Arata peered around the room, the walls had once white pads. Yet now they were stained by dirt and blood had dried into the cracks. There was a repetitive sound of dropping water. There was a constant banging noise, yet not like the customer's racket, which plagued his sleep in the storage room.

  Arata stood up, yet the room was fully sealed on all sides. The floor was hard and strewn across it was nothing but a shredded straight jacket and vomit. Unfortunately for Arata, there were no doors, no windows and not even a clue. Yet for some odd reason, the atmosphere felt slightly intimate.

  What if I summoned Ravenna? She might be able to phase through these walls to deduce this area. After a minute or two, he was unsuccessful. He was still the only one in the room but he still didn't feel alone.

  The ground was pulsating. Arata stood out, as his feet graced the floor he was met with a sloshing noise. Arata took another step forward, the floor grew softer as it seemed to caress Arata back with each touch, he then took another step when the floor gave in.

  “Gaaaaah!” Luckily, the fall wasn't too far as his feet hit the floor once again. Arata stood up once again, now a floor below in the building. He now ventured down a narrow hallway that throbbed, anticipating Arata’s entrance.

  Lined with brutalist concrete, monotonous grayscale yet the building’s walls were broken up by windows meant to seduce the eyes by contrast. They peered into various rooms for Arata’s eyes to ravage, inside some sounded human anguish, others with looks of ecstasy and others were in complete silence. One was shattered open, fresh blood trickling through veiled glass.

  Arata peered into the tinted windows. He saw a woman in a straitjacket. Dark hair, soulless eyes and a pale, sobbing expression. She was Selena, at least that's what she wanted you to think. The whites and blacks of her eyes were inverted. Furthermore, just a cell over was a hysterical Selena whose grin stretched back through her jaw.

  Oh… these things, what are they? Why are they even here? Is Selena here in this Ripping too… I must find Selena.

  Arata peered through many more windows, each with different forms of Selena, each with their own deformities. One of them then jumped when they saw him. She had stubs where her hands should be, banging at the glass window, seemingly having escaped her jacket. She cries, wanting to be let out. Unsatisfied with her fate as an object trapped in a manner that made her impossible to reach out to.

  Unfortunately, Arata can only watch; he didn’t understand what was going on and was frozen in place. He sat watching, he felt like shit, watching someone close to him suffer hurt, especially when he did not have the means to help.

  Arata continued further, much to the anguish of the many variations of Selena trapped in cages, he finds himself at the end of the hallway, the roof of the tunnel ends here. From what it looks like, there are endless more hallways stacked on top of each other and they continue to rise.

  Way up from above, he sees another Selena, standing over the edge. The woman jumps, falling face-first towards the ground. This hits a little too close to home… this was like the first interaction with her!

  When she hits the ground, there is no crunch of bone; her body shatters apart like porcelain. There is no blood or gore left of the woman. Yet the shards move, staring at Arata, the mouth slowly reforms, pleading to Arata, “help, we need you to help… save… savior.”

  Arata freaked out. The woman speaks like she was wallowing in the ecstasy of suicide, when she fell, she didn’t bleed either, despite the fact that Arata saw some blood on his way here. Most of the other Selenas could bleed. Help? But am I really the right person to do so?

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “How? What do you need me to-” Arata is cut off when he hears a screech, another Selena, this one is made of stitching, its body contorts to give it a muzzle and strong back legs. Her eyes both look to the side, it has four legs without feet, only massive toes and a thick toenail structure at their bases. The horse has a saddle, made of a thread formed with black hair.

  Atop that Selena, is another Selena, donning silver armor below the neck with a sparkling lance. She hoists back the reins, charging at Arata, yet Arata is unarmed. Arata tries to dodge but he can only redirect. The lance pierced his arm.

  “Shit! What’s going on Selena? Why are you doing this?!” Arata shouts, demanding an explanation; his voice ripples through the halls. The lance is sharp but feels almost strange, an unreal sensation.

  The Selena variant drives her tip further into Arata’s shoulder, blood spurts out onto her arm. Unreal? Is it magic? Arata attempts to at this time and thus she remains with her weapon lodged into his shoulder.

  The explosion occurs right in her face; the horse Selena is scared, rocking around as knight Selena tries to recover a little, attempting to rein in her stallion. Arata suddenly gets a glimpse upwards, another Selena, one more normal than the rest.

  Arata grabs the blade quickly, the knight Selena recovers, she begins to refocus on her target. This time, her lance scrapes deep into the floor as sparks begin to fly. They are flung towards Arata’s face as he covers his eyes, a big mistake, as he only barely blocks the incoming attack with the lance, which is aimed right again at Arata’s heart.

  Arata barely redirected the attack, barely succeeding thanks to the knight needing to close the gap. Hitting her on the ground while she outranges me on a horse is impossible without a stunt like what I first did… I need the range of magic, but the speed to hit her from midrange.

  Arata begins to warp the temperature around his sword; this time Arata felt a taste of the oxygen in the air. it was just like the fight with the bug all over again; he needed to make up for his inability to reach his opponent safely. Fixed target… I know I want to warp my blade, extend it while pouring mana into the steel… let it maintain solidity yet strike from a range.

  He thought back to the tendrils, reaching outwards to suspend the bug in the sky, creating distance. Demiurge’s foundry causes Arata’s blade begins to glow. Shattered glass from the floor reverted into mana and reduced the blade of Arata’s weapon into molten slag. The weapon was no longer like any sword; the cauterizer, it didn't cut but mutilate whatever it would hit.

  Arata swings his sword, orange glowing tendrils fly outwards, lacerating the horse, which begins to scream again. The pain is seemingly much worse this time. A red gash spreads along the horse Selena’s shoulder, causing one of its legs to buckle. Lodged inside the limb is a chunk of molten slag, still glowing bright orange, singeing the skin, smoke coming off the flesh.

  The knight Selena is finally knocked off the horse, Arata panting heavily due to the pain himself. The two opponents dash at each other, now on equal footing. Arata cracks his orange molten whip; it bounces off the lance.

  I guess even a little range doesn’t make up for the difference in skill? She’s closing the gap quickly! Arata can barely react as the lance strikes at him in the throat, piercing forward yet just in time, the sword cools instantly, still malleable, glowing orange, it reforms itself just enough to block the knight’s attack.

  This spell… It’s incredibly more useful, because it retains its form around a sword, I don’t have to worry about aiming the spell immediately. Arata retreats backwards yet again, not knowing if he can defend the upcoming strike. He goes for one more whip; his weapon heats up again as he swings on the knight.

  She moves to block, but the shattered Selena from below them had reformed her wrists, linking it together with the knight’s; she couldn’t move her lance.

  A thin molten line of the Cauterizer slides across the knight’s face, splitting it open. The knight falls to the ground, bleeding out as she begins to melt alongside the horse Selena. Glancing behind him, a door morphs out of nowhere into one of the walls. It beckons him inside. Arata grips the door handle to force it open.