"Friends? Mother? Father? What about them?"
Alessa pointed at Madison and Veronica as she spoke.
Madison curled her lips into a smile. "We're your stepmothers—Madison and Veronica."
Honestly, having a demon like Alessa as their daughter would be something they could proudly boast about.
The mere thought of it made them feel a little excited.
Veronica nodded, crouched down, and reached out to stroke Alessa's head.
Alessa hesitated for a moment, then instinctively dodged away.
Like an abandoned stray cat, she was wary of everyone, afraid of being hurt again.
Seeing this, Madison said, "Alessa, we're not like Dahlia. With us here, no one will ever hurt you."
"Think about it—wouldn't it be nice to have so many mothers loving you?"
Alessa froze. What Madison said… made a certain kind of sense.
If she really had so many kind mothers protecting her, just thinking about it felt warm.
It was just… she had longed for maternal love her whole life, yet never expected to be overwhelmed by it all at once.
Was this what it meant to die of thirst in a drought, only to drown in a flood?
Although she couldn't immediately accept having so many mothers all of a sudden, her wariness eased slightly.
After all, everyone here could be considered family, in one way or another.
Only Carrie, who wasn't technically family, had a past similar to hers.
As the ruler who had created this world, Alessa had absolute control over both the Outer and Inner Worlds, with the sole exception of the church.
She could even clearly determine whether Carrie was lying.
Before Carrie awakened her magic, Alessa had even been able to peer directly into her inner world.
That was the main reason she had appeared here in person.
Only Luke… she couldn't see through him or understand him.
From this seemingly reliable father, she felt a faint sense of danger.
Alessa was still hesitating.
Luke quietly prompted Rose through telepathy.
Rose paused for a moment, then nodded. She pulled Sharon along and stepped in front of Alessa, extending her hand.
"Alessa, if you're willing, from today onward, I will be your mother, and I will protect you."
"As for those who hurt you…"
Rose's face flushed slightly with anger as she struggled to continue. In the end, she said, "Let Father and your stepmothers help you take revenge, alright?"
Alessa stared blankly at Rose's outstretched hand for a long time, then looked up to meet Sharon's curious, blinking gaze.
In Rose's eyes, she sensed something she had never experienced before.
Love.
Alessa pressed her lips together, then slowly reached out and took her hand.
At that moment, Luke walked over and gently smoothed the messy, dirt-streaked hair from Alessa's forehead.
Veronica stepped forward as well, conjuring a comb with a wave of her hand through Transfiguration, and began enthusiastically brushing Alessa's hair.
The sudden attention left Alessa feeling somewhat overwhelmed.
She was evil. She was darkness. She was a demon born from a fractured personality.
Did they really take her for some helpless human child? Ridiculous. Did they think she could be moved so easily?
I am darkness—drip..
"Why are you crying? Are you hungry? Or do you feel uncomfortable because you haven't bathed?"
Perhaps because Luke and the others were nearby, Sharon gathered her courage and peeked out, cautiously trying to interact with the girl who looked about her age and resembled her.
Alessa quickly wiped away the bloody tears beneath her eyes and forced a fierce expression. "It's just sand in my eyes! Can't you see all the ash flying around?"
"Oh!"
Sharon shrank back in fright, clutching Rose's arm tightly.
Yet Alessa could clearly see Sharon sneaking glances at her from time to time.
Damn it. I'm bleeding, not crying.
"Let's go take a bath."
Veronica crouched down and spoke gently. "Little Alessa, is there any clean water nearby?"
At the mention of bathing, Alessa froze for a moment.
Bathing? How many years had it been?
Besides, she was Evil Alessa. Evil didn't need to bathe.
She lowered her head and looked at her blue dress, thick with dust and grime. She hadn't noticed it before, but now that she did, a sense of discomfort and disgust rose within her.
So dirty… and it smells.
"No need to go through all that trouble. It's just water—I have some."
Luke pointed with a finger, and a pool of water appeared on the ground.
Although they were currently within the Outer World created by Alessa, Luke's Reality Editor remained unaffected.
It could not only access objects within the Outer World, but also extend beyond its boundaries to perceive the real, physical world.
Alessa's current power could only encompass the town of Silent Hill; she had no control over the forest beyond it.
Luke casually shifted a puddle of water from the forest into this area.
Alessa was stunned. It was the first time she had ever seen someone move an inanimate object into the Outer World without her permission.
While she was still in a daze, Veronica and Rose had already cleaned her up and changed her clothes, treating her like a doll.
Meanwhile, Luke led Carrie, Madison, and Sharon to the other side.
From a distance, they could see indistinct shadows moving within the mist.
"What are those?" Carrie extended her magic, sensing the presence of the figures hidden in the dense fog.
"Those are the only monsters in the Outer World—the Lying Figures. They represent Alessa's image when she was bound and tortured, low-level demons born from her psyche."
Luke glanced at them before looking away.
Perhaps because Alessa already regarded Luke and the others as her own, she subconsciously kept those Lying Figure monsters away from this area.
Luke had no interest in dealing with such low-level creatures. They were clearly useless, wouldn't grant any Anomaly Points, and killing them would just waste time.
Carrie said angrily, "How could those people do this to her? To torture a ten-year-old girl like that!"
Madison was equally furious. "Those people aren't human at all—they're beasts, devils! The fact that they're still alive is already too lenient!"
"And what are the police even doing? Just wasting taxpayers' money?"
Luke shook his head. "The police in Silent Hill serve money. The wealthy are devout followers, so the choice they make is obvious."
"Of course, not everyone is bad. At least one police officer deserves praise—he was the only one who risked his life to rescue Alessa from the fire."
The officer who saved Alessa back then had since become the director of the police station in the town of New Silent Hill.
He was also one of the very few people who could freely enter and leave Silent Hill.
Of course, that only applied to the real Silent Hill.
Because Alessa would not harm those who had once helped her.
At that moment, a hunched woman dressed like a beggar staggered out of the mist.
She seemed to be searching for something.
"Is that Alessa's mother, Dahlia? She's actually still alive? Alessa didn't kill her?"
Madison was clearly surprised. If it were her, she would never let anyone who had hurt her go, especially not a mother who had allowed it all to happen.
"Perhaps, in a child's eyes, a mother is like a god?"
Luke repeated the words Rose had once said.
Madison pouted, clearly unconvinced.
Standing nearby, Carrie looked at Dahlia and couldn't help but think of her own mother.
For some reason, the two figures seemed to overlap, as if they were one and the same.
Her mother had demanded that she remain pure, and the cult here preached the same doctrine of purity.
This made Carrie feel a deep sense of revulsion toward the cultists of Silent Hill, toward her mother Margaret White, and even toward Christianity and the Bible.
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