Walking across the dark tunnels of the Labyrinth were two pairs of steps - one confident and untired, the other huffing and puffing from the long exploration.

  It had already been a week since Ray had encountered this mysterious silver-haired, heterochromatic man who cimed he had been staying in the Demonic World since The Catastrophe, more than 70 years ago.

  If his story was true, Ray could imagine that this man had been able to keep his sanity intact all this while.

  But the man was weirder than he could imagine.

  When Ray asked for his name, the weird man answered一

  “Lucian!”

  “Ansel!”

  “Lahel!”

  “Huh?” Ray stared in confusion when the man replied with three different answers instead of one.

  Maybe he was embarrassed or just naturally indifferent, the man didn’t speak much after that.

  Ray decided to call the man ‘Lahel’ because of the three names he spoke, the third one seemed slightly louder and clearer than the other two.

  “You don’t know where we are going, right?” Ray asked after they stopped to take a break.

  For the past few days, they had been aimlessly walking through the tunnels of this huge Labyrinth seamlessly assimited under the surface of the demon's Pnet, Tartaros. More than once, these tunnels had opened up to somepce weird.

  One time, it opened up in the middle of the Market District of the Capital, while the other time it opened up in the backyard of a demon couple’s honeymoon vil. The tunnels were even connected to the toilets of some of the demon’s houses.

  Poor guy was probably traumatized for life after it went back in from the shock of seeing two strangers standing behind him as he minded his own business.

  “You know, because of us, some poor demon will have to look over his shoulder for the rest of his life while he does his business.”

  “Why are you looking at me? I wasn’t the one who made the Labyrinth connect to people’s toilets. And I already told you, these tunnels are constantly changing. There’s no way to navigate or map them out. And isn’t it you who wants to go back to Earth? If anything, you should be grateful for my help.”

  “I am, but this…is not working.”

  “Well, we don’t have much of a choice. Now, let's move!”

  And so Ray and Lahel resumed their expedition of the Labyrinth.

  Despite being as good at directions as Roronoa Zoro, Ray had to admit that the man was a good protector. Whenever they encountered any demons or monsters, Lahel would cut them down effortlessly一a strength rivaling that of S+ Rank Heroes back on Earth. Possibly even SS Rank.

  His swordsmanship was so perfect that Ray found it hard to believe that this man came from a time before Awakened and Dungeons一an era when swordsmanship was much less refined and practical than now.

  As these little pieces of suspicious information piled up, Ray noticed another bizarre thing.

  Although his conversations with Ray were pretty limited, illogical pieces of conversations would constantly spew out of Lahel’s mouth.

  “...It’s not that way…”

  “Are you an idiot?!”

  “I should have burned you to hell…”

  “Stop, you two!”

  And whenever he dispyed this strange behavior, Lahel would turn his alluring bck-and-golden heterochromatic eyes towards Ray, and give him an innocent smile, as if saying ‘Don’t ask questions…’.

  After a week-long journey, Ray finally gave his diagnosis.

  “You are suffering from a personality disorder, aren’t you?”

  It made sense. When Ray was still studying potions, he had researched quite a bit about the brain and mind disorders brought through the introduction of mana to the human anatomy.

  Humans weren’t originally evolved to have mana or Skills. So many people developed disorders due to the sudden access to powers during the Great Catastrophe, including, Chūnibyō Syndrome, Emperor Syndrome, and more.

  Multiple Personality Disorders also used to be a very common psychological disorder among the first Awakened during the Apocalypse, due to not being able to cope with the mental strain of exterminating monsters. That’s why many Heroes created an alter ego一an actual hero一 within them that can take responsibility for all the “killings”.

  Of course, with all the education about monsters and Awakened right now, such disorders were hardly seen in the recent Awakened.

  “It’s alright. I have them under control. I don’t need to go to the nuthouse or anything like that.”

  “Nuthouse? That’s such an outdated term. And anyway, I don’t think you need that. A few visits to the psychiatrist should fix you right up.”

  “Psychiatrist? You mean there are doctors who can fix having two people in your body?”

  “...Say what?” Ray was dumbfounded at the unexpected disclosure.

  “Looking at your expression, it seems my condition is not all that common. Never mind, then.” Lahel turned around and began walking again.

  “W-wait…” Ray betedly came back to his senses and rushed behind him. “Did you say you have other people in your body?”

  “Yeah…I have the souls of two other people in my body. They are the ones who keep speaking gibberish. Not me.” Lahel expined.

  “I think you left quite a bit of detail in that statement. How did you get stuck with two other people in your body?”

  “There really isn’t much to say. That’s just how my Skills manifested when I Awakened.” Lahel just shrugged it off.

  “...Skills? Ah, I see.” Ray’s hopes dampened hearing this.

  “Is it me, or are you sad that I am not possessed by ghosts and need to be exorcised?”

  “Nothing. I just thought you could help me with a problem.”

  “Problem? What kind?”

  “It’s nothing. Let’s just find a way to get back to Earth.”

  "Is it that important to you to get back to Earth?" Lahel asked cautiously.

  "Yeah." Ray paused in thought for a moment before deciding to expin his situation in vague terms. "Someone stole something precious from me. I need to get it back."

  "Is that 'someone' the Duke you were running from?"

  "...Yeah." Ray revealed, a bit hesitatingly.

  "Then isn't it counterproductive to go to Earth? The Duke's still here." Lahel pointed out the fw in his logic.

  Ray bit his lip in nervousness. "I can't exactly expin it. But the thing that he stole is on Earth."

  Although it would have been easy enough for Ray to expin to Lahel regarding his current situation.

  Because he knew that if he were in this guy's shoes, the first thing he would think is that the Duke put the soul of a Demon in Ray's body.

  The two had been traveling together for the past couple of weeks, but it's not like either of them trusted the stranger they had coincidentally met.

  Ray needed Lahel's help because he needed his help to move around Tartarus, while Lahel was probably sticking around because he was curious why a Demon Duke was keeping a human captive in his castle.

  After witnessing how easily he had killed those Demon Guards when the two had just met, it was evident how ruthless Lahel was towards Demons.

  There was no way Ray was gonna, for a moment, let this guy misunderstand that Ray had the possibility of being a Demon, lest he murder him with those same ruthless eyes.

  "You seem to have quite a bit of secrets." Lahel looked at him with an amused smile."Well, it's none of my business. But if you are this desperate to get back to Earth, I do have another way of finding a way back to Earth."

  "WHAT?! Then why didn't we do that already?"

  "Cause I'm not really fond of this idea, but…I am pretty sure where we can find an exit to Earth there.”

  “What? Then let’s go there right now.”

  “Slight problem. It’s in a Duke’s castle.”

  “A...Duke’s?” Ray asked, tensed at the mention of another Duke.

  “I know you were locked up in a Duke’s castle, but this one’s different. Though, I think she might be worse in some ways.”

  “Worse how?” Ray was skeptical about visiting the home of someone worse than the one that had captured him for so many months.

  “Let’s go. You will understand once we get there.”

  Grabbing his hand, Lahel warned him. “Buckle up so you don’t puke.”

  Before Ray could even ask what he was doing, his vision suddenly blurred as the walls of the rock tunnel colpsed into him and suddenly expanded back to reveal the scenery of a desert on the surface.

  “Space…You can use Evolved Elements…” As a Mana Professor, Ray instantly recognized what had happened.

  Once an Awakened crosses the A Rank threshold, the mana elements they are compatible with undergoes a qualitative change.

  The speed of the Air Element changes into the teleportation of Space, allowing one to span hundreds of kilometers in the span of a single second.

  “If you could use Space all this time, why were we walki-” Before he could even complete his sentence, Ray felt his stomach muscles contracting and expanding as he regurgitated the contents of his stomach.

  “Got your answer?” Lahel slowly tiptoed away from the puddle of sick-green vomit.

  “I...did. Though I would have felt better to know that you can use Evolved Elements…blegh!” Once more Ray’s stomach muscles spurned. Fortunately this time there wasn’t anything that could be puked out.

  “Evolved Elements…That’s an interesting term.” Lahel pondered over the new information.

  Since Ray and Lahel had been exploring the Labyrinth in uncomfortable silence, to make conversation, Ray decided to teach him about the various things discovered regarding Mana and Awakened back on Earth.

  Despite having an uninterested look through the entirety of Ray's lecture, it seems he wasn't completely ignoring it.

  This was the first time Lahel learned that his teleportation wasn't done through some undiscovered Skill, but rather through the advanced manipution of the Air Element.

  The personalities that occupied his head were quite experienced as Awakened, but unfortunately, they spent most of their time fighting with each other rather than teaching him.

  The only reason Lahel was even able to learn swordsmanship and a few powerful spells from them was so that he could survive on this harsh pnet of demons, allowing the two to continue fighting each other inside his body.

  “I will teach you more things ter…” Ray promised Lahel, as his stomach pain reduced to a bearable level. “But for now, where the hell did you bring us?”

  Transported from the rocky tunnels of the Labyrinth, the two of them were currently in the middle of a desert, with nothing to see for miles to come.

  The sand beneath their feet was crimson red as if the grains had been caked with blood. Dark clouds covered the scarlet sky above, yet not a single drop quenched the dry ground.

  “Wait…Was it that?”

  At the edge of his vision, Ray noticed something bizarre. In the middle of the lifeless desert, something unexpected was squirming with energy一a huge thicket of lush trees.

  Enhancing his vision with mana, Ray could make out a few details.

  Large bck-and-red trees were squirming around like living tentacles, as they twisted around to form a rge, beautiful mansion.

  Behind him, Lahel introduced their destination.

  “Welcome to the hell一The Castle of the Duke of Famine.”