Eldritch Horror Theatre

"They're still alive. It doesn't seem like they were possessed earlier, but rather that their very existence was replaced."

She was truly worthy of being a special awakened one personally selected by Lady Raven. Following her earlier discovery, Esther demonstrated a remarkable capacity for acceptance, calmly sharing yet another observation—and even a hypothesis.

Naturally, this further irritated the two official members.

The fact that they were still alive—and entirely unharmed, having merely passed out despite the heavy blows they had just suffered—made the theory of some incomprehensible temporary replacement seem far more reasonable.

But if the Nightmare could truly manipulate things with such casual freedom, their previous caution seemed like an utter joke.

"We should go. You aren't planning to wait for those three to wake up and chat, are you?"

In the end, Esther's remarks went completely ignored. Mariana forcefully reined in her emotions and directed her question at Fu Qian.

"I'm fine with that. Are you sure you still want to travel with me, though?"

Fu Qian remained incredibly easygoing about it, even taking the time to offer the reminder.

The reminder was clearly well-timed.

If they accepted the previous conclusion—that their group was completely insignificant to the Nightmare—then it stood to reason they shouldn't continue traveling with this walking disaster.

Mariana's thoughts raced.

But doing so would be too much of a self-denial... It would be equivalent to completely validating his claims—that their so-called Awakening was just a joke, including everything she had just told Esther...

In fact, out of the corner of her eye, she could already see a rather amused look creeping onto Esther's face.

"Does Mister Grimshaw wish to remain here?"

Mariana exchanged a glance with Ben. Seeing the same conflicted look on his face, she hesitated for two seconds before finally steeling her resolve.

"Probably not. There clearly isn't anything interesting left here."

Fu Qian scanned their surroundings upon hearing this, eventually shaking his head.

"Good. After all, I don't care much for this place either."

Mariana gave a cold smile and turned to Esther.

"Grab your things. We're leaving right now."

Her posture made it obvious: she was retaking control of the situation, determined to seek validation for her beliefs.

Confidence was truly infectious. Esther, whose eyes had just been brimming with suspicion, hesitated for only a second before actually turning around to grab her things.

Ben, who had remained rather conservative throughout the ordeal, ultimately voiced no objections either.

Not bad. Very spirited.

Regarding Mariana's decision, Fu Qian was entirely genuine, hiding his appreciation neither internally nor on his face.

As one of his prime targets for exploitation, these awakened ones were certainly not as worthless as Mariana had just thought.

He fully intended to meet this Lady Raven.

Mariana's stubborn determination to defend her faith actually saved him from having to resort to violence.

Naturally, when Mariana saw Fu Qian's expression, she interpreted it as somewhat mocking.

She held her tongue for a moment, turning her head back toward the interior of the cell.

...

"Dast..."

Right in the midst of this silence, an unexpected voice shattered the tranquility.

Dean Glenn, who had originally been slumped on one side of the bed, groggily woke up.

Clearly struggling to grasp the situation, he caught sight of an unusually active Esther and subconsciously called out.

Esther instantly froze.

Although her belief system had undergone two consecutive upgrades over the course of this short night, Glenn—who had diagnosed her over a long period—clearly still held some influence over her.

"You?"

Before Esther could offer any defense, Glenn realized where he was. He whipped his head around in shock, instantly spotting the three figures outside.

Mariana and Ben were one thing, but Fu Qian—who had stomped his shackles into pieces and stepped outside to coordinate with his movements in the dream—was an incredibly glaring sight.

Glenn's gaze instantly turned sharp.

"Let him sleep a little longer."

Mariana reacted quickly, simply gesturing to Ben.

"No. Forcing him to forget three times in a single day will completely turn him into an idiot."

Unfortunately, Ben instantly shook his head.

"Are you sure you want to see that happen?"

...

"What exactly are you doing?"

Ben's words made Mariana hesitate. Over on the bed, Glenn was already struggling to get up, simultaneously shocked and furious.

"Get inside."

Seeing this, Mariana immediately took the lead, rushing into the cell and gesturing for everyone to follow, successfully bringing the situation under control by crowding around him.

"We don't want to complicate matters, nor do we wish to hurt you, Dean Glenn."

Although the situation was a bit troublesome, dealing with this sort of ordinary person seemed to restore a bit of Mariana's psychological edge, leaving her full of imposing authority.

"Which is why you need to grasp the reality of your situation."

"...Does any of this have a point? It's impossible for you to leave this place."

Glenn obviously didn't remember that he had already said this once before. Still, he understood the circumstances, immediately lowering his voice.

"That isn't something you need to worry about."

Mariana sneered repeatedly, snatching up the leather belts and buckles from the corner of the bed to signal for Glenn to lie down.

The upside now was that the director hadn't seen anything unusual upon waking up.

Under these circumstances, compared to turning him into an idiot, tying him up here was obviously the option with the smaller impact.

"You had better know what you're doing..."

Glenn proved to understand the circumstances, not forgetting to speak up even as he lay down.

The warning didn't count as malicious, but it still seemed to strike a nerve with the awakened ones.

The moment she secured his bindings, Mariana grabbed a towel and shoved it directly into his mouth.

"Let's go."

Having finished all this, she directly motioned to this four-person team, looking especially at Fu Qian.

Under repeated provocation, it was obvious she could no longer tolerate his claims going unchallenged.

"Sure."

Fortunately, Fu Qian remained incredibly easygoing, smiling as he followed along.

However, just as Mariana breathed a sigh of relief and gestured for Ben to lead the way, Fu Qian—who was just about to dash toward freedom—suddenly reached for the back of his neck in an incredibly natural manner.

"What are you doing?"

Mariana, who had been closely monitoring his movements, was undeniably startled.

However, her question abruptly halted the moment he revealed what was pinched between his two fingers.

At first glance, there appeared to be nothing there. But upon focusing slightly, one could sense faint light being swallowed up with it at the center, forming a unique domain of darkness—this very thing had nearly struck him moments prior in an extremely imperceptible manner.

"Where did that come from?"

Instantly on alert, Mariana looked around.

"The Dean."

Fu Qian gestured behind himself.

"Compared to the arrow from before, this was far more understated."

And far more severe...

Having beheld the radiance of the Stars, Mariana could still sense some of the terror radiating from the object before her eyes.

And this dealt her yet another blow.

The Nightmare was truly not that simple. It had seemingly been beaten back, only to use the moment when their vigilance was lowest to launch a true, lethal sneak attack—it was just that the target was still this guy.

What dealt her an even greater blow was that, in the next moment, the ambushed Dark Moon Apostle offered a faint smile and directly tossed that domain of darkness into his mouth.

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