“There’s a door ahead! I’ll get you down and please hide inside until it’s finished, Grandma!!”
“Alright, dear! Please be careful!”
Kasumi stops in front of a blue door to her left. She gently puts down the grandma from her back and assists her to enter the room.
*BRAK*
She slammed the door closed and ran back in the direction she was coming from.
“(I took a left here, so he should be on my right, right at this intersection.)”
As Kasumi takes a turn to the right at the intersection, a fire axe is suddenly swung towards her neck horizontally.
*GRAAAHHKKK*
The fire axe hits the wall instead. Kasumi knows the harm that was coming her way with the danger sense of her Vein Armor.
“HOW DID YOU DODGE THAT, GIRL?”
“Your killing intent was so obvious, sir! Are you an amateur?”
*BWOSH*
Kasumi jumped back away from the muscular man and landed 3 meters away. Her Vein Armor wears off as per her will.
“Hm? Where’s the grandma?”
“I left her somewhere!”
“You left her? You expect me to believe that? You, who carried that old woman everywhere you go? Just tell me where she is so I can kill her!”
“Were you with someone before you were trapped here? I understand if you wanna leave! I want to leave, too, but let’s not resort to murder! Don’t obey the freak that puts us here and grants his wish.”
“Hmm? Naaah!! Not really! I was all alone, and this whole thing suddenly happened, and I’ve been pretty ecstatic about it! I am also not really in a hurry to leave!”
“What? Then why on earth do you wanna kill that grandma?”
“Hmm, let’s just say it’s for a warmup! You see, I am quite famous in the underworld! The name’s Jack! People called me a cold-blooded murderer, the Hatchet! Pleased to meet you, Missy!”
*!*
“(The underworld? Someone like that is involved in this!! If there are a lot more like him, this situation is a lot worse than I initially thought!)”
*THUMP THUMP THUMP*
“TELL ME WHERE THAT GRANDMA IS!!!”
Jack the Hatchet charges forward with big stomping steps at Kasumi with his fire axe above his head as an act of intimidation.
*Inhales exhales*
Kasumi takes a calm breath and activates her Vein Armor.
“IF YOU’RE JUST GONNA STAND THERE, THEN DON’T BLAME ME FOR THIS!! MY FIRST KILL IN THE GAMEEEEE!!!!”
Jack reaches Kasumi and swings his fire axe down at the top of her head with a mighty swing with his big and muscular hands.
*GRP*
*!!!!*
Kasumi gently catches Jack’s fire axe between her hands by clapping. There was no impact whatsoever, signaling how strong her Vein Armor was compared to Jack’s physical strength.
“GAHAHAHAHAHA!! A BELIEVER, HUH?? SHOW ME YOUR STRUGGLES, MISSY!! I’VE HANDLED QUITE A HANDFUL OF BELIEVERS MYSELF!! THOUGH MOST OF THEM ENDED UP DEAD ONCE I FIGURED OUT HOW TO COUNTER THEIR FAITH POWER, AND THEY JUST FELL ON THEIR BUTTS, WAITING FOR ME TO SWING MY AXE DOWN AT THEIR HEADS.”
“Most of them? So, you lost to some of them?”
“TCH! NO!! THEY RAN AWAY FROM ME WITH TAILS BEHIND THEIR LEGS!! I HOPE YOU DON’T DO THE SAME ONCE I KNOW HOW TO HANDLE YOUR FAITH POWER!!”
*!*
“(W-What? I can’t pull my axe out of her tiny hands!! It doesn’t even budge!)”
“Say, did you say you got this from one of the rooms?”
“Y-Yes!”
“(UUUURRRGGGHHHH!!! SHE’S SO STROOONNNNGGGG!!! HOOOOWWWW??)”
“Hmm? Is that so? Mind if I take a look?”
*!*
Kasumi takes the fire axe from Jack’s muscular grip with ease.
“Tch!! GIVE THAT BACK!!”
*BAAMM*
“OOOORRRGGHHHH!!!!”
Kasumi suddenly punched Jack in the stomach.
“OOOOOORRRKKKHHH!!!”
Jack holds his stomach, and he slowly falls to his knees.
“(WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT? I DIDN’T EVEN SEE HER PUNCH COMING!! IT HURTS SO MUCH!! FUUUUUUCCCCKKKKK!!!)”
“Hmm. . . Seems just like a normal fire axe to me.”
“UURRGGHHH!!!”
Jack’s veins throughout his body became so visible due to the punch he received.
“Did you call yourselves ‘The Hatchet’? Strangely, you didn’t just carry an axe everywhere, given it's your epithet and you live in the underworld. Are you hiding something from me?”
*!*
All of a sudden, Jack’s big fist came swinging at Kasumi’s face. Kasumi reacted properly by crossing her arms forward and blocking the punch.
*BAAAAMMM*
“(HRRRGGHHH!!!! HEAVY!!!)”
*BWOOOSSHHHHH*
Kasumi was sent flying 10 meters back from the punch. She landed safely on the floor and immediately regained her stance.
“(W-What was that? He’s suddenly a lot stronger than before!)”
*!*
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Kasumi takes a glance at Jack’s entire body, and his veins are all glowing red.
“(Vein Armor? He’s also an Armament-type Believer.)”
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! YOUR VEIN ARMOR IS QUITE STRONG, HUH? I THOUGHT I WOULD’VE KILLED YOU WITH THAT PUNCH!! TURNS OUT THIS IS GOING TO BE A LOT MORE INTERESTING THAN I THOUGHT!!”
Jack opens his right hand, and a small, black, and red hatchet appears. The handle of the hatchet is black for the most part, but it changes to deep blood red near the blade part in its entirety.
“YOU CAN HAVE THAT TINY AXE!! I’LL JUST USE MY TRUSTY HATCHET!!”
“(That color scheme reminded me of Master Quroe’s aura blades! *Sigh* Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen him for a while. Is he okay? Is he also inside this maze somewhere? Or maybe he’s safe since he was outside. I have no way of knowing, but this sure calms me down a lot.)”
*Inhales exhales*
Kasumi enters her stance as if she’s holding a katana at her left waist.
“TIME TO TAKE THE FIRST KILL AND START THIS WHOLE KILLING GAME, MISSY!!!”
*THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP*
Jack charges forward with his big stomping steps, with his hatchet ready in his right hand. When he reached her, he swung down his hatchet vertically at the top of her head.
*CTANG*
Kasumi blocks the Hatchet with her sheathed katana that she summoned.
*CTANG*
She pushes away his Hatchet to the side and swings her sheathed Katana at Jack’s sides.
*BRAK*
“URGH!!”
Kasumi pulls back her sheathed katana and thrusts its tip at Jack’s belly.
*BRAK*
“UURRGGHHH!!!”
Jack falls to his knees yet again.
“GET OFF!!”
Jack swings his left fist at Kasumi’s face.
*WHAPS*
Kasumi calmly bashes his incoming fist with her sheathed katana and alters its trajectory.
*GRAHK*
Jack’s left fist hits the invisible ceiling above.
*WHAPS*
“AAAARRRGGHHH!!!”
Kasumi thrusts her sheathed katana at Jack’s face.
*THUMP THUMP*
The immediate pain made Jack fall on his butt.
“GRRRRRR!!!! ENOOOOUUUUGGGHHHHH!!!!!”
Jack lifts his hatchet high above his head.
“(Hm? Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen the ability that his hatchet holds.)”
“I’LL CRUSH YOU!!”
Jack stands up and quickly swings his hatchet down at Kasumi’s head once again.
*CTANG*
Kasumi blocks it with her sheathed katana.
*!!!*
But this time, she felt an extremely heavy pressure coming from his hatchet.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! MY HATCHET CAN INCREASE ITS WEIGHT ACCORDING TO MY PREFERENCE!!! HOW DO YOU LIKE BEING CRUSHED BY THE WEIGHT OF A COMMERCIAL AIRPLANE, MISSY?”
“HHRRRRGGGHHH!!!!”
“(HEEEAAAVVVVYYYY!!!! I HAVE TO BACK OFF!!)”
*SSTTRRRRNNNGGGG*
*GRAAAHHHHKKKKK*
Kasumi tilts her sheathed Katana to the right, and his hatchet slides off of it and hits the floor below. She also jumped away at the same time, completely dodging Jack’s attack.
*!*
Kasumi observed the floor, and there were no scratches or dents even after that devastating attack and weight.
“(Seems like this maze is entirely indestructible. Kinda like the Armaments of Armament type Faith power.)”
*THUMP THUMP THUMP*
Jack immediately lifts his hatchet and runs towards Kasumi.
“YOU’VE BEEN BACKING AWAY A LOT!! ARE YOU SCARED, MISSY? LET ME HOLD THE HONOR TO BE THE FIRST PERSON TO COMMIT THE FIRST KILL!”
Jack swings his hatchet with its weight increased by a hundredfold. Kasumi enters her stance.
*ZRRTTTT*
“Lightning Iai Slash!”
*SLASH*
*ZZZRRRRTTTT*
*ZRAAASSSSHHHH*
*GRAAAHHHKKKK*
Jack swings his hatchet down and hits the floor. Kasumi vanished from her spot and appeared behind Jack, already putting her katana back into the sheath, after slashing him. He didn’t even see her pull her sword out of the sheath.
*ZZZRRRTTTTTTT*
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!”
Jack has been slashed diagonally across his front torso. Kasumi’s lightning-imbued slash made his body go numb. He falls to the floor with his back facing upwards. He closes his eyes and loses consciousness.
Kasumi’s face looked very determined. She no longer shows any hesitation like the first time she tried to strike Quroe back then. Kasumi unsummons her katana and turns off her Vein Armor.
“Phew! That should make him sleep for a while. Time to check on that grandma!”
Kasumi runs back and tries to find the room where she left the grandma. She is quite confused to find her way back, as she was no longer at the same intersections as previously, because of her fight with Jack.
“(Crap! At this rate, I’m actually gonna lose her!! Where was that intersection?? Urgh! This maze is so confusing!)”
.
.
.
*pant pant pant*
“M-Miss! Wait up! I need to catch my breath! *pant pant*”
The man who was running with Hana stopped about 5 meters behind Hana. Hana stops herself and looks back.
“(Tch! This guy is such a burden! I wish I could’ve just left him here and proceed alone if my conscience allowed me.)”
Hana runs back to the man falling behind.
“Mister, please endure a little bit more! Let’s at least take a break inside one of the doors! It’s dangerous to be vulnerable in an open space like this.”
“*pant pant* But my breathing *pant pant* I’m so exhausted *pant pant*”
“(URGH!! WHY DO I HAVE TO BE STUCK WITH SOMEONE LIKE HIM? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! I REALLY WANTED TO DITCH HIM!!)”
. . . .
“(But then if I do, I am not really portraying someone who follows God! I can’t just abandon anyone, especially in a situation like this. . . UURRGGGHH!!! I HAVE TO ENDURE THIS!!)”
Hana grabs the man’s hand to help him stand and walk.
“Here, mister! I’ll help you walk! Can you go like this, mister?”
“*pant pant* This does help! Thank you, Missy! You’re so kind!!”
“I kinda have to be kind! I was originally created to be this type of person after all!”
“Huh?”
“Anyway, let’s go, mister!!”
“Right!”
They proceed to walk for about 50 meters in distance, just walking straight while looking for a door on the way.
“Say, Missy! That man said that he’s gonna announce any killing once it happens, right?”
“If I remember correctly, yeah!”
“So, that means nobody has murdered anyone, and that means everyone captured inside this endless maze didn’t fall for his game rules, right?”
“That’s an optimistic way to look at it, and I’m not trying to say that it’s wrong to be positive, especially in this type of situation, but, mister, you have to remember, he said that this is an infinite space with no limits and there’s about 24,000 people inside here! The fact that we’ve been walking together for so long without finding anyone means that it’s just that difficult to find someone else! It’s also possible the killing hasn’t started yet, simply because it’s difficult to find each other. And I am not trying to be negative either! I’m just trying to state the fact of the situation.”
“I understand you, Missy! But I just wanna hold on to hope that none of us really lose themselves to fear and they’ll start killing each other.”
“I had hope for that as well!”
“Right now, I am just really worried about my family! I am really scared that they’re not as lucky as I am to meet someone kind like you, miss.”
“T-Thanks for the compliment, mister! I hope your family is safe!”
“(Now that he mentioned it, I hope Kasumi-san and Luna-chan are okay! We haven’t really traded out social media accounts. . . WAIT A MINUTE!! Do our phones work here?)”
Hana quickly pulls out her phone and tries to call Kaito’s number.
. . . . .
Her phone doesn’t even beep to show that it’s making a call.
“(*Sigh* Should’ve expected this. . .)”
She puts her phone back in her pocket.
*!*
As they kept walking, with Hana assisting the man, they finally found a green door to the left.
“Wohooo!!! We found a door, mister!!”
“That’s great! Let’s go inside!”
They proceed to open the green door.
*!*
Behind the door, there was a giant luxury room that seemed to have designs originating from European countries. The room is a rectangle of 7x9 square meters. The floor is made of white, smooth marble. The walls are shining gold. The ceilings are see-through with a beautiful, clear blue sky above. There is a black piano in the corner of the room to the left. There is a king-sized bed on the opposite side of the piano. There is a long and beautiful dining table made of diamonds at the center of the room, with 14 golden chairs surrounding it. There are plenty of foods served, filling the entire long table that seems to be primarily dominated by French cuisine. There is an open window at the back of the room that shows a view of a beautiful mountain range in the distance.
“FOOD!! WE’RE SAVED, YOUNG LADY!! WITH THIS MUCH FOOD, I CAN REGAIN MY STRENGTH AND ENERGY!!! YAAYYY!!!”
“. . .”
The man was confused at Hana’s lack of celebration, so he turned towards her.
“Eh? Miss? Why are you crying?”
“Nothing. . .”
“(WHY ON EARTH DO I HAVE TO ENTER A ROOM LIKE THIS WITH A RANDOM MIDDLE-AGE MAN AND NOT KAITO-SENPAI!! I HATE THIS MAZE!! I HATE THIS GAME!! I HATE THIS ROOM!! AND I HATE THAT GAME MASTER!! I WILL PUNCH HIS FACE TO THE POINT HIS EYEBALLS POPPED OUT OF THEIR SOCKETS WHEN I GET TO MEET HIM!! WATCH!!!)”
“Hey, there’s an open window! Can we escape through that?”
“I doubt it, but feel free to try, mister!”
The man approaches the open window, and his hands touch something solid and invisible.
“*Sigh* There really is no escape, huh? There is something invisible here!”
“Let’s just eat, mister, while we can. Who knows what will happen next?”
*BING BONG BING BONG*
*!!!*
“That’s the announcement jingle!”
“*Gulp*”
“HELLO EVERYONE!! FINALLY!! 45 MINUTES INTO THE GAME, AND WE FINALLY GOT OUR FIRST MURDER!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! KEVIN FREIGHTER HAS BEEN MURDERED BY SASHA KLINGER!! HE WAS MURDERED WITH A KNIFE STABBED INTO HIS NECK!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
*!!!!*
“HONESTLY THOUGH! THIS TAKES WAY LONGER THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FOR THE FIRST MURDER TO HAPPEN!! Hmmm, FOLKS!! I’VE REALIZED THAT THE SPACES BETWEEN EACH PERSON ARE A LITTLE BIT TOO FAR APART AND STRETCHED OUT!!! RIGHT NOW, I WILL RE-ARRANGE THE ENTIRE MAZE AGAIN FOR A BIT!! AND AFTERWARDS, I’LL ALSO RANDOMIZE EVERYONE’S POSITION AGAIN IN THIS NEWLY COMPACT MAZE!!! HOPE YOU ALL SURVIVED THE INITIAL WARPS!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!! LATER PARTICIPANTS!!”
“W-What did he say?”
“M-Miss! He’s gonna reposition everyone!!”
“OH NO!!”
“(OH YES!! I’LL FINALLY BE FREE FROM THIS GUY AND IT’S NOT EXACTLY MY FAULT!!! WOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!)”
And then it happens again, just like the first time. Everything went dark and pitch black once again. The last thing the middle-aged man saw was Hana’s giant and wide smiling face.
