Four weeks had passed since Leo disappeared into the Maze of Madness. Outside, only a month had gone by, but for Leo it was already four long years. Tonight was the night of the gathering.
Arthur stepped into one of the unused rooms of the mansion. He closed the door behind him, walked to the center, and slowly knelt. He placed both hands on the floor, took a steady breath, and began to pray, not loudly, but with the quiet solemnity of someone addressing a being far above him.
He asked the Creator for permission to step into His domain. As he prayed, he pushed mana into the mark Leo had carved into his skin. The mark warmed immediately, humming faintly. Arthur did what Leo said and focused on every detail of the Creator's domain. the vast hall, the table, the chamber of the Creator overlooking it all. He visualized every column, every flower, every angle.
A familiar force touched him, gentle but impossible to resist. For a heartbeat his vision blurred, space twisted, and then his knees were resting on polished white stone. He straightened, looked toward the towering chamber of the Creator, and bowed deeply in respect.
Only after that did he move toward the central seat, the one Leo always used. Normally, Leo would draw the others into the domain by himself, using his own authority and will. Arthur didn't know that. Instead, Leo had prepared a spell based on the ancient knowledge he gained from the City of Automatons. A spell that imitated the function of a god's summoning and allowed Arthur to perform it without the domain being his own.
Arthur sat in Leo's seat, feeling strange. His eyes moved to the carved magic circles along the handles. The spell was elegant and deceptively simple-looking, but the structure beneath it was entirely different from ordinary magic. It resembled telepathy, yet was layered with far more complexity.
Normally, summoning someone into a domain required overwhelming domain power. The caster needed to extend their presence into the physical world, make contact through an existing bond, and pull the person inside. Gods used prayer for this at first, once someone pledged, the connection became permanent and stable.
Leo's spell did not create the connection, it simply used the ones already formed.
Arthur rested his hands on the handles and fed mana into the carved circles. The lines lit up, the air hummed, and a pulse of light spread across the hall like ripples on water. One by one, figures appeared, first blurry silhouettes, then solid forms.
Each member bowed toward the Creator's chamber the moment they materialized, following the usual ritual. Seats scraped softly as they took their places around the table. A moment later, Ilandra walked through the door as well, her presence mixing naturally with the others despite being a goddess.
When everyone had settled, Arthur drew in a breath. He cleared his throat and spoke, his voice echoing slightly in the vast hall.
"It has been four weeks since Leo entered the Maze of Madness. For him, that means four years have already passed." His gaze swept across the table. "We must make sure that when he returns, we are not the ones holding him back."
He turned to Marco.
"How is your training progressing?"
"Mr. Edgar is still suspicious," Marco began, rubbing the back of his neck, "but he hasn't said anything yet. I can create weapons with simple enchantments now, and I'm starting to use them in real combat." His expression sharpened, eyes lifting with determination. "But I still can't fully control this new power. It slips the moment I push too hard."
He clenched his fist. "Still… in the next two months, I'll get it under control. There's an adventurer ranking exam coming, and I want to reach C-rank by then."
Arthur nodded once, then turned his attention to Liam. "And you?"
"I can't trigger the full transformation yet," Liam admitted, "but I can use some of the abilities. The Vampire Gaze works, and I have limited control over my blood. Also, because of the healing power we gained, I can accelerate my blood flow. It boosts my strength for a short time without harming my body."
Arthur's brow rose slightly. "That's actually the first step toward the transformation."
Marco stared at Liam in disbelief. He couldn't completely control anything yet, not even the basics.
He raised his hand. "Can anyone here fully control the transformation? Maybe they could give me a hint."
"I can."
Every head turned. Luciana sat at the far end, legs crossed, arms folded loosely, her expression calm.
Arthur blinked. "You can?"
"Yes." A small grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Why? Jealous?" she teased, eyes glinting.
Arthur's response was nothing but a flat, mildly irritated stare.
Marco leaned forward quickly. "Then, can you give me something? A hint, advice, anything?"
Luciana hesitated briefly, gathering her thoughts. "It's mostly what Liam already said. First, you need solid control over your blood. I was a vampire before all this, so that part came naturally for me."
Everyone listened more closely as she continued.
"The next step is… feeling the transformation."
Marco frowned. "What does that mean?"
Luciana rested her elbows on the table. "The transformation isn't a spell. It isn't mana manipulation or chanting. It's part of your body. A power buried deep inside you. For most people, it only surfaces when your emotions hit their limit, like when you're dying, or when you're pushed past what your mind can handle."
She tapped her chest lightly. "You don't cast it. You awaken it."
"Or when you're angry…" Liam added quietly.
Arthur's gaze sharpened. "You've already experienced that?"
Liam nodded. "When I had a fight with my brother. I got… furious. For a moment, it felt like my blood and mana were merging, like the mana in my body swelled and sharpened at the same time. My whole body felt lighter, stronger… like I could do anything."
Luciana snapped her fingers. "That. It's exactly like that. Once you've felt it enough times, you can pull that power out just by remembering the sensation."
Marco still looked lost. He couldn't imagine pushing himself into that kind of emotional state on purpose.
Arthur noticed Marco's troubled expression and offered a small, reassuring nod. "Don't worry. It comes naturally. You'll learn it eventually. And it's not like you haven't felt it before. Every time a part of the Creator's power awakened in us, we all experienced that same sensation."
The room grew quiet. Each member drifted into their own thoughts, remembering those moments, the sudden rush of heat, the surge in their blood, the strange clarity that came with the Creator's awakening.
After a few seconds, Marco exhaled and nodded with a small smile. "You're right… I remember that feeling. I'll do my best."
Arthur straightened, his expression turning solemn as he looked around the table. "Good. For now, keep training. Push yourselves to your limits. The greatest war of our lives is approaching, and we need every advantage we can get."
The rest of the gathering shifted into discussions about the war, the movements in the Shadowland, and updates each member had collected. When all the reports were done, Arthur placed his hand on the spell-circle engraved into the armrest. The magic flared softly, and one by one the members dissolved into light.
A heartbeat later, Arthur himself vanished, returning everyone from the Creator's domain back to the real world.
…
Deep in the mazes, Leo sat on the still-twitching corpse of the monster they had just defeated while Paul stood beside it, wiping sweat from his forehead.
Paul eyed the creature's half-melted skin, heat still rising from its body in shimmering waves. "This beast is too hot," he muttered. Then he noticed the faint smile tugging at Leo's lips.
"What are you smiling about?" he asked.
Leo answered without looking away from the dark passage ahead. "I just realized today is the first gathering my friends are holding without me." He had been keeping track of the time here carefully, every day measured, every minute counted.
"What kind of gathering?" Paul asked.
"An important one." Leo hopped down from the monster's body, landing lightly despite the weight he carried. "Let's go."
Paul studied him for a few seconds before following.
Over the past two years, Leo had trained without a single break. Two one-thousand-pound bracelets hung from his wrists, their weight constant, shaping every movement he made. When the others heard about them, nearly everyone wanted a pair for themselves, most of which were easy enough for Leo to craft.
The difficult ones were the pair Paul wore. Each bracelet weighed ten thousand pounds, and forging each one had taken an entire week as he needed to much mana for that much weight on an enchantment. And yet Paul moved with them as if they were ordinary cuffs, which didn't surprise Leo. This man could punch a hole straight through a mountain.
Leo wanted to see how far his friends had come, even though he knew only four weeks had passed for them outside. Still, he couldn't stop himself from missing them, especially Elna. Four years had passed since the last time he saw her. He thought about her every single day, and that thought alone was what kept him moving forward in this hellish place.
He was far stronger now. His transformation lasted longer, his mana had deepened, and his physical strength had multiplied many times over. But it still wasn't enough.
He needed to reach a point where he could use his new ability, Blood Calamity, more than once. Right now, he believed he could activate it without fainting… but he had never attempted it again. The last time nearly killed him, and he intended to be ready before risking it once more.
They had taken only a few steps when a monster emerged in front of them. Its obsidian scales were streaked with crimson light, as if fire pulsed beneath its skin. Jagged spines rose along its back, each glowing dimly like unstable runes. Lightning flashed through the suffocating storm that was shaping above it, revealing a maw filled with molten breath. Every step it took cracked the ground open, spilling sluggish rivers of lava, as though the earth itself recoiled from its presence.
Leo's hair flashed white as he moved in lightning speed. His sword, wrapped in surging blood, tore through the creature's torso and split it cleanly in half. The massive monster collapsed before it even registered it had been struck.
Paul approached as Leo's hair slowly faded back to normal. "Tell me again," he said, wiping ash from his arm, "why you won't stay in that form."
"While I'm in this form, my blood flow increases far beyond what my body can handle," Leo said, pressing a hand lightly against his chest as if remembering the sensation. "Every organ gets forced into overdrive, squeezing out every drop of strength I have. And my soul doesn't stay quiet either, it starts producing mana so fast it feels like it's burning."
Paul narrowed his eyes. "So the form tears at both your body and your soul. But why?"
"The body part is simple," Leo replied. "I'm forcing it past its limit. But the soul… the only explanation that makes sense is that its shape isn't aligned with this power yet. It's like trying to pour a river through a narrow pipe. The pressure builds until something cracks. If I give it time, maybe it'll reshape itself and corrupt me."
Paul hummed thoughtfully. "You're an Illusionist and an Enchanter. Your soul should lean toward that, not whatever that form is. So where does that power belong? What path does it even come from?"
Leo looked ahead, expression unreadable. "It's not one path. It's many. A combination of different powers forced into one form. That's why nothing fits right."
"So there's a chance you may never fully adapt to it?" Paul asked.
Leo exhaled. "Maybe. Maybe not. I still don't understand enough about how the rules truly works."
They walked a few more steps before the earth suddenly shuddered beneath their feet. A deep vibration rolled through the maze like distant thunder. Paul lifted a hand immediately, stopping Leo in place.
Leo's instincts flared. "What is it?" A cold bead of sweat slid down his temple. "This mana… it feels wrong."
Paul didn't answer at first. His gaze was locked on the pitch-black passage ahead, his expression turning grim, far grimmer than anything Leo had seen from him before.
"When I tell you," Paul said quietly, voice low and heavy with warning, "run."