The 27th Rio — At the End of the Death-Return Labyrinth, Whose Dream Do You See? - The White Swordsman and the Decayed Floor

He stepped over the remains. On the floor where the corpse-fiend had vanished, a single black claw lay fallen. Rio picked it up. Freezing cold. Hard as bone, yet somehow damp. A nasty sensation clung to his fingers. "Material, huh." It was in the previous generation's diary. Parts of corpse-fiends sometimes transform into weapons or relics. This claw was usable. Rio tucked it into his belt. On the passage wall, glowing letters floated. A pale blue radiance pulsed in the darkness. *Is it your turn next?* Rio stopped. Next. Is it my turn. "Could be." The letters slowly faded, as if reacting to his voice. He opened the diary. A dense trap zone. Arrow traps and pitfalls. Identify the blackened stones on the floor. An X mark on the wall means death. Rio raised his head and steadied his breathing. A path the previous generation had found by dying. He took one step forward. *Click.* The moment the sound rang out, his body moved on its own. He jumped right. Arrows shot from the wall grazed his hair. He kicked off the floor into a forward roll. A rusted arrowhead skimmed his back. The sound of tearing cloth. He landed. His breathing quickened. "Next is left." Exactly as the diary described. But the trap's timing was off. Had it degraded since the previous generation recorded it? Or were his own reactions faster than expected? His legs moved before he could think. He jumped left and crouched. Simultaneously, poison arrows rained down from slits in the ceiling. From the arrowheads embedded in the floor, green liquid oozed. A nasty sound as it dissolved the stone. (*So this is death. Twenty-odd generations' worth.*) Rio stood and began walking. He felt countless gazes on his back. Corpse-fiends. Two or three of them, by the feel of it. But seeing him break through the traps, they didn't approach. At the end of the passage, there were stone steps. A descending staircase. The air grew colder, heavier. The musty stench and the sickly-sweet smell of rotting flesh intensified. The entrance to the second layer. He opened the diary to the last page for this layer. *Beyond here lies hell.* Rio traced the letters with his finger. The handwriting trembled. Whoever wrote this had been gripped by immense terror. "I see. The previous generation wrote that." He closed the diary and began descending the stone steps. His footsteps echoed, far too loudly. A decayed barracks. The ceiling was high. Traces of what had once been living quarters remained. Collapsed walls, overturned desks, scraps of rotting cloth. Faint phosphorescence, like the dying embers of an oil lamp, flickered here and there on the walls. Rio stopped and checked the diary's sketch map. "This floor stone. The pitfall." The fifth from the left, a blackened stone. The diary recorded it as such. Rio lifted his foot, intending to step around it. The moment he took the next step. *Creak.* The sound of rotting wood groaning. Right in front of Rio, the floorboards gave way. Not recorded in the diary. The trap was doubled. Beyond the pitfall he'd avoided, another had been set. His body was flung into the air. Directly below, a dark shaft. If he fell, there'd be no climbing back. In that instant— From the darkness, a slender wrist reached out and grabbed Rio's arm. He was pulled back with tremendous force. His back slammed against the edge of the collapsed floor. Rio looked up. White hair. Gray eyes. Long, pale golden hair tied into a single bundle, the tips translucent white when held to the light. Her lips trembled faintly. Her blue-gray eyes stared intently at Rio's face. She looked a little younger than him. "Are you... all right?" Her voice was hoarse. Rio nodded. His throat was too dry to speak properly. The girl released his arm and let out a soft breath. "Good. I made it in time." "...Who are you?" The girl gazed at her own hands. Countless fine cuts were etched into them. "My name is Shion. That's all... I remember. Nothing else." Amnesia. Rio pulled himself up and looked straight at her. "Same here." He said it curtly. Shion's eyes widened slightly. A faint blueness deepened in her blue-gray irises. "You too, Rio-san...?" Instead of answering, Rio showed her his left wrist. Twenty-seven scars. "The name's Rio. Apparently, I'm the 27th." Shion stared intently at the scars. She furrowed her brow, as if lost in thought. A strange sensation stirred deep in his chest. Relief. Was that it? Someone else in this labyrinth had lost their memory. Not a corpse-fiend trying to kill him. Not a previous generation. A living human, lost just like him. The pressure of solitude eased. Just slightly. Just barely. But that relief didn't last long. *Scrape. Scrape-scrape.* Multiple footsteps. From all sides of the ruined room, pale blue lights flickered to life. Gaunt silhouettes emerged from the rubble, one after another. Corpse-fiends. Five of them. Rio swiftly drew his short sword. "Five... no, behind us too." Wordlessly, Shion drew the short sword at her hip. Her movements were fluid. No hesitation. One of the corpse-fiends leaped. Straight at Rio. Claws tore through the air, slashing down. Rio shifted his body sideways, dodging by a hair's breadth. He grabbed its arm and dragged it to the ground. His short sword pierced the core of its fallen head. *Thud.* At the same moment, the sound of something cutting through the air behind him. No time to turn around. But Shion was there. A flowing motion, like water. Her short sword caught the claws of the corpse-fiend behind Rio. She slid her blade along and cleaved its core in two. The corpse-fiend crumbled into particles of light. "Rio-san, right!" Her command was brief. Without looking right, Rio drove his right elbow upward. Just as he'd aimed, a corpse-fiend's jaw was there. As it reeled back, he reversed his grip and thrust his short sword into its core. Their coordination was seamless. They covered each other's blind spots faster than words. Rio's engraved memories read the enemy's movements by instinct. Shion's swordsmanship perfectly embodied those predictions. With her, there were no blind spots. The last one. A mid-rank corpse-fiend. Twice as large as the others. Its outer skin was hardened and black. "The core's tough...!" Rio's short sword was blocked by the hard outer skin. It only stabbed in shallowly. The corpse-fiend swung its arm. Rio kicked off the floor and leaped backward. In that split-second opening, Shion stepped in. Her short sword precisely struck the joint of the mid-rank corpse-fiend's thick arm. A seam where the outer skin was thin. The corpse-fiend's movement halted for an instant. Rio immediately drove his short sword into its head. "—It's over." *Crunch.* The sensation of the core shattering. The corpse-fiend vanished into particles without even a death cry. Silence. Rio breathed heavily, his shoulders heaving. Shion sheathed her short sword. "You're amazing, Rio-san. You match my movements perfectly." "...Right back at you. Your swordwork. I feel like I've seen it somewhere before." As he spoke, Rio felt a nagging sensation at his own words. Seen it somewhere? When? I've lost my memory. Shion also looked puzzled. "I feel the same... The way you grip your sword. I feel like I know it." Rio looked down at his hand. The way he gripped his short sword. Not a normal reverse grip. His thumb rested on the guard, the blade facing inward toward his body. The previous generations' diaries never described holding it like that. And yet, she knew it. A strange sense of déjà vu settled deep in his chest. The two of them sat down in a corner of the ruined room. Rio opened the diary and showed it to Shion. "Records from the previous generations. I've been following them." Shion traced the old letters. Her expression gradually clouded over. "These people... they all..." "Died. Lost their memories. Over and over." Shion pulled her hand away from the diary. Her fingers trembled, just slightly. "I don't know... how long I've been here. When I realized it, I was walking through this second layer. No exit. No companions. Nothing." Her blue-gray eyes deepened to a darker gray. The color of anxiety. Rio closed the diary. "Come with me. I'm aiming for the third layer." Shion looked up. "...Is that all right? Won't I just hold you back?" After seeing how she fought, that worry was unfounded. "Your sword is useful. And..." Rio cut his words short. *And it's better than this loneliness.* Shion smiled faintly, as if she'd read the words Rio hadn't spoken. "I understand. Let's go, Rio-san." Rio flipped through the diary's pages, intending to confirm the path to the third layer. The latter half of the second layer. A passage where the presence of water grew stronger. Beyond that, the descending staircase to the third layer. But. The page was blank. Nothing was written. He turned more pages. But midway through the second layer, the records cut off. After that, nothing but blank paper continued. "...Nothing." Shion peered at the pages in Rio's hands. "The map... is gone?" The first layer and the first half of the second had been recorded in painstaking detail. And yet, there was nothing beyond. That meant only one thing. "The previous generations either couldn't go any further, or they died before they had time to leave a record... One or the other." There was no more information to guarantee their safety. From here on, it was truly unknown territory. A heavy silence fell between them. This fact, right after they'd steeled their resolve to fight together. Shion gently placed her hand over Rio's, the one holding the diary. Slender fingers, covered in scars. Terribly cold. "It's all right. Because I'll protect you." The end of her sentence trembled faintly. Rio raised his head and gazed into Shion's blue-gray eyes. *Protect.* She'd said that. Not because she was weaker than him. Rio understood. Those words came from a pure, desperate desire. Simply to be together. "...I see." Rio answered curtly and stood up. A cold wind blew through the room where the corpse-fiends had vanished. From somewhere, the sound of water began to echo. The path to the third layer silently opened its maw.

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Episode 3

Name: The 27th Rio — At the End of the Death-Return Labyrinth, Whose Dream Do You See?
Author: Novelia

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