Chapter 782 : Divine Illusion

East Coast of Pritt, Northern Suburbs of Tivian.

At dusk in Tivian, on a road nestled between open fields, usually deserted and lacking much traffic year-round, a sudden disturbance shattered the calm. Just as Tivian was still basking in the celebratory air of the new queen’s coronation, an extraordinary threat emerged once again.

A high-speed ambush from underground instantly destroyed the carriage Dorothy used daily to commute between her residence and the city. However, having been warned beforehand, she had exited the vehicle just in time. As she looked up to the sky, she saw two massive demonic creatures spreading their wings under the sunset, their metallic luster glinting like masterpieces crafted by some twisted artist. Dorothy recognized them—Aurum Gargoyles of the Dark Gold Society. She had crossed paths with them before in Falano.

“Mercenaries of that thing? Or collaborators? Either way… you destroyed the carriage I’ve ridden for over two years. Time to pay.”

Suspended mid-air, Dorothy murmured coldly as she gazed at the two metallic gargoyles high above. At her words, the ground beneath her began to stir slightly. Amid a faint rustling sound, countless black metallic grains floated up from the soil into the air—iron sand that Dorothy had extracted directly from the earth.

The two Aurum Gargoyles had no intention of exchanging words. With a powerful beat of their sturdy wings, one unleashed several massive fireballs while the other launched a barrage of dense wind blades, all hurtling toward Dorothy.

In response to this dual assault, Dorothy instantly acted. With a wave of her hand, arcs of lightning crackled around her. Several thick bolts shot from her fingertips, intercepting the incoming fireballs mid-air and detonating them. The resulting explosions filled her vision with blazing light, and the shockwaves dispersed many of the wind blades as well.

Dorothy then compressed some of the surrounding iron sand into a shield to block the lingering heat and shockwaves. The rest of the iron sand she formed into floating swords, each precisely slicing apart the remaining wind blades one by one.

Their first wave failing, the Aurum Gargoyles launched another. Realizing Dorothy had fended off their initial barrage, the pair began unleashing continuous attacks from above, raining down fireballs, ice lances, and wind blades without pause. Dorothy countered unrelentingly with lightning. Thanks to the speed and precision of her lightning strikes, combined with her exact calculations, she could intercept most high-threat projectiles. The residual force from each attack was absorbed and reshaped by her iron sand defenses into various protective forms.

Under the Aurum Gargoyles’ ceaseless bombardment, the entire field thundered with noise. Dorothy could just barely withstand their assault—but only just. After all, both enemies were Crimson-rank. Without invoking her divine power, she wouldn’t last long under such pressure.

“I have to find a way…”

While defending herself, Dorothy opened her magic box and retrieved a mirror. Gazing into it, she locked eyes with her reflection—then hypnotized herself. She forced herself into a state of self-profiling, attempting to erase a particular image from her memory: the strange symbol depicted in the assassin's letter Anna had shared with her earlier.

At that moment, Dorothy was unable to access her divinity due to interference from another “Revelation.” This mysterious divine force had attacked her through a memetic assault—using that bizarre symbol as the medium. As long as Dorothy retained any memory of that image, the interference would persist. Forget it, and she could be free.

So she tried to forcibly erase the memory through self-directed memory manipulation. But… she failed.

She couldn’t delete it.

She couldn’t forget it!

The image was seared into her mind like a brand. No matter what she tried, it would not fade. Then she attempted to alter the memory—to distort the symbol’s form and thereby nullify its memetic effect. But even that failed. The image remained immutable in her mind.

It was a fragment of memory that could neither be forgotten nor rewritten. A steel-bonded memory.

“This is troublesome… If that’s the case, then I can only…”

Her attempt at self-profiling having failed, Dorothy furrowed her brows. She kept her gaze fixed on the mirror and began trying another method. But at that moment, the Aurum Gargoyles intensified their assault.

No longer content with easily intercepted fireballs, the fire-wielding gargoyle concentrated its power and unleashed a brilliant orange-yellow beam from its mouth. Dorothy tried intercepting it with lightning, but to no avail. She narrowly dodged it, letting the beam blast into the ground. The gargoyle then swept its head side to side, the beam scorching the earth as it chased Dorothy.

At the same time, the wind-wielding gargoyle also acted. Instead of more small blades, it gathered power and swung both arms, releasing two massive wind blades, each over a hundred meters long. The twin blades crossed in mid-air and sliced downward toward Dorothy’s path of escape. Her delicate iron sand weapons were utterly useless against such scale—she had no choice but to slow her flight to avoid colliding with them head-on.

With a deafening roar, the massive blades struck the earth, carving a fork-shaped ravine. Dorothy, slowed, evaded direct impact, but now the enormous trenches before her began spewing fierce gales—creating overlapping walls of wind that blocked her path forward.

Now, wind walls sealed off her front, left, and right. Behind her, the fire gargoyle's sweeping heat beam drew closer, and the blazing air was already licking at her back. She couldn’t go forward, back, or sideways. The beam would cut through the ground if she tried to descend. She didn’t have time to climb above the wind walls. One wrong move, and she was doomed.

At this critical moment, Dorothy commanded her iron sand to spread rapidly outward, forming long filaments. She sent electric current through them, heating and fusing them into thick iron wires. These wires surged in all directions like writhing tentacles—some burrowing underground, others slipping through the gaps between the heat ray and wind walls.

In the blink of an eye, she created a vast iron wire network. Her body turned into pure lightning and merged into the network. As an elemental current, she traveled through the wires at impossible speed—less than a fraction of a second—and emerged on the other side of the death trap, beyond both the fire beam and wind wall, reforming her physical body from lightning.

Dorothy had escaped the death trap.

This display stunned the Aurum Gargoyles. They immediately ceased their beam and wind wall attacks and began preparing a new wave of assaults.

Dorothy’s Crimson-rank elemental transformation didn’t allow her to move at the speed of light through open air—it required high-quality conductors. And in this steam-revolution-era world, there were no power lines to serve that function. Apart from railways, she had to craft her own transmission medium in battle.

Having narrowly escaped death, Dorothy now faced a renewed offensive. The fire-wielding gargoyle scattered a wave of burning flames across the land, while its wind-wielding partner whipped up a massive whirlwind to fan the fire’s spread.

Wind met flame.

The fire’s reach expanded rapidly, a firestorm sweeping across nearly a kilometer of open field. The scorching blaze surged into every corner of Dorothy’s vision, engulfing the entire landscape—leaving her no place to run.

The two Aurum Gargoyles continued burning their precious internal treasures mid-air to release power, piling on more and more energy, causing the firestorm sweeping across the land to grow hotter and wider. Howling firewalls surged hundreds of meters high, visible even to astonished citizens in distant Tivian. The firestorm’s radius quickly expanded beyond a kilometer, its roaring gales and blazing infernos weaving a hellish spectacle across the sky.

After several dozen seconds, the winds began to settle, the flames slowly dying down. When the two Aurum Gargoyles finally ceased releasing power, the terrifying firestorm gradually faded. As the heat-distorted air calmed, what appeared before them was a vast, scorched wasteland billowing with smoke. At the blackened edges of the field, smoldering embers still flickered.

The once-sprawling fields had been reduced to ash. The girl who had once flown over them was nowhere to be seen. The two Aurum Gargoyles descended slowly, scanning the charred ground. From their perspective, the enemy’s body must’ve long since turned to ash. Still, according to their mission, they needed to locate her remains.

As they flew lower, scanning for residual traces, something unexpected happened.

From underground—yes, the disturbance came from beneath! As high-ranking Stone Beyonders, the two Aurum Gargoyles keenly sensed subtle tremors rippling up from the depths. The vibrations grew rapidly. After exchanging a glance, they immediately beat their wings and ascended—just in time for the scorched earth below to violently erupt.

BOOM!

With a thunderous crash of shattering earth and stone, a massive, pillar-like shadow burst from the ground. Upon closer inspection—it was a titanic yellow worm, far thicker than ancient tree trunks, surging into the sky. Its gaping three-lobed maw opened to reveal rows upon rows of razor-sharp teeth as it roared and lunged straight at the two Aurum Gargoyles in the sky!

This was a manifestation of Dorothy’s “Anecdotal Body” ability. Its prototype was the terrifying creature from her own published horror novel “Death Worm”. The deeper inspiration, in turn, came from legends in her previous world—like the Mongolian Death Worm or giant sandworms from classic literature and film. Dorothy had spread that mythos into this world through her writing, making it “real” enough to summon.

When confronted with the overwhelming firestorm, Dorothy’s counter-strategy had been to summon a Death Worm underground to dig a safe tunnel. She then extended iron wires down to transfer her electric form through them and evade the fiery inferno on the surface. Now, she commanded the worm to strike back—ambushing prey from below, just like in legend.

Caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the massive worm, the two Aurum Gargoyles retaliated with wind blades and flames. In mere seconds, the Death Worm’s body was slashed with countless gashes and scorched by searing heat, its surface blackened and charred.

However, the wounds and burns healed almost instantly, without slowing the creature down one bit. That was because Dorothy was using spiritual thread to transfer the damage to other creatures. She had conjured multiple Death Worms—not all for combat. Some were bloated and sluggish by design, intended solely to absorb damage on behalf of their sibling.

Protected by its companions’ sacrifice, the attacking Death Worm charged straight through the barrage and lunged at the two Aurum Gargoyles, biting down with its enormous jaws and swallowing them whole. With its three-lobed mouth shut, it began vigorously chewing while secreting thick corrosive acid.

The Death Worm was mighty—but even its powerful jaws and acid couldn’t penetrate the Aurum Gargoyles’ hardened shells. Inside the worm’s mouth, its teeth and acid worked relentlessly, yet to no avail. Then, the gargoyles’ outer shells began to turn icy blue—their surface temperature plummeting rapidly.

Soon, a freezing wave radiated outward from the worm’s mouth. The towering Death Worm froze solid in an instant, becoming an enormous ice sculpture. With a thunderous crash, it toppled over and shattered into countless icy fragments. The two Aurum Gargoyles burst forth from the debris, flying free once again.

Once out, they quickly reorganized and focused their senses to locate Dorothy’s position. But in that moment—they both felt something strange.

“What… is this…?”

“I… I can’t move…”

Suppression—a powerful, invisible pressure gripped them both. Even as Crimson-rank Beyonders, the two gargoyles were immobilized, stunned by the sudden paralyzing force. They couldn’t fathom when or how such a dreadful mystical power had taken hold.

What they couldn’t see… was the multitude of invisible red threads now attached to their bodies.

These threads—spiritual threads—had been hidden inside the Death Worm. When they were swallowed, it wasn’t just acid and fangs they had encountered—it was these unseen threads that now bound them.

The Aurum Gargoyles struggled furiously to break free from the suppressive grip of the spiritual threads. At that moment, they felt a surge of intense spirituality and a faint electric hum behind them. Laboring under the immense pressure, they slowly turned their heads.

There—hovering in the air far behind them—stood the silver-haired girl they were sent to kill. Her clothes fluttered as arcs of lightning danced around her. Her outstretched hand pointed toward them, and floating before her fingers were over a dozen dark-hued shards of strange metal, pulsing with a dreadful power. Her crimson eyes bore no trace of emotion.

She gathered energy—then fired.

In an instant, the shards before her became searing orange streaks of light, blasting straight toward the immobilized Aurum Gargoyles. Just as they were about to break free, they were struck in the back. Their seemingly invulnerable shells were punched clean through by the fiery rays. Deep gashes tore open their armor. The gargoyles shrieked in agony.

But—one of the screams was far more gut-wrenching than the other. That gargoyle’s body cracked apart under the strain, fractures racing across its surface. Its core furnace had been hit!

The most effective weapon Dorothy had against Aurum Gargoyles remained her high-penetration railgun. To charge it enough to pierce their defenses, she needed to bind them in place with enough spiritual threads to guarantee they couldn’t dodge or interrupt her cast. Once bound, her fully-charged railgun could break through anything.

This time, the railgun rounds she used were forged from the remains of an Aurum Gargoyle she’d previously slain in Falano. They were fragments of that former colleague—once the treacherous usurper Chancellor Frederico. His remains were sturdy enough to endure high-output firing and plentiful enough for Dorothy to unleash multiple shots at once. A railgun scatterburst—over a dozen shots fired simultaneously.

To kill an Aurum Gargoyle, one had to destroy its internal core furnace—but the location varied between individuals. Back when she slew Frederico, it had taken Dorothy immense effort to determine his furnace’s position—mainly because she only had one shot and couldn’t afford to miss. Now, she had plenty of ammo—enough to spread-fire and brute-force her way through.

And luck was on her side. One of the gargoyles was critically hit. As its body spiraled into destabilization, it scrambled to activate a mystical artifact to stabilize itself—just like Frederico once had. Meanwhile, Dorothy began charging her next railgun volley.

At that moment, the other gargoyle—less damaged—finally broke free from the spiritual thread’s grasp. Before Dorothy’s next strike could land, it released a burst of glittering sand toward the ground. This unique dust—clearly a mystical item—caused the earth to rumble on contact. Stones softened and deformed, twisting into several massive earth serpents.

The colossal serpents coiled skyward and encircled both gargoyles, binding them together tightly. Then they solidified—transforming into a single unbreakable stone statue.

Afterward, Dorothy’s newly charged railgun blasted toward the battlefield at high speed. Yet even after shattering the stone serpents entwined around the statue, there was no trace of the Aurum Gargoyles. Clearly, they had used the earthen serpents to burrow underground and escape.

“Phew… Just as I suspected—without an overwhelming power gap, these Aurum Gargoyles really are tough to kill unless you’ve laid meticulous groundwork ahead of time.”

Gazing at the fragmented earth serpent statues strewn across the scorched land, Dorothy sighed and muttered to herself. The Aurum Gargoyles, despite their hefty bulk, were highly mobile and capable of earth-burrowing. Coupled with their extreme armor, they possessed remarkable escape potential. Back in Falano, it had taken a complex, layered trap to kill Frederico. Now, in an improvised clash against two at once, Dorothy couldn’t stop them if they truly wanted to flee.

“In any case, forcing a retreat is already a win. They caught me at a bad moment, right when my divinity was disrupted… but fortunately, even without divine power, a Pure-Color Beyonder with sufficient spirituality still fights just fine…”

So she thought.

Pure-Color Beyonders had many more abilities compared to mixed-color ones, but their major drawback was that they couldn’t passively regenerate spirituality. During battle, this often meant a shortage of energy, limiting their ability to fully unleash their powers.

However, in recent times, Dorothy had effectively achieved spirituality freedom thanks to her consistent access to mystical texts from the Historical Scripture Department via Artcheli. She had abundant reserves of all six types of spirituality, allowing her to fight without restraint. A Crimson-rank Pure-Color Beyonder with full spirituality could easily take on two or even three mixed-color peers. Beating two Aurum Gargoyles hadn’t even been that taxing for her—she just regretted not being able to finish them off completely.

As she surveyed the scorched battlefield and reviewed the events, she suddenly received a long-distance consultation message.

“Teacher… the enemies at sea have retreated. What’s your status over there?”

The voice on the other end was one she knew well—Anna, her student. The moment Dorothy was ambushed, she had immediately reached out via information channels, asking Anna to notify the Pritt government and the Church’s Crimson-rank forces to assist her.

Anna had replied at the time that the Church had just detected a powerful Beyonder force approaching from the sea—equivalent to three Crimson-rank foes. To keep the battle away from the city, Pritt’s government and the Archbishop had gone to intercept them. Anna had only just received the news and was preparing to contact Dorothy when Dorothy reached out first.

Upon hearing this, and unsure if the real target was herself, Dorothy didn’t immediately ask Anna to recall the Church and government Crimson-rank forces. Instead, she told Misha to help Nephthys hurry to her aid, while letting the others stay in place. In the end, however, Dorothy resolved the ambush on her own—so quickly that Nephthys didn’t even arrive in time to help.

“I’ve taken care of things on my end too. Sadly, they all got away. I’m about to leave the battlefield—send someone over to clean up.”

“That’s great to hear, Teacher! I’m so glad you’re safe—I’ll dispatch someone immediately.”

Anna sounded relieved, but then, slightly hesitant, added.

“But… compared to previous incidents, isn’t this cultist attack kind of small? We dealt with it pretty easily. Could there be something else going on?”

Her voice tinged with worry. After witnessing the divine catastrophe in Tivian, Anna couldn’t shake the unease that came from how quickly this attack ended. Dorothy simply waved her hand and replied.

“Not every cultic organization is some world-shaking powerhouse. Only a few can actually stir up major incidents. No need to stress over every little thing, Anna.”

Hearing that, Anna—though still faintly uneasy—didn’t press the issue.

“If you say so, Teacher Mayschoss, I’ll stop worrying. I’ll have someone head over to clean up right away. Please make your way into the city—we’ve still got important evening events ahead.”

“Of course~”

After finishing her call with Anna, Dorothy also contacted Nephthys to tell her not to bother coming. Nephthys replied cheerfully, “As expected of Miss Dorothy—didn’t even need me!” and happily turned back. Meanwhile, Dorothy began a brief cleanup of the battlefield.

Since she hadn’t managed to kill her enemies, she didn’t gain much—just a few salvaged fragments from the Aurum Gargoyles. She quickly left the area and flew off toward another road leading into the city.

On a distant hillside, a solitary figure silently watched the scorched landscape from afar.

It was an old man in a gray overcoat and low-brimmed hat, his face deeply wrinkled, his thin frame mummified and gaunt. He squinted at the scene with no discernible emotion—lost in thought.

…

Having left the battlefield, Dorothy soon found another route into Tivian. There, she easily hailed a carriage. Seated in the gently rocking compartment, she gazed out the window at the passing scenery and resumed pondering the earlier events.

“Although the enemy attacked from two fronts, the sea force was probably just a diversion. Considering the involvement of Revelation divinity, their main target was likely me…

“One side was the Dark Gold Society. The other may be linked to that mysterious pull I sensed in the Frost Realm—that other ‘Revelation’ divinity aggregation besides mine. Maybe after our previous contact, they took an interest in my Heaven’s Arbiter divinity and wanted to seize it. The Dark Gold Society could’ve been collaborators… or just hired muscle.

“My presence is no secret among high-level circles of the mysticism world. After the Tivian incident, many suspect I’m connected to Mirror Moon… or the Tivian royal family. That’s probably why they chose Coronation Day to strike—since I’d almost certainly be in Tivian today…

“A divine memetic attack with Revelation attributes… it can suppress my divinity and mark my position. But at first, they likely didn’t know exactly where I’d be. If I were marked from too far away, they wouldn’t reach me in time to attack before I rallied help or escaped. So they needed to ensure their forces were nearby when I received the memetic trigger.

“That makes Queen Isabelle’s coronation the perfect opportunity. I’d be in Tivian, and they could position Crimson-rank combatants within striking distance. The Hymn Cathedral hasn’t been fully restored yet, and its protective hierarchy is still weak—making it easy to secretly deploy high-ranking assets. Those two Aurum Gargoyles were probably lurking beneath Tivian this whole time, waiting to pounce once my position was confirmed.”

As she mentally dissected the situation, Dorothy’s expression gradually softened, her earlier tension fading.

“The current problem is… that cursed meme is still in my memory. I can’t erase it. I still can’t use divinity—and I’m still marked…

“But really… it’s nothing major. Since I already repelled the attackers, it means their forces in the material world are insufficient to pose a threat. No need to worry too much.

“Since Her Majesty the Queen’s coronation is such a festive day—might as well go enjoy myself with Gregor~”

With that thought, the usual mature air vanished from Dorothy’s face, replaced by the carefree expression of an ordinary girl. Sitting in the carriage seat, her feet dangled and swung gently as she stared out the window, eyes glimmering with anticipation.

“La la la~”

Humming softly, Dorothy rode the carriage as it neared Tivian. After a while, she finally entered the urban district. Peering curiously out the window, she took in the bustling crowds and dazzling shops.

“Ah… no matter how many times I visit Tivian, it always feels so vibrant… Way more people than in Igwynt…”

She admired the scenery with a sigh of wonder. Eventually, the carriage came to a stop by the roadside.

“Thank you, mister coachman~”

“You’re welcome, child…”

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

The coachman smiled and drove off slowly. Dorothy waved him goodbye, then walked down the busy street.

At a nearby intersection, she saw a familiar figure.

“Gregor! Over here~”

Joyfully calling out, Dorothy waved to the familiar young man in the distance. The youth, who had seemingly been waiting, spun around at the sound of her voice. When he saw her, he smiled brightly and opened his arms.

“Dorothy, you’re finally here—come on!”

Gregor crouched slightly and wrapped his arms gently around the approaching Dorothy in a light hug. Once they stood back up, Dorothy looked at her brother curiously and asked.

“Hey, Gregor, did you go watch Her Majesty’s coronation ceremony today? Was it good?”

“The coronation itself isn’t open to people like us, Dorothy—I told you before. What I saw was the royal procession. That’s the part common folk get to see.”

Facing his innocent, curious little sister, Gregor responded earnestly. But Dorothy quickly asked again with sparkling eyes,

“Then was the royal procession pretty? Did you see Her Majesty the Queen?”

“Of course it was beautiful! You have no idea how long the procession was, or how luxurious the Queen’s carriage looked. As for Her Majesty herself… oh heavens, she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen…”

Gregor said this with a sigh of admiration, lost in his memories. Dorothy’s eyes lit up as she pressed further.

“How beautiful~? Tell me the details! How pretty was the Queen?”

“Well, you know, it’s kind of hard to describe in just a few words. How about we find a nice place to eat, and I’ll tell you all about it over dinner?”

“Mm!” Dorothy nodded enthusiastically.

Together, she and Gregor headed off quickly. As they walked, she continued to curiously glance around. Then, on a nearby gaslight pole, she spotted a red-lettered public notice.

“The Night Demon has appeared again! Two young women were recently killed. Citizens are advised to avoid going out late at night!”

“The Night Demon…”

Reading the notice, Dorothy swallowed hard, a trace of fear flashing in her eyes. She moved a little closer to Gregor and stuck by his side as they continued on.

…

Tivian, Central Royal District.

At nightfall in Tivian, within the Solitary Cloud Palace of the royal district, the young Duchess Anna, having been busy all day, now paced her private office, listening to a report from her subordinate.

“So… even though they were seriously injured, we still didn’t manage to catch even one of them?” she asked, pausing her steps and looking at Misha, who stood nearby.

The high-ranking squad captain from the Serenity Bureau gave a solemn nod.

“Due to the Church’s detection systems still being under reconstruction, we weren’t able to pinpoint their location. Even injured, they’re still Crimson-rank Beyonders with escape plans in place. Tracing them would have required a huge operation.”

Misha spoke seriously. Anna let out a helpless sigh, then continued.

“Alright, nothing to be done then… Where’s Her Majesty now?”

“Her Majesty has already departed for the Crystal Palace. Security has been heightened due to today’s incident.”

Anna nodded slightly after hearing this, then gave her next order.

“Good. You’re dismissed. Prepare to head to Her Majesty’s location with me.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

After Misha exited the room, Anna looked out toward the darkening royal city.

“I need to notify Teacher…”

With this thought, she closed her eyes and prayed to the mysterious deity Aka, activating the consultation link to her teacher. She spoke in her heart,

“Teacher Mayschoss… unfortunately, our pursuit failed. The two Crimson-rank enemies you wounded managed to escape. Isabel has already departed for the Crystal Palace. Please join us as soon as—”

She waited for a reply from that familiar voice.

But nothing came.

For the first time, Anna received no response through this channel. Her brow furrowed. She repeated her message in her mind—but again, no reply.

“What’s going on with Teacher…?”

Frowning deeply, Anna was gripped by a wave of foreboding.

…

At a street-side restaurant, Dorothy sat at a table, staring blankly at her utensils. Across from her, Gregor asked with concern.

“What’s wrong, Dorothy? What are you thinking about?”

“Uh… it’s nothing. I just thought I heard something strange just now, but when I tried to remember, I couldn’t think of what it was… Maybe it was just my imagination.”

Dorothy frowned as she spoke.

Gregor chuckled and said, “An illusion, huh? Probably because you haven’t been getting enough rest. Are you staying up late reading novels again?”

“Uh—no! Not at all, Gregor! I swear! A-anyway, where are we going after dinner?”

Clearly trying to change the subject in a fluster, Dorothy deflected the question. Gregor didn’t press further, instead smiling and replying.

“We could go to a performance. I got us tickets to see the grand star Adèle.”

“Adèle? That huge celebrity from the newspapers? You actually got tickets?! Gregor, you’re the best!”

Overjoyed, Dorothy shouted with excitement. The two of them finished their meal and prepared to head out. As they were leaving, Dorothy asked somewhat nervously.

“By the way, Gregor, I heard Tivian’s been kind of dangerous lately. Something about a ‘Night Demon’ going around and killing people…”

“The Night Demon… yeah, that guy’s real. Vicious and cunning—he’s killed a lot of people and still hasn’t been caught… But don’t worry, Dorothy. He only comes out late at night. As long as we get back early after the show, we’ll be fine.”

Gregor offered reassurance. Dorothy nodded quietly, then followed him out into the night-darkened streets.

The two headed toward the theater. After passing down a street, Gregor suddenly stopped and glanced into a dim alley.

“If I remember right… this way’s a shortcut. Come on, Dorothy, it’ll be quicker this way.”

With that, he led her into the alley. Dorothy hesitated at the entrance to the dim passage and nervously swallowed before mustering her courage and following after him.

They left behind the crowds and the streetlights, stepping into the shadows at the city’s edge. They weaved through twisty alleys, delving deeper and deeper.

“…Strange. It should’ve led out this way.”

In a narrow alley where a foul-smelling ditch flowed, Gregor looked at the dead-end in confusion. Beside him, Dorothy glanced around anxiously and trembled slightly.

“Gregor… haven’t we found the way out yet?”

“Just a second. Let me think… I think it’s this way…”

Gregor took Dorothy down another path. As he wandered, a faint sound caught his attention.

“Is someone there?”

Hoping to ask for directions, Gregor followed the noise. Turning a corner, he found the source.

It was a filthy, narrow alley. Between peeling walls lay scattered trash and several dead rats. At the alley’s far end, a thick shadow covered the space. In the faint starlight above, Gregor could just make out the silhouette of a man—tall hat, cloaked shoulders, stooped posture.

The figure twitched slightly. That faint rustling had come from him. Gregor frowned and took a few cautious steps forward.

“Excuse me, do you know—”

He’d barely taken two steps when he suddenly felt like he stepped into a puddle. At first, he paid it no mind—until a strong, metallic stench rose from below. He looked down at what he’d stepped in.

Though the lighting was dim, Gregor could tell from the viscous texture that this wasn’t normal water…

A cold bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.

And in that moment, the figure deep within the alley stopped moving. The shadow slowly began to rise—slender and tall—and then, ever so slowly, it began to turn around.

Beneath the starlight, what appeared before the siblings was a terrifyingly tall man. He wore a tattered top hat, and a night-colored cloak draped across his back. The front of his white shirt was covered in massive stains of unidentifiable origin, and both his face and hands were wrapped in bandages, likewise splotched with dark blotches...

In his right hand, the man held a filthy, chipped butcher’s cleaver. In his left, he gripped some soft, trembling object—something faintly quivering of its own accord. Behind him lay the figure of a collapsed woman, partially obscured by the alley’s gloom. Her eyes were wide in frozen terror, mouth agape, utterly still—clearly long devoid of breath.

“AAAAHHHH!!!”

After a moment of shocked stillness, Dorothy erupted with a scream of terror. In that instant, Gregor spun around, grabbed her hand, and dashed away with all his might.

Run. Run.

Clutching his sister’s hand tightly, Gregor fled, weaving left and right through the maze-like alleys, desperately trying to find an exit, to return to the main street. But no matter how far they ran, the main road never appeared—only the sound of footsteps behind them, drawing ever closer.

“Hah… hah… Gregor… I can’t keep running… What should we do…”

Gasping for breath, Dorothy sobbed through her words. Gregor let go of her hand and said resolutely,

“We split up! Don’t stop running! No matter what happens, don’t stop!”

After pushing Dorothy toward another alley, Gregor didn’t actually flee down a separate path as he’d said. Instead, he turned and charged straight toward the monstrous presence chasing them. Moments later, Dorothy—now far ahead—heard his agonized scream.

“Gregor…”

“Help! Somebody please help us!”

Crying and calling, begging for someone—anyone—to come, the girl pressed on, pushing her exhausted body to its limits, running through what felt like an endless maze of alleys, confused, terrified, and alone.

Her cries echoed through the alleyways. But there was no answer. Only the ever-closing footsteps behind her, and the looming horror that pursued.

Eventually, the girl was cornered in a dead end. Too tired to move, she collapsed to her knees beneath the towering wall that marked her doom. In hopeless sobs, she felt the presence drawing near—unhurried, unrelenting.

Then, amid a scream torn straight from her soul, the girl’s small body was ripped apart. Blood of the innocent splattered across the silent alley. Her voice, too, vanished completely in the process…

Some time later, silence returned to the alley.

A stranger’s silhouette appeared at the mouth of the dark lane—no one knew when he’d arrived. Step by step, he walked deeper into the shadowed alley.

Bathed in starlight, he could be seen to be a gaunt, mummy-like old man clad in a gray trench coat. Eyes narrowed, he walked slowly through the filthy alley until he reached the dead-end that reeked of fresh blood.

What he found there was carnage—shocking and horrific. Blood spattered the walls. The girl’s mangled remains lay broken beneath that wall of despair. And the murderer… was nowhere to be seen.

Unfazed by the gore, the old man calmly stepped forward and crouched down, seemingly preparing to examine the remains. But just then, an unexpected voice rang out behind him.

“Though the elder brother died protecting her, the girl still couldn’t escape the killer’s pursuit… In the end, she was brutally slain in some forgotten corner of the city. Is that the ending you chose for this story?”

The old man sprang up and turned sharply. What he saw was a silver-haired girl in a fitted suit, seated midair, calmly sipping coffee as she smiled at him.

“To create such a vast ‘story space’ just for a clichéd ending like this, to reduce others to mere characters in your script… Really, your plot has no creativity at all.”

Gazing at the dark-skinned, mummy-like elder before her, Dorothy spoke slowly and deliberately.

“Pioneer of Bewitching Path… The playwright of seven millennia past… the reborn Sage-King… Lord Hafdar.”