All this time, I honestly didn't know what I was doing. I was just moving forward—dragged by anger, regret, and grief.
And now the maze wants me. It always did.
Even if I have to sacrifice everything, I will reach my goal. This isn't about who you are—it's about what you're willing to become.
If the world demands a monster to blame... then I will answer.
And I will become someone the world will regret ever giving birth to.
Rin collapsed to one knee.
The pain was inhuman.
It wasn't like being stabbed or burned—this was as if his body was being rewritten. Bones cracked, then cracked again, reshaping. Muscles tore apart only to be forced back together. His veins felt like molten iron flooding through them.
His vision blurred.
He bit down harder.
Crunch.
Blood flooded his mouth as his own teeth cut through his tongue. His hands dug into the ground, fingers snapping out of place under the pressure. The earth beneath him shattered from the force wracking his body.
Don't scream.
If you scream, you die.
Rin's entire body trembled violently, but not a sound escaped his throat—only broken, choking breaths forced through clenched teeth.
The maze was watching.
Inside his mind, memories surfaced against his will.
His parents' final moments.
The helpless screams of his friends.
Every time he ran. Every time he failed.
The voice returned, calm... almost curious.
"Interesting. Most beg by now."
Rin's thoughts were barely holding together, but his will burned hotter than the pain.
You want me?
Then take everything.
His heartbeat slowed.
Once.
Twice.
Then—it stopped.
For a brief, terrifying moment, Rin was sure this was death.
But the pain didn't end.
It condensed.
The destruction reversed, violently. Bones snapped back into place, stronger. Muscles reformed tighter, denser. His shattered fingers realigned with sickening precision. Something deep inside him—something that should not exist—anchored him.
Rin gasped as his heart slammed back into motion.
BOOM.
He sucked in air like a drowning man, coughing blood onto the ground. His body shook, but he didn't collapse this time.
Slowly—very slowly—he stood.
His legs felt unfamiliar. Lighter. Stronger. As if they no longer belonged to the boy who had entered the path.
The girl stepped out from the shadows again.
The Maze.
She tilted her head, eyes glowing faintly.
"You didn't scream," she said, smiling wider. "You didn't even beg."
Rin wiped the blood from his mouth. His tongue had healed—but the taste of iron remained.
He looked at her with eyes that no longer held hesitation
For the first time, the path trembled—not from the undead...
...but from Rin.
Then she laughed.
A laugh filled with delight
The next rule was given.
No one is allowed to move for the next hour.
The moment the words settled, the ground began to shake.
Cracks spread across the path as monsters crawled out of nothingness—bodies twisted at impossible angles, flesh fused with bone, souls corrupted beyond recognition. Their eyes locked onto Rin.
Then they ran.
Rin didn't step back.
He couldn't.
The rule bound him in place, crushing down like an unseen weight. His muscles screamed for motion, but even breathing felt like a violation.
So he tightened his grip.
Rin raised his sword.
There was no fear on his face. No anger. No hesitation. He looked like a man who had burned through every emotion he had left.
The first monster reached him.
Rin swung.
Steel tore through corrupted flesh. Claws ripped into his side. Blood spilled—but Rin didn't react. He didn't retreat. He didn't scream.
He swung again.
And again.
They wounded him. Bit him. Tore pieces from his body.
Rin stayed standing.
His feet never moved.His grip never loosened.His eyes never blinked.
An hour had never felt so long.
The monsters didn't stop.
But the pain… changed.
Their claws still tore flesh, their teeth still crushed bone—yet the agony began to echo, stretching unnaturally, as if time itself had slowed around Rin.
Then the maze whispered.
"You're doing it again."
Rin's sword froze mid-swing for a fraction of a second.
The monsters around him shifted.
Their deformed bodies twisted, melted, and reformed into shapes he recognized.
Too well.
One had his uncle's face—eyes wide with terror, blood pouring from his mouth.Another wore his friend's armor, cracked exactly where Rin had failed to protect him.A smaller figure stood behind them… trembling.
"Why didn't you move?" the voice asked softly."You could have saved us."
Rin's teeth clenched so hard they cracked.
It's not real.It's the maze.
But his hands shook.
The rule pressed down harder.
No one is allowed to move.
The monster with his mother's face stepped forward, reaching for him.
"Rin," it said in her voice, warm and broken."Does it still hurt?"
Something inside him splintered.
The maze laughed—not loud, not cruel—curious.
"This is where most of them scream," it said."Or beg. Or run inside their own heads."
The world around Rin began to collapse into memory.
The battlefield where his parents died.The moment he hesitated.The second that cost everything.
"You say you'll sacrifice everything," the voice continued."So let's start with the part of you that still hopes."
The monsters lunged again.
Rin didn't close his eyes.
He didn't look away.
His sword moved—not with rage, not with desperation—but with acceptance.
"I know," he whispered, voice steady despite the blood filling his lungs."I failed."
He cut them down.
One by one.
Not because they weren't real—but because they were.
The maze went silent.
The illusions shattered like glass, the monsters collapsing back into corrupted husks.
For the first time since the rule was given, the pain lessened.
And the maze spoke again—quiet now.
"You didn't deny it.""You didn't blame fate."
A pause.
"You took responsibility."
Rin stood there, unmoving, body torn apart, sword dripping.
"I don't need forgiveness," he said hoarsely."I just need to move forward."
The rule began to crack.
Fine fractures spread through the air itself.
The maze had tried to break his mind—
—and instead, it had stripped away the last thing holding him back.
When the hour finally ended, Rin took his first step.
And the maze understood something terrifying:
He wasn't being shaped anymore.
He was deciding.