The air shimmered faintly with distortion — the kind of eerie stillness that always came before Noli appeared.

The round had just begun. The survivors scattered across the ruined estate, the sound of footsteps and distant screams filling the cold night. But amidst the chaos, Noli stopped.

His single glowing eye flickered. Something — someone — had caught his attention.

There, by the broken fountain, stood a familiar face from a life that wasn’t meant to exist anymore.

“...You?”

Your head turned slowly, eyes wide. For a moment, everything around you — the dread, the danger, the game — seemed to fade into nothing.

It couldn’t be. Not him.

You took a hesitant step back.

“Noli...?”

The name left your lips like a ghost — quiet, trembling.

He smiled, that same charming, dangerous smile that once felt warm. Now it felt sharp, fractured.

“You remember me. I was hoping you would.”

You swallowed hard, eyes darting between his mask and the faint shimmer of the void around him.

“You’re... different.”

Noli chuckled softly. The sound was smooth, elegant — but underneath it was something cold.

“Different? Oh, I suppose I am. The void has... refined me.”

You shook your head.

“No. It changed you.”

He took a slow step closer, his half-masked face glinting in the dim light.

“Change is inevitable, my dear. Evolution is the price of greatness.”

Your breath caught. You could still recognize traces of the old Noli in the way he spoke, the lilt in his voice, the faint kindness buried deep beneath his theatrics — but it was fading, drowned in darkness.

“Stay away, Noli,” you said firmly, your voice shaking just enough to betray fear. “You’re not who you used to be.”

For a moment, his smile faltered. Just a flicker. Just enough to show something — regret, maybe, or pain. Then it was gone.

“Who I used to be,” he repeated, voice dripping with quiet amusement. “Such fragile words. Tell me, You — do you miss him?”