Meanwhile...
At the exact moment Charlotte, inside the convalescent home's hospital room, resolutely gave Ms. Cecil the decision that would change her life...
Elias was wandering aimlessly through the midnight streets.
This was the first time since transmigrating into this hellish world that he felt so utterly lost and bewildered.
“What's wrong?”
Without any warning, Old Ed’s voice resurrected in his mind.
“Don't know how to face your sister?”
Old Ed had sharply poked his soft spot.
Elias stopped in his tracks, looked up at the night sky, and let out a long sigh.
“More than that,” he responded in his mind.
“But you sure picked a hell of a time to come back, you old geezer.”
“Choosing the exact moment my mood is at its worst to bring me bad luck, are you?”
“That's not it at all.”
Old Ed coughed twice, trying to save face.
“Actually, I wanted to reconnect while you were chatting with that investigator from the Seventh Agency.”
“But I saw the atmosphere was too serious and didn't want to interrupt your business.”
Elias didn't even bother to argue.
He completely ignored the old man's classic tactic of talking in circles.
“I really have no idea how to face Arthur,” Elias changed the subject, his tone full of misery.
“Given Lottie’s current state, there's no way Cecil is letting her go home tonight.”
“After all, she just experienced that level of awakening and loss of control.”
“Whether for her own health or the safety of the citizens of Hope County...”
“The Seventh Agency will definitely keep her for observation overnight.”
Elias stopped and looked at his reflection in a shop window.
“Tell me, how am I supposed to explain this to Arthur?”
Just as Old Ed was about to launch into some unreliable grand theory...
A familiar viscous sensation flooded all of Elias's senses like a rising tide.
“Dammit!”
Elias couldn't help but curse out loud.
This dream demon really knew how to hit him when he was down!
The sensory distortion, combined with the still-healing spiritual sting, made his knees buckle. He nearly knelt right there on the stone pavement.
“Isn't the cycle supposed to be once a day?!”
Why was this damn dream demon curse flaring up at random intervals now?
“I'm afraid it's because you're too far from Moon Bay,” Old Ed’s voice suddenly sounded incredibly distant.
“Plus, don't forget, it's past midnight.”
“According to natural time, it's already the next day,” Old Ed analyzed seriously.
“However, we can't rule out a worse possibility.”
“Which is that the frequency of the curse's activation might multiply the further you are from the source and the longer you stay away.”
In the few seconds it took for Old Ed to speak, the world before Elias’s eyes completely shattered.
The previously empty midnight street was suddenly crowded with pedestrians.
But they weren't normal humans.
Elias’s eyes widened in horror.
Every single one of the staggering 'pedestrians' on the street had taken on the appearance of the living corpse Finn.
Worst of all, hundreds of pairs of grey, lifeless eyes turned simultaneously to stare fixatedly at him.
The stone road beneath his feet began to vibrate.
Heads belonging to Luke—crushed into shape by Guss—began to push up from between the bricks like bamboo shoots!
They all tilted back their heads, offering Elias a hair-raising sneer.
“If that's the case...”
Elias bit his tongue hard, forcing a sliver of clarity back into his mind as it teetered on the edge of collapse.
“I can't stay here any longer.”
He made a decision in an instant, swift and decisive.
If it was as Old Ed hypothesized...
If the frequency of the curse increased exponentially the further he was from Moon Bay and the more time passed...
Then staying in Hope County for even one more day—or even a few more hours—would mean the danger would explode!
The most terrifying part was if the hallucinations became strong enough to completely block out his senses.
Would he do something extreme here?
That would be completely beyond his conscious control.
But this actually worked out perfectly!
Subjectively, he wanted to be a coward right now anyway.
He wanted to temporarily escape his sister and his older brother, who still knew nothing.
He would call it a tactical retreat.
Elias stumbled toward a passing carriage.
Of course, through his cursed vision...
It wasn't a normal wooden carriage at all.
It was an infernal carriage wreathed in flames.
The animal pulling it was a skeletal giant horse, its nostrils snorting pungent black sulfur smoke.
And the driver in the top hat had the face of the living corpse Finn.
The driver turned his head and gave him a grotesque smile.
“To Ash Street...”
Elias practically threw his entire body into the carriage, wheezing out the address.
Even though his logic told him the skeleton and the corpse-driver were hallucinations, he still felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.
That damn dream demon!
He wanted nothing more than to tear that thing apart with his bare hands and throw it into a deep fryer until it was golden brown!
Even if killing it wouldn't actually help lift the curse...
Elias swore right then and there!
As soon as he got back to Moon Bay...
The first thing he would do was play dumb!
He’d lure that bastard out and then use the most sinister and cruel methods to screw it over!
That beast!
It was taking things too far!
Even if he killed it just for pure venting!
He absolutely could not swallow this grievance!
Thinking back, the reason he’d let that dog of a creature bounce around on his head for so long was twofold.
First, it was because the thing was too good at hiding.
Second, it was because he’d run into too much crap lately.
He had been so suffocated by these high-intensity survival crises that he hadn't had time to deal with this annoying spirit hanging over his shoulder.
But after the agonizing, back-to-back torture he’d endured tonight...
Even in the midst of his busy schedule, Elias was going to find the time to wipe that damn thing out!
There was no room for negotiation!
“What do you plan to do?”
Old Ed sensed Elias’s murderous intent and asked tentatively in his mind.
“Hide tonight. Leave tomorrow.”
Elias’s answer was incredibly brief, laced with an unquestionable coldness.
Hearing Elias’s calm plan, Old Ed let out a long sigh.
“To be honest...”
The old man's voice echoed in his mind, filled with lingering fear and endless wonder.
“When those ten resonance stacks backlashed against you, I really thought you were dead for good.”
“You have no idea how terrifying the scene was.”
Elias closed his eyes and endured the pain, not responding.
“When Cecil sent people to move you back to the temporary camp, you weren't breathing at all.”
Old Ed continued to ramble to himself, trying to ease the tension with talk.
“Your body temperature was cold, your heart had stopped, and your spirituality was almost completely depleted.”
“That woman...”
Old Ed clicked his tongue.
“That woman was planning to bury you right then and there!”
“And then?”
“Just as those Life Scholars returned...”
“You suddenly started breathing again!”
Old Ed’s tone was full of the shock of witnessing a medical miracle.
“Your heart started beating, and even your spirituality began to slowly recover!”
“It was a miracle!”
“Or rather, your life is so stubborn that even the Mother Goddess doesn't want to take you!”
Listening to Old Ed’s wonder, Elias tried to pull himself together.
He opened his eyes and looked at the terrifying streetscape that was constantly twisting and changing under the curse's filter.
For some reason...
The question Galahad Midnight had asked suddenly surfaced in his mind again:
“Do you wish you were dead, or do you wish you were alive?”
Elias narrowed his eyes.
“Old Ed.”
“Tell me, is there a possibility...”
“What?”
Old Ed was startled by his suddenly serious tone.
“That someone has already died.”
Elias weighed his words, trying to describe that mysterious feeling.
“Even to the point where they aren't even a spiritual body anymore.”
“The flesh is gone, the soul is dissipated—nothing is left.”
“Only... a sliver of something existing within the Spirit World...”
“A memory residue.”
“Could that residue directly affect whether a person lives or dies?”
After the question was asked, the mind fell silent for a few seconds.
“What kind of ghost story are you telling?!”
Old Ed’s voice had a comical sharpness to it.
“Dead is dead. Even if the spiritual body has turned to ash, a sliver of memory can affect life and death?”
Old Ed took a deep breath, trying to use his limited knowledge to explain this absurd hypothesis.
“The only ones I can think of who could do something so reality-defying as changing fate...”
“Either the other party is the Maiden of Spirituality, who holds spiritual authority!”
Old Ed paused, his tone becoming more hesitant.
“Or... the other party is some Spirit World powerhouse we know nothing about.”
“The kind of terrifying existence that can reshape reality and causality with a flick of a finger.”
“In any case, it couldn't be some evil god with weird abilities, right?”
The more Old Ed spoke, the more uncertain he felt.
In this crazy world, the authorities of evil gods were bizarre. Who knew if one had such an ability?
Just as Elias also fell into deep thought...
“Hey!”
Old Ed suddenly shouted in surprise in his mind.
“Maybe the Spirit World itself is your buddy!”
“?”
“Nutcase.”
Rate on N.U.
