The deeper they went, the quieter the Cathedral became.
Not silent.
Never silent.
But the echoes had changed.
They no longer chased them.
They lingered.
As if the place had grown bored of testing them with noise… and was preparing something worse.
Yuzuki stepped onto a narrow stone ledge that curved along the inner wall of the abyss. Below him, darkness stretched endlessly. Above him, the faint glow of bioluminescent plants pulsed like distant stars trapped in stone.
He glanced down.
Then immediately looked away.
"…Yeah," he muttered. "That's not something I need to stare at for too long."
Menchi, a few steps ahead, didn't slow.
"Don't," she said.
"I wasn't planning to."
They moved carefully now.
Not slow, but deliberate.
Every step placed with intent.
Every shift in weight controlled.
The platforms here weren't stable. Some slanted at odd angles. Others looked like they had cracked and reformed over time, as if the mountain itself couldn't decide what shape it wanted to hold.
Yuzuki crouched slightly and touched the ground with his fingers.
"…This isn't just erosion."
Menchi nodded. "No. It's the distortion."
He stood again.
'So this is where it starts.'
At first, nothing seemed wrong.
The path continued.
Stone.
Gravity.
Normal.
Then—
Yuzuki took a step.
And felt it.
A subtle pull sideways.
He froze mid-step.
"…Okay," he said slowly. "That's new."
Menchi stopped ahead of him and glanced back. "You felt it?"
"Yeah."
He shifted his weight slightly.
The pull intensified.
Not enough to drag him, but enough to warn him.
He stepped back.
And it vanished.
Yuzuki's eyes narrowed.
"…That's not a slope."
"No," Menchi said. "That's a Gravity Distortion Zone."
Yuzuki looked at the space in front of him.
Nothing was visible.
No color change.
No crack.
No sign.
Just empty air over solid stone.
And yet—
The rules there were different.
He picked up a small loose stone from the ground.
"…Let's test it."
He tossed it forward.
The moment the stone crossed an invisible threshold—
It jerked sideways.
Violently.
As if something had grabbed it.
Then it slammed into the cavern wall to their right with a sharp crack and vanished into darkness below.
Yuzuki blinked once.
"…Yeah. That's definitely not normal gravity."
Menchi crossed her arms slightly. "If you step into that without adjusting, your body will follow that same path."
Yuzuki imagined it.
One wrong step.
His footing gone.
His body pulled sideways instead of down—
And then gone.
Just… redirected into death.
"…This place is insane."
Menchi smirked faintly. "You're just realizing that now?"
Yuzuki ignored that.
Instead, he focused.
Observed.
The air didn't move differently.
The light didn't bend.
There was no obvious indicator.
'So how do you read it…'
He crouched again.
Pressed his palm lightly against the ground.
Closed his eyes for a second.
Then opened them.
"…It's not random."
Menchi raised an eyebrow. "You figured that out already?"
"It feels… layered."
He stood slowly.
"Like there are pockets. Zones. Not one continuous distortion, but multiple fields overlapping or shifting."
Menchi didn't interrupt.
That was correct.
Yuzuki stepped forward again—
But this time, slower.
Carefully.
He extended his foot.
Stopped just before placing it down.
Then lowered it gradually.
The moment the edge of his sole touched the invisible boundary—
The pull returned.
Sideways.
Stronger than before.
But this time—
He was ready.
He leaned into it.
Adjusted his center of gravity.
Balanced against it.
His body tilted unnaturally, but he didn't fall.
"…Okay," he muttered. "So it's not about avoiding it completely."
Menchi's lips curved slightly.
"…It's about adapting to it," she finished.
Yuzuki smirked.
"Exactly."
He shifted his weight fully into the zone.
Now his stance looked wrong.
Tilted.
Like he was standing on a wall instead of a floor.
But to him—
This was the new "down."
"…That's trippy," he admitted.
Menchi stepped forward behind him, entering the same zone with far less hesitation.
"You'll get used to it."
"I don't want to get used to this."
"You don't have a choice."
They moved together now, walking along the distortion field.
Each step required constant adjustment.
Balance wasn't instinctive anymore, it was calculated.
Yuzuki took another step.
Then another.
Then—
He stopped.
"…Wait."
Menchi halted instantly.
"What?"
Yuzuki pointed ahead.
"There."
The path continued, but something about it felt off.
He picked up another stone.
Threw it.
This time—
The stone didn't just shift sideways.
It twisted.
Mid-air.
Pulled downward—
Then abruptly redirected upward at an angle before slamming into a distant ledge.
Yuzuki's expression flattened.
"…That's worse."
Menchi exhaled slowly.
"Layered zones."
"Yeah," Yuzuki said. "Multiple directions."
He looked ahead again.
The path they needed to take cut directly through that area.
No way around it.
Of course not.
"That means if we step in wrong…" he began.
"You won't just fall," Menchi finished. "You'll be thrown."
Yuzuki clicked his tongue.
"…I hate this place."
Menchi smiled faintly. "You'll hate it more soon."
"Encouraging."
Yuzuki took a breath.
Then exhaled slowly.
'Alright… think.'
This wasn't brute force.
This wasn't speed.
This was control.
Precision.
Understanding space that didn't behave like space.
He crouched again.
Picked up three small stones this time.
"Watch," he said.
He threw the first.
It jerked sideways.
The second—
Pulled downward sharply.
The third—
Spun upward before dropping out of sight.
Yuzuki watched all three paths carefully.
Memorized them.
"…Three vectors," he murmured.
Menchi's eyes sharpened. "You're mapping it?"
"Roughly."
He stood.
Then pointed.
"That section pulls right."
"That one pulls down."
"And that one…" he narrowed his eyes, "…redirects upward after entry."
Menchi nodded slowly.
"…You're insane."
"I've been told that before."
He stepped forward.
Right into the chaos.
The moment his foot crossed the boundary—
His body jerked sideways.
But he moved with it.
Adjusted.
Shifted his weight before the next distortion hit—
Then leaned forward just as the downward pull tried to drag him off balance.
His body twisted unnaturally.
Then corrected.
Step.
Adjust.
Step.
React.
Each movement calculated in real time.
Menchi followed closely behind, her own movements smoother, but no less precise.
For a moment—
Everything held.
Then—
The ground beneath Yuzuki's foot shifted again.
A new pull.
Unexpected.
Stronger.
His body tilted sharply.
Balance breaking—
"…!"
For a split second—
He was going to fall.
Then—
He pushed against space itself.
A subtle reinforcement.
A correction.
Just enough to stabilize.
His foot slammed down.
He caught himself.
Breathing steady.
"…That was close."
Menchi landed beside him a second later.
"You hesitated."
"Yeah."
"Don't."
"I noticed."
She glanced at him.
Then forward.
"…This is only the beginning."
Yuzuki followed her gaze.
The path ahead twisted deeper into the Cathedral—
More platforms.
More distortions.
More invisible rules waiting to break.
He smiled faintly.
Not out of excitement.
But acceptance.
"Yeah," he said.
"I figured."
And without another word—
They continued deeper into a world where even gravity could no longer be trusted.
---
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