Even if one of them were going to die, they had  all already gone so far. The best they could do was give it everything they had.

If they were going to walk the line, why wouldn't they take it to the end?

"Please... it's for her."

...

She clambered up the steps, each one increasingly more agonising than the last. Each step felt uncoordinated, and she had to keep her one free hand out to stabilise herself whenever she did lose her footing, which was not uncommon.
Her other hand was kept there. On the wound.

The pain had hit her. And it hit like a brick.
She wanted to scream, but she couldn't.
It would otherwise get her killed.

She was exhausted to an agonising point, to a point where she felt like she was tasting blood.
Perhaps she really was, but both outcomes were equally not as desirable to one another.

Kazuha didn't even know it.
She didn't even know herself whether she'd be able to push on for much longer. The moment where she'd have to sit and accept her fate was surely nigh, whatever her fate would make out to be.
Whether she'd live or die, she knew the outcome was soon to present itself to her with open arms.

She just hoped that, when it did, it wouldn't be painful.
Not a piercing, digging pain. Not like the wound upon her side that she had now.

Kazuha took a glance down the flight of stairs below her, letting out a small sigh once she saw nobody in sight.
A small part of her had expected Sakura to be right there, and that thought had send a split second of piercing worry.

It was an unpleasant feeling, but it did spur her on, like some kind of sadistic motivation.

Her steps reverberated upon the metal stairs with a clang. She thought that every step was inching her ever closer to being caught, almost like a prey with ringing bells.

Just like something good enough to be dead. Something waiting to be captured and killed.

Or even something caught in a death trap.

...

"We can't give up. We're so close..."

Indeed, they seemed to be so close, and they were.
But at the same time, they were so far. The final step for them in their staircase was a mountain. A mountain of no return the moment they would set foot upon it.
It seemed completely impossible, but it also felt wrong to give up. Not when they had gone through everything they had.
And especially not when the consequence of doing nothing would lead to a death sentence.
At the very least, three of them would die.
But there was also a chance that it would also lead to the rest of them following soon after.

If they didn't continue, they would become the hunted.
Killed. One after another. Just like dominoes.
Their hearts would be completely torn. Quite literally.

But they also bore the risk of continuing.
There was definitely a price to pay, whether that was excruciating pain, fatigue, a limb or even their lives, they were sure that there'd be something.
However, whether that risk was worth taking, or the extent of the consequence, there was no telling.

The consequence of continuing could be worse than death itself.

Chaewon looked down at Eunchae, whom she supported her limp body in her arms.
A tear fell from Chaewon's eye.

She saw red, bloodshot eyes, withered from fatigue. Eyes that looked like they had cried out mountains of blood. A face that was sunken, almost drained of all colour.  Her skin was a ghostly, dull pale.
There was barely warmth to her touch.
Barely any sign of life.

She was not the same girl. Not the young, youthful, cheerful and bright Eunchae she had known and cared for. Not anymore.
Eunchae had been contorted into a soulless monster against her will. Her will and courage had been dimmed to almost nothing.
Chaewon saw someone who had been trapped in a living hell. Someone who had been forced to fight for their existence alone against a deadly spirit.
Someone who had been treated as a battery, and left as nothing but a shell.
Left to die.

Chaewon held Eunchae close to her, feeling her faint heartbeat against her skin. Tears started to flow down her eyes.

"Please... We- we have to save them. Nobody should die tonight. We can't let them down. Not like we let Eunchae."

She looked at Eunchae's soulless face again.

"She was too close to death. We can't let anyone get closer. Please... Sakura, Yunjin, Kazuha... they need us. We need them... Please..." she begged.

Chaewon bowed her head down, quietly letting the tears fall.
She was desperate.
So desperate.

It wasn't over.
It couldn't be too late.
They could still save them. But at a deathly wager.

It was the biggest risk that they'd ever take.
But it was a risk that they would take.
Even if it meant that they could die trying.

"Even if we might die doing this, why don't we take it to the end?"

...