Almost there.
I should have been able to pass through the 99th floor undetected with Glen’s sister as bait using ‘Stealth’.
The plan proceeded smoothly, but just before passing through the 《Connection》.
I was grabbed.
My leg was pulled, and I was dragged into a pool of blood.
Compared to the bright sky above ground, the 99th floor was dim—as if even the bottom of that labyrinth was just the beginning, I sank further, deeper, and lower.
“Ngh… Gagh—!”
I couldn’t breathe.
My lungs were compressed, forcing my mouth open.
As if being squeezed, I exhaled bubbles.
It felt like tens of thousands of arms were clinging to my slender leg, the weight immense. The grip on my ankle was as strong as a vise, and I was sinking terrifyingly fast. I quickly gave up resisting with ‘Strength’ and tried to use the blood-manipulating magic 《Blood》, but it inexplicably dissipated. Next, I tried to muster the power of a Ghost’s ‘Demon’, but that too vanished in vain.
I don’t know how, but the sealing and nullification of abilities are constantly occurring. To ascertain the cause, I had no choice but to open not only my mouth but also my eyes.
As I lifted my eyelids, a field of red spread before my vision. Red above, red below, red to the left and right. Red everywhere I looked, and still red to the ends of the world.
—I continued to sink in the deep sea of blood.
Having endured the experiments and torture of a thousand years ago, I wouldn’t die so easily. However, if I continued to be dragged down like this, there was a possibility of drowning in a ‘Curse Technique’ sense, even if I didn’t physically drown. What made me think so was the woman who was grabbing my ankle, trying to pull me down with her. Her expression.
“—’Neil’.”
I wouldn’t mistake her again. It was the childhood friend cleaner I met in the ‘Blood Land’. Her appearance was not a mere ‘Blood Doll’; she was clad in splendid clothes. Her red limbs were covered with flesh-colored skin, her flowing hair, like that of a mollusk, was lustrous and black, and her eyes, which shone like a nocturnal creature’s, were deep crimson.
At first, I thought she was imitating Hermina, using鲜血魔法. But as our eyes met, I realized I was wrong. Because she was a custom-made ‘Demon’ born in Fanian and an expert in ‘Blood Arts’, I was convinced this was ‘Demonization’.Furthermore, what was mixed in was not a monster. Truly, it was rare. I had never seen it before, but it was a ‘Person’. She was a ‘Demon’ mixed with a ‘Person’.
I was the only one in the world who realized it was a ‘Demon Reversal’ mixed with ‘Hermina Neisha’. The word “natural enemy” flashed in my mind.
“…………!!”
“Yes, ‘Neil’. Just like you, I also underwent ‘Demonization Experiments’. And like you, I was a ‘success’. I am a very ‘lucky’ and ‘happy’ ‘Demon’.”
Even in the sea of blood, her lips moved lightly, and her voice reached me.
I heard that the research institute’s branches were wiped out by ‘Thief of the Laws of Wood’ Aid some time ago. It seemed they had completely abandoned that madman’s manual by now… I felt a sense of unease at her easily audible words.
Then, I glanced upwards.
How far had I sunk? It was so far, dark, and red that it was impossible to measure.
“Do you want to return to the top? Or do you want to reach the surface? …You cannot. Because [You will never return]. That is the true rule of Fanian.”
She, below me, warned as I looked up.
I wanted to deny it, to say “It’s not like that.” To me, the Fanian domain was a place rich and bright, filled with the vibrancy and hope of people. However, I was also well aware of the nightmare that had been going on beneath the surface. Above all, the soul grabbing my ankle and smiling proved it.
“Undoubtedly, this is the true Fanian. Ironically, we’ve had a ‘homecoming’ again. Isn’t it truly your ‘Ideal’ place as the goal of your life? The people of Fanian were also waiting for us here.”
When she said “The people of Fanian,” I felt something in the sinking blood.
They were giant objects swimming at high speed through the deep sea of blood, emitting strange growls. From their ominous and indescribable shapes, I immediately recognized them as ‘Blood Beasts’—for I was the one who controlled them.
This deep sea of blood was familiar and understandable, like my homeland. The swimming ‘Blood Beasts’ also seemed familiar with me, and spoke to me in a seemingly friendly manner—for some reason, in words I could understand.
‘—Boy? Have you returned, that boy?’
‘Why? Why you? Why were you the only one who survived? Envy. You were also an accomplice. Die, disciple of the devil—’
‘—You shouldn’t have come back. Don’t go back. Never again, to a place like this….’
‘Kill him. Kill him now. Make him pay with his death. Even so, my resentment is still not enough—’
Their shapes varied. A ‘Blood Beast’ like a drawstring bag with organs connected by intestines. A ‘Blood Beast’ like a tree with a hundred eyes growing like grapes. A ‘Blood Beast’ like a sphere made up of countless limbs. The words of these objects, which I instinctively rejected understanding and caused nausea, I could somehow comprehend now.
The ‘Blood Beasts’ had lost their vocal organs, so they shouldn’t have been able to make a sound no matter how much their bodies trembled. Moreover, their souls had been consumed by madness through repeated experiments. Was it because vibrations were easily transmitted through the sea of blood? Or does it mean that in the labyrinth, one can directly contact the souls of the dead?
“Then, this… this is?”
I couldn’t breathe, and my throat trembled uncontrollably. However, by moving my mouth, I could send vibrations outward.
It was as if my soul was vibrating. I had a premonition of where I was being dragged.
“Yes, this is the ‘Living and Breathing Red’ of the ‘Thief of the Law of Blood.’ A Magic for visiting graves, which manipulates the blood soaked into the earth and allows one to speak with the dead—below that.”
Below the 99th floor, Hermina’s true “Magic” was unfolding.
In terms of combat effectiveness, it was a magic that manipulated specters. That’s why Kanami sarcastically called me a necromancer when we reunited in the Great Holy Capital.
However, the essence is slightly different. As you can see, its greatest true value lies in communicating with the deceased. I am being dragged into the abyss of that true value.
“—’I plunged my claws into the sky and tore apart the world.’ ‘Look up in awe. Now, I will rain blood from the rent sky’—”
She then recited the life of Hermina. With those nostalgic verses, she welcomed me.
“Welcome to the true 100th floor. Unlike the ‘imitations’ of the cult leaders, this is the ‘real’ one.”
“H-here? This place is the true 100th floor? This looks nothing like—”
“No. This is the true deepest part of the labyrinth. The ‘Deepest Part,’ the throne of God, are originally nonexistent domains—they are ‘fake’ alternate dimensions.”
“……!?”
“If you’re going to fall, you might as well fall into the ‘real’ thing. Shall we fall into this true ‘hell’ together?”
She called the area below the 99th floor “hell” and dragged me in.
Her “Demon” power was tremendous and strong. It was no match for me, a “Demon,” the masterpiece of the “Research Institute of Demonic Illusions.” It also helps that this place, situation, and Magic are too compatible with a “Demon” mixed with Hermina Neisha. After all, this deep sea of blood is Hermina’s life itself—
“Cough…!”
“Fufufu…”
Frankly, this is no time to talk with my childhood friend to settle things. I can’t even breathe, and it’s questionable whether I’ll survive, so I shout.
“M-Magic—!!”
Right up until I was dragged in, I was using Dimensional Magic, “Connection,” and “Default.” With my specialty in fresh blood magic, I am now in a body that can use dimensional attributes.
If I were to use anything, it would have to be “Distance Mute.” It’s a complex magic of special attributes, which is precisely why it should be difficult to seal or nullify. I can’t hold back now. I’ll momentarily phase one leg through and first escape her restraint—!
As I began to construct it without incantation, the one who spoke the name of the trump card magic first was—
“—Resonance Magic, ‘Distance Mute’.”
She grabbed my leg. My Magic was matched by her. Therefore, my leg would not phase through with that magic. Instead, my leg and her hand overlapped, becoming even more strongly connected. A magic wedge that would never separate was completed, and I was laughed at.
“Fufu, kufufu. …Hermina-sama is friends with Tiara-sama. There’s no way she couldn’t use it.”
“……!?”
I thought she was going to dissipate all my power, but only this was resonated. It’s likely that she was waiting, having lured me into using “Distance Mute.” I fell perfectly into her trap, and her arm and my leg began to merge.
It was the assimilation of souls through resonance. The boundary between her and me vanished, and our two consciousnesses overlapped.
This is bad. If this continues, I’ll join the “Blood Beasts” swimming around nearby. As I worried about this and turned my attention to the surroundings, I heard more voices—
“—Disappear just like that. Blend in and disappear. You too, blend in and die, drifting here forever, harboring resentment with us.”
“Perhaps the boy had no choice but to return. He made a promise with the hateful world. The name of the promise is ‘Helvishein’—”
“—Everyone died because of you. If you hadn’t guided the ‘God of Light’…!”
“It was a long time ago. The researchers of Fanian would all know. Have you forgotten, its mechanism? The meaning of pledging ‘The Deal with the World’ by name—”
“—Hate, hate, hate, hate. If you hadn’t sought a savior, we would be alive. Everyone would be alive. I could have lived with my mother then.”
Something is strange. Besides the voices resenting my survival, something else is mixed in. It’s an intelligent and gentle voice. The “Blood Beasts,” which I had always avoided because they drove all who saw them to madness, were now articulating coherent words.
“W-was it a long time ago? Fanian’s researchers…?”
“Yes, let’s blend into the past and return. With me, back to the very depths of Fanian on that day—”
When I muttered “a long time ago,” she agreed with “a long time ago.” The assimilation accelerated further.
—And then, as if to verify that “long time ago,” a completely different scene appeared in the deep sea of blood.
Was it a “Past Sight” of anyone here from a long time ago? In a state where our souls were beginning to assimilate, it was impossible to know for sure. However, albeit vaguely, a familiar-smelling underground room began to come into view. A room with a minimum of a desk and a chair, surrounded by musty bookshelves. It was here that three people once studied together and spent peaceful times.
In that room, the three of us—no, I wasn’t there.
Only Hermina and the janitor were present.
With just the two of them, Hermina wore a pained expression I had never seen her show me.
The childhood friend janitor, responding to her, spoke fluently in a way he had never spoken to me—
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
Hermina shook her head in apparent pain, and she spoke in her own words.
“—A name? No, that’s impossible. A name is absolutely out of the question. You don’t need one.”
“However, Lady Hermina. Having a name would make management easier. I believe it would also be more efficient.”
This was a request from a proper subordinate to their superior, made in the underground chambers of Fanian’s “The Seventh Demon Obstacle Research Institute” a thousand years ago.
However, Hermina gently refused, explaining it was for his own good.
“Because once you have a name, everyone truly goes mad… No, ordinarily, no one can even withstand the fact that they have a name. So, it’s better not to have a name from the start. It’s much better not to even know of existence…”
The janitor continuously stared at her face, glistening with cold sweat.
Hermina’s eyes darted around, and her voice began to tremble.
“Wh-who put you up to this? …Even without such a thing, you are ‘happy’! Because you have the ‘fortune’ of being born with the greatest ‘aptitude’! That’s why you are ‘happy’… I am the ‘happy’ you. Please, believe in that me…”
Her response was unstable and precarious, as if she had lost her footing.
Hermina’s soliloquy, which seemed to be a lie, continued.
“Names are a custom of the ground; they are not needed underground. Because once ‘lower-level employees’ fall underground, they can never return to the surface. Fanian’s law dictates that you can never go back. Let’s uphold that Rule together, shall we? Right?”
Saying so, Hermina forced a weak “fufu” laugh, looking truly frail.
“But, Lady Hermina…”
To the still-doubting janitor, Hermina finally pulled a book from her pocket.
The cover of the familiar ‘scripture’ was inscribed with the name “Hih.”
“It-it’s alright!! Me too! …I’m the same, you know? Once a researcher falls into depravity, they ‘can never return.’ There’s no turning back, and as ‘Hermina Neisha,’ I will be tormented by curses until I die. It might be a painful path. It might be a difficult path. …But someday, God will save us! So, it’s okay! It’s written right here! Chapter 1, Verse 1: ‘The you who is here is you!’ And this ‘you’ refers to all of us!!”
Without opening the book, she held it tightly and recited.
However, precisely because she had memorized everything, she seemed possessed by those words.
It made the observer anxious.
“Yes! And then, Chapter 1, Verse 7: ‘Ordeals are gifts of hope and good fortune. They will surely leave proof that you have moved forward tomorrow!’ So, it’s fine! You will surely be rewarded someday! If you believe, someday!! Ahaha, ahahahahahaha HAHAAAH!!”
She began to laugh heartily, her eyes unfocused.
As I already knew, Hermina, like me, was a follower of “Hih.”
That’s why her behavior was very similar to mine when I was the proxy for “Thief of the Law of Blood.”
And the way the janitor looked at Hermina was also strikingly similar to how people looked at me in the past.
They pitied the mad believer from the bottom of their hearts.
Under that gaze, Hermina quickly closed the distance and hugged the janitor.
“Please, my other self… we are the same. So please, don’t run away from me. Go mad with me… Being alone is lonely. I’m too anxious falling alone. So, let’s laugh together? Let’s read together? Let’s sing a song together? Let this ‘scripture’ be our life’s lullaby… okay? Fufufu, okay?”
Her heart was weak and full of cracks.
As expected, Hermina is a “Thief of Principles.” And she is also very similar to Kanami a thousand years later.
As I reconfirmed this, the janitor, to whom the word “mad” was being pressed, gently nodded in return.
“…Yes. Let’s live together. I truly like you, Lady Hermina.”
She accepted everything.
Perhaps relieved by that response, Hermina put the ‘scripture’ back in her pocket and returned to her composed researcher demeanor, smiling gently.
“Thank you, me. …Yes, let’s go together. Until the end of the Neisha Family, just the two of us.”
In my absence, the two of them joined hands.
In the underground chambers, they supported each other’s crumbling hearts and somehow managed to stabilize them.
—And that was the end of the underground chambers for that day.
The next was the daily life of the janitor after leaving the underground chambers, in the ‘lowest stratum.’
The routine work of cleaning began again.
Occasionally, urgent tasks would come in, but there was no hardship.
There was no suffering. There was no pain. Because there was no name, she was always ‘happy.’
As long as she followed Hermina’s instructions, she was ‘happier’ than anyone in the world, and she was being saved, she would “fufufu” with a seemingly “joyful laugh.”
The place that was hell for me appeared like heaven to her.
I could no longer help but acknowledge that past—or so I thought when it happened.
New voices began to echo.
Not mine. Completely unknown, lamenting voices from a third party—
“Ah, beautiful and pathetic, fleeting ‘failed products.’ Hurry and escape from that demon’s madness. Acknowledge this ugly, foolish distortion in the basement and search for ordinary ‘happiness’—”
It was a gentle, strangely grandiose voice.
This was heard when the cleaner was performing their cleaning duties, just as their name implied. The storage room for ‘Demons’ who had failed their experiments was a cold, stone-walled, inorganic space. Trapped within were the squishy ‘Blood Beasts,’ letting out inarticulate cries, “――――ッ, ――――――ッ!!” and she could interpret it.
“See our state clearly. If that Hermina is not a demon spreading madness, what else could she be? She sees you as nothing more than a spare for emergencies. Her kindness to you is born from fearing that her ultimate spare will escape. Eventually, after being treated as a thing, you will be discarded. . . . We know this well.”
It was a voice that seemed to preach doctrine. However, the cleaner refuted the calm voice head-on. She, too, spoke with a gentle, strangely grandiose voice.
“Demon…? Which of us? You should reflect on your own appearances more. Lady Hermina is the kindest and most beautiful researcher, shouldering the great cause of humanity.”
“Wake up from such convenient dreams. Trusting that woman is a nightmare itself.”
“Does it seem so? Hmph, hehe. You truly have gone mad, you pathetic ‘failed products.’ To capture me, who is ‘happy,’ and call it a nightmare. Kufu, hehe.”
“We are not mad. The only ones who are mad here are the two of you.”
“…Say whatever you want. No one will listen anyway, and no one will understand. Besides, who can draw the line between sanity and madness if not God? Therefore, believing in the sanity that makes oneself ‘happy’ is the most correct.”
The two spoke casually. The ‘Blood Beasts’ vibrated their non-existent throats, emitting voiceless sounds. The cleaner vibrated her clear throat, emitting a language that was not language.
Was it ‘Ancient Magic’ or ‘New Curse Technique’? It could no longer be verified, but it was certainly understood within the cleaner.
I am repeatedly surprised by how little I knew about her. It’s no wonder that no matter how many times I told her she was ‘unhappy,’ she never reached me. Before I could tell her, she had repeatedly heard the same story from the ‘Blood Beasts.’ During my childhood, I was jealous, thinking, “Hermina favors that cleaner and secretly teaches her many things.” However, in reality, far from teaching her anything, it was the opposite. Hermina took various things away from the girl. And it was these ‘Blood Beasts’ who gave this nameless girl education, taught her reality, and raised her to be like a researcher’s assistant.
“Even if it’s right, there are truths that cannot be changed. The reason you are kept close is for rational experimentation. You are merely undergoing indoctrination, by being made to believe that your master loves you and is loved by you, and by exploiting your attachment.”
“Heh, no matter how much you try to provoke me, it’s useless. Lady Hermina is the person I love. Your revenge for becoming sacrifices will not be achieved. Ever.”
“No, that is wrong. It is not so. We do not particularly hate that demon. We have no right to. . . . We only wish, at the very least, for you alone to be saved.”
“Huh…? Huh? Want me to be saved? Hah, hahahahahaha! Hahahahaha!!”
The girl, who had been listening coolly, seemed unable to bear it any longer. The ‘Blood Beasts,’ whose conversation had finally broken down, were left with no choice but to mutter to themselves.
‘It’s too late after all.’ ‘Only death offers salvation.’ ‘Waking from the nightmare is itself a nightmare.’ ‘The curse of the Neisha Family has no openings.’ ‘Neither surpassing nor taking is desired by the person themselves.’ ‘The teachings are no longer salvation.’ ‘Would it be better to kill them before they realize—’
‘Blood Beasts’ do not have vocal organs. However, due to their monstrous forms, they have many parts that closely resemble them. Therefore, they can vibrate simultaneously, and their self-questioning echoed like a reverberation. It resembled a researcher’s contemplation. But when what should be in the brain is exposed externally, it inevitably—
“Ah, how grotesque. Grotesque, grotesque, grotesque. . . . Just like the ‘monsters’ in fables. You have truly gone mad, to the point where you want to kill indiscriminately. These ‘failed products’.”
It was understandable for the girl to have thought so. After giving up on “understanding” them due to their “madness,” she scorned them as if they were “monsters.” Furthermore, she concluded they were specters who envied the living and looked down on them with pity.
“Truly, how pathetic. . . . But don’t worry. I will continue to take care of you so you can become ‘happy.’ I will be with you forever and ever. I will sing a lullaby to your pathetic lives. . . . No, shall we all sing together?”
“Do not imitate Hermina Neisha. There’s no need to pretend to be a spare. We want to put an end to those grotesque eyes.”
“This is a pretense? I cannot do such a noble thing. Because I am a nameless, incompetent, mad ‘lower-ranked staff.’ I am only ‘lucky’ and useful because I can communicate with the mad ‘Blood Beasts.’ Just a ‘bystander’ who monotonously repeats the same tasks—”
Even though words could be understood, the conversation never quite meshed.
This was the daily life on the ‘Deepest Floor’ a thousand years ago.
The cleaner treated the ‘Blood Beast’ as a guardian beast and lovingly continued to care for it, looking down with a sense of superiority. They doted on it and would occasionally sing it a lullaby.
The employees on the upper floors observed this, and perhaps gave up, concluding they were both mad. Since the inarticulate monsters seemed happy by considering each other family, it was presumed that was good enough…
A distorted, yet in a sense, complete environment.
Perhaps no one needed to interfere.
It was not sound, but at this time, she was filled with a sense of happiness and superiority. However, admitting that would mean… already a cleaner, long ago… She was…
…
Suddenly.
She was struck by a sensation of being overwhelmed by a black, dense fog.
Unable to see or read the future with ‘Past Sight’.
She was receiving interference from somewhere.
And there was only one being I knew that could interfere so conveniently.
Before I could even picture her face, she spoke.
“—Shut up, Cult Leader.”
“—Don’t butt into our memories.”
Her voice echoed directly in my head.
Her voice could be heard, as if butting into Kanami’s intrusion on my ‘Past Sight’. At the same time, the ‘Past Sight’ I was currently watching blurred with red.
It was being dyed red with a red…
.
.
.
.
.
Red, and black. Black, red, black, red, and… red… black… crimson,… vermilion black… crimson black… red… blood. … flesh and blood… hell…… fresh blood… blood… red and black… black… red…
–
Inside my head, the two of them argued.
Even with my extensive experience in torture, I couldn’t endure the headache.
It felt like my head was about to split open.
“—Just focus on your ‘failed magic’ that will save your world, Cult Leader.”
“—This, ‘All Living Red’, is sane, and through souls, it is a place that speaks of grudges. Unlike your ‘failed magic’, it is not a place filled with madness, fantasy, and dreams.”
“—I’ve already gone mad long ago. Because I’ve gone mad, I’m not going back. Is that really something that needs to be erased?”
Her tone had been astonishing up to this point, but now the cleaner’s voice grew furious.
And finally—
“—You too, right? It’s not something to avoid. Madness is necessary, and it was right. Even now, I believe it’s right. That’s why I was never needed. I didn’t need a helping hand! I didn’t need to be arbitrarily labeled as ‘unhappy’! I needed none of it!! Being treated as a nightmare and woken up from a ‘happy dream’ is the real nightmare! You, Cult Leader, must feel it more than anyone right now!? Only the truly mad are ‘happy’, the most perfect beings in this world!! Only by pretending can one realize it!!”
It felt like the first time I heard her scream.
This was likely her true feelings.
Her unvarnished essence, for both me and Kanami—
“—Ah, that’s right! It’s the two of you! You did unforgivable things!!”
“—Over there, I was living my life… I was desperately surviving… We were surviving more seriously than you…!!”
“—But you two destroyed it! Claiming to be the ‘Light God’! Preaching salvation! Looking down on us as you pleased!!”
“—What ‘ground’? What ‘festival’? The priestess’s light, the hero’s appearance? Helvishein and God’s script, it’s all pathetic. No, it’s disgusting…!”
“—A wicked cult leader pretending to be God. As expected, you are the most sinful. And next, ‘Neil’. ‘Neil’ will also be ‘forgiven’! The two who destroyed the ‘Demoncalance Research Institute’ that day will surely be ‘forgiven’…? ‘Forgiven’?”
“—‘Forgiven’? Hahaha!!”
“—Unforgivable!! How could you be forgiven!!”
Snap.
With those curses, I heard the sound of ‘Threads’ being severed.
At the same time, all of Kanami’s interference disappeared, and the ‘Past Sight’ of the ‘past’ also dissolved.
My consciousness began to pick up sounds from reality.
“—Unforgivable. Absolutely unforgivable. How could I be forgiven—”
My vision returned to a single color of red.
I was back in the deep sea of blood.
However, I hadn’t just returned.
The feeling of suffocation was overwhelmingly stronger than before I had used ‘Past Sight’.
The cleaner, who had been grasping my leg, was now spewing curses in front of me.
The cleaner’s lower body had finished merging with my torso.
And with that, she was strangling my neck with both hands—no, the number of arms had increased. My blurring vision caught sight of over ten long, white arms growing from her back. Using all of these countless arms, she was squeezing my neck like vice grips.
Her ‘Demonization’ was progressing amidst the crowd, and her transformation into a monstrous form was also advancing.
Together with her, I continued to fall into the depths of blood.
