Ninth Floor, Another World

The ninth floor, the entrance to the Evil One.

A place no member of any academy, including Jerion Academy, had ever reached.

Even the Heaven-Ascending Generation, who had conquered the ninth floor, never ultimately reached this place.

Yet Isabel and I stood here together.

A situation perplexing even to myself.

“What is this place… the pressure…”

Isabel felt, instinctively, that this door should not be opened.

And those words… they were the very phrase she’d spoken countless times in the Flame Butterfly playthrough.

‘Upon reaching the door of the ninth floor Archfiend, the character invariably utters these exact lines.’

And none among them ever managed to open that door.

Crushed beneath the Archfiend’s oppressive aura.

【 This is a realm beyond mortal challengers. 】

A window that appeared upon reaching the entrance to the ninth floor Archfiend.

A window that appeared only when one arrived here before completing the scenario.

Facing this, characters immediately retreated.

Entering the Archfiend’s lair was only possible after finishing the scenario.

But I knew what lay beyond.

‘After completing the scenario, reaching this place reveals nothing.’

The player faces only an empty room.

A large room, unremarkable and utterly silent, save for its emptiness.

And then, the ending credits roll.

This was why I questioned the Archfiend’s death.

I had confronted the Archfiend upon finishing the scenario.

But was the Archfiend I’d faced truly vanquished?

If so, why was the Archfiend’s palace left as nothing more than an empty room?

Players had passionately questioned this, but the developers remained silent.

And now.

I stood before that Archfiend’s door.

My gaze locked on the portal leading to the Archfiend.

Isabel had retreated, her face stark white.

Judging by her appearance, she looked ready to turn back any moment.

But what of me?

My feet remained rooted to the spot, unyielding.

Like Isabel, I felt the undeniable weight of dread.

A primal instinct roared within, forbidding entry.

But I would not retreat.

The reason was simple.

‘The Bandage of the Veil.’

Lost love, bound within the Bandage of the Veil.

A love laden with meaning, encompassing even love for oneself.

That love had been severed from me.

The part that held my life dear, broken.

‘If it’s now…’

My hand stretched toward the gate of the Evil Zone.

I could open it.

Surely, I could open it.

“Y-You!”

Isabel’s voice cried out from behind.

My hand froze, hovering before the gate.

If I opened it here, I would undoubtedly face the Evil Zone.

But what then?

Was I capable of defeating it, as I am now?

My fist clenched tight.

I could not defeat the Evil Zone, not as I am.

Defeating the Evil Zone required the elite, carefully selected and brought forth.

That much, I was certain.

I drew my arm back.

What good was opening it, even if I could?

After all, I couldn’t hope to vanquish the Evil Zone lurking within.

‘My arrival here, it’s merely a coincidence.’

This is not, my strength.

A floor reached by such fickle chance is worthless.

But to the Archfiend lurking beyond this door, I declared with certainty:

“I will return. Without fail.”

And I’ll plant a fist right into that festering face of yours.

With those words lingering, I began to turn away.

Then, my gaze flickered to something beneath the Archfiend’s door.

And soon after, my eyes widened ever so slightly.

‘…This is…’

There, upon the floor, was a trail as if something heavy had been dragged.

The problem was that the trail led directly to the Archfiend’s door.

A detail easily overlooked when playing Flame Butterfly’s Path.

The limitations of dot-graphic expression wouldn’t allow for such clarity.

But this was reality now.

All of it vividly rendered.

My eyes returned to the Archfiend’s door once more.

‘Could it be…?’

Could one of the Apostles have reached the Archfiend?

The thought flickered, but I quickly shook my head.

‘An overreach. Surely.’

If that were the case, an Apostle would have already emerged, turning the surface into a wasteland.

Still, it bothered me.

‘Perhaps a consultation with Professor Veganon would be worthwhile.’

As one belonging to the Generation of Azure Skies, she might know something.

I vowed to address this later and fully turned away.

“Isabelle.”

“Ah, yes.”

“From this point forward, it’s a speed run.”

Isabelle’s eyes grew round.

She hadn’t quite grasped my meaning.

I decided to provide her with the answer.

“This is the ninth floor of the Devil’s Palace.”

“9… 9th Floor?”

The words seemed to freeze Isabel’s face.

Even the usually bright Isabel knew how dangerous the name ‘9th Floor’ was.

We needed at least another year before we could even think about navigating this place.

“This Magic Labyrinth opened earlier than usual.”

That’s likely why we were caught in the Magic Labyrinth Transfer.

The labyrinth opened prematurely, leaving the entire space unstable.

I could be chalked up to coincidence, perhaps.

But not Isabel.

‘Isabel possesses the Wings of the Goddess.’

A power most loathed by the Archfiend.

The Goddess’s grace to vanquish evil.

The labyrinth itself must have subconsciously sensed the power of the Goddess’s Wings, warping the space.

“That means… the Apostles are spawning faster too.”

Apostles born in haste would be desperate to ascend.

Which meant the upper floors would be swarming with them.

Naturally, it wouldn’t be easy for the Academy students to break through.

“We need to get out of here before even one more of those Apostles reaches this level.”

But there was another, looming problem.

Those Apostles that hadn’t been dealt with, lurking in the labyrinth for an extended period.

Named Apostles.

The longer an Apostle survived, the stronger it became.

Apostles bearing names… their danger was well-documented.

But I knew every single one of them, inside and out.

‘At this point, Named Apostles aren’t really an obstacle.’

During the Autumn Labyrinth Transfer, Named Apostles scattered for their own reasons throughout the labyrinth.

The labyrinth’s size was absurdly vast.

As long as you knew the paths well, you could escape without ever encountering one.

And who am I, anyway?

The Flame Butterfly’s 29th Run Veteran.

Having purposefully sought out even the bad endings, I was a player twice over, steeped in the game’s lore.

‘Unlike the others, descending the floors, we must ascend.’

Therefore, a time limit.

Before other Apostles flood in and reshape the terrain, we climb the path only named Apostles tread.

“From now on, just follow behind me.”

Independent action will not be tolerated.

Argument will not be heard.

To emerge alive, unscathed.

That alone is our goal, and we move toward it.

“…Understood.”

Perhaps it was the sincerity in my words, for Isabel nodded without complaint.

The Labyrinth Escape Team.

We begin.

＊＊＊

Second-year, autumn Labyrinth War.

Ninth Floor Labyrinth.

A different world entirely.

The ninth floor, where countless stars fall like rain upon a night sky.

The environment of the ninth floor never changes.

And so, the named Apostles dwelling here remain unchanged as well.

Named Apostle.

Star Weaver.

An Apostle who manipulates the countless stars embroidered upon this star-strewn sky.

Recorded by the Azure Sky Generation, the only ones to have ever reached the ninth floor.

To face him, certain conditions must be met.

However, in this place, at this moment, not a single one is satisfied.

Therefore, only one option remains to us.

To crawl through the starlight fields, as radiant as the stars themselves.

Isabel and I are currently connected by the Bandage of Concealment.

Thanks to its camouflage effect, like ghillie suits, we are almost indistinguishable from the starlight fields.

It was a week now, crawling on the ground.

Every inch of my body screamed with cramps, but there was no choice.

To so much as peek a head beyond the Starlight Field would invite a star to plummet from the heavens.

To survive, this was the only way.

“…Never thought I’d end up like this, all the way from the 9th Floor.”

Isabelle’s face betrayed a weary exhaustion.

Small wonder, after a week of crawling.

“Better than standing up and dying,” I murmured.

Isabelle, who never imagined she’d be prone, offered a pained sound.

“We can’t deal with a Star Keeper at our level.”

“Yeah, I know that much.”

Isabelle, too, possessed the ability to gauge an opponent’s strength.

The Star Keeper, who moved between the stars themselves, was simply beyond us.

“Don’t worry. Star Keepers don’t touch anything beneath the Starlight Field.”

But that was only the Star Keeper’s tale.

*Thump-*

The ground beneath us shuddered once.

I pressed close to Isabelle, pinning her back down.

Lest she react without thinking, and rise.

“…You’re pushing so hard, it hurts my chest.”

“Sorry, just bear with it.”

Isabelle voiced her frustration, but there was nothing to be done.

*Thump!*

Because before us, passed a serpent’s torso, woven from stardust.

It advanced at regular intervals, slamming its belly against the ground.

But its head was nowhere to be seen.

Apostle.

Reincarnation.

The largest Apostle in the entire Demonic Palace, its colossal body connecting heaven and earth.

It moved as if it were a single form.

The head of the Samsara had never been seen, not once.

One thing was certain: it ceaselessly traversed the beginning and end of the ninth floor’s demon realm.

In any case, the Samsara that just passed had long since lost its senses, an Apostle devoid of feeling.

It likely didn’t notice our presence.

However, to block its path would be to face disaster itself.

“…I’m realizing anew just how dangerous the ninth floor is.”

Perhaps it was because the spectacle was on an entirely different plane compared to the lower floors.

Isabelle swallowed thickly.

“Still, this is preferable. The eighth floor will likely have many situations where even conversation becomes difficult.”

But she couldn’t dare say the situation above was better than the ninth.

The beings on the ninth floor were so far beyond measure that they rarely paid attention to anything other than themselves.

Thus, if one merely adhered to the rules, it was possible to pass them without engaging in combat.

That was why the Generation of Azure Skies had once felt a question nagging at them.

Why hadn’t these beings, after reaching the Evil Sovereign and awakening their full power, descended to the surface?

That fact was a riddle the Generation of Azure Skies had never managed to solve.

But the eighth floor was different.

The named Apostles dwelling on the eighth floor were thirsty for human blood.

Just as humans descended the layers of the demon realm, the Apostles also needed to accumulate power on each floor to descend further.

‘Because they must fully absorb the Evil Sovereign’s power in order to be born whole as Apostles.’

For them, the absolute priority was how well they could absorb the Evil Sovereign’s power.

Therefore, they descended, but never ascended.

A rule imposed upon them until they were fully completed as Apostles.

On the ninth floor, the Evil Sovereign’s power was being drained by the Star Weaver and the Samsara.

Thus, many of the named Apostles on the eighth floor, despite being capable of reaching the ninth, instead remained and accumulated power.

‘And among them were some that even the Generation of Azure Skies had to avoid.’

This was the reason the eighth floor was more troublesome than the ninth.

‘Just a bit further.’

Avoiding the Star Weaver and the Samsara, we finally arrived at the stairs leading up to the eighth floor.

Isabelle and I could finally cease our crawling and rise to our feet.

Having traversed the ninth floor, tense for a whole week, fatigue was already etched on Isabelle’s face.

But it is alright.

Our purpose is not to break through, but to return.

We only need to retrace the path we have taken.

“Isabel, we’ll rest on the stairs. Conserve your strength.”

“Understood.”

Isabel, barely relaxing, let out a breath.

Perhaps it’s because we have risen after so long, but both she and I ache with muscle pain throughout our bodies.

My gaze settled on the stairs leading to the eighth floor.

Could we escape without a skirmish, unscathed?

I couldn’t guarantee it, but it was a task that absolutely had to be accomplished.