DEATH REALM — LABYRINTH
The fifth floor of the labyrinth was bathed in an almost unreal white light.
The smooth walls seemed to breathe, threaded with multicolored veins of aura left behind by recent battles.
The air was heavy, thick with an invisible pressure that crushed the lungs.
Nakid stood facing the MazeBoy.
Before him, the man in the immaculate white mask engraved with a black labyrinth remained perfectly still, as if patiently waiting for the continuation of a game whose outcome had already been decided.
His sweatshirt still bore those unsettling words:
Game Over.
A little farther away, Nakid spotted Ysabella. She raised her fist, clenched tightly with determination, and extended it toward him.
That single gesture said everything.
She was deliberately showing her choice in advance.
She was ready to lose so that he could win.
Beside her, Louis watched in silence, his eyes analyzing every detail.
Nakid felt his chest tighten.
The group should have been complete… but one absence weighed heavily.
Yorelei wasn't there.
A dense silence settled as Nakid slowly walked toward Ysabella. Each step echoed against the white floor like an invisible countdown.
— Let's go, Nakid, she said firmly.
Let's play.
She tried to read his expression, but Nakid had already looked away. Something was wrong. She could feel it.
— Rock… paper… scissors!
— Rock!
— Rock!
A tie.
The air seemed to freeze.
Nakid then turned away, his back to Ysabella.
— Thank you… he said calmly.
But someone's missing. I can't leave now.
Ysabella's face tightened.
— Do you realize what you're doing?! she burst out.
You could have gotten out! Been safe! Why didn't you listen to me?!
Her voice trembled, torn between anger and fear.
— You've been acting like my mother since the beginning, Nakid replied without turning.
I have the right to make my own choices.
He paused.
— And you're wrong. If I left now, I'd be alone. Without you. That would be the truly selfish choice.
He finally turned to face her.
— We'll leave together. All of us. Thanks to him.
Nakid pointed to the hooded man standing near the entrance, motionless like an ancient shadow. His presence reassured Nakid…
…mistakenly.
The MazeBoy clapped softly.
— Interesting. Add a rule, little player.
Nakid took a deep breath.
— I want you to build a ladder. A ladder connecting the floors, so players can move up and down more easily to reach this place.
Silence.
Then—
— Rule accepted.
The MazeBoy's voice echoed throughout the labyrinth.
A ladder has been created at the center of every floor.
Nakid felt his body grow lighter. He knew what that meant. He was about to be sent back into the labyrinth.
The hooded man did not move. He remained there like a silent guardian, blocking access to the master of the game.
— Partial annulment, announced the MazeBoy.
Players may no longer rest after adding a rule. Return to the battlefield.
The world warped.
The white walls shattered into a chaotic fresco of auras and screams.
Louis, thrown onto the third floor, observed the scene with fascination.
— I see everything… he murmured.
This war is a work of abstract art.
His eyes gleamed.
He blinked twice.
A new ability had just been born.
One by one, he marked his allies, an invisible aura linking them to his sight—even across distance.
Nakid on the eighth floor.
Ysabella and Yorelei on the sixth.
The ladder, visible to everyone…
Too visible.
— It's a trap, Louis whispered.
Without speaking, they all understood the same thing:
The center was bait.
They would take the stairs instead.
Rendez-vous on the fifth floor.
The game had only just begun.