Eldritch Horror Theatre

Couldn't she pick up some better habits?

That softly murmured question, delivered with the utmost intimacy, did not stir a single ounce of confusion in Fu Qian.

Of course, that did not mean he had the strength to resist, either.

His ruined, mangled body still could not twitch a single muscle. He could only let the long-absent Dark Moon Pope hold him in her arms, utterly helpless as she took advantage of his state.

Fortunately, ever since regaining control over his eyes, Fu Qian had not stopped trying to locate his other organs.

"Ah..."

After some internal searching, he managed to seize control of a tissue resembling vocal cords and attempted to speak.

Oh?

The Witch was clearly listening closely. She even leaned in, pressing herself closer to him.

Fu Qian did not disappoint, swiftly adjusting his vocal control.

"...I am starting to regret giving away that Ring."

Hearing him clearly, Nelgria blinked in slight surprise before a trace of reproach touched her teasing expression.

"At the critical moment... it helped a lot."

Instead of firing back against her flagrant liberties, Fu Qian truthfully reported the merit of the papal bestowal.

"That is good..."

The Witch beamed instantly. Her eyes fixed on Fu Qian for a long moment before her smile slowly faded, her voice dropping lower.

"You should know that this is a dangerous and hopeless sacrifice."

Despite the abrupt shift in her tone, Fu Qian understood exactly what she meant. He continued to fine-tune his vocal cords.

"Isn't this what a Knight is supposed to do?"

...

"It has already been resolved. You did very well."

After a silence even longer than the last, Pope Nelgria spoke again. She broke into a soul-stirring smile, sparing no praise.

"And you remembered my warning."

'Does she mean the fact that I didn't die?'

Recalling their conversation during their final connection, Fu Qian was far more focused on her claim that it was resolved.

No wonder she had the free time to sit here and take advantage of him. It seemed the hangover effect had truly done its job.

The only pity was that he still had not found anything resembling a spine.

Unable to turn his head, his entire field of vision remained completely occupied by his escort target for this operation.

...

"Want to see outside? You will need a little more time before you can manage to lift your head."

The Witch had clearly sensed his futile struggles. Her tone shifted instantly, falling right back into her old habits.

Even as she softly coaxed him, she patted his back twice, almost as an afterthought.

"But that is alright. I can help you."

Maintaining her embrace, the Witch slowly stood up. She pivoted, turning Fu Qian's "face" toward the outside world.

Fu Qian did not actually mind this rare moment of total passivity.

He immediately focused his attention, peering through the many swaying root-tubes and tentacles to gaze at the Stars in the boundless deep space.

Naturally, the many appendages obscuring his vision belonged to the Witch's body.

Fu Qian was not the least bit surprised by this.

Even with his limited perception, he could tell that whatever had just patted his back had not even been shaped like a hand.

Beyond the fragments he had initially seen in his own field of vision, the Witch's physical state was not much better than his own.

"Do you see the Meteors? Aren't they beautiful?"

The Witch seemed quite satisfied with his reaction, acting as his personal guide.

"The withering of anything takes time."

...

It was indeed beautiful, and seemingly familiar.

Her mention of Meteors was not just nonsense. Streaks of brilliance were currently carving through the endless darkness at a leisurely pace, dazzling the eyes.

The reason it felt seemingly familiar was because he had witnessed a similar spectacle when practicing the advanced techniques of his Dream Dominator abilities—specifically, when he had forcibly imposed a Nightmare upon reality.

Though, it had been much more chaotic back then.

At the same time, the Stars were not the only things withering away.

As the Witch carefully adjusted his angle, the former vortex of Law beneath the starry sky also came into view.

The latter looked even more grim. Its former sublimity was rapidly withering, drifting away speck by speck like dead ashes. There was nothing "perfect" about it anymore.

Naturally, the cause for both was identical—they had lost their sustaining power.

Even though her body was covered in twisted deformities, not a single trace of pulsing Frostfire seeped from the Witch anymore. She had completely broken free from its constraints.

Her claim that the matter was resolved was not just popping champagne at halftime.

"Those aren't the real Stars?"

Fu Qian did not let the Pope's personal observation assistance go to waste. Combining what he saw with his own knowledge, he quickly voiced a theory he had been harboring for some time.

"No."

The Witch confirmed his guess.

"They are a byproduct of the Law."

Oh?

Now that was a massive revelation.

Everything he had learned and extracted since this escort mission began suddenly snapped together in his mind.

"The Law isn't a manifestation of the Stars' power? The Law was woven first, and that subsequently generated this perfectly tailored False Starry Sky?"

She truly lived up to her title as Pope. She could casually drop terrifying ancient secrets as if commenting on the weather.

And it seemed both the Celestial Sphere Cult and the Blood Clan had completely misunderstood the chicken-and-egg relationship here.

"Yes. Even though they had long since been annihilated by the time I gained consciousness, I am absolutely certain of this."

The Witch was similarly watching the fading spectacle. As someone who had personally merged into that system, she clearly spoke with absolute authority on the matter.

...

'So the night sky the cult members observed every night was nothing more than a painted backdrop? The true starry sky was blocked out this entire time?'

'This was also why the Law was omnipresent and supreme in this world—like the rule that a dream could not last longer than one minute...'

'It repelled everything on the outside. This world was nothing but a thoroughly regulated backyard...'

'And this was why a unique power like a commandment existed. The wisdom those cult members so painstakingly cultivated was essentially just a sliver of shared administrative authority over those rules...'

'The Blood Clan member who called himself a Divine Child was in the exact same boat—the only difference lay in their level of clearance...'

'In contrast, the various Transcendent Tier abilities found within a Nightmare were far closer to the reality inhabited by the Night Watchers...'

'His previous praise had been spot-on. This truly was an exquisitely fascinating masterpiece.'

'It even perfectly aligned with his recent mission summary, which had labeled the Nightmare as a channel to breach the Law's defenses.'

"Because the true Stars are dangerous?"

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Fu Qian asked a rather abrupt follow-up question.

"Very dangerous."

The Witch did not seem surprised by the leap in logic at all. She clearly had great faith in her Knight's comprehension skills.

"Although They shattered the barrier and caused this doomsday before departing long ago, traces of Their lingering power can still be found everywhere."

'Understood. Things like the Sacred Relics inside the Nightmare.'

Fu Qian naturally thought of Brother Proxy.

"They were interested in something inside this place. That doomsday event from all those years ago was just the shell of a delicacy being cracked open so the meat inside could be devoured."

"The problem is that this shell has suddenly reformed after all these years... Which is indeed strange. Is there a clear reason for it?"

"No."

"And what about the shell's origin?"

Unfazed by her answer, Fu Qian continued to ask.

"What makes you think I would know anything about that?"

Glancing down at him, the Witch showed genuine surprise for the first time.

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