“…Raleigh!” Mir ran to him in panic. She expected him to be angry at her, but what she saw, dumbfounded her. Instead of getting angry, Raleigh chuckled.

“Thank you for… waking me up, Mir…” He said weakly. “Please help me… take medicine from my… pocket? No, the right one… yes that’s the one, thanks.”

Mir helped Raleigh with the medicine. After drinking the medicine, his face became a bit better. The blood also stopped flowing. He looked at Mir and showed a wry smile.

“Don’t worry. Rather, it’s a small price to pay. It’s a better option than killing myself.” He said with a self-deprecating smile.

“…sorry.” Mir still apologized to him, however.

“More importantly.” Raleigh just ignored the topic. “This is a dangerous place. They will show you an illusion that is so difficult to escape. So, we have to be extremely careful while walking in this place. Do you understand?”

“…nn.” Mir nodded in understanding. She also saw the illusion after all. It was impossible for her not to understand it.

“Good…” Raleigh closed his eyes. Mir observed him for a while. She was amazed at how fast the wound closed because of the pill he took earlier. It was less than five minutes, and the wound that should kill a person almost closed easily just like that.

“…Mir.” Raleigh still closed his eyes, called Mir. “I have an idea. Can you use your spiritual power to destroy this Mirror World? That way, no matter what illusion they set up for us, it won’t matter.”

Mir pondered for a minute before she nodded. “…try.”

“Thank you.”

Mir stood up and looked around her. She always wondered. Why the female ghost could grab her neck earlier? Why the other ghosts could push and throw Mir and Raleigh when they attacked them? After all, they shouldn’t be able to do something like that. Ghost was not something physical, so, logically speaking, they couldn’t touch you.

…no. If you condense energy… like the gun, it might cause physical damage, albeit small. So, if I condense spiritual energy to the limit, I might be able to destroy this Mirror World, right? That’s worth a try.

Mir imagined the condensed spiritual energy floating above her palm. She couldn’t see it, but she was sure that there was a ball of condensed spiritual energy above her palm.

Meanwhile, sensing the change in the spiritual energy around him, Raleigh opened his eyes abruptly. He saw Mir was standing up, with an absurd amount of spiritual energy in her hand. He didn’t know what she was thinking, so, in panic, Raleigh called out to her.

“Mir! What are you doing!?” He shouted. Mir seemed like she didn’t hear him though. She was concentrating in creating the ball of condensed spiritual energy in her hand.

“Mir! Stop it! Don’t do anything reckless!” Raleigh pushed his body up. The pain almost made him faint. Even though his wound had almost closed, the pain was still there. But he ignored the pain as he pushed his body to stand up as soon as possible.

“Mir—!"

He was a step too late though. Before he managed to stop her, Mir already threw the ball of condensed spiritual energy to the mirror in front of her. Raleigh gritted his teeth and pulled Mir down as the ball of energy ricocheted back to her position.

Mir’s cloudy eyes cleared when Raleigh pulled her down. With a confused expression, she looked around, but Raleigh hugged her head and pinned her down on the ground.

“…Raleigh?” Mir asked confusedly.

“…it’s alright. It’s alright. This is a common trick evil spirits always use. It’s not your fault…” Raleigh whispered softly. He groaned after saying that. The ricocheted ball of energy finally hit his back. It was not a fatal wound. It just felt like a straight from a professional boxer. And that straight hit his back perfectly, without him defending it at all.

“…Raleigh!” Mir exclaimed in surprise when Raleigh spat out blood from his mouth.

“It’s alright… just bit my tongue a bit.” Raleigh smiled wryly.

“…sorry.”

“Yes, yes, I already said that it’s alright… but, sorry, I can’t stay awake…” And then, Raleigh fell unconscious while protecting her.

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“…Raleigh?” Mir tried to call him, but he didn’t respond.

“…Raleigh?” She tried again. She tried to shake his body gently this time. Still, there was no response. And when she was confused about what to do next, she saw a pair of beautiful legs walked closer to them.

Her voice rang out in a burst of evil laughter. “Look at what you have done, you useless girl! Not only did you stab him, now, you also drag him down! Oh, he will die in a few hours or so if he doesn’t get treatment soon! And if he dies, he will die because of you!”

“…no.” Mir was scared. She never thought of killing someone before, so when she imagined killing a person, she was scared.

“Oh, yes. There’s a rupture in his internal organ. He will definitely die if he doesn’t get treatment in a few hours. No, maybe a few hours is cutting it too close? Anyway, he will definitely die.” The evil spirit laughed again, with Mir’s voice.

“…” Mir couldn’t hold back the tears that flowed from her eyes. Perhaps it was because of extreme fear or perhaps it was because of sadness knowing that Raleigh might die because of her, she couldn't stop crying. That, however, only incited the evil spirit even more.

“Right, you feel guilty because you killed a ghost, right? Then, you must live in guilt because you just killed a human now. Yeah, rather than living in guilt, why don’t you save yourself by killing yourself?” The illusion goaded Mir to kill herself once again.

“…”

…calm down, I have to calm down. It’s true that I almost kill Raleigh... but he drank that medicine and he should be alright. The problem is only the ball of condensed energy... but it shouldn't be too bad... I hope it's not fatal... He could die if I left him here... but… I also can save him! If I can bring him out of this place… if I can take him to the hospital, he might survive. That is why I can’t die now. I have to escape from this place as soon as possible!

Thinking like that, Mir gritted her teeth and carefully pushed Raleigh's body. She gently dropped him to the floor before standing up. She faced her reflection with a determined look in her eyes.

“…not die.” Mir said determinedly. In her right hand was the handgun. And in her left hand was Raleigh’s broken sword.

“Hm? What are you talking about? You can’t even speak properly. What’s the point of living if you can’t even speak properly?” The illusion chuckled.

“…I…” Mir tried to form the idea in her head into words. “…am not going to die. And… Raleigh too.”

“And what can you do? You can’t even inflict any harm on me. No, are you going to attack me again? You know how you harm Raleigh by attacking me? Or do you want to bet at the chance of not harming him one more time?”

“…” Mir bit her lips in frustration. What the evil spirit said was true. She harmed Raleigh, twice, when she tried to do something about the evil spirit. If she tried to attack it again, she might inflict more harm to Raleigh.

…inflict self-harm? Why didn’t the evil spirit attack us directly, just like the female ghost? Is it because… it can’t? That means, if I ignore it, it won’t attack me?

That kind of thought flashed in her mind. For some reason, Mir believed it to be true. But even if she ignored the evil spirit, that didn’t mean she had a method to escape from this ride, the Mirror World. And as long as Raleigh and she was here, they would die sooner or later. Maybe because of starvation, if the evil spirit couldn’t drive her mad first.

Thinking like that, Mir ignored the evil spirit. Instead, she was thinking of another problem. It would be easier if she had to escape alone. Or at least, if Raleigh was able to walk by himself, it would be easier. However, Raleigh was unconscious at the moment. If he couldn’t walk by himself, that meant, Mir had to carry him.

“…”

However, she was confident in her physical ability. She was confident that if she had to carry him to the nearest hospital, it would take all day… or worse, she would faint before she reached half the distance...

“…”

She didn’t want to give up though. So, she lifted Raleigh and put him on her back. He was heavier than she thought. And also, she didn’t notice it because of his loose clothes, but he had more muscles than she thought he had. And that made him heavier than what he looked like.

“What… are you doing?” Raleigh asked softly.

“…” Mir didn’t bother to reply. Lifting him was taking everything she had. She couldn’t even be bothered to do other things.

“It’s alright… Mir… put me down. If I take a short nap… I will be alright…” Raleigh spoke with a soft grunt. Mir kept ignoring him though. Instead of answering him, she decided to start walking.

“…Mir, put me down.” Raleigh spoke in a colder voice.

Mir remembered that she just entered the Mirror World before she entered the world of illusion. That meant, the entrance should be nearby. Though all she could see around her were mirrors.

“Mir!” Raleigh raised his voice, but Mir still ignored him.

“…” Mir touched the mirror in front of her. It was a real mirror. It felt like a real mirror. She walked to the right and checked the mirror again. It was… real mirror as well. She didn’t give up and kept walking. After making a single round, she noticed that every mirror seemed like a real mirror.

“…stop it Mir. We can’t escape…” Raleigh sounded like he had given up all hopes. But Mir still ignored him.

“If only you didn’t hurt me, we might escape. But because of you… it’s impossible for us to escape now…” Raleigh started blaming Mir. These words somehow stabbed her heart, but she ignored them for now.

“Sorry, I know you try your best but… it’s useless. Anything you do is useless at this point. Even your best is useless.”

Mir didn’t want to hear that, but she couldn’t help but listen to that voice. She knew that it must be one of the illusions the evil spirit created. But still, those words stabbed her heart like a glass shard stabbed her heart.

In addition to that, Mir didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t find the exit. And the more she walked, the more she felt like she walked deeper into the Mirror World. After all, the more she walked, the more she felt colder. This sensation was almost similar to when she entered the great hall in the Doll Castle.

“…why don’t you just give up?” This time, she heard her voice. She took a glance and saw her reflection stood inside a mirror expressionlessly.

Mir looked forward once again and started walking again. Sometimes she hit a mirror, but she didn’t care. She just kept moving forward.

“No matter what you do, you are useless. Just give up already.” The reflection spoke without any intonation.

“That’s right. Let’s give up, Mir.” Raleigh supported the reflection’s opinion. Mir gritted her teeth and kept walking forward.

“As long as you have this gloomy personality, everybody will think of you as a useless person.” The reflection spoke.

Raleigh added. “Even I thought that you are useless, you know? You only have your face and nothing else.”

“That’s why just give up.”

“That’s why let’s give up already.”

“…no.” Mir finally replied to them. She wouldn’t give up, no matter what. She just kept walking until she escaped this place. After that… after that, she had to think of her next move. But there was no way that she was going to give up.

“…you sure are stubborn. That’s why they hate you. That’s why they bully you. Why can’t you be less stubborn?”

“…”

Mir ignored those voices again and after walking for fifteen minutes, she finally arrived at a different part of the Mirror World.