The buzzing was too shrill.
Morrow felt as though his head was about to split open. The mental bombardment caused veins to bulge around his temples.
Fortunately, his prior experiences absorbing Post-Mortem Wills had granted him considerable resistance.
After a moment, the soul-piercing screech finally faded. In its place, a scene filled with linear shadows emerged in his mind.
At the center of the image stood a pristine, crystalline jade harp.
Yet, embedded in the harp's center was a visibly soiled sheet of music, creating a stark contrast with the instrument's purity.
The surrounding linear shadows rippled like soundwaves, gradually twisting into elongated black hands stretching toward the harp in the center.
Morrow abruptly opened his eyes, the sinister image still lingering on his retinas.
Was that... The harp solo movement of the Sonata of Darkness?
He raised his hands and vigorously rubbed his still-throbbing temples.
This thing... was far too dangerous.
Even without a specialized instrument, playing the movement's contents could partially unleash the Sonata of Darkness's effects.
The problem was the devastating price.
Performers would, at best, be crippled, or at worst, die on the spot. It was, quite literally, playing with one's life.
The harp solo movement's power implanted a "Soul Tuning" within the performer's soul, a "rewind" anchor point.
In simpler terms, it allowed the performer to resurrect after death by relying on this "Soul Tuning."
Such a power, transcending life and death, naturally came with an equally brutal cost.
When the performer touched this power, all memory and awareness of the harp solo movement would be completely erased.
And once the performer resurrected through spontaneous Conjuration, seven people closely tied to them would die in another form, serving as compensation.
Beyond that, the resurrected performer would gradually develop symptoms of carbonization.
This phenomenon would last seven days.
Once the time elapsed, the performer would turn to ash, just like the blackened dust scattered across the hall's floor.
That was the price of the harp solo movement.
Though resurrection defied natural laws, the cost was undeniably severe.
This wasn't a deal with a demon king; it was a pact with the devil himself.
Through this information, Morrow understood how the Third Princess Eve had managed to resurrect. But...
The price of resurrection should have fallen upon the seven people connected to the performer, while the performer themselves bore the countdown to death via carbonization.
Yet the current situation was entirely different...
Countless unrelated individuals had instead become victims of this ominous power, as if shouldering Eve's debt in her place.
How... did she pull that off?
The details forcibly flooding Morrow's mind were byproducts of Post-Mortem Will; there was no room for error.
Having confirmed this, the only possibility he could conceive was that Eve had somehow redirected the death scythe meant for her onto others. However, this method of "transferring calamity to others" would inevitably trigger even more devastating consequences.
That was why there were so many innocent victims.
Morrow stopped massaging his temples and slowly opened his eyes.
Regardless of how the Third Princess Eve had accomplished it, one thing was certain, this woman was the same type of person as Chrollo.
And then there was the power of the harp solo movement...
Too dangerous.
It would be best to seal it away in the deepest recesses of his memory, just like Orion's Post-Mortem Will.
After all, even disregarding other costs, the mere fact that it implicated seven closely connected individuals was already beyond what he could accept.
Still, after absorbing this information, Morrow had roughly grasped the essence of the harp solo movement.
In other words, perhaps he could extract something useful from it, just as he had once obtained the ability Shooting Star · Essence Siphon.
Take the essence, discard the dregs!
Now's not the time for these thoughts.
—--
Morrow quickly dismissed his overly ambitious musings. Having overcome the soul-piercing impact, he gestured to Kanzai and Nenze that he was fine before continuing to absorb the Post-Mortem Nen from the other victims.
Only when Kanzai saw that Morrow appeared normal did he finally let out a sigh of relief.
Clearly, even though Morrow had enhanced his ability to dispel Post-Mortem Nen through a Limitation, he still couldn't completely avoid its risks and costs.
Earlier, Kanzai had clearly seen Morrow's temples and forehead veins bulge, his eyes instantly filling with fine red streaks, as if something was trying to burst out of his skull.
Fortunately, Morrow didn't seem to be encountering this for the first time, and he adapted quickly.
That was a close call...
As Kanzai relaxed, he also raised a hand to vigorously rub his temples.
This period had been too grueling.
If they could resolve this smoothly, he was definitely going to take a long break.
Nenze glanced subtly at Kanzai but didn't bother correcting his usual misuse of idioms. Instead, he silently watched Morrow's figure.
What incredible resilience... I'm nowhere near his level.
Unlike Kanzai, who could only see the surface, Nenze understood exactly why Morrow had adapted so quickly. And precisely because of that, his admiration for Morrow deepened.
Before long, Morrow absorbed the Post-Mortem Nen from the last victim, and the energy of the second ring settled at 66%, having increased by about 16% in total.
If Chimera hadn't siphoned off 15% earlier, he would now have around 80% energy.
If only he could find the true vessel of the harp solo movement, perhaps he could immediately fill the second ring's energy.
But there was no "if."
Still, considering the principle of energy conservation, he wasn't entirely sure whether the true vessel of the harp solo movement could still grant him a massive gain.
After all, he had already absorbed the fundamental information related to it. Based on past experience, such thorough absorption usually meant there was nothing left to take.
Morrow shook his head slightly, deciding not to dwell on it for now.
"It's done."
He walked over to Kanzai and Nenze.
Kanzai glanced at the spacious hall filled with unconscious bodies, sensing not a trace of Post-Mortem Nen left, then grinned at Morrow and gave him a thumbs-up.
Nenze, on the other hand, bowed respectfully toward Morrow. Morrow found Kanzai's smile a bit too silly at the moment and couldn't help but crack a faint smile himself. However, business came first.
"Kanzai, I've already figured out what the 'source' is. The problem is how to locate that thing."
"Huh? How did you..."
Kanzai was momentarily stunned, but he wasn't stupid. He guessed it might be related to the Exorcism process earlier, so he didn't press further and quickly offered a solution.
"There's a Lost Hunter in the Association. Though I'm not particularly fond of him, we could ask for his help with this matter."
"Is that so? Then it's simple."
Morrow's eyes gleamed with interest.