The group had split off into two.

Three people walked off into the distance as the rest wished for them to change their minds. Nevertheless, the group that was left behind started walking down the right path, the one that had been labeled as ‘Effort.’

Arin kept moving forward without any semblance of fear at all. He knew that his choice was correct.

It wasn’t correct in the sense that this was safe, it was correct in the sense that this would lead to a higher Completion Rate. Thinking about the main goal of this Maze-level Trial, Arin weighed down the options that aligned with the given clues.

Another clue that he took note of was the sign’s last words, “... wallow in despair…” With this in mind, he pushed through his decision without hesitation.

“Arin, at the very least stand behind me. The dangers ahead shouldn’t be so trivial that you would disregard your own safety.” A job’s a job, she needed to act despite being emotionally against it.

Hearing a rapidly approaching entity behind her, Emilia turned around to face whatever came. Upon seeing that it was Layla, she sighed in relief. Only when she realized that Layla had come here, she turned stern.

“Layla, head back. This path isn’t safe at all. It’s better to go with more people.” Emilia held Layla’s hand. For one of her own to be here, Emilia was against it.

Layla looked to the side, avoiding eye contact. “I don’t think the other path was the correct one. I’m just trusting my gut. And I think… this is the right one.”

“What makes you think so?”

“Railan turned mad, constructing mechanical atrocities that could rival monstrous Pravum. With the disappearance of the three Emperors, no one could stop him. I think he unleashed his anger to lay ruin on the world. Only to realize that there’s nothing that could bring Gaden back.” Layla spoke out her thoughts.

“When he realized that there was nothing left for him, he despaired. In a fragmented section of the Lost History showed that he met a girl who comforted him. They created a family that became an important force for the next war. He redeemed himself and died in battle peacefully. I think after despairing, he met his wife and was given salvation.”

Hearing this, Emilia realized that what Layla said was completely plausible. She immediately acted upon it and tried to head back only to realize that it was impossible. An invisible barrier prevented her from going back.

“If you knew about this then why didn’t you say anything?” Emilia questioned Layla. With such important information, it could’ve prevented any accidents from occurring.

“It’s not like you would’ve listened.” Layla walked ahead, walking right behind Arin. Compared to dealing with Emilia, he would rather focus on her order.

Make no mistake, Layla also despised Arin’s villainous actions but her task precedes her own feelings. Maya’s death had only slightly affected her as she wasn’t as close to her or any of the girls in her current group.

“That’s not…” Emilia couldn’t start something right now. Personal matters could wait until later but for now, Arin’s safety was their priority.

Walking ahead, the trio kept an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Halfway through their journey, something odd finally appeared. Wasting no time, Emilia took out her rapier, steadying herself as she got ready to face off against the sudden object that appeared.

“Don’t get so excited, it’s just a tombstone.” Arin shoved her to the side, getting closer to read what it contained. The entire time he cautiously looked around that could alert him of a trap.

“Here lies my friend, Gaden. May his eyes see the light of the day once more.”

Looking at the surroundings, there was nothing to be taken note of at all. Before he walked off, his instincts were telling him something was that he was missing, a crucial bit of information.

“What are you looking for?” Emilia questioned him.

Arin went in front of the tomb and started… digging out the tomb. He clawed the dirt away with his bare hands, taking clumps of soil and throwing it aside. Without any stone or sediment to prevent his hands from digging deeper, he kept going.

“Arin, stop! This is disrespectful!” Emilia came over to Arin and wanted to drag him out. To her dismay, before she could exert any strength, her body felt weak. She was unable to even exert a fraction of her strength on Arin.

Arin sneered, “Have you forgotten? You can’t hurt anyone while we’re in here.”

“Emilia, I think we should let Arin be. The words on the tombstone might refer to digging out Gaden’s corpse.” Layla came to and helped Arin dig out the tomb as well.

“At least not everyone’s that stupid. Morals mean nothing if you can’t gain anything from it.” Arin continued digging the ground. With the two of them working, they quickly arrived at a bronze coffin. It had been sealed off with undecipherable runes.

The two of them looked extremely dirty from digging it all out. Jumping out of the hole they had made, they looked at it from above. The light from the sun shined brilliantly at the coffin.

“Emilia, drag this out.” Arin pointed at the bronze coffin below the tombstone. Emilia didn’t feel that this was right at all. Even so, she followed along with Arin’s orders.

She went in and using her terrifying strength, grabbed ahold of the bronze coffin and threw it with such vigor that it was sent flying. It landed quite a bit of distance away.

Getting a closer look, there seemed to be nothing that could be used except for a single word in the common language.

“Liberty.”

“Sounds poetic.” Arin pointed out. “Anything else on it? We wouldn’t have dug this up for no reason.”

Layla came over and tried to examine anything else of note. From the looks of it, there really wasn’t anything else here. She tried to recall whatever bits of information she could remember about Railan but could no longer think of anything that was related.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything here. What if we bring the bronze coffin along? There might be something it could be used for.” Layla sighed.

Emilia immediately rejected the notion, “There is no way we’re bringing someone’s grave with us. They might be dead but we can still respect their corpses. This isn’t something that a human should even be thinking of!”

“How you’re so soft with that much strength, I’ll never understand.” Arin’s mood slightly soured as he recalled another person with similar qualities to her. The kind that doesn’t understand just what kind of world they are living in.

“The world isn’t as cruel as you make it out to be, alright? All you’ve done your entire life is kill and plunder, there’s more to the world than that. People live day by day to survive and see a day better than the last. A person’s motives behind their actions always lean on protecting themselves.” Emilia lashed out at Arin. The world she had lived in might have been sheltered from the darkness of the city but she still had enough confidence to speak her own opinion.

“You haven’t lived his life and he hasn’t lived in yours. There’s no point in arguing about this.” Layla intervened before this exploded any further. “Objectively speaking, bringing the coffin is the correct decision. Do you agree, Emilia?”

Emilia gritted her teeth and nodded. She gave in, bringing along the bronze coffin with mumbled grunts.

“You could’ve used your slave mark to control her, why didn’t you?” Layla came over to Arin and questioned him. This entire time, Emilia was free to do as she wished, never once had Arin forced her.

“I’m not going to use that for something petty like this. There are more important matters to attend to than this, like finishing this Maze-level Trial. Don’t think that I won’t use her as a meatshield if it came to it.” Arin walked off, watching Emilia dragging the bronze coffin. It carved an imprint on the ground as it was dragged away.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Layla had a bit more insight into Arin’s personality from this encounter. He’s the kind that prioritizes what needs to be done but won’t hesitate to make others realize their mistakes. The only problem is that Arin’s decision on what’s right and wrong is twisted in embodying the darkness of the world.

She could see the point from both sides, leaning more on Emilia’s moral perspective and more accepting of Arin’s objectivity. If it ever came down to it, without any hesitation, she would still go alongside Emilia. Arin’s far too chaotic to be reasoned with.

Their journey to the next sign was uneventful. Nothing out of the ordinary appeared as they kept going on. The rustled leaves on the ground were the only things they could hear, except for their beating heart.

As the following sign was about to appear, a shocking sight greeted them. The other seven women were there waiting for them. This would normally be normal except for the fact that one of them had her arm bleeding.

Emilia dropped the bronze coffin and ran forward. Seeing her friend be injured, it was clear that she was worried.

“What happened to her?” Emilia examined the wound only to see that it was already treated. White strips of cloth had been wrapped around it to prevent any infection.

“Emilia… I’m fine. I was just caught off-guard by a trap. I didn’t think that there were hidden spikes on the ground.” The poor girl raised her hand to show that she could still move it around just fine.

“Is everyone else fine?” Emilia looked at everyone else and was relieved that no one else was hurt.

“Don’t worry about us. After she got hurt, we were all alert and reacted properly.” Another female Bind Solver explained.

“Thank goodness. Let’s get that treated as soon as possible when we get out of here.” Emilia clasped the injured girl’s hand trying to ensure everyone.

“We’re still Bind Solvers after all. We’ll survive this at the very least.”

As much as a normal person would think that they were completely incompetent, one should know that no Trial should ever be underestimated. It was their fault that they weren’t aware enough but realizing their mistake, they immediately rectified their error.

After all, as long as a Solver survives a Trial, no matter the case, they are winners. Only the ones alive write live to tell the tale.

Arin saw that even a Bind Solver was injured, this only solidified the fact that this Maze-level Trial was dangerous to an unprecedented degree. If he wasn’t careful then he might just lose his life.

Then again, these Trials he got from Fiona were some of the highest quality ones out there. Danger and reward came hand in hand.

Everyone voiced their experiences after going down the path. Layla explained why they were dragging a bronze coffin while the other party told them about the traps. It appears that there were sharpened bamboo poles hidden on the ground that were activated by vibration.

Once they got close enough, these poles would rise up to the skies, piercing through anything that was in their path. They had tested the toughness of the bamboo poles only to realize that they could even break through their Malum, a very terrifying thought.

For a Maze-level Trial to be able to do this meant that these materials were made of something so extravagant that even their power was no match against it.

Fortunately for them, they could simply use stones littered all over the ground to activate the traps, letting them pass by easily. One of them even used her own personal Fragment and activated all the traps by the sound of her voice.

“Impossible to face head-on but a possibility of passing through using your wits. That’s Railan’s specialty. Though I don’t know just how likely it will be the same for the future ones. Everyone, keep an eye out for anything and report it.” Emilia took center stage and started informing everyone.

Arin merely let her, she was the one most suited for dealing with the group after all. With everyone caught up, they now read the following sign. The odd part here was that there were now three paths, starting to increase the complexity of this Maze Trial.

“I’ve found someone that gave me hope. I’m willing to put down my arms to pursue creating a family. Gaden, I hope you’re watching over me from the skies. I’ll let my children do as they wish, I will not subject them to the same fate as us. Never forgive, never forget, never surrender.”

This time around, there was no odd gimmick they could use. Looking at the three paths, it said, ‘Discipline,’ ‘Liberty,’ and ‘Balance.’ Seeing the options before them, it was finally making sense.

“We are going through Railan’s life… His decisions and his… regrets…” Emilia quietly spoke out. They could use information from the outside, from the fragments of the Lost History to cheat and preemptively understand what the answer would be. Alternatively, they could use the clues they received inside the same Trial to arrive at the same answer.

It could be solved in far too many ways. Whether it be the decisions he wished to make or the decisions he took, far too many things could satisfy the goal of the Trial. From such a seemingly straightforward Trial lies an even deeper and more complex web of answers.

This time around, it was a no-brainer to choose the ‘Liberty’ road. No one objected to this decision at all. From the looks of it, this should be the ‘correct’ answer. No one brought the bronze coffin since they had already taken what they needed from it, supposedly.

The group went on forward only to see a completely different scene than the previous one. A towering establishment showed itself, completely blocking the road. It was a gigantic octagonal building that only had one visible entrance. It had a completely exotic design that was reminiscent of ancient architecture.

“How much are any of you willing to bet that this is the last place?” Arin pointed at the door. “Someone enter it.”

Layla looked at Arin, feeling something ominous. He wouldn’t do something for no reason at all.

Arin noticed this and looked back with an evil grin on his face, “I told you, I won’t hesitate to use you as a meatshield if needed. What are you waiting for? We’re wasting time standing around here doing nothing.”

“I’ll go first. I’m the strongest one here, we should be able to minimize the injuries this way.” Emilia bravely faced the entrance alone. She did not underestimate the entrance at all. She took out the rapier from its sheath and prepared to manifest her Malum.

From within her body, there was a shadowy piece of armor. It hasn’t fully manifested at all but it was clear that the form was there. Widened eyes of shock appeared from everyone else in the group.

“Manifestation! You’ve started to form your armor?” Even Layla had to put down her disagreement with Emilia to recognize just how great of an achievement this was.

Arin was very clear about what forming armor made from Malum meant, they were on the cusp of breaking through to becoming a Seal Solver. A completely formed armor set meant that they were a Seal Solver, without question.

Showing a phantom of the armor piece was the very first step to showcasing that someone was a half-step Seal Solver. Slowly over time, their armor would start solidifying to the point that the ephemeral became tangible. At this point, they would be a genuine Seal Solver.

From that point on, the more intricate and detailed the design of the armor piece was, the greater power they held. The human body is still weak after being able to control Malum after all, except for a few outliers, this would let a person be able to fight back against Pravum.

The phantom of Emilia’s armor faintly covered her body yet the strength she was drawing out was unbelievably dense. It was causing everyone to be pressured under her strength. The other Bind Solvers could feel the pressure, forcing them to use their own Malum to counteract the pressure.

Layla used her own Malum to fight against this sensation. Fortunately, this only forced people in place, not hurting them in any physical sense. She gazed at Arin’s direction to see how he would fare when she was even more surprised than Emilia’s Manifestation.

Within Arin’s body, there was Fiona’s Malum still enjoying its stay within it. Still restricting him from pushing forward a certain line. Oddly enough, her Malum was starting to protect him from Emilia’s influence. Too bad that it didn’t consume any of it at all. Adding insult to injury, it seemed to have been starting to consume some of the unowned Malum within Arin’s body to grow even stronger.

While Layla was unexpectedly looking at Arin as if he was more of a monster than she thought, Arin was internally raging. Things were just turning out to be worse and worse for him. He realized there was nothing he could do to stop this at all.

“If only pure Fragments were that easy to get…” Arin desired to own a Fragment that came through his hands first, untainted by any influence before it. This gave a lot of benefits compared to something that someone else had owned first.

Emilia wasn’t concerned about anything behind her, only focusing on entering this oddly shaped ancient building. Knowing that this was related to Railan did not help her fear at all.

After her preparations, she started walking in. She shouldn’t immediately die here, at worst she would be slightly injured. Closing in ever closer to the entrance, she noticed a few phrases written all over the place.

Reading most of them, she realized that it was just the ramblings of a madman. Most of them said the word ‘kill’ multiple times in a row while others were random bouts of laughter. With no other option she could see, she entered bravely.

After she did so, it gave a completely unexpected result. She appeared by the side of the building and teleported there for everyone to see while a visible large metal ball was falling directly above her.

The floor below her feet was made of a solid metal, preventing her from seeing above and below her. The wall facing Arin and the rest was made of nigh unbreakable glass.

She dodged to the side, barely dodging the gigantic metal ball that aimed to crush her into a paste. As soon as it dropped into the ground, it started to roll further down into a segment where it disappeared. After a few more moments, another metal ball tried to fall down on her. Dodging one more time, it started to escape through the very same segment beneath Emilia.

Arin and everyone else could see Emilia’s situation. Seeing that everyone else was still trying to take it in Arin shouted out. He objectively explained the situation.

“Emila, the ball that’s falling down on you is the same one each time. There’s no escape, keep dodging!” Arin then looked at Layla. “Go inside.”

Layla wanted to go against Arin’s choice but since she was already an outsider to the group, no one went up and vouched for her. Layla didn’t even bother preparing as she already understood how this was going to do.

As expected, Layla was teleported to an area right beside Emilia. They could see each other as well as the rest of the group but they were too preoccupied with dealing with the trapped room they were in to converse with each other.

There was water coming in from the very top, from Layla’s perspective, it seemed as if she was being drowned yet once the liquid substance met the floor, it melted right through. Layla ran away, trying to see anything that she could do. As she ran, the liquid tracked her movements, falling down on her as she moved.

Seeing a blatant lever, she pulled it. An audible turning of gears could be heard as Emilia’s room started to increase in difficulty. Another metal ball was added to what Emilia had to dodge. Oddly enough, this also gave her another hatch to go through, letting her progress.

Arin watched everything unfold and smiled, “Finally something interesting. Someone go next.”