The Imitator's final form was unlike anything they'd seen before.
Slender, quiet, and unmoving,yet its very presence felt like standing in the eye of a storm. Noct's instincts flared. This wasn't mimicry anymore. It had condensed every technique, every memory, every possibility into a single, optimized fighting form.
Its mirrored mask tilted slightly.
Then it moved.
A black arc swept across the floor. Ellen parried, but the blow sent her skidding even with a full-force Severance Drive. Sparks exploded from her blade.
"It's faster than before!" she shouted, stumbling to her feet.
Mia threw her daggers. Her Mirror Bloom after images struck from multiple angles, but the golem blurred—reappearing behind her before her mind could react. A shallow cut opened along her side, blood flying across the cold floor.
"Mia!" Noct called.
She grimaced. "Still up!"
Noct surged forward, activating a rapid-fire Vector Strike followed by a recursive Pi-Flux Array—a complex loop he'd barely learned. Golden mathematical symbols spiraled from his sword as he struck down.
The golem's mirrored blade intercepted with an identical technique—but instead of a counterstrike, it absorbed his formula mid-execution.
Noct's eyes widened. "It's learning new math in real time…"
The Imitator raised a hand. Golden sigils flashed.
Noct was blasted backward, crashing into the wall. His ears rang. Numbers flickered in front of his vision. His ather was draining fast.
"Guys…" he whispered, "...I'm not sure we can beat it like this."
But Mia stepped in front of him, breathing heavily, blood on her brow. "Don't say that."
Ellen joined her, limping but standing tall. Her blade shook, not from fear—from resolve.
And then, for the first time since they'd entered the labyrinth… they told him the truth.
Ellen spoke first. "We weren't just sent here to explore."
"We were born into a fallen sector—raised in training camps run by corrupted Venators. We only escaped because of a girl we called 'mother,' a defector who died getting us out."
Mia lowered her eyes. "We've fought, killed, and crawled our way up ever since. We act cold because we can't afford to break."
Ellen looked at Noct. "But you made us believe again. You're reckless, stupid… and somehow still pure after everything."
Mia nodded. "So don't die. Not now. Not while we're still choosing to fight."
Noct stood, despite the pain. A new equation lit in his mind—not from logic, but emotion. A hidden branch of his ability stirred.
Emotion-based coefficients.
He whispered: "Soul calculus…"
Numbers surged. His sword shimmered with new, glowing runes—not just logic-driven, but purpose-aligned. It wasn't mastery… but it was belief.
"Let's try again," Noct said.
The team advanced. Ellen activated full Severance momentum, sprinting in curved paths, feeding it kinetic energy. Mia layered Mirror Bloom with deceptive timing. Noct created a dual-array ring midair, combining Division Blink and Gravity Model, launching himself with spiraling velocity.
This time, they didn't fight separately.
They fought as one.
Strike after strike pushed The Imitator back.
It adapted—but slower.
It anticipated—but not perfectly.
Mia fainted low and stabbed upward. Ellen launched an airborne Severance slash. Noct struck with a calculated delay, triggering a recursive loop that targeted the Imitator's blind spot—one that it didn't expect from someone it believed to be purely logical.
The golem's mask cracked.
It screeched—a metallic, digital wail—as its form began to destabilize.
"We've got it!" Ellen cried.
But before they could finish, the golem released a final pulse—a full release of stolen energy. The backlash flung all three of them away.
Noct barely managed to raise his arm in time, shielding Ellen with his body. Mia rolled to the far wall, coughing.
Smoke.
Silence.
And then—the golem shattered.
A core—obsidian and pulsing—hovered in midair before dissolving into shimmering dust.
They had won.
But barely.
Noct collapsed onto one knee, breathing hard. His vision blurred. The numbers flickering in his mind were… peaceful now. Responsive. Like they were finally listening.
Ellen knelt beside him. "We're alive."
Mia just chuckled. "I'm bleeding… a lot. But yeah. We won."
They looked around the silent chamber.
At last, the bottom floor was theirs.
But somewhere far away… another threat stirred.