Chapter 57: [EYES!]

The priest’s shadow engulfed Caelen, stretching long across the fractured stone—massive, oppressive, suffocating. Its glowing eyes narrowed, and the weight of that gaze made Eli’s stomach knot.

“Alright, sweetheart,” Caelen’s voice cut through the air—calm, but honed to a razor’s edge now, “start calling it out.”

’This jerk… he’s still calling me that in this situation?’

Eli didn’t even have time to grind his teeth over it. His Danger Detection was already flaring like a siren on the verge of tearing itself apart, each pulse stabbing behind his eyes and rippling down his spine.

“Left!” he barked, no hesitation.

Caelen moved instantly—boots scraping stone as he slid out of the path just as the rosary’s massive chain blurred past.

The air split with a sharp whistle before it slammed into the ground with an earth-shaking BOOM.

The impact rattled Eli’s bones. Shards of stone erupted upward, stinging his arms, while a jagged web of cracks exploded outward from the crater. The tremor rippled through his legs, nearly throwing off his balance.

He adjusted fast, eyes darting to the nearest gargoyles. They remained still—but his angles were off now. The shifting ground meant he had to constantly adjust his stance, or else lose sight of one entirely.

“Duck—!”

Caelen dropped without a shred of delay. The chain’s return swing screamed over his head, a blur of stone and momentum, close enough to ruffle his hair. He rolled to the side in a single, fluid motion, sword flashing as he intercepted the chain mid-swing.

Steel met stone with a deep, reverberating crack, the deflected arc smashing into the floor a few meters away. The impact’s vibration crawled up Eli’s teeth, the sound heavy enough to make his ears ring.

“That’s one,” Caelen muttered, tone almost casual—infuriatingly unshaken.

The priest didn’t relent.

Its arms moved in devastating arcs, wide enough to slice through the very air like siege weapons, each swing accompanied by the groan of stone under impossible strain. The floor shattered with every blow—cracks racing outward, some dangerously close to Eli’s boots.

“Roll right!” Eli snapped, his voice sharp.

Caelen reacted on instinct, rolling with the chain’s downward smash. The bead struck the ground a hair’s breadth behind him, sending a gust of air that lifted dust and grit into a choking haze.

Caelen rose low, sword angled just enough to catch another bead. The contact sent a shock traveling through his arm, which he absorbed deliberately into his body—Aegis Nerve eating a sliver of the force.

Eli’s jaw tightened. ’He’s holding back on storing too much at once. Smart. If he overloads, the backlash could flatten even him.’

“Keep going!” Eli ordered, shifting again to maintain visual control of the gargoyles. Every step was calculated—don’t blink, don’t lose a single one. The pulse in his head was constant now, a steady beat of danger that made it hard to breathe.

The priest’s glowing eyes locked on Caelen once more. The chain lifted, links grinding, beads swaying like pendulums of execution.

The pulse spiked—sharp, screaming.

“Duck and pivot left—now!”

Caelen obeyed, slamming a foot into the ground and pivoting mid-duck. The bead struck where his torso had been a heartbeat before, obliterating the floor in a thunderous CRACK.

The shockwave ripped new fractures through the chamber, dust and pebbles cascading from the ceiling as the entire space groaned in protest.

Eli’s chest burned from holding his breath. ’If it keeps this up, the whole damn place might collapse before we even kill it—’

The warning in Eli’s head shifted—no longer from Caelen’s direction.It was above.

His eyes snapped wide.

’From above—!’

He didn’t think—he moved. Boots screeched against fractured stone as he hurled himself sideways.

A split second later, the world slammed.

Something massive crashed down where he’d been standing—an impact so violent it felt like the ground jumped under him.

Stone split apart in an earsplitting CRACK, sending shockwaves through the chamber. A jagged block the size of a small boulder was half-buried in a brand-new crater, the edges still steaming from sheer force.

’That was… so close…’

The air filled with an acrid haze as shards of rock and clouds of dust burst outward. The impact stung against his cheeks, sharp and biting.

He blinked rapidly, but the grit ground against his eyes, every movement like sandpaper on raw skin. A hiss escaped between his teeth. “Fuck, that hurts—”

“Elione! Eyes!” Caelen’s voice cracked through the chaos—sharp, commanding.

Eli froze mid-blink. ’Eyes—shit!’

His Danger Detection detonated like a blade twisting between his ribs.

He wasn’t looking.

He couldn’t see them—

The gargoyles moved.

Stone claws raked across the fractured floor, the screech like bone grinding against bone. Wings unfurled in unison with a sickening scrape, displacing the air in heavy, suffocating gusts.

He clawed at his face, trying to clear the grit, but every rub only scraped his lashes raw. The blurred shapes were already surging toward him—faster now, each step a deep thud he could feel in his ribs.

’Look, look, LOOK—!’

He forced his eyes open, ignoring the searing sting. His vision swam, light cutting through the dust in fractured beams.

And then—his breath locked.

They were right there.

Frozen mid-lunge, jaws split open in a silent snarl, stone fangs mere inches from his throat. The faint dust settling on their faces made them look alive, like predators caught in the last fraction of a heartbeat before the kill.

His gasp was too loud in the sudden stillness. His pulse roared in his ears. Somewhere behind him, the priest’s deep, grinding groan rumbled through the air, shifting its weight like it knew the near miss had rattled him.

Caelen was at his side in the next instant. The priest halted, its massive rosary hanging motionless in the stale air.

“You hurt?” Caelen’s eyes scanned him quickly.

“No. Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

“I wasn’t worrying,” Caelen said flatly, though the tightness in his tone said otherwise. “I need to store more pain, and if you’ve got some, I’ll take it.”

Eli’s expression flatlined.

’Oh. Of course. Why did I even expect anything else?’

“…Right,” he muttered, brushing lingering grit from his lashes.

“So,” Eli continued, keeping his gaze locked on the gargoyles still frozen inches away, “how far’s the priest’s range?”

Caelen’s eyes flicked toward the looming statue. “As far as its arms and the rosaries can reach. But like you said—” his gaze narrowed—”it doesn’t move from its spot.”

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