The hallway was not a hallway anymore.
Kael stepped out first, testing the boundary of his shaky Temporary Monarch Zone. The faint shimmer that outlined the doorframe pulsed once as he crossed it. Nothing shattered. Nothing snapped back.
Good.
Behind him, Mr. Han hovered nervously at the threshold, clutching a worn umbrella he must have grabbed out of panic. It shook in his hand.
"Stay close," Kael said.
He moved forward.
Each step felt heavier than the last as the world continued to reshape itself. The floorboards under his feet warped into long, smooth stone slabs. The wallpaper peeled back further, revealing more of those glowing script-like etchings. The air smelled like dust, ozone, and something metallic—like blood on iron.
The building groaned.
Not metaphorically. The entire structure bent, as if pushed by an invisible hand.
Mr. Han flinched. "This building is going to fall."
Kael shook his head. "It won't fall."
He glanced at the etched lines on the walls. They pulsed slowly—alive.
"It's changing."
They reached the stairwell. Or rather, where the stairwell should have been.
Instead of stairs, a set of broad steps made of polished black stone descended into a spiraling corridor lit by pale blue light.
A label floated above it.
[Nexus Path—Low Stability]
Kael touched the air where the text hovered. His finger passed through nothing, but the letters rippled like disturbed water.
"So that's where it wants us to go," he said.
Mr. Han swallowed. "We… we should wait. The police, rescue teams, someone will come."
"Look around," Kael said quietly. "No one's coming."
Distant screams echoed from floors below—warped, cut off abruptly, swallowed by the maze.
Kael started down the steps. Mr. Han followed with small, hesitant steps.
The stairwell spiraled down, deeper than the building should allow. The air grew cooler. The glowing blue lines along the walls brightened, converging into faint, shifting patterns Kael felt he almost understood now—after the fragment integrated into him.
He brushed his hand along the stone. He felt something pulse back.
Recognition.
His Authority was weak—only 11 percent—but the Labyrinth responded to it like an old predator recognizing a cub.
Not strong enough to obey
But strong enough to notice
When they reached the bottom, the corridor straightened.
They stepped into the lobby—if it could still be called that.
Where the front desk used to be, a massive stone archway now stood, carved with twisting runes. The vending machines had melted into the walls, leaving faint impressions like fossils. The glass doors were gone, replaced by an entrance that opened into a street completely transformed.
Kael stepped out first.
The city he knew was gone.
The streets curved unnaturally, merging into narrow, sloping passages. Cars were fused into the road like petrified beasts, windows stretching into elongated faces. Brick buildings bent inward, forming canyon-like walls that twisted toward the distant labyrinth rising into the fractured sky.
Above everything, rifts still glowed faint red.
Floating labels bobbed over structures:
[Shifting Alleyway—Unstable]
[Collapsed Zone—Unsafe]
[Minor Maze Conduit]
[Entity Territory—Low Tier]
This wasn't random chaos.
This was a design.
Kael felt the weight of eyes on him—the sensation of the Labyrinth taking note.
Mr. Han tightened his grip on Kael's sleeve. "Boy… where do we go?"
Kael pulled up the map the system showed earlier. The image projected faintly over his vision.
A pulsing point glowed several blocks away.
[Nexus Gate—Inactive]
"That's our target."
He began moving. The ground beneath his shoes vibrated as if the earth was shifting under the surface.
Then he heard it.
A low clicking sound.
Fast. Sharp. Close.
Kael stopped. He raised a hand.
Mr. Han froze.
From behind a warped mailbox, something crawled out.
A creature the size of a raccoon, but built from broken pipes, rusted metal plates, and splintered wood. Three glowing eyes blinked in the center of its chest. Its limbs twitched like a puppet pulled by tangled strings.
A label appeared.
[Errant Construct]
Tier: F
Aggression: Moderate
Behavior Flag: Pack Hunter
Kael's jaw tightened. "Of course there's more."
The creature sniffed the air—though it had no nose. It clicked again.
And two more crawled from behind a crushed SUV.
Mr. Han stepped back. "We—we cannot fight those—"
Kael lifted a hand.
Something inside him moved.
The air around him shimmered faintly. A cold pulse spread from his sternum, rippling outward in a thin invisible circle.
His Temporary Monarch Zone stretched, unstable but present.
As the first creature stepped inside the radius, cracks crawled instantly across its metal limbs.
The construct screeched.
Text flickered.
Structure Destabilized
Integrity Loss: 22 percent
Kael didn't know if this domain could destroy all three. It had a radius of only four meters. The stability was barely holding.
But he did know one thing.
Running wouldn't save them.
He stepped forward. "Get behind me."
Mr. Han stumbled back immediately.
The constructs hissed and charged.
Kael braced himself.
He had no weapon.
No training.
Just instinct and a half-broken authority pulsing in his skin.
He reached for that new muscle inside him—the one the Core Fragment carved.
Something answered.
Shards of faint blue light materialized around his hand, drifting like fragments of cracked glass. They spun, sharp as razors, humming with unstable power.
A new notification flashed.
[Shattercall]
Prototype Ability
Aspect: Dominion of Shards
Effect: Generates temporary fracture shards for offensive use
Stability: Low
Kael didn't think.
He acted.
He swung his arm.
The shards shot forward, slicing through the air.
They struck the first construct's joints—right where his Monarch Sight showed its weak points.
The creature crumpled instantly, splitting apart in a shower of metal splinters.
The other two screeched and leapt, claws outstretched.
Kael triggered Shattercall again—
But only two shards formed this time, wobbling, unstable.
He grit his teeth and stepped backward, pulling the creatures deeper into the domain.
Their limbs cracked.
Their bodies flickered.
Their movements slowed.
Kael kicked one aside. It hit the domain boundary and collapsed into dust.
The last construct lunged.
For a heartbeat, Kael saw its path—
Not physically
But through an instinctive, cold clarity that came with his new Affinity.
He sidestepped.
The shard he held flickered violently—
Then detonated in a burst of blue fractures as he slammed his palm against the creature's chest.
The blast tore the construct apart.
Dust drifted through the air like falling snow.
Kael stood there, breathing hard, arms shaking, the last echoes of cold power fading from his hand.
Mr. Han stared at him like he had just witnessed a miracle—or a monster.
"Boy," he whispered. "What… what are you becoming?"
Kael looked at his own hand.
The faint glow under his skin.
The trembling domain around him.
He didn't know.
But something inside him felt… awake.
Sharp.
Hungry.
The system chimed.
Core Resonance gained
Synchronization increased
New value:
Synchronization: 15 percent
Kael exhaled slowly.
He turned his gaze toward the distant pulsing mark—the Nexus Gate.
"That's the only place with answers."
He started walking again, deeper into the transforming maze.
But as he moved, another notification appeared—one the system had not shown before.
Hidden Variable Detected
You are being observed
Kael stopped cold.
"By who?" he whispered.
The answer came as a new message, scrawled in jagged symbols before translating.
An Old Monarch has noticed your awakening
Its attention lingers
Mr. Han looked around, confused. "What is it now?"
Kael stared at the fractured sky.
"Nothing," he lied quietly.
But inside, he felt the pressure of something unseen—watching.
Waiting.
"Come on," he said. "We need to move faster."
They continued forward, unaware that high above in the shattered clouds, something shifted—
A shadow with too many eyes
Smiling without a mouth
Whispering without sound
The Labyrinth had found its newest Monarch.
And it wanted to see how long he would survive.