“Pffft!”

In a dark chamber, Naiad burst out of a pile of sand, shaking her head.

“Ptuh! Ptuh-ptuh!”

She spat out the sand in her mouth, and suddenly, as if snapping back to her senses, her gaze darted around.

“C-Clay?”

He was nowhere in sight. Naiad immediately took to the air and spun in place.

“Clay! Where are you!”

When there was no response, Naiad paled and muttered in panic.

“D-Did he get sucked into another place? What if he fell somewhere dangerous?!”

“There’s no need to panic.”

At the sudden voice, Naiad looked up.

“Huh?”

Clay was standing on the ceiling. Quite literally.

“W-What the—?”

“This labyrinth seems to be a place where the concept of ceiling and floor is ambiguous.”

As one got closer to the ceiling, the direction of gravity would shift, making that the new ground. In turn, the original ground became the ceiling.

“Not a good sign.”

It meant they’d have to check both above and below carefully. One wrong move and they could easily get lost.

“Unlike a regular maze, a labyrinth normally has a simple route—but this place is filled with traps meant to threaten one’s life. You can’t apply conventional thinking here.”

“What do you mean, saying that so casually?! That means it’s super dangerous!”

“Don’t worry. It’s just a particularly unique case.”

Even this Chaos Labyrinth, where the Chaos Minotaur had once lived, was ultimately built to store something. The traps were just meant to prevent anyone from taking it easily, not to kill everyone indiscriminately.

“No matter how different it is from a regular labyrinth, it’s still a labyrinth. We’ve already confirmed that there’s only one path. There’s no need to be afraid.”

“W-Who says I’m afraid?!”

Tap!

Clay leapt and flipped midair, landing on the same plane as Naiad.

“As long as you stay close to me, nothing will happen.”

“I told you, I’m not scared! Don’t ignore me!”

“Sure.”

Clay picked up Naiad and perched her on his shoulder, patting her head.

“……”

Naiad’s hair, now a mess from his touch, gave her the dazed look of a drenched mouse.

“Lux.”

Without looking at her, Clay drew Syltanaro and performed a Water Binding over the blade.

“Syltanaro. From now on, we’ll rely on your vision.”

Immediately, Syltanaro began to emit a radiant glow.

『It’s white light.』

“Does it feel unfitting for a demon sword?”

『Not exactly. Though, it does feel unfamiliar wrapped around my body.』

“Is that so.”

『Um, Demon King.』

Syltanaro hesitantly raised a question.

『I understand that since my reforging, I’m able to wield the power of Water Binding. But I’ve never heard of this kind of usage before...』

“You’re curious?”

『Yes.』

Clay chuckled at the honest answer.

“It’s not that complicated. Just think of it as you being both a sword and a magical staff now.”

『A magic staff…?』

“Water Binding replaces the magic circle and converts your mana. Even someone like me, who isn’t a magic specialist, can now fight in a more versatile way using you.”

『I see...』

Syltanaro sighed, though she seemed to still have questions.

『But even with the reforging… can I really handle these bindings continuously…?』

“You can.”

The Demon Sword wasn’t just meant to rival the Holy Sword.

“You were never just a ‘sword.’”

『...Excuse me?』

“To be precise, you never had to be a sword to begin with.”

Syltanaro had been born as a raw gem, not predetermined to take any single weapon form.

“You were born with the talent of all weapons—that’s why the Holy Alliance was so wary of you. If the previous Demon King had tried to use you in various forms, they would’ve had a hard time dealing with it.”

『Ah...』

It was something only Clay, the former Hero, could have known. Syltanaro was momentarily stunned by the realization.

『Then… I could have grown even further…』

“Don’t say you regret learning it only now. Otherwise, I might’ve already had my heart skewered by you.”

At Clay’s comment, Syltanaro jolted.

『N-No! I would never do something like that!』

“You were putting all your strength into trying to kill Clay back then, though.”

Naiad muttered, half-lidding her eyes.

“And now you’re nestled politely at his hip? Hard to believe, honestly.”

『Naiad!』

Clay grabbed the flustered Syltanaro to calm her.

“It’s all in the past.”

They’d already put that grudge behind them.

“Of course, there are still nights where I wake up just to check you’re not trying to stab me in my sleep.”

『D-Demon King…!』

“Oops, did I say too much?”

『No, sir! I am the sword that protects the Demon King! I would never think such a thing!』

“Not ‘never thought,’ huh?”

『T-That’s because… in the past, I might have, so…』

Clay burst out laughing as Syltanaro stumbled over her words.

“I’ll stop here. If I go any further and you stop cooperating, that would be a big problem.”

Syltanaro said nothing, glowing hotly in response. Naiad created a brush-shaped droplet of water and gently dabbed her with it.

“Don’t overheat. You might burn Clay.”

Ssssss—

Watching the water sizzle into steam, Naiad murmured,

“Thank goodness, Clay.”

She smiled faintly.

“That part of you I didn’t want to lose… it’s still there.”

Thunk.

Syltanaro, who had been flushed red, cooled instantly and flinched.

“……”

Clay stood in silence before finally speaking.

“Yeah.”

It was a simple acceptance—he didn’t deny Naiad’s sentiment.

“There’s no reason to throw everything away.”

Rumble.

A sudden tremor drew Clay’s attention forward.

“What is that...?”

It was a massive boulder. Though the terrain was flat, the boulder was somehow rolling directly toward Clay.

“What the—?!”

Naiad shouted and launched a droplet of water at it.

Boom!

The droplet exploded with force, but the boulder remained unscathed.

“Eh?!”

Naiad was stunned. Clay observed the boulder closely and quickly realized the problem.

‘Water Bindings!’

Countless Water Binding sigils were inscribed on the rock—each one glowing and exuding magical effects.

“Move!”

Clay grabbed Naiad and sprinted down a path opposite the rolling boulder.

『Demon King, that thing—!』

“I didn’t see everything! But—”

The inscriptions on the boulder were powerful defensive Water Bindings, capable of nullifying nearly all forms of attack.

‘How is it operating all those bindings without any mana?’

It made no sense.

Even Syltanaro’s Water Bindings required mana to function. But this boulder had completely nullified Naiad’s attack in an instant.

‘Don’t tell me—!’

Then there could be only one explanation for what was powering the boulder.

Splash!

Clay slid across the floor and came to a halt. Drawing Syltanaro, he struck the ground.

Craaaaack!

But instead of piercing the ground, Syltanaro bounced off, and Clay was sent sprawling from the impact.

“Clay!”

Naiad, hovering safely above, cried out in a shrill voice.

“...So it was true.”

This labyrinth was storing and utilizing its own mana. To empower the bindings inscribed on the boulder, the entire corridor and chamber were circulating mana throughout.

“There are mana veins running through here. This labyrinth is protecting them.”

Clay rose to his feet.

“That must also explain why the ceiling and floor feel disoriented.”

By then, the boulder had reached them.

“If we sever those veins and cut off the power supply—ghk!”

Boom!

The boulder collided directly with Clay’s raised Syltanaro.

He couldn’t hold out even for a moment. The impact sent Clay flying, though thankfully, he managed to retain his grip on Syltanaro.

He stabbed the sword into the ground to stop his momentum and landed hard. Naiad circled him anxiously, shouting:

“What do we do now?! We can’t even run away!”

The boulder, indestructible and well-fortified enough to repel intruders, was a trap far beyond what even the Chaos Minotaur could have devised. Clay swallowed hard.

‘There’s something here.’

Information he hadn’t even acquired in the libraries was now presenting itself before his eyes.

‘There must be something far more important inside this place than I thought...’

The boulder came crashing down again.

“Clay!”

At Naiad’s shout, Clay formed a Water Binding on Syltanaro’s blade.

“Fumor!”

He immediately swung the moisture-charged Syltanaro.

Clang!

As expected, the result was the same as Naiad’s attempt.

Syltanaro bounced off, and Clay leapt backward mid-air, neutralizing the impact with a spin and landing.

“Ignis!”

Fire,

“Tenebrae!”

Darkness,

“Aurora!”

Dawn,

“Reversus!”

Reversal,

“Sedeo!”

Collapse,

“Typhon! Terra! Nex!”

He unleashed every binding he could muster, one after another, trying to break the bindings on the boulder—but failed.

“Huff... Huff...”

His internal magia had been depleted in an instant. Constantly having to dodge had left him exhausted. But the greater problem was—

‘There’s nowhere left to run.’

He was cornered. Naiad was blasting streams of water at the wall behind them.

“I’ll try to soften it! Just hang on!”

But it was useless. If something like that could’ve worked, they would have escaped already.

“No choice, then.”

The Water Binding he was about to use was limited—each user granted divine power could only activate it once. And with Clay using twisted holy power in the form of magia, there would surely be backlash—but this was a crisis that had to be overcome.

“Religio.”

Syltanaro’s glow intensified.

『Demon King...?』

Drip.

Blood trailed from Clay’s mouth as he sprinted forward and swung Syltanaro into the boulder.

—Too early.

In that moment, a voice echoed in his mind.

—You cannot yet reach the full truth.

The binding meant to extract truth had triggered a voice—an overwhelming presence that Clay had never imagined.

—A cracked vessel cannot contain anything.

That was all he could hear. From then on, the truth-binding Water Binding revealed only one answer: how to disable all the other bindings on the boulder.

“Cosmos!”

Order.

The moment that Water Binding struck, the boulder shattered—and so did Clay’s consciousness.

♧

“...ley!”

A voice called out from somewhere.

“Clay!”

Clay slowly opened his eyes as water splashed across his face.

“He’s alive!”

Naiad, sitting on his face, shouted in joy.

“He’s alive! Clay’s alive!”

Slap! Slap!

She lightly patted his cheeks with soaking wet hands. Clay gently pushed her aside and looked toward Syltanaro.

She wasn’t broken, thankfully, but she was clearly shaken from the impact and remained silent.

His gaze shifted to the shattered remains of the boulder. The bindings had become fragments. Looking over the chaotic scene, he recalled the name of this place.

Chaos.

An empty domain of disorder.

And—

“Cosmos.”

The force that had shattered it—an invocation of the order beyond the black veil of the sky.

“This is...”

A gaze from a hierarchy beyond comprehension.

Clay had the distinct feeling—

That fate was stirring once again.

(End of Chapter)

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