Darkness.
Complete, absolute, devoid of form or direction. Sailor felt no body, no weight, not even his own breath. It seemed he was simply floating in an infinite, empty space where there was no up or down.
"Am I... dead?"
The thought emerged slowly, as if unwilling to fully form. There were no images before his eyes, but memories came on their own.
Screams.
The cold of steel.
The blow.
He remembered the massive sword piercing his body. He remembered the pain so intense it felt as if the world had cracked. He remembered his own desperate question.
"Am I... going to die now for trying to save a monster?"
In this darkness, he screamed.
But the scream had no sound.
Sailor tried to inhale, but there was no air. He tried to clench his fists, but he had no hands. He tried to pray, to beg, to scream, to curse—but the darkness remained indifferent.
"What is this place... Hell? The space between floors? Or just nothingness?"
Suddenly, there was movement in the void.
First—weak, barely perceptible. Then—a shape. Small, familiar.
It was that very monster.
The small creature he had tried to protect. It looked different—not like it did in the Tower. Its body seemed made of soft light, and its eyes were no longer filled with fear.
Sailor didn't know how, but he felt it.
"You... you died too?"
The monster didn't answer with words. It simply watched.
And at that moment, something else emerged from the depths of the darkness.
A black sphere.
It was perfectly shaped, utterly dark, as if it swallowed reality itself around it. It slowly approached—both the monster and Sailor at once.
The closer it came, the stronger Sailor felt the pressure. Not physical—existential. As if his very existence was being tested, weighed.
The monster took a step forward.
It placed itself between Sailor and the black sphere.
And when the sphere drew near, it touched the monster.
In that same instant, the creature disintegrated into countless particles of light, which were drawn into the black sphere. There was no scream, no pain—only a sense of completion.
Next, the sphere touched Sailor.
And the world broke.
⸻
Sailor gasped sharply.
Air rushed into his lungs as if he hadn't breathed for an eternity. He coughed, rolling onto his side, feeling cold stone beneath his palms.
He was alive.
He frantically felt his chest. No wound. No blood. No pain. His body was whole, as if a sword had never been driven through it.
"What... the hell..."
He sat up, breathing heavily, and looked around.
A vast space stretched before him. High, dark walls, distorted as if created not by geometry but by someone's sick fantasy. The ceiling was lost in darkness. The air was heavy, saturated with an ancient threat.
A line of text appeared in his inner vision.
FLOOR: 37
Sailor paled.
"Thirty... seventh?"
He was F-rank. A rookie. Even the 9th floor was considered dangerous. And here...
"I'll die here. If I go out—I'll die immediately."
He scrambled up and hid behind the wreckage of a stone structure, trying not to make a sound. In the distance, he noticed silhouettes—monsters. Completely different ones. Larger. More dangerous. An aura emanated from them that made him want to fall to his knees.
He clenched his teeth.
"Calm down. Panic is death."
Time passed.
He didn't know how much. It was impossible to tell day from night here. He didn't move, barely breathed. Thirst slowly began to drive him mad.
That's when, for the first time since arriving, he opened his inventory.
A flask of water.
He drank slowly, greedily, but carefully. The water tasted better than anything he'd ever drunk in his life.
Three days passed like this.
No one appeared.
No monsters. No sounds.
The silence was more frightening than any roar.
On the fourth day, he made a decision.
"If I keep sitting here—I'll just die of starvation. Better to risk it."
He stepped out of his hiding place.
And then he felt it.
A gaze.
Not hostile. Not predatory.
From the depths of the hall, a massive figure slowly rose.
A dragon.
Black-red scales, as if stained with blood and darkness. Eyes—ancient, intelligent. The pressure radiating from it made Sailor's knees buckle.
«You took your time,» a voice sounded, not in his ears, but directly in his mind.
Sailor swallowed.
"I... I've already died once. What do I have left to fear?"
The dragon slowly inclined its head.
«I can help you escape the Tower.»
Sailor froze.
«But in exchange, you will sign a contract.»
A black symbol appeared before Sailor's eyes.
A Nameless Contract.
The terms were simple and terrible.
Two years.
The dragon helps him survive and escape.
Sailor helps the dragon when required.
In emergencies, the dragon can take control of his body.
Sailor closed his eyes.
"Better this... than dying again."
He reached out his hand.
"I agree."
Darkness closed in around them.
The contract was sealed.