Lost in the Labyrinth (Part One)

Ling Ying glanced at the steaming cup of tea on the table, but had no desire to touch it. It had been sitting there for several minutes, and the person who had served it to her had been gone just as long. The teacher who had said he needed to speak with her had casually asked a few things about her, as if they were making small talk, then said he had an urgent matter to attend to and left the office. Before leaving, he had asked her to wait a moment, so Ling Ying had waited. A minute later, she heard the door behind her open, but the person who entered wasn't the middle-aged instructor. Instead, it was a young man who looked rather dashing.

"Hello, Cecilia Iliana. It's nice to meet you properly. I'm Oliver Anderson. Oh, and this is a gift I prepared for our meeting. I hope you like it."

The young man bowed slightly to Ling Ying, then... pulled a huge bouquet of roses adorned with crystals and glitter from behind his back.

If Ling Ying had felt even a little curious about him at first, the sight of that bouquet made her face go dark at once. Well, now she remembered the name Oliver Anderson. It was the name that always appeared on the love letters that showed up outside her dorm every day. But ever since she'd opened the first one out of curiosity and nearly thrown up at the cheesy pickup lines covering every page, the letters had all met the same fate in the trash. Ling Ying was convinced that if every Void Creature was anything like her, this guy was one of Valoran's greatest contributors to the fight against the Void.

"Ah, as expected of you, Cecilia. Even the way you frown is utterly enchanting."

"Stop making me sick."

Ling Ying gave him a plainly disgusted look.

"Where's that teacher? Where is he? I didn't come here to pour my heart out to some smooth-talking idiot."

"Oh, him? He won't be coming back. More precisely, he won't be back until we've finished this very meaningful meeting."

"Heh. So having money really does let you do whatever you want. You can even order teachers around."

"Sorry, but in Piltover, having money and influence really does let you do whatever you want."

Oliver pushed up his non-prescription glasses.

"That's what I used to think, before I met you, Cecilia. But I realized that neither my status nor my wealth could make you give me a second glance. Then it hit me: you must be waiting for true, pure love! Ah! I know! I read about this in a novel. Girls like you need a boy to keep showering them with love before they'll be moved. I've never pursued a girl this way before, but that's fine. I love a challenge!"

Ling Ying watched the self-absorbed idiot, her fists clenched tight. She really wanted to punch him and shut that foul mouth. But she reconsidered and let the idea go. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to control her strength and would crack his skull with one punch. Would she then have to trouble Caitlyn to give her another identity and dye her hair a different color, too?

"Think whatever you want. I have things to do, so I'm leaving."

Determined to stop wasting time on him, Ling Ying got up and strode out the door. Oliver wanted to stop her, but the huge bouquet in his hands was rather cumbersome. By the time he reacted, Ling Ying had already marched out into the hallway.

"Ah, Cecilia, wait for me!"

Oliver hurried after her, following behind as she strode through the empty stairwell—

"Ah! Cecilia, you're testing me. I know, I know. The novels say that girls act aloof to find out what boys are really like. Only someone who keeps pursuing them with a sincere heart can win them over..."

Oliver suddenly stopped talking when he noticed Ling Ying had come to a halt. At first, he was puzzled, then his face lit up with joy.

"Cecilia? Have you finally been moved by my sincerity and decided to bare your heart to me—"

"Shut up."

Ling Ying cut him off coldly, then asked a completely unrelated question.

"How many floors does this building have?"

"Huh?"

Oliver blinked.

"Is this some kind of love test?"

"If you say one more word, I really will punch you."

"Uh, all right, all right. The building has five floors. We just came down from the third. Why—"

Oliver's words came to an abrupt stop. He seemed to realize something was wrong and looked up the stairs. He hadn't paid attention to the floors while following Ling Ying, but judging by how it felt, they should have climbed at least seven or eight flights of stairs.

"The third floor, but I've walked down twenty flights of stairs."

Ling Ying peered down through the stairwell. The ground still seemed several floors away... No. Ling Ying narrowed her eyes slightly. She immediately noticed the surroundings, which had seemed normal just moments earlier, were suddenly distorting. The space around them rapidly lost its color. Ling Ying calmly watched as it changed. Oliver, however, was already trembling.

"W—what the hell is going on? Damn it, I'm going to ask that old man what this is about."

Muttering to himself, Oliver hurried to a nearby door and reached for the handle. As far as he remembered, the Head Teacher's office should have been there, but—

"Don't!"

Ling Ying reacted instantly and shoved Oliver out of the way, but the door had already begun to open. On the other side of it, a huge, blood-red demonic eye suddenly opened, then fired a straight beam directly ahead. The dark red ray was incredibly powerful, instantly destroying and melting the walls of the hallway. Fortunately, Ling Ying had already moved to safety. She immediately kicked the door shut.

The world fell silent again. That flimsy-looking door had somehow nullified the beam from the demonic eye. Ling Ying gazed thoughtfully at the wall, which was still melting where it had been struck. Then a chuckle, like a demon's whisper, suddenly reached her ears.

"Hehehe. Welcome to hell, you vile sinners!"

The laughter seemed to come from near and far, but Ling Ying couldn't see its source anywhere.

"Hehehe. Don't bother looking. This is my domain. I could be anywhere in it, or I could be everywhere at once. Ah, if you're curious, go ahead and open another door like you did just now. I guarantee there'll be even more surprises waiting for you."

"So what? You've trapped us here. What do you want?"

Ling Ying didn't look frightened, even though the situation was far stranger than she'd expected. Hell? She didn't think so. This seemed more like another dimension created by some kind of spatial magic. She was curious who at the academy would use this kind of magic to attack her. The voice had called her a sinner. Did it know about her blood-soaked past?

"What do I want?"

The whisper paused, and Ling Ying seemed to sense a flicker of emotion in the voice, which had been carefully concealed until now.

"Of course I want to finish off you two vile sinners! You both deserve to die!"

"Both of us?"

Ling Ying gave a slight start and looked at Oliver, who was still trembling beside her. She didn't find it strange if the voice meant her alone. She had never denied that she was a demon. But that guy... Aside from being a playboy who'd led plenty of young women on, he... did seem pretty sinful. But why would that make some wielder of supernatural powers hate him so much? Was the being behind this space some kind of champion of justice and women's rights?

"Enough chitchat. Now let me enjoy watching you struggle before you die. I'm sure it'll be a delightful sight."

The whisper vanished, replaced by the clear chime of a bell. Ling Ying remembered that the Bell Tower's electronic clock was used to signal lunch breaks and the end of classes. But in this strange space, the bell might mean something else entirely. Ling Ying warily watched her surroundings, then seemed to hear a rush of footsteps coming from the stairwell.

"Hey, I was thinking we could go grab a couple of drinks after class today. I heard a new tavern opened on Morvill Street."

"Sounds good. It's been half a month since I had a drink. I've been missing it."

Two teachers carrying a huge stack of papers came up the stairs, chatting and laughing. They acted as if they couldn't see Ling Ying and Oliver, walked right past them, then vanished around the turn in the stairs above.

"What is this...?"

Oliver looked tense. The smooth talker had started to stammer. Ling Ying turned her gaze away from the stairs and looked at the playboy.

"They're probably illusions."

"Illusions?"

Oliver's eyes widened. Clearly, what Ling Ying had said was beyond his comprehension.

"They're meant to confuse us. The owner of this space is clever. It knows that mixing reality with illusions puts more pressure on the mind. So if you want to survive, stay with me. Listen less, look less, and, above all, don't touch anything in this space like you just did. Understand?"

"I-I-I understand..."

Perhaps Ling Ying's stern demeanor was too imposing. Oliver stammered for a while before finally nodding.

"Then get up. Let's try going upstairs."

Ling Ying stepped onto the stairs leading up. The door she had kicked shut suddenly opened from the inside. A plump, middle-aged man with a rapidly receding hairline stepped out. He looked at Ling Ying and Oliver in the hallway with a puzzled expression.

"Hm? Oliver, Cecilia, what are you doing here? Is something the matter?"

"Tea—"

Oliver instinctively started to answer, then suddenly remembered what Ling Ying had just told him and quickly clapped a hand over his mouth. Without a word, Ling Ying pulled Doran's Blade from her Storage Bag. Purple flames flashed as she thrust the sword into the "Head Teacher's" chest.

"Graaah!"

The "Head Teacher" let out a strange howl. His body rapidly swelled and changed, then finally burst into a mass of black sludge and vanished beneath Ling Ying's Void Flames.

"Now we know. Anything that tries to interact with us is real."

Ling Ying flicked the blade and spoke calmly toward the empty space ahead. A moment later, a voice rang out, seething with anger.

"Don't get cocky. You'll never escape this place. I'll wait until you're desperate. I hope your faces look good when that time comes."

The threat was clear, but Ling Ying remained calm. If all it had were tricks like these, making her despair would be difficult. Still, curious about this so-called Desperate Situation, this other dimension, she decided not to turn the tables just yet. She would play along with its script for now. She had plenty of time.

"C-Cecilia... You... He..."

Oliver pointed at Ling Ying with a trembling finger, his mouth gaping so wide it looked like it could fit a volleyball. It wasn't his fault. As an ordinary person, he'd seen far too many things beyond his understanding today. The fact that he'd managed to stay conscious was already far better than Ling Ying had expected. But that brought up a problem: he'd seen every one of her real abilities, and she obviously couldn't let an outsider know about them.

"Looks like we need to clear a few things up..."

Ling Ying sheathed her sword, then reached up and removed the light red Cosmetic Contact Lenses she wore as a disguise. A pair of dark purple slit pupils appeared beneath them. Oliver froze for a moment, then cried out,

"Ah! Don't eat me! Please don't eat me!"

"Tch."

Ling Ying clicked her tongue in disdain, then strode over and grabbed him by the collar.

"Listen. I'm only going to say this once."

Her voice was as cold as ice.

"Forget everything that happened in front of you today about me. All of it, no matter what it was. Otherwise, you'll die here and now. Do you understand?"

"Huh? A-aah... Please don't kill me... Don't..."

"Do you understand?!"

"Aah... I-I understand."

"Good."

Ling Ying let go of Oliver's collar. She felt that if she kept up this intimidating act much longer, he might wet himself.

"Remember what I just told you. We're going upstairs now. If that thing wants to play, I'll play along for a while."