The labyrinth itself seemed to breathe around them. The walls pulsed faintly with eerie light, orange veins slithering like molten rivers beneath stone skin. Each heartbeat of the maze vibrated in Haruki's bones, and in that heartbeat echoed the clang of steel against claw.
Kuro moved first. His blade whistled down in a clean arc, fast enough to shear the air. Haruki's claws met it, black-and-crimson talons screeching as they locked against the steel. The impact cracked the floor at their feet, stone dust billowing up like smoke.
Haruki's knees bent from the force, but he pushed back with a guttural roar, forcing Kuro a half-step away. For the first time since the trials began, he wasn't on the defensive.
Kuro's smirk widened, crimson eyes gleaming like coals. "That's it. Stop trembling like a rabbit. Stand and bare your fangs."
Haruki's chest heaved. Every movement of the claws felt… unnatural. They pulsed with light that wasn't light, runes writhing across them like wounds that never closed. Each strike pulled something from him his rage, his fear, his doubt and gave it shape.
The System's voice whispered, clinical and sharp:
[Warning: Hostile synchronization increasing. User risk threshold—41%.]
Haruki gritted his teeth. "Shut up."
He lunged. His claws tore through the air in a jagged sweep, sparks spraying as they clashed against Kuro's sword. Every blow rang like a bell tolling in a tomb.
Kana stood frozen, bow trembling in her grip. "He's… keeping up with him."
Rai didn't move, but his jaw tightened. Lightning flickered faintly across his daggers, restless. "No. He's not keeping up. He's matching him."
Kana's eyes darted between Haruki and Kuro, their weapons flashing too fast for her to follow. "And if he loses control?"
The clash drowned out her words as Haruki drove Kuro back another step.
The labyrinth roared with them, as if savoring the fight.
Kuro circled Haruki with deliberate slowness, blade gleaming dark in the labyrinth's flickering glow. His movements weren't rushed every step was measured, every strike calculated to herd Haruki, to box him in like a hunter closing a trap.
"You've got power," Kuro sneered, his sword darting forward in a sudden thrust. Haruki barely caught it on his claws, sparks hissing inches from his face. "But no control. You swing like a beast in chains."
Haruki shoved him back, claws screeching against the black steel. His breath came fast, hot in his throat. "I don't need control. I just need to stop you."
"Oh?" Kuro tilted his head, a shadow of a laugh curling from his lips. "Then stop me."
He blurred forward. Steel flashed like lightning, feints and slashes raining from every angle low to high, left to right, a storm of cuts meant to overwhelm.
Haruki's arms burned as he blocked, claws ringing again and again. Each impact rattled through his bones, but the claws didn't falter. Instead, they seemed to feed on the pressure, glowing brighter with each clash.
Something stirred inside him.
The world sharpened. Kuro's blade slowed, not truly, but Haruki's eyes caught it each twitch of muscle, each angle of movement, the inevitability of the next strike.
He ducked under a slash that should have split his skull, pivoted on instinct, and lashed out. His claws raked across Kuro's chestplate, gouging a shallow scar through blackened armor.
A single bead of blood welled and slid down.
Kuro froze. Then slowly he touched his fingers to the cut, brought them to his lips, and licked the blood away.
His eyes burned crimson. His smile stretched wider.
"…Good," he whispered, voice almost reverent. "Very good."
Haruki's heart hammered. This wasn't just a duel. This was a predator recognizing another predator.
The System's voice intruded, cold and merciless:
[Alert: Z-Rank anomaly resonance detected. Probability of full awakening—62%.]
Haruki staggered at the words. Full awakening? His claws pulsed, hungry, eager to taste more blood.
Kuro's grin sharpened. "Don't stop now. Show me everything."
Rai's knuckles whitened around his daggers. Lightning crawled restlessly across the blades, begging to be unleashed. Every instinct screamed at him to jump in, to cut Kuro down before his blade carved Haruki apart.
But he didn't move.
Because beneath the chaos, Rai saw something else.
Haruki wasn't just surviving he was adapting. Every strike, every clash against Kuro's steel, Haruki grew sharper, faster, more precise. His movements carried the raw edge of someone who should've been outclassed… yet refused to fall.
And the claws those crimson-black talons moved like they had a will of their own, bending danger into instinct.
Kana, however, didn't share his patience. Her bowstring trembled, arrow drawn and glowing faintly with runic light. Her lips curled in a silent snarl.
"This is insane," she spat, eyes locked on Kuro. "He's toying with Haruki. If we wait any longer, he'll gut him."
Rai's hand shot out, clamping around her wrist before she loosed the arrow.
"Not yet," he said firmly, voice low but unyielding.
Kana's gaze snapped to him, sharp as a blade. "Not yet? Rai, he's"
"Look closer," Rai cut in, his tone brooking no argument. "Haruki isn't breaking. He's pushing back."
Kana hesitated, but only barely. Her gaze flicked to the duel again. Haruki's claws sparked as they clashed against Kuro's blade, sending shockwaves through the corridor. His stance wavered, but his eyes those burning, desperate eyes never left his opponent.
"He's… holding on," Kana admitted reluctantly, lowering her bow an inch.
Rai's jaw tightened. A bitter weight pressed against his chest, memories he'd buried clawing to the surface his last team, his failures, the ones he couldn't save because he never trusted them to stand on their own.
This time would be different.
"No," Rai whispered, more to himself than Kana. "We don't save him. We watch him live."
Lightning hissed across his daggers as if in agreement, but he didn't move. He would only step in if Haruki truly fell.
The clash of steel and claws rang louder, echoing through the labyrinth like thunder. Rai's grip tightened until his knuckles hurt.
Prove me right, Haruki, he thought. Don't fall here.
The duel stretched on, a brutal rhythm of steel against claws. Sparks showered the floor with every clash. Haruki's arms screamed, each swing tearing through muscle and bone, but he refused to back down.
Kuro, by contrast, only looked more alive. His blade moved like liquid shadow, each strike carrying both precision and cruelty. He parried Haruki's latest slash with a casual twist of his wrist, grinning through the blood trickling from the cut across his lip.
"Your claws…" Kuro said between strikes, his voice half-laugh, half-growl. "They're unstable. Power that doesn't belong to you. That's dangerous."
Haruki slammed his claws against Kuro's blade, the collision cracking the wall beside them. He leaned in, teeth bared.
"Dangerous for you."
The black-haired boy's grin stretched wider, almost manic. "Exactly."
Kuro's blade whipped low, aiming for Haruki's legs. Haruki stumbled back, but his claws dug deep into the stone floor, anchoring him like talons. He sprang forward, twisting mid-air, slashing in a wide arc that screamed through the air like tearing metal.
The strike carved so close it shredded the edge of Kuro's shoulder guard.
Kuro danced back, laughing breathlessly. "Yes! That's it. Show me what you really are."
The claws pulsed brighter, veins of crimson-black light crawling up Haruki's forearms. His breath came ragged, his chest heaving, but he couldn't stop now. Didn't want to stop. Every strike felt too natural, too right, as if the claws weren't tools but an extension of his own fury.
The System's warning chimed again, cold and merciless:
[Critical Alert: Synchronization rising beyond safe threshold. User consciousness risk: 73%.]
Haruki roared, the sound primal, raw. He slashed with both claws in a cross-arc, tearing through Kuro's guard and carving a deep gash across the older boy's chest. Blood splattered the stones.
Kuro staggered, but instead of falling, his eyes burned brighter, wild with exhilaration. He pressed a bloodied hand to the wound and laughed.
"Perfect…" His grin widened, unhinged. "You're mine."
Haruki froze, panting. "…What?"
But before Kuro could explain, the labyrinth itself convulsed. The floor buckled, dust and shards raining down as the walls cracked.
A guttural roar split the air.
Something else had come to claim the battlefield.
The stone beneath their feet split apart with a thunderous crack. Dust rained down like a storm, and the very walls of the labyrinth shuddered as if something enormous pressed against them from the other side.
Kana's bow jerked upward, her eyes widening. "What now…?"
A fissure tore open along the corridor wall, glowing with a sickly green light. Then it emerged.
A Banting.
Its body unfolded like a nightmare chitinous plates clicking against each other as if grinding bone. Six limbs, too many joints bending the wrong way, scraped against the stone as it crawled forward.
Its skeletal wings unfurled with a sharp crack, tearing gouges into the walls. From its gaping maw dripped venom so corrosive that the stone hissed and smoked where it landed.
Its eyes clusters of molten emerald locked on the two combatants in the center of the corridor.
Haruki's breath caught in his throat. His claws hummed, glowing hotter, responding instinctively to the monster's presence.
Kuro lowered his blade, his grin faltering for the first time. "…Well. That's inconvenient."
The Banting shrieked, a piercing cry that rattled bones and sent shivers crawling down every spine in earshot. Kana clamped her hands over her ears, wincing. Rai stood rigid, lightning crackling faintly around his daggers.
Then, without hesitation, the monster lunged.
The entire corridor quaked as its massive body slammed forward, claws tearing a crater into the stone floor. Haruki and Kuro barely leapt aside in time the spot where they'd stood exploded into rubble.
Chunks of stone clattered to the ground. The air stank of acid and blood.
For the first time since their duel began, Haruki and Kuro stood side by side, their weapons raised not at each other but at the true predator.
The Banting shrieked again, charging.
And the two rivals braced themselves.
The Banting's claws slammed into the corridor again, stone splintering like wood beneath its weight. The shockwave rippled down the passage, forcing Kana and Rai back several steps. Dust clouded the air, choking, blinding.
Haruki coughed, claws raised, eyes locked on the beast. His heart hammered in his chest not with fear, but with something sharper, hungrier. The anomaly inside him pulsed, whispering to let go, to tear.
Beside him, Kuro twirled his blade with a casual flick, though the tautness in his stance betrayed him. His crimson eyes gleamed as he glanced Haruki's way.
"Guess we're partners… for now," he said, smirking despite the chaos.
Haruki grimaced. "Don't think this makes us friends."
Kuro laughed under his breath, rolling his shoulders. "Good. I'd hate to lose a rival this early."
The Banting shrieked again, its wings slamming against the walls, showering debris. Venom dripped from its fangs, sizzling as it ate through stone. The entire corridor reeked of rot and acid.
Kana nocked an arrow, her knuckles white. "You two are insane. That thing's not just another floor beast it's a damn boss!"
Rai's daggers crackled, but his voice was steady. "Then we kill it together. Otherwise we're dead."
The Banting lunged, maw opening wide enough to swallow a man whole.
[System alert: Threat level Banting Class B. Estimated survival probability without cooperation: 12%.]
The voice echoed cold and mechanical in Haruki's head. His claws pulsed, crimson runes racing down the length of his arms.
He flicked a glance at Kuro. For once, neither of them spoke. They didn't need to.
The Banting screamed again and charged.
Haruki and Kuro moved as one blade and claw rising together.
And for the first time, their rivalry turned outward.