I was surrounded by eight others in the main room of the Intermediary Floor. The warmth of the room reminded me how close I’d come to freezing to death. My fingers still tingled, and my breath came out in visible wisps despite the heated air. The cold had nearly claimed me. One more minute out there, and I’d have been a statue buried under the snow.

  I took a quick count—eight people. Add me and Alex, that made ten. But… there should’ve been twelve.

  My stomach dropped. “Wait.” I muttered. “They're till out there.”

  If I was almost gone, how could anyone else still be alive?

  Sosuke sat calmly on the couch, eyes glued to the TV. Some brightly colored anime was playing—shouting heroes, glowing auras, explosions. He leaned back, legs crossed, a chip between his fingers like nothing was wrong. I respected the guy—hell, everyone here did—but I’d never understand him. Does he care about us?

  Across the room, Haruto stood near the wall, biting his thumb anxiously. The leader of the Anti-Sosuke faction looked more like a worried younger brother right now. I never understood why people chose sides here, but Haruto made it easy to see why. He was passionate, human, emotional. The opposite of Sosuke’s cold confidence and dismissal.

  Isabella stood beside him, holding her golden cauldron close to her chest like a comfort blanket. Desmond usually wasn’t far from her.

  We made a rule to stay in the main room until all of us made it out from a floor. So who isn't here? I scanned the room again.

  Eli and Desmond.

  Haruto’s eyes snapped to me, then to the floor. His voice trembled when he whispered, “Desmond… Desmond…”

  It was like a prayer.

  The tower was fair in its own twisted logic. Support members always got sent with frontliners, never left alone. It had been consistent since the first floor. But now… would that not be enough?

  Even I had been seconds away from collapsing. The yeti had pushed me to my limit.

  Sosuke glanced at me, finally tearing his gaze from the screen. “I might've misjudged Eli...” he said flatly.

  Haruto’s glare shot daggers. “You think this is a joke?!”

  I think we've all been ignoring it since we've had a hot streak. That 'it' being... someone's going to die soon.

  I leapt off my right heel, snow spraying beneath my boot. The yeti’s fist came down like a meteor, missing me by inches and shaking the mountain beneath us. The sheer force of it sent a shockwave through my chest. It was too fast. Far too fast. I could barely keep a tenth of a step ahead of it—if that.

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  I grit my teeth. I couldn’t write a worse outcome if I tried.

  Desmond’s voice cut through the chaos, sharp and desperate. “Eli, why not use that new skill you got?! We’re running out of options!”

  My stomach sank. That idiot. “You know what happens if I use Jet Arrow!” I barked back. “It breaks my damn leg!”

  The yeti’s massive arm swept across the snowfield like a storm, clipping my shin just enough to make me stumble. Pain flared through me.

  Desmond’s voice rose again, cracking under pressure. “Stop acting so selfish! Do you want to die or break your leg?”

  “Shut up!” I roared, forcing strength into me again. “I’ll finish this now!”

  “Instant Speed!”

  My world blurred. The wind tore past me as I closed the distance between us in less than a blink, reappearing beneath the yeti’s chin. Its shadow swallowed me whole.

  The beast raised both arms high and slammed them down in a double-fisted strike. The impact exploded snow into the air, a whiteout swallowing everything. I couldn’t see—but I didn’t need to.

  “Instant Strength!”

  I flipped backward, planting my palms into the snow, using them as a springboard. I chambered my legs and began firing off kicks in rapid succession. Front kicks, alternating left and right, each one cracking like thunder. Dozens of blows hammered its ribs, stomach, and jaw. I could feel bones give way beneath me, could hear the cartilage shatter.

  The yeti howled, stumbling back—but it didn’t fall. It roared, pure fury shaking the snow beneath us, and in that instant, its knee shot up like a cannon.

  Pain erupted across my spine as the blow landed. My vision went white. The next thing I knew, I was weightless—then crashing into Desmond. He caught me, staggering, arms trembling under my weight.

  I couldn’t move my legs. The cold dug into my back, but I couldn’t even feel it properly. My breath came out ragged. “I… I can’t walk…”

  Desmond’s face twisted—not in fear, not even in pity. But in guilt.

  He whispered, barely audible through the storm. “I’m sorry.”

  Before I could ask, his right hand gripped my ruined leg. “Force Skill. Jet Arrow.”

  Force skill?

  A purple aura surged through my body. Desmond’s. My right leg extended straight out, unnaturally rigid. I felt weightless, my body hovering as if something else had taken control.

  “What—Desmond, stop!” I shouted, trying to twist away, but I couldn’t move. My body was locked in the stance of a flying kick, perfectly aligned toward the yeti.

  He didn’t look at me. His jaw tightened, eyes burning with resolve—and regret.

  “Don’t look away, damn it!” I screamed. “Stop this! Desmond!”

  My body shot forward, faster than I’d ever moved before—faster than humanly possible. My leg tore through the yeti’s chest like a spear of light, slicing it open from sternum to spine. Blood and steam burst into the air as its body convulsed and collapsed into the snow.

  Then came the pain.

  My leg—no, what was left of it—burst apart. Bone fragments shredded through muscle, tendons snapped, and fire consumed what nerves I had left.

  I screamed, but the sound was lost in the blizzard.

  When I finally hit the ground, all I could do was stare at the steam rising from the yeti’s corpse. My body was broken, my leg gone, my breath short.

  Desmond stood a few feet away, his head low, snow melting in his hair.

  He hadn’t saved us.

  He’d sacrificed me.