Black metal bars that held millions of empty cells; a folding and twisting of dark corridors and impossible stairways that defied all logic and reason.
Archways, sprouted out like branches of a tree, crisscrossing, stacking on top of one another over and over, shrouding the sky as though this place was a prison designed to contain the entire world—a central black spire, so gigantic its height couldn’t be seen, and its depth invisible.
Holding Lucianna’s hand, Eden pulled her along, as the two of them ran down the spiraling path sticking out of the side of that central black spire.
Littered along the path were cracks, revealing that inside the velvet black rocks were grains of pale grey sands, falling out like streams.
—Unreal and dreamlike, a dark and barren scenery.
And across that scenery, the figures of two people continued to rush down—so small, compared to everything.
Eventually, after taking what felt like the hundredth step down that dangerous path, Lucianna finally broke out of her confused trance and came to her senses.
And as soon as she did…
“Wait, wait, wait! Stop! Let go of me.”
Coming to a complete stop, their sliding feet kicked over several rocks and grains of pale grey sand over the edge, and sent them down into the cavernous abyss.
Krrr~!
Immediately, Lucianna snapped her hand back.
Then, she took a step away from Eden, holding her hands close to her chest.
“None of this makes any sense! What’s happening? Who are you? How are you here?”
A desperate cry rang out from the girl as her shoulders trembled slightly.
Right here, right now, Lucianna’s short and frail body was nothing like that of the [Lucianna] that existed in reality.
Her mud-covered face and messy black hair made her look quite pitiful.
Looking at such Lucianna and tilting his head a little, Eden said: “But I already told you though, my name is Eden, and the door wasn’t locked.”
“That doesn’t explain anything at all!” Lucianna pulled her hair in frustration.
But then, while she was exhibiting her stress in such a manner, the sands under her feet shifted, and in the next moment…
Her foot slipped.
And she began to fall backward.
“...!”
The sound of winds was the only thing entering her ears in the next split second. But then almost immediately after that.
—It stopped.
…..
Hanging from the ledge, Lucianna collected herself before her mind finally registered what was happening.
—As soon as she was about to fall, Eden caught her instantly, with a thin and soft-looking arm that looked as though it would break at a touch.
“I’m here to help.”
Such words were spoken out so calmly… within the vastness of the space where even sound would be consumed.
“...”
A pair of golden irises that seemed so clear and without falsehood, Lucianna narrowed her eyes at them. But try as she might, she found nothing that would indicate hostility.
Pulling herself up to a firm stance, she breathed out.
—At least, [it] would appear to be not dangerous.
Seeing her calm down, Eden released his grip, and started to say:
"First, we need to assess the situation.” He briefly paused to look at the black-haired girl in front of him. “You’re currently dreaming. Everything you see here—”
“I know…”
…..
Suddenly, a soft voice resounded.
“I know, that all of this, is just a dream.”
It was none other than Lucianna, who made such an exclamation with a calm face. As if to hide her emotions, her expression remained stoic.
“...”
Eden, too, wasn’t showing any kind of reaction either.
So Lucianna went on to elaborate.
“But… I can’t control it. I tried to wake up many times already, but I can’t. Every time I tried…”
She let her words trail off, before turning her head to look to the right. Up the steps of the spiraling path, there was nothing but the ever-present shadow of that gigantic spire.
For a while, she stared at that darkness.
“I would always end up back in here, with Karzio chasing after me again.”
“That's very…”
Eden glanced at where she was looking, saw that there was nothing there, and returned his gaze to her.
“Curious.”
“Cu… rious?”
—I’m trapped inside my own dream, being chased around by some guy who’s trying to eat, and that’s all you have to say?!
Looking at the ever so innocent face of the golden-haired [being] in front of her, Lucianna’s corner of the mouth twitched in annoyance.
“But this is still your dream, no? How did someone else end up with more control over it anyway?” Eden asked.
“If I had known that, I would have gotten myself out of this situation already!” Lucianna swung her arms in frustration.
—Just then…
Thuump~!
A gust of wind brushed past their faces, along with a crashing sound of something heavy landing on the nearby arches.
Reacting quickly, Eden grabbed Lucianna and pulled her inside one of the nearby pathways that led into the central black spire in order to hide.
Peeking out from the pathway, the two cautiously searched around with their eyes until they eventually found the source of the sound.
On the archway that stretched out from the spiraling steps, a being was now standing—twitching, distorting. A shadowy, writhing mass, formed into the shape of a ‘person’, its silhouette shifting unnaturally, wearing a deep red court attire.
It wasn’t hard to guess what [it] was.
“Ah.”
Lucianna muttered, the sight of the figure made her eyes open wide.
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“What is it?” Eden asked.
“That shadow… They’re one of my angels.”
Staring at the shadowy mass standing on top of the archway, Lucianna spoke in a hushed voice.
“Since they’re each a vessel of my divine authority. When Karzio took over their minds, a part of my authority was also taken away.
“They might be the reason why Karzio...”
When the angels of House Lucianna were [Parasited] by the pieces of Karzio’s hair that were sprinkled into their drinks, their minds must have also been forced to manifest the same kind of inner battles.
They all lost, Karzio spread his corruption into their minds, and that was how this situation came to be.
Due to the inherent connection between the gods and their vessels, it wasn’t that surprising that their "shadows" would appear here.
“So if we defeat them.” Eden touched his chin. “Can we get parts of your authority back?”
“In theory…”
—Before Lucianna could even finish her sentence…
Eden had already spun around the corner, took a deep breath...
And…
Huuupp~!
“[Laser Beam]—!”
From the tip of his finger, a powerful blast of golden energy shot out toward the shadowy figure!
BoooOoooM—!
“...” Lucianna.
—————……….
Plank!
“WaaaaaAaaaaAAAaaaaaaaaaAaaaaagghhh~!”
“You bastards! I’m not one of them, why are you hitting me!?”
“Who the hell can tell at this point!? I’m just hitting whoever comes near me, damn it!”
“Everyone, if we’d just fight together—Arrgh!”
“Oh my god! Was that a drumstick? So powerful!”
Fighting, shouting. A bowl of stew thrown to the ground. A small fire was starting to spread, following the path of the spilled alcohol to the tablecloths. Broken glass shards scattered along with bits and pieces of furniture.
The chaos had already swept through the Golden Catfish Restaurant. Across every single floor, inside every single room, similar scenes were taking place.
The people who were [Parasited] woke up in a violent frenzy, trying to infect more people, and putting the people who were already infected unconscious.
—And once they lose consciousness, the [Parasites] would eventually turn them against their friends, without exception, and the cycle would repeat.
On the third floor of the building, Boss, Bell, and Kevin, ran up to the railing, looking out at the situation unfolding all around them with worried faces.
Disregarding everything going on inside, outside of the restaurant, above the pitch black waters, the figures of Altarin, Vena, and Karzio continued to fiercely exchange blows.
A broken half of a large mast got blasted into the air, before being thrown straight down in a different direction. Along with periodic bursts of shockwave and explosions, one by one, the hundreds of ships and boats surrounding the restaurant were being blown to smithereens.
"Those people are still fighting so seriously,” Boss said with a hard frown. “It would be better if we quickly find a way to leave this place instead of trying to hold out here."
“Boss, you might want to rethink that. The horde of drunk people is currently walking across from the city.” Bell casually pointed to the group of Chaos Angels walking toward the restaurant using the frozen canal’s surface.
“Oh great. Like the situation isn’t bad enough already.”
Just then…
“WwAaaAaaaaaaaaaHh!”
—The sound of shouting caused the three of them to turn around.
“Boss, watch out!”
“Ah!”
Yelling, Boss instinctively dodged out of the way of the gigantic vase flying toward her head.
The vase landed on the railing, splitting into pieces, the dirt and green long leaves exploding outward.
—A group of three drunk people was now charging at them.
“““...!“””
At the first sign of trouble, Bell, Bell, and Kevin immediately reacted… by turning around and sprinting in the opposite direction after glancing at each other and nodding once.
WaaaAaaaaaaAaaaaaaAaaagH~!
In the hallway, several separate group fights were taking place, with their separate winning and losing sides, but the three of them were not going to get involved with any of it.
—Boss spun out of the way of a tumbling pair of a man and a woman, accidentally ripping off a piece of the curtain which she then used to shield herself from the next guy running over.
—Bell got out of the way of a broken bottle’s swing just in time by moving his head to the side, and continued to run.
—Kevin kept his head low and crawled up, avoiding everyone.
Eventually, the three of them ran all the way to the central stairway, where they encountered a few familiar faces running up in a panic.
“Mr. Handler. Uncle Ten.”
“Mr. Presenter is here too.”
Boss and Bell exclaimed at the sight of a group of about ten people led by the old man in a tuxedo, the tattooed-faced man, and the mechanical-rabbit-head presenter.
“Boss girl, you’re still alive? That’s good,” the old man, Mr. Handler, said with relief and widened eyes.
“Where are you guys going?” Boss asked, catching her breath.
“To the VIP lounge,” standing beside them, Uncle Ten said. “The entire lower floors had already turned into pandemonium. Because of the people coming from the outside, we can’t leave either.”
“Um, ladies and gentlemen, I think we should probably move away from here.”
At the words of Mr. Presenter, they looked back to that below, a group of drunk people ran up the stairs holding various pieces of furniture as weapons.
To their left, the group of drunk people the three of them escaped from had also already caught up somehow.
“Ah!” Bell cried.
Immediately, Boss, Kevin, Bell, and the group led by Uncle Ten, Mr. Handler, and the Rabbit-Head Presenter, decided to break away to a nearby dining area.
On their way, the group chasing after them got caught by another group, and the whole thing snowballed into another big group fight.
Peeking outside around the doorframe, the group started murmuring among themselves.
“Things seemed to have really gotten quite ridiculous, huh?” clicking his tongue, Mr. Handler said.
—The restaurant was falling apart, there was fighting everywhere, everyone was losing their minds, and there seemed to be no end in sight to the whole situation.
“Um, at least if we somehow find a way to get to the VIP lounge, we would be safe for a while,” Bell pointed out.
“Mmmmh…” Boss hummed in agreement.
…Hide there until the situation settled down and resolved itself somehow. At least that way, they could potentially get out of this without having to do anything.
Besides, even though the majority of the Chaos Angels did possess decent combat ability, there was no one among the [parasited] with the power of a Demigod-level powerhouse...
Was there?
Suddenly, Boss and Bell felt a strange tingling in the back of their minds.
—It was like they had forgotten about something kind of important.
“By the way, is your friend over there alright?” said Mister Handler.
““...!””
Boss and Bell stood up straight.
With horrified faces, they both turned toward the muscular man who was holding his head sluggishly to their left.
—In the heat of the moment, they’d momentarily overlooked the fact that Kevin had already become infected with the [Parasite]!
“Boss… I think… I’m starting to…” crouching down on the side of the wall, Kevin started to speak in a trembling voice.
His eyes also started to droop.
“No! You have to fight it, Kevin!”
Immediately, Boss began pumping her fists and desperately shouting words of encouragement.
The entire group also picked up on what was happening and also started creating some distance between them and Kevin.
Meanwhile, Kevin continued to contort his body in discomfort. The orange lights on the wall cast a flickering shadow.
“I don’t think… I can… fight it.”
“I believe in you, Kevin! I know you wouldn’t give in so easily! Do it for us!”
However, even as she was speaking those ‘inspiring’ words, her feet were also backing away at a steady pace.
The rest of the group silently followed.
“You wouldn’t want to hurt us, right? Think about everything we've done for each other! Use those precious memories to muster up the will to resist!”
“W-wait, Boss. You probably shouldn’t remind him—”
Bell tried to raise his hands to interrupt Boss’s speech, but seeing Kevin sluggishly holding his head caused her to still shout in high spirits.
“T-that's right! Remember that time when you decided to give me your favorite ring to pay off my debt?! I’ll always be eternally grateful for that, you know? That’s the kind of person you are, Kevin!”
“Liar! You took it from him without asking! We had to spend a month working for free just to get it back!”
“Aaahhhh…” Kevin groaned.
“O-or that time I decided that we should go recruit an angel for the beauty pageant and end up being chased by a really scary Cerberus causing you to crash your favorite van?”
“Boss, that literally just happened! Seriously, if you can’t think of a single good thing to bring up then please don’t say anything!”
“AaaaaaAaaaahh…” Kevin groaned even louder.
From the corner of the destroyed dining room, Kevin’s presence slowly became more and more heavy, growing exponentially at Boss’s every word.
His already impressive muscles began to bulge, river-like veins extruded under his skin.
—Until eventually…
Crack!
““Oh no…””
Boss and Bell simultaneously whispered.
—And what followed was a groan that burst out into a terrifying roar as if a mythical beast had awoken from its slumber.
“AaAAaaaAAAaaaaaaAaaaaaaAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAaaaaAaaaaahhh!”
In front of the cowering Chaos Angels, a figure now stood, casting a deep black shadow, surrounded by swirling orange energy.
His true identity.
“How many times… do I have to tell you?”
“Don’t…
“Make…
“Me…
“Angry.”
—Angel of the God of Wrath, Kevin of House Camillo.
Kroaaaaammm—!
With a single stomp, the entirety of the Golden Catfish Restaurant quaked above the frozen waters.
—————……….