Sai stood at the edge of a vast hall. The walls seemed alive: the stones trembled as if an invisible, pulsing blood beat within them. The light from sparse torches reflected off the damp floor, creating the sensation that the earth and walls were breathing, shifting, adapting to anyone who dared to enter.
"Your strength is enough to surprise me," came the girl's voice, appearing behind him. Her red eyes glowed in the darkness, a cigarette barely smoldering between her fingers. "I've never seen anything like it… or rather, I have. When I saw the Shadow King. But you… you are not the Shadow King."
Sai turned his head but said nothing. His body was ready to react instantly, but words were superfluous here. The girl smiled, briefly and sharply, like a blade, and her gaze seemed to see right through him.
"I know the power of the Shadow Army," she continued, leaning slightly closer. "It is immense, immeasurable. But you… you don't belong to them. You have your own strength. And that makes you interesting."
Sai tightened his grip on the revolvers, his internal concentration reaching its peak. He understood that ahead lay the Labyrinth of the Blood Angels—a place where space itself tried to break anyone who passed through it. Every movement here could be his last.
"Go on through," she said, stepping back to give him passage. "The labyrinth awaits you. And I… I will meet you later."
Sai took a step inside. The moment he crossed the threshold, a cold, saturated with something heavy and dense—as if the darkness itself had become tangible—enveloped him. The air was thick with pain, fear, and horror, merging into a single stream. The floor and walls began to change shape: corridors stretched out, ceilings dropped and then rose again. With every second, the sense of control slipped away.
"Watch carefully," her whisper echoed off the living walls. "Every wrong move, every mistake is a step towards your limit."
Sai moved slowly, each step requiring immense effort. His new muscles and body no longer tired, but his brain, consciousness, and sense of time collided with a continuously oppressive reality. Corridors turned where they shouldn't. Shadows filled the space, moving independently of him, yet leaving the feeling that he was being tracked, that the labyrinth was feeding on his fears.
"Interesting," the girl said quietly, as if walking in a neighboring corridor, her voice cutting through the silence. "How long can you hold on when everything around you is trying to break you? When darkness becomes your only company?"
An unknown amount of time passed. Sai lost track. Seconds stretched into hours, hours blurred into days. He was aware of only one thing: every movement, every breath was a struggle with the space, with himself, with his own strength and mind.
Figures appeared in the labyrinth—not fully material, but dense enough that he could feel their breath. Red eyes stared from the darkness, and each gaze seemed directed straight into Sai's consciousness. He dodged, jumped, used his revolvers—but most movements were merely attempts to maintain balance and not merge with the surrounding darkness.
"You might be stronger," the girl's voice sounded, sometimes nearby, sometimes from afar, sometimes right behind his back, "but that doesn't mean you can pass through everything. The labyrinth has no end, only movement. Only testing."
Sai understood: victories or defeats in the conventional sense didn't matter here. What was being tested was his essence, his ability to withstand pressure that could neither be measured nor predicted.
He pushed deeper until the walls constricted around him, leaving almost no room to move. Blood-red lines, carved into the stone, seemed to reach for him like the arms of angels, trying to grab him. Every breath was painful—though physically he could breathe indefinitely, the sensation of pressure on his chest, on his mind, was real.
"Here," the girl's voice softened, almost a whisper, "is your limit. Most give up here. But you… you are different."
Sai stopped in the center of the labyrinth. Time no longer held meaning. He didn't know how long had passed—several days, weeks, months? His consciousness had stretched time, but his body remained in a state of constant tension.
"Don't try to understand," the girl said, her figure appearing in the gloom before him, "just move. You haven't passed the labyrinth yet. And perhaps you never will. But I will meet you again… when you emerge from here."
Sai took a step, and the labyrinth swirled around him, swallowing the horizon, light, and space. He was alone in the eternal darkness, surrounded by his trials and shadows. And though his body and strength were ready for anything, he understood that this was only the beginning, and the end of the labyrinth was still unknown.
---
Sai froze for a moment, listening to the whispers of the darkness. The hallucinations around him erupted into new forms: from the gloom emerged figures with wings, stained with blood, their eyes burning with a fierce red light. Each beat of their wings created sharp gusts of air that seemed to press down on his chest.
"Enough waiting," he muttered, gripping his new revolvers. "Time to act."
The first shot pierced the darkness. The bullet dissipated into the blackness, and for a moment, one of the figures staggered, emitting a sound like a human scream, and vanished into the haze of illusions.
Sai fired a second shot—this time with purpose. A Blood Angel collapsed like a doll, shattering into dark shards. The labyrinth stirred again: the walls seemed closer, the ceilings lowered, and new figures emerged from cracks and shadows.
"Your toys…" the girl's quiet voice sounded, as if nearby yet distant at the same time. "Your strength… is surprising. I've seen the Shadow King, but you are not him. And yet… you are not human, and you do not belong to the Shadow Army."
Sai made several sharp jumps, evading new attacks. Every shadow, every Blood Angel appeared in sync with his fears: some resembled fallen friends, others—enemies he had fought. Their screams and whispers blended with reality, creating the sensation that the entire labyrinth was living off his fears.
"Too long…" he said to himself, shooting at an emerging figure. "Need to push through… not stop."
The shadows recoiled from the bullets, some disappearing, but each slain figure was immediately replaced by a new one, more complex and aggressive. Sai began to feel the rhythm of the labyrinth: every attack and every movement created a response that formed new enemies. He understood he needed to act strategically, using the darkness and his body to create advantages.
He fired another series of shots, moving in a circle as if dancing between the shadows. The bullets from his revolvers left behind black trails of energy that sliced through blood, illusions, and flesh simultaneously. The Blood Angels fell, their bodies dissolving, but the labyrinth immediately summoned new forms, sometimes even mirroring Sai's movements, reflecting his strategy.
"Excellent…" the girl appeared again on the steps, watching him. "Every action you take is another part of the labyrinth. Every shot is a step towards understanding its rules."
Sai paused for a moment, scanning the rows of emerging figures. They swarmed around, but now he saw patterns: their movements were predictable if he concentrated not on fear, but on the internal sensation of space. He felt the energy of his shadow core boiling within him, ready for a sharp impulse.
"Let's test…" he said quietly. "Let's test who is stronger."
He began moving more aggressively, using both revolvers simultaneously, firing at multiple figures at once. Each hit sliced through the darkness, leaving behind a faint light—a reflection of a destroyed illusion. The labyrinth tensed, the walls vibrating, but Sai felt he was now controlling the situation at the level of reflexes and physical strength, though his mind was still under the pressure of hallucinations.
"A little more…" he muttered, feeling a fatigue his body barely registered, but his psyche screamed. "Moving forward…"
The Blood Angels fell one after another, but the labyrinth didn't relent. The walls constricted, and new figures appeared right before his eyes, blending with the shadows, the stones, the cracks. Sai focused, planning each step, each shot, like a chess move.
"Go on through…" the girl said softly, almost tenderly, her voice echoing through the hall. "Go through the Blood Angels. And remember, I will meet you later."
Sai made a final push, forcing his way through the rows of emerging figures, and found himself at the center of the labyrinth. Shadows, illusions, and blood merged into a chaotic mass. He stopped, leaning heavily on his hands, his body straining under the constant pressure, his mind battling the hallucinations.
He looked around, trying to grasp how much time had passed, but the labyrinth concealed everything: walls, time, space. He was stuck somewhere in the middle, not yet having passed the labyrinth. The hallucinations continued to press, but the revolvers were ready for the next step.
"I won't give up," Sai muttered, gripping his weapons. "Let the labyrinth press… I'm moving forward."
And at that moment, as if confirming his words, the girl appeared again on a platform above: "Let's move on," she said calmly, with a hint of a smile—and Sai understood: his trials were only beginning, but he had already proven to himself that he could withstand the Labyrinth of the Blood Angels.