Jayr POV - Tortus, Frost Caverns of See - 2013

  We are standing in the ter of the crossroad in silend ready to fight as the frozen zombies are quickly marg toward us from all four sides, I already hear their itent groans.

  All of a sudden, Eri breaks the silend says, "Leave these annoyao me... Rise!" she then taps the ground with her staff, she enrges her shadow, and from it, her Undead Puppets start to rise, their numbers over one hundred, filling this big room so much that it appears quite small and stifling.

  Then I turn my head to look at one of the tunnels, and from it, some of them be seen moving toward us, it is the figure of people wearing a serviiform of the Garnd Nation, with most of their skin having lost their c and a thick yer of frost over their entire body, ihey are the corpses we saw embedded in the wall before, that start to pour into this room oer another from all four the tunnels.

  Soon the frost zombie's dull movements suddenly bee fierce as they charge toward us with a disturbing roar, but at the same time, Eri ands, "Attack!!" and her Undead Puppet rush toward the frost zombie easily decimating them, crushing them into many little pieces as they produce a sound simir to crystal breaking.

  But as expected soon, the splinters begin to gather, ref their bodies in no time at all, and those that had parts of their body pletely destroyed, are still able tee using pieces from the icy walls.

  Seeing this, Tio reminds us, "Master, let's take advantage of the time brought by Mistress' Puppet to find the core aroy it!" hearing that I nod and say, "Right! This way!" and using the pass of Eternal Paths, I lead the way, and start running toward the left passage, as the pass indicates that the core is 500 or so meters away, as Eri's Undead Puppets open the way.

  After dashing for five minutes, roup finally arrives at a rge area that seems to be about twice the size of the Colosseum, and cheg the pass once more, I see that the core seems to be encased in a certain ice wall fag the entrance we have just passed through, so I say, "I found it. Here, I see it."

  Then without hesitation, I pull out the Tactical Arms in its Gatling Form and use Evolution Magi it to increase its stats and power even more, and as I'm about to pull the trigger and unleash a storm of magic bullets made of Sagitta Magica, Series Obscuri, scattering a vivid bright bck light.

  At the same time, Tio yells, "Master, be careful!" even without her warning, I sense something flying toward me from behind, so without hesitation, I turn around and shoot down pears to be a rge transparent eagle made entirely out of ice that shatters in an instant, but I also notice that more are ing out of the ceiling, but I easily destroy them and their pieces start to fall down like a downpour of ice.

  Then I focus ba the core in the wall, but the moment, I click my tongue as I sehat it is moving through the wall, moving out of the Tactical Arms' line of sight, and say, "It moved..." hearing that, Tio suggests, "Apparently, it's simir to the creature we faced in Melusine Labyrinth, so we should think all the surrounding ice is its territory. Make a note of that."

  Then she focuses, on dealing with the les that are ing out of the walls, while Eri is anding her Undead Puppets to keep the frost zombies away.

  That advice is proven correct immediately, as the moment, from the surrounding ice wall, a rge number of two-legged wolves are created as well as more frost eagles.

  The wolves have rge dark red eyes, which are two meters tall, with sharp teeth and cws, groaning with a bestial voice, in fact, it reminds me of werewolves, moreover, their numbers keep increasing.

  In addition, the core in the ice wall, lets out an amazing amount of power, increasing every sed, and soon, with a loud roar followed by a rge shockwave, the creature that holds the core finally shows itself.

  It is like the turtle-like familiars used by Freid, but its body is mostly posed of id the shell has icicles like a pin cushion and it's over twenty meters ih, seeing that I think, 'So this is the true trial... Destroying the core held by that monster while fending off the horde of frozen zombies, ice creatures, and the almost unbearable cold... For a normal adventurer, such a thing is almost a death sentence... And seeing the many corpses before, it was suany...'

  As my thoughts wander, my focus is brought back by the Frost Turtle's roar, at the same time, I decide to end this fight shiftily, as I don't want to lose more time than necessary to clear this Labyrinth, not when I'm so close to plete all my objectives in this world, and finally return bae where my family waits for me.

  And so, I use both Body Enha Magid Limit Break to raise my stats to the maximum, then I rush toward the Ice Turtle at my top speed, and before it could eve, I'm standing in front of it, then I simply raise my hand and t, "Spēion Mikron Bary Men!" geing a medium-sized bck swirling sphere, basically a small bck hole, that as soon as it es in tact with the Frost Turtle, in an instant it expands, and soundlessly obliterates most of its body Core included.

  At the same time, the rge amounts of monsters filling the hall all colpse together with a rattle, being nothing more than lumps of ice.

  Then Tio and Eri e o me ahat both of them are fiheir breathing is even, and there isn't any wound on their bodies, there isn't any indication that they took on a thousand monsters, 'Indeed, such trial is quite easy for us... In fact, both Eri and Tio could have cleared it alone...'

  Then Eri asks, "What that out of the way, where should we go ?" I once more check the pass, then point at the passage that ened in the wall where the Frost Turtle had e from, and say, "That way..."

  After saying that, the girls nod and we tinue our advao the passage enclosed with rge ice walls, and after walking peacefully for thirty minutes, we reach the exit of this passage find ourselves at the top of stairs leading down to the rial, all I see below us is a very vast maze.

  I stop a moment to study the structure in front of us, the walls overhead form a vault, the maze easily be fused with an athletic park if not for its sheer size, 'Based only on what I see, the maze is at least 1 kilometer deep. I 't see anything further because of the snowfall, but sihe width of the maze seems to be at least 10 kilometers, it be guessed that the depth wouldn't be any less.'

  From where I'm standing there are stairs leading down to the maze, at the end of the stairs stands an arch-shaped entrao the maze.

  While I'm studying the structure, I hear Tio behind me as she says, "It seems that after entering the maze, getting to the exit would be the sed trial of this Great Labyrinth." followed by Eri who ents and asks, "Is the Labyrinth trying to annoy us to death!? 't we just fly over it?"

  But Tio expins, "No, it is more probable that there is something more to this trial... The Liberators were very throughout when designing the Labyrinths, su easy exploit isn't possible." I nod and expin, "Yeah, from what I remember when reading the spoilers, in this Labyrinth, one 't fly over it, as it will be instantly teleported back to the entrand activate some kind of trap..."

  Hearing that, Eri lets out a sigh and says, "The's do this the old-fashioned way... By the way... some other spoiler?" I nod and think ba what I have read on the wiki many years ago and say, "It seems that to get out of the Labyrinth we have to find three keys to open the exit gate... Without them, we 't get out..."

  But then I grin and pull out the pass of Eternal Paths and say, "...Luckily we have the perfect cheat code for such a situation!" and hearing that, Tio and Eri smile back.

  Then we all desd the staircase toward the maze's entrance, right at the entrahere is a reversed T-Jun that leads to the right a, and looking at the pass needle I see that it is slightly, pointing toward the right passage, and as she looks over my shoulder, Tio says, "Ah. The maze won't be a maze, thanks to this" I nod and say, "This on't lose too much time in this maze..." and then I lead the way as I pass through the arch.

  As we easily move through the maze, Eri stops and ents, "Un, Miledi's Labyrinth would have been no problem with this pass..."

  Hearing that, I nod and say, "Maybe that's why they entrusted it to Lyutillis..."

  After that, we tio move forward, as the icy walls of the maze give a simir disorientating feeling as a mirror house.

  Even so, we are able to ighat and start to calmly chat as if nothing happened, so much so that Eri asks, "Tio, how was your first time with Jayr?" to which Tio blushes a little and replies, "It was amazing! At first Master was gentle and careful, but the go of all restraints and in the end, he evehis one ass making this one pass out in bliss..." hearing that Eri nods and says, "Un, that is abht... Jayr be quite the beast in the bedroom, in fact, I'm sure that if it wasn't for his aftercare, we would be barely able to walk after one session with him..."

  While they were chatting, I focus my sense on our surroundings, as I felt the presence of something other than us moving, and the instant, I turn around and look at Eri, and raising my hand I cast a single Sagitta Magica, Series Obscuri.

  The dark magical bolt passes overhead a calm Eri and crushes the arm with cws that were growing soundlessly from the wall, at the same time, without me saying anything, Tio raises her hands and casts a double Wind Bde, at the right a wall destroying the ice statue like armored Bullet Beetle that was ing out from it.

  Meanwhile, Eri summoned her Undead Puppets once more to take care of the five Frost es that just got out, easily dealing with this failed attempt of an ambush, then we tinue our advance like nothing happened.

  Afterward, we enter various traps, ice spikes that came from the walls, ice walls colpsed, and other monsters appearing from the walls for the welve hours as we tio explore this huge maze.

  While it isremely challenging, the tinuous and monotonous sery is being increasingly annoying, luckily we have already gathered one key and only two remain so that we leave this pce, but it is being too much for Eri, so she suggests, "Jayr, why don't we go in your dimension a for the night?"

  This catches Tio's attention, as she nods and adds, "This one agrees, it looks like this maze is bigger thahought, some rest be useful so that we will remain in top shape or we do something else..." then she blushes and says, "... if Master wants he also use this one's ass as he likes to relieve his stress...".

  Thearts muttering with a perverted expression on her face, "Of course, every day, be it m, day ht, this one wants to do "this–" and "that–" to Master, and then this one will do "that–" and "this–" again together with Mistress. Then, Master will do "this–" to reward me, right? That's why this one will return the favor by doing "that–". Ah, this one is getti. Doing "this–" and "that–" properly, then "that—" Ababababababababa-!?" but Eri quickly uses the twin-tailed wolf Undead Puppet's magic to shock Tio, as, "You Eron, just how many times you have to get fucked silly before it is enough for you!?"

  Hearing Eri's question, the smoking Tio gets up as if nothing happened and proudly pushes up her jiggling bosom and decres, "This o her purity for over 500 years, now it's time to make up for all the lost time, and so for the 500 years, this one will never lose the occasion to be in the embraaster! Moreover, this one is a Dragonman, unlike humans, having too much of that doesn't make us weaker or even harm us, instead, we grow stronger each time our partner pushes us to our limits, this is also the reason why we generally seek a partrohan us..." leaving both Eri and me speechless.

  Hearing what Tio just said, I 't help but excim in my mind, 'So I wasn't wrong! Tio did get stronger after I had sex with her!! What kind of fucked up Zenkai Boost is this!!? This race fuck themselves to omnipotence!!! I should have chosen to be reborn as Dragonman in the Arifureta Universe!!' and while I'm regretting a little my previous choices, I open the portal to my Soulboory.

  And on my vil, I have to once again fend off a joitack of a Neancer and a Dragon, and after a battle that sted 2 and half hours, I'm once more victorious and go to sleep with a smile on my face as I y between a passed out Eri and Tio, of course after ing them of the bodily fluids that covered their bodies and ging the sheets.

  The day we resume our quest of the Labyrinth, and after a few more hours we are now standing in front of a rge double door, which the pass indicates we o pass through to retrieve the st of the keys.

  I take out a shiny gray metal pte from my pockets, it has an uneven sharp tip and a magic square engraved on it, and with it, I open this gate.

  Oher side of the gate, there is a gem-like object emitting yellow light from a pedestal in a room surrounded by ice walls, furthermore, there is one more thing.

  "GuruaAAAAAAA!!!" from the other side of the gem, there is also the form of a five meters tall furious-looking frost ogre approag as it lets out a loud war cry.

  But before it could eve close enough, Tio and Eri raise their hand and staff and once again, they t at the same time, ""Soul Shock!!"" and a pale white wave hits the frost ogre, that in an instant, falls on the ground dead with a loud crashing sound.

  Looking at the result of their bined spell, Eri ents, "The more I use this spell the clet t it with Cry of the Banshee and making it even more perfed powerful..."

  Meanwhile, I move toward the pedestal, to reach that gem-like object, this is the st of the three keys o open the sealed door, and without hesitation, I pick it up, then I lead the girls toward the exit.

  After a while, we finally reach the exit of the maze blocked by huge ice doors, but I see that it isn't just made of ice, it is carved with flowers, thorns, and roses, with a rge round hole that takes up about the fourth of the door within the design.

  Looking at the door, Eri excims, "Finally! I 't stand this shitty maze any longer..." and Tio o her, nods and adds, "This one agrees, not only was this maze stupidly expansive, but also full of the same b and monotonous traps, and those meaningless ambushes from the frost mohat made us only spend time... time that could be better used to be embraced by Master!"

  And to my surprise, this time, Eri agrees with Tio as she says, "That's right! For once I agree with you! Being loved and spoiled by Jayr is for sure the best way to spend time."

  I look at their iion with a smile on my face while thinking, 'Ever siio officially joined our family, she and Eri grew a lot closer... They still bicker a lot, but Eri is a lot more fortable and natural with her now, well there is also the fact that her sadistidencies are very patible with Tio's masochisties, especially when we spend our intimacy together...'.

  I then move to ihe keys the three keys in the socket of the rge round hole that takes up about a fourth of the door, and immediately after, the thorny shrub on the door is covered in light.

  The gems start to shine brightly in all their splendor, then, the gate's impressive doors begin opening on their own showing what lies beyond this maze.

  At a ghe passage starting from the entrance of the gate looks no different from the byrinth's passages so far, if anything is different, it seems to be the bright refle of the ice walls, as ures are vividly reflected, seeing this, I say, "Well the's go." and as I said this, everyone simultaneously steps through the door.

  The sight before us, sure enough, gives off the feeling of a mirror house, the ice acts just like mirrors, and the bright light is reflected endlessly, ihe ice walls on both sides of the passage act like opposite mirrors, and our party is reflected a tless number of times.

  Aside from the ceiling hidden by a spray of snow, it looks really like an endless corridor, and the sound of our footsteps echoes along as we proceed, making me realize that not only light but also sounds seem to reverberate.

  As we tinue walking, I hear Eri mutter, "… Somehow it feels like we've been sucked into the abyss." ahat she is looking at our refle in the walls.

  Looking at it I see that the worlds pile up ihe ice walls repeat endlessly, and the deepest parts are being shrouded in darkness, giving really such a strange disf feeling.

  Then notig her obvious disfort, I gently grasp Eri's hand and fort her, "I won't let go of you so it's alright..." and do the same for Tio's hand and looking at her I add, "... Any of you!" both look at me with a bright smile and say, "Un...", "Master..." then we tio advance.

  After walking for a while, we still haven't entered the sign of any traps or monsters in a while and the pass is still indig that we are on the right path, when Eri suddenly halts and starts to look aroulessly.

  I look at her and ask, "Eri? What is wrong?" still looking around Eri answer, "I heard something... it was like a whisper, very light, but still at the same time, the voice also seemed familiar..." and as she said this, I finally remember what this trial is about and without hesitation I expin, "Keep calm, it won't hurt you, what are you hearing is your own voi your head that will expose all of the fears and hatred that you have... Basically, this trial will make you front the worst part of yourself..."

  Eri POV - Tortus, Frost Caverns of See - 2013

  After hearing Jayr's words, a heavy silence falls between us, but even so, we tinue walking through this icy corridor, and at each step, the whispers in my head bee louder and clearer, and as Jayr said, this is indeed my own voice that is speaking.

  - You know what you want, right?

  Hearing that question is like receiving a stab right through the heart, as the fear of what the voice is about to reveal gets stronger, and as we tio move forward, these whispers bee, more and more frequent.

  - You're jealous to the point you want to kill, isn't that right?

  And hearing that, I once more look back at my image reflected in the icy wall, as it seems that I'm about to be swallowed by darkness, 'That is true... Many times I wao remove all those that stood in my way, but I never did...'

  Meanwhile, the whisper tinues.

  - You are afraid of losing this happiness you've finally found, that everything you've gained will be stolen, to be once more left behind, alone and unloved.

  The whisper's wet sharper, causing my mind to enter a state of disorder and despair, but just as I'm about to crumble, I feel Jayr's hand holding my own hand tighter, then I remember the words he said a few moments ago, "I won't let go of you so it's alright... Any of you!"

  And my mind clears, 'That is right! Jayr won't let me go! I'm his forever! Moreover, I'm not alone anymore, even if she is a degee pervert, Tio also knows the true me and accepted me! And she isn't the only ohanks to Jayr's encement, I also told everything to Suzu, and even so, she fave me and tio be my friend!'

  And now with firmer steps, I raise my head and walk forward while thinking, 'It is true that I fear what I could do, and to remain alone... But I know that everything will be fine as long as I'm together with my family!' with a smile on my face, I tio walk o Jayr, pushing away and ign all these annoying whispers.

  Tio POV - Tortus, Frost Caverns of See - 2013

  - There is no such thing as your being accepted by others.

  My voivades my mind once more, as it whispers such things, and immediately the things that happened in the past e to my mind, 'Long ago, when I was inexperienced and couldn't trol my power, and my family was fag persecution… Fire surged, the sound of an explosion shook the atmosphere, and a scream and an angry roar reverberated. While I was kig at the gathered remains of my patriot, the surrounding eyes were staring at me with extreme fear and pt…'.

  And remembering all that, I start to reflect, 'It took me many years, to overe the impression that they had of me but in the end, I was successful, even so, it seems that my past marked me more than I thought, if my main fear is still not being accepted... But such fears won't be able to stop me, moreover, they still accepted me and despise my shameful behavior' indeed, I feel Master's hand holding miighter as if reminding me of his presence.

  Looking at his face, I 't help but think, 'At first I joined him because I thought I could use him to fight the false gods to suit my vengeance upon the so-called "gods" and the Holy Church to avenge my parents and people... But over time, I got more and more attracted to him, to his strength, his kind and noble spirit, and in the end, I realized that I truly fell in love with him and wao spend the rest of my life by his side...'

  And so, with a smile on my face, I withstand the attacks of these whispers, my will won't be shaken by something as weak as this useless fear, I will stand by my master's side until the very end.

  Jayr POV - Tortus, Frost Caverns of See - 2013

  - You know you're a scumbag, right?

  As I tinue walking, the whisper in my head tio attack my fear, insecurities, and aspeyself that I hate, but even so, they aren't able to shake my will, 'Si, si, lo so, (Yes, yes, I know), there isn't a o repeat that, I'm a selfish guy that has many lovers... Surprise, I'm not the first and won't be the st, even in my previous life there were polyamorous and polygamous retionships, sure some were frowned upon by society, but in the end they made it work...' and while thinking that, the whisper in my head tinues.

  - You just use them to satisfy yreed and lust! You aren't worthy of their love!

  And a little annoyed by his tinuous remark around the same topic, I think, 'Yes, I do... But that doesn't mean that I don't love them, they accepted and loved me despite all my fws, and so they became the most important people to me, my family! And I will do anything to keep them safe and happy!'

  At the same time, I hold Eri and Tio's hands tighter, and they both look at me a out a bright smile, seeing that, I smile bad tinue walking while thinking, 'And this shitty trial 't do anything to stop us...' and the oppressive atmosphere caused by the whispers disappears pletely.

  Odyin