Ren shrugged. “Because losing feels the same as winning.”
The deeper he went, the stranger the game became. Levels twisted into memories: his mother’s hospital room, his father’s empty chair, a school hallway where everyone whispered. Tamamo wasn’t just feeding on him now—she was watching . For the first time in a thousand years, she saw someone who didn’t want to use her. Someone who simply endured.
Intrigued, she offered him a deal: reach the heart of the labyrinth without using a single wish, and she would grant him the power to leave the game forever—truly leave, not just log out. He accepted.
Ren looked at her—this creature of rage and sorrow, tricked and trapped by mortals who feared her. “If I free you,” he said slowly, “will you eat souls?”
