Paul's punch tore through the air, sending a shockwave into the empty, shadow-stained sky before he landed hard on the ground. He steadied himself, looked around,and his breath caught.
Bodies lay everywhere.
Villagers he had spoken to for years. Families. Children. Scattered across the dirt as if the entire village had been torn apart in a single heartbeat. Only decades of war and an age-hardened mind kept him from collapsing under the weight of it.
He forced his focus forward. Leo sat on the ground, drenched in sweat and barely able to breathe. Vanessa, Liane, and Dave stood nearby, weapons lowered, faces pale.
Paul approached Dave. "Ezekiel?"
Dave didn't speak. His jaw locked, teeth grinding, and he shook his head once.
Paul rested a hand on his shoulder, a brief squeeze, nothing more, before turning toward the elder's house. It was the only building still intact, protected by a shimmering barrier. As he drew closer, the shield trembled and finally dissolved.
Inside, a handful of survivors stood huddled together. Some stared with hollow eyes; others trembled with anger or grief. At their front sat the elder, hands still raised from holding the barrier.
He looked up at Paul and managed a tired, relieved smile, then his head slumped forward. His light went out before Paul could take another step.
Paul knelt beside him, lowering the old man gently to the floor. He closed the elder's eyes with two fingers, letting silence settle over the room.
Behind him, the others entered in staggered steps. Their gazes drifted through the open doorway to the bodies outside, friends, neighbors, families.
Orane and Loidon found James first. Loidon froze, but Orane dropped to her knees beside her friend's body. Her cry cut through the ruined village, raw enough to pull more tears from the others who had held theirs back.
Tonight was not a battle.
It was a loss no one in the maze would forget.
…
Elna and Briva trained in the castle yard, the steady rhythm of impact, wind, and shifting shadows echoing off the stone walls. Only a month remained until Leo emerged from the maze, and Elna pushed herself harder each day. She wanted him to see progress the moment he stepped out.
They avoid using their items of power which were too dangerous, but both fought with real intent.
Briva's movement blurred across the yard. Her wind enhanced legs let her spring from point to point in quick, sharp bursts, every landing followed by an arrow already nocked and released. Elna slid through the shadows cast by the training grounds, slipping around each glowing arrow with fluid, practiced ease.
She closed the gap fast. Briva launched herself backward again, but midway through the jump she lost her ability to dodge. Elna surged from a shadow beneath her in the same instant, rising in a sharp vertical burst. Her dagger darkened with condensed shadow energy, edges rippling as she slashed toward Briva's exposed side.
A piercing cry cut through the air.
Ashen dived from above like a falling spear, the giant falcon's talons hooking into the back of Elna's cloak and hauling her off trajectory. His wings stirred the dust on the ground into small spirals as he carried Briva higher.
Exactly the moment Elna was waiting for.
Briva's Vampire Gaze, combined with Ashen's sight, let her track Elna no matter how she twisted through shadows or illusions. But when Briva and Ashen moved as one, their vision overlapped. Their mutual blind spot left a single weakness, directly above them.
A small orb of light bloomed in Elna's hand, its glow flickering across her face. She vanished into it without a sound.
Briva felt danger prick her skin. She whispered a command, and a spiraling layer of wind wrapped around her just as a sharp clang echoed behind her. Elna burst out of a shadow right at her back, dagger driving down, but Briva's wind barrier caught the blade and forced it aside with a hard snap.
Elna's form dissolved and reformed on the ground again, landing in a half crouch. Her shadow stretched out beneath her like ink spreading across stone.
Then Elna's eyes flared red, and her silver hair gained a sharp, ghostly glow. Her body dissolved into a living shadow, stretching and drifting like a dark cloud as she shot toward Briva, who was still suspended in the air.
Realizing Elna was going all out, Briva matched her. A green light wrapped around both her and Ashen, pulsing once before bursting outward. When the glow faded, the two had merged completely.
Briva now looked almost like a harpy, feathered wings arcing from her arms, her legs replaced by powerful talons. She still couldn't control the transformation granted by the Creator, but she could finally fuse with her companion, and that alone reshaped her entire presence.
With a beat of her new wings, she dove. Her claws slammed into Elna's dagger, and the collision exploded into a burst of wind that rattled the stone beneath them. They traded blows in midair for several relentless seconds, the wind screaming around them. But Elna's strength in her transformed state pushed Briva backward, and Briva crashed onto her back with a heavy thud.
Before she could rise, Elna was already above her, shadow trailing behind her, dagger pressed close to Briva's throat.
Briva let out a breath and smiled. "You got me again."
Elna dismissed her dagger with a flick, her expression softening as she offered her hand and helped Briva up.
"To think you can already control your transformation in just three months," Briva said, dusting off her arm.
"I was a vampire before this," Elna replied. "Controlling blood wasn't new to me. But you, being able to block my attacks without this transformation? Once you learn to use your full form properly, I won't stand a chance."
From the castle's edge, Arthur watched quietly while Luciana stood beside him.
"She's pretty cute when she merges with her falcon," Luciana said, then shot Arthur a sideways glance and smirked. "Imagine what she'll look like once she can use the Creator's transformation too."
When Briva fused with Ashen, light brown feathers covered parts of her body, a soft contrast to her silver hair. If she ever unlocked her full transformation, those feathers would likely turn pure white.
Luciana caught the distant, thoughtful look in Arthur's eyes and frowned. "You're imagining it, aren't you?"
Arthur cleared his throat and walked toward the ladies without answering.
…
Leo sat beneath the tent he had thrown together a few days earlier, its rough canvas still carrying the smell of smoke and wet rope. A week had passed since the King of Madness and the queens serpent tore through their ranks, and that single night had forced the survivors to rethink everything. Now either Leo or Paul had to stay in camp at all times.
Their group had once been one hundred forty three. And now only fifty remained. Most of the trained fighters were gone. James and Ezekiel were among the dead.
From the fragments of information he'd gathered since the attack, Leo had confirmed that the king and his queens were far more vulnerable to void energy than he'd ever guessed. He had known void harmed them, but never imagined it crippled them so easily.
He wanted to act on that discovery immediately, to start shaping a real escape plan, but he wasn't close to the strength he needed. Leaving now would mean his death, and the world's. He had to endure and grow stronger, no matter how hard it gets.
He rose and walked toward the burial pit, now filled and sealed with packed dirt. They burned every body before burying it, denying the maze any chance to twist their fallen into something else.
As he stood at the edge of the pit, five others approached and halted behind him. Vanessa, Dave, Liane, Orane, and Loidon. Their faces showed the same mix of exhaustion and determination.
"You're planning to train even harder, aren't you?" Dave asked.
"Yes."
"Then help us get stronger too," he said, steady and serious.
Leo turned to them. "I won't go easy on you."
"That's what we want," Liane replied, her eyes red from grief and sleepless nights.
They had less than four years, and Leo intended to use every moment to reach the power he needed, and to drag anyone willing along with him.
…
Weeks turned into months, and months slipped into years. Before anyone noticed, more than three years had passed inside the maze. Leo spent nearly every hour training, drilling himself, refining techniques, and pushing the others through harsh routines that left them exhausted but stronger.
Orane and Loidon had climbed to A-minus, steady and reliable in combat. Liane and Dave reached A2, their control and reaction speed far beyond what they'd shown in the early days. Vanessa pushed herself harder than any of them; she reached A3 and was closing in on A4, her precision growing sharper with every session.
Leo, meanwhile, had lost track of his own limits. Paul estimated him at A5, though Paul barely understood the ranking system. Leo only knew that his last Obscurae, cast through the Staff of the God of Knowledge, had pushed him to A5 with his domain active. If Leo now matched that power without a domain or item of power to boost him, then in the real world he was already equivalent to an S-rank.
All S-ranks possessed a unique trait. Nikolaus, for example, could bend space, an ability no one else had ever shown, except Leo himself.
Leo's defining trait was creation. With the shape of his soul and the ability he had engineered by combining illusion, enchanting, and pure magic, he could turn illusions into real, physical matter. After years of grinding through the maze's pressure, he finally had enough mana to support that ability without tearing his body apart.
When he finally steps out of the maze, he would be a true creator.
He walked toward the elder's house. It was the only place they had that felt like a command center. When he stepped inside, all five of his students were already gathered, along with Paul, the closest thing any of them had to a mentor. The group had arranged themselves around the circular table they had shaped from the bones of a giant beast, polished until the surface was smooth enough to write on.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Leo said, taking his place near the table.
Paul folded his arms. "What did you want to share?"
Leo took a slow breath to steady himself. "In three months, we attempt our escape."
Shock hit first. Then excitement. The group exchanged quick glances, eyes bright with the relief they'd held back for years. They had known the moment was approaching, but not how soon.
Leo went on. "Prepare yourselves as much as possible. And we need a plan to move everyone through the maze without scattering or losing anyone." He turned to Paul. "We have to reach that vast empty region."
Paul frowned at the mention. "The place where I fought the serpent?"
Leo shook his head. "No. The other direction."
"The weaker planes?" Liane asked, confusion slipping into her voice. She had always assumed the exit was buried deep in the most lethal part of the maze. The others had shared the same belief.
"We need to be in the middle," Leo said, giving nothing more.
"In the middle of what?" Loidon asked.
"You'll understand when we get there. For now, focus on coming up with a plan on how to reach there."
Everyone nodded. Anticipation tightened the air around them. After years of being trapped in the maze, they were beyond ready to face whatever came next.