"We have ten minutes left before the Ordeal of the Midnight falls upon us," I reminded everyone that they need to prepare their ntal strength to face what will co next. "Verina, Kara, go check on the prisoner and finish all of their needs under the limited amount of ti if possible."
"Can we give them a good-tasting ration to maintain their sanity? In case there is so ntal warfare happening here?" Verina said with her deadpan voice.
"You're free to give them your own bed, if you want."
"I'm a person with sympathy, but giving others what was given to by my lovely Narcy is a different case," she said with a pouty tone. If her face wasn't as dead as they seed, she would probably be frowning and pursing her lips with annoyance.
I smiled with genuine satisfaction. "Ahaha, this makes want to give you more stuff, knowing that you will rightfully cherish them."
The two of them imdiately depart to what we refer to as the prison. It wasn't really a prison, seeing how the whole concept was carried by Kuzunoha's deadly contraption of subservience.
I could just have them roam around the bastion and make them do useful stuff, but I prefer quality over quantity.
Ten seconds after I sent those two, I noticed that Kuzunoha was startled by sothing. Her confidence and smug complexion shifted into that of bitterness and confusion.
"What's wrong?"
"The contraptions are activated…"
"Everyone, follow to the prison!"
Without further ado, I rallied the whole bastioneers with as we chased after Verina and Kara on the way.
"What happened-" Verina saw us catching up to her, prompting her to realize what might be going on. She brandished her musket and braced herself for the worse. "This is not good."
The mont Kuzunoha announced that the contraptions had been activated, a knot of dread began tightening in my stomach.
I could care less about the state they were in, but the prison was deep within the periters of the bastion. If there was a Calamity Object creeping up from the opposite direction where we hold our ground, then Kuzunoha and I should have been alerted.
Even if it was a passive Calamity Object that was able to spawn inside the bastion, Kuzunoha should be able to detect it according to her expertise that I deduced after spectating her performance yesterday.
As soon as we entered the chamber, the stench hit us. It wasn't the usual sll of sweat and dampness that lingered in the prison; this was sothing far worse, sothing that crawled into your lungs and wouldn't let go. It slled of rot, of decay, of sothing that had gone horribly wrong.
"This place is too quiet!" I opened the door to the building where I kept them in. "... Right."
I froze in my tracks. The sight before was grotesque in a way that words could never fully capture. My breath caught in my throat, and for a mont, I felt the bile rise, threatening to spill over.
The prisoners—those unfortunate souls—had been brutally murdered, their bodies twisted and contorted in ways that defied comprehension. It was as though their very essence had been distorted, reshaped by so unseen, malevolent force.
One prisoner had been ripped apart, their limbs torn from their sockets, but in a precise, almost deliberate way, as if soone had taken their ti. The flesh around the joints was shredded, and the exposed bones were stained a sickening yellow-brown, as if they had been left to rot for days—except this had happened only minutes ago.
Another lay sprawled against the far wall, their chest cavity forced open, ribs splayed outward like grotesque wings. Their organs had been pulled out and arranged in a mockery of order—their heart placed in their open palm, their intestines coiled neatly beside them like a macabre display of doom.
The blood pooling beneath them was still warm, steam rising in the cold air of the prison.
Even to a forr serial killer like , this sight was too overwhelming.
I looked over to see how everyone was doing at this mont. They weren't looking good.
"Verina, focus on preparing everyone for the Ordeal of the Midnight."
I could hear so of them hurling their insides in dismay.
"... Yes."
And looking at Kuzunoha's expression, I doubted that her contraption was the only cause to this scene of madness. She wasn't the kind who would turn a person into a pudding of ss, after all. Her thods were much more efficient and refined than that.
In order to understand what was happening, I needed to analyze the scene further.
One of the prisoners had been impaled, but not by an external weapon. Their own spine had been ripped out, twisted around their neck like so horrific noose, leaving their head dangling at an unnatural angle. Their face was frozen in an expression of sheer terror, eyes wide and mouth agape, as if they had seen sothing so horrifying that their body had simply given up.
The walls were painted with blood, slick and shiny under the dim light, and there were deep gouges, as if sothing—or soone—had scratched at it in a frenzy. The air was thick with the tallic scent of iron, and beneath that, there was sothing else, sothing darker. A sll that reminded of burned flesh and charred earth.
Sothing, soone, or sohow, the space inside the building was isolated and placed sowhere else. There was a ti dilation in so part of the space, resulting in a different speed of progression for the bodies in display.
"What do you think, Kuzunoha?"
"Hmm, I'm afraid that we're dealing with sothing beyond my expertise," Kuzunoha sighed as she shook her head, wearing a dejected smile. "I will try my best to keep everyone alive, but don't expect 100% safety from this mont and onward."
"Do you have a hunch of what it may be?"
Kuzunoha was put into a deep thinking state. It was the first ti I saw her make that expression, as if she had everything at stake. "There is chaos in space and ti, and it bypasses the jurisdiction of the Rule of Humanity Bastion.
"I think we should discuss this at a later ti," Kuzunoha calmly suggested. "We are only 2 minutes left before the Ordeal of the Midnight."
"I see." The feeling of disgust lingered, but it was overshadowed by my fear of the unknown, as if sothing was carefully and intriguingly watching every move that I make. "You might need to help Verina and ease those newbies. I want to stay here for another minute."
As if I was being tailed, like they were reading the stanza of my edda.
"As you wish, darling~"
With my gothic-fashioned secretary exited my periters to perform the duty that was given to her, I scoured my eyes
It was at that mont, where I stumbled upon a strange crest resembling a snake that coiled to eat its own tail.
It was so unfamiliar, so foreign to anything that was related to my life.
Stay tuned to m-v l|e'-
At the sa ti, it was calling . A whole world apart, but aiming for my heart.
I picked up the crest and interacted with its detail screen.
[I FOU!@ND YOU~!! (THE RE#!AL YOU 100%) - ??? kg: HAHAHAHAHAHA I FINALLY FOUND YOU! IN THE END YOU'RE FATED TO BE FALLING INTO MY GRASP! NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU STRUGGLE THE FUTURE CAN'T BE CHANGED! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH I WILL SEE YOU SOON!
I WILL MAKE SURE TO TORNT YOU! I WILL MAKE YOU PAY FOR ALL YOUR SIN! NOT A SINGLE SOUL WILL KNOW YOUR EXISTENCE BY THE TI I END YOU! I WILL BRING YOU HELL]
"What is this…?"
I fell down to my knees, touching the splattered blood of the prisoners that I once ignored.
"Hahaha…"
The crest dissipated into nothing, leaving not a single clue behind about the event that had just transpired in front of .
"This is definitely so kind of a prank…"
I needed to breathe, but sothing was clogging my throat.
"Could the ga dev happen to be behind this…?"
I needed to make a sound excuse, a reasonable conclusion to why this is happening.
"Hahaha, this is definitely the ga dev, or one of those so-called Arbiters…!"
I worked really hard to survive my first life, and I and I want to survive in this one too.
"What a shitty way to ss with their own NPC…"
I failed to achieve happiness as Lothair, so I want my life as Narcissus to be different.
"I need to calm down…"
I thought that I only needed to survive the unreasonable horror of the Ordeal.
"Breath in…"
But now that I found out that soone, or sothing beyond my grasp, is malicious targeting like this…
"Breath out…"
The '' who thought that this life would be different.
Is starting to crumble apart.
"... I carried too much sin to deduce who the hell was behind this stupid prank."
[The Ordeal of the Midnight will be approaching in 1 second_]
[This ssage will appear invisible to every instances of entities in this world, if you received this sequence of notification, please notify any of the Arbiters to prevent further complications in your imrsive playing experience]
Right, I need to focus on dealing with the Ordeal first.
[Quī mē ex v!ersicu!līs īs put?āstis, quod!? su?nt molliculī, par!?um pudīc?um!!]
Couldn't let my Sanity be reduced by a stupid crest.
[A Qliphoth Object have been manifesting within the vicinity of your bastion_]
[Attempting to analyze its property and identity_]
Heh, the timing couldn't be worse.
I probably need to get back to everyone first.
But this ti…
—
[The Drowned Revenant]
[Description: Clad in corroded armor coated with barnacles and seaweed, the Drowned Revenant drips with brackish water as he trudges forward. His sword is a massive, jagged harpoon, stained with salt and rust. The air around him is thick with the stench of rotting fish, and he brings with him a creeping tide of seawater that slowly floods the ground, making movent sluggish and difficult.
As he fights, water constantly seeps from his armor, drowning the battlefield in his wake. His presence causes a deep pressure to settle in the lungs of those nearby, as if they're slowly sinking into the abyss]
[Mythos Reference: Manifested by seafaring myths of drowned sailors and the legendary cursed ships, such as the Flying Dutchman]
[Hint: The Drowned Revenant and its designated opponent cannot die no matter what. Being forced to fight the natural calamity of rising tide is a fate worse than death itself]
—
I refuse to run away.
If I can't face a single Qliphoth Object, how could I face that bastard who sent a declaration of war to my face?
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