Darkness swallowed the entire floor Ryo had just entered. No sound was heard except his light footsteps on the ever-changing ground beneath him, shifting from stone to mud to glass. The maze was continuously changing as if it was searching for a form of its own.
Ryo (whispering): "This floor... doesn't seem natural... visibility is completely gone... even my senses are weakening..."
System: "The current floor is a perception-absorbing zone. The longer you stay, the more you will gradually forget who you are and why you came."
Ryo (clenching his one fist): "So... the maze isn't just trying to delay me... it's trying to erase me from existence?"
System: "Exactly."
Ryo (smirking sarcastically): "Funny... will I really forget myself here? Who would have thought I'd be defeated by something like this?!"
He closed his eyes and focused deeply.
Suddenly...
The maze trembled, and the atmosphere violently shifted!
System (sharp voice): "Warning! The maze has become aware of your presence... It is now sending a defensive entity, like a guardian of the maze... It seems the maze created a guardian to protect itself...!"
Before Ryo appeared a huge shapeless creature, like a constantly shifting liquid mass made of shadows and screams.
Ryo (stepping back, surprised): "This... isn't an ordinary monster... what is this thing?!"
System: "It is called the [Perception Guardian]. Its job is simple: to remove you from the maze or erase your identity forever."
Ryo (taking a deep breath): "...Then I have to fight. Without a hand, without full power, inside a child's body? Great! I'll win easily."
He flapped his wings and charged forward, punching the creature's torso. But the attack bounced off Ryo as if hitting a rubber wall.
Ryo (gasping): "Impossible... what's going on?!"
System: "It seems unaffected by any physical matter!"
A moment of silence passed.
Ryo (softly): "...How is that possible?! How can I fight a creature unaffected by physical things?!"
System: "This is a huge problem. You need to find a solution. Attack it and I will try to analyze it, but be careful not to let it touch you — if it touches you, it will erase your perception completely, as if you forgot history itself!"
Ryo (worried): "Alright! Analyze quickly or we'll all end up in oblivion!"
Ryo ran toward the creature and unleashed a flurry of attacks using his skills, punches, and sword strikes but nothing affected it. He decided to use his strongest sword technique.
He shouted with a loud voice:
"Kagutsuchi—Soul Burner!!"
The strike overwhelmed the guardian itself, cutting off one of its arms!
Ryo (excited, a victorious smile on his face): "Finally!... Something affected it!"
But soon the guardian's arm regrew again. The guardian roared with all its might and unleashed an attack that shook the entire first floor.
Ryo (feeling danger and sweating): "System, hurry!"
System: "Analysis complete—"
But before the system could finish, the sword was already descending towards Ryo's head.
Ryo (seeing death before his eyes, tears falling): "I'm still a child... I haven't lived my life yet... Yui, Rin, I'll miss you!"
Just before the guardian's sword could strike, a girl's voice shouted:
"...Great Fire Spell—Exfire—"
As the girl whispered her spell, the air around her ignited as if time itself was burning. Then a wave of flames surged forward—not red, but black gold—charged with a power that burned not only flesh but mountains themselves. The attack rushed towards the guardian like a mountain of great fire impossible to avoid.
When it struck, it left nothing—no scream, no ash, not even a trace in perception—just a hole in the fabric of the floor. The floor's wall tore open, revealing another floor behind it, a new floor...
The guardian was completely erased—not even a speck remained! Even the wall opened, revealing a new floor.
The girl ran toward Ryo (her red hair flew behind her like fire, her eyes resembled a bloody moon, her clear white skin was breathtakingly beautiful):
"Child?! What are you doing here?"
Ryo still wore the shock on his face from that attack.
Ryo (childishly excited): "Hey! Tell me about that attack... how do I do it?!"
The girl: "Wait, do you really think a child like you can use such a powerful attack? Don't joke with me."
Ryo (smiling proudly like a child): "That monster I erased—you know, I cut off one of its arms."
Yui (thinking): "Hey boy, I completely erased it but you only cut off one arm and you're bragging to me?!"
The girl (sighing): "So tell me, who are you?"
Ryo: "I'm Ryo, eight years old. I came here to save two girls."
The girl (curious, thinking): "Hmm, does he mean me and Zalarosa?"
Girl: "So, what are their names and what do they look like?"
Ryo: "Let's not talk about that now."
Girl: "Don't tell me you don't even know who they are and you came here anyway."
Ryo: "No, I know how they look but not their names."
Ryo (circling the girl, investigating): "Hmm..."
The girl (starting to get annoyed and shy): "What are you doing?"
Ryo (smiling wide and innocent): "It's you... isn't it?"
Girl: "Who do you mean?!"
Ryo (wiping his nose and standing proudly like a knight, with an official tone as if speaking to a queen): "You're one of the princesses I'm looking for, the ones I came here to save."
The girl (thinking, closing her eyes a little): "Really, what's wrong with this kid?"
Then another person appeared holding a weapon.
He aimed an attack at Ryo.
To be continued...