The man waved his single arm and looked around.
A space painted entirely in black. A place where the boundaries of ground, walls, and ceiling were indistinguishable, as if trapped inside a giant sphere. A familiar place. A place he had been to once before. It wasn't a place one could easily forget in the first place.
"I didn't think the deal would go through."
The man spat that out and turned his gaze. His gaze and Kenji's collided in mid-air. The man's expression was emotionless and blank, while Kenji wore a look of disbelief. He couldn't help it.
Though the appearance was slightly different and the aura was different.
That was 'me'.
'A doppelganger?'
A thought that suddenly surfaced. But he erased it instantly. If that were merely a doppelganger, it wouldn't be shrouded in such an ominous aura. Then, what is it? A hallucination from mental confusion? If not that, where, why, and for what purpose did it appear?
His mind raced fiercely. Kenji stared intently at the man without saying a word. The man also gazed intently at Kenji. Then, rubbing the corner of his mouth with his hand, he let out a small laugh, "Huh." Kenji frowned at the torn and sharp voice.
"That bastard wasn't that benevolent, you know."
"...What are you?"
Kenji asked. Instead of answering immediately, the man twisted the corner of his mouth. It was an expression that couldn't be told if he was laughing or crying, but his eyes were colder than anything. A murderous intent so intense surged forward. Kenji's body flinched, and the man took a step forward.
A drop of ink fell from his clenched fist.
"The Contract with Colors."
A tearing metallic sound pierced his ears. Every nerve in his body stood on end. The alarm bell in his head rang violently.
"I didn't think it would actually be carried out."
The man pulled his arm back. The dripping ink condensed on his fist. With an expression stained with longing, pity, and cruelty, he spat out.
"But the goal must be achieved."
He swung. Ink surged from his forward-thrust fist. Just a few seconds. No, even less time than that. Kenji felt the illusion that the world had slowed down. He saw the black ink writhing from the man's fist. The ink that flowed like a liquid stretched out like a shadow.
His judgment was quick. Kenji gritted his teeth and tilted his head to the side.
—Whoosh! The shadow slammed into where his head had been. If he hadn't dodged, his head would have been shattered. Kenji violently distorted his face and turned his head toward the man. The man had reached right in front of him.
Tap. The man lightly struck Kenji's abdomen.
"Kehuk!"
Kenji vomited a mouthful of blood and rolled on the ground. Strength wouldn't enter his arms and legs. He tried to force himself up, but as soon as his hands touched the ground, his body fell forward.
"Keheuk, kahak..."
Breathing was difficult. Was it because his insides were shaken? Or was blood blocking his airway? Perhaps both. Struggling to regain his breath, Kenji glared at the man with bloodshot eyes. The man brushed the blood off his fist and looked down at Kenji with indifferent eyes. Then he waited until Kenji's breathing returned.
"Grru... Haa..."
Thus for a few seconds. Around the time Kenji caught his breath, the man spat out in a low voice.
"How many have you lost?"
"Huh... What bullshit are you talking?"
"Mika. Nagisa. Seia. I mean, out of those three, how many have you lost?"
It was hard to understand the meaning of the expression 'lost'. Whether it meant pushing them away from his embrace or referring to their deaths. He couldn't grasp the proper meaning. But only one answer came to mind. Kenji smiled slightly and raised his body.
"They're all alive."
"..."
"What, did you lose them all?"
*Kwajik!*
His head exploded as he spat it out.
The headless body fell powerlessly. Crushed flesh rolled on the ground, and brain fragments and cerebrospinal fluid adorned the floor. Instant death. With nothing more to see, Kenji died with his head blown apart. But this was a space where the concept of death doesn't exist. Because of that, the blood, cerebrospinal fluid, bones, and brain fragments returned to their places as if time were rewinding.
The man stared at that sight and brushed the brain fragment off his fist. The fallen fragment crawled toward Kenji's head.
"...Yeah. I lost them all."
Kenji's head began to regenerate. Anyway, even in that state, his eyes and ears were open. The man let out a long breath and stared at Kenji's writhing body. A body that had bloomed the fear but couldn't take its power. It was natural. Since external intervention occurred at the final stage, gaining power would have been impossible. Not a very surprising fact.
Instead, his emotions surged over something else.
They're all, alive.
His fist clenched on its own. He recalled Nagisa, who smiled until the end as she crumbled. He recalled Mika, who couldn't be forgiven by anyone, shouldering all sin alone before disappearing. He recalled Seia, lying on a sickbed, unable to distinguish dream from reality. He recalled the Teacher. He recalled the Nameless God. He recalled all those he had connected with but who had vanished.
They were precious people.
People he hoped would live even if he died in their place, people he wanted to at least embrace the wounds he had inflicted. But he couldn't achieve a single thing and sent them away. Without even resentment or blame. Rather, thinking of those who left with a single word of apology, he blamed himself, cried, and sometimes even resented them.
Those people, are alive. Although it's a different timeline, the fact they are alive was important. The man let out a small laugh, "Huh."
"Did the Teacher appear?"
"Teacher, what's that."
By now, his regenerated head. Kenji spat out while clutching his neck. The man nodded heavily.
"Meaning it's still far off. But if you've bloomed the fear even so... Are you moving with Gematria?"
"You know a lot, huh. You damn bastard."
"...So that's where the paths diverge."
The man let out a short sigh, then, as if pondering for a moment, stroked his lips with his single hand. During that gap, Kenji got up. He stepped back a few steps, distancing himself from the man. Regardless, the man paid no attention to Kenji.
He recalled the dead. He recalled the living.
The Contract with Colors. The Nameless God's statement. The promise, the deal with the Unnamed Priests. The Teacher who conveyed words through the Box of Shesdim. All of those revolved in his head. The question he reached was truly simple and clear.
What must be done.
The answer had been realized from the moment he first set foot here. Long ago, seeing the face of the foolish 'me', his heart wavered, but what needed to be done was clear anyway. Since he never intended to fulfill the Contract with Colors in the first place.
Suddenly, the words spoken by AL-1S, whom he had directly caught and killed, came to mind.
-Aris... wanted to be with everyone. This, this kind of actㅡ
To be with everyone. The man savored those words inwardly and held back a bitter smile.
What did I say back then? I'm sure....
"'Me too,' I think I said."
"What?"
Kenji asked back, but the man didn't answer.
*Thud*, he unclenched his hand. Blood vessels swelled on the back of his hand.
He's coming. Kenji judged so and lowered his posture. He knew instinctively that one doesn't die here, yet the feeling of death definitely existed. To the point he never wanted to feel it again, that sensation was terrible beyond measure.
"The contract is."
The man spat that out and moved forward. One step, just that brought him right in front of Kenji. There was no time to react. The man reached out and tightly gripped Kenji's neck. But he didn't tear it or burst it. Instead, he applied force to his grip, obstructing Kenji's breathing.
That alone was agony. Kenji's face violently contorted as he struggled to break free, but the man didn't even flinch. He stared into Kenji's trembling black eyes and moved his lips.
"Killing you, you become the Perfumer of Colors. I fall into the timeline where you live. That was the content."
"Ggruuk..."
"But, I haven't lost everything either. I've lost much, but some things still remain."
Seia. Recalling that name, the man continued.
"Protecting that alone is enough. If I said I don't miss them, it would be a lie, but it's also true that I have no face to see them."
I am a sinner. A sinner whose guilt wouldn't disappear even after dying several times. I hesitated in judgment and caused harm to those around me. Due to my rampage, many students died or were injured. To resolve that, I inflicted an indelible disability upon Mika who came running. So, I had no qualification to laugh, cry, or replace their 'Kenji' while looking at them. I shouldn't have.
Thinking so, the man released the force from his grip. Kenji's body fell face-down on the ground, and the man bent his knee to meet his gaze.
"Protect them. Even at the cost of your life. Trust the Teacher, and use your power for her."
"..."
"I came to convey this message. Blowing your head off... think of it as venting anger. You knew you wouldn't die anyway."
Kenji gave no answer. He just quietly, with calm eyes, glared at the man. For some reason, that gaze felt pleasing, so the man laughed lowly and slapped Kenji's head. With a huge noise, his head slammed into the ground.
"Kehuk?!"
"Don't exaggerate. Take this."
The man grabbed Kenji's hair and extended something with his other hand.
It was a heart covered in ink. *Thump, thump.* The heart beat at short intervals.
"It's the essence of fear. If you fit this into your heart, the fear will be under your control. But if you fail to control it after fitting it, you'll be devoured instead."
"..."
"Don't worry if you're devoured. If necessary, I'll kill you."
"...Well, that's a damn grateful thing to say."
The man laughed, "Huh," and placed the heart in Kenji's hand. As it touched his skin directly, the heart's beating cycle sped up further. It was an unsettling sight. The heart evoked both a sense of ominousness and instinctive fear. But Kenji didn't hesitate. He tightly grasped the heart placed in his hand and shoved it into the hole in his chest. Instantly, the hole was filled.
*Thump!*
The heart beat loudly. Simultaneously, all blood vessels in his body contracted. Terrible pain starting from the heart raced through those vessels throughout his body. Sounds of something bursting erupted continuously in his head. All sorts of fear combed through his brain wrinkles and eroded his mind.
"Ggruuk...!"
—He gritted his teeth and endured. Whenever the fear grew stronger, Kenji recalled the three people.
A man with the power to crush human heads like tofu lost everyone. Couldn't protect them. But, can I with no such power protect three? How could that be? I would need at least that bastard's level of power to even struggle.
For that.
I must not die here.
Kenji strained to drive out the fear corrupting his mind. That was above all a simple task, and also a dangerous one. His muscles and bones seemed to melt away limply. It was impossible to distinguish whether what flowed through his blood vessels was molten metal or blood, his entire body was hot as if covered in lava.
Simultaneously, he was cold. His lungs froze, and it felt like small ice grains stabbed and tore his alveoli. His organs repeatedly melted and froze. Blood gushed profusely from every hole in his body.
Yet he doesn't die. This is a kind of tug-of-war. A power struggle that would continue forever unless one side yields. So instead of choosing the easy way out, Kenji observed his body while clenching his teeth hard enough to shatter.
The fear starting from his heart erodes his body. But it wasn't perfect. Gaps definitely existed, and Kenji wasn't foolish enough to fail to penetrate them. He tore through the gathered fear's gaps and made them his own.
Even so, it was a feeble level. That was enough. Kenji slowly, very slowly, sent his own fear through his blood vessels. During the process, he subjugated the unstable fear he encountered. Then the pain subsided somewhat.
He must not become complacent. Kenji exhaled black smoke, *hoo*, and led the fear.
'The speed is insufficient.'
His accelerated thoughts made a judgment. Kenji steadied his breath once, then condensed the dominated fear into a spherical form.
Thus, explosion.
*Bang!*
He violently vomited dark black blood from the shock that shook his body. His body became a rag, but still, the purpose was achieved. The fear, propelled by the explosion's force, circulated quickly throughout his body. The terminal point of the circulation was his heart.
"Focus."
The man's voice was heard. He ignored it. He had no leisure to spare.
Impurities intruded into the heart made of fear. Like white blood cells, the heart's fear thrashed wildly to devour Kenji's fear. From the recoil, bloody tears flowed from Kenji's eyes. Blood also poured from his mouth like a waterfall. It was already a bleeding amount enough to die and more, but anyway, he doesn't die. Holding back a bloody smile, Kenji tightly clenched his chest with his right hand.
"Give it up."
—Crunch. His fingertips dig into his chest. The fear gathered at his fingertips entered the heart's interior. It wasn't a pleasant sensation, but Kenji chuckled. Even though it wasn't a good situation, strangely, laughter kept coming out. Whatever.
The intruding fear mixes with the condensed fear. Thus it thickens. The high-purity fear momentarily pushed out the fear inside the heart. A void formed in the pushed-out fear. Now. Without hesitation, Kenji shoved his fear into that void.
The situation reversed. Now Kenji's fear madly devoured the fear inside the heart. The pain had long since subsided. He chewed and swallowed every last bit of the fear contained in the heart, leaving not a single residue. Then only his fear remained in the heart.
Now the final step. Kenji evenly regulated his breath and circulated the fear in his heart throughout his body. Thus one cycle, two cycles, and when it eventually became ten cycles. A creaking sound, *ududuk*, came from his body. The sound of his broken body returning to normal. The melted bones and muscles regained their places, and his organs were perfectly restored.
"Haa..."
No more black smoke came from his exhaled breath. Meaning he had completely dominated the fear.
Kenji slowly opened his closed eyes. The space that was originally only dark had now turned pure white. Surely because he absorbed all the fear constituting this place. He laughed softly and looked back at the man.
But wherever he looked, the man was nowhere to be seen. Kenji's face slightly frowned.
"Where did this bastard gㅡ"
The moment he spat it out. Kenji's head rang, *ding*. It was a sensation similar to full-body anesthesia. Not a phenomenon due to someone's interference or an enemy, but simply because his body and mind had become severely tattered, his brain was forcing him to rest.
Resistance was impossible. Kenji, grasping his gradually closing eyes, struggled to find the man until the end.
"You damn... bas..."
He lost consciousness before finishing his words.
*
Time was up. If possible, I wanted to stay and see the domination completed. Unfortunately, that was impossible. Whatever. He would have done it anyway. Seeing him move driven by malice, even if domination takes long, he probably won't succumb to the fear. That's enough.
Consciousness surfaced. His thoughts cut off, then returned.
The place where he opened his eyes was the entrance to Trinity General School. But the beauty and sanctity it originally held could be found nowhere. The fountain was miserably shattered, and the roads had huge holes here and there, making it difficult for people to pass.
No one will come anyway. The man laughed self-deprecatingly and slowly got up.
Because a visitor had come.
"You came quickly."
"Did you refuse the contract?"
All expression disappeared from the man's face. He stared at the school entrance with pupils devoid of any light. There stood a giant doll and a woman wearing a black dress. The man looked at the woman among them and moved his lips.
"Thinking I would accept it in the first place is arrogance itself."
"..."
"What about you do I trust to agree to a contract? Revive the Great Angel of Prophecy in exchange for sending me to a place where everyone is alive? Do I look like such a bastard that I would abandon Seia of this place and leave for another? And... did you think I wouldn't grasp the true intent of that contract?"
The man tilted his body sideways. Ink dripped from the cleanly severed cross-section of his left arm.
"You must have tried to trace back where I left to find another timeline. And you must have set foot in the place you found."
"..."
"What happens in the mental world, even you cannot observe. Because it's impossible to open every person's head one by one. So you tried to use me, didn't you?"
"..."
"Mouths are for opening, not for shutting the hell up. Anubis."
The man laughed bleakly. But his eyes were colder than anything.
Anubis.
The woman called that gazed intently at the man, then let out a deep sigh. *Click.* A chilling sound came from the gun she held. No intention to converse, perhaps. It didn't matter. The man steadied his breath once, then drew fear from his heart. Fear seethed from the severed cross-section of his left arm, soon taking the form of a black arm.
"...Yeah. The plan failed. So, Prenapates."
At Anubis's voice, the giant doll, Prenapates, took out the Box of Shesdim from its embrace. The man watched that spectacle and clenched his fist. Anubis also released the gun's safety.
"I'll now commence the full-scale battle, 'Trinity's Monster.'"
Anubis raised her gun. Light entered the Box of Shesdim.
The man stamped the ground. The instantly closed distance, beyond it, the man threw a punch.
White Lotus Demonic Art, Ink Flower.
A spreading black flower from the point of impact covered the two. Anubis stepped back and poured out bullets.
The full-scale battle had begun.
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