The labyrinth shifted around them like a living beast.
Stone corridors stretched out, bending and curling back upon themselves, their runes glowing faintly like molten veins under rock. The walls seemed closer now, pressing in, breathing with a faint rhythm. Every footstep echoed far too loud in the silence, only to be swallowed seconds later as if the maze itself consumed the sound.
Haruki trudged forward, shoulders tight, fists clenched inside his gauntlets. He couldn't shake the memory the phantom weight of claws at the end of his hands, the feeling of flesh tearing, the hot spray against his skin.
Except there had been no blood left behind. Only ash. Like the Bantings. Like monsters.
But it hadn't felt the same.
He stared at his hands again. The gauntlets were back to normal, dull steel gleaming faintly in the half-light. No claws. No glow. Just him.
Then why did his chest feel so heavy, like the claws were still there?
What was that?
The System's voice echoed in his head, cool and clinical:
[System clarification: Unauthorized subroutine accessed. User classification: Anomaly.]
Haruki winced. The word dug into him like a knife. Anomaly. Not candidate. Not survivor. Not even failure. Just… wrong.
"That's not helpful," he muttered under his breath.
Kana glanced over her shoulder, her ponytail swaying as she walked. Her bow was drawn loosely, but her eyes never left the shifting darkness ahead. "Talking to your imaginary friend again?"
"Something like that," Haruki said quickly, forcing his gaze to the ground.
She hummed, low and sharp, before turning back. "Try not to do it out loud. It makes you sound crazier than usual."
Rai said nothing. He was ahead of them, daggers drawn, lightning crawling lazily across their edges. The faint crackle was the only real sound in the suffocating silence. His back was rigid, tense, his every movement coiled like a predator waiting for the strike.
The silence stretched, heavy as stone.
Then the maze shuddered.
A deep, grinding roar rolled through the corridor. The floor trembled, cracks glowing faintly before sealing again. The walls shifted, grinding against one another with deafening weight. The tunnel they had come from sealed shut; another opened ahead, crooked and dark.
The torchlight flickered wildly, shadows dancing along the runes like mocking figures.
And then footsteps.
Not frantic, not rushed. Slow. Deliberate. Mocking.
Haruki's heart lurched. His gauntlets pulsed faintly, almost in warning.
Kana raised her bow, arrow notched in a blink. Rai's blades hummed with electricity, his posture sharpening.
From the darkness ahead, a low laugh rolled out. Smooth. Confident. Cruel.
And a figure stepped into view.
The footsteps grew louder, echoing in the twisting corridor until they filled every inch of silence. Each one was slow, steady, carrying the kind of confidence only someone utterly certain of survival could have.
Then he appeared.
From the shifting dark, a tall boy stepped forward. His hair was a sleek black that caught faint streaks of torchlight like polished obsidian, a jagged scar running along his jaw as if carved there by the labyrinth itself.
His armor was splattered with crimson not paint, not cloth, but dried blood. His sword, a single-edged black blade, rested casually across his shoulder, humming faintly as though it, too, craved violence.
And his eyes cold, sharp, gleaming with amusement settled on them.
"Kuro," Rai muttered, the name sliding off his tongue like a curse. Lightning tightened around his daggers, flaring brighter.
Kana's lips curled in disgust. "Of course he's still alive."
Kuro tilted his head at her voice, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Alive? More than that." His gaze swept over the three of them slowly, like a butcher sizing up livestock. "Thriving."
He stepped closer, the sound of his boots deliberate against the stone, until the torchlight fully revealed his face. He looked untouched by exhaustion no limp, no bruises, no strain. In a place designed to grind candidates to dust, Kuro looked… comfortable.
When his eyes landed on Haruki, the smirk widened into a grin that was all teeth.
"Well, well," Kuro drawled. "The weakest of the weak. Still breathing. Especially you, hospital boy. Didn't think you'd make it past the first turn of the maze."
Haruki stiffened. His fingers clenched tight against the gauntlets, but his mouth was dry. "You"
"Oh, I remember," Kuro cut in smoothly, voice dripping venom. "You tripped during the opening sprint, didn't you? Fell flat on your face while everyone else charged ahead. Pathetic."
Kana bristled, drawing her bow higher. "Careful. You're in range."
Kuro didn't even look at her. His gaze never left Haruki, like a predator toying with a single chosen prey while ignoring the rest of the herd.
"You don't belong here," Kuro whispered, his tone almost intimate. "You should have stayed in your bed, tucked away where the world wouldn't break you."
Rai growled, stepping between them, sparks racing down his daggers. "One more word and I'll carve that smug grin off your face."
Finally, Kuro shifted his gaze, just briefly, to Rai. He chuckled. "Ah, the guard dog. Loyal, predictable. Always ready to bark for someone weaker." His eyes slid back to Haruki. "Tell me, though… did it feel good?"
Haruki blinked, chest tightening. "What?"
Kuro's smile turned razor-sharp. "Tearing someone apart back there. With those claws."
The words hit like a punch. Haruki's breath caught. His body went cold.
"How how do you know about"
Kuro leaned forward, voice dropping low and dark. "You're not the only one with eyes, rookie."
Kuro's smirk lingered, sharp enough to cut. His black blade slid from his shoulder with a hiss, tip dragging lightly across the stone floor as though he wanted them to hear the sound of steel against rock.
"I came to the labyrinth for a challenge," Kuro said, eyes glinting. "But all I've found are cowards begging for their lives. And then I hear whispers… about a boy who changed. About a cripple who suddenly grew claws."
Haruki's stomach dropped. His throat tightened, words refusing to form.
Kana's bowstring twanged, an arrow loosed in a blur of green light.
Kuro swatted it aside like it was nothing. The arrow shattered against the wall. His smirk never faltered. "Relax," he said softly, almost mocking. "I'm not here to kill you… not yet."
His blade lifted, pointed directly at Haruki. "I just want to see what makes you special."
Haruki's blood ran cold. His legs trembled, the phantom feeling of claws crawling beneath his skin again.
Rai moved instantly, stepping between them. His daggers crackled with blue sparks, the electricity hissing louder than his voice. "If you want him," he growled, "you'll go through me."
Kuro sighed, head tilting like a teacher disappointed in a student. "The guard dog again. Always standing in the way. Always barking for someone who can't fight back."
Rai's grip tightened. Lightning surged so bright it cast jagged shadows across the corridor. "Try me."
Kuro's eyes sharpened. "Gladly."
He lunged.
The clash was deafening Kuro's blade crashing against Rai's twin daggers, sparks scattering like stars. The impact shook the floor tiles beneath their feet. Rai gritted his teeth, muscles straining as Kuro pressed forward with inhuman force.
Kana loosed arrow after arrow, her hands a blur, but Kuro's movements were terrifying. He weaved through the shots like liquid shadow, deflecting two with a flick of his sword, ducking the third so smoothly it looked rehearsed.
"Kana, faster!" Rai shouted, sparks flying as he locked blades with Kuro again.
"I'm trying!" Kana snapped, loosing another volley.
Kuro chuckled between strikes, his eyes locked on Haruki even as he fought Rai. "Look at you. Hiding behind your friends. Again."
Haruki's chest clenched. His gauntlets hummed faintly, the symbols beneath the surface twitching like something alive, waiting to be unleashed.
What if the claws come back? What if I lose control?
[System Alert: Emotional instability detected. Probability of anomaly activation: 68% … 71% … rising.]
"Not now," Haruki muttered, gripping his head as the gauntlets pulsed hotter.
Kuro's laughter rang out, cold and sharp. "Come on, hospital boy! Show me your fangs!"
Steel rang like a bell, echoing through the twisting corridors. Rai's daggers sparked violently as he barely caught another of Kuro's swings. The sheer weight behind each strike pushed him back, step by step.
Kuro fought like a predator toying with its prey. Every slash had precision, every feint forced Rai to commit. His black sword whistled through the air, movements too fast to track, and Rai's arms were already trembling from the strain of parrying.
Kana fired again an arrow glowing with reinforced mana. It sliced through the air, aimed clean at Kuro's temple.
Without even looking, Kuro twisted his blade, catching the arrow mid-flight. The shaft split in two, clattering to the stone floor.
Kana's eyes widened. Impossible.
"Pathetic," Kuro sneered, shoving Rai back with a single brutal kick to the chest. Rai slammed into the wall with a grunt, his daggers nearly slipping from his hands.
Rai staggered, blood dripping down his lip. "I'm… not done yet."
He lunged again, electricity sparking in furious arcs across his blades. But Kuro was ready his black sword slid past Rai's guard in a blur, slicing across his side.
"Rai!" Kana shouted, panic breaking into her voice.
Blood sprayed against the stone, and Rai dropped to one knee, clutching his side. His breaths came ragged, sweat mixing with crimson as he forced himself to stay upright.
Kuro didn't even spare him a second glance. He simply stepped past Rai, closing the gap between himself and Haruki.
The corridor suddenly felt narrower, the air heavier.
Haruki's gauntlets trembled against his arms, glowing faintly with a sickly, unstable light. His heartbeat thundered in his ears.
[System Alert: Emotional stress rising. Probability of anomaly reactivation: 83% … 85%.]
"No," Haruki whispered, shaking his head. "Not now, not"
Kuro's gaze locked on him, predatory and hungry. He tilted his head, smirking like a wolf scenting blood.
"Fight me," Kuro demanded, his voice low and sharp, vibrating with menace. "I want to see it. The thing inside you."
Haruki's breath hitched. His hands clenched into fists, gauntlets pulsing brighter, dark energy coiling like smoke around his arms.
Kana's voice cracked in fear. "Haruki don't! You'll lose yourself again!"
But Kuro didn't give him the chance to hesitate. With a sudden roar, he surged forward, blade raised for the kill.
The world slowed. Haruki's fear collided with fury, and the claws inside him stirred.
The air quaked as claw met steel, each impact ringing like thunder through the shifting maze. Fragments of stone rained from the ceiling, cracks webbing across the floor where their strikes collided.
Haruki's body trembled, but it wasn't weakness something else moved through him. Every heartbeat sent another surge of alien energy down his arms, the claws flaring brighter, hungrier. His mind screamed to stop, but his body reveled in the fight.
Kuro only laughed, eyes blazing with feverish excitement. "Yes… show me more! Show me what you really are!"
"Haruki stop!" Kana's voice was sharp with alarm, but distant, as if muffled by the roaring inside his head.
Rai staggered forward, blood staining his side, but he too froze. The aura pouring off Haruki pressed on his chest, suffocating.
Haruki snarled, forcing Kuro back a step, the claws raking sparks across his blade. "I said… I'm not prey!"
The System's voice cut like static in his mind:
[Critical Alert: Anomaly synchronization at 42%. Loss of control imminent.]
But Haruki didn't care. Couldn't care.
In that instant, only the fight mattered.
Kuro's smirk widened into something feral, something dangerous. "Perfect. Don't you dare hold back."
Their weapons clashed once more steel and claw, light and shadow until the labyrinth itself seemed to shudder at their collision.
And with that strike, the chapter closed on two rivals locked in a battle that neither could walk away from unchanged.