Chapter 114: Shirou Breaks Through the Moving Labyrinth, Elfie in Crisis!
Artificial Dungeon: Knossos – 20th Underground Floor
The flickering blue phosphorescence barely lit the darkness. The palace paved with greenish stone slabs and the vast open space exuded an unnatural grandeur.
At the center of the palace, the followers of Thanatos had gathered.
Among them were Barca of the Daedalus bloodline, and unexpectedly—Valletta, who was supposed to be dead. Now, she stood calmly as if unscathed, unbothered by her prior demise.
Suddenly, a figure slowly emerged from the depths of the palace.
The moment they saw the approaching person, Barca, Valletta, and the rest of the Death God's followers immediately showed respectful expressions and greeted him reverently.
"Lord Thanatos!"
"God-sama…"
Amidst the various tones of reverence, the god Thanatos stepped before his followers and spoke in a deep, grim voice:
"My soul fragment has been purified. Unless I miscalculate, Emiya Shirou will soon lead the Loki Familia to this 20th floor."
"What?!"
The gathered followers all wore expressions of disbelief.
They understood very well how bizarre and insidious Thanatos's divine authority was—an average person would never be able to detect soul intrusion, let alone purify it and expel the god's soul from a body.
Yet, no matter how incredulous they were, reality had proven that someone had broken Thanatos's possession and neutralized his soul manipulation.
"Was it that man named Emiya Shirou?" Valletta seemed to recall the feeling of being pierced through the chest by that golden sword of guaranteed victory. "Just who the hell is he? I can't believe a low-level adventurer could pull off something so ridiculous…"
"He's certainly a remarkable human," said Barca, who had only had limited contact with Shirou but still gave his own opinion. "The moment I saw him, I felt like I was staring into a blazing inferno. If I had been any closer, I think my soul itself might've been scorched by that terrifying fire."
"That's because you've spent so long in the underground, merging with the darkness itself," Thanatos said slowly. "Emiya Shirou possesses a power that can cleanse filth. I don't know why he has such a power, but there is no doubt—he is our greatest nemesis."
"Then what do we do?" Valletta's eyes widened. "If even you, Lord Thanatos, can't handle him, then we have no way to stop that man! And that dirty fairy Riveria's helper has suddenly gone missing too… We're almost out of cards to play!"
Valletta's concerns echoed those of the rest of the Evilus members.
The Dark Faction's overall strength already fell short of the Loki Familia's.
If it hadn't been for the advantage of the man-made dungeon environment letting them isolate and defeat Loki Familia members one by one, they'd have likely lost in a direct confrontation.
Thanatos understood their concern clearly.
Yet he remained completely calm, and replied smoothly:
"Have we confirmed Riveria's team's status? They should be almost at their limit now, yes?"
To this, Barca nodded slowly.
"As much as I hate to admit it, my brother Dix does have some effective methods. The curse of the Daedalus bloodline gave us both the obsession with building dungeons and granted us unique powers.
My power is modifying the labyrinth. Dix's power is monster control.
He's been methodically driving Riveria's team into a corner. One more step, and he'll have them completely captured."
"Excellent."
Thanatos nodded with satisfaction.
Valletta, however, scoffed a bit:
"Those guys were supposed to be trapped in the Moving Labyrinth already.
Who would've thought that squad had a Level 3 elf girl with some strange item that could block soul pollution?
They broke through the maze and pushed deeper underground. If not for that, we wouldn't have needed to split our forces.
Maybe we'd have taken out Finn and that Shirou guy by now too."
The other Death God's followers nodded in agreement with Valletta.
If Riveria's squad hadn't unexpectedly broken out of the Moving Labyrinth, they could've committed more resources to ambush Shirou's team instead of being forced to delay with scattered manpower—and Thanatos himself wouldn't have had to reveal his soul fragment.
Despite his followers' frustration, Thanatos spoke calmly, as if he had expected this:
"Humanity is a race that constantly brings forth the unexpected and miraculous.
That's precisely why we gods love the Lower World so much.
The Loki Familia is the strongest faction in Orario. Of course they wouldn't be easy to deal with.
But that also means—once we surpass them, we're only one step away from changing this city, and transforming this world."
His words resonated with the Evilus followers.
Excitement rippled through them as they shouted in unison:
"All for Lord Thanatos's wish!"
"No. I act to fulfill your wishes," Thanatos smiled. "To save this beautiful world teetering on the brink of destruction—lend me your strength. If we work as one, we will overcome this final obstacle and witness the miracle of salvation together!"
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Inside the Moving Labyrinth
After Shirou expelled the soul of Thanatos from Ais's body, cleansing her of corruption, the team's greatest crisis was resolved.
Even Tiona fully returned to normal—although she seemed to have no memory of the recent events.
It should have been a moment of celebration.
But Shirou found himself unable to be happy.
Because ever since he used his karmic flames to purge Thanatos's soul, Ais had been acting strangely around him.
In short: she began keeping her distance.
Every time Shirou tried to approach, she would subtly (or suddenly) pull away. It left him completely baffled.
Eventually, he couldn't help but suspect that his karmic fire had affected Ais—creating a rift between them.
But Ais wasn't the only problem. There was a more immediate concern: how to escape the Moving Labyrinth.
After entering it, Ais and the others had been wandering endlessly, unable to find the right path—and unable to retrace their steps. They were trapped in what seemed like an eternal maze.
Even though they'd defeated the traitor and destroyed Thanatos's fragment, they still couldn't find the way out.
As the Loki Familia members fell into confusion, Shirou began forming a hypothesis.
He went directly to the elf girl Elfie, who had previously lost her memory.
"Are you sure you've lost all memory of the last time you entered the Moving Labyrinth?"
"Y-Yes… I'm sure…"
Elfie didn't dare lie under Shirou's questioning.
After confirming that, Shirou nodded slowly:
"Then I think I've figured out how to get through the Moving Labyrinth."
"What?!"
The Loki Familia all looked at him in surprise.
After the whole "Death God's Eye" and traitor incident, they no longer doubted Shirou. His capabilities had earned their respect.
Even Bete had to admit: when it came to exploring this man-made dungeon, they couldn't do it without Shirou.
But still—they couldn't imagine how Shirou had deduced the way out of the labyrinth. None of them had a clue.
Then Shirou posed a seemingly unrelated question:
"First, we need to confirm something about the Moving Labyrinth—did Riveria's group successfully pass through it?"
"Riveria's team?" Tione blinked in confusion, then responded, "They probably did. We've been wandering here forever and haven't encountered them, so they must've passed through already."
"Exactly," Shirou nodded, affirming Tione's logic. "If Riveria's group did succeed in clearing the labyrinth, then why did they deliberately leave Elfie behind?"
"...Huh?"
Everyone, including Elfie herself, fell silent at Shirou's question.
They didn't immediately understand what he meant.
"Didn't Elfie get caught by the Evilus and separated from Riveria's group?" Ais raised her hand to ask.
"If Elfie had been captured by the Dark Faction, why didn't they just kill her? Why go to the trouble of wiping her memories and leaving her behind? What would they gain from that?"
No one could answer.
But at the same time—they began to realize what Shirou was implying:
"You mean… Elfie wasn't left behind by the Dark Faction—but intentionally left behind by Riveria's team?"
"That's right." Shirou nodded. "And I'm pretty much certain that the reason Riveria and the others left Elfie behind was to give us, the ones coming later, a clue.
They must have found a way to pass through the moving labyrinth, but couldn't record the method by any conventional means. So they chose to leave Elfie behind as a way to provide us with a hint."
Shirou's words made everyone present nod instinctively.
The many inconsistencies surrounding Elfie's presence started to make sense with Shirou's explanation.
"So, what kind of hint does Elfie carry?" Though Tiona had only just learned everything, she quickly got into the swing of it. "Is there something special about her?"
"There is." Shirou smiled. "Isn't the most special thing about Elfie obvious? It's the fact that she has no memory at all!"
"No memory?"
The members of the Loki Familia all showed hesitant expressions, unable to understand what Shirou meant.
Shirou explained more directly: "Once you enter the moving labyrinth, it's almost impossible to leave.
But Elfie managed to leave, and after she did, she had no memory related to the labyrinth whatsoever.
If there's a connection between these two facts, then there's only one possible answer—the moving labyrinth can only be passed through after one's memory is erased. The thing that's trapping us here… is our memories."
"Our memories are trapping us?"
Everyone in the Loki Familia was stunned.
Though they found it hard to believe, Shirou's analysis made perfect sense.
Most importantly, they had already witnessed the strangeness of the Thanatos Familia. Now, being trapped in a labyrinth by memory didn't seem so far-fetched.
"But if it's our memory that's trapping us, what should we do?" Ais asked. "Riveria and the others must have used magic to erase their memories. But we don't have someone of Riveria's level in our party—we can't erase our memories."
"That is a problem, but have you all forgotten? There's someone in our party who has no memory of this labyrinth from the start."
"You mean... Tiona?"
Shirou's words made everyone turn toward Tiona.
Because she had been possessed by the death god Thanatos, she had no memory of entering the labyrinth—making her the perfect fit.
"Eh? Me?"
Tiona, who had been the most confused about the current situation, was caught off guard to find herself as the key to breaking through. She scratched her head awkwardly.
Shirou didn't hesitate and said firmly, "Yes, Tiona. Whether or not we can escape this labyrinth now depends on you. From here on, all of us will close our eyes, and you will be our guide. Lead us to the exit—you can walk in any direction you feel like."
"..."
Tiona hadn't expected to be entrusted with such a heavy responsibility.
But she quickly made up her mind.
In a sense, this was her way of making up for being possessed by the death god earlier, which had nearly endangered her companions.
Soon, under Shirou's instruction, everyone closed their eyes and handed over full control of their movement to Tiona.
It was like relying on a guide dog to navigate.
Everyone was extremely tense.
Each step felt like walking through hell.
Tiona herself was trembling—since she had no memory of the artificial labyrinth, she was simply wandering aimlessly.
But incredibly, just by walking at random, Tiona actually reached the exit of the labyrinth!
"This—this is incredible! How does this even work?!"
Tiona's exclamation snapped everyone out of their tension.
After getting Shirou's permission, the other members of the Loki Familia opened their eyes—and discovered that they were really outside the moving labyrinth.
The sheer astonishment left everyone speechless.
Shirou then voiced his own theory.
"The term 'moving labyrinth' probably doesn't refer to literal movement. If the entire labyrinth physically moved, the disturbance would be too large to hide. So the issue must be psychological—it tricks the brain into thinking the labyrinth is moving.
Humans are creatures of habit. Once we gain experience through certain actions, we tend to repeat them. If that experience is slightly corrupted, it leads to flawed judgment.
That's enough to completely throw off our senses, making us loop in circles even if we're standing in the same place.
I suspect this moving labyrinth is actually quite small—maybe just a few dozen rooms.
Under normal circumstances, even brute-forcing through it would allow someone to escape. But once you try to use hidden-room strategies or follow a specific pattern, it triggers the memory-distortion mechanism. Even a solvable labyrinth becomes a prison you can never leave."
"I see..."
Shirou's words completely resolved everyone's confusion.
Now, there were no more doubts—only sincere admiration for Shirou.
Especially from a certain Ais.
Ever since Shirou had used his Karma's Fire to save her from being possessed by the death god, her heart had been unsettled.
Though she appeared calm and distant around Shirou, her eyes would involuntarily drift toward him. Sometimes, just seeing him made her heart race.
This unfamiliar feeling left Ais deeply troubled. She couldn't understand what was happening to her.
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Deep within the 20th floor of the dungeon...
Riveria's team was struggling to escape while fighting off waves of monsters attacking from every direction.
No matter how many they killed, more monsters kept appearing.
And not just regular dungeon monsters—some were creatures the Loki Familia had never even seen before.
Whether familiar or not, these monsters were beyond what Riveria's wounded team could handle.
Eventually, their frontliner, the Level 6 dwarf warrior Gareth, couldn't hold on any longer. A monster crushed his shoulder with a bite, and he fell.
"Gareth!"
Riveria's face twisted in pain and regret.
Back when they had reached the 15th floor, right before entering the moving labyrinth, her team had faced a critical decision—continue or regroup.
Half wanted to retreat and reunite with the other Loki Familia squads. The other half wanted to push forward and complete the mission to destroy the Dark Faction.
Riveria had hesitated for a long time before ultimately deciding to press on.
She was confident in her team's strength—they were the only squad with two Level 6s.
But the truth was, Riveria's own heart had been restless.
She had complex, indescribable feelings about the increasing attention Loki had been giving to that man, Shirou Emiya.
In the Loki Familia, while Finn was the combat leader, Riveria handled day-to-day management.
She clearly sensed the impact Shirou had made on the Familia.
She, too, felt a sense of frustration—resenting how much more attention and hope Loki placed in Shirou compared to herself.
So when the opportunity to accomplish a great feat and win Loki's admiration came up, Riveria lost control of her rationality and made an impulsive decision—to storm the labyrinth.
Her team entered the moving labyrinth... and stepped into an abyss.
At first, Riveria thought she'd figured it out—she treated it like a hidden-room dungeon and followed its rules.
But before long, they realized they were trapped.
Worse still, the labyrinth had rooms disguised as normal ones that were actually "dead ends"—anyone who entered would be gravely injured.
After several such mistakes, Riveria's team was badly damaged.
They became anxious, unable to escape.
Then, just when things seemed hopeless, Lefiya began to behave strangely.
Because she carried Avalon's sheath, her soul was protected and unaffected by the labyrinth's "loss" effect.
Thanks to her, they realized it was their memories that were the trap.
With this knowledge, Riveria sealed everyone's memories and led the team out of the labyrinth.
To make sure Finn and others who might arrive later would know how to escape, Riveria deliberately left Elfie behind to pass along the method.
Then she led her team onward into the artificial dungeon.
But the Dark Faction wouldn't allow that.
In response to Riveria's breakthrough, they went all-out.
They not only sent their own forces but also summoned Dix from the Ichoros Familia, who used his monster-control abilities to unleash every monster in the labyrinth on Riveria's team.
Even with two Level 6s, Riveria's group couldn't withstand such an onslaught—they had to fight and retreat simultaneously.
Several times, they came close to total annihilation, surviving only thanks to Avalon's protection.
But that could only last so long.
With Gareth down, the team's strongest vanguard was gone.
Riveria alone, a mage focused on firepower, couldn't hold off the swarms.
With no other choice, she made the ultimate decision.
"Everyone, get out of here! Run to the upper floors!"
Riveria gave the command and stayed behind to face the horde alone.
She spread her arms and used all her remaining mana to create a massive barrier, holding back the monsters.
"Lady Riveria?!"
Lefiya and the others looked on in shock and despair.
But no matter how much they hated it, they couldn't disobey her order.
Grim-faced and carrying the gravely wounded Gareth, they ran to the upper levels—hoping, against all odds, to find reinforcements.
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