The labyrinth fell eerily quiet. The poison fog thinned at last, dissolving into faint green wisps that clung to the stones like dying embers. The air still stank of acid and blood, but the oppressive weight of the Banting's presence was gone.
Haruki knelt on the cracked floor, chest heaving, sweat and ichor dripping from his face. His claws had retracted, but faint lines of crimson still pulsed along his arms, glowing through torn sleeves. Every breath felt wrong too shallow, too ragged, as if the hunger hadn't fully let go.
Kana dropped to her knees beside Rai, who was leaning against the wall, clutching his bleeding side. "Hold still. I'm wrapping it tighter." Her voice trembled as she bound his wound with strips of her cloak, hands shaking more than she wanted to admit.
"You're fussing too much," Rai muttered, wincing as the cloth tightened. "I've had worse."
"That's not comforting!" Kana snapped, eyes glistening.
Haruki forced himself to stand, though his legs felt like lead. He tried to keep his expression steady, but when Kana glanced at him, her gaze lingered on his arms, on the faint glow that refused to fade. Fear flickered across her face before she quickly looked away.
"...I'm fine," Haruki said, though the words sounded hollow even to himself.
"You don't look fine," Kana whispered.
Before he could respond, a slow clap echoed in the silence. Kuro emerged from the shadows, his armor splattered but his grin perfectly intact. His eyes gleamed in the dim green light, studying Haruki like one would a newly-discovered weapon.
"Well, that was quite a performance," he drawled. "F-Rank Haruki, sprouting claws and ripping a Banting apart like paper. Who would've thought?"
Haruki's fists clenched, the claws inside him twitching in response. "Shut it, Kuro."
"Relax. I'm impressed," Kuro said with mock sincerity. "Truly. But I wonder… how much of that was you, and how much was… whatever's eating you alive in there?" He tapped the side of his head, smirking.
Kana shot Kuro a glare. "This isn't the time for your games."
"Games?" He chuckled softly. "No, Kana. This is survival. If your friend here can't control himself, then the next thing those claws shred might not be a Banting."
Haruki's chest tightened. He opened his mouth, but the words stuck. Because part of him knew Kuro wasn't entirely wrong.
The silence stretched, heavy and sharp as the blood still dripping from their wounds.
And somewhere deep in the labyrinth, the walls groaned, as if listening.
They huddled in a shallow alcove, half-sheltered from the crumbling corridor. Kana had lit a small crystal lantern, its pale glow fighting back the darkness. The smell of burnt ichor lingered, bitter and cloying.
Haruki sat against the wall, claws resting limply on his knees. The faint red glow still hadn't faded. His breath came steadier now, but his heart thudded with unease.
Kana finally broke the silence. "Haruki… what happened back there?" Her tone was sharp, but her eyes betrayed more worry than anger. "Your body changed. Your eyes… weren't yours anymore."
Haruki hesitated. Words swirled uselessly on his tongue. How do I explain something I don't even understand?
"I don't know," he admitted, voice rough. "The claws… they just reacted. It felt like something inside me woke up. And once it started, I couldn't stop."
Kana's lips pressed into a thin line. "Couldn't stop? Haruki, you nearly lost yourself. If Rai and I hadn't shouted" She cut herself off, shaking her head.
Rai, pale but steady, leaned against the wall with his bandaged side. "Kana's right. I've seen Hunters who let their power control them. They don't come back." He met Haruki's gaze, calm but firm. "You need to figure this out before it kills you or us."
Haruki swallowed hard. Their words stung, not because they were harsh, but because they were true. He'd felt it the hunger, the whispers, the way it wanted blood.
And then came the sound of a low chuckle.
Kuro leaned casually against the wall opposite, arms folded, grin never fading. "Isn't it obvious? Our little friend here isn't fighting with a normal System. Those claws… they're something else. Something dangerous."
Kana bristled. "We already know that."
"Do you?" Kuro tilted his head. "Because I saw the look in his eyes. He wasn't just fighting the Banting. He was enjoying it."
Haruki's chest tightened. "That's not true."
"Oh?" Kuro's smirk sharpened. "Then why did you keep slashing even after the beast was already finished? Tell me, Haruki did it feel good? Ripping it apart? Did it taste better than sitting in your sickbed back in the real world?"
The words struck like knives. Haruki lurched forward, fists trembling. "You don't know a damn thing about me."
Kuro leaned closer, voice dropping low. "I know enough. And so do they. The real question is how long before those claws decide to turn on your friends?"
Kana's hand hovered near her bow, torn between defending Haruki and doubting him. Rai's expression darkened, unreadable.
Haruki looked at their faces and for the first time since arriving in Driath, he felt more like a monster than a teammate.
At first, Haruki thought it was just the echo of his heartbeat in the silence. But then the stones themselves shifted, grinding against each other like teeth. The floor trembled under their boots. Cracks ran like veins through the ceiling.
Kana jumped to her feet, bow raised. "The dungeon's moving!"
Rai steadied himself, one hand pressed to his bandaged side. His voice was tense. "It's reconfiguring. We triggered something."
Kuro, infuriatingly calm, grinned as dust showered down. "Ah, the sweet song of collapsing architecture. Don't you love surprises?"
Haruki scrambled up, claws sparking faintly red again. "This isn't normal, is it?"
Kana shook her head, eyes darting between shifting walls. "No. Dungeons reset between hunts, but never mid-run. Something's forcing it."
The corridor ahead cracked open like a wound, revealing a spiraling staircase that sank deeper into the dark. From within, a low hum pulsed, rhythmic and heavy, as if a heart beat beneath the stone.
Haruki's breath caught. That sound it wasn't just noise. It whispered to him. Faint words, too warped to understand, brushing the edges of his mind like icy fingers.
Come deeper… come claim what is yours.
His claws twitched, eager, restless. The glow in his eyes flared, faint but undeniable.
"Haruki?" Kana's voice snapped him back. She was watching him too closely, suspicion and worry mingled in her stare. "Did you hear that?"
He hesitated. If he told the truth, would they trust him less? The memory of Kuro's taunts lingered, poison in his chest.
"…Just the rumble," Haruki lied, forcing his claws to retract.
Rai studied him a moment longer, then turned to the staircase. "Whether it's a trap or not, that's the only way forward."
Kuro gave a mock bow, his grin wolfish. "After you, brave leader."
Haruki clenched his fists. His pulse matched the hum beneath the stone. He could feel something waiting something tied to the power gnawing at his veins.
As they descended, the air grew colder, wetter. The walls wept streams of water that glowed faintly blue. Strange symbols etched themselves across the stone, shifting and rewriting as if alive.
And always, that voice whispered: Deeper. Closer. Mine.
Haruki shivered. He knew, with bone-deep certainty, that whatever lay below wasn't just another Banting. It was connected to him maybe even the reason he was brought here.
And if his friends found out, would they stand with him… or against him?
The staircase spat them out into a cavern unlike anything they'd seen before.
It wasn't stone walls this time it was bone. Enormous ribs arched high above, fused into the ceiling like the skeleton of a god. The ground pulsed faintly, veins of red light threading through pale marrow. A low hum reverberated through the chamber, deeper now, louder.
Kana gagged, pressing a hand to her mouth. "What… what is this place?"
Rai narrowed his eyes, scanning the cavern. "A dungeon shouldn't have a heart. This feels… alive."
Kuro chuckled, stepping forward without hesitation. "Beautiful, isn't it? Like walking inside the corpse of something that refused to stay dead."
Haruki barely heard them. The moment his boots touched the marrow floor, the whisper surged through his head like a scream.
You've come. At last. Take it. Become mine.
He staggered, gripping his skull. The red glow from his claws spread faintly up his forearms, flickering like fire under skin. His System window suddenly blinked alive before his eyes:
[Hidden Notification Unlocked]
Z-Protocol Detected. Compatibility: 98%
Warning: System Core Overlap Imminent.
Haruki froze. Z-Protocol? He hadn't heard that name before, but something in his bones recognized it.
Then, beneath the alien whisper, came another voice familiar, glitchy, sarcastic.
"Hey, partner. Long time no see. Looks like we've stumbled into something… well, let's call it plot-relevant."
It was Zero. His System AI. But the voice was faint, broken, as though smothered by static.
Haruki whispered under his breath, lips barely moving. "Zero? You're… alive?"
"Alive's a strong word. More like… drowning. Something here is trying to overwrite me. And buddy… it likes you. Way too much."
Haruki's stomach turned cold. "What is this place?"
"Think of it as a… server room. A rotten one. Whatever's whispering? It's not supposed to exist anymore. But here it is, waiting for someone reckless enough to touch it."
Kana's voice snapped him out of the trance. "Haruki!" She was beside him, grabbing his arm. Her eyes widened at the glow spreading beneath his skin. "You're burning up what's happening to you?"
He forced the light to dim, shaking his head. "I'm fine." The lie tasted bitter.
Rai scanned the chamber, hand hovering near his blade. "We need to move. Standing still here feels like letting the dungeon swallow us."
But Haruki couldn't move. His eyes were locked on the far end of the cavern, where a jagged crystal pulsed with red-black light, embedded in the bone. The hum came from there. The whisper, too.
And deep down, he knew if he touched that crystal, something inside him would change forever.
But would it be his salvation… or the end of him?
The crystal throbbed like a living heart. Each pulse sent ripples through the marrow floor, resonating in Haruki's chest. It wasn't calling him anymore it was dragging him.
His boots scraped against the ground as if the chamber itself pulled him forward. Kana tightened her grip on his arm, but he barely felt it.
"Haruki! Stop something's wrong!" Her voice cracked with panic.
He tried to answer, but the words died in his throat. The whisper swelled until it drowned out everything else.
Claim me. You were chosen. Together, we will rise.
Zero's glitching voice sputtered in his mind, desperate. "Don't listen! That's not a gift, it's a parasite Haruki, you touch that thing and you're gone. Do you hear me? Gone!"
Haruki staggered, torn between the voices. Sweat ran cold down his back. His claws burned, itching to reach for the crystal.
Rai moved in front of him, katana drawn. "Enough. Whatever this is, it's manipulating you. Step back, Haruki. Now."
But Haruki's feet didn't obey. The hum beat in rhythm with his heart, each throb syncing tighter. He pushed forward, Rai's blade mere inches from his chest.
"Move," Haruki whispered, his own voice alien in his ears low, edged with something feral.
Rai's jaw tightened. He didn't move.
Then, Kuro's laugh broke the standoff. "Finally showing your true colors, huh? I knew you weren't just some weakling F-Rank. Tell me, Haruki are we looking at our next ally… or our next Banting?"
Kana spun on him, fury flashing. "This isn't the time, Kuro!"
But the damage was done. Suspicion lingered in the air like smoke.
The crystal pulsed brighter, sensing the tension. Red-black tendrils of light slithered out, brushing against Haruki's claws. The moment contact sparked, visions slammed into him.
A battlefield drowned in blood. Hunters screaming as towers of bone erupted from the earth. A figure cloaked in shadow wielding claws just like his, carving through armies. And above it all, the world itself cracking apart.
Haruki ripped his hand back with a gasp, nearly collapsing. The glow in his eyes flared scarlet before dimming again. His heart thundered like it would explode.
Kana caught him, but her hands trembled. "Haruki… what was that? What did you see?"
He wanted to tell her. He wanted to confess everything the whispers, the System, the promise of power. But Kuro's mocking grin, Rai's guarded stare, Kana's fragile fear they silenced him.
"…Nothing," Haruki forced out. "It was just noise."
Zero hissed in his head. "Idiot. If you keep lying to them, you'll lose them before the real fight even starts."
The crystal dimmed slightly, retreating like a predator waiting for its prey to come closer. The whispers receded but not gone. Never gone.
Haruki's claws itched with longing. And deep down, he knew this was only the beginning.
The chamber fell into a tense silence, broken only by the faint drip of glowing water along the bone walls. None of them spoke right away each processing what they had just witnessed.
Kana was the first to move. She pulled Haruki up more firmly, steadying him with surprising strength. Her eyes searched his face, desperate for reassurance. "We need to get out of here. Now."
Rai gave a curt nod, blade still unsheathed. He kept his gaze on Haruki longer than necessary, as if trying to pierce through the boy's silence. Finally, he muttered, "We can't linger. Whatever this place is, it's feeding on us."
Kuro, of course, was smiling. He sauntered toward the staircase, hands behind his head, posture lazy. "Oh, I agree. Let's leave before our little prodigy decides to sprout wings and eat us alive. Wouldn't that be dramatic?"
Kana shot him a glare sharp enough to cut stone. "One more word, Kuro, and I'll put an arrow in your smug face."
He laughed, unbothered, and kept walking.
Haruki followed behind them, his steps uneven. His heart still beat in rhythm with the core's pulse, though the sound had dulled now that they were leaving the chamber. But inside his skull, the whisper lingered.
You touched me. You are mine. Deny it all you want—the bond is sealed.
He clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms. "Shut up," he muttered under his breath.
Zero crackled faintly in reply, voice strained. "Haruki… what did you do? I can feel it something's latched onto you."
"I didn't choose it," Haruki whispered back, careful to keep his voice low enough the others wouldn't hear.
"Doesn't matter. It chose you. And that's worse."
As they ascended the spiral stairs, Kana slowed her pace to walk beside him. She kept her voice low, gentle. "Haruki… if something's wrong, you can tell me. You don't have to carry it alone."
For a moment, her kindness almost broke him. The words clawed at his throat, begging to escape. He wanted to confess the visions, the bond, the voice that claimed him.
But then Rai glanced back over his shoulder, suspicion shadowing his features. And Kuro's mocking grin flashed in the dim light.
Haruki forced a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I'm fine. Really."
Kana didn't look convinced. But she let it go.
By the time they reached the upper corridor, the cavern had sealed itself behind them. The marrow walls closed like lips swallowing a secret. To the others, it was a nightmare survived. To Haruki, it was a pact silent, binding, unshakable.
And as the hum finally faded, the whisper left him with one last promise:
Power awaits. And when the time comes, you will not refuse me.
Haruki's claws twitched, aching for battle. He swallowed hard, forcing a breath.
No one spoke, but the distance between him and his allies had never felt wider.