Vol 3 Chapter 1 (1/2)

Chapter 1 - Towards the Inside of Blue

”Saki!”

I yell out the name of my little sister, and open my eyes

But there's no way my little sister would be here

Since she has become the world's most difficult labyrinth of rank 666 and disappeared froo

Thus, that was just a dream

An illusion

But, as before, I am still inside a labyrinth

A labyrinth brought forth by Gunjou

There is no one before me

shi+ro, Himi, Yousuke, Kiri and Kansai's Valor Team aren't here

Only I a in this wide room that seems to have become deserted

I sit up

” kuh”

My head hurts

I don't even kno long I have been unconscious here If I were to believe the words of my little sister insidehere for a month

”There's no fool ould believe the words said inside a dream, is there?”

In the first place, this isn't a place where one could remain unconscious for a month This isn't a place where one could reic

Then, does that mean I have only been out for an instant?

” what on earth has happened?”

I murmur

I look down at the wound in my chest where Kiri stabbed For some reason, the wound has been closed I know not what kind of h Kiri's sword Did she stab me with the intent to killmy movements?

Whichever way it was, she betrayed us

She's a traitor

But she said 'sorry' while she was on the verge of tears

She kept saying 'sorry' again and again

The moment a traitor cries the instant he turns traitorous, he has failed as a traitor so, whether or not she can be called a traitor I do not know

Anyway, I don't know anything right now

”Jeez, what kind of situation aht now?”

I look around me but there really isn't anyone here

The only thing I can see is the dried-up blood poured all over the floor by the Valor Teaainst Gunjou as her weakness

””

When I was still conscious, the floor should have been splashed with tons of blood

In other words, some amount of time has passed since then

I remember the words said by my little sister Saki in my dream

One month has passed --- that's what my little sister had said There's no reason I should believe that, but at any rate, I have to raise my tension Because inside the labyrinth, the instant I'm clueless about my situation is the instant I would lose my life

Shall I Escape?

Should I Escape?

But at thatsound from behind me

No, it's a strange voice

”Yaah yaah”

The voice says

I turn towards that voice

Upon doing that, I see a white rabbit standing at a short distance away from me A rabbit in a suit that has a heart mark finely woven into it

In its left hand, it holds a pocket watch

I know that rabbit It is the sae rabbit that appears in the illustrations of the 'Alice in Wonderland' that I used to read with my little sister

While checking its pocket watch, the rabbit says

”Yaah yaah, Mr Human, it's time”

”What time?”

I ask, to which the rabbit says

”Time to die”

The rabbit juht hand

Its movement is abnormally fast

I have already activated ic Activator 》s[1], but I have not playedis Escape switch My Escape switch has yet to complete On top of that, ood

” ugh”

The attack will probably hit me

I'll be activating my Escape as I received the attack

In other words, if I don't receive a fatal wound, it'd bestraight for e it at all Will it slice ?

I protect my head with my left arm

”damn, I'll let you take my arm”

Even if I a

The Escape song reverberates in my head

The Escape song starts

Just as the claws are about to harvest my arm, behind the rabbit, another rabbit that has been hidden jumps out

I look at it

My eyes widen

The other is ai for my heart and I have no way to deal with that

It's the end

I'll die

My Escape has yet to complete

But even so, trying to avoid a fatal wound, I roll on the floor in an unsightly manner

”Uoooooooooooh!?”

I let out a cry as I operateto survive

Even though it's useless

Even though either et sliced apart

The faster claws of the rabbit are about to reach my neck

No good

It's the end

The end is co too easily

I stop hollering S with half-opened eyes I'm amazed at my oeakness and worthlessness

Then,

”Sorry Saki”

The moment I murmur the name of my little sister softly

The claws touches my neck

About to rip open my carotid artery

Just before that happens

”Hn”

The voice of a girl appears right next to me

She catches hold of the faces of the two rabbits with her small hands And with that, she throws them far away

I was saved by someone

The rabbits are bloay

Right as they are bloay, they divide

Four rabbits deliberately take out their pocket watches and say at the same time

””Yaah yaah Mr Human, it's time””

But I can't see those rabbits Since irl who has appeared right before them

””It's time to die””

Right before ht of about 150 cm

She has blond hair And is wearing the sailor uniforh

Her al red and blue respectively

She's like a puppet, hung fro that of the devil

I know the nairl

”Gunjou!?”

I call that nalance at me

It's really Gunjou

Mizuiro Gunjou

As before, her face is vacant, lonely, and sad

She has contracted the labyrinth disease

The rabbits in mid-air say

””Time to die, time to die, time to die, time to die””

Claws appear in their right hands at the same time

But Gunjou crosses both her hands upwards Upon doing that, countlessob appear And they start spinning

It's Sea Moon Wheel switch

She uses this ic to put down her enemies

The Sea Moon Wheels attack the rabbits all at once The rabbits look at them,

”Aah, scary scary”

They say while dodging, but they failed to dodge them and are split apart

The four rabbits are split cleanly into two and disappear

Gunjou is strong

Since she has become an eternal labyrinth

But, why is Gunjou, who should be the one who has brought forth this labyrinth, fighting the rabbits?

Does that mean those rabbits aren't soldiers created by Gunjou?

Rabbits appear again at the entrance of this hall

This time, there are five

”Hn”

Her al red and blue respectively

Gunjou looks in their direction She raises both hands again She does not activate her 《Headphone Fuzz》 worn on her ear Without her 《Headphone Fuzz》, she conjures her Sea Moon Wheel switch

She sends her jellyfish flying

Slicing the rabbits apart

Slicing apart

Slicing apart

When I look closely, it's like Gunjou is getting rid of the rabbits to protect me

Her skirt and uniform are in tatters They are all bloodied

Even her thighs and arms are also covered in wounds

I look at that and say

” don't tellme”

A single rabbit slip past the jellyfish and is about to close in on me

By this time, I'm already in the state where I can deal with them

I activate two ics in my brain

Acceleration switch

Demon Sword switch

With these two ics activated, I can surpass God for an instant

But there isn't any need for ic

Gunjou hurriedly corabs the rabbit's face

”Hn!”

She utters and flings the rabbit sending it flying At that moment, Gunjou's face is close to me I peer into her eyes

As usual, they are vacant, and look lonely and sad Her emotions are faint

”Fuh, fuh, fuh”

She is short on breath I can clearly tell that she is breathing heavily, and has shed lots of blood and sweat And holding her ground with her slender legs, she immediately turns around towards the rabbits

Raising her slender hands

Conjuring up her Sea Moon Wheel switch

Slashi+ng the rabbits

I don't knohat's happening I have no idea why Gunjou is fighting the rabbits that are supposed to have been brought forth by herself

However, I only know that she is desperately protecting me

Covered in blood

Covered in dirt

Having contracted the labyrinth disease

But yet, she is protecting me

””

If one month had really passed like what Saki said in the dream, then,

” seeh I wasn't able to see your face”

I murmur softly

The rabbit assault stops for a while

But Gunjou continues to have her back towards uard

I call out to her

”Hey Gunjou”

””

”Gunjou”

””

”Are you conscious?”

””

”Why're you protecting ht?”

””

She does not answer

Because of the labyrinth disease In order to talk to her heart, there's no other way but to enter her heart with ic

I approach her And stand before her Gunjou just looks at the entrance to the hall Looking out for any inco rabbits

I stoop aze off

Instantly, she reacts

She looks at me,

” uwu ah, uwu”

She utters, but only that She looks as if she is about to co for a moment, but that's all to it

Her face returns to a vacant look

She does not attack

She does not attack me

Her beautiful face is ss to her Her neck is also hurt

She got hurt while protecting me

On seeing that, I say in an exasperated voice

” don't tellof me as your comrade?”

””

”That's why you're protecting me?”

””

”You know, you have the labyrinth disease right? You have to attack er human, you should lose your consciousness and become a proper monster hey”

””

”Otherwise”

I grab the shoulders of Gunjou Her body is slender She is so slender that it looks like she will break if I apply too th into my hands

Did she keep on protectinghas that been?

When I touched her, her body quivered a bit, but as before, she did not attackher alert towards the entrance to the hall

I look hard at that Gunjou, contorting e of tears, I say

” otherwise, doesn't that irls who have been disposed by the humans, have all retained their consciousness all the while until they were disposed?”

That would be the most dreadful truth

I would have at least hoped that they were monsters with their consciousness sed up by the disease in the instant they were disposed

But I already knew otherwise

During the time when I killed Asahi Momoka with my Holy Sword switch, I had entered her heart and I knew then

Asahi Moood kid

She didn't want to kill her family and friends and said that she wanted me to quickly kill her She even went as far as to thankher

Labyrinth diseased girls retain their consciousness as they are being turned into labyrinths

I stare at Gunjou

I stare atmanifested the labyrinth disease

I look hard at my comrade of the same Hero Team that I'm on,

” what the hell are you all? shi+ro, His like co to me”

””

”We are strangers right? We are all strangers In that case in that case, you should have abandoned me easily!”

I bellow, taking advantage of the fact that Gunjou won't respond

As before, she does not react

With her vacant, lonely, sad eyes, she merely stares at the entrance to the hall

I look hard at her I look hard at the Gunjou who has been protecting me all this while

””

Following that, I snap ers three times And activate my 《Headphone Fuzz》

In ht allow irl plays

The ic completes in my brain

My neural matter throbs

【Deceiving the night ♪

Beguiling the world ♪

The darkness that saves the girl of the endless night ♪】

”Holy Sword switch ---”

I say

A silver sword appears insword A sword of hypocrisy that resembles a sword that a hero carries

But the hand that holds that sword trembles Of course Because only until recently, this sword is an incoirls

Thus,

” if you seeyour life to save me it makes me afraid to use this you know, Gunjou”

I say in a tre voice

According to the craftsman who had developed this sword, Liezel Baimeister, in theory, this sword is complete, but I don't knohether or not I can believe that

Because I have yet to test it out

If I test it out here, I'd be perfor human experimentation

If it doesn't go well, Gunjou will die

Just like how Asahi Momoka died

The hand that is holding the Holy Sword is shaking in fear

Should I thrust this into Gunjou, or should I give up on that? I don't know the answer to that

But, if I don't save her here, she will probably be reigning here as an eternal labyrinth diseased girl forever If she becomes an eternal labyrinth, the difficulty increases by ten times

Rank 420

If I let this chance go, it probably won't come back In the first place, there's no place on earth that's conducting research on how to save labyrinth diseased girls

The world has concluded that it is better to kill orthem

Thus, if I don't save her here, it'd be the end

It'd be the end for Gunjou

You can call it a ht now

The only time to save her is now

The only time to save her is none other than now

But,

”Maybe it'sthat?”

She does not reply

”Will you go to the extent of risking death to becoirl?”

She does not answer

”If you don't want to, please tell me Please attack me I don't want to carry the burden of your death”

But she does not react Even as I show her the Holy Sword, she does not attack me

But her eyes are slightly moist with tears

However,

”I don't get theof those tears”

Which is it?

She doesn't want to die?

Or she wants to be saved?

I don't know I don't know at all

Thus it all rests with me

I grimace,

”dairl, I would still be able to bear with it If I were testing this on another labyrinth diseased girl If I never knew the face, it won't irl I don't know, it won't be so painful”

””

”You are all so cruel Even when I keep telling you guys that I don't need any friends”

””

”Why did you all get so close to me?”

””

Tears flow from the eyes of the expressionless Gunjou

But as before, I do not know thebehind that

--- is she asking me not to kill her?

Or

--- to save her?

I gripped htly

I ripped htly

And say

”I' the one to decide on your fate on ant be it as a friend, as a comrade or a classhty angry face of yours again, I want to return you back to normal for these unreasonable selfish reasons”

I raise my Holy Sword

Gunjou reacts to that

She looks up, not at the sword, but at me

I look down at her,

”I shall save you”

Aftersuch a proclamation, I thrust my Holy Sword switch into her neck

♦

♦

♦

In the next instant

With the power of the Holy Sword, I enter the depths of her heart

The feeling is not much different from the time when I pushed myself into the heart of Asahi Momoka Up till this point, I still do not knohether the Holy Sword is completed or not

””

The inside of Gunjou is also made up of darkness

A dark darkness

Gunjou is sitting alone in the corner of that dark darkness

With her legs folded against her chest

The same as Asahi Momoka

I grow anxious Can I really save her? Or will I end up killing her with this sword?

Ibefore her And call out to her

”Gunjou”