A few minutes prior to Vira’s arrival on the secret floor.

[1 minute and 11 seconds left.]

Mika, Belian and Sara gathered up after they found themselves in the face of even more wrapped-up monsters.

When Mika opened his mouth, the other two turned their faces to him.

"Can you leave the smaller one to me? I want to try something." Mika stated sternly.

"Are you crazy?!" Sara yelled.

But Belian reacted differently.

"I understand. We will try to distract as many of them as possible." he said calmly, putting his entire trust in Mika.

"Huh?!"

Sara shifted her stunned gaze to Belian.

"Thanks."

Then, Mika distanced himself from the two, spread his wings and headed over to the real floor boss.

"I thought that Mika was crazy but you are not far behind him..." Sara sighed.

Belian smirked faintly.

"Don’t let your guard down." he stated relaxed as he, too, went in another direction from Sara.

"I know that, okay?"

The two split up and each took on the monsters in their sights.

[So what is your strategy this time?]

"I was just wondering... What if there’s again a person behind that facade?" Mika pondered as he was flying in the sky.

[What do you mean by that?]

"In the case of Shira, we all thought of Shira as a dangerous monster, however, what if that thing there suffers from the same fate as Shira and is just a monster-turned-human?"

Mika came to that conclusion because both of them were labeled as semi-transcendental beings.

[I see. Your words sound reasonable, however, I advise you to still be cautious.]

"Sure."

Following that, Mika quickly flew down and landed in front of the floor boss.

Excalibur appeared in his hand.

[1 minute and 3 seconds left.]

The monster in front of him also prepared itself as bandages shot up from the ground and moved in a snake-like manner with their ends pointing at Mika.

[10 seconds until the effect of Time Manipulation wears off.]

Mika began to rush at it.

But monsters were still in the way so he slashed them apart to make a way. Still, there were so many of them that Mika could not really make good use of Time Manipulation on the actual floor boss.

[3.]

Finally, he reached the boss, leaving behind a big trail of monster corpses but the floor boss was obviously on guard.

Despite the time being slowed down for others, the floor boss still reacted barely to Mika and jumped to the back, while the bandages slowly attempted to pierce Mika.

"Argh...!" Mika groaned silently.

[1.]

He had no time to block or cut through the bandages and decided to let himself get hit. As long as he could touch the boss, he did not care how injured he was.

[0.]

And even though it was just the tip that was barely touching it, contact was successfully created.

At that moment, the true body of the floor boss was revealed, albeit for a short time only as bandages began to wrap around the body again.

But due to the contact with Excalibur, the floor boss’ abilities were negated in that split second, causing all monsters on the floor to disappear in an instant.

"Huh, what happened...?" Sara wondered.

She was bleeding on her head and had bruises all over her body as she exhaustedly looked over to Mika after she witnessed how all monsters dispersed.

Belian did the same.

All three of them saw the appearance of a young boy. He was tanned and had short black hair and brown eyes. His body was frail, almost as if he was starving for a long period.

"..."

Although the silhouette of the wrapped-up floor boss hinted at a child, Mika did not want to believe that there was an actual child behind those bandages.

Mika was stunned and did not do anything aside from staring at the boy.

But it was due to his carelessness that he did not react quickly when the boy turned back to his other appearance and punched Mika.

Mika was slammed to the sandy ground, causing a great sand explosion.

"Ugh!"

Sara and Belian covered their faces with their arms to avoid getting sand there.

Only when the sandy dust slowly started to disperse, the two hurried over to Mika in an attempt to help him.

"Belian, look!"

Again, the floor boss summoned both monsters from the ground and bandages, which balled up their ends. Those bandages hammered down on Mika like fists.

"Tch!" Belian clicked his tongue.

He gripped his sword tightly and struck down one enemy after the other.

"Uwah!" Sara shrieked.

"!"

While they were fighting their way to Mika, some bandages wrapped themselves around some body parts and raised the two up in the air.

"Keh...!"

In the air, the two were basically helpless and were the target of further bandages.

"Hrngh...!"

But unlike the other attempts, this time, the monster did not waste any time and quickly tried to choke the two to death.

More and more dust kept getting kicked up as the fist-like bandages hit Mika.

[39 seconds left.]

However, it was at that moment when Mika appeared in front of the floor boss again with Excalibur against its neck, causing everything to get nullified.

As a result, Belian and Sara fell down and the monsters disappeared once more.

"..."

Blood dripped down on the ground beneath the stern and calm-looking Mika, who could barely stand and see.

With fierce and half-open eyes he stared at the young boy, whose eyes seemed like they were dead.

And because Excalibur was pressing against his small neck without cutting into it, the appearance of the boy remained that of a young boy and his abilities were sealed off for the time being.

"Can you understand my words...?" Mika asked with a weakened voice.

"..."

However, the boy did not respond.

"Hey...!"

Mika did not have much time left. Only half a minute was left for him to have a talk with the boy until Excalibur and Mika turned back to their other state.

Therefore, even though he had to be a little bit more aggressive and violent, Mika shook his shoulder with his free hand.

And yet, the boy did not react.

"What’s going on...?!" Mika muttered, slowly getting desperate.

From afar, Belian and Sara were rushing over.

[Maybe we are too late.]

"Too late...?"

[Unlike Shira, this young boy sadly got completely swallowed up by his relic.]

"H-hey... What do you mean by that...? Speak clearly...!" he raised his voice even though his lungs were stinging.

[20 seconds left.]

"Talk to me, system! Or at least tell me, what we can do!"

[The only thing we can do is to put the boy out of his demise.]

Mika’s posture slumped down and his eyes had a tint of grief in them.

"This is no time for jokes..." he murmured monotonously.

[I am not-]

"Is there no other way?!"

[No.]

"..."

Mika bit his lips so strongly that they bled.

[This is the best for him.] 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"I-I can’t... He’s... He’s a child!"

[Kill him.]

Then, Mika’s hair slowly changed back to black. The halo above his head disappeared and his eyes also reverted to its original color.

He wore a sad smile as he looked down on the ground.

[What are you doing?]

"You’re too cruel... As if I could kill a child..." Mika replied quietly with a shaking voice.

As Excalibur also turned back to its other form, Mika moved it away from the boy’s neck.

"Mika!"

His other two friends were calling out to him from behind as they almost reached him.

Apologetically, Mika turned his smiling face to them.

"I’m sorry, guys. But I think we’re doomed." Mika admitted.

Behind him, the boy was about to get wrapped up in bandages again.

Sara and Belian stopped in their tracks and nervously looked behind Mika.

It was their chance to win, however, Mika would rather get killed than kill a child. And even if his friends had to suffer from his decision, he would still do it.

"This may be selfish of me but can you help me get my friends somewhere safe?" Mika whispered to the system.

[...]

The system did not reply right away.

[There is no need for that. The outcome will not change no matter what you would have done. Consider yourself lucky this time.]

"Huh?"

Mika’s heart stopped when he understood the meaning behind the system’s words.

Quickly, Mika turned around to the boy, who was halfway done with his transformation.

But as blood got splattered into his eyes, Mika was spared the brutal and gruesome sight of the young boy getting crushed until nothing remained of him. Still, he was not spared from the sound of a body getting crushed.

"Umpf!" Sara pressed her hands against her mouth as she was holding back her urge to puke on the spot.

"..."

Belian, however, only stood there flabbergasted with wide-open eyes and a dropped jaw.

"H-huh...?"

Mika, who opened his eyes, looked at the vast spot in front of him, where the young boy should have been.

But there was nothing aside from sand and drops of blood.

"So you’re the wielder of Excalibur, huh...? Well, thanks to you, I was able to deal with that thing easily."

Vira, who was in the air with bat-like wings, descended slowly.