[Welcome to Floor ???]Coordinates: Unknown. Map Unavailable.Memory Anchor: Active.
The light they landed in dimmed slowly—revealing a vast, gray wasteland.
No walls. No sky. Just fog. And silence so thick, it felt like drowning.
Calen coughed. Naia steadied herself. Lucien looked around, wary.
"Is this... the next floor?" Calen asked.
Lucien shook his head.
"No. This is a bypass. The Tower didn't design this. Someone remembered it into existence."
[System Notice: Memory Playback Initiated.]
The fog parted. And the dead returned.
Cassandra appeared first. Not as the broken girl from earlier floors, but radiant—alive. She smiled at Naia.
"You left me."
Naia stepped back. "You're not real."
Cassandra bled from her eyes, still smiling. "But you believed in me once. That's enough for this place."
To the left, a dozen priests emerged—Calen's former brothers, robed in ash and fire.
"You broke your oath."
Calen stepped into a defensive stance. "You're echoes."
"So are your regrets," one replied.
Behind Lucien, a small boy appeared. Tattered cloak. Familiar smirk.
"I lied for you," the boy whispered. "But you buried me."
Lucien froze.
"You... you're me. From before the Tower."
The boy smiled wider. "No. I'm what you left behind to climb."
[Floor ??? Objective: Reconcile or be consumed.]
Naia dropped her weapon. Cassandra walked toward her. Arms outstretched. Gentle. Bleeding.
"This floor thrives on guilt," Lucien warned. "Don't accept anything they give you."
But Naia didn't move.
Until Cassandra said:
"The truth is... I asked for it. I wanted you to leave me. You didn't fail me. I chose my end."
Naia's breath caught.
"That... that's not how I remember it."
"But it's how it really was," Cassandra whispered. "And this floor remembers."
The echo faded.
[Memory Anchor Calibrated: Naia – Stabilized.]
Calen stood before his order. They knelt. Burning.
"Why do you kneel?" he demanded.
One replied, "Because we followed the wrong martyr. You weren't weak. We were blind."
"Then why do I still hate myself?"
"Because you're not done. And neither are we."
They burned away.
[Memory Anchor Calibrated: Calen – Stabilized.]
Lucien faced the boy. The child walked around him.
"You think you became stronger by abandoning me. But you still mimic my lies."
Lucien chuckled. "You think I mimic you? I perfected it."
The boy grinned.
"Then show me. Lie now. One lie. So perfect this floor breaks from it."
Lucien stepped forward.
"I never wanted power."
The sky cracked. The fog trembled. The entire floor shook.
The boy laughed. Then shattered like glass.
[Memory Anchor Calibrated: Lucien – Dominated.]
The ground solidified. The fog receded. And the true form of the floor appeared: an ancient coliseum, half-ruined, surrounded by statues of forgotten players.
At the center: a glowing portal. The next path.
But blocking it—Player 7.
"You passed the test of memory. You embraced your past."
"Now show me if your lies can stand against mine."
Lucien raised an eyebrow.
"You want to fight?"
"No. I want to challenge what you believe. I want you to choose your truth... and make it kill mine."
A table rose from the stone. Three cards appeared. One held a red flame. One held a cracked mask. One held a mirror.
[Choose your Lie.]
Lucien touched the mirror.
"I am whoever the Tower needs me to be."
Player 7 touched the mask.
"I was the Tower before the Tower knew itself."
And the floor shook once more.
The battle had begun.
But not with weapons. With beliefs.