Alma 129 Labyrinth of the Abyss

If he told her to sit, she'd sit for him. If he told her to stand, she'd stand for him. There wasn't anything she wouldn't do. He completely stripped her of everything that made her who she had once been.

What lay inside of the bakery was no longer the woman he had once loved. The mindless animal in his former home was but a shadow of a person. There was nothing for him there. Nothing to be gained from living with that puppet aside from misery.

So, Reed left. What point was there in clinging onto something that was already gone?

Without a connection to the world, Reed slowly began to grow detached from the former obstructions that once bound him to that which could be considered… superficial — the values, morals, and feelings imposed upon him by the world.

The stone heart had whispered to him that there was another path he could take, but that the road he would have to take would not be easy.

With nowhere else to go, Reed started to dig into his mind. He started for a way out… within himself. Reed delved deep into the labyrinth of his own self with the stone heart's assistance.

He left the world and as a result, a shambling mess of a person had been left behind in the wake of his departure. What had remained was simply the most primitive part of himself — his instincts and impulses.

The Nameless Vagrant was just that — Reed's desire to survive and flourish in the face whatever danger may befall him. In Reed's absence, it had taken over his body and endured in his stead for the longest time.

It was a spit in his face, who had intended to 'reeducate' Reed against his will. He'd been left alone with the bumbling, frightened idiot that was the Nameless Vagrant ever since Reed had descended into depths of his mind in search of…

His source of will. What drove him to live and willed him to continue struggling against the unfair cruelties of life.

Reed could either accept his control and become a living proxy for him or… redefine himself on his own terms. The stone heart had given Reed a chance to decide his own destiny if he so wished for it.

…Not for free, of course. Reed would have to work for his freedom if he wanted it.

The stone heart had made Reed fight against what he had tried to run away from — his demons.

…They had both been chasing Reed for the longest in the depths of the enormous labyrinth that he had constructed to keep them sealed. Their furious screams of rage echoed across the pitch-black maze and made the ground beneath his feet tremble in fear.

Goddammit…! Those two never fucking tire, do they? Fuck's sake!

Reed channeled Anima and clenched his fists in preparation.

They're getting faster and stronger the closer I get to the core of the labyrinth. It won't be long before they end up overpowering me…!

I need to reach the end, once and for all! I can't afford to get caught up in this cat-and-mouse game anymore!

"REED!"

"BOY!"

He hated the fact that they looked exactly like their real-life counterparts. Had they looked like hideous caricatures of them, it would not have been so difficult to kill them.

Reed hated himself for that.

His demons charged at him ferociously and began their combined assault. One of them conjured a flood of flame and the other one a storm of razor-sharp hail.

They were a nightmare to deal with together. Reed had never seen such coordination before. It made him doubt whether he was actually in his own mind whenever he saw the ingenious strategies his demons had come up with to kill him.

W-Why the fuck is it that I'm at my most creative when I'm trying to kill myself…?!!

Reed summoned his aegis and blocked their attacks. Unfortunately, that'd cost him precious time. In the short gap — a few seconds — he had taken time to defend himself, one of them had closed the distance between themselves and him.

Her long, golden-brown hair momentarily grazed his left arm… and severed it clean off. Reed's left arm flew in a spectacular arc across the air until it landed on the floor with a resounding splat.

"AAAAAAGGGGHH!! FUCK!! Y-YOU MOTHERFU…!"

Reed desperately channeled Anima into his legs and jumped backward with all his might as he clutched onto his left shoulder.

The pain felt all too real, even if he was miles deep within his subconscious. Waves of hot, radiating pain surged up into Reed's brain and tormented him until he regrew a replacement arm.

Everything was fair game at the bottom of his mind where his darkest fears and demons lived. Reed would have to make it past them if he wanted to reach the very bottom of his mind.

He was surrounded and knew that he was likely running out of time. The longer he remained down below, the longer poor sap upstairs would have to endure the bastard's endless mental torture.

Reed was sure that his survival instincts would hold out as long as they could, but there would eventually come a time when even they would give up.

When that happened, it'd be over for him. That was what the stone heart had explained to Reed before he started his descent into the abyss of his subconscious.

It was the stone heart that had split his consciousness and survival instincts apart. A risky move, but not one without benefits.

In any case, he had more pressing concerns. The two huntresses out for his head had been the biggest problem for him since he'd descended.

Reed had slain hordes of Infested, his former friends and mentors turned traitors and much more, but they were the only ones who kept coming back after being killed.

Neither severing their heads, crushing their hearts, or turning them into ash had worked. He eventually concluded that they, who were the greatest source of guilt for him, possessed the most power in the Labyrinth of the Abyss.

These two are probably the real rulers of this place. My headhunters.

He missed them and it hurt that this was how he'd reunited with them.

In the bottom of his personal hell. Even so, he had to put them to rest.

…Otherwise, they'll continue to linger in here, forever. I can't just leave them here.

Reed knew that they need— no, he needed closure. He needed to give them the rest they deserved.

Anima gathered around Reed and swirled around him when he adopted a fighting stance.

Reed made his decision — he wouldn't leave until he put them down permanently. If he was to leave this place with a clean conscience, it would only be after he took care of them…

When Reed's huntresses noticed his change in attitude, their expressions changed in response. The scorn on their faces was almost palpable. Neither one of them believed he had what it'd take to bring them down.

Still, if their prey was going to get serious, then they'd respond in kind. They'd crush him and give him a quick death like the rat bastard they thought he was…

Dying in the Labyrinth of the Abyss was not something to be trifled with. The death of an individual's consciousness in the labyrinth would lead to permanent, irreparable madness for the rest of the person's life.

The afflicted individual would never recover from the damage of having their consciousness shattered into pieces at the bottom of their mind.

At best, they'd end up partially insane, forever haunted by the demons they'd lost to. At worst, they'd immediately suffer a mental death and end up a soulless, broken husk for life.

When the tension in the air reached its peak, it began. The three of them began their dance to the death — rife with blood, love, and hatred…

…Far above, on the shore of consciousness, the Nameless Vagrant shed tears that were not his. The only thing he knew was that they belonged to one of the three below in that accursed hell of a labyrinth.

He was growing weaker with each passing 'to-day'. The phantom's endless mental torture was starting to affect him in a way that he had not thought possible.

The light of the twilight sun had become… strangely enchanting.

There was something in the glimmer of that sunlight trying to get him to step out of the shadows. To bend the knee allow the phantom to enter the labyrinth, where those three were. He offered peace and comfort.

The Nameless Vagrant huddled up in a corner and said, "Please… hurry… I can't..."

It was starting to become impossible to ignore the temptation of the light...

Chapter end