[This game session has ended.]
[We regret to inform you that you have failed to successfully clear this game.]
[You have lost the qualification to proceed onto that true path.]
[May you find a way to leave this game and finally rest in peace.]
[Good luck.]
The cold game notification sounded in his ears, but Takumi no longer had the time to pay attention to such things.
He forcefully rubbed his hand against the rock wall, not stopping until the skin was scraped raw and blood began to flow.
Then he soaked the ring in his blood, ensuring that after his own death, he would be able to obtain this core Obsession Item.
Although this instance currently still displayed as Dusk-level, that was because the instance was still in a fixed state, and this idiotic "Sacrifice Game" would display the original game difficulty during the fixation phase. That was why this mismatch between the actual difficulty and the displayed level appeared. But without a doubt, the ring in Takumi's hand now—this ring that could grant players the "immortality" trait for a short time—was a Dark Night-level core Obsession Item.
Once it was stained with blood, after he died and restarted, this thing would be his.
As for how he was supposed to die, and how he was supposed to restart, Takumi had no answer. He simply forced himself not to think about the possibility of "never being able to die and being trapped here forever," continued to encourage himself inwardly, and continued to think about whether there might be some other way to break the deadlock.
"Hah…"
But just as Takumi was struggling to think, he suddenly felt a powerful crushing force attack him from front, back, left, and right, forcing out the little air he had left in his lungs in an instant.
What is going on?
"Ugh… hah…"
The indescribable pain was still piling on, layer after layer.
The rock walls silently shrank again, almost crushing and deforming Takumi's entire body.
If, just now, Takumi could at least barely move his hands a little, then now even his fingers were tightly pinned by the rock walls. There was practically nowhere on his body he could move at all.
"Ugh… hah…"
He could no longer breathe.
His chest cavity was completely jammed, leaving not the slightest bit of space.
Takumi fell into suffocation again, and this time, the suffocation would not gradually subside like before.
The lack of oxygen made his brain fall into chaos once more.
Takumi almost fainted on the spot, then woke again because of the intense pain spreading throughout his body. After repeating this several times, he finally forced himself to adjust through sheer willpower and regained the ability to think.
Why is this happening?
Takumi felt that his body had almost been crushed by the rock walls into some other shape, as if he was about to lose his original human form.
The pain fiercely stimulated his nerves. He could vaguely feel that even at this point, these rock walls were still slowly changing—becoming narrower, becoming more twisted—crushing his bones and flesh, trying to completely merge him into the rock walls.
Could it be… because I took the core Obsession Item?
No, that's not right. Taking the core Obsession Item shouldn't cause such a huge reaction.
This feeling… seems to be something formed by the nightmares of those trapped here resonating with Andres's core obsession.
Crushed by the rock cavern.
Lost in the darkness.
Those who died here, those who live here in a fate worse than death—their existence echoed with the obsession formed by Andres, causing the cavern itself to undergo an even more severe distortion.
"Ugh… ngh…"
The surrounding rock walls underwent an even more severe distortion.
Takumi's arm had already completely broken, twisted by the deformed rock walls into a shape almost like a braided rope.
His chest and abdomen were nearly folded into a right angle, and his legs were broken into seven or eight different sections.
Even his head was the same, pressed by the curved rock walls—little by little—until Takumi's head was almost bent into a crooked triangle.
Even so, he still could not die.
The intense torment brought by thirst and hunger continued unabated. Every cell and every nerve in his body was transmitting signals of pain.
Only the narrow fissure above still existed, still dripping foul, blood-tainted water, one drop after another, from beginning to end without any change—just like the silent corpse hanging upside down in the rock cavern.
Drip—
Drip—
"Ugh… ah…"
Drip—
Takumi's cries of pain were mixed into the sound of the dripping.
In the all-encompassing darkness, everything was so interminably long, as if there would never be an end, continuing on like this without pause.
The sixteenth day, the eighteenth day, the twentieth day…
Each day felt as long as an entire year, so long that Takumi gradually began to lose his sensitivity to time.
The rock walls were still twisting and deforming bit by bit.
Takumi's body was gradually torn into a grotesquely twisted shape, almost merging with the rock walls.
The pain continued.
Only, when pain lasts for too long, what remains is nothing but numbness.
Takumi could already feel this numbness.
So numb that even thinking was almost cut off, leaving only the instinct to breathe.
"Ugh…"
No— even breathing could no longer continue. It was nothing more than self-deception.
There was no sensation at all.
At the end of pain lay a void where nothing could be felt.
An endless void, just like this darkness.
Drip—
Only the sound of water dripping remained.
Perhaps his nerves were already on the verge of collapse.
Yet perhaps due to the effects brought by augmentation and blessing, he remained conscious, still able to think, still able to face the cruel reality before him.
Unable to die.
A reality in which no matter what he did, there was no way to die.
Takumi seemed to understand.
Under the influence of this core obsession, what the only method of release truly was.
External force.
Whether it is other players, other kinds of people, or unforeseeable natural disasters—such as flooding that submerges a cave—only forces that are completely unrelated to the trapped person and entirely beyond that person's expectations can kill them.
The so-called execution of a core obsession is often the manifestation of what that obsession itself experienced while alive.
Just as the execution method of the core obsession in the Shirakawa Apartments was scalding water poured into the body and the mouth sewn shut with needle and thread, the obsession formed by this Andres after death will recreate those cursed by this obsession into a state similar to his own. Therefore, no matter what is done, he cannot die. Even if Takumi were to take out an Obsession Item with lethal power, he still could not kill himself. Because he knows about and uses these things, their effects are all nullified, and none of them can kill Takumi.
Only an external force that he does not know about and cannot control can change all of this.
That is to say, unless someone enters this cave, safely reaches the fork in the path and enters the "Dead End" area, finds him, and kills him, only then could he truly die.
Is such a thing really possible?
Takumi forced himself to concentrate and think about this question, and then, because of the intense pain, he lost consciousness once again, only to quickly wake up again.
Is there anyone who could do this?
Who would… come…
…
Half-dreaming, half-awake.
After his consciousness collapsed even further, Takumi gradually became unable to tell whether he was actually in the pitch-dark cave, or somewhere else entirely.
Hallucinations began to appear, and rapidly grew more severe.
Sometimes Takumi felt that he had returned to the past, still helping those small business owners investigate problems they themselves found inconvenient to handle, or that he had grown tired of that boring job and gone off to write novels instead. Then, in the blink of an eye, he would be back in the dark cave.
Sometimes Takumi felt that he had already resolved all the Horror Stories in the world, brought all despair to an end, and finally reached a time when he could enjoy a happy life in peace. But when he tried to take a step forward, he would find himself unable to move, only then realizing that he was stuck in the rock wall.
Sometimes Takumi felt as if he were sitting in a room playing games, when Maki leaned over from behind and gently hugged him, constantly distracting him at his side so that he could not focus on the game. In the end, angered by it, he turned around and pounced on her, and then did something to Maki… no, that should be a dream, right? Would that girl really do something like that?
This time, Takumi woke up in advance, but doing so seemed to have no real meaning…
At other times, Takumi seemed to see something else.
It was like the past experiences of other people, like residual images left behind in some place, being seen by him as he remained beside the core obsession.
He saw Patrick Reed announce with a helpless expression that the Big Slide had been officially sealed off, that a wall had been built, and that at the same time a memorial monument for Andres had been left at the cave entrance.
On that stone monument were written:
[An irreversible tragedy occurred here]
[A respectable father, a good person, a child rests here]
[In memory of Andres, may he rest in peace]
At the same time, there was also a photograph of Andres himself on the monument. It seemed that for a very long period of time, people had continually come to lay flowers at this monument.
But later, the monument disappeared, and everything behind the Big Slide began to be sealed off and no longer disclosed to the outside.
At first, this was because security personnel went missing, the wall collapsed, and strange incidents occurred. After some hesitation, Patrick decided to suppress the matter and continue operating this park, whose business was becoming more and more prosperous. Wilbur argued with him several times over this, but for the time being the situation was not too serious, and Patrick was only thinking that he would make plans once things truly became impossible to contain.
Then one day, a person of noble bearing came to visit the attraction and recognized its potential. He told Patrick that he had decided to support the construction of this attraction, and told Patrick not to worry about any issues—he only needed to put forward his requirements, and they would certainly be met. He would make this attraction famous and allow Patrick to earn a great deal of money, and all that he needed in return was merely a small amount of fame that would come along with the attraction's prosperity.
And while these matters were unfolding outside, within that soundless darkness, within the narrow rock cavern deep in that silent depth, Andres remained in a daze. He did not know that he had already died, only endlessly repeating the pain of that day. Repeating it, repeating it, continuing to repeat it without end—like a day that would never see an ending arrive—forever unable to change, endlessly repeating the pain of the day he died.
At a certain moment, Takumi felt that his sense of self was almost about to completely dissipate.
He felt as if he were Andres himself, felt as if he were about to become Andres in person, to the point that even Takumi's own personality and memories no longer existed—nothing was left at all.
But in the end, he still woke up, continuing with difficulty to maintain his sense of self, continuing with difficulty to gasp for breath, enduring the intense feeling of suffocation, enduring the severe torment brought to him by the despairing cave rock wall—torment that did not cease for even a moment, at every single instant—and in this way he continued to hold on.
What, exactly, was he holding on for, what was he waiting for? In truth, Takumi himself could not explain it clearly, and did not know how to describe it.
Would Maki and the others, who had successfully escaped this instance, know what had happened to him? That was impossible, right? They would probably only think that he had disappeared like this. Perhaps they would think that he had already used up his attempts and had no way to redo it? No, no, no—she was not that kind of personality… But now that he was here, how could they possibly know how to find him, how to help him?
Moreover, although the number of players who passed through the Blood Vessel might not be large, there were definitely still some. Yet he was trapped here… for how long? A few days? Dozens of days? He had never encountered any other players. Perhaps all players imprisoned in this darkness were each in a separate area, so even if there were other trapped players here, he had no way to see them, and no way to help each other, to find a method to kill one another.
"Uh…"
Amid the painful, suffocated sound, Takumi's body trembled under the encirclement of the rock wall.
Drip—
He could already barely feel his body.
Pain had become the only thing left.
What time was it now, exactly?
Where was it now?
Where am I?
The twenty-fifth day, the twenty-seventh day…
Takumi himself could not know the passage of this time.
Drip—
His consciousness was still continuously dispersing.
Dispersing until even memories of the past became blurred.
Unable to die.
Still unable to die.
Still… still unable…
Drip—
"Takumi-kun, you're here, right?"
A girl's voice.
It sounded as if it was coming from within a dream, and also as if it was coming from somewhere right beside him.
In his dazed state, Takumi seemed to catch the scent of someone's presence.
A familiar scent, one he missed, one that seemed as if he had felt it not long ago—had even embraced it.
Did he still have any senses left?
In his daze, Takumi wanted to open his mouth to respond, but he could no longer make a sound.
"You don't need to answer. I know. Takumi-kun can't answer me right now. It's okay. I'm here. It's okay."
Within that relieved voice, he felt a warm touch bloom within his embrace.
Who was it?
The rock wall seemed to undergo some kind of change.
Within the narrow rock wall where only he should have existed, another person squeezed in.
Why did it turn out like this?
Who was it?
"I'm the one who found you first. That's really great."
Along with the girl's voice, memories of the past seemed to resurface little by little.
"You really are a deeply sinful bad guy, you know—stealing the hearts of two girls. You should know, after I realized that Shijō-san truly liked you, I had already decided to give up."
"But Shijō-san never gave up on searching for you. She gathered every bit of information she could gather and came back here again. I did the same. At that time, I was thinking about whether I could find you one step ahead of Shijō-san, and in the end, I actually succeeded."
"Hehehe, but it couldn't be helped, right? After all, I was the one who walked out of the Blood Vessel together with you. Of course the person who would think of this place and come here first would be me. I'm very smart, you know."
Within that self-satisfied voice, Takumi gradually recalled the other party's long pink hair, and recalled that lively, carefree, adorable personality.
"So, Shijō-san and I worked together to modify the explosives you took out from the Shirakawa Apartments. Right now, I have one tied to me, and it's already set to go off in three minutes. We managed to obtain some information about this instance. This explosive, as a lethal item that I use, can't kill me, but it will definitely be able to kill you, Takumi-kun, because this is an external force that has nothing to do with you. That way, you can start over again, and let everything begin from the very start."
The girl continued speaking.
She seemed to have very, very many things she wanted to tell Takumi. Worried that time would not be enough, she kept talking nonstop, continuously pouring her words out to Takumi, refusing to pause even for a moment.
"Your disappearance was a huge blow to Kaguya and Shijō-san. They talked a lot about things related to you, and in the end everyone made a decision—to use the entry tickets obtained after clearing the instance to return to this place and search for traces of you."
"This past month has been very hard for everyone. But as long as everything restarts, everyone will forget these painful memories and can begin again from the start, right?"
"Kaguya said that we need you. We absolutely need your abilities in order to ensure things go smoothly in the tasks ahead. So when it's time for us to make sacrifices, we can't back down. Kaguya always has a lot of reasoning like that. I didn't think that much. Shijō-san is probably the same."
"After entering here, she said she could already feel the connection between you and her. But no matter how she called out to you, there was no response. At that time, I was thinking that maybe I had a chance to find you one step ahead of her—and in the end, I really did succeed."
"So after this, once you start over, Shijō-san will forget those painful days after losing you, and I… I will also forget the time I spent with you, right? I'll go back to being a newcomer player who just joined the game, following behind you without knowing anything. Will you still lead me forward like before, and teach me how to survive here?"
More memories surfaced.
The moments of struggling forward together with this girl in the cave, laughing and talking with her, the two of them moving forward side by side, advancing step by step together.
Why was she here?
This hell-like world of endless darkness, a world she should never have fallen into.
No—why was she here? No, that's not it. What was she trying to do?
"No matter what, this girl who was drawn to you and fell in love with you will disappear from your world next."
"As for the me who starts over from the beginning—hm hm—what will that one become like? Maybe she'll end up just as foolishly drawn to you as I was?"
"But you see, my possessiveness is quite strong, so I want you to know the difference between this me and that future me. I want Takumi-kun to be unable to see me and her as the same person, to remember only this me, to keep only this me firmly in your heart."
"One day of meeting, then a month of longing—that's seven hundred and twenty hours, a full two million five hundred ninety thousand plus seconds."
"This is all the time I used to think of you after you stepped into my world, so…"
Boom—
Surging flames swallowed everything.
Before all things were completely shattered and destroyed, Takumi saw the girl's dirty face, smeared with blood and mud, and the smile she showed him—just like the foolish smile she had worn when he first met her.
Fujiwara Chika.
The final words she wanted to tell him were never spoken.
But Takumi already knew what she had wanted to say.
[So please, don't forget me]
[Please don't forget this girl who liked you]
In that instant, the endless darkness roared and shattered.
And the girl's smile dissipated from Takumi's sight.
Within the shattered rock wall, Takumi—his body twisted into a mangled mass of flesh and blood—finally broke free from the restraints of the obsession's power. His body began to collapse, turning into dust, and vanished.
And the black wristwatch fell down, rolling amid a circle of broken stones.
The hands on that watch trembled lightly in this unseen corner, then slowly moved, shifting from the position of 4 to the mark of 5.
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