[ The House of Mistresses - Unseen Corridor ]
—Used and thrown aside. Couldn’t even be bothered to save her.
—You haven’t changed.
"Awww. The whole thing's up, huh? Well, it was fun while it lasted."
"Little Eden~ There's no point trying to run now."
As soon as Eden ran out of the large cafeteria and stepped into the dimly lit corridor…
—Voices, containing nothing but bone-chilling ill-intents.
In front of him, one by one, the doors slid open, and stepping out under the red lights were the other 11 of the angels of House Lucianna.
Upon landing her gaze on Eden, the first sister, Roxxi, bit her thumb, letting out a single drop of blood run down the side of her finger.
She then touched the hem of her dress with that drop of blood, soaking the already scarlet fabric with the dark viscous red liquid containing her [essence].
In the next moment, the outer layers of her sleeves began to unravel, falling down to strands of silk before suddenly ‘straightening’ with incredible tension.
Fuwaaap~!
They shot out, piercing into the walls, the floor, creating a field of crisscrossing straight lines with Roxxi at its center like a spider on its webs.
With a thin smile plastered on her face and both of her eyes curved into haunting crescent shapes, she ran her hands along the strings of sharp silks that sprung themselves to wrap around her fingers.
—Covered in blood, they glistened under the lanterns’ flames.
“We’ll make sure it only hurts a little.”
Roxxi flicked her wrists, sending the silk strings flying forward!
But just as they were about to reach Eden…
HHhhhhhRRrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrGggggghhhHHhhh~!
—A massive shadow burst out of the door beside him and blocked the attack!
A giant paw swiped away the bloodied silk strands in a flash, before the rest of its owner’s body came into full view.
The three-headed beast, eyes glowing redder than the scarlet flames that surrounded it on all sides, breathed out fires as it now stood staring down at the remaining angels of House Lucianna.
Bery the Cerberus, having found sustenance within the cafeteria’s backroom, had regained its true power, and the presence it exuded was great enough that it made even Roxxi stop briefly in her tracks!
Before she and the other sisters could react, Eden quickly climbed on top of Bery the Cerberus.
“Bery…”
—And gave a simple command.
“Go up.”
“““Hong~!”””
Bery the Cerberus immediately responded by stomping the floor, causing the scarlet flames to fume from its mouths and flare up on the surrounding lamps, before turning around and running into the emptiness of the corridor.
Immediately, the 11 angels of House Lucianna gave chase.
—Every single one of them.
“Come to me, my guardians.”
As soon as the twelfth sister, Kanna, finished uttering those words, the sliding doors to her right burst open. A bunch of small puppets and one life-sized marionette flowed out.
Following the gestures of her hands, the smaller puppets rushed past her and flew after Eden and Bery, while the large marionette quickly picked her up to let her sit on its shoulder, carrying her along as it also chased after them.
Back in the front, Bery used one of his mouths to catch the puppet trying to stab his eye and huffed out a burst of flames, burning, before casting it aside.
The puppet bounced off the wall and into the other puppets, lighting them on fire as well.
—But that was only just the beginning of their pursuers' attacks.
While not slowing down their steps, the second and third sisters, Yue and Xue, slip the weapons hidden on their ankles into their hands—a pair of blood-colored daggers tied at the handles by bundles of unraveling pure white silk wire—and cast them forward!
““1…2…3…~!””
The silkbound daggers flew out and bounced off the walls, zig-zagging to leave trails of geometrical shapes, precisely avoiding the floating and burning puppets that filled the corridor on their paths toward Eden and Bery the Cerberus.
In the split second when the daggers were about to reach him, Eden ducked down, burying his head in a patch of thick black furs, causing the daggers to miss.
However, they immediately curved inward, tangling each other in a spiral, before immediately springing apart in opposite directions, stabbing into either side of the walls.
Using the daggers as anchors, Yue and Xue swiftly pulled themselves into the air right behind Bery the Cerberus, raised the silk wires in their hands…
—And swung them down!
Wooosh~!
Instantly, the silkbound daggers snapped out of the walls and shot forward!
“HhhhrrrrgggH~!”
At the sounds of slicing air, Eden tightened his grips. Bery the Cerberus leaped onto the wall, kicking off of it to gain forward momentum, leaving the daggers to miss and pierce into the floor!
—Landing back down, they continued to run into the darkest depths of the unseen corridor.
Of course, both of them know that, in this endless space of lights and shadows, switching doors and unknown rooms, all this running would lead them to nothing.
Unless, they were able to arrive at that place.
It was previously impossible due to the flickering of the lamps, but if Bery could keep them on constantly like it was doing now.
Sooner or later, they would be able to reach it.
[The stairwell].
—Bery the Cerberus and Eden now found themselves standing in a wide-open vertical space. The inside of a tower, with only a single series of steps lined up on the sides. Above and below, the scarlet lamps lined along the walls formed a spiraling shape, the height and depth of which were almost invisible.
Avoiding the pursuits of the angels, Bery the Cerberus immediately turned right and rushed up the stairs of the House of Mistresses!
Clambering up, the thin wooden steps could barely hold his weight. As Bery placed his massive paws on the guardrail, they broke. But slowing down wasn’t an option!
Behind them, the Angels of House Lucianna had already caught up.
—And an intense chase began.
“““Little Eden… Don’t run!”””
“““Come play with big sisters!”””
Immediately upon entering the stairwell, Roxxi spread her arms apart, sending the remaining parts of her outer robes outward.
Red, crisscrossing lines began filling the space between the stairs. An almost living web of blood, chasing the body of Bery the Cerberus up the stairwell!
At the same time, the tenth and eleventh sisters, Tsukiyo and Hyong-ran, kicked off of the railing and jumped into the air. They spun, landing gracefully on the railing on the opposite, higher side.
Meanwhile, running up the steps themselves are the sixth and fifth sisters, Nana and Kitsuha.
““Fall, [Hong-su River]/Heed my commands, [Blood Talismans].””
—Uttering those words, Nana brought both of her hands to her face, dug her nails into her own skin, then dragged them down, causing four lines of dark red liquid to flow down from her now blood-shot eyes.
—Uttering those words, Kitsuha reached inside her robes and pulled out a stack of human-shaped talisman papers, drawn in blood, and brought them in front of her face.
At the same time, they flickered their hands forward. Nana sent out the droplets of blood. Kitsuha threw out her talismans.
—Bery the Cerberus dodged the blood tears and kicked the talisman away with its hind legs.
The dark red droplets splattered onto the stairs, burning the wooden surface, creating smoke! The human-shaped papers flew to the nearby wall, sticking to it, before exploding out into a cloud of bloodied tendrils that tried to grab onto everything nearby!
Meanwhile, Tsukiyo and Hyong-ran, who were now running directly on the walls, kicked into a mid-air spin and launched into the space between the stairs.
Below them, the seventh and eighth sisters, Linlin and Minjee also jumped off of the railing, briefly landing on Roxxi’s silk strings, before bouncing off to gain upward momentum.
The two of them reached out to the spinning Tsukiyo and Hyong-ran, who received their hands, and sent them up at the exact same points of their rotations!
Landing on the upper of the stairs, Linlin and Minjee stood waiting for the Bery the Cerberus and Eden—holding out two simple-looking wooden hairpins.
“Crimson Blade: Third cut…”
“Vivisection.”
Simultaneously, as soon as those words were uttered, Linlin and Minjee lowered their hands. A single smooth movement caused two surges of [sharpness] to shoot toward Bery the Cerberus and Eden!
Bang—!
As the stairs in front of him were being cut in half and splitting apart like paper, Bery jumped aside with all of his strength!
However, several of Kanna’s puppets were now trying to cling to his paws and legs. While at the same time, Yue and Xue were using their silkbound daggers to try to catch him from below.
—Bery the Cerberus spun around mid-air and swiped at the daggers with his paw, before landing safely on the other side, stomping the puppets to meaty bits, and continuing to run.
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But then, flying up through the stairwell after launching herself into the air by jumping on Roxxi’s silk string, the thirteenth sister, Frul, smiled violently, and raised her small fist toward Eden and Bery the Cerberus!
It began to burn bright red!
“Littleeee~ Eeeddddeeen~
“Wait. Foooor…
“Me!”
Booom—!
A powerful blast generated by the impact of Frul’s strength against the wooden steps exploded into every corner of the stairwell!
The stairs in front of them were destroyed, forcing Bery the Cerberus to quickly stop and leap directly up to the opposite, higher side!
—And the pursuit of the angels only continued to grow fiercer!
“““Nana!/Kanna!/Kitsuha!”””
Clack!
As soon as those words were called out, a group of small flying puppets rushed up the stairwell.
Their eyes were pouring rivers of blood, burning, sizzling into their faces. One of the puppets attempted to claw at one of Bery’s eyes, but Bery managed to burn it just in time.
However, on the back of the other puppets, countless talismans started to glow.
Boom!
Surfing the impact of the blast, Bery the Cerberus kicked itself up another layer.
—A wound appeared on the side of its body.
““Tsukiyo, Hyong-ran!/Yue, Xue!””
Tsukiyo and Hyong-ran jumped off their respective floors, passing each other, before catching and spinning in the air to untangle the spiraling silkbound daggers thrown up from below by Yue and Xue.
Then, with those two as anchors, Yue and Xue let themselves be pulled up by the rapidly untangling wires.
Woosh~!
In the air, they once again release their flying daggers toward Bery the Cerberus.
Bery the Cerberus bit away the first dagger in mid-air, before shifting his weight, untangling the second dagger that caught his paw.
—Cutting marks appeared on his hind legs.
“““Frul!/Sister Linlin, Sister Minjee, Hiiii~!”””
Boom!
Frul grabbed both of their hands and stomped the ground, creating a small explosion that blasted the three of them up. Then, she used her strength to throw Linlin and Minjee up even higher.
Flying through the air, they readied their hairpins!
Slash—!
The air heated up, forming two straight lines that expanded from the trajectories of their swings like auras of death!
—However…
—[True Edge]... it was not something that unique, after all.
At the face of that, Bery the Cerberus swiped the air with its front paws, shooting out a surge of sharpness of his own!
Klank—!
The three invisible forces collided violently, creating a brief moment of tension in the air as one side tried to overpower the other!
However, from the beginning, Bery wasn't trying to overpower them, but to deflect the force of the slashes downward.
Shwinng—!
In the next moment, the intense clashing of sharp intents dispersed in every direction, allowing Bery the Cerberus to bounce off the slicing air, and flew up even higher.
—Leaving wounds on its paws.
“““Big Sister Roxxi!”””
Falling down, the angels all called out.
Quickly running up from below, Roxxi transformed the entire outer layer of her robes into silk strings and spread them out across the space between the stairs.
The seven sisters landed on the strings, and bounced up.
The other four also followed.
Roxxi’s silk strings, Kanna’s puppets, Yue and Xue’s daggers, Kitsuha’s blood talismans, Nana’s blood tears, Tsukiyo and Hyong-ran’s movement techniques, Linlin and Minjee’s crimson blade arts, and Frul’s absurd strength. Compared to Bery who had to use everything in order to survive, they were just getting started on displaying their full abilities.
However, fortunately for him…
—Finally….
—They reached the top.
Flipping forward to land on the highest platform within the stairwell, Bery the Cerberus and Eden rushed into the corridor.
They eventually reached a dead end, a closed door with nowhere else to turn.
However, this was exactly where the two of them wanted to be from the moment they stepped foot inside the House of Mistresses.
And now, all that was left was to deal with them.
Without raising his head, Eden called out quietly.
“Bery… the lights.”
Breathing out sharply, Bery the Cerberus turned around with a slide. As the angels began to rush into the corridor.
Facing them, the three-headed beast stood its ground, firmly pressing its paws onto the wooden floor.
And then…
“““Hong—!”””
A single, powerful fiery roar exploded from Bery the Cerberus’s throats, shaking the entire space, sending a gust of wind traveling outward, causing the scarlet flames within the lamps to flicker faster and faster, before—
Poof~! Poof~! Poof~!
One by one, they started to go out, and the tide of darkness began encroaching from the depths of the stairwell into the corridor!
The angels immediately rushed forward, trying to outrun the flickering of the flames! They all raised their weapons. Roxxi, Kanna, Yue, Xue, Kitsuha, Nana, Tsukiyo, Hyong-ran, Linlin, Minjee, Frul!
—However!
…..
Poof~!
Before they could do anything more than that, the final lamps except for the ones surrounding Eden and Bery died out, leaving nothing in front of them...
—Nothing, but darkness.
—Darkness that hid everything.
In the next moment, the lamps on the walls of the corridor flickered back on.
However, this time, the figures of the angels had all but disappeared.
Since it was Bery who took control of the flames, by putting them out, he was able to send them all back to the theater room, just in time.
“Hnnnnnnnnnng~!”
Bery the Cerberus collapsed to the floor, having accomplished his task of delivering Eden to the top floor of the House of Mistresses.
Under the dim, flickering lamps, his massive body cast a reflection on the pristine wooden floorings.
Taking his head out of the layer of thick black fur, Eden quickly hopped down as the body of Bery the Cerberus began to shrink.
—During the chase earlier, he had completely exhausted his energy, it seemed.
Eventually, Bery returned back to his puppy form. Despite that, the wounds on his body had already begun to rapidly heal. In the next second, they completely disappeared.
However, he was still looking quite exhausted.
The black-furred puppy plobbed his head onto the floor.
“Hoong~…”
Calmly, Eden patted Bery’s head, before standing back up.
Looking around the dimly lit space, the two of them found themselves standing in front of a large door with seemingly no way to enter.
Eden paused, tilting his head a little.
But then, reminding himself of the words of a certain white-haired butler that ‘every door could be opened if you asked nicely enough', Eden muttered under his breath.
“Please…”
Craaaa—!
Miraculously, with the crackling of the woods, the large sliding door simply opened with no resistance.
Behind the door was a large room.
The windows were closed, and there were wooden screens surrounding the walls, but at a single glance, you would be able to tell how they could be removed and reveal the view of the Undercity from the top of the pagoda.
In the middle of the room; a large, royal bed.
A woman lay there on her side. Elegant face. Black-haired. Her figure was wrapped in a tight-fitting black eastern gown that clung to her curves, exuding the air of intoxicating sensuality.
Slowly, and with Bery the Cerberus following behind him, Eden approached the figure of the woman.
“Finally… found you.”
Eden brought up his index finger.
A brilliant golden light began to shine.
—————……….
[ Somewhere. Deep, deep below… ]
Ding~!
The sound of a single droplet of blood falling into a small puddle echoed and reverberated through a damp, cold, and unlit prison cell.
This place was one of the lowest floors of the [Abyss]—a dark dungeon made from black stone, every corner stained with blood and filth.
Chained up on the wall, a girl with frail limbs covered in dirty rags that couldn’t be called clothes, her facial features were obscured by mud and grime.
“Burrrb~...”
The black-haired girl raised her head and glared at the other person inside this prison with her.
A young man with blonde hair and green eyes, and a vile grin plastered on his face.
Compared to the Abyss Prince Karzio who appeared at the Golden Catfish, his appearance was only half similar. Unlike him, this man was wearing a thick black furred coat.
But perhaps most importantly… half of his face was covered by the ominous writhing black masses that crawled and slithered as if they had minds of their own.
Receiving the black-haired girl’s bloodshot gaze, the blonde-haired man simply raised the dagger in his hand and brought it to her left cheek.
“Your last angel’s fallen.
“Sooner or later, you will too."
“Agh!”
Biting her lips, the black-haired girl looked away.
Frankly, she was afraid, not of him, but of the shadows that crawled on his face. The shadows that hungered to consume her whole, and had been trying to do so over and over again.
Every time it touched her skin, she was being eaten alive. And now, she had to endure it again. How many more times could she hold them off?
Perhaps, this would be the last.
The shadows began to move, clinging to her limbs. But as they scurried, crawling up from the walls to her legs to her waist to her arms to her neck…
"It's a little dark in here, isn't it?"
—A voice resounded.
…..
““What…?””
The girl and young man turned their heads to the source of that voice.
Somehow, unbeknownst to them, in this dilapidated enclosed space, a golden-haired figure had appeared out of nowhere.
Moreover, after saying that, the golden-haired figure continued to inspect the weapon racks on the side of the prison cell, not paying attention to either of them.
Eventually, after a long and uncomfortable silence.
"...Who are you?" the blonde-haired man raised his eyebrows and asked
Just slowly enough to not feel too deliberate, the golden-haired figure turned his head to look at him.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Eden."
A silver bell-like voice, coupled with a face that could only be described as the idealized concept of [beauty].
However, right now, neither of the two even noticed such a detail.
“How did you get here?”
“The door was not locked?”
“What door?”
“That door.”
Eden pointed behind him. There, a silhouette of a door made of golden light silently glowed.
In the next moment, it disappeared.
“...”
“...”
The blonde young man paused, looking back at the black-haired girl, only to find her to be equally as wide-eyed-confused as he was.
After a while, he rolled his eyes.
“Well…”
“It doesn’t matter what you are.”
He flicked the dagger in his hand, tossing it into the air…
“Can’t you see we’re in the middle of something?”
—And punched it forward.
Woosh~!
The dagger broke through the sound barrier in a split second. But as it was about to reach Eden…
With a swift rotation, he raised his foot, and intercepted it with a roundhouse kick!
Klank—!
““...!””
The dagger spun out of its trajectory, stabbing into the ceiling.
Then, running up to the blonde-haired man with another roundhouse kick, the blonde-haired young man was sent flying to the other side of the jail cell!
Boom—!
The walls crack, creating a devastating crater, blasting bits of stone and wood to every corner!
Lowering his foot, Eden brought up his hands, putting one of them in front of the other.
And then…
“Shaaa~...”
—Said that.
“Or was it… like this?”
As if trying to remember something, Eden suddenly changed the positions of his hands and then…
“Sheee~...”
—Said that again.
Hanging from the wall, the black-haired girl, [The Goddess of Lust Lucianna], stared at the scene in front of her bafflingly.
—The [Abyss Prince Karzio] who had rendered her completely helpless, was somehow taken down in one strike…
But among all the questions flooding her mind, she noticed something else was off.
“What are you… doing?”
“Posing,” without turning around to look, Eden answered her.
“...Huh?”
“I did copy it properly but…” Frowning a little, he touched his chin. “It doesn’t seem to have the same effects.”
“??????”
Words that meant what they should mean, twisted into contexts they didn’t belong. Lucianna felt like her head was being overloaded.
“Ah, I forgot that you’re still here.”
“...”
—Just another reply that didn’t make any sense.
On the other side of the room, Karzio started to move. Perhaps he could’ve recovered faster, but the shock of the unexpected situation simply crippled his response time.
Seeing this, Eden quickly walked up to the speechless Lucianna and easily broke off the chains on her limbs.
“For now, let’s run.”
Then, with a slight smile, Eden grabbed Lucianna’s hand.
And pulled her along with him.
—————……….