Hajime lets out a few grunts of pain as he sits up. He grits his teeth as he hunches over.

"Hajime!" Yue yells in worry.

Ruby stands in front of the two, with her scythe at the ready. She smiles sadistically as he gets ready for a fight. Hajime grabs a vial of holy water and pours it over his back, where the spikes are embedded.

Yue quickly gets up and runs behind Hajime. She then quickly starts ripping out all the spikes as his wounds start to heal.

"I let my guard down." Hajime growls at himself.

Ruby's eyes trail upwards as she hears rumbling. She spots a massive scorpion-like monsters with two stingers and four pincers. Ruby smiles as she licks her lips.

"Now that's a fun looking beast, and a good smelling one too!"

Hajime looks up at it with a frown. "Guess it's here to make sure Yue, doesn't escape..."

Ruby smirks as she twirls her scythe with one hand, before slamming it into the ground next to her. "Then we'll just have to kill it!" Hajime smirks in response.

The white haired teen then grabs the fur coat on his back, and tosses it onto Yue. "Here. Put this on."

Yue cover her bare chest and lightly glares at the boy. "Hajime, you perv." Then a dried stick of meat is shoved into her mouth.

Hajime then bends down and pats his back. Yue quickly climbs on as he stands back up. "Hold on right, Yue!" he looks over to Ruby. "Give us some cover, Reuben."

Ruby rips her weapon out of the ground points it up at the beast. "I am quiet hungry!"

The massive scorpion drops from the ceiling and screeches at them. It snaps its pincers a few times.

"So you do wanna fight huh?" Ruby's eyes shine brightly as she smiles, showing off her sharp teeth. "Then let's dance!"

--

--

Ruby flies back using Petal Burst as the scorpion slams its pincer into the ground. Black and Red petals fall around her. Hajime is off to the side firing his revolver at the massive beast, but the rounds bounce off its armor.

The Scorpion turns to Ruby as its tails focus on Hajime. It roars at Ruby and swings its pincers at her. She swings her scythe, deflecting one of the pincers and then ducks under the second one. Then does a back flip as the other two slam into the ground where she was.

Ruby then opens her mouth up wide, showing a second row of sharp teeth behind her main ones. Magic starts to gather around her mouth, as it then turns into a large fire ball.

Ruby then throws her head forward as the fire ball curves through the air, and slams into one of its stingers, causing the whole tail to blow up. The scorpion lets out a angry roar and swings its pincers at Ruby, which she uses Petal Burst to fly between the attacks, but one manages to strike her.

Ruby yelps as she gets sent flying and crashes into a wall, she quickly gets back up and smiles sadistically; as black blood falls from her mouth.

"So you like it rough, huh?" Ruby runs the blood from her mouth, before grabs her scythe.

Ruby shoots forward, dodging between flying spikes, before jumping up into the air. She yells as magic gathers around her mouth again and a large green balls forms. She throws her head back as the ball flies up into the air, before getting smacked down by Ruby using her scythe as a bat.

The ball of acid slams into the top of the scorpion, causing it to faulter a little. The acid starts to very slowly eat at its thick endo-skeleton. 

Ruby lands on her feet and notices something land in front of the beast, said something explodes in a bright flash; blinding both monsters.

"AHHH! HAJIME!" Ruby yells as she drops her scythe and holds both her eyes.

Blinded, Ruby runs forward and grabs her downed scythe then uses Petal Burst to fly back. The scorpion turns to where Hajime is taking cover and uses its four pincers to destroy the area, Hajime uses Quick Step to move away.

Ruby rubs her eyes as smoke rises from them, gunshots echo behind her. "Fucking asshole!" Her voice turns rough as she growls and after a few seconds she lowers her hands and looks out of cover to see the Scorpion get slammed in the head by a large blue ball of fire.

Ruby looks towards her friend and the loli, to see Yue holding her hand out. She was the one that casted the spell. But her spell does noticeable damaged to the beasts head.

"Reuben!" Hajime yells out.

"Yes, asshole!" Ruby calls back.

"Can you get some heavy attacks in on the top of it's head?!"

Ruby laughs evilly. "Of course!" She runs out of cover and towards the Scorpion with her scythe ready. "Cover your ears!"

Hajime and Yue cover their ears and jump back. A red magic circle appears in front of Ruby's mouth as she screams, using Ear-Piercing Scream.

The sonic sound wave rushes over the scorpion and it screeches and it starts to shake its head around. Ruby smirks as she jumps up and onto its head. She raises her scythe up. "I hope you're hungry!" She slams her scythe down onto the beast a few times, cracks appear in its armor.

"Move!" Hajime yells as a blue hue appears above Ruby.

Ruby flips back as a blue ball of flame slams into the top of the Scorpions head, it's smaller than the last one. Ruby lands beside Yue as the ball disappears and Hajime lands on the beast's head. He fires his revolver into its head a few times and yellow blood splatters out as it falls to the ground, dead.

Hajime lands beside the two. Ruby lets out a huff as he sets her scythe onto her back, bits of green energy appear around her, healing small wounds around her body.

"Why?" Yue asks and the two turn to her. "Why didn't you two leave me behind and run?"

Hajime turns to the Vampire loli. "I haven't fallen that far. You were horribly betrayed, then entrusted me with your safety. What kind of man would I be if I left you?"

Ruby rolls her shoulders, before cracking her back. "And this man owes me a favor." She points her thumb at Hajime. "So he can't die until he repays it."

Hajime scowls as he turns to the tall monster girl. "The hell you mean I owe you!" He yells in anger.

"I mean you owe me!" Ruby yells back. "I risked my ass to save you back on that bridge, but it failed and we both ended up down here. So I'm kinda down here because of you!"

"You did that in your own free will! So I owe you nothing!"

"I'm older, taller and stronger, so I say you owe me!" Ruby yells as she crosses her arms.

"Only by a couple months, and you are only taller and stronger because you changed into the thing you are now!" Hajime scowls as he glares at her.

The two butt heads together as they glare at each other.

"So what if changing into this increased my states by 200, but the rest if from a lot of hard work!" Ruby yells as she pushes against Hajime.

"It's complete bullshit, is what it is!" Hajime pushes Ruby back.

"Says you, Mr. 'Gone Emo'!" Ruby pushes back against Hajime.

"I'll tear your eyes out!" Hajime pushes back against Ruby.

"Hah?!"

Yue just smiles as she watches the two bicker. Pushing their heads against each other, growling at each other.

The three are in a dome created by rocks from Hajime's Transmute skill. The top is open, so the smoke from the fire they created can escape. Hajime is cutting up a bit of the scorpion meat as Yue sits on a small rock stump in front of the fire.

Ruby sits a few feet from the fire as she rips a piece of raw meat up with her teeth and eats it. She's holding a stone tablet and is using pale clawed fingers to etch on it.

"If I remember right, the vampires were eradicated in a war that took place 300 years ago." Hajime thinks out loud.

"300 years ago..." Yue mutters.

"Which means you must be over 300 years old." Hajime turns around to see Yue giving him a light glare.

"That's rude." Yue frowns.

"Yeah, Hajime, it's rude to talk about a ladies age." Ruby talks all high and mighty.

"You're not really a woman." Hajime mutters as he stares at the Grimm.

"You wanna say that again?!" Ruby growls as she flexes her bone claws at him.

Hajime rolls his eyes and goes back to cutting up the meat. "Do all vampires live that long?" He asks Yue.

"I'm special." Yue states. "Because I regenerate, I don't age. Must be a special kind of magic that makes you immortal."

"Must be a special kind of magic that makes you immortal."

"Mm-hmmm..."

Ruby finishes eating the meat she had, so now she lays back and holds up the stone tablet as she etches it.

Hajime finishes cutting up the meat and he turns around. "So, do you know where we are right now? Or do you know of anyway up to the surface?"

"I don't..." Yue informs. "But they say this labyrinth was built by one of the Mavericks."

"The Mavericks?" Ruby glances over.

"They were the messengers of deities that fought against their gods during the Age of Gods." Yue informs.

"There were people who went against the gods?" Hajime asks.

"They say the Mavericks tried to destroy the world, but their plans fell apart, and they escaped into what are their labyrinths."

"Does that mean this Great Orcus Labyrinth, too?"

"Mm-hmm, and it seems the Maverick resided at the bottom of each labyrinth."

"In the deepest depths of hell, huh?" Hajime questions.

"If we go there, we might find a way to the surface." Yue theorizes. 

"Then we can finally get out of this hell hole." Ruby groans as she shoves some raw meat into her mouth. "We've been down here for weeks!" She huffs as she continues to sketch on the stone tablet.

"It'd make sense that someone wielding divine magic could just create a path to the surface." Hajime points out and then he brings out his status plate and reads info on a material. "Shtar ore."

Hajime continues. "An ore with a high affinity to magic The more mana it absorbs, the stronger it becomes. Guess that's why it's so hard."

Ruby sighs and sets her stone tablet down, showing what she was sketching.

Hajime finishes cutting up the monster and starts cooking it. Ruby adds a few small details her her sketch, but the feeling of being watch hits her. Her red and black eyes glance up to see Yue staring at her.

Ruby tilts her head as she calls out. "Yes, Yue?"

"What are you." Yue bluntly asks.

"I'm a Grimm, the best thing ever!"

Yue shakes her head. "Impossible, Grimm were exterminated thousands of years ago. After the Death of the Grimm Goddess Salem, they were hunted to extinction. Soulless beasts hellbent on destroying any living being."

"Well excuse me Princess, I'm a Grimm. And they're not extinct anymore!"

"How?"

Ruby crosses her arms. "Cause Goddess Salem never actually died, she was just locked up down here, but she's in a state where she can't leave."

Yue puts a hand on her chin as she thinks for a few moments. Hajime glances over.

"Does that mean you're a soulless beast?" Hajime questions. "Does that mean your aura is gone?"

"Aura, as in huntsmen and Huntresses?" Yue asks in confusion.

Ruby smiles at Yue as she nods. "Yup, I was once a Huntsmen!"

Yue starts to sweat as her eyes start to swirl. "But Huntsmen disappear along with the Grimm. But if Grimm are back and Huntsmen are back, is it gonna turn into another long war. Ugh." Yue lays back on her little stone chair.

Hajime raises an eyebrow as he looks over to Yue. Ruby just shrugs her shoulders as she looks over to Hajime.

"I did happen to lose my aura, which sucks." Ruby lets out a small yawn, then she realizes something. "Did I lose my soul..."

"You're just now asking that, you've been this for what... A week?"

"Bah!" Ruby swipes her claws at Hajime, which he just leans back and easily avoids. "Shut up!"

A little while later, Ruby is curled up in a dark corner, sleeping away. While Hajime builds a new weapon, a rail gun. He finishes putting on the final touches, as Yue walks over and stands beside him.

"What're you making?"

"This is the railgun version of a antimateriel rifle."

"Rail...?"

"You saw my gun Donner, right? That's a pretty powerful gun. The bullets are special, too. But I'm gonna use this perfect material to make Donner pack more of a punch." Hajime puts the last part on. "Okay, all done. This one's named Schlagen."

"Why are you down here with Ruby, Hajime?" Yue asks.

"Huh?"

Yue sits down next to Hajime. "Why can you manipulate mana directly?"

"Wha?!" Hajime leans back as Yue leans forward.

"How can you eat monsters? How can Ruby live without a soul? Are you human? What happened to your arm?"

"H-Hold on a sec! I'll explain everything in order, just hold on!" Hajime says and Yue sits back. "Okay, where should I even start..."

A while later the group starts moving out, as Hajime explains how he and Ruby ended up in their situation.

The three climb down some rocks.

"One day, we were summoned to this world by the god Ehit." Hajime starts narrating. They said we were supposedly the people to save humanity from demonkind."

They walk over a small stone path way over a large cassem.

"However, my job was Synergist, which wasn't well-suited for combat. Everyone said I was totally useless in a fight."

Hajime hops up to another path, Ruby front flips up to him while Yue just floats up.

"it was the opposite for me." Ruby starts. "I got a Huntsmen, a job that was once used to fight off dark creatures and had powers that came from the soul itself. But since there was no more Grimm, that job wasn't around anymore, but was still highly revered. So it was nonstop training... non-stop."

The three crawl through a tight space.

Hajime continues to narrate. "We teamed up with the Royal Guard to clear out the labyrinth. In the middle of battling a Behemoth, I was betrayed by one of my classmates, Ruby tried to save me but it failed, and before I knew it, I was down here in the depths."

"Yeah, I was hit on the head by some falling debris and got knocked out, so Me and Hajime must've landed on different levels."

Hajime and Yue uses a rope to propel down a cliff side, while Ruby uses her scythe to slide down the side.

"A monster ate my arm and I was this close to dying..." Hajime narrates. "But I decided I was going to survive, no matter what. So I used my synergist abilities to kill a monster and eat it."

Then Ruby narrates what happened to her. "I was fighting for so many days with very little sleep, nothing to eat, barely anything to drink. I spent so long looking for Hajime. While one time trying to crate a fire suing liquid mana, I nearly blew myself up. I got knocked out and dragged into a Twin-tailed wolf lair, and fought the pack and their Alpha. Then while delirious and heavily injured, I stumbled into Goddess Salem's holding place, and boom. Here I am!"

The three stop at a purple crystal tree and take a break. Yue lets out a few sobs as she wipes her tears away.

Hajime takes a drink of water then looks at Yue. "Whoa, what's wrong?"

"That's so horrible..." Yue sobs. "It hurts to hear."

"Ehhh, don't worry about it." Ruby stretches her arms out and a few pops are heard.

Hajime then speaks up. "I don't give a crap about my classmates anymore. I don't even want revenge. I just want to get better at things that'll help me survive. I'm going to find a way back home."

Ruby scoffs as she sits on the ground and leans against her scythe. "Speak for yourself, when I find out who betrayed us, I'm gonna kill and eat them. Then I'm gonna find Yang, and take her with me!"

"Back home?" Yue questions.

"Well, yeah." Hajime starts. "Sure, a lot might've changed about me, but I want to go home."

"Oh. I don't have a home to go back to..." Yue glances down with a sad look in her eyes.

"You wanna come with us, then, Yue?"

"Huh?" Yue looks at Hajime.

"I mean, back home with me, Reuben can come if he wants. It might be pretty boring, seeing that the human world doesn't have magic, but I think we'll work something out. Only if you want to, of course."

"Are you sure?" Yue asks and Hajime smiles at her. She smiles in return.

Ruby's head then snaps to her right and she stares off in the distance. Hajime and Yue notice and Hajime stands up.

In the training arena of the Heiligh Kingdom, Meld going over the status of the main labyrinth diving students.

Amanogawa has his status plate open and Meld is looking at it.

Meld reads out Amanogawa's status plate. "Kouki Amanogawa, job: Hero. Seems you've grown even stronger." Meld hands Kouki his status plate back. "We will continue with practical training within the labyrinth with the present members. I trust you will prepare accordingly."

"Yes, sir!" The students reply.

Yang rubs her wrists and flexes her fingers.

"That is all." Meld walks away.

Yang pulls out her status plate and looks at it.

Name: Yang Xiao Long / Age: 18 / Sex: Female / Level: 50 / Job: Huntress

Strength: 1200
Vitality: 650
Defense: 850
Agility: 750
Magic: 650
Magic Defense: 500

Skills: Language Comprehension. Burn. Aura. Physical Resistance. Herculean Strength. Flame Bullet. Fire Resistance. Fear Resistance. Limit Break.

"I've gotten pretty Strong, Reuben, so I'm coming to save you." Yang mutters in determination.

Kouki turns around and looks at everyone. "Okay, everyone! We're going to make this training a success!"

Ryutarou Sakagami raises a fist. "Right!"

Back down in the labyrinth. Hajime, carrying Yue on his back, and Ruby are running through the crystal forest; being chased by large white T-Rexes with a single flower on their heads.

"God dammit!" Hajime yells.

"This was not how I planned my day to go!" Ruby yells as she runs beside Hajime. "But it's kinda like a work out!" 

"Keep it up, Hajime." Yue cheers in a calm tone.

"You are way too chill!" Hajime yells. "What the hell are these guys?! No matter how many we kill, they just keep coming!"

"And there's more and more of them." Yea points out.

"That's crazy! And what the hell is with those flowers on their heads?"

Yea smiles. "They're kind of cute."

"You're crazy, sister!" Ruby yells. "Did you see what the one before was..."

"Wait a minute..." Hajime mutters and he thinks back on how one of the T-Rex's was squishing a flower bed. "Wait, are those flowers..."

"Parasites." Yue finishes.

"You think so, too?"

"Something should be controlling them."

"Yeah. If we don't kill the thing that's controlling the flowers, then we'll have to battle every monster on this level..."

Ruby huffs as she looks back and sees the monsters gaining on them. "Screw this." She flies off ahead using Petal Burst, leaving black and red petals behind her.

"Reuben!" Hajime yells in disbelief. "You bastard!"

"She flew off..." Yue says.

"He just left us behind, that damn bastard! I outta kill him!"

A T-Rex runs up next to the two and goes to snap at them, but a pale clawed hand grabs onto Hajime and pulls him and Yue into a large crack in the ground.

Hajime lands on his ass and he looks up to see Ruby with a smirk. "Ta-da!" She does jazz hands.

Hajime stands up and punches Ruby in the gut and she bends over. "Asshole."

"I deserve that." Ruby then quickly stands up and punches Hajime in the stomach as well.

Hajime bends out as he nearly vomits. He falls to his knees and hugs his stomach.

"And you deserved that." Ruby laughs at him.

"Ass...hole..." Hajime mutters in pain.

Yue leans down and bites into Hajime's neck, sucking his blood. After all the monsters pass the three get out of the hole and continue moving on.

"Where is it?" Hajime questions. "Where's the source?" Yue bites into his neck again and sucks his blood.

They keep moving and after a while Yue bites into Hajime's neck.

"Hey, little miss vampire princess?" Hajime calls out, looking slightly tired. "Could you stop snacking on my blood?!"

"I dunno, it shuts you up." Ruby says and Hajime glares at her.

Yue leans back and stops sucking Hajime's blood. "I can't help it."

"Yeah, right!" Hajime yells. "You can't be that tired!"

Hajime grabs Yue and sets her on Ruby's back. Ruby grows confused and Yue suddenly bites into her neck, making Ruby's entire body shiver. Yue sucks out a bit of Ruby's blood, before stopping and licking her lips.

"Yours has a dark, but rich flavor."

Ruby deadpans. "So glad my blood is enjoyable."

The three keep moving on and they come across a large hole in some rocks with many flowers growing on the outside.

"Well, I think we might have found it." Ruby says as she tilts her head to the side.

Large foot steps approach and Ruby glances back to see that the T-Rex pack found them again. The three make a run for the hole and they move through.

Once they reach the other side, Hajime uses Transmute to close up the hole. When he finishes he takes a step back. "We should be safe now."

"Good work." Yue compliments Hajime.

"If you really wanna make me happy, then why don't you come down from there?"

"Fine." Yue hops down and Hajime sets his backpack down.

"Was it just me, or were they pretty desperate to stop us?" Ruby asks as she sways side to side.

"Yeah, they were." Hajime agrees. "Don't let your guard down." Yue nods.

The three move through the large room, looking around for the one controlling the monsters outside.

"My Sense Presence skill hasn't detected anything yet..." Hajime informs as he continues to glance around.

Ruby sniffs the air. "I can't really smell any emotions other than yours Hajime."

"...That's kinda weird."

Ruby licks her lips at Hajime. "And they're delicious~"

Hajime shivers as Ruby stares at him.

The three look forward and stop when green particles move through the air and towards them. Ruby glances back and sees more green particles in the air surrounding them.

Hajime kneels down and puts his hand on the ground. He starts using Transmute to build a dome around them. "That's probably an attack from the source. Know where it is?" She doesn't respond. "Yue?"

Ruby turns to Yue and notices the strange look on her face. "Uh, Hajime?" Hajime turns around and looks at Yue.

The stone wall that Hajime created, disappears as Yue holds up her hands to the two in front of her. Suddenly a bright ball of magic forms in her hands. "Run, Hajime! Ruby!"

Yue fires off the spell just as the two dive off to the side. Ruby lands on the ground and slides into a few of the green particles and her eyes widen as he body freezes as green gas surrounds her.

A flower appears on Yue's head as she turns to Hajime, another ball of light appears in her hand.

"Did those green balls do that to her?" Hajime questions and he glances to where Ruby is and notices that she's holding her head.

Hajime then swiftly dashes to the side as Yue fires off the ball of light. He aims his revolver at Yue, but he can't pull the trigger. Yue starts to launch magic attacks at Hajime, but he starts running around.

Hajime runs into a green ball and he stops and another hits him in the face. Green grass surrounds him.

A feminine plant like monster walks into the room.

The plant monster walks past a struggling Ruby and stands behind Yue, wrapping its large hand around her. Tue begins to walk forward with the monster following right behind.

Yue and the plant monster stop a few feet away from Hajime.

Hajime grunts and looks at the plant monster. "You're not half bad..." He grunts as another green ball hits him in the face and releases some gas. Then he aims Donner up, but the monster is using Yue as a shield.

Yue holds up her hands and another magic ball appears. "Hajime, I'm sorry..." She fires it off and it slams into Hajime's chest, causing him to yelp in pain.

A flower starts to grow on Hajime's head and the plant monster smiles in triumph. But then she gains a look of confusion as the flower on Hajime's head shrivels up and dies.

Hajime laughs and looks up. "What's wrong? I gained resistance by eating those monsters. That trick won't work on me!"

The monster makes Yue throw more magic at Hajime. "Stop it!" Then another. "Stop it!"

Hajime just smiles in pain as he looks up at the monster. A plane clawed hand and a clawed bone hand appears above the monster. "Besides, I'm not the one being tricked."

The monster turns around, only to be meet with the sadistic smile of Ruby. She opens her mouth and bites down onto the monster's neck, before ripping off its head. Ruby then kicks the body to the floor as she spits the head out next to it.

"Surprise!" Ruby throws her arms up as she laughs. "I bet that got you off guard!"

Ruby laughs as she then opens her mouth up wide as magic gathers around it. She then breaths out a stream of fire onto the corpse, burning it up.

The flower on Yue's head shrivels up and falls off.

"Huh?" Yue questions.

"Took you long enough." Hajime grunts as he stands up.

"Ehhh, I just wanted to see how long it'd take for you to fall down, but I got bored." Ruby yawns.

"Meaning you could have stopped this from the begging?" Yue questions as she turns to look at Ruby.

"Sure."

Yue pouts and starts to hit Ruby in the stomach. "Making me hurt Hajime. Meanie!" Yue says.

Ruby just glances at Hajime and he just shrugs. Ruby then smiles as she picks Yue up, and holds her like a child.

"Bad, Yue, hitting your sister like that!" Ruby stares at Yue, before laughing.

Yue cheeks puff out more, before her foot finds its place on Ruby's nose. Ruby lets out a yelp as she drops Ruby and covers her face. 

Ruby then growls and turns to Hajime and points at Yue. "Hajime! Yue kicked me!"

Hajime just lets out a sigh as she deadpans. Yue then jumps onto Ruby, and bites into her neck. Ruby panics and starts running around the room, trying to get Yue off her.

A little while later, The three are sitting in a rock dome with an open top to let the fire smoke escape. Ruby is chewing on some raw meat as Hajime holds up a cooked one to Yue.

"Want some, Yue?" Hajime asks.

"I don't need it." Yue states.

"Makes sense, you've been sealed away for 300 years and survived. Aren't you hungry, though?"

"I was... but I'm okay."

"Okay? What, you ate something?"

Yue just points at Hajime. "Your blood."

"Oh. That means you don't need to eat as long as you're drinking blood." Hajime says. "I can get nutrients from food as well..."

Ruby munches away on her raw meat. 'I've been so hungry ever since I became a Grimm. Its like a hunger that won't go away, only dampen when I eat a lot. But that's fine, I get to kill lots of stuff~'

Yue starts to crawl towards Hajime. "But blood is the most efficient way."

"I get it." Hajime says.

Yue stops in front of Hajime and lips her lips as she stares at him. Ruby jaw drops and the food in her mouth falls out.

"Why're you licking your lips?" Hajime asks Yue.

Yue stands up and takes a few steps towards Hajime. "You taste good." She drops the bear skin covering her and Ruby starts to cough and falls over. "You taste ripe."

"H-Hold on a sec." Hajime calls out, but Yue climbs onto him.

"Nope! I'm out!" Ruby yells and she jumps out of the dome and covers her ears as Hajime's yells ring out. 

"Filth!" Ruby yells as she runs away from the dome. "FILTH!!!"

After the long night, the group continues on. The floor opens up in the middle of the room and stairs start to form.

The three look at each other, then back to the stairs. Ruby pushes Hajime forward and he glares back at the tall girl. Ruby motions to the stairs and he rolls his eyes as he takes the lead.

The three head down and after a while Yue climbs onto Hajime's backpack. They continue moving through the labyrinth floors, with Hajime mapping them out on a stone tablet.

After a couple days they make it to the final floor. Yue is currently sleeping as the three have made camp.

"We're finally at floor 100." Hajime smiles in joy.

"It only took us two months." Ruby complains as she lays back on a pile of bones.

"Maybe if you didn't take a bunch of time stopping us to kill something, so you could eat it."

"Maybe if someone would wake me up in the morning and not leave me behind."

"I'm not your mother."

"Then don't tell me what I can and can't do."

Hajime rolls his eyes.

Ruby then crosses her arms and glares at Hajime. "I demand cookies!"

Hajime stares at Ruby in disbelief. "How the hell are we supposed to get cookies down here?!"

Ruby starts to pout. "I demand cookies!"

"Or what?"

Ruby takes a deep breath and starts to hold it. Hajime gives her a "Really" look. Then after a few minutes of nothing happening, Ruby lets out a breath and turns away from Hajime.

"Meanie!" Ruby mutters as tears poke at the corner of her eyes.

"I didn't even do anything!" Hajime yells at her.

After Yue wakes up the three keep moving through the complex floor. The three stop at a lake.

"Hajime, Ruby, you're being more careful than usual..." Yue points out.

"Yeah, since this is the hundredth floor since our fall." Hajime points out. "I figured there might be something down here."

The three move out.

"Like what?" Yue asks.

"I dunno, just want to be safe." Hajime says.

"I survived a massive fall and survived days on end before becoming this. So I'm fucking making it out of this place one way or another." Ruby says as she puts her arms behind her head.

The three walk down some stairs and spot a large door at the end of a large corridor.

The three walk over to the door. Hajime sets his backpack down and slings his rifle over his shoulder. "If there is something down there, it's beyond these doors." He says. "You scared, Yue?"

"Not if I'm with you, Hajime." Yue states.

"Not gonna ask me?" Ruby calls out.

"Man, you're the living embodiment of fear." Hajime points out.

Ruby lifts up a foot. "You're goddamn right!" She kicks the massive doors open.

--

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3-31-2026

5200 words