CHAPTER 46 : The Roads of the Labyrinth
The labyrinth was breathing.
Zayn felt it beneath his soles, a slow, almost organic pulse rising from the damp stones. The suspended torches flickered without wind. The shadows, however, moved.
They had been walking for ten minutes. Maybe twenty. Time, here, no longer smelled the same.
Blanche walked beside him, her fingers brushing against the frozen walls she created instinctively. A thin layer of frost sparkled on her shoulders. She wasn't speaking. She was listening.
— "We should split up," Zayn said suddenly.
She stopped.
— "What?"
— "We'll cover more ground. Two roads, twice as many badges."
— "That's dangerous."
— "Everything here is dangerous."
Blanche stared at him. Her light eyes reflected the torchlight.
— "You want to get rid of me."
— "No. I want to win."
She was silent for a long moment. Then she nodded, slowly.
— "At the next intersection, I'll go right."
— "We'll meet in the center."
— "Promise?"
Zayn didn't answer. He knew that promises, in the labyrinth, weren't worth much.
They reached a crossroads. Three corridors. One left, one right, one straight ahead.
Blanche took the right without looking back.
Zayn hesitated for a second. Then he chose the left.
Behind him, silence fell again.
---
He walked alone.
His footsteps echoed against the walls, returned as distorted echoes. Sometimes he thought he heard a whisper. Sometimes, a scratching sound. But when he turned around, there was nothing.
Just the shadows.
Just the labyrinth.
He activated his OMNIHAND. The holographic interface flickered, unstable.
— "Map?" he murmured.
No answer. The network wasn't getting through.
— "Mentor?"
Nothing. The AI was blind.
Zayn cursed. He was about to deactivate the screen when a vibration ran up his forearm. Borealis. The artifact pulsed softly, like a metal heart.
— "At least you're still here."
He quickened his pace.
The corridor widened. The torches grew sparser. The darkness, denser.
Then a sound.
A footstep.
Just one.
Zayn stopped dead.
Behind him, a silhouette stood out in the gloom.
It didn't move. It waited.
— "Who's there?"
The silhouette stepped forward.
A blade glinted. Long. Narrow. A sword that drank the light.
Zayn recognized the stance. The posture. That unbearable calm.
— "Yojuro."
The boy emerged from the shadows. His face was empty, as always. But his eyes… his eyes gleamed with a different light. Colder. Older.
— "Zayn."
— "Were you trying to scare me or something?"
— "I was checking something."
— "What?"
Yojuro didn't answer. He sheathed his sword on his back. Black blade, silver guard. A sword that belonged to no known forge.
— "The Void," Zayn said, recognizing the artifact. "Your father gave it to you."
— "My father gave me many things. Not all of them good."
A silence.
Zayn crossed his arms.
— "Where are you going?"
— "Forward."
— "Forward where?"
— "Where there are badges."
Zayn exhaled.
— "We team up?"
Yojuro turned his head. He studied Zayn for a long time, as if reading something invisible on his face.
— "Why?"
— "Because you're dangerous. Because I'm dangerous. Because if we don't stick together, someone else will take our badges."
— "Logical."
Yojuro started walking again. Zayn followed.
They advanced side by side, in the thick silence of the labyrinth.
---
Ten minutes passed.
The corridors rolled by, identical. Black stones. Torches. Shadows.
Yojuro slowed down.
Zayn raised an eyebrow.
— "A problem?"
— "We're being followed."
Zayn turned around. Nothing. Just the empty corridor.
— "You sure?"
Yojuro didn't answer. His eyes scanned the darkness, searching for something Zayn couldn't see.
— "How long?"
— "Since the intersection."
— "Did you see him?"
— "No. But I feel him."
Yojuro placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
They walked a few more meters.
Then Yojuro stopped abruptly.
— "Now."
He spun around.
Behind them, at the end of the corridor, a silhouette stood motionless. Too far away to make out features. But the hands were glowing.
A bluish light. An aura. Concentrated Fumetsu, ready to strike.
Yojuro drew his sword.
The silhouette vanished.
Blink of an eye.
Absorbed by the shadows.
Yojuro remained frozen, sword raised.
— "Gone."
— "Did you see his face?"
— "No. But I saw his hands."
— "What was wrong with them?"
— "Something strange."
He sheathed his sword.
— "Maybe I'm imagining things."
Zayn didn't believe that. Yojuro never imagined things.
They resumed walking.
But the atmosphere had changed. Heavier. Damper. As if the labyrinth was holding its breath.
Yojuro suddenly looked up.
Zayn did the same.
Above them, clinging to the ceiling like a spider, a man was watching them.
His face was hidden in shadow. Only his mouth, split into a strange smile, was visible. His hands… his hands were covered in pieces. Small, colored bricks. Like Lego. A mismatched gauntlet made of millions of tiny blocks that fit together perfectly.
The man fell.
Landed without a sound.
Stood up, dusting off his shoulder.
— "Hey. Looking for something?"
His voice was calm. Amused. Almost friendly.
Zayn took a step back.
— "Who are you?"
The man tilted his head.
— "Ah. I forgot to introduce myself. Sorry."
He placed a hand on his chest.
— Jonathan Holloway. Student of Class Eclipse. But my friends call me Jo."
— "We're not your friends," Zayn growled.
Jonathan shrugged.
— "Too bad. I like making friends."
His hands glowed. The little Lego bricks began to click, assembling and disassembling at a frantic speed.
— "But hey. In the labyrinth… that's not why we're here, right?"
Zayn activated Borealis.
The artifact opened. Green runes wrapped around his wrist.
— "Primal…"
Nothing.
The OMNIHAND flickered. An error message appeared.
— "Synchronization failed. Bandwidth insufficient."
— "What?!" Zayn hit the bracelet. "No no no, not now!"
Jonathan Holloway watched him, amused.
— "Technical issues?"
— "Shut up."
Yojuro stepped forward.
— "I'll handle it."
He drew his Void sword. The black blade cut through the air.
— "Step back, Zayn."
— "But…"
— "Step back."
Zayn obeyed, retreating a few paces, fists clenched, powerless.
---
Yojuro and Jonathan faced each other.
The corridor was wide, just enough for an honorable fight.
Jonathan raised his Lego-covered hands. The little bricks clicked, forming a rectangular shield on his forearm.
— "You're Yojuro, right? The receptacle."
Yojuro didn't answer.
— "Rumors say you're dangerous."
— "Rumors tell the truth."
He struck.
First blow. Vertical. Black blade splitting the air.
Jonathan raised his Lego shield. The bricks locked tighter, hardening under the impact. A metallic shock. Sparks.
Yojuro followed through.
Horizontal. Cross. Diagonal.
Jonathan retreated, blocked, retreated again. His Lego changed shape every second – shield, vambrace, gauntlet, anything to block.
— "You're fast," Jonathan breathed.
Yojuro didn't answer.
He accelerated.
The blows rained down. A cascade of steel and shadow.
But Jonathan held.
His Lego didn't break. They absorbed. They reformed.
Yojuro feinted. Jonathan dove right, too late. The black blade grazed his shoulder. A thread of blood beaded.
Jonathan smiled.
— "Not bad."
He counterattacked.
His fist, covered in Lego, extended. The bricks deployed into an improvised lance that shot toward Yojuro's chest.
Yojuro dodged with a quarter-turn. The lance passed within two centimeters.
He retaliated.
A kick to the flank. Jonathan stumbled, but his Lego activated, forming a back plate that cushioned the fall.
He stood up, out of breath.
— "You're strong."
Yojuro raised his sword.
The artifact began to glow.
The black blade twisted. Contracted. Changed.
In a flash, it became shorter. More curved. An eastern blade. A katana. Its surface was so smooth it reflected the torchlight like a water mirror.
— "An ultra-sharp sword," Yojuro murmured. "I call it Dream-Cutter."
Jonathan frowned.
— "Your sword can change shape?"
— "It can take the form of any legendary blade."
— "Convenient."
— "Very."
Yojuro attacked.
The katana cut through the air without a sound. No whistle. No shock. Just an invisible line dividing the world in two.
Jonathan raised his Lego shield.
The sword passed through the bricks as if they were butter.
Jonathan screamed.
He stumbled back, hand against his arm. The Lego were sliced clean, pieces falling to the ground like stones. A deep gash ran along his forearm.
— "Damn…"
Yojuro advanced, relentless.
Jonathan stamped his foot. Lego erupted from the ground, forming a wall between them.
Yojuro cut through it in a single stroke.
But behind the wall… no one.
A hole in the wall. A hidden passage.
Jonathan had fled.
— "Coward," Zayn breathed.
Yojuro sheathed his katana.
— "No. Smart."
He turned around.
— "He'll be back."
— "With what?"
— "With more Lego."
Zayn shook his head.
— "Your arm." He pointed at Yojuro's shoulder.
A cut. Thin. Red.
Jonathan had managed to wound Yojuro.
Yojuro watched the blood run down his uniform.
He chuckled.
A soft laugh. Almost inaudible.
His eyes changed.
His pupils dilated. His iris, usually dark, shifted to violet. A deep violet, almost black, that seemed to suck the light from the torches.
On his cheek, a mark appeared. A symbol. A circle broken by three curved lines.
The mark of the Harihiho clan.
Zayn stepped back.
— "Yojuro…?"
Yojuro raised his head.
His violet eyes glowed in the darkness. Calm. Ancient. Inhuman.
— "He wounded me."
His voice was strange. Deeper. Slower.
— "No one wounds me for free."
— "What are you…"
— "The Kairos Eyes."
Zayn didn't understand.
But he felt it.
The air around Yojuro had changed. As if time itself had slowed, hesitating, praying not to be noticed.
Yojuro blinked.
The violet faded.
The mark disappeared.
His face returned to its usual coldness.
— "Let's go."
— "Wait, you can't just…"
— "Let's go, Zayn."
Zayn closed his mouth.
He followed Yojuro into the corridor.
Behind them, the broken Lego lay scattered on the ground, still smoking.
Ahead, the shadows waited.
And somewhere in the shadows, Jonathan Holloway was sealing his wounds with tiny colored bricks, a smile on his lips.
— "See you soon, Yojuro."
The labyrinth, for its part, held its breath.
---