Eldritch Horror Theatre

An old man in an abandoned house, the Frenzied Flame, and burning ash.

Lying in his father's old bed, Kadon's consciousness was slipping irretrievably into oblivion—the exact opposite of what his father had once chased.

Yet, he remained awake, and he made no response whatsoever to the witness's words.

"Human flesh and willpower are both so fragile that you see all sorts of fallacies born of fear. But a fallacy isn't necessarily without value. To me, the concept of a righteous one is actually quite fascinating."

Fu Qian didn't mind the silence at all, simply continuing his casual monologue.

He wasn't just spouting nonsense. Given his extensive experience with being interrogated, leading someone down the garden path was second nature.

As he had noted earlier, one of the trickiest aspects of this task was the ironclad firmness of the client's will.

When it came to this final death wish, the old man stubbornly trusted only his own judgment, absolutely refusing to reveal the core problem tormenting him.

It meant that anyone trying to help him had to start out like blind men feeling an elephant, probing step by step until they could lock onto the core issue.

That single point alone was enough to practically rule out the performances put on by those three characters earlier.

All in all, the blind men feeling an elephant approach was bearing fruit. Certain details were finally bringing themselves to light.

In truth, when dealing with an iron-willed old man who no longer even feared death, this seemed to be the only way to unearth his hidden secret: make the secret speak for itself.

Of course, to keep that secret talking, this alone wouldn't be enough.

Kadon wasn't a movie villain who would predictably leap out during the grand finale to argue right and wrong. Such pointless disputes of ego meant nothing in their current situation. Fu Qian needed to keep applying pressure:

"Please believe me, I have a wealth of experience when it comes to disturbing people's rest. A contest of patience is meaningless here."

As he casually recounted his own notorious track record, Fu Qian snapped his fingers. His physique swelled another fraction, tearing his upper garments into absolute tatters.

"I highly suggest you resort to some more extreme measures to try defying the heavens and altering destiny while you still have the strength for it."

The flying ash filling the air seemed to strike a bizarre force field, spiraling into nausea-inducing curves that vividly illustrated the true meaning of a chaotic core.

Standing right in the heart of it all, having helpfully analyzed the situation, Fu Qian offered his direct advice.

"Come on. Let me see what a true righteous one is. Let me see just how utterly foolish those cannibals really are."

...

The Flame of Frenzy was devouring willpower, yet the twisted core beside him made it impossible to fall asleep.

For an old man who only wished to die in his sleep, it was undeniably a cruel situation.

But Fu Qian was a man of his word, and he had absolutely no intention of deactivating his aura.

Part of this was naturally out of confidence in his own judgment, but the rest was born of his confidence in the Old Man.

Theoretically, it wasn't impossible that the conversation just now had actually been an act of survival on Kadon's part.

Namely, the hidden danger within him might have already been purged, and he was simply too irritated by the noise to sleep. Perhaps he had guided the conversation just to shut Fu Qian up so he could finally pass away in peace.

But in Fu Qian's eyes, the odds of that were incredibly slim.

Although they had each been harboring their own motives during their earlier exchanges, Fu Qian had tried to be as honest as possible. For instance, regarding staying awake for long periods of time—he genuinely did have experience with that.

And it was exactly this that gave him much higher expectations for a tough old bastard who had been fighting the urge to sleep for decades.

The sheer terror the Old Man was facing wasn't something that could be resolved so simply.

Therefore, no matter how much it looked like the mission could fail at any moment, Fu Qian didn't have the slightest inclination to compromise, nor was he prepared to use Transcendence to restart the run—

"You..."

As it turned out, that confidence was eventually rewarded.

Amidst the deathly, ashen decay, a voice abruptly rang out... Was it Kadon himself?

Easily recognizing the voice, Fu Qian silently studied the old man lying on the bed.

The old man hadn't opened his mouth, nor were there any new bloody figures sitting up from his body—Riiip!

Fu Qian casually tore off his thoroughly shredded upper garment and tossed the rags aside.

Revealed on his bare chest was a glaringly bright red streak of blood.

...

Excellent. Full of spirit.

After all that torment, the backlash had actually erupted onto his own body?

Normally, if another eight or ten people had suddenly sat up from Kadon's body, it wouldn't have been surprising in the least.

And yet, it was emerging from Fu Qian instead?

Considering his main body was merely Mid Tier, it was a truly astonishing feat.

Marveling at the sight, Fu Qian watched as a human figure forcibly tore its way out of his flesh.

It really was Kadon himself, though his tone was far from polite.

"You are someone who will find it very difficult to obtain redemption."

Because the Tyrant's physique was simply too burly, Kadon practically tumbled onto the floor after wrenching himself out.

The instant he stood up, he stared right at Fu Qian and delivered his harsh critique.

"And I suppose you can?"

But before Expert Fu could demand justice for his own talents, another voice unexpectedly beat him to the punch, snapping right back.

Raymond?

Fu Qian lowered his head again, examining this new mouthpiece of his.

Sure enough, the voice was coming from his own body. He watched as yet another figure struggled out of him—the owner of the roadside shop from earlier.

"A bunch of self-important trash."

Before he had even tumbled to the floor, Raymond unleashed a wide-area taunt.

"Of course I can. I am only one final step away. A step that is destined to be completed."

"Kadon" reacted with a string of cold sneers, even turning his head to look at his own physical body lying on the bed.

"You are doing something incredibly dangerous."

But the moment those words left his mouth, yet another voice rang out, warning against blind optimism.

A female voice. It felt seemingly familiar.

Fu Qian blinked, watching the figure step right out of his own body.

Wearing coarse cloth robes, her graying hair faintly visible, it was none other than Loretta, whom they had discussed just a short while ago.

...

"Things didn't have to be this way. How does it feel now?"

Scoffing at Loretta's critique, "Kadon" immediately redirected his hostility back toward Fu Qian in the suddenly crowded abandoned house.

"You really just needed to sit there quietly and let me successfully ignore your existence. Everything would have been perfect. But you insisted on making trouble, so I'm forced to do this another way."

Even as he spoke, his hands were far from idle. The swirling ash in the air was suddenly sucked toward him like a vacuum, rapidly condensing together.

"Look right here."

"Kadon" called out a moment later, gesturing for Fu Qian's attention.

Readily accepting good advice, Fu Qian looked over, discovering that the swirling ash had been forcefully forged into a gleaming Black Mirror.

As for his own reflection in that mirror, it was shockingly composed of countless, densely packed, blood-red human silhouettes stacked upon each other.

"Do you understand now? This is why this body is hell... Only the death of the physical body represents the true step from childhood into maturity."

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