The walls twisted like a living thing, bleeding black ichor that sizzled as it touched the ground. The scent of rot and something far worse filled the air—an ancient wrongness, a weight that pressed against the soul.

Leonard stalked forward, blade drawn, every muscle coiled like a predator awaiting the next kill. The labyrinth had already decided to break him. But if it wanted his mind, it would have to rip it from his corpse.

The whispering never stopped. Some voices whimpered. Some laughed. Some screamed.

Then—

The ground buckled beneath him.

Leonard moved instantly, leaping back as the stone split open, something crawling from the chasm. No, not crawling—unfolding.

A mass of flesh and blades, limbs bending at impossible angles. Its head, if it could even be called that, was a cage of ribs, its center pulsing like a beating, fleshy eye. The thing gurgled, a sound that sent a crawling sensation through Leonard’s skin.

It lunged.

Leonard dodged, twisting his body midair. The creature’s attack shattered the space where he had stood, jagged bone protrusions impaling the walls. Too fast. Too strong.

His boots barely touched the ground before he countered. A clean, calculated strike—his blade aimed for the pulsing eye.

Contact.

Ichor sprayed, but the thing did not falter. Instead, the wound twisted itself shut, muscle knitting over the gash as if devouring the damage. Then, the grotesque head snapped toward him.

The cage of ribs opened—

And Leonard saw himself inside it.

A distorted reflection. A twisted, shrieking version of him, arms outstretched, mouth locked in a perpetual, soundless scream.

For the first time since entering this place, a chill raced down his spine.

The thing roared.

It came at him with unnatural speed, claws slicing through air so fast they left distortions. Leonard barely had time to dodge before a second set of limbs erupted from its sides, striking from a blind spot—

Pain exploded through his ribs.

The force sent him crashing through the maze walls, the impact cracking bone. His vision blurred, the world tilting as he tumbled across the shifting ground. He forced himself upright, breath ragged.

The creature was already coming for him again.

Leonard planted his foot down—hard. The force sent him forward like a bullet, closing the distance between them in a blink. This time, he aimed lower.

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His blade cleaved through its legs, cutting through tendon and bone—

But the severed limbs did not fall.

Instead, they twisted, reshaped, reformed into something even more grotesque. The creature laughed, the sound a wet, choking gargle.

Leonard’s instincts screamed at him.

He leapt backward just as the thing’s body detonated.

A mass of flesh and tendrils erupted outward, turning into blades mid-air. The very walls screamed as the attack shredded through everything around them.

Leonard barely avoided the worst of it, but a tendril snagged his arm, slicing deep into flesh. Blood splattered across the ground.

Pain flared, but he embraced it. Pain meant he was still alive.

The creature twisted back together, its broken form reforming into something worse. Faster. More aware. It had adapted to him.

Leonard exhaled sharply. Then I’ll just kill it faster than it can learn.

He shifted his stance, lowering his blade. His vision sharpened—everything slowed.

The beast lunged.

Leonard moved faster.

He ducked under its first swipe, spinning low. The second claw came, but he was already pivoting—his blade slicing upward in a brutal arc.

This time, he did not aim for the body.

His strike found the cage of ribs, and in one fluid motion, he wrenched the head clean off.

Silence.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, the body spasmed, limbs twitching violently—before collapsing into itself.

Leonard stepped back, chest heaving, watching as the mass of flesh dissolved into a black, slithering pool.

A pulse of power rippled through the air.

Leonard’s gaze snapped toward it. Floating in the mess of gore was something small, something waiting.

An orb.

But this one was different.

It pulsed like a heartbeat, its surface shifting between liquid and solid, as if deciding what it wanted to be.

Leonard reached for it. The moment his fingers closed around the orb, the world shifted.

His mind—his soul—felt like it had been set ablaze. He saw things.

Futures. Pasts. Things that had never existed and things that always had.

And then—

He heard her voice.

“Well done,” the entity purred, her presence pressing against his thoughts. “But I wonder… was that truly the worst this labyrinth has to offer?”

The walls around him began to laugh.

Leonard exhaled. He was bleeding, his body screamed for rest, but he grinned through the pain.

“Let’s find out.”