Songs in the Void: A Multiversal Score

{A/N: A lot more people let me know how much they like this book than I expected. So, I'll try my best to keep publishing chapters at a steady pace. But someone did bring up a good point. The name of my book doesn't tell anyone what it's about. But I can't think of a better one. So, if anyone has an idea, put it in a comment. And I'll pick the one I think sounds the best.}

Arifureta Universe, Tortus, Reisen Gorge.

{[Dimensional Chat]

James: Seriously, I need to get away from this mother fucker before I kill him on impulse.

Sumire: What happened?

Tatsuo (Admin): It can't be that bad, can it?

James: Oh, it's worse

James: So, I told you all about the Hoelscher Empire coming to see the "Heroes," right?

Tatsuo (Admin): Yeah

Sumire: That's right

Sumire: You didn't tell us anything after that, though

James: Yeah, that's because I've been dealing with that dumbass, Amanogawa since then

Tatsuo (Admin): Seriously, what happened?

Sumire: Stop with the suspense

James: Okay, okay

James: So, after the envoys from Hoelscher showed up...}

That night, while waiting for Aletia and Sumire to return to the collapsable house, Tatsuo and Sumire decided to see how James was doing, leading to the conversation above. And as they read James' explanation of how the Hoelscher Empire's visit went, they could not help starting to laugh at his misfortune.

{[Dimensional Chat]

Tatsuo (Admin): Wait... Wait... So, you're telling me that because you told Amanogawa that you like Yaegashi, he's sticking to her all the time now?

Tatsuo (Admin): On top of that, he's constantly telling her how you're the worst kind of person alive?

James: More or less

James: He even gets up extra early now

James: Puttig himself between us when we're training together

James: That way we can't be alone, or close to each other, for any reason

Sumire: Is he stupid

Sumire: Never mind

Tatsuo (Admin): Yeah, you already knew the answer to that question

Sumire: Anyway, how is Yaegashi-San dealing with it

James: She spends a lot of time rubbing that little wrinkle on her forehead

James: I kinda feel bad for her

James: But she's really cute when she's troubled

Tatsuo (Admin): You sound like a real sadist

James: I blame Master and Ayame

James: Master is the perfect example of a sadist

James: And I have to try to be sadistic from time to time when I deal with Ayame

Tatsuo (Admin): Ayame? From Gintama?

Sumire: Oh, I've heard of that one!

James: Yeah

Tatsuo (Admin): I knew your world was one with crossovers like mine, but you never mentioned that Gintama was part of it

Tatsuo (Admin): Actually, you never really named most of the members of your peerages...

James: You can meet them whenever you come to visit

Tatsuo (Admin): Probably during Winter Break, then

Sumire: I'll come then, too

Sumire: Aletia-San will probably wanna come, too

James: Nice

James: I'm sure Master wouldn't mind training all of you}

When Tatsuo and Sumire read that, they both shivered in terror. However, before they could return to their conversation, they heard Aletia and Shea returning. So, they both quickly said by to James before putting their smartphones away.

"We're back." Aletia said in her usual emotionless tone after she and Shea entered the collapsable house.

"Yeah! So, let's go explore the Labyrinth!" Shea said excitedly.

"Nope." Tatsuo replied nonchalantly. "We'll go tomorrow."

"But why~~~~?" Shea asked in a whiny tone.

Tatsuo did not reply immediately. Instead, he gestured for Shea to come closer. Though a bit apprehensive, Shea stepped closer to where Tatsuo sat. When she was close enough, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to sit in his lap, which caused Aletia to click her tongue in envy.

Once Shea was in his lap, Tatsuo started patting her head, gently rubbing the base of her ears with his thumb and index finger, causing Shea to stiffen for a moment before she all but melted under his touch.

"Listen, Shea." Tatsuo said in a soothing tone. "I know you want to show everyone that you belong with us. But being hasty will be counterproductive. Even if you don't feel like it, we've been searching for a few days and it's late. So, it's best to get some rest and go into the dangerous situation is a Labyrinth fully rested."

"Tatsuo-Kun is right." Sumire added in a gentle tone as she sat next to Tatsuo and started patting Shea's head, as well. "Rushing into things is more likely to go wrong than not."

In response, Shea nodded her head while entrusting her whole weight to Tatsuo. With Tatsuo's and Sumire's words and gentle physical contact calming her anxiety by quite a bit.

Meanwhile, Aletia, though she seemed envious, had no intention of breaking the mood. Despite not admitting it to anyone, Sumire's words about Tatsuo finding her annoying got to her. And the last thing she wanted was to be left behind.

Seeing Aletia standing off to the side, Tatsuo gestured for her to sit next to him with is free hand. And when she did, her emotionless expression softened a bit when Tatsuo wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into his embrace.

Like that, the rest of the night passed peacefully with only the sound of the monsters roaming through the Reisen Gorge serving as background music. And the morning seemed to arrive as slowly as possible, allowing those in the collapsable house to get the rest they would need for their exploration of the Reisen Great Labyrinth.

The following morning, the quartet of Labyrinth Explorers were once again standing in the small cave concealed by the boulder. And they were all looking at the engraved sign with the writing that was presumably inscribed by Miledi Reisen.

"For some reason, I'm really not looking forward to going inside now." Shea muttered while shivering as she read the sign over and over again.

'If you only knew the half of it.' Tatsuo thought to himself. "Miledi is the definition of a troll. But you have it bettern than most, as you specialize in [Body Strengthening Magic]. Aletia is going to be at an extreme disadvantage in there. But since she's so talented in the use of magic, she'll be fine. At least, she was in the canon, anyway.'

"Alright, before we go inside, Aletia, take these." Tatsuo said as he took a backpack containing a few gallons of water and nozzles that could be affixed to someone's arms from his [Inventory]. "You should be able to cast magic easier if you don't have to produce the element, right? Well, here's all the water you could need... I hope."

"Hnn." Aletia replied with a nod as she raised her arms.

Smiling wryly, Tatsuo, understanding what Aletia wanted, helped her wear the backpack and fasten the nozzles to her wrists. And once the back pack and nozzles were fastened, Aletia tried moving around to see how much the added weight would slow her down. Then, when she was satisfied, she nodded once again.

"Alright, then we're ready to go." Tatsuo said with a nod of his own.

"Good! Then let's go." Shea exclaimed excitedly as she skipped forward with her hammer resting on her shoulder and pressed a spot on the wall with her free hand.

The spot Shea pressed had, only a few minutes ago, been identified as the mechanism that would open the entrance to the Labyrinth. And it did just that as soon as Shea pressed it. However, instead of the wall sliding open, the wall and a portion of the floor spun in place, taking Shea with it into the Labyrinth.

"It's like a door in a ninja's house." Sumire muttered absent-mindedly while staring at the rotating wall.

"*Sigh* I guess she was still too excited." Tatsuo said while shaking his head.

"Um... We should probably follow her inside, right?" Sumire asked after shaking her head to rid herself of the door mechanisms similarity to one found in a ninja compound with a hint of worry in her tone.

"I guess we should." Tatsuo replied as he stepped forward.

Before pressing the same spot on the wall that Shea pressed before she was pulled into the Labyrinth, Tatsuo looked back to make sure that Sumire and Aletia followed behind him. Then, when he noticed they were in range of the turning wall, he pressed the wall, causing the wall to spin once again.

Arifureta Universe, Tortus, Reisen Great Labyrinth.

*Swoosh!* *Swoosh!* *Swoosh!* *Swoosh!* *Swoosh!* *Swoosh!*

Once inside the Labyrinth, Tatsuo's night vision kicked in automatically. And it was just in time for him to see around two dozen arrows painted black so that they would not reflect any light flying through the completely dark room the group found themselves in with himself, Sumire, and Aletia set as the targets.

*Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!*

Before Tatsuo could do anything to intercept the incoming arrows, Sumire stepped forward with her shield.

"The magic suppression is even worse in here than in the gorge." Tatsuo commented nonchalantly, certain that Sumire would have no problems blocking all the incoming projectiles."

"The rabbit isn't there." Aletia said while pointing at the wall the trio just entered through and nodding her head to agree with Tatsuo's observation.

Looking back, both Tatsuo and Sumire noticed that the wall behind them was clear, no signs of anyone standing in front of it. At the same time, Tatsuo caught sight of a small lithograph standing just to the side of the wall. And when he saw what was written on it, he could not help smiling awkwardly while reading the words out loud.

"Hey, did you get scared? Did this scare you? Then you're a kid. Nya! Nya!" Tatsuo said, reading the words that were written in the same handwriting as the sign outside. "Or… Were you injured? Did someone die? Bufufufu!"

"Huh? What's that?" Sumire asked curiously.

In response, Tatsuo only pointed at the lithograph, directing Sumire and Aletia's attention towards it.

"I guess that means Shea-San was attacked by that same trap, huh?" Sumire asked while shaking her head. "She's not gonna like that."

"Anyway, let's activate the door again." Tatsuo said. "Hopefully, Shea is still in front of it."

In response, both Sumire and Aletia nodded as the latter found the mechanism that would activate the door from this side.

A moment later, the door spun once again, Tatsuo, Sumire, and Aletia making sure to step away so that they would not be sent outside. And when the door finally turned around once again, Tatsuo and Sumire could not help shaking their heads once again while Aletia stifled a small laugh.

"Somebody, please help me." Shea, pinned to the wall by two dozen arrows, said while sniffling in fear with her body and ears contorted in strange ways so that only her clothing was pierced by the arrows.

"Well, at least we can say she has good instincts." Tatsuo said with a small smile.

"We can talk about that later." Sumire said as she stepped forward to help Shea. "for now, let's just get her off of the wall. And Tatsuo-Kun, you should take a set of clothes out of your [Inventory] for her. She still doesn't have a spatial ring, yet."

"Got it." Tatsuo said as he turned around before materializing a new set of clothes for Shea. "I definitely need to make aspatial ring for her and some custom armor, too."

With that, Tatsuo looked around the room they found themselves in while Sumire and, surprisingly, Aletia helped Shea. As he did, he noticed they were in a square room of about thirty square feet with a corridor that led out of the room and into the next one.

'I guess the starting position is always the same.' Tatsuo thought to himself while comparing what he was seeing to his memory of the novel. 'Well, as long as we don't' take too long to handle this, we won't have to worry about going through the labyrinth too many times… I hope.'

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

However, before he could think about it for too long, Tatsuo was pulled from his musings when he heard the sound of something being smashed over and over again by something heavy. And it did not take much thought for him to understand what it was.

Turning around, Tatsuo could only smile wryly once again when he saw Shea using her hammer to smash the lithograph with Miledi Reisen's hand writing with enough force to shake the entire room.

However, before Shea could bask in the satisfaction of the destruction she just wrought, the floor under the now demolished lithograph lit up before new words appeared on the floor.

"Sorry~~~! This lithograph will be prepared after some time. Fufufu!" The words on the floor spelled out.

Though Shea's eyes could not be seen due to her bangs hanging in front of them, it did not take a genius to understand that she was furious.

"Okay, let's not think about it. Tatsuo said as he approached Shea from behind and wrapped her in a hug while patting her head between her ears. "Let's just think of showing her up by completing her labyrinth, okay?"

Although it took a few moments, Shea eventually calmed down. Then, she nodded her head in agreement. A moment later, however, she flushed red after realizing that Tatsuo was hugging her. Then, her expression morphed into a goofy smile.

After a few more moments, the group finally started moving towards the exit of the room. When they arrived in the next room, all they could see were a number of staircases that started and ended at random places on the walls, floor, and ceiling.

"*Sigh* It takes a special kind of person to come up with something like this." Shea muttered while looking at he chaos in front of her.

"Lunatic." Aletia said, explaining her opinion of Miledi Reisen in one word.

Nodding his head in agreement, Tatsuo used a facet of [Space Manipulation] to leave a spatial mark on the entrance to the room. And because he was applying the spatial marker directly to the wall, he managed to bypass the magic suppression.

'Good, that worked.' Tatsuo thought to himself after pulling his hand away from the wall. 'Now, the only thing left to try is connecting to it and [Blinking] to its location. Then, I should be able to use it like one of Minato's kunai with the [Flying Thunder God Seal]'

As that thought ran through Tatsuo's mind, he started circulating his [Energy]. And he immediately noticed that he would need significantly more [Energy] to activate [Blink] than usual. Even so, he continued to elevate his [Energy] output until he felt the spell was on the verge of activating.

'About seven times the usual.' Tatsuo thought to himself. 'And that will definitely go up by a lot if I try to bring the others with me. But as long as I circulate my [Energy] through my heart with [Mana Reactor], I'll be able to replenish my [Energy] fast enough.'

"Alright, let's go." Tatsuo said after finishing his experiment. "But be careful. I doubt that trap in the last room was the last one."

"Yeah, I bet there all over the place." Sumire replied with a nod. "So, everyone needs to make sure they watch there steps."

In response, Aletia did not say anything or change her expression. The glint in her eyes, however, made it obvious that she was taking this exploration very seriously. Shea, on the other hand, put on an expression that let everyone know she would do her best to be useful. Especially since she was the only one who used [Body Enhancement Magic] in the party.

Even so, the fact that she was still not as physically strong as either Tatsuo or Sumire even when using her [Body Enhancement Magic] made Shea feel a little depressed.

*Click!*

And because she let her mind wander, Shea was not paying attention. As a result, she stepped onto a brick making up the floor of the room they were in and it sank under her weight.

"Huh?" Shea exclaimed in confusion after feeling the way her footing changed.

"*Buzz!*

"Get out of the way!" Tatsuo shouted.

Naturally, the brick Shea stepped on triggered a trap. And this trap released spinning blades from the walls on either side of the room. One set at the height of Tatsuo's waist while the other was set as neck level.

Luckily, everyone in the party had exceptional reflexes. So, they were all able to avoid the spinning blades of death with Aletia taking advantage of her short height and simply ducking under the lower of the blades. Shea, on the other hand took advantage of her strong legs and jumped over the higher of the blades.

Like Aletia, Sumire simply lowered herself under the lower of the blades. But when it came to Tatsuo, things got a little flashy. Like Shea, he also jumped to avoid the blades. However, instead of leaping over both blades, he jumped high enough to clear the lower of the blades with his body parallel to the floor and passed between the two blades.

"Now, you're just showing off." Sumire said while shaking her head.

"That was so cool!" Shea cheered excitedly. "I'll try that next--- Kya!"

Before Shea could finish, Tatsuo grabbed her by the back of her collar and yanked her backwards while Sumire and Aletia leapt back towards the entrance of the room. Meanwhile, Tatsuo took a step forward and made a quarter turn.

*Buzz!*

In the next instant, three more spinning blades fell from the ceiling, Tatsuo's quarter turn allowing him to slip between the nearest two. As for the others, Shea was saved when Tatsuo yanked her back while Sumire and Aletia were able to get to safety on their own.

"These traps are about as bad as the obstacle courses DOATEC put me through during that hellish training." Tatsuo muttered to himself as the falling blades sank into the floor without damaging the room.

"Tatsuo-Kun, are you okay?" Sumire asked, though she was confident that her concern was unnecessary.

"Yeah, I'm good." Tatsuo replied with an easygoing shrug. "I've been through worse. Anyway, let's get going. I wanna get out of here as quickly as possible."

With that, Tatsuo stepped forward, prepared to deal with any traps he came across. Unfortunately, he could not remember all the traps mentioned in the novel. But he knew that whenever he made it to a room with a bunch of armors lined up along a long corridor, he would be near the end of the Labyrinth.