A new beast

The sky pulsed again, vomiting red lightning across the crimson battlefield.

The roars never stopped.

They fought.They bled.They died.Again.And again.And again.

"Number of deaths: 50.""Remaining number of demons: 24,704."

The air stank of burning blood and rot. The ground was thick with piles of twitching corpses, half-alive meat still spasming as nerves misfired.

Nox's blade ripped through another charging beast. His movements were fluid now — sharp, unhesitating — far beyond the broken man who first stumbled into this hell.

He no longer flinched at the snap of bones or the wet tear of flesh.

Beside him, Lilith exhaled sharply, driving her bloodied shard into a demon's eye socket. Its death scream curdled through the air before collapsing into violent convulsions.

Above, winged predators circled, waiting to dive. In the distance, larger shadows stalked forward — towering hulks, new abominations spawned by the Forge's endless hunger.

The longer we survive, the worse it gets.They just keep growing stronger the more we kill them.

Nox's gaze swept across the battlefield.

What had once been chaotic hordes had evolved into coordinated packs. The beasts learned to flank. To bait. To punish hesitation.

Even the fodder that once fell in a single swing now demanded surgical precision to drop. Their hides thickened. Reflexes sharpened. The Pit wasn't just testing them — it was perfecting its creations.

This was no survival trial.

It was escalation.

A violent, merciless forge.

Lilith ducked beneath a claw swipe, movements crisp but tight with exhaustion. A thin cut bled down her cheek, dripping onto her chin.

"We need to reposition," she hissed.

Nox lunged forward, severing a charging beast's leg with one precise slice before driving his blade down through its shrieking skull.

"Remaining number of demons: 24,703."

The counter ticked — a cruel reminder of their Sisyphean torment.

Hours blurred into days.Days blurred into months.Time itself dissolved.

Their bodies changed.

Nox's skin hardened like steel. His vision sharpened — able to track the twitch of tendons before a strike even landed. His strength no longer felt human. The poison mist that once shredded his lungs was now little more than a dull burn.

Lilith evolved alongside him — faster, colder, more efficient with every cycle.

But beneath the hardened shell, cracks still surfaced.

In those quiet moments, when she stared blankly into the endless red sky.

When her breathing quickened after a close call.

Remnants of something fragile clinging to life beneath all the growing strength.

After one especially brutal slaughter — where three horned juggernauts cornered them into a blood pit — they fell again.

Bones shattered.Organs ripped open.Their bodies reduced to steaming meat.

And they awoke again at the base of the staircase.

"Number of deaths: 314.""Remaining number of demons: 22,688."

Lilith sat quietly as they gathered their strength. Dried black blood streaked her face. Her eyes were distant but not broken.

"You holding together?"

Lilith blinked, then exhaled.

"I'll manage."

Her voice was thin but firm. She wasn't broken yet.

Neither was he.

The Abyssal Reaver still watched.

Always nearby. Always silent. Always observing.

Its many crimson eyes never looked away. Nox felt it — that looming presence above them. Like a craftsman studying his work.

The longer they fought, the clearer it became.

The Pit wasn't random.

Every kill, every injury, every reset — it studied. It adapted. It refined.When Nox and Lilith grew faster, the beasts evolved quicker reflexes.When they adapted to the flyers, heavier armored versions appeared.When they mastered pack tactics, it introduced warlords to lead coordinated assaults.

The Forge had no ceiling.

It will keep sharpening us — or breaking us — until only one side remains.

Lilith whispered once, staring hollowly at the horizon:

"It's… a never-ending battlefield."

Nox nodded, his voice grim.

"We're livestock. So are they. The Pit's just sharpening its blades."

Lilith's fingers clenched tightly around her shard.

Nox understood.

"It doesn't matter what we are," he said coldly. "Either we become strong enough — or we die!"

Then, during their 376th cycle, something new descended.

A towering monstrosity — easily thirty feet tall — lumbered forward.

Unlike the others, it moved slowly. Purposefully. Its eyes didn't burn with mindless rage. They gleamed with something far more dangerous:

Awareness.

Lilith tensed, voice tight."Nox… that one's different."

"It's not just stronger," Nox whispered. "It's thinking."

Above them, for the first time, the Abyssal Reaver shifted.

It stepped closer.

Its countless crimson eyes pulsed.

It was pleased.

The Pit's voice carried on the wind — low, mechanical, yet disturbingly satisfied:

"Forge efficiency increasing. Subspecies stabilization approaching threshold.""Continue blood-forging."

The beast moved like a mountain — deliberate, unhurried — yet every motion carried monstrous force.

It didn't charge.It advanced.

Every step crushed corpses beneath its feet. Its breathing was slow, almost calm, as if it had no need to rush.

Then it struck.

A swipe of its massive claw tore the air apart. The shockwave alone blasted Nox and Lilith backward, slamming them through a pile of twitching bodies.

Nox rolled to his feet, coughing, ribs screaming in protest. He barely saw Lilith stumble up beside him, blood dripping from a gash above her brow.

The towering beast strode forward, its eyes locked on them. Intelligent. Calculating.

Nox sprinted forward, blade flashing. He moved faster than any human could, his body honed by hundreds of deaths. His sword struck directly at the creature's knee joint.

The blade bit — but not deep.

A shallow wound opened. Thick black ichor oozed, but the beast barely reacted. Its flesh was like forged stone.

Nox's eyes narrowed.That should've severed the limb...

The beast countered instantly, its massive arm hammering downward. Nox barely twisted aside, feeling the shockwave graze his side. Even a glancing blow threatened to shatter him.

Lilith leapt in from the side, shard aimed for its eye — but the creature saw her.

Its massive hand snapped out like a whip, grabbing her mid-air. Her body crunched inside its iron grip, a scream ripping from her lungs.

"—LILITH!"

Nox lunged, slicing into the beast's wrist, severing fingers with a clean strike. The monster finally howled, flinging Lilith across the battlefield.

She hit hard, body twisting unnaturally. Her breathing was ragged as she struggled to crawl.

Nox stood between them now, sword raised.The beast stared down at him, its remaining fingers flexing as black ichor dripped.

It learns.It adapts in real-time.

He darted in again — low, precise, slashing at tendons, joints, weak points. Over and over.

Small cuts. Shallow wounds. The monster bled — but it did not slow.

The strikes that once ended battles were now little more than mosquito bites.

Another massive swing came. Nox backstepped, barely avoiding a crushing death.

His breathing sharpened. His muscles screamed.How do I kill this thing?

Lilith coughed behind him. "Nox…"

He risked a glance.

She was trembling.

Her lips quivered. Her eyes wide. Her hands wouldn't stop shaking as she tried to pull herself upright.

The cracks were forming.

So many deaths.So much killing.So many resets.

The weight was breaking her.

Nox's expression hardened.Stay focused.You're stronger than this, Lilith. Don't give in.

The creature stepped forward again — deliberate, confident, unstoppable.

Nox attacked once more — slashing its thigh, aiming for arteries.

Minimal penetration. Minimal damage.

The Forge was escalating into something else entirely.

The creature lifted both its fists, bringing them down with earth-shaking force. The ground cratered. Nox barely dodged sideways, his foot snapping from the landing as he hit awkwardly.

Pain shot up his leg, sharp and immediate.

He staggered, forcing himself to stay upright, blade still raised.

Lilith whispered behind him.Her voice thin. Weak.

"Nox… I don't know if I can—"

He cut her off coldly.

"Yes, you can."

But her eyes told the truth.

Each death. Each brutal revival. Each monster more intelligent than the last.

The despair was eating her.

The counter echoed through the air like a cruel mockery.

Nox adjusted his stance, sweat stinging his eyes, pain burning with every step.

He handled it better than Lilith.

The beast advanced again. Still calm. Still unstoppable.

And Nox knew — one misstep, one slip — and they'd be pulverized again.