In the upper maze's room, two figures faced completely different situations under the same thick mist.
On one side, Luki was being swallowed by the battle. His armor already groaned under every impact, his sword trembled in his hands, yet he did not retreat. Surrounded, crushed by the weight of the Skeletons, every breath he took felt like a war of its own.
The steel protected his body but could not hide the mounting tension, his knees giving way, his muscles screaming, the sweat burning beneath the closed helmet.
Further away, leaning against the cold, uneven wall of the room, Lili watched everything in silence. Her body seemed paralyzed; only her eyes moved, wide, fixated on that brutal scene. It was as if she were watching a bad dream, too fast, too distorted to comprehend.
Her chest rose and fell at a frantic pace, not from effort, but from sheer dread. The air burned in her throat with every short gasp. Confusion, helplessness, and a thin thread of hope trembled together in her despairing expression.
She wanted to act. But she couldn't. She wanted to run. But her legs wouldn't respond.
And yet, her gaze couldn't turn away from him, from that warrior clad in steel who, alone, bore the weight of seemingly endless enemies.
'What... what is happening?'
Until a few minutes ago, everything had been too fast. She and the group were cornered, surrounded by monsters, with no hope of escape. Then, like a miracle, the door had opened on its own. Salvation was within reach.
And just when she thought she was safe, her "companions" had tossed her back into the room, like discarding something useless, not out of desperation, but out of pure cruelty. In that instant, she had accepted her fate. She had let her body relax, waiting for the final blow.
But then he appeared. A knight who looked straight out of a fairytale, sword, armor, stance. He materialized out of nowhere to interpose his own body between her and death. He didn't hesitate. He didn't even ask who she was.
Now, before her eyes, this same man was fighting, surrounded, every blow echoing like thunder, risking his life for a complete stranger.
'Why... why is this happening to me?'
It was as if death always tried to take her, but, at the last moment, something or someone appeared to snatch her from the abyss. Always.
When she was small, abandoned and hungry, a kind couple of elders cared for her as their daughter.
When she thought she would die at the hands of the Soma Familia members, the Ganesha Familia guards showed up at the very last moment.
More recently, when the earthquake destroyed their base and left her trapped for two days under the rubble, it was God Soma himself who rescued her, the same one how let the whole Familia turn what it is now.
'Why? Why do I always keep getting saved by others? Why does someone like me deserve to be saved?'
The question echoed inside her louder than the bones rattling in the hall.
— HAAAAAAAAAAAH! — Luki's primal roar cut through Lili's stupor, pulling her attention back to the fight.
He was being swallowed by seven Skeletons at once.
Two were clinging to his back, pulling his arms back, another wrapped itself around his right leg like a living chain, while the remaining four surrounded his flanks, trying to bring him down completely.
Even his sword had fallen to the ground at some point.
And yet, like a cornered wild beast, Luki struggled without yielding. It was as if his whole life was being decided in that instant, and in a way, it was.
With a shout, he lifted his free leg and delivered a Spartan kick to the nearest Skeleton's chest.
CRASH!
The hit Skeleton flew like a rag doll, colliding with two others and knocking them all down in a heap of brittle bones.
The space before him opened for an instant.
Taking advantage of the gap, Luki flexed his leg with all the strength he had left and leaped, a somersault then a tumble on the ground. The monsters gripping him lost their balance, their claws slipping and letting go as he landed.
Free.
Without hesitation, Luki ran a short distance and snatched his fallen sword from the ground. The cold steel seemed to scream along with him as he rose, turning to face the enemies again.
Fleeing hadn't crossed his mind for even a second.
Seeing this scene, Lili's heart raced even faster, half admiration and half apprehension; she feared the worst would happen to him.
But as quickly as it came, that thought quickly dissolved. Lili shook her head from side to side as if denying something.
'What am I thinking...? He's going to die there... and if I stay... I'll die with him.'
Terror exploded in every fiber of her body.
Without even bothering to retrieve the large backpack that had fallen a few meters back, Lili turned away. Her legs, previously locked by dread, now shot forward as if obeying the most primitive instinct of all.
She ran.
She ran without looking back, without thinking, only fleeing. The sound of steel clashing against bone echoed in the room like a curse pursuing her, each step she took accompanied by that brutal noise that, with every second, seemed further away.
But the heavy feeling in her chest did not lessen.
'So, you're really going to run away?'
The voice appeared in her mind like a cutting whisper, so real that it made her legs tremble.
Lili seemed to freeze... though she kept running. Her mind, however, was no longer there.
Suddenly, everything around her disappeared. The cold of the stones, the damp smell of the Dungeon, the noise of battle behind her... all vanished. Only darkness remained.
She was alone. Alone with her thoughts.
'I thought you said you were going to change.'
Her heart pounded. That voice... it was her own voice. A distorted, cold version, laden with contempt.
— I... I want to change... — she murmured breathlessly, unaware that her lips were moving.
'Are you sure? Because it doesn't look like it.'
— Of course, I want to change! Do you think I'm happy like this?!
'It does seem like it... considering you insist on continuing.'
— I'm not-
'If you really wanted to escape this, you would have left already. All you had to do was walk out the front gate, vanish from Orario. No one would stop you.'
— I can't! I'm still part of the Soma Familia! As long as I'm tied to them, nothing will change!
'A lie. We both know it. You said it yourself before: "no one cares about Lili." If you disappeared today, no one would care, even Soma.'
— B-but...
'But what? That you don't have almost a million valis hidden away? That you don't know how to survive alone, as you always did in those alleys?'
Lili fell silent.
'Or maybe... maybe you still have hope. Hope that one day everything will change, hope that your day to shine will come, to become a renowned adventurer, to turn your life around. That those who trampled you will end up at your feet begging for mercy.'
The shadows around her trembled, as if laughing at her.
'But that will never happen. And you know why? Because you are weak. A coward. A liar. You can't decide the fate of your life even when it's in your hands.'
— That's not it...
'You lie to survive. You lie to profit. You lie to kill people who have nothing to do with your misery. You lie saying that one day everything will change. You lie that you will change. But you won't. Because you are a cowardly thief.'
— I'm not a coward!
'Then why did you turn your back on him?'
The question echoed like a slap.
'When you had already given up, he appeared and literally dragged you from death's lap. And now that he is paying the price for it, all you know how to do is run away.'
— And what do you want me to do?! Throw my life away for someone I don't even know?! I don't care if he lives or dies!
Silence.
'Oh, really? Then answer me, Lili... why are you crying?'
Lili stopped. This time, for real.
Her legs simply refused to take another step. Panting, she raised her hand to her face... and her fingers trembled when they touched her own wet skin.
Tears. She was crying.
But... why?
Out of concern for the man who had saved her? No. Although she felt gratitude, it wasn't enough to wring tears from her.
For having been betrayed by her companions? Ridiculous. They were never true companions. They were just tools, parasites sucking each other dry until nothing was left. What she felt for them was hatred, resentment, and nothing more.
So... why?
Her mind seemed to sink into a suffocating void. The voice that once tormented her was silent now, as if it had deliberately withdrawn... leaving her alone with the truth she avoided facing.
But she didn't need that voice to understand.
Because, deep down, everything she had heard was just her conscience, transformed into words too harsh to ignore.
And Lili knew. She knew they were truths. She had always known.
She just didn't want to accept it.
Just as she didn't want to accept the real reason for her tears.
But at this point, she no longer had a choice; she couldn't simply deny the truth.
— I'm... I really am a coward. — Lili's voice cracked, fragile, as a wave of feeling tore through her chest like a blade.
Less than five minutes ago, she had promised herself that she would do things differently if she had a second chance. And now... here she was. Again.
The same weak, cunning Pallum, unable to look anyone in the eye.
What for? What was the point of all this? All the efforts, all the years swallowing tears and resentment in silence... if even after everything, she was still like this?
Was it all in vain? All that suffering, all the nights she swore she would change... meant nothing?
Her knees gave out. She fell, powerless to remain standing.
Her forehead touched the cold Dungeon floor, and her fists began to strike the stone, again and again, each blow more desperate than the last.
BAM BAM BAM
The tears fell endlessly, salty, mixing with the dust. With every punch, a suppressed hurt surfaced. With every tear, a piece of hatred detached.
Lili hated many things in life. But in that moment, more than any monster, more than any person, she hated herself.
For being so incompetent. For being so small. For being... her.
...
Lili remained there for a few moments, just letting it all out. Her tears, her rage, her shame... until there was nothing left. Her mind was empty. Too empty even to worry about the danger surrounding her.
Only when the crying stopped, when her eyes were swollen and red, did she get up. There was a strange peace in her chest. The calm after the storm. There was simply nothing left to feel.
And it was in this silence that the voice returned.
'So... what are you going to do now?'
Lili didn't answer immediately. She stood still, motionless, as if she hadn't heard. But, seconds later, her lips moved.
— I'm going to...