"Holy shit!!"

The moment the blood he let flow out of his body reached a certain quantity, he understood what Madness meant by saying that he would know when it was enough.

*Grind* *Grind*

The loud sound of a badly oiled machine sounded in his ears.

*Rumble* *Rumble*

The whole laboratory began to vibrate as if it was suffering from a low-intensity earthquake

*Shing* *Shing*

The light coming from the floor began to shine and nearly blinded him.

If he wasn't basically immortal and able to teleport, he would have been worried about his safety.

The light and sound show was worthy of a B-rate sci-fi movie. But it was still pretty interesting. It continued for a while before,

*Ding*

A sound resembling that of an elevator sounded.

*Rumble* *Rumble*

A new tremor began resounding as what seemed like a door slowly opened under him. He just lightly fell 3cm lower on what looked like a platform. After a minute of waiting,

*Rumble* Rumble*

The platform began to slowly lower itself and go deeper into the earth.

All the while he felt like he was dreaming. The sole thought going through his head was,

"huh!! So there was a hidden facility in the hidden facility ?"

It was really difficult to believe. Just how many years has it been?

He left when he was 8 years old. Now he is 15 and going towards his 16. Eight years. How could such a facility be hidden for close to eight years with no one being able to find it?

"Where will it send me to?"

("Before answering this. Let me be honest with you. We cannot give you all of your memories back… for now.")

"...Continue."

("We cannot give you all of your memories. But I decided to show you some glimpses for you to understand exactly just how fucked up our enemies are.")

"You talk as if you personally know All For One."

("...")

"...Madness?...Don't tell me..."

("No. I personally don't know him. But I know who is our prime tormentor.")

"...What?"

("Before you let anger cloud your mind, know that we never met him personally. At least I don't think so.)

*Inhale* *Exhale*

Kuroha repeated this exercise for a while before finally calming himself enough to listen. Screaming and acting like a kid when someone tried to explain the truth to you was just a waste of time.

Pretty words aren't always true, while true words aren't always pretty. No matter how ugly it was, nothing could change the truth. As such, one should always be calm and collected even if the truth hurts.

Of course, this was easier said than done. But it was life. Life itself isn't easy.

"...Continue."

("Long story short, the amount of memories each of us has is dependent on the time of our birth and the end of our activity.")

"Okay."

("I was born one year after we entered the facility. Something happened. Something big. I don't totally remember what, I just remember that it completely broke us. It was the start of everything. But...From the rest of my memory...I can easily guess what happened.")

"What did you guess?"

Kuroha asked with bated breath. He could feel the barely concealed rage in Madness's voice.

("....*sigh* You'll see.")

"...Madness?...Madness!?"

Despite his call, Madness stayed silent and refused to answer.

---

The wait wasn't too long. A few minutes later,

*Bong*

He could feel a slight tremor. This means that he reached where he was meant to. He began to look around. A large gate was standing in front of him.

*Ding*

The gate began to open slowly, cold air seeping out of it. Finally, after a few seconds, the gate was completely open. The other side was cold and an eerie green light could be seen flashing a little further.

Kuroha looked deeply before finally opening his mouth,

"It's where you want me to go?"

("Yes")

"Nope, no way in hell I'm entering here."

("Wha...Why?")

"Why? You ask me why!?"

He gestured toward the gate.

"Please, this scene is basically screaming the death flag. I'm pretty sure that I will meet something I have no chance to beat if I go in there."

("....For the love of God FUCKING PASS THROUGH THIS DOOR! Nothing will happen!")

"Ok! ok! No need to get mad, I was just joking."

Finally, after a slight hesitation, he decided to simply enter. After all, what could happen?

---

Ten minutes later, Kuroha could be seen running from something.

"I TOLD YOU THAT IT WOULD HAPPEN!!!"

("SHUT UP!!! AND RUN AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!!!")

Why was Kuroha running away? From what was he running away from? Why wasn't he simply teleporting? The answer was easy. It was because…

---

OMAKE:

While he was descending, Kuroha began to wonder if this situation wasn't too cliche.

Like he was in need to know his past, and like by magic he learns that the destroyed laboratory had in fact not been completely destroyed and that a hidden part, that should have logically be found during the search, was still around

If he was reading this scene in a web novel, he would complain about how unoriginal this situation was while still being intrigued about what the author was going to show. Such is the dilemma of all readers.

("Stop trying to distract yourself by thinking about such useless subject.")

"*Sigh* So, what do you think I should do? Fidgeting will be of no use. Might as well distract myself. Speaking of which. The new animes this season are pretty good. Plunderer and Magia's record are really interesting. "

(" For once I am with you. Those Anime full of pain and despair are really interesting to watch.")

"fufufufu!!"

("fufufufu!!")

And that is how one slightly crazy man passed time while waiting for the elevator to reach his destination.