Eldritch Horror Theatre

"Die!"

Sent flying by the slap, Ais once again faced the descending Sophia.

This time, her awkward posture left her with absolutely no room to dodge, and Sophia caught her in a tight embrace around the waist.

Her right hand reacted with a swiftness that bypassed thought entirely.

As she threw a vicious punch that caved in her attacker's head, another furious roar erupted from beneath her Armguard.

Just as expected, the trio was all present and accounted for.

Even through the distortion, that voice unmistakably belonged to Charlotte. Fu Qian could sense the sheer, unbridled motivation in the roar, and he was naturally quite satisfied with it.

"You knew?"

Unfortunately, the person in question did not share his sentiment.

"How could you possibly know!"

"You hid it quite well."

Fu Qian didn't mind offering some fair praise as encouragement.

Yet, as he gazed up at the ceiling at a forty-five-degree angle, his posture remained as sublime as someone chosen by the heavens.

"But I just knew... Perhaps this is our destiny. Also—don't get distracted."

He even threw in another warning a moment later.

This was the fourth time she had heard that phrase, and her previous suffering had finally given it the awakening power of a magic spell.

Ais immediately glanced down at her own body. Driven by an intense surge of unease, her right hand—which had just been trying to snap Sophia's limbs—abruptly changed course, twisting awkwardly to shove the woman away.

Boom!

Unfortunately, she was a step too late.

The instant she made her move, a spark of brilliant golden light ignited on Sophia's body.

The very next moment, like gasoline catching fire, golden flames erupted from the ash covering her entire form, engulfing her in a blazing inferno.

The sole purpose of Sophia's tight embrace had apparently been just for this moment.

Agonized screams finally rang out. On that three-in-one divine body, hair, flesh, and blood—everything in sight—was set ablaze.

...

Bang!

Thrashing violently in agony, Ais finally managed to tear Sophia's arms away, throwing her backward to smash against the wall.

However, as the victim, Ais was left in a gruesome state.

At a glance, everywhere outside the protection of her three pieces of equipment—her hair, her clothes, and even her very flesh—had been scorched into a charred mess by the flames.

Even with the ripples of her chest Armor activating wildly and bloody tendrils of flesh writhing all over her body, she couldn't recover immediately. If anything, the rapid regeneration only made her look even more horrifying.

"Impossible!"

But how did the old saying go? Always look on the bright side.

Amidst her mangled flesh, an abstract facial contour had suddenly surfaced on one of Ais's cheeks.

Judging by the voice, Brother Scrooge had clearly taken advantage of the ruined flesh to swim out from beneath the faceplate.

Though his outburst was just as uninspired as Charlotte's.

"With the Weapon covering us, there's no way you could have detected us underneath!"

"Still playing these little mind games at a time like this."

Fu Qian merely sighed at Scrooge's overly intense reaction.

"Our friend on the right arm is one thing, but assuming your face was actually hiding beneath the faceplate earlier, there's no way Ais's expressions would have been so rich and natural."

"Instead of wasting time trying to bluff me, you'd be better off having a good internal chat about how the two of your faces suddenly managed to manifest on her body."

...

Setting aside his perceptive abilities as a flesh expert via Insight, judging purely by Ais's behavior along the way, Fu Qian never believed that Scrooge and Charlotte—who were inhabiting her body—had actually materialized literal mouths to speak with.

Their fusion had to be on a much deeper level—similar to his own bug-like arm back when he was in the Nightmare Corridor.

"By the way, why not just take them off and throw them away?"

As he pondered this, Fu Qian gestured at the two pieces of gear, genuinely asking Ais.

"...Regrettably, I can't."

Gently touching the extra face that had also surfaced on her right breast, Ais hesitated for a moment before actually answering him.

"When my consciousness returned, these two Weapons were already on me."

"And the two of them aren't just consciousnesses attached to the items; they're already a part of this body. Ah—"

A cry of pain interrupted Ais's explanation.

Blood sprayed from one of her legs as another bone spike pierced deeply into her flesh.

And the corpse-bug that had launched the attack was already moving forward with determined steps once more.

The "Lord of the Rings" was right. These things really did seem immortal.

Even Sophia, whose body had been twisted into a grotesque shape and hurled into a corner, was already struggling back to her feet.

And this time, tiny sparks of golden flame were directly dancing across her skin.

"It's not that I haven't tried... but the moment I try to take off a Weapon that doesn't belong to me... I can feel this body starting to collapse."

Pulling the bone spike out and tossing it aside, Ais stubbornly chose to continue her explanation.

"Understood... So, none of you wanted to continue this painful three-way relationship, and you came up with a possible solution: find new carriers for yourselves."

Though he didn't care much, Fu Qian still gave a slight nod and politely responded.

"You selected the people most compatible with the three Weapons and exposed them to the influence of the Vacuum Flower, turning them into vessels capable of fusion."

The long, slender fingers extending from Fu Qian's mutated arm pointed toward the corners of the room one by one.

"When the time was right, the three Weapons on your body would replace the three gold coins sitting in front of them, and you would demand that they wear them."

"At the same time, your split flesh and blood would latch onto them."

"And all of this would take place in absolute darkness to minimize their guard as much as possible."

"Although there were still plenty of variables, it was certainly a bold attempt."

With a slight nod, Fu Qian offered his final summary.

"That's right... Everything you said is correct..."

Perhaps out of pride, neither Scrooge nor Charlotte made a sound in response to his critique.

Instead, it was Ais, whose body had slightly recovered, who spoke up while keeping a wary eye on their attackers.

"I know what we did is infuriating, but we truly had no other choice. Even that attack just now—"

"I'm not angry. I believe this is all part of destiny's call."

Fu Qian cut right through her preemptive repentance, his posture as steadfast as ever.

"Besides, didn't I just give you my approval? I even reminded you to look toward the future."

"...So, Your Excellency, why do you think their faces were able to suddenly appear on my body?"

Left speechless, Ais took a moment to dodge another incoming attack before she finally returned to the question Fu Qian had raised earlier.

"Simple. The pessimistic possibility is that your body is on the verge of collapsing from consecutive injuries. The optimistic possibility is that this is a mutation of the same nature."

Fu Qian raised the hand that had mutated first.

"The Vacuum Flower has forgiven your betrayal and decided to bestow a little favor upon you."

...

Her body suddenly stiffened. This time, even the two extra faces widened their bloodshot eyes.

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