The air was still heavy with the scent of ash and ichor.
The massive corpse of the slain floor boss lay in the background, steam rising off its cracked hide as if the Dungeon itself were still trying to reclaim it.
Cheers had erupted after Bell Cranel's final blow, raw, emotional cries of exhausted relief, but now, silence lingered like smoke after a battlefield.
Toji Fushiguro stood apart from the crowd, near the blood-slick rocks, weapons sheathed, eyes distant.
His clothes were torn at the sleeves, dust coating his shoulders, but his breathing was calm.
No wounds. No tremors.
As if he hadn't just slaughtered a tide of monsters with feral precision or pinned down the largest beast in the area using a curse that no one could understand.
He said nothing. Didn't look back. The flickering torches made his silhouette seem even less human.
"He's walking away," Lili murmured, still panting, clutching the hem of Welf's shirt with trembling fingers.
"Yeah," Welf replied, mouth dry, watching the man's back retreat into the darker edge of the floor. "That's Toji."
Bell's eyes followed him too. "He helped us again... Even after everything."
Lili's brow furrowed, confused and haunted. "Why? He could've left. Let us all die."
Welf shook his head. "Not his style. That guy... he doesn't do things for credit."
Ryuu Lyon approached, cloak fluttering as she landed lightly beside them. She had helped carry wounded to safety but now paused, her gaze resting where Toji had been moments ago.
"I saw it," she said simply. "He froze time. Somehow. The beast couldn't move, and neither could he. It was like... he made a contract with time itself."
Bell looked stunned. "How... is that even possible?"
"No magic circle," Welf muttered. "No chant. No visible activation. That wasn't a spell."
Ryuu's lips tightened thoughtfully. "It was something else."
Hermes appeared just behind her, arms crossed, eyes narrowed with that usual smile now absent. "Contract" he said softly, tapping his temple.
"He created a condition, a rule that locks both him and the monster in place unless it's fulfilled. But the monster can't answer the question, can it?"
Bell turned. "Question?"
Hermes smiled faintly, almost like a parent humoring a clever child. "Didn't you hear it? Just before time stopped. He asked"
Welf's mouth opened slightly.
Lili looked back in shock.
"That question?" Ryuu asked, more to herself than to the group.
Hermes nodded. "Fits the guy."
Silence fell again, as the realization sank in. It wasn't just some technique, it was a reflection of Toji himself. His rules. His world.
"...He fights like a beast," Ryuu finally said. "But his control... it's terrifying."
Meanwhile — Among the Loki Familia
Farther off, where the Loki Familia had returned to their temporary camp on the upper side of Floor 18, things were less quiet.
Tiona wiped the blood off her blade with a flourish. "So, the white-haired kid took down the boss. That was impressive!"
Tione smirked. "He was good. But that other guy..." She turned toward Aiz, who had been oddly silent.
Lefiya shivered. "He was down here? That man? The one who took down Bete in seconds? And, you're telling me he stopped time?"
"Not stopped," Riveria corrected, arms crossed, eyes narrowed. "He enacted something akin to a curse or domain. Magicless... and still effective."
Loki reclined on a rock near the fire, sipping from a flask and grinning like a fox. "Heh~ That wild dog again, huh?"
"You knew he was down here?" Tione asked.
"Didn't have to know," Loki replied. "But I had a feeling. He doesn't go where the gods want. He goes where the blood is."
Aiz still hadn't said a word.
Tiona elbowed her. "You okay?"
The sword princess blinked. "He didn't kill it."
"Huh?"
Aiz turned slightly. "He could've. He had a perfect opening... and he backed away. Let the boy fight."
Riveria hummed. "That shows more restraint than I expected."
"No," Aiz whispered. "That shows change."
Tione frowned. "So what's the deal with him and you?"
Aiz turned away. "...I don't know yet."
Loki leaned in, grin widening. "Oooh? Could it be our ice princess is curious~?"
Aiz said nothing more. Her golden eyes simply stared back toward the forested edge of the safe zone, toward the place Toji had disappeared.
Back With Bell's Group — Around the Fire
Later, Bell, Welf, and Lili sat near a small campfire. Other adventurers milled around, patching wounds or resting.
Hermes' party had drifted elsewhere, and the brief celebration of victory had settled into soft murmurs and clinks of metal.
"Do you think..." Bell started, hesitant. "He's really... alone?"
Welf sharpened one of his blades absentmindedly. "He's always been that way."
Lili hugged her knees. "He doesn't trust people."
Welf nodded. "No. But he respected us enough to step in."
Bell looked at the fire, thoughtful. "He's scary. But... he's also kind. In his own way."
Ryuu walked past them then, slowing as she glanced down.
"You all owe him your lives," she said flatly, but not unkindly.
Bell nodded. "I know."
"Maybe thank him," she added. "If you ever find him again."
Welf chuckled dryly. "That's the trick, isn't it? If."
They all turned and looked toward the dark edges of the floor. Somewhere beyond the trees and glowing stones, Toji Fushiguro was likely already gone.
And Toji — Alone Again
Far away from their firelight, Toji crouched beside a narrow stream, splashing water on his face. The cold bit into his skin.
He looked at his reflection for a moment, tired, worn, the bags under his eyes deeper than he remembered.
"Still got it," he muttered to himself.
His cursed spirit companion slithered near, forming a shadowy blob before taking the shape of a gun, which he tucked back into its hidden holster beneath his coat.
The domain technique still echoed in his bones, unnatural, imperfect, but his.
He had traded cursed energy for raw strength once. Now this world traded magic instead.
It was coming back.
Slowly. In pieces.
Like waking from a long, long sleep.
He looked at his palm, clenched it once, then stood.
He had bought the boy time. But it wasn't charity.
It was a test.
And the kid passed.
Toji turned toward the deeper end of the Dungeon.
Time to hunt again.
...
A few days later...
The sun had barely begun its ascent over Orario when Lefiya Viridis stood at the edges of Babel Tower, feigning nonchalance.
Her cloak fluttered in the morning wind, eyes carefully scanning the usual ebb and flow of adventurers descending into the Dungeon.
She wasn't scheduled for a mission with the Loki Familia today, Aiz was off training with Tiona and Tione, and Bete had mercifully gone drinking without dragging her along.
And yet, her heart beat in nervous anticipation, because this wasn't an idle visit.
She was waiting for him.
The man who fought without magic. The man who, if rumors were to be believed, stopped time.
Ridiculous, she had thought at first.
There were no such spells.
No mage, not even Riveria, could do such a thing.
But then she'd seen him, just once, during the rescue operation on the 18th floor.
She'd watched from the sidelines as a hulking monster stopped mid-charge, frozen like a statue, with him standing completely still before it.
No chant.
No gesture.
Just presence.
And then it had died.
That man, Toji.
He wasn't part of any Familia.
No magic. No party. He didn't even carry standard weapons.
Only strange black tools, foreign in design, impossibly precise.
She had seen the way he moved: like shadow and fire blended into one.
Brutality wrapped in silence. He was nothing like a mage. And yet...
I want to know.
Her fingers curled at her side.
Every time she stepped into battle, Lefiya felt it, hesitation.
The weight of her allies' expectations, the fear of being a burden.
But Toji fought alone, without spells or bonds, and nothing seemed to shake him.
And so, when he finally emerged, walking through the crowd with his usual calm, confident gait, loose jacket slung over his shoulder, eyes half-lidded like none of this mattered, Lefiya quietly followed.
Toji wasn't in a rush.
He never was.
He walked like a man with no destination, letting the crowd part around him instinctively.
No one bumped into him.
No one questioned his presence.
He carried no badge of a god, no emblem of allegiance, and yet even hardened adventurers instinctively moved aside.
Lefiya kept her distance, slipping through alleyways and shadows of columns, every bit of her elven training put to use.
He never looked back.
Never wavered.
But something gnawed at her, he was too casual.
When he reached the Dungeon's entrance, he tilted his head slightly, just a fraction, as though scratching an itch.
Did he notice?
She nearly backed off then. But she steeled herself and descended after him, heart pounding.
Toji could feel her from the beginning.
A soft step too slow to be professional, a breath caught just a beat late behind the walls of Babel.
Not a threat, not even close.
Whoever was tailing him was either a rookie or hesitant.
Probably both.
But they were persistent.
He'd given them every opportunity to stop, crossing paths through shady streets, slipping in and out of back alleys.
They stayed on him.
He was almost impressed.
So now, as he walked into the upper floors of the Dungeon, he didn't bother hiding.
If she wanted to see, let her.
Lefiya followed him through the winding corridors of the first floor, her steps light, breath quiet.
He didn't fight.
He didn't even glance at the goblins that snarled from the dark.
He simply walked.
A few of them leapt toward him, blades raised, mouths screeching, and Lefiya tensed, hand raised.
Toji didn't even pause.
A glint of silver, a faint sound like air snapping, and the goblins dropped.
Neck cleanly severed, one after another.
He never even drew a blade.
Just reached toward his jacket, flicked his wrist, and death followed.
What was that weapon...? she wondered.
He kept moving, deeper. Floor 2. Then 3.
She was sweating now. Not from fear, but awe.
And then he stopped.
Toji stood in the middle of a corridor, dust and blood settling on the stone beneath him.
"You're not very good at hiding your footsteps," he said, voice low, calm.
Lefiya froze.
"I was wondering how far you'd follow. Figured I'd give you a chance to introduce yourself before we hit the mid-floors."
She stepped out, ears burning. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I just—!"
Toji turned, finally facing her fully.
Elf girl. Pretty. Familiar face. Loki Familia, definitely. Her aura gave it away, noble, but soft.
A spellcaster.
"You're that kid," he said. "The one who was gawking down on 18. Thought I'd imagined it."
Lefiya blinked. "You... noticed?"
"You weren't exactly subtle." He let out a small exhale, not quite a sigh. "So, what do you want?"
"I wanted to see how you fight," she said, before she could stop herself.
Toji arched a brow. "You what?"
"I—I mean," she stammered, "I wanted to see how someone like you handles the Dungeon alone. You don't have magic or a party, and you... stop time?"
He stared at her.
Then, to her surprise, he chuckled. "That's what they're saying? That I stop time?"
"It's not true?"
"Nope."
She looked crestfallen. "Then... what was that back there? On the 18th floor?"
Toji shrugged. "A trick. Nothing more."
"But the monsters... they couldn't move."
"Because I made them not move." He tilted his head. "You want answers, you'll have to earn 'em. I don't teach for free."
"I-I'm not asking for training!" she protested.
"Then why follow me? Curiosity?" he asked, voice low but not unkind. "Or something else?"
She hesitated. "Because... I don't want to be dead weight."
That silenced him.
Toji looked at her longer this time.
Really looked.
Behind the pointed ears and polished robes.
Saw the girl underneath. Desperate to prove something. Afraid of not measuring up.
Something in her reminded him of Megumi. Not in the way she looked. But in the weight behind her eyes.
"....What's your name?"
"Lefiya. Lefiya Viridis."
"Lefiya," he repeated. "You're brave, I'll give you that."
She blinked. "I—I am?"
"Not smart, maybe," he smirked. "But brave."
Lefiya huffed.
Toji walked ahead. "You coming or not?"
"What?"
"You wanted to see how I fight. We're already here. Keep up."
She followed.
The next hour unfolded like a dream.
Toji didn't move like a warrior.
He moved like a force of nature, slicing, snapping, brutal and efficient.
Where other adventurers parried or dodged, Toji broke through.
Where they chanted spells, he was already moving.
At one point, she tried to assist, casting a simple wind spell toward an incoming War Shadow.
Toji turned, shot it in the head mid-step with something sleek and black, and said, "Don't. You'll get in the way."
"But I can—!"
"This isn't a team-up."
Lefiya swallowed her pride.
But she kept watching. Learning.
By the time they emerged back toward the 5th floor, her mind was spinning.
He didn't rely on magic. He didn't rely on anything. Just instinct, skill, and something deep beneath the surface that whispered danger even when he was still.
They reached a small rest chamber.
Toji pulled a protein bar from somewhere, unwrapped it, and bit down lazily. "You get your fill?"
She hesitated. "Why do you fight alone?"
He chewed quietly. "Because it's easier."
"Easier?"
"No one to get in the way. No one to slow me down. No one to lose."
That last part came softer than the rest.
Lefiya stared at him, uncertain.
"....Thank you," she said. "For not turning me away."
Toji didn't respond at first. Then, almost too quiet to hear, he muttered, "Don't make a habit of following strange men."
She left him there, walking back toward the surface with thoughts swirling through her.
She didn't understand everything. Not yet. But she'd seen something real—something raw.
And from that day on, when the other girls in the Loki Familia gushed about Aiz Wallenstein, Lefiya found her thoughts wandering elsewhere.
To the man who didn't chant, didn't command magic... and still moved like a ghost.