* * *

“……What should we do?”

No matter how far they walked, the end was nowhere to be seen. Even when he summoned a fireball, it didn’t light up anything. When thrown into the distance, it vanished without making a sound or hitting anything.

There was no exit. It felt like floating in the vast, dark expanse of the universe. If not for the warmth of Yozen’s hand, Cadel might have gone mad already.

“This is my first time in a place like this too. It’s so hard to grasp the contours of this space. It feels…… like the afterlife.”

An endless darkness where nothing existed. To Yozen, this place was no different from the boundary of death. It felt like walking a tightrope over death. He wasn’t afraid. He had always lived closest to death. What worried him was Cadel’s condition.

“Cadel.”

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay? Should we sit down and rest for a bit?”

“No, I’m fine. There’s no time to rest. If we don’t get out of here soon, we won’t be able to join the next fight.”

He said that confidently, but Cadel’s steps had grown noticeably slower than before. His breath had become faint, and his voice lacked strength. Even the beating of his heart was dull.

Cadel was gradually losing consciousness, little by little, without even realizing it. Yozen didn’t mention it because he didn’t want Cadel to feel anxious. Even if he noticed, there was nothing Yozen could do.

‘If we stay here much longer, Cadel will collapse again. And maybe…… he won’t wake up this time.’

This space was special. It wasn’t just the darkness. It numbed the senses, clouding the mind and extinguishing the flames of consciousness, one by one. After blocking all sensation, it would bring one to the brink of collapse.

‘In the end, he’ll die.’

The longer they stayed in the walls, the more Yozen became certain. Every element of this place pointed to death. It wasn’t good for any human to be this close to death. Even though he knew he had to get Cadel out of there quickly, he couldn’t find a way.

“But it’s really strange.”

“……What is?”

“It’s an urgent situation. It’s a bit hopeless. But…… I feel at peace. Is it because you’re here?”

Maybe not. The closer one got to death, the more it silently approached without a trace. The end of life could bring a strange comfort. It was as if the long and harsh journey was finally coming to an end, and there was even a sense of joy.

Yozen gripped Cadel’s hand tightly and let out a soft laugh. He did it to reassure him, but his chest was tightening in a way it had never before.

“Wait, Cadel. Stop for a moment.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Let’s rest here for a bit.”

At Yozen’s words, Cadel made a troubled expression. In a situation where every moment counted, rest felt like a luxury. In the first place, he didn’t feel tired enough to need a break.

After a moment of hesitation, Cadel nodded and stopped walking. Since it was Yozen who rarely showed signs of fatigue, he wanted to give him some time, even if just for a moment.

The two naturally let go of their clasped hands and relaxed into a comfortable position. Although he didn’t think he was tired at all, when he stopped walking, Cadel suddenly felt the tension in his body and realized how stiff he had become.

“Let’s rest for a bit and move on after. There must be a clue to escape somewhere.”

While rubbing his stiff shoulders, Cadel sighed lightly. Was this part of the story too? He thought to himself. It was his own mistake that led them to be pulled into the wall, so perhaps in the game, the other knights might have been subjected to the same fate, discovering the true nature of the maze. Regardless, he thought he would have never noticed any of it.

“Come closer, Yozen. I’ll rub your shoulders too.”

Having loosened up a bit, Cadel reached out his hand. But no matter how long he waited, nothing came back to him.

“Yozen?”

He called his name, but there was no response. The silence stretched on, and the chill crept through his spine. A sudden shiver ran down his back, and Cadel fumbled to stand up. He called out Yozen’s name loudly, but still, there was no reply.

“Yozen! Where are you……?”

In the deep darkness, Yozen had vanished without a trace.

* * *

How far could he love Cadel? He wondered if his love could ever measure up to that of the others. He had thought about it vaguely before.

He had known Cadel for a shorter time than the other companions. And whenever he observed Cadel’s interactions with his comrades and saw their feelings toward him, he instinctively realized that he could never be Cadel’s first.

In a broad sense, he could be his first, but never his only first. That thought gnawed at him, an unspeakable discomfort. Yozen wanted to be Cadel’s only love. His possessiveness grew stronger with each passing day.

There were two reasons why he had never expressed this dark emotion. One was that he didn’t want to become the kind of person who would destroy every other companion to make Cadel his one and only. The other was the fear of what Cadel’s reaction would be if he ever realized the extent of Yozen’s obsession.

That was why Yozen had tried to suppress his feelings for Cadel. Even when every moment by his side felt overwhelming, and when the sweet bliss of a kiss flooded his senses. He would push half of those feelings away, burying them deep within his unconscious mind.

He had intended to never bring those emotions to the surface. To keep them hidden, as though they never existed. But now, Yozen had found himself facing a crisis that could only be resolved by confronting everything he had buried. He had to face his feelings fully. And with that realization, it came to him.

Even if it meant dying a thousand times, for Cadel. For just one of his smiles, he would willingly lay down his life. The thought of dying for Cadel filled him with a strange kind of joy. It was a chilling emotion, and he knew well that this was not normal love.

He would gladly throw himself off a cliff at just a wave of his hand. With a single glance, he could indifferently take the lives of thousands. It was disgusting. Cadel would never know this loathsome feeling, and in the end, he would never know it.

‘So this was the structure.’

Having left Cadel, he settled not far away and released dark energy. It was impossible to outline the space, but that was only the case when he released dark energy within the range of his ability, without pushing it too far.

Yozen decided to gather every ounce of power in his body until he figured out the contours of the space and found a way out. This meant that he would stake his life on understanding the nature of the space.

Sometimes, the readiness for death brings a ray of light to vague despair. Yozen soon realized that no matter how much dark energy he released, he couldn’t reach the edge of the space because it wasn’t a dimension of infinity. His energy was cleverly altered in its trajectory, constantly swirling in the same place.

If he hadn’t released his energy recklessly like spilling blood, or if the energy didn’t belong to him, Yozen would never have noticed the subtle force controlling the space.

‘Something is stopping my energy from extending. If only I could defy this force……’

If he could explode the amount of dark energy he was swirling around with, counter the unidentified force, and control it as he willed, Yozen could achieve his goal.

He released dark energy more recklessly than before. Ignoring the limits of his body, the brutal pain in his limbs, and every other factor, he focused only on shattering the force that governed the space.

That way, Cadel would be able to live.

“……”

Beyond his wide-open eyelids, the dark energy orbs glistened. The dark energy continuously flowed down his pale skin, exuding a strange aura.

As the energy flowing through his body increased, trembling was added to his previously still form. Never in his life had he expelled so much dark energy all at once. His technique had always been executed under careful calculation. At every moment, he had to maintain at least a sliver of sanity in order to survive.

That was why the pain now felt so unfamiliar. The taste of blood lingered in his mouth, and the sensation of thick veins running down beneath his chin was vivid.

It was endlessly torturous. Yet, in the agony of his body breaking apart, Yozen felt a pleasure he had never experienced before. The paradoxical and cruel reality that his death would allow Cadel to live brought him strange joy.

With this choice, he would become Cadel’s eternal first. Deeply etched into his heart like a scar, never to fade away. He had no doubt of this.

The lips, tightly pressed together to endure the pain, twisted oddly as if following the smile.