Chapter 64: Haltina Labyrinth Part 3

"Hmm" Kyouko moaned and she opened her eyes.

She soon found herself looking at a dark ceiling and pushed herself up. Looking down, she saw that she was lying in some bed. To her left, she saw a bed similar to the one she was on. However, that one was completely destroyed as if someone broke out of it as she saw pieces of amber-coloured glass as well as the destroyed bed.

"Hmm."

She moaned once more as she rubbed her temple. This trial had exhausted her mentally. Suddenly, she looked at her hand. Her human hand. She suddenly started patting herself everywhere and sighed in relief.

"I'm back to normal! I even got my clothes back! Even the armour came back." she exclaimed.

Kyouko almost felt like crying in happiness. The girl got off the pod and looked around trying to find Izumi.

"Izumi?"

Although the room was dark, it wasn't a problem for her due to her heritage. She found him sitting in a lotus position right in front of her.

"Izumi!" she said.

The girl was so glad when she saw him although she couldn't help but blush as she remembered the vision she had. She walked up to the boy and crouched down and looked at his face. The serene face that told her he would protect her. She thought back to the vision. The boy would wake up every day with her, make breakfast for her, walk with her to school, and much more. He would do anything for her. One would have a blessed life if they had a boyfriend like Vision Izumi. Her friends were all there. Her father and mother were always home taking care of her. It was the perfect life for Kyouko.

Unfortunately, that life was but a mere fantasy. Not everything goes the way she wants and not everyone acts the way she wants them to. It took a while for her to figure it out and when she did, the vision shattered like glass and she woke up on the bed. However, before waking up she heard the voice of a woman.

"You pass. There's no value in a world that's always the way you want it. And there's no meaning in happiness you didn't earn. Even if it's painful, even if you feel like you can't bear it at times, it's only through overcoming harsh realities one after another that you will achieve true happiness. Never forget that" the voice had said.

'It must've been the voice of the creator of the Labyrinth," Kyouko thought as she continued to look at the boy before raising an eyebrow,

'What is he doing? Usually, he would have sensed me?'

Kyouko raised her hand and shook him. To her surprise, the boy didn't react.

"Izumi?" she called.

No response.

"Izumi?" she called again.

No response once again.

"IZUMI!"

"AAH! What-what?" Izumi woke up in surprise and looked around in confusion before suddenly realizing what happened.

He looked in front and saw his girlfriend awake and looking a little worried.

"Kyouko! You're awake!" he exclaimed before hugging her.

Kyouko giggled and hugged the boy back,

"Seems like you passed the test too." the girl said.

At that Izumi cringed,

"Yeah... About that..."

Sensing something wrong, Kyouko asked,

"Izumi? What's wrong?"

Izumi separated himself,

"I... didn't get to do it." he let out.

"What?"

Izumi cringed even more,

"I didn't get to do it," he repeated.

"Why?" Kyouko asked in disbelief.

"You know how this trial was supposed to be a mental trial?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I discovered that I had an innate mental resistance that the Labyrinth couldn't penetrate and I can't even control it."

"Does that mean you won't be able to get the reward?" Kyouko asked worriedly.

Otherwise, all this effort would be nothing for him.

"Don't worry. I'll find a way if I don't get a reward. If you get the magic and I don't, will you allow me to copy it from your mind?" Izumi carefully asked.

Kyouko froze and looked down. She bit her lips in hesitation for a moment before nodding slowly,

"A...Alright. I'll... I'll let you."

Izumi quickly added to reassure her,

"Don't worry. This is only a last measure. I'll try all the other ways first before even resorting to that one."

Kyouko nodded.

Izumi smiled before getting up and patting his pants,

"Alright, let's continue shall we?" the boy said as he extended a hand to the girl.

Kyouko grabbed it and pulled herself up.

"Yeah!"

"So what was in your trial?" Izumi asked.

Kyouko gave a sly smirk,

"That's a secret," she replied.

Izumi raised an eyebrow before sighing in amusement,

"Alright then, keep your secrets," he replied.

Suddenly, another circle came to life. Immediately, both teens latched their hands together in case they would be separated.

"Looks like there's no time to rest," Kyouko said.

"Hn."

They were soon engulfed in light and we're teleported once more. When the light faded away, the couple found themselves once more in a sea of forest. However, unlike in the first trial, there was a marked way for them to go straight toward the largest tree they could see.

"Alright, Kyouko. Let's fly towards it. Remember to put your armour on."

The girl nodded and touched her necklace. It then morphed into a semi-liquid substance which covered the girl and transformed into her armour. Izumi did the same and they set off. In the middle of their flight, Izumi suddenly stopped.

"Izumi!" Kyouko called out, surprised by the boy's abrupt stop.

"One sec, Kyouko. I just need to deal with something." the latter said.

A portal was formed and the other side showed a part of the ceiling. The couple could see many holes on it as if they were placed there intentionally.

Kyouko could see some liquid bubbling on the surface of the holes.

"What's that?" she asked.

"I don't know, but I sensed it trigger when we started flying. I figured we would deal with the holes before anything happens."

'Transmute.'

Arcs of blue mana flickered as the teen activated the spell. Suddenly, The ceiling started to shift as holes were being sealed. Before long, all the holes had been sealed shut and the couple was out of danger for now.

Closing the portal, they resumed their flight towards the giant tree. After fifteen minutes, they soon arrived at the giant tree. Just the ones before, this one also had a hollow trunk that Izumi and Kyouko entered. Once more, a teleportation circle flashed and transported them once more.

"Just how many times are we going to teleport?" Kyouko asked a little exasperated.

Izumi shrugged before looking around. They were once more in a tree trunk. However, the difference this time is that they could see an exit.

"At least there's an exit," he said.

The couple walked through the exit and looked at the scene in front of them in awe. What seemed to be a passage they were standing on was simply a branch. A five-meter-wide branch that stretched so long that they could barely see the end. It didn't help that there were similar branches everywhere as they crisscrossed each other creating an intricate maze. Izumi looked down and saw the trunk of the tree was extremely wide. The sky was a stone ceiling letting almost no light in this place. However, if he used his Haki, he could feel that the trunk surpassed even the ceiling and went below the ground.

Kyouko also looked around as the darkness didn't affect her very much.

"Holy Shit! Is this tree what I think it is?" she cursed.

Izumi nodded,

"Yeah, it's the Grand Tree Uralt," he answered equally amazed by the scenery as he used his Observation Haki as it provided a greater sense of surrounding.

"Just how big do you think it is?"

"I'd rather not answer."

Reading about it and experiencing it are two things completely different.

Suddenly, Izumi felt a chill crawl up his spine as he picked up multiple presences below them. He reinforced his eyes and activated (Night Vision) which he had picked up from a monster in the Orcus Labyrinth. As soon, as he saw the source of the presence, he froze.

"Uhmm... Kyouko?" he asked stiffly.

"Yes, Izumi?"

"How do you feel about insects?... More specifically cockroaches."

Without a single hesitation, the girl responded,

"Burn it with fire until not even the ashes remain," she said with the utmost seriousness.

"I... see." Izumi nodded.

Kyouko was now getting scared.

"Izumi?"

"You might want to look down."

And as soon as she did, she froze as her face became very pale.

"A-Are th-those cockroaches?" she stuttered.

"Yeah."

"Why the fuck would anyone make those of that huge!" she screamed.

Below them, on the ground, hundreds of millions of cockroaches were scuttling around giving the couple shivers at the mere sight. Kyouko felt like throwing up at the sight.

"B-Burn them. Let's burn them!" Kyouko said as she prepared a massive fireball.

"Wait-Wait-Wait!" Izumi said as he held her to stop her from doing anything.

"Why?"

"There's too many of them. Since they're not doing anything right now, let's not disturb them."

"What if they crawl up here!? There's like a billion of them down there!" she retorted.'

"We'll cross the bridge when we get there. First, let's get to the checkpoint first," he said as he pointed at a distance. There was a large platform connected by four branches.

"A-Alright," the girl said as she extinguished her fireball.

"Good," Izumi replied.

They quickly made their way to the platform. Kyouko sighed and relaxed a little,

"It's a good thing they didn't attack."

Izumi immediately tensed and reinforced himself,

"You shouldn't have said that!"

Taken aback by the sudden shout, Kyouko asked,

"Why?"

"What you just said was a flag. A red flag!"

"The hell are you talking about!"

"Have you never heard of Murphy's law?"

As if Kyouko's words were the activation chant, Murphy's law got triggered. According to this law, anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

*Bzzz* *Bzzz*

Suddenly, both teens heard the flaps of insect wings getting closer and closer. Both of their faces turned pale as the blood got drained from their faces. In front of them were multiple cockroaches flying. They were also bigger than the average ones adding points to their creepiness factor. Down below, they could see many started to crawl up the bark of the tree towards them.

"KYAAAAA!" Kyouko screamed as she started blasting anything that moved.

Izumi also did the same. He used his Dark Matter to create an acidic liquid which he then unleashed on the gigantic critters. He also started blasting them with all sorts of elements. As strong as he was, he too was not a fan of insects, especially cockroaches. Of course, there were also spiders, but those were arachnids.

Even then, they were cockroaches. These disgusting little things were known for their resilience and their nigh-immortality. Izumi had to deploy a Bounded Field around him and Kyouko to prevent them from approaching. He unleashed more acidic Dark Matter and split his mind into two thought chambers. The first thought chamber was the main one while the second one controlled the barrier ability.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOOOOOOM*

Explosions upon explosions were heard. Crackles of lightning and sizzling of burning bodies of insects could also be heard. Kyouko and Izumi could hear the creepy screeches of dying insects as more replaced them and assaulted the barrier.

"I KNEW IT, IZUMI! I TOLD YOU WE SHOULD HAVE BURNED THEM BEFORE!"

"And what difference would that make!?"

"I don't know!"

Suddenly, Izumi saw multiple roaches retreat. He suddenly narrowed as he saw what was about to happen, but he didn't interrupt them. Unfortunately, it needed to happen.

"What are they doing!?" Kyouko asked.

Seems like she also noticed. Soon, the insects separated into groups. They then formed rings as and connected them using their bodies. It was a magic circle!

Suddenly, the circle glowed crimson as a creepy egg emerged from the circle.

*Boom*

The shell exploded revealing a three fucking meter-long cockroach! The creepiest thing was that it looked like a horrible cross between a human and a cockroach. The mere sight of that thing made Izumi want to throw up. It let out an inhuman scream and covered itself in blood-red mana. Suddenly, more cockroaches started to form magic circles.

"You know what? FUCK IT!" Izumi shouted.

HE changed his mind, It doesn't matter if all the boss monsters weren't summoned. He just wanted to get Kyouko out of here!

He activated Conqueror's Haki to its maximum.

*BOOOM*

A spiritual shockwave that could even affect the spiritual world exploded out of him and spread outwards. He made sure that Kyouko wasn't affected by it. As the shockwave spread, the insects fell one by one. However, because there were so many, it felt like it was raining. The most horrifying rain one could witness. Soon, the shockwave reached even the insects that tried to form the magic circles effectively stopping their plan in summoning more humanoid cockroaches. Finally, it reached the boss who suddenly froze. Its will had been destroyed by Izumi's and instead of falling unconscious, it died to Izumi's will being too powerful. Because their boss was killed, the insects started to run around in panic without any clear instruction. Izumi once more unleashed another wave of Conqueror's Haki. Izumi began to spam the Haki killing millions upon millions of cockroaches.

He also made sure to destroy the boss's mana crystal so that it doesn't revive itself using some bullshit regeneration. He also controlled the sea of Dark Matter to disintegrate the rare ones that had escaped the Haki's range. Kyouko also helped by launching spells after spells of all kinds of elements. Anytime, the insects tried to form a magic circle, Izumi unleashed a pulse of Haki.

"Just how long do we have to do this!? My mana is already running low!" Kyouko said.

Instantly, Izumi opened the shop and purchased two mana-replenishing potions. He had accumulated enough points to get a lot of them.

"Here. Drink this!" he replied as he tossed her a potion.

"What's this?" the girl asked as she caught the bottle.

"It'll refill your mana!"

"Really! Thanks!" Kyouko thanked him before downing it in one shot.

Izumi did the same before they both cringed due to the bitterness of the potion.

After almost an hour, All the insects were killed and were swept away by Izumi's Dark Matter sea. When the final cockroach let out its dying screech, both Kyouko and Izumi fell on their back in exhaustion. The smell of the dead insect bodies permeated the air stinking up the whole place. Nonetheless, it didn't bother the teens as they panted on the floor of the platform.

"Is it *pant* over *pant* Izumi?* Kyouko asked as she didn't even have the energy to move.

*I think *pant* so *pant*. I can't *pant* sense them *pant* anymore*." Izumi replied as he looked at the ceiling.

All of a sudden, a part of the ceiling glowed and opened itself,

"What! It's not over yet!?" Kyouko cried out.

A branch suddenly emerged from the section and descended toward their platform. Once it connected, it transmuted itself to form a set of wooden stairs.

"Is it not over yet?" Kyouko asked again with a slight whimper.

Izumi didn't answer. He created a platform using Dark Matter with a little difficulty due to fatigue and the couple climbed on it.

"Let's just get this over with," he said.

They soon began to rise to the ceiling and flew through it. Once inside, they found themselves in a similar hollow room as well as a magic circle. They got off the platform and stood on it. The magic circle glowed and they were teleported once more.

As soon as the couple opened their eyes, they found themselves in a beautiful garden. At a short distance in front of them, they could see four bridges crossing over some canals. They all lead to a single white building circled by a ring of trees bearing delicious-looking fruits. However, if they looked beyond the garden, they could only see the blue sky and its clouds.

"Amazing," Kyouko whispered. "Where is this?"

"It's most likely the summit of the Tree," Izumi replied as he looked at the scenery.

Below, they could only see the fog that enveloped the Sea of Trees. Izumi turned his gaze back to the garden and saw a tree, larger than the rest, sitting on another platform. At its roots rested a stone tablet.

"Let's go over there," he said as he pointed at the stone tablet.

"That's the reward?" the Fallen Angel asked.

"Perhaps."

They soon made their way toward the stone tablet. When the couple neared the stone tablet, it began to glow as bright green mana began to glow in the canals. The canals themselves formed a magic circle. It was then Izumi tensed as the usual probe searched the memories. Izumi closed his eyes and let it search. He could feel the nervous sweat as the probe continued. For some reason, it was taking some time as if it was hesitating. It went on for about two minutes before it finally stopped. Izumi waited for a response. For almost thirty seconds, he waited and waited. Suddenly, information began to enter his mind. He didn't realize that he was holding a breath until he let out a long sigh of relief. It seemed like the Labyrinth had deemed him worthy even if he didn't do that mental trial.

He smiled as the information about the final Ancient Magic entered his mind: Evolution Magic. Evolution Magic allows the user to enhance or evolve all other forms of power, be it strong or weak. It can even work on other "Ancient Magic" as well, boosting their power and scope. The true power of this magic is the ability to 'interfere with the information of existing things'. This magic enhances or evolves an ability or power by a stage of 1, by interfering with the target's information, and then increasing its stage one by one.

Suddenly, another piece of information was being transferred into his mind. When it was finally done, Izumi grinned.

'So this is Concept Magic."

Concept Magic is a form of "Ancient Magic Arts" which is a combination of many other ancient magics, the main ability of concept magic is that it allows one to interfere with the laws of the world and impress concepts upon it. By raising up a powerful wish or desire with Spirit Magic and Evolution Magic, it can be raised to a level of a concept before being forcefully materialized with magical power. However, since the user's desire at the time of use, is used as the base of the magic, to raise up and create the concept, the spell may not remain stable in subsequent uses, thus a single spell can only be used once under most circumstances.

'Unfortunately, it requires a tremendous amount of mana to use it. It also can't be used multiple times, unless the caster wishes it from the bottom of their heart once more.' Izumi thought.

He opened his eyes and saw Kyouko looking at him worried.

"You took a long time. What happened?"

"I think it was hesitating whether I was worthy or not due to not completing the mental trial.

"Oh, did you get it?"

"Yeah."

Suddenly, the tree began to move and squirm making Izumi and Kyouko immediately tense and enter a combat position. The tree's bark warped until it formed a woman's face before pushing itself out. Once the shoulders came out and the face's details were complete, she spoke.

"First, allow me to congratulate you on making it this far. I am Lyutillis Haltina. You have done well to complete my trial, along with the trials of the other labyrinths. You have my respect for completing such a difficult gauntlet, and my apologies for forcing you through it..."

The couple listened to her speech with rapt attention. Kyouko gasped when she heard the news about Concept Magic and turned to Izumi before asking a silent question which the boy nodded. He would explain it to her later.

"... You will need an unbelievably powerful will to bend this magic to your desires. Even with our powers combined, we Liberators were only able to create three concept magic spells. They served our needs well enough, but... Regardless, as a gift, I shall pass on one of those to you. "

The stone tablet slid to the side revealing an object resembling a pocket watch. Izumi picked it up and opened it. Inside was simply a compass. Engraved on the back was the crest of Lyutillis Haltina making it also the proof of this Labyrinth.

"That object is called the Compass of Eternal Paths. The concept of magic spell it's imbued with— If you wish for something, the compass will show you where that something may be found. Whether that something is a missing person, a hidden object... or even a different world. So long as you obtain all the ancient magic and possess an unbreakable will, you will be able to go wherever your heart desires. I pray that you can live freely, in a world where you may choose your own future. May the path you walk be filled with blessings."

Once the speech ended, there was only silence. Kyouko brought her hands and covered her mouth as tears brimmed in her eyes.

"Did... Did we do it? Can we go home?"

Izumi looked at her and smiled,

"Yeah. But we still need to find a way to teleport home." Izumi began to explain, but he was suddenly interrupted as arms flew to his neck and lips smashed into his.

Surprised by the sudden gesture, he soon melted into the kiss. He could feel the desperate emotions that Kyouko conveyed in that single kiss. He had to remind himself that this girl also suffered a lot. He brought his arms around her waist and the couple continued to kiss in the garden.

After what seemed like an eternity, they separated only due to the lack of air. Hori then let her head fall into her boyfriend's chest.

"You okay?" Izumi asked gently.

"Hm." Kyouko simply replied as she pressed her face to his chest.

He could feel her tears staining his shirt, but he didn't say anything. Once she let everything out, she lifted her head,

"We did it," she whispered.

"Yeah, we did."

Kyouko turned to the compass in the boy's hand and tilted her head,

"You know, this compass reminds me of the one in that movie. The one with the pirates."

"Pirates of the Caribbean?"

"Yeah."

Izumi nodded as he also realized what she was talking about,

"Now that I think about it, You're right."

He cast (Structural Grasp) on it to analyze the compass. After a few seconds, he now had a complete understanding of this piece of marvel. An artifact that could find anything he wishes. He could almost categorize it as a low-ranking Noble Phantasm. That's how powerful this artifact was."

He put it in his inventory and projected a handkerchief which he used to wipe Kyouko's tears off her face. Kyouko simply let him.

"Let's get out of here. I don't think we want to stay a single moment longer here, right?"

The girl beamed,

"Right."

The couple headed for another magic circle and stepped on it.

"Let's kill a god shall we?" Izumi asked as the crimson glow enveloped them and teleported them away from the Labyrinth.