Arifureta/ From Commonplace to World’s Strongest Vol. 9 Ch. 3

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest Volume 9.

Chapter 3: Charging Emotions.

Shizuku sat in her familiar seat by the window, staring blankly at her elementary school classroom. She was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open. Her limbs felt heavy. Were it not for the laws of physics, she would have melted through her chair, into the ground, and lay there forever.

“I think Shizuku-chan should be the one!”

“Huh!?” Shizuku jumped as she heard her name called. But then she settled back down and remembered they were in the middle of homeroom. And today they were deciding on the cast members for the class play.

“Yaegashi-san, what do you think? Do you want to do it? Shirasaki-san seems to think you’d be a perfect fit,” Shizuku’s homeroom asked gently.

Oh yeah, I really liked this teacher’s smile. Shizuku thought absently, her teacher’s question going in one ear and out the other.

“Come on, Shizuku-chan! You’ve gotta do it! You’ve gotta be the princess!”

“K-Kaori?”

Watching her best friend look excitedly at her finally brought Shizuku back to her senses. The play they were doing was as cliched as they came. A tale of princesses and knights and dragons. The beautiful but timid princess gets saved by the knight after a long and arduous adventure and the two fall in love.

Why does she want me to play the princess? Shizuku didn’t need to think long to figure out the answer. Rather, it was obvious from the start. Kaori was far more perceptive than she let on. She knew that Shizuku secretly loved cute things, and wanted to appear more feminine than she did.

“But…”

“You’d look really cute in a princess’ dress! Come on, don’t you want to make some memories in our last year of elementary school?”

There was a school play every year, but never once had Shizuku played such a cute and girly role. Half-unsure, half-embarrassed, and just a little creeped out by her best friend’s excited panting, Shizuku fumbled to find a reply. Of course, she was aware that she was secretly happy that Kaori thought she’d make a good princess. And she definitely did want to give it a try. Kaori picked up on Shizuku’s inner desires and, straightforward as always, decided to give her one more push.

“Shizuku-chan, if you become the princess, I can play the knight! What do you think!?”

“Um… Well, if that’s what—”

Blushing slightly, Shizuku thought to herself, Maybe I should give it a shot after all.

“Huh? Shouldn’t it be the other way around!?”

It felt as though someone had thrown a bucket of cold water into Shizuku’s face. Her classmate’s assertion put a damper on her excitement.

“Kaori-chan should be the princess and Shizuku-chan should be the knight!”

“What’re you talking about, a guy has to play the knight!”

“Yaegashi-san’s way manlier than any of you wimps, so she should do it!”

“Yeah, exactly! She even does kendo, so she’s a real swordswoman!”

“I want to see Yaegashi-san dress up as a knight!”

In seconds, everyone else in the classroom was clamoring for Shizuku to play the knight. Kaori got to her feet and started waving her arms wildly, trying her best to convince people that Shizuku should be the princess. But unfortunately, her powers of persuasion were lacking. Tears started welling up in Kaori’s eyes, and the homeroom teacher slapped her hands against the podium in an attempt to quiet the students.

“Settle down, everyone. What’s most important here is what Yaegashi-san wants. Yaegashi-san, what role do you want to play?”

Though the teacher was smiling kindly, she looked rather stern. Shizuku’s stomach felt like lead. Waves of exhaustion washed over her, and she’d lost the will to resist their pull. Shizuku had expected this development. After all, it wasn’t the first time.

“…I want to play the knight.”

“Shizuku-chan!?”

Shizuku smiled softly, as though she actually truly did want to play the knight. She then turned to Kaori with a playful grin as she began to speak to her.

“You wouldn’t be able to do it, Kaori. You’d just hurt yourself if we let you hold a sword. Even if I played the princess, I’d probably get tired of watching you flail around and go fight myself.”

The rest of the classroom started cheering. However, Shizuku would never forget how her homeroom teacher didn’t seem nearly as thrilled as the rest of the class. Or the pained, crestfallen look Kaori gave her. How can you say that with a smile? her gaze seemed to be saying, a mixture of anger and sadness in her eyes.

Kaori had been so angry that Shizuku had said she’d play the knight that she hadn’t talked to her for three days straight after that. But because she was Kaori, she’d also been unable to leave Shizuku’s side. So really, it had just been kind of awkward.

Are you really happy, putting everyone’s needs before your own? That voice bore through Shizuku’s heart, forcing her thought back to the present. She looked up at the dark corridor they were traversing, the hole in her heart growing larger. Fragments of memories tumbled out of that hole, spilling onto the unfeeling ice.

Yaegashi-san, take care of the rest for us! In middle school, Shizuku had responded to those requests with a nod and a “Sure, leave it to me.”

Yaegashi-san, you can handle this on your own, right? In high school, Shizuku had responded to those requests with a smile and an “Of course I can.”

Shizuku, you can do anything, can’t you?

I can’t. I really can’t. Shizuku thought to herself with a sad smile.

Shizuku, you won’t leave me, right?

Stop clinging to me all the time!

At this rate, you’ll spend the rest of your life babysitting people, taking care of their problems, and protecting them…

“Stop it!” Shizuku tried to shout. She wanted to drown out the voice resounding inside her head. But those words melted away into a formless darkness, escaping from her lips as only a quiet sigh.

You… No, I am going to end up completely alone… Shizuku could no longer tell if it was the voice saying this, or if she was reliving one of her old memories. Either way, all she could do was keep shouting “That’s not true!” inside her head. Suddenly, the voice in her head changed from her own to one belonging to someone she’d once considered a friend.

I hate how you always try to make yourself look better by working so hard. Shizuku suddenly realized the nature of the darkness in her heart It was her own unease over whether she was truly working so hard for the sake of others. That realization slowly began to coil around her heart, and Shizuku felt her chest tighten up. I hate this place… Shizuku cast her gaze about wildly, searching for an exit.

“What…? Who are you?”

There was someone standing next to her.

How long have they been there? The figure was nothing more than an indistinct silhouette; Shizuku couldn’t discern any features. But it slowly came into focus, and Shizuku could tell it had a white ponytail, and unforgettable, dark red eyes. The pale figure sneered, its lips forming a thin crescent. It pointed at Shizuku and whispered, See, you… No, I no longer live in the light. Shizuku felt as though her heart was stuck in a vice.

“Gooooooooooood! Cut it ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut!”

Shizuku’s eyes flew open. For a moment her thoughts were hazy, but then she quickly recalled when and where she was. They were in a small room a few hundred meters from the end of the maze. About three hours had passed since Hajime and Yue had nearly fucked in the hall of mirrors and been physically restrained by Shea. The incessant whispering had worn down on Kouki’s mental state, and Hajime had decided to rest here before they confronted whatever lay at the very end of the maze. Shizuku had sat down with her back against the wall fallen asleep with her head nestled inside her knees. She was covered in cold sweat and felt chilled to the bone. And not because of the temperature outside. She shook her head, trying to banish unwelcome thoughts, and turned to the loud voice which had woken her up. Shea had Hajime in an arm lock and seemed to be yelling at him.

“What’re you doing Shea? You’re going to break my arm.”

“Yeah right, we both know this doesn’t hurt! Also, Yue, if you don’t stop, I’ll hit you with my Heart Breaker Blast for real.”

“Mmm… Sorry. But Hajime just looks so cute when he’s trying to hold himself back.”

“This isn’t the time or the place for this kind of stuff!”

Shea tightened her hold on Hajime, keeping his arms fixed firmly in place. It was a mark of how far she’d come that she could pin down even him. Truly, Hajime was proud of her growth. Shea, however, was too busy making sure Hajime didn’t throw away the last of his dignity to be happy about it.

“Calm down, Shea. I’d never actually have sex here in public.”

“Then why are you giving Yue-san that look, huh?”

“I’m not, you’re just imagining things. I just thought I’d ask Yue to soothe my battered soul. All this whispering’s taken a toll on—”

“Liar! I know that look, Hajime-san. That’s the look you always get when you’re lying!” Shea pointed her finger at Hajime like an ace attorney who’d just found something to object to in the defendant’s argument. Of course, Hajime himself had admitted the voices didn’t bother him much so it was obviously a lie that he needed to recover. In fact, the only thing the whispering seemed to be doing was increasing his desire to fuck Yue, and increasing Yue’s desire to fuck Hajime. In other words, they were both fine. After thinking for a few seconds, Hajime replied with a straight face.

“I need to replenish my supply of Yueinium.”

“I’m gonna punch you for real.”

Shea pinched Hajime’s cheek and gave him a glare that put Yue’s to shame. To everyone else, it looked as though Shea was flirting with Hajime just as much as Yue was.

“How cruel.”

“I-It’s because I’m your girlfriend too. It’s my job to correct your faults!”

Shea blushed slightly, and Hajime smiled. He appreciated that she wasn’t afraid to scold him still.

“Mmm… Good girl, Shea.”

Yue nodded in satisfaction as well. The two sat in front of Shea and meekly accepted their punishment. Y-You don’t have to be that repentant. Shea thought to herself, flustered. Hajime and Yue both smiled at Shea’s adorable reaction.

“Hm, they certainly do seem like lovers.”

“Ahahaha, yeah, they do.”

Tio smiled warmly and Kaori nodded in agreement. At first, it had felt like Shea was always following behind in Hajime and Yue’s shadow. Now that she’d been accepted as Hajime’s girlfriend, though, she was starting to act as though she was on equal footing with them. Instead of trailing behind Hajime and Yue, Shea was now walking side by side with them. In fact, there were even some times where she was the one who pulled the two of them forward instead of the other way around. Like right now. It felt completely natural for the three of them to be together at all times. Though not everyone found that as heartwarming as Tio and Kaori.

“……”

“Shizushizu? What’s wrong?”

“Huh? Oh, I’m fine. What about you, Suzu? How are you holding up?” Shizuku’s expression stiffened for a moment, but then she plastered on a smile and turned to Suzu.

“Shizushizu, don’t push yourself too hard. If there’s something bothering you, you can always tell me about it.” Suzu put up a strong front and smiled reassuringly at Shizuku. The whispering was getting to her as well. It felt as though she was being crushed by the weight of her regrets. Even the simple act of breathing hurt. But even so, she was more worried about Shizuku than herself. It was obvious something was wrong with the way Shizuku was looking at Hajime and the others. They were all smiling happily, but she looked as though she’d swallowed a lemon.

“You’re worrying too much, Suzu. Besides, you’ve got it harder than I do. Are you sure you’re alright?”

That response of Shizuku’s was exactly why Suzu was so worried. Shizuku was always like this, bottling up her own worries and only concerning herself with others. Even Suzu could tell she was nearly at her breaking point, but even then, Shizuku refused to let others worry about her. She refused to admit she needed help.

Suzu shot Kaori a pleading look, begging her to do something. Kaori met Suzu’s gaze. Kaori, too, had been keeping an eye on Shizuku’s condition. But instead of doing anything, Kaori just silently shook her head.

Why? Kaorin, why won’t you say anything to Shizushizu? Anger welled up within Suzu, but then withered away a second later as she noticed the serious look in Kaori’s eyes.

Kaorin would never abandon Shizushizu. I don’t know why, but right now she probably thinks no words could possibly help Shizushizu.

Sighing to herself, Suzu nodded forlornly. She then gave Shizuku a troubled smile and said in a cheery voice, “Don’t worry about me, Shizushizu, I’m fine.” While Shizuku was certainly struggling, the one most in danger of snapping right now was Kouki.

“Hey, Kouki.”

“What, Ryutarou?”

“Uh, nothing in particular. I just wish we could get out of this fucking place already.”

“Yeah…”

The more they’d traveled, the more taciturn Kouki had gotten. At this point, even when Shizuku, Ryutarou, or Suzu checked up on him he just gave single-word replies. The dark emotions swirling behind his eyes continued to grow in intensity. They were directed squarely at Hajime.

Though he was doing his best to hide them, Hajime was too sensitive to hostility to miss what was going on. Naturally, he’d been aware of Kouki’s piercing glare for a while now. Still, he’d purposely avoided acknowledging it or even talking to Kouki at all. He knew as well as everyone else that saying anything right now would just make things worse. The reason he was fooling around with Yue and Shea was because he wanted to try and lighten the mood as much as possible. Though, part of it was also just because he couldn’t stand keeping quiet in this oppressive atmosphere.

“Now then, how is everyone feeling? Are you prepared to continue?”

An hour had passed since their break began. Tio, who’d been using spirit magic to stabilize everyone’s mental states, looked over the party members.

“Yes, thank you. My head’s clearer now.”

“Yeah, I think I feel a little better…”

As far as Hajime could tell, there was no magic contained in the whispers. They were just voices. Whatever psychological effects they were having on the party, magic had nothing to do with them. But not even spirit magic could reverse the mundane effects of the whispers unless the person in question was able to overcome their insecurities. Really, all Tio was doing was helping the party feel a little more refreshed. Even so, Shizuku, Suzu, and Ryutarou were grateful for the meager relief Tio’s magic gave them. Their smiles were tired, but mostly genuine. However, there was one person who could no longer smile like that.

“Yeah, thanks, Tio-san. I feel great…” Kouki said as he forced a smile. Unfortunately, it was obvious from his dejected tone that he was not feeling fine. His expression was so stiff that even masks had more natural smiles than him. Tio could tell Kouki was only pretending to be fine, but she just clapped him lightly on the shoulder and changed the subject.

“No need for thanks. More importantly, it’s about time we leave this maze. Master, you said the remaining distance should take us less than an hour to cover, correct?”

“Yeah. And that’s if we get sidetracked. From what I can sense off the compass, we’ve got maybe thirty minutes left.”

Hajime pulled the compass out of his pocket and got to his feet. Yue got up as well, realizing that was the signal to leave. Her joking expression was gone, replaced by a serious frown. Like Hajime, she’d just been goofing off to try and lighten the mood. Probably, anyway. As expected, Kouki was slow to rise. But so too were Shizuku, Suzu, and Ryutarou. Nearly a full day had passed since they entered this labyrinth. In that time they’d been through multiple fights, then spent hours tormented by malicious whispers. While they’d been recovering their physical exhaustion as necessary, they hadn’t been able to do anything for their mental exhaustion.

Kouki and the others shambled forward slowly, looking eerily similar to the zombies they’d killed what felt like a lifetime ago. Their tired reflections stared back at them from the polished ice walls, mocking their exhaustion. As they walked, the voices continued whispering unpleasant truths and fears into the ears of the party. Because of their exhaustion, the various traps and ambushes the party faced were more dangerous than they should be. Though Hajime and the others were fine, Kouki’s group were stuck on the defensive even against weak enemies like Frost Ogres.

“Dammnit,” Kouki cursed as Hajime finished off a Frost Ogre that had been giving him trouble. He slammed his fist against the wall.

See, it happened again.

This is why you always get the things important to you stolen away.

If only you had more power.

The whispers continued incessantly. Even when they weren’t there, the words echoed in Kouki’s head anyway, over and over. It felt as though someone was bashing on his skull with a hammer.

In an attempt to vent his frustrations, Kouki unleashed a flurry of attacks against another Frost Ogre. But his anger had made his movements sloppy, and the ogre was able to dodge out of the way. That just caused Kouki to grow more frustrated, which in turn dulled his movements further, causing an endless negative feedback loop. That, in turn, made Ryutarou, who had to cover for Kouki’s mistake, frustrated as well.

“Kouki! Stop charging in and calm down!”

“I am calm!” Kouki barked back. He was barely even paying attention to other people now, and mostly just relying on reflex. Feeling even worse knowing that he was performing so poorly that even his comrades had begun to notice, Kouki turned away. As he did so, he caught sight of his reflection in the ice and froze.

There wasn’t anything particularly strange about how he looked. His face was the same face he’d grown used to seeing these past few hours. It was staring blankly back at him. But something bothered him about it.

“What the…” he muttered. Transfixed, he scrutinized his reflection and—

“Ah!?”

A chill ran down his spine. His expression stiffened. His reflection was staring blankly back at him. It wasn’t scrunching up its eyebrows in irritation and biting its lips like the actual Kouki was. Even though his expression had just stiffened, his reflection hadn’t changed at all. It continued staring blankly at him, its black eyes boring into Kouki. Kouki’s eyes went wide with surprise, and a second later his reflection sneered at him.

“Waaaaaaaaah!?”

“K-Kouki, what’s wrong!?”

“Are you alright, Kouki!?”

Shizuku and Ryutarou turned to him as he yelped and leaped away from the wall. Hajime and the others turned around and readied their weapons.

“Th-There’s another enemy!”

Cold sweat poured down Kouki’s back. Panting, he raised his Holy Sword and pointed it at the reflection of him in the wall. It was pointing its sword back at him, shoulders heaving. It had stopped moving differently than the real Kouki.

“Kouki?”

Confused, Shizuku walked over to Kouki. She gently placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. Kouki twitched, but then relaxed a little when he realized the hand belonged to his longtime friend.

Steadying his breathing, Kouki managed to squeeze out, “My-My reflection was smiling. Even though I wasn’t smiling… it smiled at me. It was like another person was in the ice…”

“Are you sure you weren’t just seeing things?” Shizuku gulped and stared warily at Kouki’s reflection. However, Kouki was no longer interested in his reflection. He turned to Shizuku and said irritably, “You don’t believe me?”

“Huh? No, it’s not that.”

Kouki seemed to have interpreted Shizuku’s words as a lack of trust in him. Of course, that wasn’t why Shizuku had asked. She’d just wanted to double-check. It was obvious from how vigilantly she was watching the wall that she believed Kouki. In fact, she hadn’t even taken her eyes off it to respond to him. Hence it was only natural that she was confused by the hostility in Kouki’s voice.

Unfortunately, the fact she didn’t meet Kouki’s gaze only served to anger him further. Voice dripping with jealousy, Kouki snarled, “You would have believed Nagumo right away.”

“Kouki, what are you talking about? I just said I believe you.”

This time, Shizuku did turn back to Kouki. Though she was normally able to brush most things off, this was enough to elicit an eyebrow raise. But the moment she saw Kouki’s strained expression, she went from angry to worried.

“Sorry, Shizuku. I—”

Her worried expression was enough to clear away a little of the fog that had settled over Kouki’s thoughts. But a second later, he clammed up again as he saw Shizuku’s expression morph. The labyrinth must have whispered something to her since her shoulders started trembling, and she clutched her chest as though she’d been stabbed through. She glanced up for a second, seeking something. And from where she was standing, the only thing in sight was Hajime. Even if she didn’t say anything, that gesture alone was enough to make Kouki crack. All the dark feelings he’d bottled up started oozing out.

“Whatever that was… it doesn’t look like it’s going to attack yet. But we should still be careful,” Hajime, who’d been observing the walls with his Demon Eye, sighed and gave the all-clear. Kaori and Suzu, who’d been watching Kouki and Shizuku’s exchange with great trepidation, nodded and resumed walking.

There were no other incidents of reflections acting on their own, and the party finally exited the corridor of ice mirrors into a wide open space. Hajime checked his compass, confirming that this was indeed the end of the maze.

At the other side of the circular room was a set of double doors just as grand and magnificent as the one they’d passed through to get in here. Actually no, the doors were twice as large as the other ones. In fact, they were more like gates than doors. There were no depressions to insert any jewels or any fancy flower embroidery, but there was something else carved into the gates that was just as impressive and artistic. An entire mural, composed of multiple layers, spanning the length of the gates. At the top was the sun, and below a series of layers showcasing humans, animals, nature, and everything in between.

Different layers represent different things, like the light of the sky, or the darkness of hell… Is this mural supposed to be symbolic of the human heart? Judging by how elaborate both this and the earlier set of doors had been, Vandrew Schnee had been quite the artist. And like all artists, Vandre had wanted to convey a message with his art. Meaning it was entirely possible this mural provided some hints as to what trial lay ahead. Hajime kept that in mind as he cast his gaze about the room.

“Looks like we’re finally here. Past that gate’s our goal.”

Kouki and the others looked visibly relieved. However—

“Mmm… It looks suspicious.”

“Yeah, I’m getting a really bad feeling about this. That snow mist hasn’t done anything yet. I’m sure it wasn’t put here just for show.”

“You said it. Besides, every time we’ve gone into a wide-open room we’ve been attacked by something.”

“If anything, these rooms are probably made purposely big so we can fight in them.”

Indeed, the size of the room made it obvious that they wouldn’t be able to reach those doors unmolested. Hajime fully believed that as well, but even now his Demon Eye still wasn’t able to sense anything out of the ordinary.

“I still don’t sense a thing… Guess our only option is to keep going and find out.”

Shaking his head, Hajime took the lead. Yue and the others followed behind him. As expected, something happened the moment they reached the center of the room.

“Huh? Is that a sun?”

Bright light poured into the room, and Hajime looked up. Yue and the others followed suit. Whatever was up there was definitely a sun of some sort. Considering they were still inside the labyrinth, it obviously wasn’t the real sun. But it gave off heat as well as light, so “sun” was the only word that fit. At the very least, whatever it was, it was modeled to function like a sun.

“…Hajime!”

Hajime turned his attention away from the artificial sun and looked back down. An otherworldly sight spread out before him. Everything in the room was sparkling. The mist of snow that had descended closer to the ground and minuscule crystals of snow shimmered as they caught the sun’s light. So that’s why they call it diamond dust.

But compared to the diamond dust phenomenons that occurred naturally, this one was far too bright. It looked as though the milky way had been miniaturized and recreated within this room. The ice crystals continued growing brighter as well until each one was a sun unto itself. They started congregating together, forming larger shards instead of crystals. Though it was truly a spectacular sight, Hajime didn’t have time to enjoy it. Whatever was happening was dangerous. Each shard of ice was a charged laser of energy, and there was no telling when they would fire.

“Guess this is a bit too lethal to really call diamond dust. Everyone, brace for impact!”

Trusting his instincts, Hajime shouted out a warning. That served to bring Kouki and the others back to their senses. The party huddled together, and Yue and Suzu both deployed their strongest Hallowed Grounds. A second later, the shards emitted a series of white flashes.

“Ngh, they’re like lasers!”

Hundreds of beams of superhot white light shot toward the party. The shards were absorbing energy from the sun, focusing it, and shooting it back out. The lasers were potent enough to crack even Yue and Suzu’s double-layered Hallowed Ground.

“This is just like Nagumo-kun’s laser weapon!”

Shizuku was referring to Hyperion, the weapon Hajime had used to obliterate a section of the plains outside the capital. Recalling the power it had exhibited sent chills down Shizuku’s spine. For some reason, Hajime grinned when he heard that.

“Yeah. Is this Oscar’s? Can’t believe a guy who lived thousands of years ago was a better craftsman than me. Damn this guy had skills.”

“This isn’t the time to be praising him!” Kouki screamed. Justifiably so. That being said, Hajime was right. This laser was more powerful than his own. The lasers bounced from shard to shard and were redirected by the perfectly polished ice walls, so it was impossible to predict their trajectories. Hajime and the others were trapped inside a three-dimensional spiderweb of superheated light. There was nowhere for them to go. All that was left was for them to either be pierced through or incinerated.

In this situation, the smaller, more versatile beams of light truly were more dangerous than Hyperion’s massive burst. To make matters worse, it seemed Hajime and the others had a time limit. More and more ice crystals were descending by the minute. In seconds, the air would be so full of them that even Haltina’s fog would seem thin. Theoretically, lasers weakened when passing through the atmosphere. Especially when that atmosphere was polluted with smoke or dust. Which was why for a moment Hajime thought the descending snow crystals would weaken the lasers, but…

“There’s no way they’d set up a trap that dumb.”

Hajime shook his head.

“Once the rest of the crystals obstruct our vision, we’ll be in trouble. We’re getting out of here now!”

At Hajime’s command, everyone sprung into action. The lasers continued pounding on Yue and Suzu’s barriers, weakening them by the second. However—

“You two focus on maintaining the barrier! Transient Infinity!”

Kaori’s restoration spell continued returning the barrier to its original state every second, transforming it from merely sturdy to invincible. Hajime then used Riftwalk to help him calculate the trajectories of the lasers, and started shooting down the shards that were keeping the party trapped. It was only a few hundred meters to the goal. However, Hajime knew labyrinths weren’t so easily overcome. There was bound to be at least one more obstacle. As expected, a series of large ice chunks rained down from the mist above. Each was the size of a car. They fell to the ground with heavy thuds, blocking the path in front of Hajime and the others. The impacts left craters in the ground and sent cracks running through the ice. Like the walls, the ice chunks were transparent enough to see through. They were, of course, no ordinary ice chunks. The crimson mana crystals embedded in their centers made that abundantly clear.

“Tch, so this is the real test, huh?”

Hajime clicked his tongue in irritation. Cracks ran down the length of the blocks of ice, and they rearranged themselves into a new shape. They now looked like five-meter tall giants. Like golems, their bodies were stout and squat. Each was armed with a one-handed halberd.

There were nine ice golems in total. The same number of people in Hajime’s party. With how massive they were, they completely blocked the path to the exit when they lined up in a row.

“Beat the shit out of them.”

The snow mist was barely a few inches above their heads now. They already had to deal with the storm of lasers; if they were blinded by fog as well, they wouldn’t be able to fight for long. Hajime instantly took aim at a Frost Golem and fired. A red streak shot out of Donner. However, the golem blocked the shot with its tower shield. While Hajime’s bullet pierced right through it, it wasn’t able to reach all the way to the golem’s mana crystal and stopped just short.

“Those shields aren’t made of normal ice.”

That was the first time in this labyrinth that a single shot from Hajime hadn’t been enough to kill something. While the Frost Golems’ defensive prowess was admirable, what was even more impressive was that Hajime’s enhanced Donner had been able to blow straight through the tower shield of a monster designed solely for defense. Still, it was undeniable that these golems were unnaturally tough.

A moment later, everyone but Suzu and Yue followed up with their own attacks.

“If one attack’s not enough, then how about a dozen!?”

“Do you truly believe mere ice can withstand my breath?”

Shea transformed Drucken into bombardment mode and launched a barrage of shells while Tio thrust her hands forward and let loose her blistering dragonbreath. At the same time, Shizuku also stepped forward.

“It would be nice if Flash Blitz was ranged, but this will have to do— Sonic Slice!”

“Your Flash Blitz is so good its scary, Shizuku-chan.”

“I think your disintegration feathers are a lot scarier, Kaori. In fact, speaking from experience, they definitely are.”

Shizuku let loose a blast of wind while Kaori unloaded a ray of pure disintegration. Ryutarou and Kouki joined in as well, with Ryutarou firing off mana shockwaves and Kouki launching his blasts of light. But all of their attacks were aimed at their allies.

“Ah!?”

Taken completely by surprise, Hajime gasped. He hadn’t expected any attacks to come his way while the barrier still stood. Especially not from such close range. Kouki’s Celestial Flash and Ryutarou’s mana shockwaves were inches from his face.

“Tch!”

He clicked his tongue in annoyance. In the brief moment of time he had left, he crossed his arms together and activated Diamond Skin.

Kouki and Ryutarou’s attacks slammed into him. Thanks to his last-minute block, he was able to come out unscathed, but the force of their blows still sent him flying outside of the barrier. In that moment, he regretted ever strengthening Kouki and Ryutarou’s weapons. It was fortunate he’d already had Riftwalk activated. Had that not given him the enhanced reflexes he’d needed to guard in time, he would have taken significant damage.

As he was blown away, Hajime was still able to shoot down Shizuku’s Sonic Slice, which was aimed directly at Shea’s back. Then, what seemed a full few seconds later to Hajime’s enhanced senses, he heard Kaori scream.

“Nooooooooooooooooooooo!” She forcibly wrenched her hand away at the last second, preventing her disintegration beam from firing toward Yue. The attack was so unexpected that Yue wasn’t able to react in time, and Kaori’s beam ripped straight through the roof of her Hallowed Ground. The only way Yue could have stopped an attack that powerful was focusing her mana to strengthen only that point. However, Yue was still skilled enough to maintain the rest of her barrier. Suzu’s, on the other hand, shattered completely as Kaori’s beam tore through it, causing her to squeal in surprise. Hajime skid across the ground, his feet leaving deep furrows in the ice.

“Huh?” Kouki was the first to speak, his dumbfounded voice echoing through the wide room. His jaw was hanging open, and it was clear he was just as shocked by what he’d done as Hajime. Ryutarou and Shizuku were the same. “H-Hey guys, what’s wrong with you!?” Suzu yelled as she hurriedly recast Hallowed Ground. But none of her comrades responded.

“What the hell do you think you’re playing at?”

“How bold of you, Kaori…”

“Sh-Shizuku-san? Did I do something to make you mad?”

The Frost Golems were bearing down on the party, and the snow mist was growing ever closer to engulfing them. There wasn’t much time for a lengthy discussion, but there was no way Hajime, Yue, and Shea were just going to let this slide. All while dodging lasers and slowing down the Frost Golems with bullets and grenades, Hajime turned to Kouki with a serious look and asked, “What was that?”

Yue also turned to Kaori and muttered, “Now you’re asking for it…” Shea, on the other hand, looked completely stunned and shouted, “Does Shizuku-san hate me!?” to no one in particular. Finally, Kouki and the others returned to their senses.

“I-It’s not what you think! I wasn’t trying to hit you! But before I knew it, I… You’ve gotta believe me!”

“Y-Yeah, it was the same for me! I’d never try to hit you on purpose, Nagumo!”

“I’m sorry, Shea! I don’t know why that happened! I was trying to hit the Frost Golems, but…”

The three of them desperately tried to clear their names. From the sound of it, they’d unconsciously changed targets at the last second.

“Yue, I’m really sorry! But I’m kind of always shooting disintegration beams at you, so let’s just focus on the problem at hand right now!”

“That doesn’t make it okay, stupid!”

It certainly was true that whenever Yue and Kaori got into an argument that they inevitably started throwing disintegration beams and thunder dragons at each other. But Yue could regenerate from anything, even disintegration, and Kaori was sturdy enough that Yue’s lightning dragons did little more than singe her hair. Kaori ignored Yue’s indignant glare and turned to Hajime with a serious expression.

“Hajime-kun, I think we were made to aim at each other. Right before I attacked, I heard that voice in my head again.”

Still using her breath to keep the Frost Golems at bay, Tio quickly came up with the most plausible explanation.

“This could be dangerous, Master. The labyrinth is likely interfering with our subconscious. Those whispers have been imprinting commands onto us.”

“Tch… That explains why they all attacked different people. I guess there’s no way to break the spell either, huh…?”

“As these subconscious effects are not magic-induced, it would be difficult to remove them.”

The whispers were a form of hypnotic suggestion. And they’d been building up for this very moment. In fact, it was possible everything from the long, winding maze, to the constant surprise attacks had all been part of an elaborate plan to weaken challengers’ mental states in order to make the subconscious imprinting easier. Furthermore, now that they’d attacked their own allies once, the imprinting was complete. It was likely Kouki and the others would end up subconsciously targeting their allies again. The only reason such imprinting hadn’t worked on Hajime, Yue, Tio, and Shea was because the whispers they’d been hearing hadn’t been directing them to a specific target.

Had the whispers been magically taking control of people’s minds, restoration magic would have been able to bring them back to normal. But they weren’t. It was all psychological manipulation. In a sense, Kouki and the others were doing this partly of their own free will. Aside from time, the only thing that could cure this was erasing the memories of the past few hours from everyone’s minds. While Hajime was still trying to think of a counterstrategy, the snow mist finally descended to eye level. The fog of gray ice crystals obstructed Hajime’s sight, and his vision grew blurry. At this point, Kouki and the others’ attacks had been sealed, and no matter how much damage Hajime and Tio inflicted on the Frost Golems, they regenerated within seconds. Worse, the fog had amplified the number of lasers bouncing around. Hajime was out of patience.

“God, this is annoying…”

There was only one thing to do.

“Fine, I’ll blow it all up at once!”

Hajime withdrew Orkan from his Treasure Trove and fired. Nine streaks of light shot out of the rocket launcher, one headed to each of the Frost Golems. The resulting explosions blew away not only the golems, but also the surrounding snow mist, and the shards of reflective ice. Because of how close the explosion was, the shockwaves also sent cracks running through Suzu’s Hallowed Ground, causing her to squeal in surprise again. Hajime shouldered Orkan and nodded appreciatively. But as the smoke cleared, his satisfied expression froze, and his lips twitched. Another set of ice blocks descended to the ground with an earth-shaking thud. The mist reformed around them as well, and the shattered shards of ice recombined. It seemed neither the mist nor the shards could be blown away by simple explosions.

“Ah, Hajime-san! There’s one less now!”

“I get it now. Each of us has to destroy one. That’s the only way to get rid of them all.”

Like Shea had said, there were only eight Frost Golems now. Considering there had originally been as many as there were people in Hajime’s party, it made sense that the number meant something.

“Then I’ll get the next one!” Kouki roared as he fired off a Celestial Flash once more. But despite his best efforts, his attack once again headed toward Hajime instead of the golems. This time Hajime saw it coming and casually leaned back to avoid it. Kouki paled as he watched his attack miss entirely. Ryutarou and Shizuku winced as well. Even Ryutarou couldn’t bring himself to act cheerful in this situation.

Unable to hide her irritation, Suzu yelled impatiently, “So what are we going to do!?”

The shimmering grey veil of snow was about to block their vision entirely, and Suzu’s mana was running low. Finally, the mist thickened, and Hajime vanished from everyone’s sight. It even managed to slip inside the barrier, making it impossible for Suzu to even make out Yue, who was right next to her. Realizing they didn’t have much time, Hajime made his decision. He shouted loudly enough to be heard through the thick mist, “Don’t hesitate! Fire off everything you’ve got!”

Both the mist and the psychological manipulation were trials the labyrinth had prepared for them. Meaning even if Kouki and the others couldn’t see him, he had a hunch that their attacks would end up directed at him anyway. In fact, he was sure of it. That was the only way it made sense for these two trials to exist simultaneously. Chances were only the attacks directed at their own allies would be perfectly accurate. But that was precisely what Hajime was hoping for. Kouki, Ryutarou, Shizuku, and Kaori’s targets were Hajime, Yue, and Shea. The three of them were strong enough that they could handle their allies attacks no problem.

“Well, if they’d ended up aiming at anyone aside from us three… we might have been in trouble.”

Hajime shrugged his shoulders as the mist blocked not only his vision, but even his ability to sense Yue and the others. At the end of the day, they’d chosen to challenge this labyrinth of their own volition. He couldn’t babysit them through the whole thing. If they couldn’t handle setbacks like this on their own, they weren’t worthy to learn this labyrinth’s magic to begin with. After all, Hajime had been covering their asses for them thus far.

Just then, a series of lasers cut through the mist and headed straight for him. As he’d expected, the mist hadn’t done anything to weaken lasers’ force. If anything they were even more dangerous now since Hajime couldn’t follow their trajectories. But even though he barely had any time to dodge, Hajime was easily able to lean backward and avoid the lasers with the minimal amount of movement. He’d been dodging them without looking at them ever since he’d been knocked out of the barrier, after all. With Riftwalk active, having his sight restricted posed little threat to him. Especially since the lasers were hot enough that his Heat Detection skill could sense their approach.

“Now then, what should I do?”

If defeating your assigned Frost Golem is what this trial’s about, then I’ve already cleared my part. I hope I don’t have to just sit here dodging lasers while everyone else takes down theirs. Hajime examined his surroundings with a frown. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a section of the mist begin to swirl.

Thinking another enemy was making its entrance, Hajime stowed Orkan and switched back to Donner and Schlag. But he needn’t have worried. The spiral formed into a horizontal tornado, creating a tunnel clear of mist. No lasers aimed for the tunnel. Furthermore, the tunnel headed straight for the gates at the other end of the room. Shrugging, Hajime stepped into the tunnel. As he did so, he glanced over his shoulder and muttered, “I told you not to hesitate…”

No flashes of light or shockwaves of mana had come his way.

“Well, if that’s what you’ve decided…”

Hajime turned back around and strode into the tunnel.

Meanwhile, Yue and the others had been split apart. The moment the mist had blocked their vision, the ground underneath them had erupted. Kouki and the others had either jumped out of the way to avoid the eruption, or been blown away by it. Either way, they no longer knew where anyone was.

“Shizuku-chan, Suzu-chan! Ryutarou-kun! Kouki-kun!”

Kaori shouted her friends’ names, worried for their safety. Though she couldn’t sense where they were at all, she could barely hear Shizuku yelling back, “We’ll be fine! Worry about yourself!” from somewhere above her. A few seconds later, Suzu, Ryutarou, Kouki, and even Shea and Yue called out to let her know they were safe. Kaori breathed a sigh of relief. A moment later, she felt a chill run down her spine and she reflexively wrapped her wings around herself. Four lasers slammed into her wings, dissipating as they came into contact with them. At the same time—

“The mist…”

The nearby mist thinned, leaving a small dome-shaped area around her clear. At the other end of the clearing was a single Frost Golem. So this is my opponent.

An enemy of this caliber would normally be no threat to her. However—

“I can still hear it.”

The moment she tried to attack, she once again heard whispering in her ear. And once again, her hand ended up pointing in the wrong direction. She doubted every one of her attacks would end up redirected, but even so the fact that she kept targeting Yue pained her. Not because she was worried Yue couldn’t take the attacks, but because of what it said about herself. While Kaori was hesitating, the Frost Golem made its move. Rather than close the distance between them, it chucked its tower shield at her.

“Wawawah,” Kaori shouted, and dodged out of the way. The Frost Golem followed up with a charge and swung its halberd down at her. Kaori knew she wouldn’t be able to dodge this attack in time, and summoned her greatsword to block it. The golem’s halberd struck her sword with such force that the ground underneath her cracked, and her feet sunk a few inches into the ice. But that was all. Even one of the labyrinth’s strongest monsters couldn’t hope to do any real damage to her, now that she had the body of a God’s Apostle.

“Now you’re mine!”

Kaori summoned her second greatsword and wreathed it in an aura of disintegration. She tried to slash horizontally at the golem, but—

“What!?”

Her body did a pirouette, and she ended up slashing in a completely different direction. A shockwave of silver light shot out of her blade, even though she hadn’t intended it to. In the distance, she heard Yue shout, “Kaori… don’t hold back! Because I won’t either!”

She’s really mad now, isn’t she?

Kaori’s expression stiffened, and she shouted, “S-Sorry!”

At the same time, she felt something aim for her head, and she reflexively turned around and raised her other sword to block. This time she imbued it with disintegration power, so when the golem’s halberd hit her sword, it was torn in half. She then once again sliced horizontally with her second sword, and this time her attack went where it was supposed to. Unfortunately, she was only able to cut through the golem’s regenerating tower shield and not its mana crystal. With surprising agility, the Frost Golem backstepped to safety.

“It’s so annoying not knowing which attacks will be redirected…” Kaori groaned to herself. A second later, she heard Yue’s thunder dragon roar in the distance.

“Did Yue finish already? In that case, I don’t have to… Ah!” Kaori was thinking if Yue didn’t have any other enemies to fight she’d be fine even if Kaori hit her with a few attacks, but then she suddenly realized something. Her full-powered disintegration attacks could end this battle in an instant, but she was hesitating to use them because they might get redirected.

But if I use that redirection to my advantage instead… After all, it’s just Yue I’ll be hitting!

She pointed her sword forward in order to launch another disintegration beam and, as expected, her hands automatically shifted to point toward Yue. Kaori then circled around, keeping her arm pointed in the same spot. Once she’d measured the correct angle she shouted, “Yue, forty-five degrees!”

Then, without hesitation, she fired a full-power blast. A beam of silver light cut through the veil of snow, disintegrating everything in its path. It then turned sharply, and headed straight for the Frost Golem Kaori was fighting.

“…!”

Though it had no mouth, it almost looked like the Frost Golem screamed. Its expression was visible for only a moment before Kaori’s beam obliterated it entirely, leaving not even dust behind. Kaori could still hear fighting in the distance, and she kept her guard up as she observed the spot the Frost Golem had been standing.

The mist around her swirled into a horizontal tornado, creating a tunnel. No other Frost Golems came to block her path. It seemed her trial was over.

“Phew, thank—” Kaori suddenly shut her mouth. Perhaps it was because they’d worked together to beat Kaori’s golem, but Kaori’s tunnel connected to Yue’s before heading to the gate. The glare Yue gave Kaori was cold enough to make their surroundings seem warm. In front of Yue was the Heavensfall she had used to redirect Kaori’s beam. With just the number, Yue had guessed what Kaori had intended and reacted accordingly. Naturally, Kaori hadn’t doubted for a moment that Yue would pull through. It was obvious from that earlier exchange that the two trusted each other completely.

That being said… Yue let her Heavensfall dissipate, then beckoned with one finger to Kaori. Though she didn’t say anything, her expression made it clear she wanted Kaori to hurry up and get over there so she could administer her punishment.

“I-I know, I’m coming…”

Resigning herself to her fate, Kaori strode down the tunnel.

“Ah, jeez, not again!” Shizuku shouted in frustration. Before she could let loose a string of expletives, a massive halberd bore down on her and she had to jump out of the way. Because the Frost Golem had attacked her right after she’d fired off an attack in the wrong direction, her dodge was sloppy. The halberd’s blade passed millimeters from her face, shaving off a few strands of her bangs as it passed. As she fell backward, Shizuku used her momentum to roll back into a standing posture, then sucked in a huge breath. But there was no time to rest, since she had to deal with a barrage of lasers heading straight for her right away.

“Ngh!”

Normally, dodging so many would be impossible. However, Shizuku analyzed the situation instantly and leaped backward. Lasers grazed her back and face, passing by so closely that she could feel their heat on her skin. Though she managed the impossible and dodged the matrix of lasers, Shizuku still had no time to rest.

The Frost Golem charged at her, its tower shield raised high. Naturally, none of the lasers hindered its path. Up close, the shield that was as high as Shizuku was tall looked like a moving wall. This time Shizuku was out of options. She had no way of dodging the Frost Golem’s shield tackle. Because of how large the golem was, the charge had quite a bit of force behind it too.

“Gah!”

Shizuku rolled with the tackle to lessen the impact, but she was unable to neutralize it entirely. Gritting her teeth, she grunted in pain. But she refused to let the Frost Golem get a follow-up attack. Even as she flew backward she drew her sword.

“Soar – Sonic Slice!”

Unfortunately, Shizuku’s attack went far right of where she’d intended. While she hadn’t had time to aim, she knew that wasn’t the reason for such a bad miss.

“Shit!” she shouted. Chances were, her attack was once again headed for Shea. Once the battle had begun Shea had yelled out, “Hajime-san’s right, there’s nothing you need to feel bad about!” But that didn’t make Shizuku feel any better about attacking her comrades. Ashamed of herself, Shizuku was too wrapped up in her thoughts to properly brace herself for landing. As she hit the ground she felt the wind get knocked out of her. Still, she hurried to her feet as fast as possible.

“I guess I can’t rely on ranged attacks here…”

They left her too open if she missed. And in a battle like this, where even fractions of seconds mattered, those openings were fatal. Besides, it was only causing her more emotional damage knowing she kept accidentally harming her friend. What bothered her even more, though, was what her attacks toward Shea suggested.

The truth is, you’re jealous of her, aren’t you? When it was whispered into her ear like that, she couldn’t deny it any longer.

“Gah! Sh-Shut up!”

Shizuku coughed up a few drops of blood. Her internal organs had been damaged. Knowing that a prolonged battle would only put her at a disadvantage, she wiped the blood from her lips and took her stance.

Why is it always me?

“I told you to shut up!” Shizuku yelled at the top of her lungs, unable to hide her frustration. She backstepped out of the way of the thundering Frost Golem, but she couldn’t hide the disturbance in her heart. And this labyrinth was a master of taking advantage of that. Distracted as she was, Shizuku didn’t notice the laser headed toward her until it was too late. It brushed by her shoulder, burning her skin.

“Ah!”

The pain brought her back to her senses, and she saw another laser closing in on her from below. It was angled diagonally so that it would cut her in two if it actually hit her. Unfortunately, the attack that had grazed her shoulder had knocked her off-balance. She wasn’t in any position to dodge, so instead, she twisted her body to minimize the area of impact. She then thrust her katana forward, interposing it between her and the laser. Please don’t break. Shizuku prayed fervently, hoping her katana could withstand a laser capable of cracking a double-layered Hallowed Ground. While her katana had been made from the hardest material in existence, it was also very thin in order to keep the blade sharp. It was a gamble whether or not it would hold.

“Huh?”

The fact that Shizuku wasn’t screaming in pain meant it had. Once again, she’d escaped the jaws of death. Not only had the katana saved its master, but it also had deflected the laser instead of blocking it. The Frost Golem, relentless as ever, gave Shizuku no time to ponder the implications of that as it charged forward with its halberd. Clamping down on her emotions, Shizuku concentrated her attention on the enemy at hand. Filling her lungs with oxygen and determination, she leaped forward, moving faster than before. She avoided the Frost Golem’s halberd by moving close to the golem’s own shield, then launched her strongest attack as she dashed past.

“Cut through— Flash Blitz!”

Her attack landed, and she cut through both the tower shield, and the arm holding it. Keeping her guard up, she watched as a barrage of lasers assaulted her yet again. But this time, she wouldn’t be shaken.

“Gather— Confluence!”

Shizuku raised her katana high, and the lasers all changed trajectories to head toward it. Once again, her beloved black blade reflected them all. And that wasn’t all. It gathered a few of the lasers together, combining them into a single mega-laser. It then fired the mega-laser at the Frost Golem just as it started to turn around. Unable to ignore this new threat, the Frost Golem raised its halberd in an attempt to defend itself.

This is it. If I don’t settle things here, I won’t get another chance. She activated her strongest evolution spell, Limiter Removal. Her reflexes, senses, and abilities all grew exponentially, and her body felt as light as a feather. Feeling invigorated, she leveled her katana at the golem. Of course, she kept it angled so the mega-laser continued blasting through it. While it was pinned down by the laser, she unbuckled her sheath and thrust it forward. In a way, it looked like she was drawing a bowstring.

A second later, she used No Tempo and Flash Step to lunge forward with no warning. Her speed and lack of preparatory movements made it look as though she’d disappeared.

“Shatter – Shock Slugger!”

Shizuku thrust her sheath forward, giving the Frost Golem no time to react. She weaved between the golem’s halberd and remaining arm and slammed her sheath directly into its chest. Blue shockwaves of mana spread out from the point of impact. The sheath pushed in all the way to where the mana crystal was, and deep cracks ran through the golem’s body. The force of the blow caused the golem to stagger backward. Taking advantage of this decisive opening, Shizuku followed-up with an all-out attack.

“Soar – Severance! Crush – Gravity Flash!”

Shizuku fully deflected the laser, then unleashed a powerful cut. This one was aimed at the golem’s legs. A second later, the Frost Golem floated a few inches into the air.

Gravity Flash was a gravity-magic based attack that removed whatever it touched from the pull of gravity for a few seconds, making it weightless.

“…!”

Confused by what was happening to it, the Frost Golem flailed wildly. Unfortunately, there was nothing for it to grab onto to anchor itself with.

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

With a spirited yell, Shizuku lifted the golem up, using the sheath as a fulcrum. She then leaned forward and slammed the golem down on the ground. Gravity Flash severed gravity’s pull on the target only in the spot in which it was cast. Meaning gravity once again reasserted itself once the golem was over Shizuku’s shoulder, and it amplified the force of her throw. The impact with the ground was more than enough to drive Shizuku’s sheath all the way into the golem. At least, far enough to reach the mana crystal.

“It’s over! Shock Slugger!”

Waves of blue mana spread out from the sheath, signaling the end for the Frost Golem. Unable to withstand such force at point blank range, the mana crystal inside it shattered, the noise surprisingly soft for how big it was. Bereft of its heart, the Frost Golem silently crumpled to the floor. Panting, Shizuku muttered, “Haaah… Haaah… Looks like I’m still not strong enough to fight on my own.”

She leaned forward, using her sheath as a crutch, and smiled self-deprecatingly. Considering she’d just defeated one of the labyrinth’s most powerful monsters under highly adverse conditions, she probably could have stood to take more pride in her achievement. But when she saw that Hajime, Yue, Shea, Tio, and Kaori were already all waiting at the end of the tunnel, she couldn’t help but feel inferior.

Unlike her, they looked like they hadn’t even struggled against their opponents. Shizuku looked down at her own ragged clothes, then sheathed her katana with a satisfying snick.

It was her personal ritual for signifying the end of combat, and it helped ease the frustration inside her a little. A bit more relaxed, Shizuku looked down at her hand.

“But well… I guess I wasn’t really alone, huh?”

Both the reason she’d barely been able to scrape through this fight, and the reason she’d managed to avoid having a mental breakdown had undoubtedly been because of the gift given to her by the boy she’d been so captivated by recently. Unconsciously, with no ulterior motive at all, Shizuku kissed her katana’s hilt. She was, of course, only showing her gratitude to her faithful partner. She absolutely was not using the katana as a substitute for a certain someone. Absolutely not! But no matter what excuses she made in her head, Shizuku couldn’t deceive herself. In the end, she took her lips off the hilt and blushed faintly.

In order to reset her feelings, she slapped her cheeks and started walking briskly down the tunnel. Praying that her best friend, who was running toward her, wouldn’t notice how red her face was.

Supported by Kaori’s shoulder, Shizuku arrived safely at the gate. She immediately furrowed her brows and bowed her head.

“I’m sorry, Shea. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“I told you, it’s fine. You don’t have to worry about it. You didn’t hold back on my account, did you? Because if you did, then I’ll actually be mad. You only attacked me three times, you know.”

Shea walked over to help support Shizuku as well, and she felt both apologetic and happy that Shea cared so much about her. Tears welled up in the corner of her eyes, and she whispered softly, “Sorry.”

Shea patted Shizuku gently on the head with her bunny ears. Shizuku sat down against the wall of ice and Kaori started casting healing magic on her. The pain of her cuts and bruises vanished instantly, washed away by the warmth of Kaori’s magic. For a few minutes, Shizuku leaned against Kaori, resting, but then she straightened her back and opened her eyes.

“Thanks, Kaori. I’m fine now.”

Kaori breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Shizuku’s smile.

“Thank goodness. You were hurt so bad I was worried you’d end up like you did that one time.”

The “one time” Kaori was referring to was when they’d been cornered in the Great Orcus Labyrinth and had been saved by Hajime. In order to protect her comrades, Shizuku had charged in alone and nearly lost her life as a result. Afterward, the two of them had huddled together as they’d faced what should have been certain death.

“Come on, I didn’t look that bad this time. My arm wasn’t even crushed. Small flesh wounds like those are nothing.”

Seeing the tears in Kaori’s eyes, Shizuku did her best to sound as cheerful as possible. Though there likely weren’t many high school girls who’d say something like “It’s not a real injury until you’ve lost an arm!” In fact, there weren’t any high school guys who would either.

“Oh, Shizuku-chan…” Kaori made a weird face, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

This was actually one of Shizuku’s bad habits. Even when they’d been back on Earth, Shizuku had never complained when she got hurt during kendo training. She’d get hit so hard she’d start tearing up, but even then she’d grin and bear it. Her endurance stemmed from her kindness; Shizuku didn’t want others worrying about her. She’d gotten even more taciturn about talking about her own problems after they’d been summoned to Tortus, and that was really worrying Kaori. She really wanted Shizuku to grumble more, or at least rely on someone else. But the more she tried to get Shizuku to stop holding everything in, the more Shizuku smiled and pretended nothing was wrong.

Shizuku’s smile truly was dazzling. It was so reassuring one couldn’t help but think she really was fine. But Kaori knew she was just pushing the hurt deep inside. No matter how much Kaori healed Shizuku’s physical injuries, she couldn’t heal the pain Shizuku was bottling up. Kaori knew she had to do more. This just wasn’t enough.

“Shizuku-chan. You have to learn to be more selfish.”

“Huh?”

“I’d be really happy if you asked me for something selfish right now. I just want you to know that.”

Kaori gently hugged Shizuku, and suddenly Shizuku was at a loss for words. Kaori was glowing faintly as she hugged Shizuku. She was using spirit magic to try and heal Shizuku’s soul. It was her way of silently emphasizing that she wanted to be there to heal Shizuku.

Still at a loss for words, Shizuku nearly started bawling then and there. But she held it in, and instead hugged Kaori back.

A short distance away, Hajime watched the two girls. It was hard to tell if he was happy for them, or just found their antics entertaining. Sharp as always, Shizuku noticed his gaze right away and shot him a withering glare. Though she was blushing slightly so it wasn’t all that intimidating.

“What? Is there something you want to say?”

“Nah, not really. Just thinking the two of you really are good friends.”

Hajime’s shoulders trembled as he struggled to hold in a laugh. Shizuku’s reactions really were hilarious. Tio, Shea, and Yue all smiled at Shizuku as well and added their own comments.

“Mhmm. Such beautiful friendship.”

“I know, right? Watching them is enough to soothe me.”

“They’re like lovers…”

At Yue’s words, Kaori suddenly looked up. Yue’s smile turned into a teasing grin.

As always, Kaori hotly protested, “Yue, stop saying things like that!”

“Don’t worry Kaori… I don’t judge. Girls should be free to love girls. I hope you two are happy.”

“That’s not the problem here! Don’t make this weird!”

Kaori hadn’t realized it yet, but it was because she was so easily flustered that Yue enjoyed tormenting her so much. Yue’s sadistic side only came out around Kaori. Despite all her complaining though, Kaori made no move to push Shizuku away. While the two might not actually have been in love with each other, it was easy to see how one might think they were. Within seconds, Kaori and Yue were back to their usual catfighting though. Caught in the middle, Shizuku struggled futilely to calm them both down.

“Hey, Nagumo-kun. Stop laughing and help me out here.”

“Just leave them be. It’s not like we have anything else to do until Amanogawa and the others finish. If you really want them to stop, why not say something like, ‘Please, don’t fight over me, you two!’?”

“What kind of woman do you take me for?”

Shizuku glared at Hajime, but he just snickered in response. Her glare grew stronger, and Hajime’s expression grew serious. He cleared his throat and said, “Anyway, I think you should loosen up a little, Yaegashi.”

“Come again?”

“You take everything too seriously. Those whispers are messing with your head, right? Instead of wallowing in your own misery, why not have some fun to refresh yourself? At least here, there’s no one you have to babysit.”

“……”

Shizuku’s eyes widened in surprise. She couldn’t explain why, but something about what Hajime had said had resonated with her. He’d had the opposite effect of the whispers. Hajime didn’t seem to register Shizuku’s surprise and he added with a mischievous grin, “If you want, I can lend you Shea’s bunny ears. You love cute things, don’t you, Shizuku-chan?”

“Sh-Shut up! I’m perfectly fine! And stop grinning like that!”

Shizuku’s face was beet-red. It was hard to tell if she was mad about being teased, or embarrassed that Hajime had used her first name, though. Hajime guffawed as he watched Shizuku’s reaction.

“Jeez, give it a rest already…”

Realizing nothing she said would get him to stop, Shizuku pouted and looked away. Suddenly, she realized people were staring at her from both sides. While she’d been talking to Hajime, Yue and Kaori had finished arguing. Kaori gave her a suggestive look, grinning.

“Wh-What is it?”

Kaori teasingly poked Shizuku’s cheek and said, “Fufu. You look like you’re having a lot of fun, Shizuku-chan.”

Yue also saw right through Shizuku and glared flatly at her.

“Mmm… So you enjoy being teased by Hajime.”

Shizuku blushed even brighter after Yue pointed that out.

“What!? No I don’t! I’m not happy at all! Stop teasing meow!”

“Meow?”

“Are you a cat?”

Shizuku buried her face in her hands as Kaori and Yue teased her in perfect sync. I just want to crawl in a hole and die somewhere.

Yue folded her arms and mumbled to herself, “Are we about to get another…”

She didn’t specify what exactly they were getting another of. Kaori didn’t ask either. She just smiled and said, “Who knows!”

Shizuku curled up in a corner and covered her face with her ponytail, activating her ponytail guard. Kaori smiled benevolently down at her, looking like a saint.

Just then, a flash of white light shot toward the group, interrupting their antics. It parted the mist of snow, a beam of pure white mana headed straight for Hajime. Shizuku looked up in surprise, but she barely had time to even gasp before it reached its target.

“Nagumo-kun, watch out! That’s Divine Wrath!”

“Calm down, I’ve got it.”

Hajime took out his Gate Key and twisted it into the empty space in front of him. It opened a portal connecting to the Gate Hall he’d set up next to him. The destructive torrent of light vanished through the portal and headed out of the corresponding one, firing off in some random direction. In some ways, these dimensional portals were Hajime’s strongest defensive artifact. Since he knew Kouki and Ryutarou’s attacks would always be directed at him, he’d thought it would be more efficient to just redirect them rather than block each one. And it turned out he was right. The reason no attacks had come his way until now was likely because Kouki and Ryutarou and stuck to close-combat techniques to avoid friendly fire.

“Kouki’s…”

A pillar of white light shot up in the distance. Kouki had just activated his Limit Break. Shizuku looked worriedly at the fog of snow. She hadn’t expected the Frost Golem to give Kouki so much trouble that he’d be forced to use one of his trump cards. The mist Kouki’s Divine Wrath had blown away reconvened, covering the room in icy fog once more.

“Amanogawa’s starting to panic.”

Hajime’s assessment was right on the money. Having voluntarily sealed his favorite move, Celestial Flash, Kouki’s options in combat were limited. After driving himself into a corner, he’d felt the only way out was to use a combination of Limit Break and Divine Wrath. Chances were he was in quite a bind now that his strongest attack had gone in the wrong direction.

“Well, now that he’s used Limit Break, he should make it in another few minutes. The real problem is whether the other two will be able to.”

“Huh? Are you sure Kouki’s fine?”

Shizuku was surprised by how casually Hajime had moved on from Kouki’s fight. She kept shooting worried glances in the direction Divine Wrath had come from, and it looked like she was about to run off to help him.

Sighing at her overprotectiveness, Hajime said, “He still has the Limit Break’s derivative skill left, doesn’t he? As long as he hasn’t used that yet, it means he’s doing fine. Besides, the condition for clearing this part of the labyrinth is defeating the golem assigned to you. The last thing Amanogawa wants is help.”

“I… suppose you’re right.”

“You know, I said this earlier too, but you’re way too obsessed with taking care of people. There’s a reason everyone calls you mom.”

“Excuse me!? You’re the only one who calls me that, Nagumo-kun! How rude!”

Hajime ignored Shizuku’s petulant outburst and pulled his compass out of his pocket. Right now, he was seeking “Taniguchi Suzu’s location.”

“Over there, huh?”

“Hajime-kun. How are Ryutarou-kun and Suzu-chan…”

“Hold on, I’m checking that right now. I get the feeling Taniguchi’s probably the one struggling the most right now, since she’s defense-oriented…”

Hajime sent one of his Cross Bits in the direction the compass pointed. He also pulled out a crystal ball that relayed the images the Cross Bit saw so that Kaori and the others could watch too. For a while, all they saw was gray ice crystals, but then finally the group could make out two faintly glowing objects in the distance. Hajime maneuvered his Cross Bit to a spot that gave a good view of the battlefield.

The glowing objects turned out to be Suzu’s Hallowed Grounds. One was cast on Suzu herself. She was using it to protect herself from the laser beams that occasionally came for her. The other she’d cast on the Frost Golem. She’d sealed its movements using a barrier. But that wasn’t all she’d done. Water dripped from the Frost Golem’s body, and it had shrunk to a fraction of its original size.

—Twin Fan Technique – Blazing Hallowed Ground. This was a fire magic and barrier magic fusion spell that created a superheated zone inside the barrier. The Frost Golem knew it was in danger of melting completely and continued slamming its halberd over and over into Suzu’s barrier. Each swing managed to do a decent amount of damage to the Hallowed Ground. But every time it looked like it was about to break, Suzu would cast another one on top of it, keeping the golem trapped.

Hajime assumed Hallowed Ground – Burst hadn’t had enough firepower to punch through the Frost Golems. So Suzu had thought of a different way to beat it, and had come up with this. In a confined space like a barrier, Suzu was able to overcome the natural properties of the Frost Caverns and utilize fire magic effectively. As a result, she could take advantage of the Frost Golem’s natural weakness. Since she didn’t have the offensive power to destroy it in one hit, she’d decided to whittle it down instead. Suzu truly had a good grasp on her new abilities and what they were capable of. That being said, victory wasn’t still wasn’t coming easy.

“Ugh… Haaah… Haaah… Almost there… Just a little more…”

Her breathing was labored, her eyes were glazed over, and sweat poured down her face in waves. Keeping two of the strongest barriers active at once was mentally and physically draining to the extreme. Her hands trembled as they struggled to hold her fans up, and it was obvious it was taking all of her concentration not to drop them. Suzu was clearly nearing her limits. It was a battle of endurance now. Would Suzu’s concentration last longer than the Frost Golem’s endurance?

“I won’t lose. Haaah… Haaah… I’ll never lose! No matter what happens, no matter what anyone tells me! I’m going to get through this and talk to Eri again!”

Naturally, the labyrinth’s whispers hadn’t stopped. And so, Suzu shouted to herself to keep her spirits up. A fiery will lit up within her empty eyes, and she brushed a drop of sweat out of her eyes. Screaming, she pushed down on the Frost Golem even harder.

“Suzu-chan…”

“An impressive performance.”

Tio was amazed by Suzu’s perseverance.

“Looks like she’ll be just fine.”

“Yeah…”

Suzu’s determination was so dazzling that Shizuku was momentarily stunned. So much so that agreeing with Hajime was all she could do. She felt embarrassed for having underestimated the extent of Suzu’s determination earlier. Worrying about Suzu now would just be rude to her. At the very least, Suzu was past a point where Shizuku needed to take care of her. Like the barriers she created, Suzu was firm and unyielding.

Maybe Nagumo-kun’s right. I really shouldn’t be so overprotective. Shizuku smiled bitterly to herself. But a moment later, her thoughts reversed direction. Because the next person Hajime’s Cross Bit went to was a muscle-headed moron who needed to be babysat.

“Uwooooooooooooooooooooooooh!”

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Namely, Ryutarou. For some unfathomable reason, he’d gotten into a slugfest with his Frost Golem. The same Frost Golem that was four times his size.

“Oooh, he’s really good at hand-to-hand combat!”

The only one impressed was Shea. Everyone else was nonplussed.

Why are neither of them using any footwork?

Why did the Frost Golem give up its halberd and actually accept Ryutarou’s boxing challenge?

Why are neither of them guarding?

Why are they taking turns smacking each other like there’s some kind of rule about each fighter only getting one punch at a time?

“Well, he is an idiot.”

“I-I can’t argue there.”

“Ryutarou-kun…”

They looked like a pair of delinquents duking it out by the riverside. Hajime was half-worried Ryutarou and the Frost Golem might actually make up at the end of the fight and become friends.

Kaori cradled her head in her hands while Shizuku just grimaced as she watched her childhood friend fight.

“I must say, it’s impressive he hasn’t been hit by a stray laser yet.”

Tio cocked her head quizzically. Indeed, despite the fact that both combatants were stationary, Ryutarou had yet to take a fatal blow from a laser. Occasionally one would graze past him, or shoot through his extremities of course. He was in fact covered in small wounds, but surprisingly not a single one had hit his head or heart or other vitals yet.

Hajime’s guess was that because Ryutarou had wrapped himself in mana and was continually using Diamond Skin, he was keeping his defense high enough to instinctively avoid a fatal blow. Of course, Ryutarou himself had just given up on evasion completely because he’d deemed that defeating the Frost Golem while also dodging lasers was impossible. His thought process was exceedingly simple: If he could defeat his enemy before he got hurt too bad, it was his win.

“The Frost Golem looks like it’s at its limit, so as long as Sakagami’s fighting spirit’s going strong he’ll probably win… Anyway, he’s your childhood friend, Kaori. You heal him.”

“There’s no healing magic that heals just wounds and leaves the pain, is there?”

Kaori’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. She was seriously considering doing it. There was no doubt in Hajime’s mind that while Kaori might heal Ryutarou’s physical scars, she’d be giving him some new mental ones.

A few minutes later, Kouki defeated his Frost Golem. Of the remaining three, he was the first. However, using Limit Break had drained him completely, and he used his Holy Sword as a crutch as he limped down the tunnel to the rest of the party.

Next to finish was Suzu. Like Kouki, she was exhausted and could barely walk straight. Since she looked ready to collapse at any moment Shizuku ran over and half-carried her back.

Ryutarou was the last to finish. And finished he was. He’d lost so much blood it was a miracle he was even alive. Yet he smiled in satisfaction as he slumped to the ground, unconscious. He hadn’t even made it into the tunnel, so lasers were still bouncing all around him.

“Wawah, Ryutarou-kun!”

Panicking, Kaori ran over to him. One of the lasers snaked across the ground and headed straight for Ryutarou’s neck. If someone didn’t move him, he’d be beheaded. Sighing, Hajime coated his Cross Bit in Diamond Skin and had it block for Ryutarou. In doing so, he got an up-close look at Ryutarou’s satisfied smile and suddenly felt like killing the guy himself.

“Maybe I should hit him with a shotgun blast.”

“You too, Nagumo-kun!?”

Hajime leveled his gun at Ryutarou. Shizuku opened her mouth to argue, but then Kaori reached Ryutarou and Hajime reluctantly put his gun away. Kaori grabbed Ryutarou by the legs and dragged him into the safety of the tunnel. She had cast healing magic on him, but at the same time she was dragging him across every bump and rough patch on the icy floor, so she obviously wasn’t too pleased with him either.

“Mmm? Hajime, the sun’s gone.”

“Oh? I guess that means the trial’s over?”

Hajime looked up where Yue was pointing and saw that the sun was indeed gone. The lasers vanished as soon as Ryutarou entered the tunnel as well, and the shards of ice melted away. The mist was sucked away as well, as though a ventilation fan had suddenly appeared on the ceiling.

A moment later, the gate behind Hajime started glowing brilliantly. Unexpectedly though, instead of opening, the gate itself transformed into a portal of light.

“I guess this light portal’s our exit.”

“It reminds me of the teleportation portals… Is it going to warp us somewhere?”

“That doesn’t sound very good.”

“Shea. Has anything good ever happened in a labyrinth?”

“Ahaha, I guess not. Those whispers were the worst thing ever though, so I wish they’d stop… but they probably won’t, huh? Haaah…”

Shea’s bunny ears drooped despondently. No physical enemy could stand up to Shea’s insane strength, but psychological warfare like this was unbelievably irksome to deal with. Shea couldn’t help but be annoyed.

“Kouki-kun, Suzu-chan, come over here! I’ll heal you all at once!”

By the time Kaori had finished dragging Ryutarou back, Kouki and Suzu had made it through their tunnels as well. They were so exhausted they didn’t even react to Kaori’s summons. Eventually, Kouki started crawling slowly over to where Kaori was. The way he moved looked a little creepy. Suzu wasn’t even willing to put in that much effort, and she rolled slowly across the ground to Kaori.

“Nagumo… Sorry… I attacked you,” Kouki apologized, his expression dark. Considering his exhaustion his emotional state was understandable, but Hajime thought he’d at least be a little happy to have cleared his trial. His voice was so devoid of enthusiasm that it was uncanny. It felt as though the emotions had been drained from him.

“I told you not to worry about me. If you were gonna shoot it off in the end anyway, you may as well have done it from the start.”

“You’re right… I sent my Divine Wrath at you, and you don’t look hurt at all. Nothing I do could possibly hurt you. So I…”

Kouki turned to face Hajime. His eyes were sunken, his pupils surrounded in darkness. But with an enormous effort, he managed to smile stiffly. However, that smile was dangerous. Of course he was frustrated by the enormous gap between him and Hajime, but that wasn’t all. There was something more to that smile.

“Kouki, are you alright? You’re acting strange. Are the side effects of activating Limit Break that harsh? Do you want to lie down for a bit?”

“……”

Feeling as though she was missing something important, Shizuku shot Kouki a worried look. She patted her knees as if to say he was welcome to rest in her lap if he wanted. But for some reason, when Kouki turned to Shizuku he looked almost afraid. Only for a second though, after which he averted his gaze. Was it just my imagination? There’s no reason Kouki should be scared of me.

“No, I’m fine, Shizuku.”

“A-Are you sure?”

Kouki closed his eyes and shook his head, rejecting Shizuku completely. He sat cross-legged on the floor and went still. It seemed as though he’d turned to ice, both in body and in spirit. At a loss for words, Shizuku looked around the room. I’m sure he’s just focusing on recovering his strength… Shizuku kept telling herself that and reluctantly walked away.

Hajime shot Kouki a quick glance. He hadn’t missed Kouki’s earlier expression. In fact, he was the only one who’d noticed the frozen hatred that had been swirling around inside him.

“Man, what an annoying theme for a labyrinth.”

He smiled bitterly to himself. Yue shot him a questioning glance, but he just shook his head. Kouki was dealing with some inner conflict only he could resolve, and it involved Hajime. Telling Yue and the others wouldn’t help things.

A short while later, Kaori finished healing all of her friends.

“Which do you prefer? Staying here to rest, or pushing onward?”

“Pushing onward.”

Hajime asked the others to vote on which they wanted, and Kouki replied immediately. His tone was adamant, but his gaze seemed to be focused on something other than Hajime. Shrugging, Hajime turned to the others. No one else wanted to stay even a second longer in this maze of whispers, so they didn’t object.

“Alright then, let’s keep going.”

With that, the party stepped through the portal of light.

Diamond. diamond. diamond.