Chapter 8: Selka, the Witch of the Endless Crossing (1)

Part 1

At last, after many days of walking, Yamato's group reached Floor 300.

His army was nearly complete only three candidates remained to be evaluated as Heralds.

According to Nebel's data, one of them awaited here… a being as powerful as it was unknown.

Yamato sensed it immediately.

The floor pulsed with forbidden energy.

Not energy that attacked but energy that watched.

Even pushing open the doors felt like violating a taboo.

"Lord Yamato, shall I enter first?" Seiryu asked in his usual calm tone.

Yamato didn't respond right away. He was focused as if listening to something with no sound.

"Do you think there's something dangerous on the other side?"

"I don't know, my lord… but it doesn't feel right."

"Don't worry," Lina said, gently caressing the door's surface. "Yamato will be fine."

"Whatever's on the other side… it's waiting."

Darwin stepped forward, his curious gaze scanning the engraved symbols.

"Interesting… A magical sealing chamber. Whatever is inside it wasn't placed there by chance."

Yamato didn't wait any longer.

He pushed the door open with both hands. No hesitation.

To him, it was just another trial. Another floor. Another evaluation.

As he crossed the threshold, he felt like he was passing through a sheet of glass. As if the air shattered in silence.

No one could follow him.

He began falling rapidly through hundreds of mirrors.

And with each mirror he passed, a piece of him was left behind, stripped away from who he was now.

His swarm vanished.

His outfit changed.

Even his hair turned blonde again.

The scythe disappeared.

Until, after a blinding flash…

He finally awakened, and saw his reflection in the last mirror he'd fallen through. He was wearing his old school uniform, as if time had rewound and he'd returned to being the Rei Kanzaki he had long since forgotten.

"…Where am I?" Rei murmured.

A bodiless voice answered:

"In the place where you cannot lie. Where only what remains… is what you once were."

He didn't respond.

Didn't flinch.

He just observed.

He stood in a city he didn't recognize. Perhaps Valdheim… in another era.

"I see," he murmured, gazing at the dim sky. "This world isn't real. It's someone's consciousness."

And yet there was something unsettling.

It felt more solid, more tangible than the surface world.

He walked among the crowd as if he were one of them.

Though his clothes didn't match the era, and his footsteps echoed differently on the cobbled streets, no one stared. No one pointed. No one touched him.

But he wasn't invisible.

A brush of a shoulder, a vendor's slight shove, the space people instinctively gave him as they passed all told him the same thing: they saw him, and yet they avoided him.

As if his very presence was an anomaly no one wanted to acknowledge.

The faces were gray.

Dim.

Eyes fixed on the ground.

Shoulders hunched.

The city pulsed—

yes—

but it didn't live.

It seemed like every person had the same goal not to get involved, just keep breathing one more day.

He saw drunkards brawling in alleys, carriages packed with slaves, ragged children eating from the trash.

Nobles laughed from balconies, throwing stones at beggars.

Guards dragged women by the hair.

And the most disturbing part… no one did anything.

"…Doesn't surprise me," Rei said in a neutral tone.

His thoughts were interrupted when a long-haired child bumped into him and fell to the ground. Small, frail, and malnourished the boy clutched a piece of bread to his chest like it was his last breath.

On instinct, the child jumped up and hid behind Rei.

Before Rei could react, a spear was suddenly aimed right at his face.

"By order of King Marcos II, I command you to step aside. That child will be judged for breaking the law."

Rei raised an eyebrow.

"A spear… over a piece of bread?"

"Silence, citizen! The laws are clear. That thief will be sold as a slave to pay for his offense."

Rei sighed.

"I see… I guess I can't ignore this."

He stepped forward.

"I don't know if this world is real or just an illusion… but I can't stand people who twist the law for their own gain. You're probably hoping for a nice commission once the kid gets sold."

The child clung tighter to Rei he didn't even look at him.

"Kid… run. I'll deal with this idiot. Go find somewhere safe."

The boy nodded firmly and ran off, leaving the guard behind.

"Hey, brat! Come back here!" the soldier shouted, stepping forward.

"Your opponent is me," Rei said, raising a hand—ready to summon his nanobots.

…Nothing happened. Just silence.

"Nebel? Is there a problem?"

No reply.

Not a whisper.

Not an echo.

Just the world and him.

"…I get it now," he murmured as the guard charged, spear raised. "This is my trial… and no one else's."

The guard lunged, spear aimed directly at his chest.

"You'll pay for interfering with justice!"

Rei dodged the first thrust by pure instinct, but the second grazed his shoulder leaving a hot line of blood soaking his school uniform's sleeve.

He clenched his teeth, keeping his eyes on the enemy's next move.

"Tch… 'Justice'? Don't make me laugh."

Without hesitation, he adjusted his stance falling into a classic karate guard.

The next strike was clean. Sharp. A direct blow to the face.

The guard stumbled back, reeling unable to comprehend how some scrawny kid had broken his rhythm in a single move.

"My physical abilities are still intact… that's something."

Rei crouched down, picked up a fallen sword, and raised it firmly.

The crowd began to form a circle around them.

Blank stares.

No one intervened.

They just watched as if awaiting the outcome.

"Bastard! You're gonna pay for that!" the guard roared, charging again, spear surging forward with full force.

Rei didn't move.

He didn't hesitate.

He didn't think twice.

He stepped to the side, turned his body, and with a precise slash, he tore the guard's throat open from side to side.

The sound of flesh giving way felt more real than anything else in that world.

The guard dropped to his knees, let go of his spear, and clutched at his neck,

desperately trying to stop the bleeding. Useless.

The blood poured out as if the body was trying to expel the soul.

The cobblestones turned red.

And yet the eyes of the crowd did not change.

No horror.

No empathy.

Just routine.

As the body collapsed,

some citizens approached as if nothing had happened.

One took his coat.

Another rummaged through his pouch.

A third—his eyes dull—knelt and inspected the corpse's flesh with an odd glint in his eyes.

"I don't even want to imagine what kind of monarch rules this place," Rei muttered calmly.

He flipped the sword with a crisp motion, scattering the blood in an uneven arc across the ground. A clean gesture. Mechanical. Like wiping down a tool.

Slowly, the city began to dissolve.

The human figures faded like smoke. The walls, the colors, even the sounds… all were consumed by a blinding white.

And then Rei found himself alone, standing in an infinite space, no ceiling, no floor, no horizon.

Beneath that still light, only one figure remained.

A ragged child but when Rei looked closer, he saw her clearly for the first time.

It was a girl.

Small.

Emaciated.

Her eyes sunken from hunger, her skin stained by years of neglect, her tangled brown hair matted by a lifetime without care.

"A true hero isn't the one who does heroic things," she said, her voice soft without hatred, without emotion. "It's the one who refuses to ignore injustice."

Rei didn't flinch.

"I'm no hero, little girl," he replied, calm and firm. "I just did what I thought was right."

The girl looked at him without judgment.

"Sometimes… doing the right thing is all that's needed."

He lowered his gaze for a moment, as if weighing something beyond logic.

"I could've turned away. I could've ignored it—like everyone else."

"But you didn't," she replied, her tone unchanged. "That means… there's still a spark of light inside you."

"…The same nonsense Lina said."

"We'll see," the voice murmured, fading like dust.

The light around them flickered like a screen on the verge of collapse.

In the distance, a dry, metallic crack rang out.

Something was breaking.

Not outside—

inside the judgment itself.

And Rei felt it clearly.

This wasn't a trial of combat.

Not one he could win with brute force or tactical code.

It was a trial of values.

And for a moment… he wasn't sure what, exactly, was truly at stake.