∼ Day 211 ∼

Swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat, I carefully tore my eyes off the headless corpse as it slid to the ground. Everyone seemed just about as shocked as I was, even the stone-cold woman's demeanor had changed just enough to reveal her underlying emotions.

There was one oddity, however. The lizard lady, the one that reminded me of a dragonewt, seemed to stumble and actually had to right herself.

"You okay?" I asked, wondering if the Fae hadn't been the only one hurt by... whatever that thing was.

She shook her head as if she was bewildered and coming out of a dream. But as she registered my words, she just nodded a curt; I'm fine.

"Odd.." I couldn't help but think, wondering what connection that had to whatever just happened with the woman whose head now was no more than gory paint on the labyrinth walls.

"By the celestials, what was that?!" The rogue gawked, breaking my train of thought.

He paused, looking around warily, shooting glances up and down the tunnel we were walking.

"I- uh, should we be expecting more of... whatever that was?" He asked hesitantly, by default looking to the stoic woman who had already returned to her air of frigidness.

She appeared to take a moment to think but ultimately shook her head.

"I do not believe we're in any imminent danger," She said.

"No imminent danger?! Say that to the headless bitch over there!" He scoffed, pointing an accusatory finger.

The leonids and the dwarf seemed reluctant to agree with the uncouth rogue but nonetheless nodded their consensus.

"We would not be killed such as that without rime or reason, so we or the Fae must've triggered or done something to elicit this... execution." She explained. "Therefore, I do believe that currently, we should be in relative safety - that is of course if we avoid doing something that would trigger this event again."

The rogue deflated a bit at that, with everyone also returning to create their own theories or hypotheses as to just what actually happened.

"Regardless, I do think it is time that we take this stage more seriously and set aside our caution towards each other." She proposed.

A few moments of sharing looks between the now seven-strong group showed a clear reluctance to do exactly that. Up until now, we had all acted just about as reserved as we could get away with. Not revealing any of our abilities and trump cards since as far as we knew, we could all be teammates one second, and enemies the next.

Such information of what our capabilities and powers were would most likely be the determining factor whether or not one would emerge from this Trial alive.

But as the woman pointed out, it appeared that we no longer really had any choice about it. If it really meant that any of us could be killed in an instant due to holding back, we couldn't continue going on like this.

"I'll start then," The apathetic woman said when it was obvious that everyone had come to the same conclusion. "I am the Lady of Absolution, and in regards to anything magical, I should generally have a solution. Amongst other things, my skill set is one of peculiar proportions."

Her explanation was short and concise, not giving too much information that could be detrimental to her while making sure that we understand what she brings to the table.

Seeing that no one else was stepping forward, I decided to just nip it in the bud and step forward.

"Sanguine Lord, specializing in the magic of blood and shadow. My abilities are quite versatile so they allow for a wide array of options," I explained, not really giving away the specifics of my true strengths. "Name's Xavier by the way - never mentioned yours?"

I directed this question towards the woman.

She just stood there, appearing to gauge me - though I could never know with that stone face of hers.

"We might as well get names out of the way while we're at it," I added as the moment of silence stretched out for what was a little more than what was comfortable.

"Morgana," She answered simply.

With that, introductions ran smoothly.

After me, were the two leonids whose names I already knew from the one peak I got at their statuses when they had attacked the dwarf.

On that note, I had already attempted to use Codex on the remaining individuals of our motley group, but when they weren't three uncaring warriors and unguarded to my divination skill, it hadn't been a possibility of me gleaming any of their secrets let alone names before now.

Unsurprisingly, Amos brought a whole lotta strength and destructive power to the table whereas Therod with that insanely high stamina of his could empower his physical form to perform a variety of qualities. Anywhere from increased resistances to increased strength and speed.

The dragonkin-like lady, introduced as Zarzha, was what I could best describe as some kind of shamanic druid as she was in tune with the elements of nature and the spirits.

Whether or not that had anything to do with the kind of shaman that Ursa was, I did not know. But at least I knew that she was some kind of mage that specialized in nature and the soul.

The pessimistic dwarf needed a bit more encouragement to introduce himself, but he eventually did so - begrudgingly.

Bugnumli, Lord of Solitude, was essentially a walking boulder. Bringing a whole lot of force and a whole lot of defense at the cost of needing others to take the fight to him.

He for some reason reminded me a lot like what I thought a lonely mountain would be like.

Lastly, there was the rogue - Jasper.

The Shadowed Lord.

His title was quite a bit more ominous than what his personality and seemingly eccentric disposition would've made me expect, but that didn't stop me from viewing him as a threat. No one here was anything less than one.

As I had expected from his get-up and what I've seen so far, he was an assassin or rogue of some type, and seemingly one of very similar ability to how those of the Order back in Ebongrave operated. Equipped with the power of his shadows, he displayed deadliness through his skill with the blade.

But what truly surprised me the most about Jasper was that he had no mana to speak of.

His control over the shadows was purely based on his title as a lord. How exactly that worked and what possible cost he could be paying to manipulate and control shadows at the level he did, I hadn't the faintest idea.

Introductions done, and after me not-so-discreetly siphoning the dead Fae's blood, we spent a while discussing how we should go about this Labyrinth we've been dumped in. Finding out what we needed to do didn't actually take much time, most of that time spent convincing Jasper and Bugnumli to take the roles best suited for them.

Jasper as a scout and Bugnumli as the frontline should Jasper fail in discovering any danger before we could react.

Zarzha backed up Jasper with her superior presence and sensing capabilities and the two leonids flanked the dwarf to support the stocky man despite their previous... differences.

As for me and Morgana, we simply did what we could to keep our senses peeled and powers ready.

At first, our descent deeper into the Labyrinth was barely faster than a crawl, but the further we got, the more we became sure that whatever the Fae had done to set off the trap or attack was something that she herself had caused by doing something specific that the System or Trial probably so happy with.

Walking down this seemingly endless tunnel, everyone, myself included, began wondering exactly why this place was called a Labyrinth in the first place. We had spent at least more than two full days just exploring this tunnel that stretched on forever, with nothing new to break the monotony.

We had speculated maybe it was some kind of illusion or puzzle, but no matter what we tried or what theory we came up with, nothing worked. We couldn't sense anything wrong with the tunnel either, so were were rather perplexed. Our walk had also escalated to a fast jog as no danger presented itself again after the Fae's death.

But still, no end was in sight.

With the tensions high and the nerves of not knowing if your next action would be the mistake that ended your life, the temporary relations we had built between the group quickly deteriorated and so did our mental states. If not for Morgana's uncanny ability to void and dispel almost any tumultuous emotions before they got out of hand, fights would've already long broken out between the more hot-headed of the party.

But even she couldn't account for all of us, which one such example was an incident between Jasper and me.

***

"So, the no-shirt thing is a fashion statement or whatever - not a kink?" He asked as jogged beside me, barely focusing on making sure whatever was ahead of us would not kill us. "Gee - you treehuggers really do get into the oddest of things,"

I had tried my best to ignore the insufferable guy for the last two hours, but he would just not shut the fuck up. And by now, I could almost feel the vein in my forehead about to pop from the frustration he caused me with all his constant blabbering and childish mockery.

"Do all elves run around topless? I mean, if so, you wouldn't mind introducing me to some lady friends or family - If it's the case, I definitely wouldn't mind meeting some of your- AERGH!" He continued before all of a sudden cutting off with an undignifying choke.

Pressed up against the wall, my hand cupped around the man's throat as I looked him into those dark eyes of his.

"For one second in your life, just - shut - your - fucking - trap," I said, annunciating each word slowly.

My patience had bubbled over, and my restraint failed me. There was just something about this guy or this place that somehow got under my skin. But even so, I did not intent the guy any harm nor did I actually harm him. But besides that, there was something else that I could not put my finger on that made my anger so out of character - flare out of control.

"Wh- ah- what, how-argh," Jasper sputtered, hands gripped around my forearm with panic.

The shadows that usually answered to the rogue's every beck and call seemed to fail him as they flickered and dissipated around his neck and my hand. What would've normally let the guy completely escape into a mote of shadow no longer adhered to him at all and left him wholly to my will.

The sudden realization of that completely brought me out of my anger as I finally took notice of the potent and unfamiliar energy streaming from my core.

"My magic is entirely overpowering his control..." I realized with no small amount of surprise on my own part.

The magic that had been on the fritz for a while now was ruthlessly domineering the rogue's power. It was almost like in the face of whatever my magic had turned into, the energy that he used was inferior to that of mine. Not in quantity or quality, but more like it was just willingly surrendering to something of the higher hierarchy.

"How... odd..." I thought to myself.

But just as the realization came of what was happening, the instinctual usage of my new, more primal magic, fizzled out.

Just as quickly as the unknown construct of magic faded and the grip on Jasper's powers with it, he disappeared from my grip into a puff of shadows.

"W-what the fuck was that!?" Jasper's voice sounded, a couple dozen meters away, much farther down the tunnel from where I stood.

He was obviously panicked, being suddenly stripped of his power having taken a toll on his confidence and nonchalant attitude.

"Yeah... what was that?" I muttered to myself, barely audible.

Staring at my hand of which the residue of the powerful and almost fundamental energy still remained.

"We need to get moving again," A voice said, breaking through my distant thoughts and quelling Jasper's whining and constant barrage of obscenities.

Looking at the apathetic woman's face as she spoke, I didn't fail to notice her mask of indifference ever so slightly slipping.

"I believe the longer we spend traveling down this tunnel, the more likely we will be at each other's throats." She explained. "It appears to have that effect on us."

I agreed to that sentiment, especially after what had just happened.

I really had just exploded without meaning to, surprising even myself.

"Yeah, let's," I said.

***

Without much more regard for whatever might lay ahead, we pushed the speed of our party to a rapid sprint that everyone could match.

Morgana's hunch proved to be right after only a day longer as another altercation broke out. This time it was initiated by one of the leonids, Therod, but not directed at the somber dwarf as you would've expected but at his fellow beastkin brethren - Amos.

They come to what appeared to be an argument that quickly descended into shouting. Morgana tried to calm the situation, but try as she might, the argument and tension ultimately had Therod thrown into quite the rage.

Therod looked just about ready to kill Amos had he had drawn his weapon with a lunge, but it was at that time, the dreaded sound of something we had all heard before returned.

Fear blossomed in all of our hearts.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

The cadence of those sounds rose from a distant noise to a rapid approach before we could really react.

Then, splat.

Therod was torn in half as something even larger than the one that had executed the Fae tore straight through the leonid's hulking form.

The force of whatever object it was that struck the beastkin was enough to render Therod's entire abdomen and hips to nothing more than bloody strips of flesh. His lower body and upper torso fell to the ground with wet thuds as the sound of death continued down the tunnel and disappeared.

Silence.

We all just stared at the corpse of the once great and terrifyingly powerful warrior, the gears in our head whirring like mad to put things together.

"Another Sanctioned Lord, snuffed out - just like that," I sardonically mused.

"This is the actual test," Morgana spoke up, the first to break the suffocating silence. "It is designed to make us turn against each other."