"Wait!"

One of the Wailers grabbed Eídal by the waist and lifted him as if he were a mere puppy. Face to face, Eídal could now see in greater detail the grotesque worm-like mouth. The sharp teeth were the size of a finger. But what surprised him the most was that inside that tongue-less mouth, there were small spike-like structures, similar to teeth, pointing towards the throat. They were sharp keratin papillae, like those found in sea turtles.

"Wait… It wasn't supposed to end like this."

The enormous worm-like head began to distort. Literally, the sharp teeth started to wobble and twist, taking the shape of a human face...

"What...?"

Eídal could recognize it—it was his own face, from his past self. Then, that face moved its trembling lips and whispered:

"Ex Luto? What wasn't supposed to end like this?"

"Ahhhh!"

The pressure of the embrace was so intense that his bones began to crack with a dry sound: "Snap…!" The fear of being crushed made his teeth chatter. But that sound seemed to bother the Wailer.

"Ex Luto. Noise... Noisy."

One of the tumors with a face on the Wailer's neck extended some sort of tongue.

The tumor's tiny tongue moved like a worm out of the earth: wriggling. Upon seeing it, Eídal's teeth clattered even more loudly.

"Noise. Noisy," the weeping one repeated.

The tumor stretched its tongue. Eídal couldn't even utter a word; all that echoed in his head was a disturbing ringing sound, caused by squeezing his eyelids tightly to hold back tears. The tumor's tongue extended so much that it could measure over a meter. It touched Eídal's cheek and licked it without restraint.

"Ugh!"

The warm, wet sensation made Eídal shudder.

He tried to break free, but it was in vain. Then, the weeping one spoke:

"Ex Luto. Just shut up."

"Wait! Ugh!"

The tongue forcibly entered Eídal's mouth. Saliva began to spill from his jaw, and he felt an awful choking sensation. The scene resembled a fly struggling to free itself from a frog's tongue. His struggles were futile. Just as spasms and snot started to mix with the saliva...

"Ex Luto? What is this?" whispered the weeping one.

A dripping sound was heard on the floor: "Plic, plic, plic..."

"Did you pee yourself?"

The lack of oxygen, the pressure on his bones, the fear, and the pain contributed to Eídal emptying his bladder.

'I'm pathetic,' he cursed himself.

But a loud voice interrupted the embarrassing scene:

"Ah~! It hurt~. It was really, really, reeally painful~!"

It was Astrid. In the distance, she walked pompously, as if excited about something. With her arms wide open, she said:

"Haah~! This is going to be fun."

Her breathing was heavy, and her breath was beginning to show in the air.

Somehow, the heroine's excited aura put the four weeping ones on alert, causing them to release Eídal. Even the weeping one who had copied his face returned to normal.

"Ah! Cough, cough, cough!" Eídal fell onto his back.

His throat burned. The need to breathe caused his own fluids to enter his lungs.

"Hey, hey, hey," Astrid said, stopping in her tracks. She pulled out a small spear-like weapon from her belt. "It's been a long time since something actually hurt me~. So, let me return the favor. Just one, just one hit~."

Looking at her more closely, Eídal realized that Astrid's body didn't have any severe injuries, except for a few scratches. She took the weapon in her left hand, and as she did, the small spear extended. It now measured over a meter and a half.

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The body of the spear was jet black, decorated with silver embossed glyphs. The silver tip was composed of two parts: the first was broad, and the second, much thinner. Astrid inhaled and said:

"The user commands: "Release"."

The embossed glyphs glowed with a pure white light. The four weeping ones froze and began to whisper:

"Ex Luto..."

"Bad..."

"Bad..."

"This is bad..."

Astrid had a wicked smile. This time, she didn't seem to be playing anymore. She placed the spear behind her head. Eídal didn't quite understand, but Astrid gave off the impression of a thug with a bat slung over her shoulder.

"So? What now?"

"Ex Luto. Ex Luto. You, who have been chained by my sin, accompany me to the mud."

The invitation was repeated, but Astrid refused again:

"That again? I already said I won't do it."

"Ex Luto. No, she will not accompany us to the mud."

Repeating the sentence in unison, the weeping ones got down on all fours, bristling their skin like cats trying to scare off a dog. It seemed both sides wanted to end the battle. But once again, the unthinkable happened... The tumor-faced creatures started writhing, shifting from left to right like worms trapped in flesh.

"They're falling off," Eídal whispered.

It was both incredible and repulsive. The small tumors kept wriggling until they finally dropped to the ground—all except the one that had been stabbed by Pía. Like extracted teeth, they left holes in the weeping ones' necks.

The tumors had something like long tails, resembling tadpoles. Their mouths moved viscerally, seeking to breathe. One fell near Eídal.

"Ah!"

Fear and disgust made him kick it away. The lump of flesh was soft, like a sponge.

"I-it's mutating."

Small appendages began sprouting from the tumors: legs. First two, then four, like tadpoles turning into frogs. Their tiny tails also retracted until they disappeared. Finally, the muscles expanded. Where there had been no flesh before, new tissue began to form. Their weight also increased.

The tumors kept growing until they eclipsed the sunlight. From being on all fours, they transformed into bipeds. Their eyes vanished, and their mouths grew larger until they took up the entire face, forming worm-like heads. The only difference from the original weeping ones, aside from not having any weapons, was that they lacked any lumps of flesh on their necks.

From each of the four original weeping ones, thirty offspring were born, making a total of 119, excluding the one Pía had stabbed. Now, counting both mothers and offspring, 123 weeping ones trampled the battlefield.

The massive crowd dimmed the sunlight; still, Astrid remained calm as she spoke:

"To kill them, I had to destroy the tumors individually and then attack the head. But now that they've dropped their tumors, I can kill both the mothers and offspring with a single strike."

Some of the offspring moved their lips and fangs in a wavy motion, forming words:

"E-ex Luto... Ex Luto... S-sorry..."

"P-please..."

"Sorry."

But Astrid smiled and responded:

"Ha! What if I refuse?"

After her refusal, the weeping ones' expressions twisted.

"Disgusting!" they began to shout. "Sinner, sinner! Filthy sinner!"

"Sinner, disgusting."

"You won't follow us into the mud!"

"You definitely won't follow us into the mud!"

"Are you still going on about that?" Astrid seemed annoyed.

Eídal interpreted the weeping ones' shouts as a desperate act.

'They're grasping at straws,' he thought, though their next words left him puzzled.

"Pregnant?..."

"What? Pregnant?..."

"Yes, pregnant..."

"You'll be pregnant!"

"The sinner will be pregnant."

"By whom? Who will impregnate you, sinner?"

"Hard, annoying, rotten, street girl! Who's going to father your child?"

"That child... Who will father that child? Why can't we see who the father is?"

"I know! It'll be the one you hate the most! You'll be pregnant by the man you hate the most!"

Eídal couldn't understand what the weeping ones meant by Astrid being "pregnant by the one she hated the most."

'It's probably just nonsense,' he reflected. 'Typical of beasts.'

On the other hand, veins started to become visible on Astrid's forehead. Waving her hand, she cut off the weeping ones.

"Blah, blah, blah. I don't understand what you're saying."

The heads of all the weeping ones, both mothers and offspring, began to distort, and for the last time, they showed the face of the old Eídal. In unison, the weeping ones with that face declared:

"No, don't misunderstand. It's out of love~."

The real Eídal stopped breathing...