After passing through the middle palace, Axel and Nene arrived at a set of wooden double doors. As they approached, the doors opened automatically, revealing a staircase that led to the upper palace.
Nene led the way, stepping onto the staircase with a sense of familiarity that made Axel wonder how many times she had done this before. He hesitated for a moment, feeling a twinge of apprehension.
This place seemed like the perfect setting for a trap, if this were a story from one of those webnovels he sometimes read.
After ascending a few steps, Nene halted and turned around, her smile gracious and welcoming.
"Come, Axel-sama."
The moment Axel stepped through the double doors, he couldn't shake the feeling that the atmosphere had grown thick and slightly uncomfortable.
'Perhaps it's because of the congested space.'
He thought to himself, trying to rationalize the sudden shift in ambiance. But deep down, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more unsettling about the air surrounding him.
As they ascended, He checked the time displayed on his brain chip—it was evening, precisely 6:12. He felt a pang of gratitude for the hearty meals they had been provided, which he and Byte had eagerly devoured earlier.
Nene led the way up the stairs, which felt narrow and cramped, with only enough space for one person to walk at a time. The walls pressed in on either side, and the ceiling seemed to loom ominously overhead, causing Axel's anxiety to spike.
Gulp.
Trying to push aside his nerves, Axel followed Nene closely. She moved gracefully, her slender figure and the sway of her hips catching his attention despite the tense situation.
'No, no, not now. Your life is in danger, and you're thinking about...focus, Axel, focus.'
Axel scolded himself inwardly and forced himself to concentrate on the task at hand, pushing aside any distracting thoughts.
Putting distracting thoughts behind him, Axel focused on the task at hand and kept his gaze fixed on the steps as he ascended. However, even after half an hour of climbing, he found himself no closer to the end.
'Just how tall is this place?'
Axel was sweating profusely, his lack of stamina making the ascent up the steep stairs challenging. Despite his struggle, Nene appeared unfazed, her graceful demeanor unchanged as she continued to lead the way.
"How are you feeling, Axel-sama?"
"About to fall."
Nene laughed at his response.
"Why, Axel-sama, it's only been a few steps and you're already tired. You ought to train yourself if you want to keep a lady satisfied."
Her words made Axel blush, and even Nene's giggle sounded practiced. It seemed like everything about her was trained, and Axel couldn't help but feel a warm flush spreading across his cheeks at her playful remark.
'Nene-san's comedy, she's as—wait, only a few steps! What?'
Axel exclaimed, suddenly halting in his tracks. He spun around to gaze back down the staircase he had just climbed.
?!
To his surprise, he could still see the bottom of the staircase, but the double doors he had entered through were now closed shut. Confusion washed over him as he realized that something was not quite right.
"What the heck?" Axel exclaimed, scratching his head in confusion. He was convinced they had been walking for at least half an hour, trudging up those stairs, but there was nothing but the same double doors at the end.
"Did you get lost or something?"
Axel shook his head, feeling a bit flustered.
"No, I'm positive we climbed for thirty minutes, but this place doesn't even seem that long."
Axel checked the time displayed in his mind, and it confirmed what he already knew—it was 6:46. He had indeed been walking for half an hour. He couldn't shake off the feeling of confusion. The stairs and the double door were just a few steps ahead, and that couldn't be right.
He hadn't hit his head or anything to start hallucinating. Something was amiss, and he couldn't help but wonder if it was Nene's doing or perhaps the palace itself playing tricks on him.
'Illusion? But how?'
"Clear your mind of any negativity, Axel-sama, and focus only on positive memories. This staircase is known as 'Tengoku no Kaidan,' the stairway to heaven. You cannot ascend to heaven with a burdened heart. You must let go of worries and pain, and fill your mind with joyous thoughts, Axel-sama."
This defense mechanism was quite clever. Maybe it's something in the air in this crowded place, mixed with whatever toxin creates this illusion. Once you step through that closed door, your body breathes in the air filled with the illusion, making it hard for your brain to tell what's real and what's not.
To pass through here, you gotta have a pure and positive mind. If someone's got plans to harm the lord or his family, they'll just keep walking up those stairs until they tire out or someone catches them and kills them.
But there's another side to this too. It can also make someone change their mind and choose the right path.
'It's not a physical barrier, but a mental one. The more negative emotions you have, like worries or ill intentions, the harder those toxins work to mess with your mind and create hallucinations.'
And thus he continued to ascend the stairs.
Happy memories.
It was hard.
The worries, the anxiety, the fear—it all bubbled up to the surface, threatening to overwhelm him. Axel tried to push them aside, to focus on something from his childhood, but every memory he unearthed seemed tainted by darkness.
He didn't know who his father was, and his mother didn't know either. She was a prostitute, driven to sell her body for drugs and money by the unforgiving streets of Rusty Ridge.
She wasn't a loving mother, not by any stretch of the imagination. Instead of affection, Axel only received abuse, and even that was minimal as his mother was often high. Despite it all, she had been his home for the first nine years of his life.
Then disaster struck...