Troy ran through the corrupted forest, knowing that his spirit was currently wandering The Upside Down, while his body remained on a hospital bed in the nine-foot space of Hawkins Lab.
He wasn't strong; it was just that after being tortured by fear for weeks on end, no matter how terrified you were, you eventually became numb to it.
To be honest, he was already somewhat numb with fear regarding The Upside Down. Those Reverse World Creatures—the vines, the tentacles, the spiders, the monsters—could at most make his heart skip a beat. Now, the only thing that could truly strike terror into him was Henry Creel, whom everyone jokingly referred to as the five-star general, Vecna.
Henry was just like the demon child in the movies Richard filmed—utterly evil. The fear he brought was a never-ending series of transformations, a kind of despair one could never adapt to. From a certain perspective, Henry's very existence was a form of terror.
Troy knew everyone in the real world was working hard to save him, so he couldn't afford to fall now. Running through the familiar streets of the town, he muttered to himself, "I have to... stay alive..."
No sooner had he spoken than lightning flashed and thunder rumbled across the sky, and that giant Shadow Spider Monster appeared once again.
Troy's eyelid twitched, knowing full well that the thing was an incarnation of Henry. He quickly turned and ran.
However, this time, he wasn't so lucky.
He felt a gust of black, sinister wind sweep in front of him, forming a wall of dark air. Breathing heavily, he tried to find another way to escape, only to look around and realize he was already trapped within a black tornado.
Troy trembled all over as a low voice rang out, echoing continuously in his ears: "I've caught you. Become my eyes."
"No!" Troy screamed at the top of his lungs.
At that same moment, in a sauna somewhere in town, Troy, who was lying on a bench, also screamed, his eyes rolling back as he began to twitch.
Seeing this, several shirtless men in the sauna looked toward Mike and the other members of the youth group outside the door. Eddie tossed his newly permed 'instant noodle' hair and shouted, "Let's start Chade's plan too, guys!"
Bam!
After Eddie and the other members of the Hellfire Club took their instruments from Dustin and the others outside, Eddie kicked open the sauna door. Mike and the rest outside began to frantically stuff firewood into the sauna's furnace, blowing on the flames like mad to rapidly increase the temperature inside.
"Let's have some Doomsday Rock! 'Master of Puppets'!!!" Eddie tossed his hair along with the opening drum beat, then his pick swept across the strings frantically. The piercing, magical sound instantly exploded throughout the sauna and drifted outside through the cracks.
End of passion play, crumbling away.
I'm your source of self-destruction.
Veins that pump with fear, sucking darkest clear.
...Come crawling—faster!
Obey your—master!
Your life burns—faster!
Obey your—master! Master!
...As Henry controlled the Mind Flayer's body and attempted to inject black particles into Troy's form, a wave of heat surged from within the boy, acting like a 360-degree protective barrier. Simultaneously, a familiar and irritatingly restless piece of rock music suddenly exploded around Troy. That frenzied music seemed to possess a kind of magic; it was this very music that once again awakened Troy, who had been trapped in an endless nightmare of terror, completely isolating the Mind Flayer's power.
Henry couldn't believe it, watching helplessly as Troy's awakened spiritual form slowly dissipated from The Upside Down, exiting this world.
He understood everything in an instant.
It was him again! Richard!!!
Henry's eyes turned red with rage as he let out a furious roar. Influenced by his anger, the Mind Flayer's body became extremely unstable, suddenly splitting into several torn black strands that scattered from the sky, heading toward the Hawkins Lab in The Upside Down.
Henry decided to fight Richard, who was in that place, with everything he had!
That detestable mortal had ruined his plans time and time again. He would make Richard endure the true wrath of a god!
Boom!
Richard used his gun stock to knock away a lunging Demodog. On this unsafe, unprotected elevator, Richard and the group of people with him were like a lonely vessel drifting on a vast ocean far from the mainland—surrounded by danger and utterly isolated.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The others, including Hopper, held automatic rifles and fired frantically at the group of Dimo Creatures climbing the rock walls.
Eleven was surrounded by this group, unleashing her powerful psychic energy to close the massive rift before her, which was nearly ten stories high. She had always felt responsible for this rift and the crisis in the town, even if it wasn't what she had intended.
Now, there were many people in the town she liked, and many who liked her. She wanted to use her power to protect them.
Furthermore, she had heard that as long as she handled the crisis of The Upside Down this time, she could shed her identity as a "Hawkins Superpowered Experimental Subject" and obtain a new, normal identity to live openly with everyone in town.
For these two reasons, Eleven was putting her life on the line today.
"I want to eat the food Chade makes every day!" Eleven suddenly shouted.
Richard, who was using his miraculous Gun Kata to frantically slaughter the Dimo Creatures, was startled by the voice. His hand slipped, and the bullet missed its mark; what was meant to be a headshot hit the Demodog in the chest. He quickly fired another shot to finish it off, then asked without looking back, "Why the sudden shout?"
"You said that to use my abilities, I need to use my emotions."
"The emotion... of eating?"
"The emotion of liking the food you make!" Eleven beamed. If her nose weren't bleeding so much right now, her smile would surely not look as goofy as it did.
Richard smiled. "If there's a chance, you're more than welcome."
The joyful emotion indeed tapped into Eleven's potential. The speed of her nosebleed increased, and blood began to seep from her eyes, ears, and mouth. Simultaneously, the psychic power she unleashed became even more terrifying, almost taking physical form. In reality, it was a spatial distortion effect caused by her psychic energy impacting air molecules, and the healing speed of the spatial rift suddenly accelerated.
"Richard!" A furious howl erupted from the rift.
Just as the glowing Gate to the Upside Down shrank to only two stories high, a giant black tentacle shot out from The Upside Down, thrusting like a spear toward Eleven and Richard, who happened to be standing in a direct line with her.