They reached the corridor's end, only to find their path blocked by a seamless wall of cold, unforgiving stone.
"I walked all this way for a dead end?" Usami snapped, his voice echoing off the masonry. He huffed, crossing his arms and scowling in a way that was more bratty than threatening. "You've wasted my time, Raithasu. I'm going back the way we came."
"Stop," Raithasu commanded, his voice low. "I need to concentrate."
Usami rolled his eyes. "Don't 'whatever' me! You're just—"
"Stop!" Raithasu hissed again.
Usami ignored him, taking a defiant step forward. In an instant, the air was filled with the sharp thrum of tension snapping. Raithasu dove, forcing the younger boy down. "Kneel!"
"What? I can't hear you!" Usami yelled, pretending to be deaf just to be difficult.
A volley of arrows suddenly whistled from hidden slits in the walls, thudding into the stone exactly where his head had been a second before. Usami scrambled into a low, awkward crouch, his face turning pale.
"Ah! What—what do I do?" he stammered, his legs shaking from the strain. "I can't stay like this! Please help me, big brother!"
Raithasu leaned back, a teasing glint in his eyes despite the danger. "I'm sorry, what? I can't hear you."
"Sorry! I'm sorry! Please save me!"
"I'm always getting into trouble because of you, aren't I?" Raithasu mused, watching another arrow zip past his shoulder.
"I was just joking! Please stop the arrows! I can't walk while I'm crouching like this!"
"Fine, fine," Raithasu sighed.
In the dim light, his eyes suddenly shifted, bleeding into a brilliant, glowing dark blue. The air grew heavy. As the next wave of arrows launched, they froze mid-air, suspended by an invisible force before clattering harmlessly to the floor.
Usami stood up, dusting off his knees. He didn't actually want to show gratitude, so he quickly changed the subject. "So? What was it you 'got' earlier?"
"Behind this wall," Raithasu said, staring at the solid stone. "I see a massive mechanism. Too many buttons to count."
Usami squinted at the flat surface. "Where? I don't see any buttons."
"Aside from being deaf, do you have a vision problem too?"
"Huh! You always scold me!" Usami pouted. "I wish Mom were here. I'd tell her exactly how mean you are to me."
Raithasu didn't argue; he simply offered a small, knowing smile. Without warning, he drew back his fist and slammed it into the center of the wall. The stone shattered like glass, exploding inward to reveal a hidden chamber filled with strange, glowing controls.
Usami stared at the wreckage, then at the bizarre room. "What kind of place is this? There are so many buttons..."
He noticed Raithasu staring at him intently. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Raithasu just reached out, ruffled his brother's hair with a heavy hand, and shook his head, a silent laugh written on his face
"I'm not a child! Stop it!" Usami snapped, ducking away from Raithasu's hand and stepping aside.
"I know, I know," Raithasu replied, his voice trailing off as he surveyed the room.
Usami peered back toward the hallway they had just left. The sound of whistling arrows hadn't stopped; if anything, it had intensified into a rhythmic storm. "Well, we can't go back now. That arrow rain is constant."
"We could go back," Raithasu corrected calmly, "but you're too blind to see the trip-ropes that activate the sensors."
"What? I—" Usami started to argue, but a sudden, heavy thud cut him off. He spun around, his jaw dropping. The wall Raithasu had just shattered was knitting itself back together. Stone crawled over stone, repairing the damage in seconds until the exit was sealed perfectly.
"It repaired itself?" Usami whispered, his face pale. "What kind of place is this?"
"The kind that wants to keep us here," Raithasu said, turning toward the console of glowing switches. "We came for the treasure and the rations we need for the post-battle recovery. Let's start pressing buttons and see what happens."
Usami swallowed hard, reaching for a flickering light. "Okay... I'll press this one." He clicked the button, and the floor beneath them began to hum.
At the other end of the labyrinth, Hiyori reached a similar dead end. She scanned the dark corners, her breath hitching. "There's no one here... but these arrows..." she touched a jagged shaft embedded in the wall. "There was a fight here."
Realizing she was alone, she turned back, searching for any sign of her companions. She found the hole in the floor—the one Without hesitation, she jumped.
stand lightly, she looked up at the towering heights of the prison level. "Time to go."
From the sides of her arms, shimmering, iridescent butterfly wings erupted, catching the dim light. With a powerful beat of her wings, she took flight, soaring upward until she reached the first floor of the prison cells.
The wings vanished as she landed, her eyes falling on a slumped figure. "Henry!"
He was unconscious, his breathing shallow. Beside him lay a small locket. Hiyori picked it up, clicking it open. Inside was a portrait of a woman.
"The same girl I freed just minutes ago," Hiyori whispered, the pieces of the puzzle falling into place. "Now I understand what he meant."
She couldn't leave him. Hoisting Henry's weight onto her shoulder, she ran toward the upper levels of the castle. She pushed through a heavy door leading to the pillar path, expecting to see her allies.
"Daiki? Where are you? Did you win?"
She burst out of the castle gates, but the battlefield was silent. There was no Daiki. There was no army. Instead, two massive, silent giant robots stood like sentinels over the empty grounds.
"What happened here?"
Driven by instinct, she carried Henry deep into the surrounding forest, hiding him safely beneath the thick canopy. She had to go back. "I have to save Elsiya," she told herself, turning back toward the stone spires. "Where are Yuki and Hina?"
While the castle was a place of stone and iron, Yuki and Hina were somewhere else entirely. They sat in a meadow so beautiful it felt like a dream, the grass swaying in a soft breeze. There was no war here. No robots. No arrows.
Yuki looked at Hina, his expression a mix of shock and disbelief. The peace felt wrong—terrifyingly wrong.
"No way," Yuki breathed, staring at the girl beside him. "Hina... you are going to do this but what about you?"