Mori sat back in the chair, staring at the ceiling in thought.
DiveCore was always a shady business, but this took the crown.
To think they grew to have so much power in a matter of decades.
"From your mories, I understand more or less what's happening," said Maël still sitting, legs on the table.
"Well? Is there anything else?"
Maël shrugged.
"Maybe," she said. "There's a lot of shady things that happened. Things your neighbors have said, things the security guard said, things you've overheard in the elevator. You've spent a lot of ti hating DiveCore, but you should realize you've spent a lot of ti close to them."
"Just tell ," he said.
Maël got up, looking outside the window.
The scenery of snow slowly falling through a city made of countless skyscrapers.
They went as far as the eye could see, disappearing into the horizon.
This eting room wasn't randomly chosen to be the one his mother used, it had the best view, she admired it a lot.
The whole area was built like a pyramid, the center with the tallest skyscrapers, any subsequent ones cascading downward.
There were other, taller buildings behind this one, which his mother would rather not spend her ti looking at.
"It's interesting that most of you guys lived so high into the sky."
Mori was surprised by the change of topic.
"You've seen my mories, haven't you?"
Maël turned toward him.
"Well, more like skimd through," she said. "I'm no expert, but most people would rather keep their mories private."
"It doesn't matter to ."
"Alright, then I'll look when I feel like it, in my free ti."
Maël turned around, and clapped her hands.
The chairs and table disappeared. It felt as if Mori blinked, although he didn't.
The room turned back into the living room with the fireplace crackling.
Rain tapped against the window, the visibility outside reduced, indicating night.
Mori watched as Maël walked around the room, to end up in the armchair she liked so much.
She sat sideways on it, and suddenly looked at Mori.
"Still here?" she said.
Mori sat in the armchair opposing her, his eyes staring at hers.
"You want this bad?" she said.
"You locked in here."
"And I might do it again, you're free to go now, however."
Mori's stare remained cold and unflinching, but no anger.
"You do know that you won't have that control forever? Wouldn't you want to be in my favors, the day I can discard you into so random corpse?"
Her hand quickly covered her mouth as she started chuckling, soon turning into a laugh.
"You think those can hold ?"
"I'll make them hold you."
"Haha, well, if that's how it is then so be it."
"You don't care?"
Maël was smiling, her expression weirdly genuine.
"I can't change who I am because you ask to. I can pretend being what you want to be, but then again that would just be pretending."
She pointed at Mori.
"It's the sa with you. You don't care about your mories being seen because that's who you've been, and you can pretend it's not and hide it but that wouldn't change anything, in the end."
Mori arched his eyebrows, surprised by the sudden wisdom.
"There could be a lot of other reasons," he argued.
"Yeah, I figured," she said while chuckling.
Mori sighed, she was impossible to talk to, at tis. It felt as if she was a few steps ahead in the conversation, already reacting to what is yet to be said.
"What did you, then?" he asked.
"What? When I left you in here?"
"Yeah."
"I've t with old friends. You needed ti to go back through mory lane, but now that I've seen so of them it's been enough for . So I'm back."
"And that's why you didn't let finish that Christmas?"
"Did you really want to finish it?" asked Maël.
Mori didn't answer.
mories were just that, mories.
Nothing real, nothing tangible.
He could revisit them ntally, whatever he could piece together with his beautifying mind.
What he rembered was prettier, better. The slls, the looks, the sensations. Everything was better as he recalled them ntally.
Distant mories where the ugly details were missing.
However, this last trip down mory wasn't as pretty, or better.
It felt like he was back there.
A truly terrifying experience.
His mother was still alive, in that place. She was the exact sa way he always knew her, and that was too comforting.
Being able to relive those monts was a blessing, yet truly a curse.
Who wouldn't want to spend one more mont with a lost one?
But, what would everything after losing them be for?
The pain, the joys, the successes and the failures; everything that was lived and was true wouldn't be much of anything.
Especially since she wasn't really back.
Mori closed his eyes a mont, sighing.
"Well, if you need , you know where to find ," said Maël.
Mori raised his arms, and finally, the wave ca.
He raised out of subconscious, a storm lifting him upward the sa way it had done previously.
"Don't think those happy mories change anything. I'm killing all of them. Every single one of them. And those I don't kill will wish I did."
Maël had a genuine smile on her face, following Mori's statent.
She wasn't so different, after all.
Mori slowly ca back to his senses. He could feel his Cursed energy was moderately regenerated.
He slowly got up, pain not an issue at all.
"Where's the monster?" asked Mori.
Mori started walking, following Maël's words on the monster's whereabouts.
The chains should still actively be holding it down, despite Maël running away after hijacking his body.
With the sealing properties they had, unless it had any exterior help, its situation shouldnt get better, but worst.
Mori walked, going through a scenery that had grown old to him.
That eclipse was the only thing he still enjoyed glimpsing at, a true work of art in the otherwise boring world it inhabited.
Most humans and creatures he encountered were barely able to be identified as such.
The whole ti he walked since he arrived, he had yet to see a change in terrain or even a little greenery.
He had seen depictions of the desert in various gas, even Elder Heir Online had one, which ant he still might go through an actual desert.
And that one was a beauty, not whatever this desolate land was.
He could finally see it on the horizon, the tall creature on the ground with chains covering it.
"Good."
Mori approached it, going around it twice.
It was impossible for him to tell how that thing ca to be, even its feature had nothing of what he had seen playing the ga.
The amount of arms... Maybe so insect territory could have a similar feature, maybe so demons?
Mori had fought enough demons to know this didn't look like one, but maybe it was sothing related, he guessed.
It mattered little, but its size and power were considerable.
Can I even do it?
He walked back to its head, which was incredibly bigger than his own size.
Its eye was following him around as he approached his forehead.
Mori put his hand on it, closing his eyes.
It felt like a breeze promptly rose, his clothes flapping as he concentrated on the monster.
Using spells without the system was hard, yet way more interesting.
It truly felt like he was in control.
It was a good feeling, where no shackles or bars restrained his potential.
Given ti, and training, he'd be able to do so much more, he thought.
"Alright. You fought well, but now, you'll fight for ," said Mori.
The creature didn't move or respond, but Mori could tell it wasn't happy with that outco.
Pressure continued to build up, as he concentrated on the feeling he had when he branded the other ones.
Right there, in the middle of its forehead, a brand slowly traced itself.
It started from Mori's hands, expanding on its forehead in what could've been mistaken for black ink.
As he did, every inch in traced looked painful to the monsters, who suddenly started fighting chains it couldn't break.
"Yeah. Nobody enjoys beco the pawn of soone else," said Mori.
Mori took a step back, the pressure finally relieved as he wiped his forehead.
It was far from a perfect brand, but for now, it would do.
He didn't need it right now, anyway, just having it there was enough.
Mori raised both hands, and slowly, the chains retracted from it's body, back into the ground. One by one, all of its limbs were set free.
The monster slowly got up, its massive size once again compared against Mori's.
It looked at him with fiery intensity. Mori stood still, ready to move at a mont's notice.
The monster turned around, hitting the ground once, the vibrations ringing through Mori's body, before leaving the opposite way.
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