"I said enough."

Slam!

Hope slammed his fists into the floor.

The impact sent a sharp grating pain up his arms, causing the voices to shrink.

To Hope the pain was nothing if it meant silencing the voices.

Tap. Tap.

Blood trickled down his wounds and collected beneath his knuckles, the rippling pain overtaking his mind as the voices faltered.

Not silent.

Never absolute.

But they hushed.

He could feel his veins—the familiar kindling and chilling from the cursed [Tears of Sorrows] Attribute—pulsating through his limbs, from the soles of his feet to the roots of his head. Memories that had tickled each nerve now reeled back to mere whispers. No longer tempting to drag his body in its damn curse.

Hope blinked then stared down at his knuckles noticing how they looked blotched. Even the ground seemed to be a little dented from where his fists punched.

Hope flexed them slowly. Then unflexed.

Nothing seemed broken. He was fine.

Wounds healed anyway. It was 'time' that was the unfortunate thing.

Hope then stared indifferently at the runes that came back into focus, them being undisturbed by the whole ordeal.

But for a moment, Hope thought that they brimmed. As if behind those lines the Spell had reacted to his words and actions. Awed or feared, he did not know. But he felt an annoyance prickle inside of him.

Was the damn sentient entertained?

Watching?

Entity. System. Network.

Whatever the hell it was.

"Tsk…" Hope narrowed his eyes.

If he could discipline the cursed Attribute along with the Spell he would. But it was an enemy chained to him whether he liked it or not. Had its benefits yes. But it lived up to its name very well.

"Mm." Hope looked down at his arm.

Ah that damn demon had done a good number on him too. Although, he could admit that he was more prepared fighting this demon than the one in his First Nightmare.

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"Awakened Demon huh…"

A thought crossed Hope's mind at that moment but he kept silent, dismissing as it came.

He rubbed his face as he let out another sigh.

'I'm not going to say that out loud…'

"Tsk."

'What I will admit is that it's easier to kill humans than damn monsters though.' Hope nonchalantly thought before he finally moving on to the next set of runes.

Memory: [Pearls of the Moon]...

Memory Rank...

Memory Description: [Gentle as the caress of the night, the cleanse from flesh's weary strife is like the soft glow of moon upon wounded tide]

Hope paused as he read that poetic line.

'What…'

Memory Enchantments: [Vessels of light]

Enchantment Description: [When restored with her moonlight, wounds heal anew.]

!!!

A healing item?

Hope quickly summoned the Memory to its physical form as he outstretched his hand to see it form into his palm.

At that moment, the shadows reared back as light flashed in the space. But to his surprise, the ethereal lights whirled on the left side of his face rather than in front of him, the motes teasing at the edges of his vision. Before Hope could question what it was, he felt it materialize. Cold metal began delicately wrapping around his left ear down to his earlobe followed by the sound of clinking chains as the light disappeared.

"....this is not exactly what I had in mind." Hope muttered.

He carefully took the metal earpiece off and glanced down at his palm.

And there his eyes traced a crescent ornament. The curved silver metal had three fine chains attached to it, each holding a pair of translucent pearls reminding him of the wide-eyed pale eyes of the hound.

"Pearls of the Moon…?"

This was Hope's first time seeing pearls. He had heard of their description before—well, he was told of many things in which he had not seen yet—but small, fragile-looking, pebble-like fit the description for this.

It resembled a lot like the pearly bells his mother showed him, except without the x cut on their heads. Christmas, she had mentioned at that time. But anyways, this was obviously a piece of jewelry. If it weren't a Memory, Hope would have honestly tossed it.

And with that thought, the old man Jeevan's voice spoke in his mind:

'Value is different for everyone.'

'And the most luxurious thing around here is security.'

Hope frowned.

He pushed down another question he felt resurfacing.

Many questions were in fact.

'Nevermind that…' Hope thought as he held up the crescent ornament between his index and thumb, watching the pearls sway gently like wagging tails from the movement. 'Huh. It says restore with moonlight. So that obviously means…'

Hope tilted his head as he looked past the chains where the broken roof poured silver light.

He slowly stood up, slightly hunched so as to not hit his head on the low roof as he walked forward over the scratched floor. Passing the dust-covered boxes, the roof slanted towards the middle as Hope reached under the broken gap and looked up.

There high above his head was the night sky.

Flashed images from his time at his Soul Sea blinked across as he stared up at the faint constellations. These couldn't compare. This earthly sky lacked the number and celestial webs that the Spell would adorn itself with.

Nevertheless, this sky was real and a part of this world. Not magic or touched by the Spell.

Although, he never gave it much thought to this universe's existence.

But even though there were wisps of cloud that stirred across the sky and a slight blurry sheen over the stars, the moon could be seen full. Not a clear sky, but enough for it to be quite a sight than the usual typical night. Those countless nights shamefully hidden away.

Bzzzch...

Hope blinked before looking down as he felt a small vibration.

One of the pearls was slowly starting to fog up.

It drank in the moonlight as the seconds passed. Eventually reaching a whole minute. Then finally it became a milky eye saturated with its lost said light. The next pearl followed in pursuit, its vessel being filled as it patiently sat on his palm. And as that time passed, the next one started as well.

And it continued till all six pearls illuminated.

Entrapping in their tiny vessels the moon's soft glow.