When the blinding light faded, Leo and his companions found themselves in front of a massive gate that extended higher than their eyes could see.

Leo looked to his left and saw nothing but an unending sea of clouds mixed with a sort of golden fire that left an unsettling feeling in his gut. Something told him that if that fire even so much as grazed him, he would be burnt to nothingness within a heartbeat.

The gate loomed before them, impossibly vast, its surface weathered and ancient. Dark grooves and carvings etched across the metal radiated a suffocating presence, and an aura of desolation clung to every inch of it. Each of them felt as if the weight of countless centuries pressed down on their shoulders, urging them to bow their heads in submission.

Adam's breath caught in his throat. Even he, who carried himself with pride and defiance, felt like nothing more than an insect about to be crushed. Lily's fingers twitched at her side as she tried to steady herself, but the tremor in her hands betrayed the fear in her chest. Luna pressed her lips together, staring upward as if trying to pierce the endless height of the gate, only to feel her resolve splinter the longer she looked. Aria's song-like heart, which had always carried warmth, was smothered by the despair that seeped from the steel before them.

Leo swallowed hard. The others did not need to say anything for him to know they all shared the same thought. Before such a thing, they were ants. Nothing they could do would ever matter.

Yet, as they stood frozen in silence, their eyes caught something strange. At the very base of the gate, near the seam where its massive halves should have joined, there was a gap. It was no larger than a person, almost insignificant compared to the endless wall that stretched above them, yet it was there. A sliver of an opening, just wide enough for them to slip through if they dared.

The sight of it filled them with unease. The gap looked deliberate, as though it had been placed there for them alone.

Adam narrowed his eyes at the narrow space and let out a humorless breath. "It makes sense. They probably never thought anyone would be foolish enough to try and invade the Hall of Judgment. Especially not a handful of mortals." His voice was steady, but there was a sharp edge underneath, as though even he found the idea absurd.

Leo's lips curved into a faint smile. "Then I guess they clearly didn't account for us."

The words were simple, spoken with the slightest touch of self-mockery, but they managed to cut through the oppressive silence that had weighed on them. Luna's shoulders eased, and she nodded faintly, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. Lily gave a short, breathy giggle, her nerves easing just enough to let her amusement show.

Aria, however, did not share their moment. Her gaze swept across the endless clouds and the fire beyond, then back toward the gate. She pressed a hand lightly against her chest, as if trying to still the unease that gnawed at her heart. Her voice was quiet but firm when she spoke. "I can't sense anything, but that doesn't mean it's safe. We should move quickly before whatever watches this place decides to notice us."

The brief spark of levity dimmed as her words settled into them. One by one, they exchanged glances, and the unspoken agreement passed among them. The gate waited, and the gap beckoned.

Together, they stepped toward it.

They reached the gap and quickly realized it was even smaller than it had first appeared. To pass through, they would need to get on their hands and knees. The thought of crawling beneath the gate of something so monumental left an uncomfortable knot in each of their stomachs, but there was no other path forward.

Leo went first, lowering himself to the cold surface and sliding in. The narrow space scraped at his shoulders and forced him to flatten himself against the ground. Luna followed close behind, moving carefully as the metal loomed above her head like a crushing weight.

Behind her came Lily, who let out a soft whine as soon as she squeezed into the opening. "Ow… crawling like this hurts."

Luna blinked and glanced back, brow furrowing. "How could it possibly hurt? You are just—" She stopped mid-sentence when her eyes landed on the sight behind her. Lily was squirming, her cheeks red with embarrassment, her chest uncomfortably pressed against the unyielding ground. Each movement forward was a slow, awkward shuffle.

A vein pulsed faintly on Luna's forehead as her expression tightened. She turned her head back around without another word, crawling forward in silence, her jaw clenched. The fact that she herself moved with ease only deepened her irritation, and she refused to acknowledge the petty flare of annoyance that burned in her demure chest.

Aria, coming in last, glanced at Lily's struggle with a worried look, but said nothing. Instead, she kept her eyes sharp, ears straining for the slightest sound beyond the oppressive silence, all too aware that once they passed through, there would be no turning back.

One by one, they slipped under the gate, swallowed by the unknown that lay beyond.

The air changed the moment they crawled through to the other side. The oppressive silence they had carried with them was replaced by something heavier, something that seemed to coil around their throats and sink into their skin.

They rose to their feet, brushing off the dust of the crawl, and froze.

It was no grand hall of justice that awaited them. The sight before their eyes stole the breath from their lungs.

The space stretched outward into a vast chamber, its walls carved from a black stone that pulsed faintly as though alive. Massive chains hung from above, some dragging along the ground, their links rusted and stained with something far darker than iron. From the ceilings and walls protruded hooks, rings, and jagged spikes, many of which bore the remnants of what had once been divine flesh.

Everywhere they looked, cages of impossible size stood scattered, some large enough to contain mountains, others so small they seemed intended to suffocate rather than restrain. The air itself reeked of anguish, heavy with screams that were not sounds but impressions burned into the stone. The weight of countless ages of torment pressed into their bones.

Leo's knees nearly buckled as his mind struggled to comprehend it. Aria pressed both hands over her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. Luna's breath came sharp and uneven as she fought to tear her gaze away, but every corner of the chamber only revealed fresh atrocities.

Lily staggered backward a step, her voice trembling. "This… this isn't judgment. This is…" She could not finish the word, but the truth settled into all of them at once.

Adam clenched his fists, his face pale yet rigid with fury. His eyes moved from the chains to the cages to the blood-soaked walls, and his voice came out low and unshaking. "This is not a hall of judgment. This is a prison. A torture chamber for the gods themselves."

The words echoed against the cavernous walls, swallowed by the unending silence that followed. It felt as though even the chamber itself was listening, waiting for them to take the next step deeper into its nightmare.

The silence pressed down on them like a shroud, but Adam did not waver. His eyes burned with something far stronger than fear. The fury that had risen in him only grew heavier with every chain, every cage, every bloodstain carved into the walls of this place.

He stared into the darkness, jaw clenched, his breath rough in his throat. The sight of divine torment was unbearable, but it did more than horrify him. It solidified him.

"I will not let this stand," Adam muttered, his voice cutting through the suffocating quiet. His hands trembled, not from weakness but from the rage that coiled through every fiber of his being. "If Arachne is here, I will drag her out of this pit. I do not care what it costs me. I will get her out, or I will die trying."

The others turned toward him. Leo's gaze met his, searching his expression, and for a brief moment the weight of Adam's conviction stole his words. There was no trace of hesitation in Adam's face, no hint of doubt. Only a brutal determination, sharp enough to burn away despair.

Aria lowered her hands slowly, her voice soft but tight. "Adam…" She had no words to temper him. There was nothing to say.

Luna bit her lip, torn between fear of what lay ahead and the gravity in Adam's vow. She could see it in him, the way he carried his resolve like a blade. Nothing here could strip it from him.

Lily's eyes glistened with unease, but she nodded faintly all the same, as if to give her silent support.

Leo finally broke the silence, stepping closer. "Then we do it together." His voice was firm, steady, the hint of a smile tugging at his lips despite the weight pressing down on them all. "If this place wants us dead, it will have to try harder."

The chamber seemed to breathe around them, its silence shifting, its walls listening. Somewhere in the distance, a chain groaned and rattled, as though something deep within the prison had stirred.

Adam did not look away. His resolve had hardened into iron.

Whatever nightmare awaited them here, he would not leave without her.