the genius of the pit

The battlefield shifted again.

The air grew thicker with every battle. What began as a faint green haze had become a swirling, choking fog. The poison intensified with every thousand demons killed. What once suffocated them instantly had become Nox's new air.

For Lilith, it was different.

She staggered to her knees again, coughing blood into her hands, the ground slick beneath her. Her body trembled as waves of nausea and burning acid tore through her lungs.

Nox didn't falter.

His breathing remained steady. The poison barely affected him now. His body had grown used to it, consuming it, adapting around it.

He stood like iron in the mist.

Another demon charged from the swirling fog — sleek, quadruped, its eyes burning as it lunged low for his legs.

Nox didn't even draw his sword.

He stepped forward, letting the creature slam into his side, allowing the impact to throw him backward into the jagged stone wall. The mountain behind him cracked under the force, showering them both with falling rocks.

As the beast reoriented to strike again, Nox calmly grabbed one of the fallen boulders — easily twice his size — and hurled it with brutal precision.

The rock crushed the demon mid-leap, slamming it into the ground in a heap of blood and shattered limbs.

Another shadow darted toward him.

Nox met it head-on.

He drove his fist into the creature's jaw with terrifying force. The demon's head snapped back as its body lifted off the ground, flung through the air like a broken ragdoll.

Lilith forced herself upright, wiping blood from her lips.

She stumbled into position behind him, eyes cold and focused. Her movements had grown sharper over countless deaths — her instincts faster, her attacks cleaner — but every breath was a battle.

If Lilith was a prodigy, Nox had become something else entirely.

When she learned one trick, Nox mastered five.

When she adapted to one type of demon, Nox dissected entire hunting patterns.

When her strength increased by increments, Nox's body rebuilt itself after every death into something stronger, faster, harder.

The Pit had become his crucible.

Another pair of demons circled them.

Lilith lunged forward, shard slicing across one creature's throat, forcing it back. But her follow-up staggered as her lungs seized again, blood splattering across her blade.

The second demon moved to exploit her hesitation — but it never reached her.

Nox intercepted, catching the lunging beast by its skull with one hand, slamming it directly into the ground. Bones snapped beneath the impact as he crushed its head beneath his heel.

He scanned the mist again, expression blank.

"Stay behind me," he said, voice cold but steady.

Lilith nodded, breathing hard, but she moved.

More shadows gathered. Dozens. Hundreds still remained in the distance, waiting in the swirling fog.

The poison thickened again.

Lilith's body trembled as she fought to stay upright. Every breath came with a price.

Nox watched her silently.

Her will had hardened. She kept fighting. But the gap between them grew wider with every kill. Every death. Every reset.

The Pit was remaking them both.

But Nox was no longer merely adapting.

He was evolving.

Another pack emerged from the mist — larger this time. Six predators moved as one, circling like wolves, jaws snapping, claws scraping the cracked ground beneath them.

Nox shifted his stance, eyes cold.

Lilith moved behind him, breathing heavily, but her grip on her shard tightened.

The lead beast charged.

Nox met it halfway. His foot hammered into the ground, propelling him forward with monstrous force. His shoulder slammed into the creature's chest, lifting the hulking demon off the ground entirely.

They crashed into the jagged rock wall with a thunderous crack. Boulders rained down, crushing two more beasts caught beneath the avalanche.

Another demon lunged at his flank, jaws wide, but Nox grabbed its neck mid-air and spun, hurling it like a broken doll into the pack behind it. Bodies scattered.

The remaining demons regrouped quickly, surrounding him again, but Nox was already moving.

He dropped low, sweeping one creature's legs out from under it, then pivoted — his fist driving down into its skull like a hammer. The ground cratered beneath the impact.

Behind him, Lilith struggled against another demon that had broken from the group, its claws raking across her arm as she barely deflected the attack.

Blood ran freely down her arm. Her breathing burned. Her vision blurred for a split second.

But she refused to fall.

Her shard sliced upward, catching the demon across its throat. It staggered back, wounded but not dead.

The creature lunged again.

Lilith stepped forward — not back — driving her shard deep into its open mouth. The tip burst from the back of its head as the beast convulsed and collapsed.

Her chest heaved, but she remained standing.

In the corner of her eye, she watched Nox move — calm, efficient, inhuman.

Another demon slammed into him from behind, its claws tearing into his back — but Nox didn't even flinch. He spun, grabbing its arms and ripping them free at the joints, tossing the broken body aside.

The poison burned hotter now. The mist was thicker. Every breath Lilith took felt like knives inside her chest.

But she moved anyway.

If he can stand in this... so can I.

The next demon leapt for Nox's head.

This time Lilith was faster.

Her shard pierced its ribs mid-leap, throwing off its momentum. Nox finished the staggered beast with a brutal kick that snapped its spine backward.

They stood side by side again, blood soaking both of them.

Lilith wiped fresh blood from her chin, forcing the rising nausea back down.

Her mind screamed with fatigue, but her body moved on instinct. Not because she was fearless. Because she refused to fall behind him.

More shadows circled in the mist. Dozens more.

Nox's voice remained cold, but there was no frustration in it — only quiet command.

"Keep fighting."

This time, the ground trembled beneath their feet.