-Rank, but zero tactics. No coordination. Just attacking. Just destroying.”

  Rayn’s eyes slowly began to glow — his gaze drifting away from the terrified girls and locking onto the darkness ahead.

  His voice dropped to a trembling whisper, sharp and icy:— “No… they aren’t human. They’re like zombies. Strength in the body, nothing in the brain.”

  Then suddenly Rayn’s eyes widened — like a cold shock blasted down his spine:— “But there’s something… way more disturbing…”

  He clenched his teeth and hissed:— “They kept trying to do only one thing — pull off our masks.”

  A violent shiver shot through him. His voice turned into this mix of fear and rage:— “That means… someone’s out there. Someone we still haven’t seen. And that person is controlling all of them.”

  The darkness suddenly felt ten times deeper. Rayn realized instantly — they were nothing but puppets in someone else’s hand. And whoever that person was… they were far from ordinary. Their power was on a terrifying level.

  Rayn moved forward slowly. Very slowly. His footsteps echoed through the tunnel like cold metal scraping against steel.

  The girls shifted away in fear; all eyes locked onto Rayn, their breaths held tight. Rayn called out in a chilling voice:— “Hacker…”

  Hacker stepped forward carefully. The two of them stood face-to-face. Everything around them went dead silent — only the trembling breath of terrified girls lingering in the air.

  Then Rayn spoke — and the words were so cold, it felt like they could freeze bone:— “I’m going in.”

  The shock hit the girls instantly — like someone shocked the whole room with electricity. They all flinched violently. Eyes darted around, panicked, no one able to look at the other.

  Rayn wasted no time. With a deep, heavy tone he said:— “There’s someone here… someone who’s watching our every move. Sitting somewhere — like they’re the owner of this darkness.”

  Hacker’s eyes widened. His voice trembled:— “What do you mean…?”

  Rayn’s icy growl shattered the silence:— “I’m going to end this.”

  The hacker froze for a moment. Shock flickered across his face, a thousand questions rising — but one look at Rayn’s expression, at that unshakable resolve in his voice, and every question died in his throat.

  Rayn turned his head, locking eyes with Hacker — his gaze razor-sharp, his voice calm but lethal:— “Can you handle these girls?”

  Hacker stared into Rayn’s eyes for a few long seconds. His breathing was heavy, but his gaze didn’t shake. Finally, he clenched his fists and said in a cold, steady voice:— “I can.”

  A faint shadow crossed Rayn’s eyes for just a moment. But the very next second, beneath the mask, his lips curled into a cold, terrifying smile.

  The whole place went silent. The girls didn’t understand what was happening — only that the air was suddenly getting heavier, like death was slowly walking toward them. Rayn stepped back once and whispered:— “Then… I’m going to him now.”

  The darkness shivered. It felt like some hidden pair of eyes was watching them — laughing silently, a bone-chilling, invisible grin.

  The hacker didn’t waste another moment. Without a single word, he grabbed the girls and ran. Their frightened breaths and hurried footsteps echoed through the tunnel.

  Once they were gone, Rayn stood alone in the darkness. Then his voice erupted — cold, sharp, like burning ice:— “Should I come to you… or will you come to me?”

  The sound rattled through the entire place. A second later — Krrrrrrrrk — A massive iron gate on Rayn’s left slowly opened on its own. Rayn didn’t react. His eyes stayed cold, unreadable. Without a sound, he stepped inside.

  The moment he entered — more gates began to open. One after another — as if some invisible hand was preparing a path just for him.

  With every gate that opened, the air grew thicker… heavier… Something deep inside that darkness was waiting. Waiting only for Rayn.

  At the same time, on the other side, Haarun was drowning inside a storm of death. Bodies piled around him, the air thick with the stench of acid-eaten black blood.

  Hundreds of half-living mafias kept advancing — and Haarun kept cutting them down one after another. Every strike of his blade shook the corridor.

  Behind him stretched a road made of shredded bodies and splattered blood. His eyes burned with pure rage — but his breathing was slowly getting heavier.

  Meanwhile, Hacker was running through the dark tunnel with the girls. After a long sprint, he suddenly stopped. A shadow of frustration fell across his eyes, his voice cracked:— “There’s no point… this place is enormous.”

  He slid his hand under his hood and wiped the sweat off his forehead. Silence for a moment. Then, biting his lip inside the mask, he muttered:— “If this place is this big… there has to be a control room.”

  He paused again, thinking fast:— “Large bases always keep the control room at the center… which means the exact middle of the metro.”

  His eyes lit up instantly. At once, he projected a hologram-screen showing the entire metro station map.

  A glowing blue maze appeared in the darkness. His fingers danced rapidly across the screen — analyzing paths, tunnels, doors.

  Then he tapped a spot with sharp precision and whispered:— “If I’m right… The control room is to my right. Very close.”

  The girls stared at the blue hologram with terrified, trembling eyes — to them, it felt like their only tiny piece of hope.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  And in Hacker’s eyes burned a single, unshakable resolve:— “If this is a game of hide-and-seek… I’m taking control.”

  Meanwhile, when Rayn crossed the final gate and stepped deeper inside, he slowly came to a halt.

  A massive circular hall stood before him. Some parts of the floor had cracked open, and faint red fire flickered from the gaps below.

  The room was half-dark — the flames occasionally lighting the walls with a blood-red glow.

  Thick metal chains hung from the ceiling, swaying slightly in the air — almost as if breathing. The entire chamber felt like a place waiting for death… or for some unseen beast lurking in the shadows.

  In the exact center of the room stood a huge man, wrapped in a torn, pitch-black long coat — towering like a demon.

  In his hand, a massive iron rod — big enough to crush a boulder in one hit. Rayn stared at him with cold eyes. This was it — the Boss.

  The Boss slowly raised his head. His eyes — blood-red, burning like fire. One look from him felt like the gates of hell had swung wide open.

  Rayn’s chest tightened. For a moment, his heart literally froze. He had never seen eyes this terrifying in his entire life.

  In a deep, thunderous voice, the Boss spoke:— “My name is VANTHOR… And you… you look strong. Smart, too. But that won’t be enough.”

  Rayn threw his question straight back, his voice cool and sharp:— “Who the hell are you? Why did you capture those girls? You don’t look like any mafia… and your soldiers don’t act like humans at all.”

  Vanthor’s lips curled into a slow, eerie, unnatural smile. Even his laughter made the entire room tremble.

  Once the laugh faded, Vanthor’s soul-shaking voice echoed:— “I’ll tell you everything… But first — you must defeat me. If you fail… you die here.”

  Before Rayn could even blink — Vanthor was already in front of him. The giant iron rod sliced through the air toward Rayn’s head.

  The air itself roared and split apart. Rayn forgot to breathe — one second slower and his skull would’ve exploded. At the last moment, he ducked and narrowly dodged the strike.

  But Vanthor didn’t stop. In the next instant, his leg shot upward with terrifying speed — a blazing-fast Axe Kick.

  The impact crashed down on Rayn’s head like thunder. The entire floor shattered into pieces.

  Rayn’s head was driven deep into a crater — as if the ground itself had swallowed him whole.

  Vanthor let out a cold, twisted chuckle as he grabbed Rayn by the hair and yanked him up. Rayn’s feet dangled in the air, his breath strangled in his throat.

  Inside, he whispered to himself:— “This monster… he’s not just strong… he’s freakishly fast.”

  Without giving him a single second to breathe, Vanthor hurled him straight into the wall.

  The concrete exploded on impact — shards and dust blasting out like a bomb went off.

  Blood dripped down Rayn’s forehead. His vision blurred, ears ringing. But in his eyes… that same fire burned — because he knew this wasn’t just a fight. This was him facing the darkest truth of his life.

  Rayn lay there on the shattered floor, silent. Dust swirling around him. Metal beams bent like paper.

  Vanthor walked toward him — each step making the ground tremble. His blood-red eyes carried a single message:— “It’s over.”

  He raised his arm. Muscles bulged, veins crawling like living snakes beneath his skin. A punch strong enough to pulverize a human body.

  The very next second — the monstrous fist came crashing down. A thunderous crack split the air, the ground rupturing under the sheer force.

  But then…

  As the smoke thinned, Vanthor froze. Rayn was standing. Both hands clamped around his fist, stopping it cold. A low, dangerous smile curved beneath Rayn’s mask.

  His eyes burned with a wild, terrifying glow — as if his strength had multiplied in an instant. In a voice cold enough to freeze blood, Rayn whispered:— “My turn.”

  Without giving Vanthor a chance to react, Rayn tightened his grip on that massive fist and drove his own punch forward with earth-shattering force.

  BOOM!

  The blow launched Vanthor several meters back — slamming him into the wall so hard it cracked like dry bone, dust raining down in waves.

  Rayn didn’t waste a single second. In a blur, he flashed right in front of the Boss and unleashed a brutal, whirlwind Side Kick straight at his head.

  But Boss reacted like a straight-up monster — he caught Rayn’s leg mid-air, and with a roaring snarl, twisted him and hurled him sideways like he weighed nothing.

  Rayn spun through the air, slicing through the wind — but landed perfectly on the floor, balanced, steady. His breathing was heavy, body under pressure… but his eyes? Still sharp. Still predatory. Still cold.

  Inside, he whispered to himself:— “This beast is insanely strong… but not unbeatable. I just need to stall him until the Hacker gets the girls out safely…”

  His knuckles tightened, dust on the floor swirled around his feet like a tiny storm. Rayn was ready — because the real hell of this fight was just beginning.

  Meanwhile, the Hacker was moving through the dark corridor with the girls.

  Suddenly — the massive iron gate ahead slammed shut by itself, the impact shaking the whole wall.

  The Hacker stopped. A small smirk tugged at his lips under the mask. In a cold voice, he said:— “That gate didn’t close on its own… someone did it on purpose. Which means… the Control Room is this way.”

  For a moment, everything went silent — except the girls’ panicked breathing and the metallic chill in the air.

  The Hacker tilted his head slightly, a confident, almost cocky smile forming:— “Alright then… let’s see how much you can slow me down.”

  He raised his holographic screen. Dozens of red codes lit up all at once — and his fingers danced over the screen like lightning breaking the dark.

  Within seconds, the closed gate started ticking — tok… tok… tok…

  Then — BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

  One gate after another began opening, as if some invisible force had finally given up and bowed to him.

  The girls stood frozen, stunned by everything happening. And the Hacker… without even lifting his head, kept walking as he whispered:— “The game hasn’t even started yet.”

  After running for a while, a massive gate came into view. The moment it opened, an eerie red light spilled out from inside.

  The Hacker stepped in slowly and saw — Everything was dark, except the red glow burning from the corners of the walls, making the whole place look like a slice of hell.

  Every wall was lined with hundreds of CCTV screens — each showing different tunnel paths of the metro, hidden bases, and countless mafia movements. It felt like this one room held the entire underground empire in its fist.

  In the center was a huge holographic table — displaying a full 3D map of the station, floating in mid-air. Every cell, every door, even the drone routes were glowing in separate colors.

  And right in front of that massive Control Room setup sat a man. Physically he looked ordinary, but his eyes… not even close.

  Silent one second, smirking weirdly the next — muttering to himself like someone arguing with a voice in his head.

  Suddenly he burst into loud laughter while staring at the screens. It wasn’t normal laughter — it was manic, twisted, and terrifying, as if he wasn’t just the operator of the Control Room… but the invisible puppeteer of the entire game.

  The red lights made the shadows dance around him. The girls stepped back together in fear, some of them barely holding back tears.

  Right then — a loud, deranged laugh tore through the room, not human, Metallic, Harsh, Like a blade scraping the inside of your ear.

  The Controller stepped out of the shadows. His wild eyes locked onto the Hacker and the girls, and his laughter only got louder. The girls flinched at the sound.

  But the Hacker didn’t move an inch. His face showed only pure annoyance. Eyes narrowing, he said in a cold voice:— “This clown show is wasting my time.”

  The Controller pointed a trembling finger at him, laughing uncontrollably as he shouted:— “You— YOU are the one messing with my system!”

  Before he could finish— shhhhhhhhh! In an instant, the Hacker’s drones circled around the Controller from every direction.

  Before the Controller could even process what was happening — THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

  A storm of bullets ripped through the room. Within milliseconds, the entire place was painted red under the pulsing lights.

  The Controller’s body tore apart, shredded into chunks — splattering across the walls, the floor, even the ceiling.

  The girls screamed — some covered their eyes, some dropped to their knees in terror.

  The Hacker stared at the holographic screen with cold, dead focus. In a sharp voice, he said:— “I don’t have time for your bullshit. Freaking psycho…”

  Without even glancing at the pieces of the corpse, he went right back to working on the screen — as if the Controller never existed.

  After a few moments, The Hacker finally stopped. The hologram slowly faded into the dark. He turned towards the girls with a calm, steady voice:— “You have to leave now… I’m staying here.”

  His cold calmness shook the girls harder than the gunfire. Some had tears building, some looked crushed — as if he was abandoning them.

  Then the Hacker spoke again, a little softer this time:— “I’m sending two of my drones with you. They’ll guide the way. And I’ll control everything from here.”

  He paused, meeting each of their terrified eyes:— “You’re thinking it’s impossible to survive this. But listen… dying while fighting is way better than dying like prey.”

  His words sliced through the silence. In the girls’ terrified eyes, a faint spark of courage flickered.

  He added, voice heavy and serious:— “And remember this — if your deaths become certain… then we won’t make it either. So trust us.”

  Silence fell again. Under the red light, tears shimmered in their eyes — not out of fear anymore… but strength.

  Two drones drifted forward, blue lights glowing, marking the path.

  The girls started moving, still trembling, every step casting a long shadow behind them — and in that shadow stood the Hacker, watching them like an unseen guardian.

  The holographic screen blinked back to life. Every corridor, every enemy position — all lit up in red lines. A faint smirk tugged at the Hacker’s lips:— “Alright… Let's start the game.”

  Right then — a swarm of mafia suddenly appeared in front of the girls. Their eyes were burning with bloodlust. The girls screamed in terror — And the real battle finally began.