"Shit!"
Nara slammed his fist against the wall, frustration burning in his chest.
"We got split up…" he muttered, peering into the room on his left.
Sweat rolled down his cheek as he wiped his forehead.
"I can't stay here forever…"
He glanced forward… then back to the room beside him.
"Which way? Forward… or left?"
"The water flowed this way. That means Code's more likely in that direction," he thought, turning left with resolve.
But the moment he stepped in—
BAM!
The wall sealed shut behind him.
A flicker of anti-tenzen danced through the air. Nara's eyes narrowed.
Then— he heard a scream.
"Huh?!"
He snapped his head toward the hallway.
"Was that… another voice?" he muttered, bolting forward.
"No! Stay away! Don't come near me!"
The scream grew louder.
"That voice… it sounds familiar."
His pace quickened.
"No! No! Don't touch my gold!"
"…Gold?"
Nara skidded to a stop at the entrance of the room.
He bent over, hands on knees, panting.
"Gold…?" he muttered. Then, his eyes widened, as he realized. Only one person could still be psycho over gold, even in this place.
"…No way."
He lifted his head slowly, heart thudding.
"Alpha?!"
***
Tip. Toe. Tip. Toe.
"Good grief… If I couldn't see in the dark, who knows what kind of trouble I'd be in," Hina muttered, moving quietly through the shifting cubes.
She turned another corner. Left again.
"That makes the sixth cycle," she whispered, stopping mid-step.
"By now, I should've hit 18 dead ends. But with the rotations… it's been 24."
Her eyes gleamed.
"The caster's clever. A Rubik's cube layout — ever-shifting. The perfect setup to keep split teams from regrouping, and you can't even retrace your steps. No wonder people entered this place and never came out."
She smirked.
"But that only works on meatheads. Not me."
With a soft grin curling on her lips, she tapped her temple.
"He forgot one fatal flaw. Which makes this 'labyrinth' nothing more than a pile of bricks."
She stepped toward a nearby wall.
"I've been marking every cube. One sigil on each wall — infused with my dark matter. Any movement, any rotation, I sense it."
Her eyes locked onto the wall in front of her. It was the only wall, in all six cycles, that hadn't rotated.
"This wall… never moved."
She pressed her palm against it.
"If it didn't rotate even once, it means only one thing — it is the center."
And then—her grin widened.
"And if it's static… that means the caster is here."
"Who uses their domain powers against themselves? Nobody."
She struck a pose.
"And here I thought this domain was some genius-level death trap. But this? This is a beginner's oversight."
"You made the mistake of trying to outsmart me. Demon-chan, if you really wanted to fool me, you shouldn't have left one wall untouched. You should've rotated everything."
…Then blinked.
"…Oh, right. Nobody's here to hear that."
She facepalmed.
"Still," she murmured, chin in hand, "If they were here, I wouldn't be able to think this clearly."
Her expression hardened.
"Time to deal with the idiot behind this."
Fwoosh!
Dark energy gathered around her sword.
"To create a domain this big and maintain the shifting pattern… the center should have less anti-tenzen — just enough to stay upright."
She raised her sword.
"With greater tenzen, I can crush the wall and get in."
With a cry, she struck.
CRICK!
The wall cracked—veins spreading through the stone.
Her smirk returned.
"Looks like I was right."
She poured more tenzen in—
KRASH!!
The wall shattered. Dust and debris filled the air, as she stepped in, dusting the sand off her hair.
The room looked… normal. Like the others.
She turned back—and froze.
The wall behind her… was regenerating.
Her eyes widened.
"My tenzen's being neutralized… the anti-tenzen's reactivating?"
She backed away cautiously.
"This place… it's drenched in anti-tenzen," she muttered. "Could Code even pull this off, even with Aidra's power?"
Then it hit her—
Boom.
A strange aura swelled around her.
It crept into her bones, pressing down on her soul.
Then—
Zing!
A red glowing circle flared on the floor. Intricate, eerie markings burned like fire.
"…What?"
Her voice cracked.
"A summoning circle?!"
A form began to rise from it—head first.
She tightened her grip on her sword.
The creature's skin was corpse-pale, stretched tight over a monstrous frame.
Its mouth split from temple to jaw—lined with endless rows of razor fangs.
A long, serpent-like tongue slithered out, pulsing with red, cursed energy.
Then its eyes met Hina's.
"Hehehe…"
It grinned.
"Summoned from the underworld, and I get fresh meat as tribute? This day just keeps getting better."
Hina didn't move.
Fear. Calculation. Determination — all swirling behind her eyes.
"…I made a miscalculation," she muttered.
"The center isn't low on anti-tenzen. It's packed with it. Of course the caster would protect himself the most…"
Her thoughts raced.
"The weak wall was a bait. He wanted me to think it was a weak point. The moment I entered, the real concentration flooded in."
She clenched her jaw.
"…I got outsmarted. By a demon."
Her voice dropped.
"One of Eldrid's top minds… tricked by a monster in a shifting box."
A soft, eerie glow lit the room. The circle's light reflecting off her blade.
"…But I'm not dead yet."
Her eyes narrowed.
"I still have a chance."
Dark energy coiled around her like smoke.
"I'm not losing."
The demon licked its lips, sensing her power.
"Hahaha… it's pointless."
"I'm Roka, the Devourer. No human has ever survived after seeing me."
Hina's sword rose.
"Well then—"
"Guess I'm about to break that record."
Dark energy surged from her blade.
"Let's see you try!"
Roka lunged forward, twisted grin stretching wider.
"Another meal, coming right up—!!"
***
T.B.C