The labyrinth seemed to breathe around them. Every step Mayu and her companions took awakened the structure itself. The walls pulsed with a wan, sometimes glowing light, as if the place had its own heartbeat.
The silence was never complete. A constant whisper of fractured voices and distorted memories drifted through the air, brushing against their skin, seeping into their minds.
"This place is a trap," the scout murmured as she moved forward, weapon held tight.
Mayu said nothing. She stared ahead, every muscle coiled to spring. In her gut there was a weight—not of fear, but of anticipation.
They had to reach the Source. It was their only way out.
Each corridor they traversed stretched time itself. The walls occasionally reflected images from their past—as if the labyrinth sought to crush them beneath their own histories.
In a fleeting reflection, Mayu saw her younger, frail self, hands pressed against a glass wall, pleading without sound.
She tore her gaze away and clenched her fists.
"He's trying to break us," she whispered.
Suddenly, around a corner, two figures emerged, weapons raised.
Mayu trained her rifle—but stopped herself just in time. It was the soldier and the hybrid.
They were battered, smeared with soot and blood, but alive.
"You're here," the scout breathed, relief washing over her.
The soldier nodded, eyes dull but resolute.
"Zéro guided us. There's a breach up ahead… but the place is a living nightmare."
The hybrid, its mechanical arm in ruins, held up a small floating device: Zéro's drone, projecting a pale blue hologram.
Zéro's distorted voice reached them:
"Be careful. The structure has adapted to your presence. The core of the complex lies two levels below, but it is heavily guarded… and unstable."
"Unstable?" Mayu repeated.
"Yes. The walls, the guardians, even the memories… all are controlled by a psychic core. The Source."
A chill ran down Mayu's neck.
"Can we get through it?"
"Yes… if you are willing to face what you truly are," Zéro replied.
A heavy silence fell.
"Then we move," Mayu said firmly.
They pressed on.
Each corridor grew more oppressive than the last. The walls turned translucent, revealing floating nightmares: tortured clones, bloody betrayals, irreparable losses.
Mayu's heart tightened with each vision. She saw fragments of her past:
— Seth, unconscious in her arms.
— Lia, dragging Mayu to safety under a hail of bullets.
— Number 45, reaching out to her… before being swallowed by shadows.
She drew a deep breath, banishing the memories that tried to slow her.
It was not her past that defined her. It was what she would do now.
The scout suddenly stumbled, shoved by an unseen force. The soldier caught her just in time.
"They're testing us," he growled. "They want to see who breaks first."
"Not us," Mayu replied, her voice ice-cold.
At last they reached a vast corridor, its width immense and its gravity shifting with every step. Fragments of memory drifted around them—snatches of dialogue, children's laughter, cries of agony.
The soldier pulled an EMP grenade and hurled it into a cluster of writhing images. A silent blast. The phantoms dissipated, clearing a path.
But at the end stood a gate. Not mechanical—a living barrier of flesh and steel. Black and pulsing, faces twisted in silent screams formed and dissolved across its surface.
Mayu halted, gasping, fists trembling.
Zéro's hologram flickered at her side.
"The Source is conscious," she warned. "It knows you're coming."
Mayu felt a hot surge in her chest—not fear, but fury.
"It knows who I am. But now I know too."
She stepped forward. Her hand touched the barrier. The black flesh vibrated, as if recognizing her touch.
Behind her, her team readied themselves. They knew that beyond this gate… there would be no turning back.
With a guttural cry, Mayu pushed with all her strength.
The barrier parted with an almost human groan, revealing a tunnel plunging into darkness. A warm breath swept out, carrying a metallic, bitter scent.
Mayu crossed the threshold without hesitation.
Behind her, the scout, the hybrid, the soldier—and Zéro—followed.
Together, they plunged into the unknown, ready to confront the Source.