They met in a long-forgotten briefing hall beneath the central tower of the Hunter Association.
An elite room.
No cameras.
No windows.
Only silence — and stakes that could reshape the world.
Kaen sat with Killua, Leorio, and Kurapika. Their journey through Echo Vale had earned them whispers of respect from veterans — but this was different.
Here sat Hunters with names etched into history:
• Kite, his cold stare softened only by his purpose.
• Knuckle, cracking his knuckles with a grin.
• Morel, dragging in smoke that curled like stories left untold.
• And Chairman Cheadle herself, fixing Kaen with a gaze like a scalpel.
"We have a problem," she said, tossing a file across the table.
Kaen opened it.
Photos. Maps. Victims. All smeared in black ink, like reality itself was trying to censor what was inside.
Kurapika's voice broke the silence.
"This… isn't just a beast."
"This is premeditated."
⸻
The New Threat: Project Labyrinth
Deep within a series of uncharted tunnels between Meteor City and the edges of the NGL, satellite Nen sensors had picked up dimensional fluctuations — the kind that only come from world-bending nen.
Inside those tunnels:
• Hunters have gone missing.
• Nen is being rewritten.
• People are waking up with abilities they never trained.
It wasn't just a maze.
It was a living ecosystem of stolen and planted ideas.
"We call it Project Labyrinth," Cheadle said.
"And something inside is testing Nen on a global scale."
She looked at Kaen.
"We believe it's tied to the remnants of Gyro's experiments, or worse… a Chimera-born Nen engineer who doesn't believe in rules."
"We want you in the team. Because your Mind Palace can do more than survive this."
"You can understand it."
Kaen didn't hesitate.
"I accept."
Kurapika gripped the table. "This could break everything we know about Nen theory."
Killua grinned. "Or make it better."
⸻
The Descent Begins
The Hunter convoy rolled across the badlands of the NGL border. No more legal clearances. No more safe zones.
"Once we're in," Morel warned, "we go dark."
Kaen stood near the back, eyes closed.
Inside the Mind Palace, he opened a new wing:
"The Maze Wing."
This one wasn't filled with books or scrolls.
It was made of puzzles. Traps. Escape rooms built from paradox.
Kaen knew — this wasn't about fighting harder.
It was about navigating madness.
And learning from it.
⸻
They reached the first breach by dawn.
A crater the size of a stadium — carved in non-Euclidean spirals.
Light didn't fall straight in here.
Sound bent.
Nen pulsed like it was being reflected through someone else's thoughts.
"Activate auras," Kite barked.
"We're going in."
Kaen stepped across the threshold — and the world shuddered.
Everything blurred.
His teammates vanished.
⸻
The Labyrinth's First Trial: Echoes of the Self
Kaen found himself in a corridor where each wall bore reflections of himself.
But they weren't mirrors.
They were possibilities.
Versions of Kaen with different choices:
• One who never left Whale Island.
• One who joined the Phantom Troupe.
• One who became a manipulator obsessed with control.
And all of them were hostile.
"Imposter test," Kaen muttered.
"Classic mental maze trap."
The reflections moved.
Their Nen pulsed in harmony — a chorus of false Kaens, each wielding distorted versions of the Mind Palace:
• One summoned nightmares instead of constructs.
• Another had turned the Palace into a prison.
• A third wielded a giant eraser of memory.
"This isn't a test of strength," Kaen whispered.
"This is about identity."
He raised his hand.
"Mind Palace: Sub-Temple – The Oath Archive."
A symbol appeared on his chest — the original oath that built his power:
"I do not steal. I understand. I imagine. I build."
The false Kaens paused.
CRACK.
Reality peeled away.
Kaen surged forward — dodging, countering, absorbing patterns as he struck.
Each blow he landed didn't just destroy his reflection…
It rewrote the data of that possibility into his Manuscript.
By the end of the trial, he'd earned two new potential constructs:
1. Echo Clone – Dream Residue:
Creates a short-lived afterimage of himself based on recent decisions, useful for decoys or confusing precognition users.
2. Wall of Origin – Mind Mirror Barrier:
A temporary barrier that reflects Nen abilities only if Kaen understands their intent and structure.
⸻
Kaen emerged from the first chamber of the Labyrinth…
…to find the others beginning to regroup.
Killua was bleeding, but laughing.
"You fight yourself too?" he asked.
Kaen nodded. "Always."
Morel exhaled smoke, forming it into a shield. "That was the maze saying hello."
Cheadle's voice crackled through their headsets:
"Welcome to Project Labyrinth."
"This isn't an assignment."
"It's a war for the future of Nen itself."
⸻
TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 22 – The Forbidden Nen Architect Appears!