Reincarnated in a depressing erotic world but living a normal life (right?) The Eighth Door and the Abyssal Tide

(...Tap... Tap... Tap...)

Descending step by step, slowly into the depths, amidst a dull pressure that devoured any attempt to breathe...

(S-SHHHHH-ZAP~)

At that mont Shija, held up by silk threads that creaked under the strain of keeping him upright, finally ca to a halt.

"....."

His lungs burned, and his vision, tainted by sweat and blood, fixed upon what lay at the end of the abyss.

Before him lood the eighth door.

(What... am I... doing...?)

Unlike the previous seven, this one had no vibrant color or recognizable reliefs.

(.... My body... isn't responding...)

It was a mass of dark matter, a solid vacuum that seed to absorb the cave's light and the erald glow of his own tattoos.

(Thump-thump... Thump-thump...!!)

There were no carved images, only a smooth, cold surface that vibrated with the frequency of a dying heart.

(... No... sothing is interfering... but... why...?)

Shija, his eyes glazed and lost in a trance of pain, gazed at the chains attempting to keep that final entrance sealed.

(CLANG... SHHH...!!!)

They were links of a translucent tal, like smoked glass, but most of them no longer fulfilled their purpose.

(... This is going badly)

Several of the main chains lay broken, hanging inertly like the dead limbs of a spider.

The ends of the links were splintered, not by external brute force, but by a corrosion that seed to seep from within the room.

"!!?!"

A thick vapor, with the scent of wilted flowers and musk, escaped through the cracks of the door, swirling around Shija's feet; however...

(lioris!!)

Shija's attention shifted, his consciousness awakening like a distant echo.

"Argh!!"

Noticing the seal was compromised, the snakes tattooed on his skin reacted with a violent spasm, tightening around his ribs until he gasped for air.

(CREEEEEEAK!!!)

And without Shija even having to touch it, the eighth door began to yield.

The voice, now clearer and heavy with sadness, resonated within Shija's being as the door opened...

(CRACK-KRA-SHHH!!!)

Until finally, at the mont the last chains of the eighth door gave way, the surface of dark matter fractured.

"!!"

And what erged from those fractures alard Shija, who tensed his body and resisted, trying to regain control.

(GLOOOOSH!)

But despite his attempts, his body refused to react as black water began to overflow from the fractures in the door...

(GLUB... GLUB-SHHHH!!!)

Shija, despite his blurred vision, felt a shiver of pure instinctive terror run down his spine as that substance increasingly filled the environnt.

(Move, move, move, move!!)

The black water didn't just drip; it gushed with torrential force, flooding the corridor floor and rising rapidly past Shija's ankles.

(Ssssss~)

In response to the contact with his skin, the tattooed snakes emitted a defensive erald glow, hissing at the toxicity of the liquid that sought to assimilate him.

Shija tried to step back, but the silk threads holding him up beca soaked in the dark fluid, turning heavy and losing their mystical strength.

(VROOOOOOOOM!!!)

anwhile, the door, unable to contain the flood any longer, finally burst inward, becoming the mouth of a broken dam.

(glup... slorp...!)

In that manner, the current of black water swept him away, shoving him into the interior of the eighth chamber.

(Sothing is... flowing...! Could these be... mories?!)

What surrounded Shija wasn't just water; within that torrent floated fragnts of mories, echoes of distorted desires, and the trail of four faint colored essences that sparkled like weak, twinkling stars.

(I won't let this continue!!)

Subrged in that tide of liquid darkness, Shija felt the sweet, suffocating scent turn into a tallic taste in his mouth...

(Klang!!)

And in an act of will that defied the tearing of his own fibers, Shija reacted before the current could swallow him whole.

"RRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!"

With a guttural roar that tore at his throat, he forced his right arm —the one still clutching the compressed silk sword— and plunged it with blind violence into the marble floor.

(KRA-SHHHH!!!)

Thus, the reinforced fabric blade pierced the stone like a stake, serving as an anchor while his body was lashed by the strength of the torrent.

(VROOOOOOO-OOOOOM!!!)

Shija clung to the hilt with both hands, his muscles vibrating under a tension so extre that the snake tattoos began to bleed erald light, struggling not to be ripped from his skin by the friction of the water.

(VROOOOOOO-RRRRRR!!!)

Upon hitting the chamber walls, the liquid climbed unnaturally, defying gravity, covering every inch of the organic architecture with a layer of shimring tar that throbbed as if it were alive.

"!!!"

Shija spat through clenched teeth, feeling the torrent trying to tear his arms from their sockets.

At that mont, all around him, the room began to devour the corridor as lioris’s voice shifted, adopting a warmth that contrasted cruelly with the viscous cold of the tar.

The water level rose at a terrifying speed, swallowing the steps and the doors of the sins, in stark contrast to the lancholy voice resonating calmly in his mind...

Despite the deafening sound, Shija could clearly hear every word lioris uttered, as if nothing were happening around him.

(GLUB-GLUB... SHHHHHH!!!)

But at the sa ti, violent whirlpools ford in the center of the eighth chamber, sucking everything in with ever-increasing ferocity.

(What is she playing at?!)

Shija saw remnants of velvet shelves and shards of crystal passing by him, shimring with a dying light before being swallowed by the abyssal blackness.

The water was already at his chest, striking him rhythmically, laden with that sweet, suffocating scent that was now seeping through his pores, trying to numb his muscles from the inside.

(RESIST... RESIST... RESIST... RESIST... RESIST...!!)

The liquid darkness churned in heavy waves that crashed against the ceiling, dislodging chunks of stone and organic flesh that fell into the foamy chaos.

Each ti the black water subrged him, Shija felt thousands of invisible needles stinging his skin, while the snakes of his tattoos writhed in an agonizing dance beneath the fluid...

(KRRRRRR-RRRRRR-ACK!!!)

Simultaneously, the floor beneath his sword began to crack.

Shija, his eyes bloodshot and his face contorted with pain, gripped the silk hilt even tighter, as the black water began to form a giant hand out of the current that tugged at his torso, attempting to drag him into the center of the vortex.

The roar of the black water beca a white hum in Shija's ears.

(Is this as far as I go...?)

His fingers, numb and bleeding, clung to the silk hilt with a strength that was no longer physical, but the last vestige of his instinct for preservation.

(Escape. Resist. Move. You're going to die.)

The desperation was such that his mind and spirit, with no way out, sought every possible avenue of escape to survive, to keep going, to "escape"...

(Ba-dump... Ba-dump...)

However, amidst the hydraulic roar and the creaking of the organic architecture, an impossible sound cut through the frequency of the disaster.

(...hic... uuh...)

It was a sob.

"!!"

It was a faint voice, cracked by a sadness so vast it seed to weigh more than all the black water of the abyss.

(This voice!!)

Shija, with the water lashing his face and the sweet scent invading his lungs, turned his head toward the epicenter of the whirlpool.

"....."

His eyes, previously glazed and clouded by the trance of pain, snapped wide open.

(Stop looking upward, where the sky is empty, and start looking inward, where the abyss is full...)

In that instant, ti dilated.

(Only when you stop resisting and allow the tar to claim you... will your eyes see what truly matters...)

At that mont, understanding was a strike more accurate than any sword.

(... I understand now...)

The struggle left his shoulders.

(... Fine.)

The resistance that kept him bound to the rock vanished, replaced by a silent and tragic determination.

In that manner, slowly, Shija opened his fingers, letting go of the hilt of his silk sword, allowing the only anchor tethering him to the safety of the corridor to be devoured by the current.

(VROOOOOOO-OOOOOM!!!)

And with no resistance, the tide of corruption claid him instantly.

The centrifugal force of the whirlpool enveloped him like an obsidian shroud, tearing him from the ground and sucking him into the depths of the eighth chamber.

But Shija offered no resistance; closing his eyes, he let his muscles relax, surrendering completely to the torrent dragging him toward the epicenter of pain...

In that way, the black water swallowed him, subrging him in a void where the sound of the cavern vanished, leaving only the echo of that sob vibrating in his own blood.

The greatest chaos the world of Ky'lar had ever experienced...

...was about to begin.