Red didn’t hear the rest of Allen’s words. As blood poured down his arm, his vision flickered, and the boy felt the world spin around him. Everything around him turned into a blur, a collection of images he knew were there but couldn’t make sense of. Neither noise nor smell reached him, either.

But that wasn’t all.

His crimson sense also started to act strangely. The fluctuation of his companions got muddled with each other until Red couldn’t tell them apart. Then something else appeared. He felt his crimson sense focusing on another fluctuation.

‘The blood.’

Red felt it. He looked down at his bleeding arm, the only thing his eyes could discern at the moment. The self-inflicted wound wasn’t severe and the blood pouring down his forearm was nothing more than a fine line, and yet he could feel it. His crimson sense flared like never before, pointing towards the red fluid.

It wasn’t like the fluctuations Red had sensed before. In fact, it wasn’t like a fluctuation at all. It was a deep and eerie connection between him and the blood, as if after the fluid had left his body, it became something else. Almost like it was an extension of his being.

Red focused on this sensation by instinct, trying to decipher what it meant.

Suddenly, the blood moved like a tendril, as if it had a life of its own. The boy shivered, an unexplainable fear invading the very depths of his mind. Then, a bout of dizziness assaulted his head, the connection between his crimson sense and this small blood tendril disappearing. Red fell to his knees and held his head in pain.

It wasn’t until almost a minute had passed that the youth finally collected himself.

‘W-What just happened?’

The youth couldn’t wrap his head around it. The memories of primal fear and the strange connection to his own blood were still fresh in his mind, but they had disappeared in a flash. When Red looked down at his arm, he could still see the same wound and the blood pouring out of it, but his crimson sense no longer picked any strange sensation.

“R-Red, are you okay?” Allen’s voice dragged him out of his own thoughts.

“I-I’m fine…” Red said, still recovering from the experience. “I just need to…”

The boy trailed off as he looked up, his mind freezing in shock.

He was no longer in the tunnel. Instead, Red found himself standing in a large cave chamber, lit up by torches hanging from the wall. His mind took a few moments to catch up, and the boy came to a sudden realization.

‘I escaped the illusion?’

“Red, why aren’t you saying anything?!” Allen said, his tone becoming more concerned.

“I said I’m…” Red frowned, trailing off again. He noticed something strange as his senses returned to him.

The young master’s voice was not coming from right in front of him, as the boy expected. Instead, it was coming from behind him.

Red turned around and was presented with a peculiar scene. Allen, Rimold, and Rog were standing around a spot not too far away from him. The strange thing, though, was that they were all looking in different directions, all staring at nothing in particular. None of them were looking at Red.

Allen continued to beg to empty air, almost on the verge of tears. “R-Red, please! What happened to you?! J-Just wake up!”

“Something strange must be going on…” Rog said to a cave torch while scratching his beard.

“Could that brat have escaped the illusion?” Rimold frowned, face up against a cave wall.

“Maybe?” the hunter shrugged. “Or maybe his knife was poisoned…”

“P-Poisoned?!” Allen’s eyes widened in concern.

Red continued to watch the strange scene in silence. The group continued to discuss between themselves, sometimes even walking in circles around the chamber before turning back and walking to another spot. At some points, the boy was worried they would end up burning themselves in the torches, but that never came to pass, surprisingly enough.

After a minute of observation, Red spoke up again. “Hey, I’m right here.”

None of them seemed to hear him.

‘So the illusion is filtering out what I say?’

Red felt compelled to continue testing this supposed illusion, but he knew there were other things they needed to do. The question was, though, how could he free them?

‘Maybe physical contact will work?’

He approached Allen, who continued to argue with empty air. “H-He’s not even breathing anymore, b-but he’s still standing! How is that possible?!”

Red touched the young master’s shoulder, expecting a reaction. However, Allen didn’t seem to notice him and remained trapped in the illusion. The youth then resorted to shaking his companion, but still nothing happened.

Red frowned, but an idea suddenly came to his mind.

Allen continued to argue with his other companions. “W-We need to do something, w-what if-”

A slap to the face interrupted the young master’s words.

“Ow!” Allen held onto his cheek in pain. “W-What just- Red, you’re alive!” the young master’s eyes widened in joy once he saw Red standing in front of him. “I knew you wouldn’t… W-Wait, where are we?”

The young master looked at the surrounding chamber in shock.

“We’re out of the illusion.” Red said.

“Ah, I see!” Allen nodded his head in eagerness. “Then we must have… Wait, were you the one who slapped me in the face?”

The boy nodded. “It was the only way to drag you out of the illusion.”

“That makes sense, I think… W-Wait! What about the others?!”

“They’re right there.” Red pointed at the two men.

Allen looked at Rog and Rimold with confusion. They were standing around the room, talking to empty air.

“Wait, it happened to Allen too!” the rogue said in alarm. “He has stopped moving!”

“You’re right!” the hunter nodded. “Maybe he accidentally cut himself on the poisoned knife, too.”

“That doesn’t even make sense!”

Allen looked back at Red.

“Are they still stuck in the illusion?” he asked.

Red nodded. “We need to slap them in the face too.”

“Ah, I see! Then I’ll go wake up Rimold and you-”

“No. I’ll handle Rimold.”

“Oh…” Allen looked taken aback by his words. “I-I guess that’s fine too.”

The young master approached Rog while Red headed towards where Rimold stood. However, he had different plans for the rogue.

“Maybe they’re being taken out of the illusion! Right?!” Rimold massaged his temple in concern. “It might just be a matter of time before we also- AAAAGH!”

Red reared back and kicked the man in the groin.

The man fell to the floor onto his knees. “W-What the fuck?! Who did-” he froze, noticing the change in environment. “T-This is…”

“You’re out of the illusion.” Red said.

“Huh?” Rimold turned around, looking at Red. “A-Are you the one who took me out?”

The boy nodded.

“I-I see…” the rogue looked embarrassed. “I suppose I should thank- Wait! Were you also the one who kicked me in the-”

“Agh!” Allen’s voice suddenly came from the other side of the chamber.

Red looked over and saw Rog was holding the young master in the air by one of the boy’s hands.

“I-I’m sorry, Master Rog!” Allen cried out in pain. “I didn’t mean to hit you!”

“Hm?” the hunter frowned. “If you didn’t mean to hit me, why did you slap me in the face?”

“I-I was just trying to take you out of the illusion.”

“Oh…” Rog looked around. “I suppose it did work, did it not?”

Allen nodded frantically.

“But we seem to be in a different place altogether…” the hunter scratched his beard with his free hand. “How can an illusion formation transport us to somewhere completely different?”

“Uh…” the young master looked like he had something to say.

“Hm, do you have a theory?”

“N-No, I was just wondering… Can you let me go now?”

The hunter was still lifting the boy in the air.

“Oh, right!” Rog slapped the top of his head and let Allen go. “Sorry about that.”

“I-It’s okay.” the young master looked over at Rimold. “Rimold, you’re also out of the illusion! Wait, why are you on the ground holding your…” an expression of realization set on the boy as he looked at Red. “Did you…”

Red nodded. “I took him out of the illusion, yes.”

Allen shuddered, remembering their first sparring session.

“Y-You fucking devil!” Rimold got up, still wincing from the pain. “You were just trying to get revenge on me!”

“Revenge?” Red frowned. “Why would I save you if I wanted revenge?”

“Y-You!” the rogue’s eyeballs almost popped out of his head.

“Enough, Rimold.” Rog spoke up and shook his head. “He saved our lives.”

“B-But he…” Rimold gritted his teeth. “Agh! Fine! But don’t think I will forget this, you brat!”

“I’d expect not.” Red nodded. “You will need to repay me one day for saving your life.”

The rogue almost went into another tirade but held himself back in the end. As the group came back to their senses, they were finally able to examine the chamber they were in.

The cave room was very wide, about one hundred meters in diameter. The ground and walls, however, were very smooth for a naturally formed cave, and it looked just as artificial as the endless tunnel. There was only one passage in and out of the room, and other than the torches hanging on the wall, there were no items in the chamber.

“How did we even end up here…” Rog said with a frown. He looked over at Red. “Did you light up those torches?”

Red shook his head. “They were already lit up when I got out of the illusion.”

“Already lit up?” these words didn’t make Rimold happy. “Who could have lit up the room other than you?”

The boy shrugged. “I have no reason to lie to you.”

Rimold gritted his teeth, but didn’t pursue the subject.

“Who lit up the room is not the main concern.” Rog looked at the group. “What really matters is how we got into a completely different room than when we entered the tunnel.”

“Couldn’t the illusion have led us here?” the rogue asked.

“Not according to the boy’s power.” the hunter shook his head. “We were just circling around the same fifty meters, so how could we have walked into a completely different section of the tunnel?”

Red frowned. “Maybe the formation teleported us here?”

“Teleportation?” the hunter looked bewildered at the suggestion. “That is a rare type formation even among cultivators!”

“But it’s the only explanation that makes sense, isn’t it?” Rimold agreed with the boy’s words for once.

“Maybe.” Rog nodded with a smile. “But you do know what that means-”

“Uh, guys…” Allen called to them, interrupting their conversation.

The three of them turned to look at Allen at the same time.

“Hm, what is…” Rimold trailed off, as he noticed what had caught the young master’s attention.

Words had begun to appear on the wall of the chamber. In fact, they were being carved into the rock surface out of thin air. The entire group stared at the scene in shocked silence.

It wasn’t until a few seconds later that the words stopped forming, and they could read a complete sentence.

"Only he who knows Death as a friend may go further."