Edgar and Duncan entered the World of Doors, the designated realm for removing the tumor from its origin.
The moment their feet touched the cold ground,the wristband's voice echoed through the void as usual:
[System activated.]
[Door Level: E.]
[Cleaner Rank: E.]
[Mission:Defeat the Incinerator Mother.]
[Mission Skill:Endurance.]
[Actual Skill:Thunder King."]
Edgar read the details and closed the interface.
He said to Duncan in a neutral tone:
"You were right. It's an E-level Door."
Duncan breathed a sigh of relief as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, while Edgar looked up at the descending path ahead and said:
"Let's go... let's finish this."
When they reached the door of the hospital opposite, Duncan decided to hold back:
"I'll stay outside this time."
Edgar didn't object.
He entered alone.
The moment Edgar crossed the threshold, he felt he had fallen into the heart of a living nightmare.
The sky above was like black velvet, exploding with heavy drops of blood that fell rhythmically, staining his face as they slowly descended as if time itself was breaking.
He raised his head…
And froze.
Dozens of women wearing white hospital gowns hung in the sky like puppets without strings, their bodies dripping blood that fell on him like rain.
They were suspended in a fixed position,but their faces moved slowly… so slowly as if time flowed for them alone.
Edgar drew his sword as if cutting through darkness rather than air, then looked ahead.
A few meters away, a small hill rose, exactly as the old man had described.
And at its peak…a small house, moving.
Not with human movement,but with the motion of an unstable entity, like a shadow passing between different dimensions—an unreal house… unsteady… not always existing.
Edgar placed his hand on his chest.
His heartbeats accelerated…
But strangely,he smiled.
And advanced toward the hill.
With every step he climbed, he heard screaming.
Not one scream…but dozens.
He turned.
The women hanging in the sky were now trembling, their bellies swelling to the point of tearing, with a bright light pulsing inside the swelling…
The pulse of a life that hadn't been born…or shouldn't have been born.
Their screams tore through the air, but Edgar continued climbing without looking back.
He reached the house door.
And knocked…quietly.
From inside, he heard distorted singing… a faint, shaky voice, as if coming from a rusty throat.
Then footsteps…
Then hesitation…
Then the door opened.
And she emerged.
The same tall woman…Tall beyond the laws of physics.
Tall enough to exceed the size of the door or the house itself.
Yet shepassed through it as if it were mere air.
Her body penetrated matter without resistance,like a shadow… or a nightmare that had gained feet.
She stood before Edgar.
Her long hair hung directly over his face,as if suffocating him.
She lowered her head and tilted it toward him, an inhuman smile sliding across her mouth.
She said in a soft voice… but one carrying darkness:
"Hello…kid.I think you Are cold?"
Edgar stared into her small, narrow eyes—so narrow they were suffocating.
His mind screamed inside:
"Close… too close…"
He tried to move away—But her foot lashed out in a single kick.
It hit him like a storm.
He tumbled down the hill dozens of times,until he felt his bones shatter… but when he stood up—His body was intact.
The pain was there…but the damage had vanished.
He looked at himself in astonishment, then raised his head toward the tall woman with strange confidence.
The woman's hair suddenly rose, as if electrified.
It transformed into thorns all pointing toward the sky.
She raised her hand, pointing her long… grotesquely long finger… at Edgar's chest.
And said in a voice that started low but gradually rose:
"You need… warmth…
More than anyone…"
Then—She screamed.
A scream unlike any human sound, erupting simultaneously with the screams of the hanging women.
And at that moment… they descended.
Skeletons of children.
Charred bodies,burning with fire, connected by invisible cords to their mothers in the sky.
There were dozens…perhaps hundreds.
Descending slowly…
In a terrifying rhythm…
Under the light of the blood raining from the sky.
And as they descended—The woman opened a gate upon Edgar.
A gate to Hell itself.