My hands were shaking. It was obviously due to the samsara, or what remained of it. I could hardly remember the details anymore, but it didn't matter now. As we ascended, a searing pain ran through me, like my skin was being peeled away, layer by layer. My Rune trembled. I wasn't dead. Not yet. I could still feel Veldrin's presence.
The torments of the Grandula were relentless, but the agony was nothing compared to the weight of our past. Killing Houden of the Ashes—it was never meant to be easy. And though we had always prepared to sacrifice one of us, neither of us had to fall. Yet now, here we were, standing on the edge of the end, the culmination of everything we had been through, everything we had fought for.
The shaking, the static around me, all of it stopped. A strange, almost comforting stillness took over. I felt myself levitate, just for a moment, as though the ground had abandoned me. Slowly, my feet met the floor with a soft thud, the silence hanging thick in the air.
I heard a voice inside my head, though it wasn't like before—no guidance, no clarity. It simply confirmed what I already knew, a cold certainty: We had entered the 99th level.
I opened my eyes. The scenery before me was barren, almost identical to a few levels before this. The red smoke and mist stretched out endlessly, as if the world itself were consumed by an infinite abyss. There were no stars, no lights in the sky. The void above us twisted and churned, alive, eager—waiting for whatever was about to unfold.
"We're finally here," Veldrin's voice broke through the shrill ringing in my head, rough and steady .
"I'm afraid so," I replied, my voice quieter than I intended.
I started walking. Where? I couldn't say. I moved forward, my feet heavy. The atmosphere around us shifted. I didn't sense anyone else nearby. The tablet confirmed it. No one. Not a soul.
The Nyu required to ascend to the end—it was incomprehensible. Nearly double what I had. I almost thought I had misread it, but no. Had someone already reached the end? No. The achievement was still unclaimed. The 100th level remained beyond anyone's grasp. And now, here we were, standing alone in the silence of this desolate place.
A doubt crept into my mind. I checked the tablet again. This time, there was something new—something that made my stomach tighten.
Achievement unlocked: The First Step at the Edge of the End.
My heartbeat slowed.
"Guess no one's here, huh?" Veldrin's voice broke through again, a trace of something I couldn't place in his tone.
"We are the first. Or maybe we were the first," he scoffed, a strange edge in his words. "I didn't think we'd make it this far, XXXXXX."
I turned to him then. My eyes met his, and for the briefest moment, I imagined he was smiling that smile I always hated—the one that carried no real recognition of what was to come. But no. He wasn't smiling. Not this time.
He was looking at me, straight into my eyes.
The silence stretched out. I could feel it in my chest, the weight of it all. The memory of everything we'd done together—everything we had been—flooded my mind. And with that, the truth settled in.
One of us had to die.
We couldn't avoid it. We couldn't keep pretending.
I closed my eyes, letting my head fall.
I felt it again. The shift in the void. The awareness. Something watching us, anticipating the inevitable. I could almost hear the soft giggling in the depths of the labyrinth, its unseen eyes waiting for what would unfold next.
I looked up at the sky—the endless void, stretching above me, vast and consuming. It shifted, slow and ominous, as if it knew. As if it was waiting.
The thing is… I am cursed. Not just any other curse. Immortality. One of the worst curses a human can bear.
I am immortal.
Veldrin isn't.
No matter how many times we fight, no matter how many times he kills me—I can't die. I won't die.
That is my curse.
And I hate it.
Hate that it means I can never escape this cycle. Never rest. Never be free.
I've never wielded it by choice, but used it to cut down enemies, to climb levels, to reach this place.
But that's all it has ever been—survival.
I am not the strongest. Not the fastest. Not the smartest.
I'm just... immortal.
I looked at him one last time. And this time, there it was—his smile. Quiet, resigned, knowing.
He knew.
If anyone was going to die here, it was him. If anyone could ascend to the end, it was me. But I didn't want it. Not like this. Not at the cost of him. Not at the cost of what we had been.
I could feel the weight of his gaze on me, heavy with unspoken understanding.
I tried to think of another way. Any other way. Even if it was the last thing I did.
But there was nothing.
Nothing but the inevitable.
I looked at him, trying to smile. My hands trembled slightly, barely noticeable, but enough for me to feel the weakness creeping in.
"You know…" My voice came out quieter than I intended. "Why don't we just wait?"
Veldrin tilted his head slightly, but he said nothing. So I forced myself to keep talking.
"We can wait for someone to reach this level after us," I said, the words feeling hollow even as I spoke them. "Then we'll kill them. We'll get past this level together."
I already knew it wouldn't work. Even if, against all odds, someone managed to reach this place, there was no guarantee he would have enough Nyu for the both of us to ascend. Only one of us could ascend. Only one could step forward.
And how long would we have to wait?
It had taken us eons to reach this level. Eons. And that was with my immortality.
No one else had ever possessed a rune like mine. No one else had defied time like we had. No one else had killed literal Gods. How could I possibly expect another to follow our path?
Veldrin knew.
His smile didn't fade.
It never did.
"Stop it," I whispered. Then, louder, "Stop it!"
That damn smile.
"Do you know how much it would hurt me to kill you?" My voice cracked, and I hated it. "I would rather die by your hands a hundred times before I even think about killing you."
The words left me breathless. I almost laughed at the absurdity of it all.
I had ruled dynasties. Built empires. Had people I called my own. Yet there was no one—nothing—I valued as much as Veldrin.
The silence between us stretched, growing heavier with every second.
And then he spoke.
"Then," he said, voice as steady as ever, "I just have to kill you a hundred times, right?"
I froze.
That smile. That same, maddening smile.
I clenched my fists. I shut my eyes. I wished—prayed—that there was something else I could say. Something else I could do.
But I heard it.
The sound of a sword being summoned.
A hum in the air. A shift in the atmosphere.
Excalibur.
The light from the blade cut through the darkness, its radiance devouring the mist around him. I felt its sheer presence pressing against me, weighing down on my body, demanding that I acknowledge it.
And so I did.
With a slow breath, I called forth my own blade.
Veldrin had always been ahead of me. In strength. In speed. In skill. Even without a rune, even without immortality, he had always been better.
I had no doubt.
He could kill me a thousand times.
And he knew it.
"Well then," he said softly.
I didn't meet his eyes. I couldn't.
"Let's battle for eternity," he murmured, and I could hear the smirk in his voice.
A pause.
"Or until I die."