> Tower Time Resumed. Synchronization Complete.
Floor 11 Initiated: [The Clockwork Labyrinth]
Difficulty: Advanced Tactical | Time Limit: 90 minutes | Environment: Temporal Distortion Zone
The hum of machinery replaced the wail of sirens. The ruined chapel, the boy, the world he'd just left — all were gone.
In their place stretched an impossible corridor of spinning gears, silver lattices, and flickering temporal sparks. The ground beneath SeTa's boots ticked softly, as though time itself was being measured with every step.
Zuvanox blinked into existence beside him, growling at the scent of something unnatural. Mordain arrived a beat later, his halberd already drawn, scanning with soldier's instinct.
> "Floor 11 tests cognitive acceleration and team reaction time. Failure to adapt results in permanent disassembly."
A soft chuckle escaped SeTa.
"Not even pretending anymore, huh?"
He stepped forward.
Within seconds, the corridor shifted — gears spinning violently, walls folding inward. Time fractured. A clone of SeTa lunged from the side, distorted and half-formed. Mordain intercepted, cleaving it cleanly in two.
"No time for hesitation," Mordain growled. "This space punishes thought."
Zuvanox unleashed a blast of shadow across the next bend. "No — it punishes delay. There's a difference."
> [Passive Skill: Void Tactic – Cognitive Slice]
Activated: All mental processes operating at 4.6x normal rate.
The hallway exploded into a multi-threaded web of moving walls and glass panels, each hiding projectile launchers or shifting blades.
SeTa didn't flinch. He moved — his mind parsing trajectories like code. One foot landed on a narrow cog. His shadow reached out like a snake, disabling a trigger before it could fire. He grabbed a pendulum-shaped device mid-swing and flung it backward, activating a magnetic gate with precision.
His voice cut through the mechanical din.
"Mordain — three degrees northwest. Disable that node."
"Understood." The knight blinked forward, leaving echo-steps behind.
"Zuvanox. Darklight burst. Ten-second window. I'm going through the gate."
The Pi Yao flared brilliantly, a vortex of shadow-light disorienting the puzzle-lock as SeTa passed through. Behind him, gears ground out a frustrated whine.
---
15 Minutes Later
They stood before the Central Core, a massive rotating sphere of brass and crystal suspended above a field of anti-gravity. Dozens of drone-like constructs floated around it, reacting to sound, movement, heat.
> [Boss Encounter: The Auditor]
Objective: Prove your mind is more efficient than the system.
The Auditor's voice echoed in six languages at once:
> "Time is purpose. Purpose is production. You lack both. Commence elimination."
A countdown began.
SeTa smiled.
"Let's break its clock."
---
The battle began with silence.
SeTa didn't rush. He simply disappeared — bending behind shadow and time. The Auditor struck with beams of pure logic — mathematical paradoxes shaped as light. Each attack rewrote small rules of physics: gravity shifted, sound reversed, even time reversed one of Mordain's strikes.
But SeTa adapted. With every rule broken, he learned why it mattered.
> [Skill: Inception EX – Conceptual Override]
Trigger: Temporal contradiction detected…
Override Possible: "Causality Delay" Initiated.
SeTa bent sideways in time and reappeared behind the Auditor's shell. He whispered into its code.
"Delay the idea of your own destruction."
The orb hesitated. And in that infinitesimal moment of logical dissonance — Zuvanox struck.
His fangs bit through reality, snapping the floating core in half.
Silence returned.
> Boss Defeated: The Auditor
Reward: Cognitive Accelerator Token – Tier II
Skill Synergy Unlocked: Time-Adaptive Perception
---
Post-Battle
They stood atop the dismantled remains of the Core. Below, the floor reassembled slowly, like a wound knitting shut.
"Short. Brutal. Perfect," Mordain muttered.
"Worse is coming," SeTa replied.
He stared into the gear-laden sky. Somewhere above, Floors 12 to 15 awaited. His instincts whispered of a different trial — not mechanical, not logical.
Personal.
---
> [Floor 11 Cleared. Immediate Ascension in 10... 9... 8...]
As the countdown began, SeTa looked down at his palm. The burned mark of the Earth timer — now dormant — pulsed faintly.
He didn't miss home.
But he hadn't forgotten it, either.