The trap.

Cryo burst into the tent, breathless. "Get ready now—we need to deploy!"

"What's happening?" the twins asked in unison.

"We've been duped," Cryo said, grabbing every available supply.

"This Princess orders you to calm down and explain," Sol commanded.

Cryo took a deep breath and steadied himself before speaking. "The Alliance has opened alternate pathways into the island. They've discreetly allowed the stone locusts in. As we speak, we're completely surrounded while they escaped."

Kol's face lost all color. "What's the situation outside?" he asked, hastily packing rations.

"The Alliance hijacked the flying ship and escaped," Cryo answered grimly. "We're stranded—with the Order of the Crow."

A heavy silence filled the tent.

"We have two options," he continued. "Forfeit the hunt and call for reinforcements… or fight to the end."

"The Order of the Crow is covering our asses for now, but time is running out," Iris interrupted as she strode into the tent.

"Little Uncle will choose option two," Sol muttered under her breath.

Cryo exhaled sharply. "We don't have any updates from him. I suggest we retreat—for your safety."

"Since when did you become such a coward, Cryo?" Sol snapped, her words slicing through his pride.

"Look at this." Kol's voice cut through the tension as he held up a recording of Pax's fight. "This was a coordinated effort. By the time reinforcements arrive, we'll be nothing but food for sea creatures."

Iris stepped forward, her gaze unwavering. "Find your balls fast, or we're dead." She turned to Kol. "Prince Kol, you're the fastest. Get to the Order of the Crow and have them retreat toward the volcano—we can use the height to our advantage."

"Understood." Kol vanished in a blur, the wind carrying him away.

"Princess Sol, locate a defendable position beneath the volcano. Cryo and I will transport supplies to meet you there."

"Got it." Without hesitation, Sol dashed out.

As the tent fell silent, Iris turned to Cryo, studying him. "What's going on with you?" she asked, her voice softer now.

Cryo clenched his fists. "I'm afraid," he admitted, his head lowering in shame. "Afraid of losing again."

Iris remained quiet, letting him speak.

"The last time, Pax decimated us. I can't relive that feeling of powerlessness." His voice wavered. "I was the child of heaven. I believed I was on the same level as monsters like him. But I wasn't. And facing that reality terrifies me."

Iris scoffed. "Well, here's a new reality—survival." She stepped closer, her eyes locked onto his. "Your brother and the princes trust you without question. Get out of your head. You don't need to be the best—you just need to do your best." She clapped his shoulder before walking out.

The moment she stepped outside, explosions erupted across the island. Thick plumes of smoke billowed into the darkening sky.

"Not good," she muttered. "The night is going to make things worse."

Without hesitation, she activated her partial morph. An exoskeleton spread over her body in sleek, seamless layers. In an instant, she was gone—vanishing into the chaos of the battlefield.

"Hey! Something big is happening—switch to the Devil's Enclave stream!"A single comment appeared in the interview's live chat.

"What's going on?"

"Something insane. The Alliance bailed, and the remaining teams aren't forfeiting."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Damn… are we about to see the first real casualties of the hunt?"

Viewers who had been engrossed in the interview abandoned the broadcast in droves, flooding into the Devil's Enclave stream.

On the screen, Cyanide and his team fired relentlessly at the swarm of stone locusts, their plasma rifles searing through the chitinous creatures. His own gun was already overheating, vents hissing as they struggled to cool the core. Just then, a message from Kol flashed across his visor—"The path is clear."

"Retreat toward the volcano!" Cyanide bellowed, but as his squad turned to flee, he surged forward instead, firing even faster. "Move, move! I'll cover your retreat!" His deep green exoskeleton pulsed with energy, veins of toxic luminescence coursing across its surface. A thick, emerald-hued mist billowed from his body, rolling out like an unstoppable tide. With a final glance at his overheating weapon, he flung it aside and cracked his knuckles. "Come at me, you nasty pests!" he roared as the poisonous cloud expanded, swallowing the horde.

The locusts screeched as the mist consumed them, their carapaces cracking, the glossy black shells corroding as if being eaten alive. Wings disintegrated mid-flight, bodies collapsed into writhing husks, their limbs twitching before turning to sludge. 

The ground beneath Cyanide became a graveyard of liquefied remains. But for every locust that melted into the toxic mist, more surged forward. Their legs skittered across the corpses of their fallen kin. The sound of mandibles clicking, and bodies gleaming in the firelit chaos announced the next wave as they descended, relentless, endless.

The stream chat exploded.

HellRaiserX: "HOLY SHIT, HE'S INSANE!"

Lunatic66: "That poison mist is NO JOKE, but there's no way he can hold out alone!"

GameMaster99: "Why isn't he retreating?! Does he have a death wish?!"

Lunatic66: "Bro thinks he's the FINAL BOSS."

PixelShifter: "WAIT—LOOK! IRIS IS MOVING IN!"

SilentShade34: "No way... She's cutting through that field like it's butter!"

A blur of green sliced through the battlefield. Cyanide barely registered the movement before something wrapped around his torso and yanked him backward with brute force. "Cyanide, you stubborn bastard!" Iris's voice snapped in his ear, her exoskeleton shimmered as the three wooden branches of her shield extended, securing him in an unbreakable grip. He thrashed against the restraint, but she was already pulling him free of the chaos, in a very precise motion. "I had them right where I wanted them!" he protested, the mist still curling around the swarm like a living entity.

"Shut up and move back" she shot back, dragging him through the air while scanning the battlefield. Explosions thundered in the distance, smoke rising in thick columns as the night set in, swallowing the island in deepening shadows. 

The volcano loomed ahead—as a beacon of survival amidst the carnage. The others were moving, but the enemy was gaining ground. She had no time to waste. "Keep your head down and focus on breathing. The fight isn't over." Her eyes flickered toward the horizon, where more figures emerged from the darkness.