The fortieth floor presented them with a chimera—a monstrous hybrid with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail. Unlike the mythological creature, this version had also been enhanced with scorpion-like pincers and the scaled wings of a wyvern.

  "Now that's just excessive," Billy commented as they surveyed the beast from behind a fallen column. "Whoever designed this place had a flair for the dramatic."

  The chimera paced restlessly in the center of a circular arena, occasionally unleashing a roar that was part feline, part caprine, and entirely terrifying. The chamber's walls were decorated with frescoes depicting similar beasts devouring unfortunate warriors.

  "A combination of multiple predatory adaptations," Aoi observed clinically. "Each head appears to function independently, but they share a nervous system."

  "Like with Cerberus, we need to target the primary head," Zen suggested. "The lion seems to be the dominant consciousness."

  Billy checked his weapons, the familiar routine grounding him before combat. "So what's the plan? All of us together this time?"

  Zen nodded. "This one will require coordinated effort."

  Their strategy formed quickly—Billy would provide covering fire to distract the creature, Aoi would hamstring it to limit its mobility, and Zen would deliver the killing blow once it was vulnerable.

  The battle was fierce but ultimately successful. Billy's enchanted bullets tore through the chimera's wings, grounding it permanently. Aoi's kuris severed tendons in its hind legs with surgical precision, and Zen's dimensional magic created a vacuum around the lion's head, suffocating it until it collapsed.

  They emerged victorious but not unscathed. Billy nursing a gash across his forearm from the serpent tail's venomous strike, Aoi limping slightly from a blow he hadn't quite dodged, and Zen's coat torn where the chimera's claws had nearly found his flesh.

  "Forty floors down," Billy wheezed as they treated their wounds before moving on. "How many more to go?"

  Neither of his companions had an answer.

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  The fiftieth floor was their greatest challenge yet. The staircase deposited them not in an enclosed chamber but on a vast plateau atop what appeared to be a mountain peak. Storm clouds gathered overhead, lightning illuminating a massive silhouette circling above them.

  "Dragon," Aoi said simply, his voice nearly lost in the howling wind.

  The creature descended with earth-shaking force, its scales the color of burnished bronze, eyes gleaming with ancient malice. It was easily the size of a small ship, with a wingspan that could have sheltered a village.

  "Any suggestions?" Billy asked, his usual confidence wavering slightly as he took in the sheer scale of their opponent.

  "Don't die," Zen replied grimly.

  The battle that followed would forever be etched in their memories. For nearly an hour, they fought with everything they had, using every trick, skill, and magical enhancement at their disposal.

  Billy's Tommy gun roared until its barrel glowed red-hot, the enchanted bullets peppering the dragon's hide, seeking gaps between scales. Aoi moved like shadow itself, his kuris finding vulnerable points at joints and tendons, his sledgehammer delivering crushing blows whenever possible. Zen unleashed spells of devastating power, manipulating space itself to avoid the dragon's fiery breath while counterattacking with elemental forces.

  In the end, victory came at a heavy cost. Billy's hat was gone, incinerated by dragon fire that had come mere inches from claiming his life. Aoi's mask had been shattered, revealing a face streaked with blood from a head wound. Zen's coat hung in tatters, one sleeve completely burned away to reveal scarred flesh beneath.

  The dragon lay dead, its massive head separated from its body by a combination of Aoi's blade work and Billy's point-blank gunfire, while Zen's magic had prevented its death throes from taking them with it.

  "Barely," Billy gasped, collapsing onto his back beside the dragon's corpse. "We barely beat that thing."

  Aoi nodded, wiping blood from his eyes. "It was... formidable."

  Zen remained standing, his unseeing eyes focused on something beyond normal perception. "We're not done yet," he announced quietly. "There's something more powerful waiting below."

  Despite their exhaustion, a shared look of determination passed between the three warriors. They had come too far to turn back now.

  As if acknowledging their resolve, a new staircase materialized at the edge of the plateau, descending into shadow.

  "Onward, then," Billy said, forcing himself back to his feet and reloading his weapons with trembling hands. "The worst is yet to come, I reckon."

  "Indeed," Aoi agreed, resheathing his kuris. "But so are the greatest rewards."

  Zen led the way, his step steady despite his injuries. "Together, then."

  As they descended into darkness, none could say what awaited them, but one thing was certain—the three reincarnated warriors, once strangers but now forged into a team by the trials they had faced, would meet it head-on.