What is that?!
Maki's eyes widened.
The rules never mentioned this entity. Why was it targeting her?
An inhuman malice pressed down, suffocating.
Thud—
A footstep.
Then—it was right before her.
Scarlet light erupted.
Corpses with hollowed joints (replaced by wooden prosthetics) materialized, grappling the entity.
Maki launched from bed—fully clothed—onto the central table, then leaped to the doorway just as a skeletal hand lashed out.
The hallway outside had warped, its once-straight path now a nonsensical labyrinth.
What's happening?!
"Clothes!"
Chika's voice rang out as she hurled an explorer's jacket at Maki. Under her lab coat, Chika had kept her own explorer outfit—a precaution now paying off.
The entity (still pinned by blood puppets) struggled free. Under the bloodlight, its silhouette matched Professor Fernen's.
Him?!
Both Maki and Takakai had theorized Fernen might retain some humanity beneath his eerie demeanor.
But this thing radiated pure, soulless horror.
Did I break a rule?
Destroying the surveillance room might have been reckless—but the researcher guidelines never forbade it.
Kaguya-obasan saw no guards before entering the power zone… Unless…
Realization struck:
If the cameras weren't monitored conventionally, maybe Fernen's office had a separate feed!
"Haa…"
Maki exhaled—then charged forward, scalpel flashing.
Schlik!
The entity's severed hand flopped to the floor, writhing. No blood.
A true apparition.
Maki didn't stop—lopping off limbs, decapitating it, bisecting the torso—before fleeing with Chika into the nightmare hallway.
"I'll head to the power zone. You check Fernen's office."
Maki pressed a spare scalpel into Chika's hand mid-sprint.
"Shouldn't we leave and regroup?" Chika panted.
"No time."
Behind them, something slithered—reassembling—closing in.
The hallway stretched impossibly long. Three minutes of sprinting yielded no exit.
A scream bubbled beneath the floorboards. Machinery whirred, evoking images of a bone press.
Coldness crept up their spines—
—alongside static and flickering visions:
A blackout. A research base drowned in darkness.
A crimson dress.
Once white, now dyed red.
The entity stood amidst corpses, staring at—
—a cowering Fernen.
Did it make him this way?
Why spare him?
[Give… it… back…]
A woman's sob, warped beyond recognition.
The hallucination shattered as Maki and Chika reached the stairs.
The pursuer gained.
They'd never make it—
—until a tourist-dressed apparition (forcibly clad in a lab coat) plopped into the hallway.
The bloodlight snapped to white.
The entity gurgled—vanishing, leaving only the coat.
The chase had stopped.
Turning, Maki and Chika faced Fernen—his expression hollow.
[Experiment begins soon. Proceed to the research zone.]
He walked past them, descending the stairs as if nothing had happened.
{Thanks for the save.}
Maki gasped through the mental link.
{Status?} Takakai responded instantly.
{Lights normalized. Your "gift" disappeared. Are you okay?}
{Better than ever.}
Crouched behind Nutty Putty Cave's ticket counter, Takakai smirked.
A dozen tourist apparitions patrolled outside, searching for the madman who'd sheared one of their own with blood scissors, stuffed it into a researcher's uniform, then fled.
His silver ring negated their killing rules—but not their violence.
Holes riddled his body. His skull was punctured. One arm dangled by invisible threads.
Yet Andres' Ring kept him moving. His Rescue Badge (partially activated) stitched flesh and bone back together.
Combining artifacts… A viable strategy.
Once healed, he retrieved the ring and unlocked a door with his blood key—returning to Wilbur's power room.
Where Rixuel stood, gripping the master switch.
Snap.
Takakai seized his wrist.
"Don't. Touch. It."
Ice laced his voice.