"Well, how was it?" the gentle female voice asked.

Before I knew it, my dream had come to an end, and I was back in the dark.

"It was... boring," I answered simply, after pondering for a second.

"I guess your mind is too twisted to view memories as painful," the voice commented on my answer with a hint of pity.

"Then I guess there's no point in keeping me here, is there?" I said, annoyed by the voice's know-it-all attitude.

"Very well, I will allow you to leave. But first you have to answer a question."

"What is it?"

"How long do you think that you can keep this up?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, you know. The thing with him and you. It's a lie. Nothing more than buffoonery is the cause of your fragile little mind not being able to come to terms with you having been fragile and weak."

"Bla bla bla. Do you think you can make me change by shoving a bunch of meaningless words in my face?"

"You talk so much, yet you still deem words meaningless. Why is that?"

"I only talk when I get something out of it."

"Then why did you feel the need to torment Atlas? Was it just because he reminded you of the worst parts of yourself that you had to torture him? Admit it, you aren't only interested in your end goal of freedom. You're not a good person who's been wronged. You're a bad person who wrongs others without ever taking responsibility for following your psychotic impulses."

"Didn't your parents teach you not to draw conclusions and present them as the truth."

"You're forgetting that I know you better than you know yourself."

"But why should I believe you? You could just lie to try to get me to go insane, since it seems that's your purpose."

"I didn't lie, and you know it."

"..." I kept quiet with a cold expression.

"Admit it, you tormented Atlas not for your ultimate goal but because you wanted to."

"Yes, I wanted to!" I yelled in a sudden burst of emotion. "He deserved nothing less," I followed up with clear animosity in my voice.

"There it is. Do you feel better now?" The voice laughed.

'She got me. She managed to get on my nerves and manipulate me.'

As I realized this, my expression turned into a solemn frown. All I could do now was relax and move on. At least that was what I told myself, but my mind didn't seem to be fully listening to me anymore.

"Haaah, I'm sorry. It's not like me to yell like that." I spewed out an apology as insincere as it could get, but even though my expression was calm, I felt rage deep within my heart, waiting for a suitable moment to lash out.

"I know, it was more like him," the voice concluded. "It seems the memories did have an effect, after all."

***

Not long afterward, I walked into the third preparation room. As soon as I entered, I noticed that there were over twenty seats at the dining table.

It seemed that I was going to have to be on guard.

Firstly, I walked over to the clothing rack, took off the pieces of clothing I had used as bandages to stop the bleeding on my left shoulder, and changed my clothes.

I didn't know how much time had passed, but the wound on my back had almost healed completely, and my shoulder felt fine. There was still some pain that came with movement, but I was sure I'd be able to fight properly.

After having undone the bandages on my right shoulder and changed my clothes, I headed towards the dining table.

I also had to use the bathroom and shower, but I couldn't do that if other people were going to arrive soon. Also, I was starving.

With this thought in mind, I sat down in front of the dining table and started stuffing myself.

It was one of the best meals I had ever had. Unfortunately, it was interrupted by a man's footsteps after about 10 minutes of eating.

I turned my head as soon as I heard the footsteps and saw a man with brown hair and hazel eyes. The man had a troubled expression as he looked around. Before long, the man noticed me, and his expression changed into one of surprise, "Uh, you... We haven't met, have we?" the man asked with furrowed brows, stopping in his tracks.

"Yeah, we haven't," I answered simply and turned my body to face the man, whom I recognized as the unexpected 4th group leader back in the dome.

"What's your name?" He continued to walk towards the dining table.

"Akir."

"Oh, okay. I'm Adam."

"Pleased to meet you, Adam."

"It's nice to meet you, too. It would be much nicer if it weren't in a place like this, though," Adam said, scratching his head with a bit of an awkward smile.

"Are you the leader of your group by any chance?" I looked for confirmation, even though I knew I was right.

"Yeah." Adam said, and shortly after, he arrived in front of the dining table and sat down. "I assume you're the leader of your group as well.

"Well, there's really no group for me to lead." I answered, simply taking a quick sip out of my cup before raising my gaze again to specify. "Everybody is already dead."

At that moment, a chair disappeared into thin air, and the table shrank slightly.

'Interesting.' I thought.

It seemed like the ruins really didn't function according to any kind of laws or logic.

"Huh? Did you see that?" Adam asked with an expression of disbelief.

"Yeah, it seems that one of your group members lost their lives just now," I said casually and continued eating.

"Huh, died. How?" Adam asked with a confused expression and some seriousness in his voice.

"From what I know, the ruins on each level are similar, so I assume that the ruin you were in was one where your squad was separated and your minds were messed with," I answered as I ate.

"That's right. But how could someone die?" Adam asked, still just as confused as before.

"You had a conflict in the first ruin and were forced to kill your group members, correct?"

"Umm, yeah," Adam said with a complicated expression.

"Well, some people can't bear killing other humans. Maybe they can do it in a difficult situation without thinking about it too much, but when confronted, those people crumble and try to escape. You know by..." I said and took my thump, dragging it across my throat against my throat. Adam's face turned into one of disgust as he looked at me, but I continued talking. "I actually thought you were that kind of person, but I guess you have some evil in you," I said as I started feeling something strange.

Even to me, my actions seemed strange. This person wasn't in the wrong, nor had he harmed me in any way. But still, it felt good, as I made him feel awful. It felt just right, like something that I was simply supposed to do.

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"So you're saying that they... killed themselves?" Adam asked with a mix of sadness and disbelief in his voice.

"Obviously. But how about we talk about you? You seem to be just fine, even though you killed people not too long ago. Why is that?"

"It's not like I wanted to, I just had to. If I didn't kill them, my group members and I would've died."

"No, you didn't. You killed them because it was convenient. Are you seriously saying that there was no other way?" I said as I stood up and abruptly slammed the table. "There was! There had to be! You just weren't willing to look." I said and started walking towards him.

My anger was starting to flow through my mouth, and I did nothing to stop it. It was too satisfying. I couldn't not do it.

"Hey, why are you angry? Was someone you knew in my group?" Adam said as he stood up and started walking backward away from me.

"You justify your actions by saying there was no other way, when there was. You're a pathetic coward hiding behind excuses because he can't confront his actions. If you're really a good person, then why don't you feel any remorse? You can't seriously believe that you're a just human being after taking the life of another human, can you?" I said as I continued to walk towards him.

At this point, I didn't know who my words were for. My mind was too clouded with emotions, which I was too incompetent to handle properly.

Words flowed. Words with deep meaning, but none of those words were meant for Adam. Why would they have been? I barely knew him.

But even though I did not know the person these words were meant to hurt, motivate or better, I kept opening and closing my mouth in an effort to share my burden.

"What? I know what I did, but I couldn't have saved the others if I didn't kill them," Adam answered, walking backwards in a panic, trying to avoid contact.

"Bullshit, this was never about them, it was you who killed them, and you did it to save yourself, not to save your group. Tell me, if you had known that you'd die in the act of saving your group members, would you have still done it?"

"Uh, of co-"

"No!" I interrupted Adam with a yell. "You wouldn't have. And that's because the one you killed for was yourself, you never cared about others. All you thought about when you took those lives was yourself."

After I finished yelling, Adam suddenly stopped backing away and stood up to me.

Surprisingly, he stood taller than me.

"How do you know?! Why are you even doing this?! Are you some sicko that gets enjoyment out of tormenting others?!" Adam yelled in my face, and I even felt a couple of droplets of saliva hit my face.

'Disgusting,' I thought spitefully, and then my body started moving.

I moved my right foot back as I lowered myself a little and twisted my waist. Then my right arm extended and a loud sound resounded in the preparation room, and Adam fell to the ground.

"Watch where you spit," I said, looking down at Adam.

"Don't you know how many people I've saved? Compared to you, whose group is already dead, I've done an excellent job," Adam said, as if he were entitled to my gratitude.

Suddenly, my expression turned neutral.

"Oh, how altruistic of you to use your good deeds to try to get something out of me," I said nonchalantly.

"Wha—" Adam let out a noise of confusion.

"Oh, all this was just an act. I'm not mad at you. How could I be? We're the same. You're just a little behind the curve," I said, as if talking about something trivial.

"Hey!" A loud, rough voice came from my right.

I turned my head and saw a broad shouldered man running at me full speed.

"Wait!" Adam yelled at the man, but it was too late.

The man came at me with his weapon, but I disarmed him in under a second and took him into a choke hold. His weapon fell to the ground with a clunk sound as the man tried his best to loosen the choke hold with both of his hands, but even though my right shoulder ached, I didn't stop choking him, and my strength was far beyond his.

At that moment, another person appeared in the preparation room.

"Akir, don't kill him. I promise he won't try harming you again," Adam begged me as I held the man.

"Tch." I grabbed the back of the man's neck and threw him to the ground. "Killing someone as weak as him would be a waste of time, in any case."

The person who had arrived in the preparation room came to help the man, who was grabbing his throat and coughing on the ground.

"The light in your eyes is fading. I'm sure it'll be long gone if we ever meet again," I said as I looked at Adam's hazel eyes, which were no longer the same as the ones I had seen back in the dome.

Then I simply turned and started heading towards the tunnel.

Adam just wordlessly sat there and watched as I walked away.

I had eaten already, and if I stayed any longer, I could be in danger, so it was crucial that I got through the next ruin before they caught up to me.

"Should we go after him?" asked the person who was helping the man I had pushed.

"No. It's better just to let him die by himself," Adam answered.

***

As I walked into the tunnel, I noticed the symbol on my pommel had changed. There was no longer a dominant color.

The walk in the tunnel felt much shorter than before, and before I knew it, I had arrived in front of a large door at the end of the tunnel. This time the door had a ring on it.

I walked up to the door and tried pushing it open, but failed. I tried again, this time harder than before. However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the door to budge. After a while, I figured that maybe everybody had to enter at the same time and started thinking of a strategy. While doing so, I raised my left hand and tried to lean on the door, but when I was supposed to make contact with it, my hand just went through it like it had been a mirage. I took my hand out of the door, and the spot where my hand had gone through no longer resembled a door, but there was just utter darkness in the shape of my arm.

Shortly after, the darkness started to spread. In seconds, the door was now replaced with a void, and a few moments later, all I could see was nothing but black.

Then, my own voice resounded in my head

[The difficulty has been recognized as too low for you.]

[You will now be redirected into another ruin of a higher difficulty.]

'Oh, so it's like the rich having to pay more taxes,' I thought with a hint of anger.

Then, in the blink of an eye, I was surrounded by noise.

"Huh?" I let out a sound of confusion with my brows furrowed as I looked around and saw that I was on a street in a town that looked like it was from the 1800s, full of people doing business and casually walking around.