Fractal Plane: Maiden's Heart

Chapter 13 - Hero and Maiden

1

"This is more trouble than I expected."

Despite the disappointed and downcast expression on his face, Kazuki's feet continued taking him as fast as they could. His eyes carefully observed the overgrown vegetation that surrounded him while his ears listened for any possible noise besides the loud sound of crunching leaves that followed him.

Being separated from your partner is not the most ideal situation for traversing a living maze like this. For now, the shield on his hand with a blade extended out of it could protect him from any Nullities that might take advantage of this development.

Not that it mattered.

For the past few minutes, no Nullity has shown up. Instead, traps and shifting pathways were what drove him insane most of the way.

"One second there's a path in front, then the next second, it gets blocked by those thick vines or spawns a hole. There's a reason I never wanted to be the guy to get transported into another world," he groaned as he looked at what can be seen on the red sky past the trees.

Listening intently to the shrubbery surrounding him, he could confirm that some of them were on the move. Since no vines were shooting out hoping to entangle or impale him, Kazuki figured out that his path was probably being laid as he traversed the maze.

The whole place was not a maze per se. It was never designed to keep people wandering despite it appearing as such. That much has been made clear with the shifting paths and how he sensed that he was getting closer to one of the Class A Nullity signatures.

He paused his run for a moment and closed his eyes. Focusing on detecting the waves and signatures inside the labyrinth, he quickly picked up multiple presences.

Speaking of, one of the Class A signatures on the far right has disappeared.

Near the disappeared presence was another one on the move. It did not feel like a Nullity, and he quickly knew who it was.

Of course she'll pull through. Now, it's him turn to get the job done and reunite with her deeper into the Fragment.

Having gotten this momentary pause, his eyes darted around to help him gather his thoughts while standing in front of a three-way fork.

Only the sound of rustling leaves and bushes registered, and for a Fragment, the area seemed oddly tranquil in its own way.

Looking at the fork ahead, he already knew what will happen should he decide to take one of the paths. Experience has taught him that he would either be able to keep going forward until a hole prevents him from going forward.

Should that not be the case, he would find himself in front of a continually regenerating wall of vines. Spawning so fast, no amount of hacking can overcome the speed of its regeneration.

At the very least, he had yet to experience those vines shooting out and trying to stab him. He could only wonder if the same held true for the other side of the maze where his partner was sent to.

The distractions will keep going until he got to the "right" path. Then, the path will be clear.

If what Uehara said was correct and that there was someone behind controlling the maze's behavior...

He's being led somewhere. And someone's also having the time of his life toying with him.

Then why not just block off all paths with the exception of the correct one, dammit? Games that force you to backtrack are spawns of evil, and this Fragment is not helping me change my opinion one bit.