Hah, fuuuck. I was so screwed…

Was it my fault for letting my guard down? I’d known that Kosmonymia had its dangers, but I should’ve been more cautious! Of course a world as idyllic as this couldn’t come without a cost…

If there wasn’t magic involved, maybe I could have dealt with it better, but I was really out of my depth now. If I got out of this place, it was time to start keeping a journal again. I needed some stress management to make sure I didn’t lose it completely.

Despite my best efforts, the temporary power boost I’d bargained from [Devourer] was wearing off. Maybe Verica felt me lagging behind, because she held onto my wrist and dragged me up through the dark water towards the surface.

She roughly pulled me out onto the bank. I crawled through the mud, panting, and tried not to collapse.

“What’s wrong with you?” she said bluntly.

“Can’t I just be tired?” I gasped out between breaths.

She wasn’t wrong, though. I was facing a lot of problems with my body right now, and the first one was that I was growing very weak. After training with Etienne for a few weeks, I was already familiar with the capabilities of Acacius’ body. The way my strength and stamina was declining was absolutely abnormal.

The second problem was that the [Last Genesis]’ perspective switching was leaking over into my human form. While it wasn’t a bad thing in and of itself, it implied a lot of worrying things.

As a result of that, I could see myself through Verica’s eyes, and I had to say, I really looked pathetic.

I forced myself to sit up on my knees and fix my collar and jacket. However, my dizziness intensified when I straightened up, so I ended up swaying to the side and having to catch myself with one hand. Tsk. So much for putting on a strong front.

Grass and mud squelched under Veric’s boots as she knelt down and slung my arm around her shoulder. She half supported, half lifted me up to walk further up the bank. “How did you defeat everyone in this kind of condition?”

“Ambush tactics… Obviously.”

“That doesn’t explain anything.”

So I should lay things out clearly and give her the impression that she could expect answers from me in the future? No thanks.

“Are you injured?” Verica asked.

“Look at yourself first before asking me that,” I muttered.

I’d seen her through the eyes of the enemies attacking her. Blood had caked her neck, her stomach, her limbs. There wasn’t a single part of her left untouched. So why the hell was she more energetic than me?

Verica snorted. “I’m all healed after being in the water for a while. But what about you? You’re not a devotee to the Shrine.” With the hand she’d wrapped around my waist, she reached up and accurately jabbed my shoulderblades. I couldn’t contain my flinch. “Trying to hide your condition from a Dragon Priest? You’re a fool.”

I lifted my head and narrowed my eyes. “Okay then, doctor. Why don’t you diagnose the rest of my problems if you’re so good?”

Verica hauled me to relatively dry ground and sat me down against a large rock. “Did you hit your back?”

“No.” It had just started itching and hurting like mad shortly after the other problems with my body started showing up.

“Sure.” She didn’t sound like she believed me. And when I was being so honest, too. “What happened to your arm?”

She pushed up my right sleeve to reveal the makeshift bandage I’d cut from the sleeve of my dress shirt, as well as the contusions from where that crazy mage had used her evil vines to catch me.

“Knife wound,” I said.

“You were attacked?”

I shrugged.

Actually, I’d fed [Devourer] some blood in exchange for a temporary power boost and its help ambushing Verica’s enemies. It had restored my strength and stamina to a normal baseline. The moment I shattered the wind barrier, [Devourer] had manifested in its beast form and killed one of the creepy mask-wearing ritualists. I’d directed the destabilizing barrier’s explosion to kill the second observer, which left me free to actually ambush and kill the third.

I was really regretting letting [Devourer] take as much blood as I had, though. I didn’t like how dizzy I felt or how fast and light my pulse was. Ugh, if there had been another way to secure Verica’s safety, that would have been great…

“And what about your eyes?” Verica asked. “Any problems?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Why would there be?”

“They’ve changed. It looks like you’re using some kind of power through them.”

But she hadn’t pinpointed the biggest and most important problem, huh.

Haha… Should I be disappointed or relieved?

On one hand, I could really use the help.

On the other hand, in a dangerous situation where I didn’t know who was trustworthy and the human heart would constantly be put to the test, like hell I wanted to tell anyone that I was going blind.

“It’s true that I feel less than stellar,” I said. See how I was speaking properly instead of swearing hard enough to leave her ears ringing? Wasn’t I showing great restraint? “Why. Plan to help?”

I couldn’t see Verica’s expression clearly, even at this close distance, but her frustrated sigh was audible. “You just came to help me. Of course I do.”

“How virtuous of you to pay back favors like that.” I reached up and unbuttoned the top of my shirt. “Then help me take a look at this.”

I traced my hand down to the glowing brand on my sternum. It felt hot under my fingers.

Verica fell silent.

“Can’t do anything about it?” I said, deliberately casual.

Her clothes rustled as she shifted. “It’s a curse from the Signifier themself. I don’t know why they interfered, but I can’t lift it with a hierarch’s power. You’re going to have to wait for it to dissipate on its own.”

“And when will that be?”

“Can I take a closer look?”

When I nodded, Verica leaned in and touched the brand. Unlike me, Verica was bone-dry, even after being in the water for so long. Fortunately, despite how waterlogged I was, I didn’t feel cold. I probably had Verica’s blessings to thank for that.

“That’s… strange,” said Verica. “The original power I used was a blessing to forcefully reveal your true nature, but this curse still considers your current form as ‘true.’ I don’t know why it would still be taking effect on you.” She sat back on her heels. From her body language, I was pretty sure she was giving me a searching look. “It seems to be a bad joke from the Signifier, but without more context, I can’t say more.”

It still felt weird that winning the Devouring Exchange and taking Acacius’ body made Acacius’ appearance “mine.” What about my original body? Even if it probably didn’t exist anymore, wasn’t that still more true?

Verica cleared her throat. “Um… Listen. If the curse is causing you too much trouble… You could consider, ah, revealing whatever it is that caused the hierarch’s power to target you in the first place. I won’t ask any questions about it, okay?”

I kind of felt like crying.

“I can’t.”

After being struck with this brand, I couldn’t dismiss the effects of [Honest Man’s Deception] anymore.

It seemed like it had fixed the giant problem where my base form in KP-04 was a bug instead of a human. Now, even without using [Honest Man’s Deception], I was back in Acacius’ form. It was just that… there seemed to have been some side effects during the correction process.

If I had to guess, judging from my declining vision and the fact that I could now perspective hop in human form, the Signifier’s curse was slowly merging the [Last Genesis]’ traits into my body.

Would those effects carry over to Kosmonymia proper once we escaped the Fantasm World? I really, really hoped not…

To top it all off, I couldn’t transform back into butterfly form even if I wanted to, because the [Last Genesis of the Kaleidoscope] wasn’t a name, but a title.

“How long does the curse take to run its course?” I said. “Is it temporary?”

“Normally, it should have manifested and dismissed itself by now.”

“So you don’t know.”

Verica lowered her head.

That wasn’t promising. “Fine. I could use some help healing too.”

She remained silent for a moment longer. When she spoke again, her voice was so soft I could barely hear her.

“I already gave you the strongest healing blessing I could after the fight.”

Ah? Huh?

“I… can’t heal effectively anymore. I’m sorry.”

I was stunned. “Like, at all?”

“I’m sorry.”

Fuck. I’d been counting on getting a top-up from her before facing the rest of this catastrophe. I should’ve gotten there faster… It sure felt like nothing was going my way.

Verica exhaled and spoke.

“Why did you come find me in the first place?”

I thought it was pretty self-evident.

“Because you’re the key to the greatest number of people surviving. To kill the rest of us, they’d want to get rid of you first.”

Verica furrowed her eyebrows. “Then what about Roxana?”

“Do you see Roxana’s blessing on me right now?”

“But she’s one of the Dragon Shrine’s most talented healers. Wouldn’t she be a target, too?”

That would be a great point to take action about if we both didn’t look as bad as we did. “If you’re that concerned about her, go find her after we find Luka.”

“After?”

“Do I look like I can protect you on my own right now?”

“…Right.” Verica dropped her head once again, shoulders hunching. “I… wouldn’t be much help in a fight, would I? Considering how prepared they came to kill me.”

She hesitated.

“Can I see the blade?”

Oh yeah, that thing. I pulled out the golden dagger from my belt and handed it over.

Verica examined the dagger carefully. I saw through her eyes the elaborate draconic head carved out of the handle, holding the pommelstone in its mouth.

“Huh,” she muttered. “If it uses dragon imagery, it must be associated with the Signifier, and since it can neutralize the Great Dragon’s power, then it should have been imbued with a hierarch’s power at least. But I can’t feel anything.”

If I got out of this situation, reading up on the Great Dragon and the hierarchs was skyrocketing up my to-do list. The history books I’d read had said more about the Great Dragon’s political role than any of its powers.

“We should be careful of the possibility that there are more of these weapons out there,” I said. “Did they prepare any other special countermeasures against you? Besides the paper dolls and the vines.”

“No, just that.” Verica hesitated. “But, um. How did you know I was in trouble? And how did you find me?”

“Remember when you said you wouldn’t ask any questions about my secrets? Let’s go back to that.”

“You… Fine. If I ask how you learned so much about the enemy, will that touch on your oh-so-important secrets too?”

“You’ve grasped the concept quickly.”

“What’s with your attitude? Maybe I should question you after all.”

“How easily you can reach the limits of your principles,” I teased.

Before I could say more, though, my skin prickled. I stiffened and turned my head.

Perhaps because I’d been leaning so heavily on the [Last Genesis]’ perspective-surfing power these past couple hours, I’d become proficient enough to develop proprioception for each perspective that entered my sensing range. I had a fuzzy internal map of each perspective’s location in space with respect to each other and to me.

And now, I could feel a certain oppressive “gaze” approaching us.

“Quick, put this on.”

“What? — Eugh!”

Verica pushed me away when I scooped up mud and smeared it on her cheeks, but she quieted down when she saw me applying it to myself, too. Damn Acacius and his blindingly pink hair. What was wrong with a perfectly good black or brown, or even Verica’s blue? They sure would be easier to hide in this environment, that was for sure…

I rolled in the mud for a second and crawled into the dense grass growing at the water’s edge, lowering myself until I was completely hidden by the height of the reeds.

“What are you doing?”

“Something’s coming. Quickly!”

I raised my hand and beckoned urgently when she didn’t respond right away. After a moment’s hesitation, Verica finally crawled in after me.

I submerged myself until I was barely visible even in Verica’s eyes, holding my breath. The gaze drew closer, preceded by an invisible pressure that made my skin prickle. Verica stopped breathing as well, holding deathly still in the water.

It looked down from above, scanning the rocks and even lowering itself to look around underwater. However, it only glanced at the reeds for a moment before it moved on.

I let out a sigh of relief and sat up when I felt it move away.

“What happened?” Verica whispered.

“Do you remember the eye that appeared over us, back before the flood?”

She gasped softly. “Was that it just now?”

I shook my head. “This eye is something similar. The paper dolls attacking you were controlled through that power.”

Back then, I’d actually thought the controller was one of the creepy mask wearers or that cackling mage. As for the eye, I’d just wanted to block that gaze from seeing what I planned to do. Who knew that after using the [Last Genesis]’ power to break it, the paper dolls would lose effectiveness too?

The good thing about this gaze was that it didn’t feel inherently malicious. Instead, it had a piercing quality. Uncomfortable but survivable. I could work with that just fine.

“How did you know it was coming?” Verica asked.

“I’ve finished resting. Let’s go find Luka,” I said. “If I hide, make sure to hide too.”

Verica scoffed and rolled her eyes at my transparent change of topic, but she didn’t argue. “Come on, then. Hold on tight or I’m leaving you behind.”

It was nice of her to let me hold onto her like that. We dove into the water and swam through the river.

Verica was better at navigating the waterway than me. Unlike the couple hours it had taken me to find her, it only took her around half an hour before she confidently pulled me out of the water. I guess she got impatient with my flagging stamina, because partway through the journey, she wrapped an arm around my waist and put my arm around her neck so that she could haul me along with her.

I was just glad that I hadn’t had to catch a fish to act as my eyes underwater this time. I’d used the net amulet’s flow-controlling power to grab one, but let me just say, trying to keep a firm grip on a fish while swimming was not easy…

“I think this should take us in the right direction,” Verica said, checking the compass’ needle and a tunnel up ahead. “I can’t tell the geography that well when we’re outside the water, though.”

“Let me handle that,” I said. Outside the water, I had access to a lot more legible perspectives — namely, that of humans, as well as the butterflies that had survived the deluge. Their sight was in fact surprisingly good, so the [Last Kaleidoscope]’s blindness must have been unique to it and not the species as a whole. “There are enemies up ahead, so we should be careful.”

They were far enough away that their perspectives were still blurry to me, and that was in addition to the pervasive darkness that the caverns’ bioluminescent flora couldn’t dispel. All I could tell was that they were moving in a small group, and they were wearing masks.

“Alright. Tell me if you notice anything,” Verica said. She let go of me and stepped away, taking the lead to walk forward.

Fortunately, I still had enough sight left to tell where she was, even if I couldn’t see the ground that clearly. As long as I stuck closely behind her, I would be okay.

A few minutes later, one of the perspectives ahead abruptly winked out.

The other perspectives turned around rapidly. The darkness around them surged forward, swallowing the light.

Another perspective moved forward in my range.

It looked through the darkness as if it was clear as day, focusing on the black-robed group and the masks they wore. In its eyes, the world was strung with hundreds of delicate strings shining in myriad colors, connecting everyone in tangled webs. More strings floated out and faded out of view as they stretched to some unseen end point.

The darkness surged again, forming dozens of shadowy jaws that bit down on the masked enemies and their strings.

No one else could see the strings. They only saw the dark entities snarling and biting at empty air, then at their limbs. Light flared; wind and water flowed forth, woven into new paths. But it was strange — the ribbons, as soon as they touched the darkness, would begin to twist, blacken, and disintegrate.

Another perspective went out. The last thing they saw was a pair of red eyes.

Luka emerged from the darkness, eyes shining like a wolf’s. There was a spine-chilling quality to his expression, the way he looked at the people before him. I recognized that expression easily. I’d seen it too many times to count.

I stopped in my tracks, and Verica looked back at me. “What is it?”

“Luka is up ahead.”

“Really? That’s great!”

I watched the masked figures scream and scatter, not a shred of camaraderie to be seen. Luka followed. “I think we shouldn’t disturb him right now.”

Verica didn’t dismiss my suggestion right away. I couldn’t see Luka clearly from the hurried glances that they tossed back, but his burning red eyes would always be looking back at them from the shadows. The darkness writhed with open mouths. The strings connecting everyone were almost all gone.

Luka cut down another enemy. The last thing they saw before their perspective disappeared from my senses was the maw of darkness opening up to swallow them. Luka only looked at their body long enough to see their strings disappear before he leaped forward again.

“What’s he doing?” Verica asked.

“Killing people,” I said.

Her voice grew tense. “And what’s his state? Emotionally?”

Emotionally?

“He looks…”

Like he didn’t see the people in front of him as human anymore.

But it wasn’t just that. As he cornered the next person, I saw another emotion emerging in his intense red gaze.

“…Hungry,” I said.

Was it really a good idea to trust this guy?

Verica looked worried, which was sensible. But she grabbed my wrist and started running forward, which was not.

“Hey! What the hell?” I tried to tug my arm out of her grip, but to no avail. “We should be running the other direction, if anything!”

“No, we need to get to Luka before it’s too late!”

“Why am I included in this? He’s your friend, not mine!”

“Shut up and tell me which way to go!”

I hated this idea, but Verica seemed to know what she was doing, and I still wanted her as an ally.

“…He’s that way.”

Verica switched directions wordlessly. Even with my poor physical state, she dragged me along at record speed.

Screams echoed from ahead. Metal clashed. Through Verica’s eyes, I saw the tunnel ahead of us darken, seething with indistinct shapes. A couple masked enemies appeared around the bend of the tunnel, fleeing for their lives, and Verica dropped me to attack. A blue dragon’s phantom appeared around her, flaring with light, and in a burst of movement, she grabbed them by the throats. The huge claws that had formed over her hands pierced through their necks. I heard a distinctly loud snap.

She dropped the bodies to the ground and took a few deep breaths. It was a moment before she charged forward again.

I rummaged through the enemies’ bodies for anything useful and found some dried food and more of the net amulets. Then I hurried after Verica, placing one hand on the tunnel wall to guide myself as I followed the sound of combat.

Verica fought her way forward quickly, and soon she saw Luka holding a freshly killed corpse. It was being swallowed up by the mouths of darkness. He turned to look at her. The red of his eyes was deepening, like blood.

“Luka!”

Shadowy jaws crept forward to place their teeth over Verica’s colorful strings. Luka leaned forward. He didn’t speak when Verica approached, but he also didn’t raise his weapon.

Verica lifted her arm, blue light infusing her hand.

And she smacked him.

“Get yourself together, Luka! Have you lost your mind?”

Luka gasped, blinking rapidly. He held a hand to his cheek and slowly turned his eyes to look back at her. A hint of liveliness came back to his face.

“Veric…”

“Yeah, I’m here. Everything’s okay. So stop using this power already!”

Luka tilted his head.

“I’m… okay.”

“Do I look like I believe you?” Verica punched his shoulder. “Hurry up! Or are you going to go back on what you promised?”

Luka didn’t move for a long, long moment. The shadows crept closer to Verica, scraping their teeth down her strings.

But slowly, agonizingly, the darkness receded. It condensed into a stream of fog that slipped up under his sleeves. It settled on his skin in a black tattoo that slithered away out of sight before I could make it out clearly.

Luka closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. When he opened them again, he seemed much calmer and more approachable, and the strings had disappeared from his vision.

“…Thanks, Veric. It’s good to see you.”

Verica’s expression relaxed, and the blue glow around her finally dissipated.

“It’s good to see you too. Are you okay?”

Luka nodded. “What about you?” His gaze dropped to the faintly glowing scar tissue on her throat, then the blood on her clothes. “I was looking for you.”

“I was in trouble, but it’s okay now. Thanks to that guy.”

Verica turned her head and pointed at my figure, just appearing around the bend.

“…Acacius?” Luka said. He lifted his sword ever so slightly and looked at my neck.

I raised my head and, using his perspective as reference, did my best to meet his gaze. The kaleidoscope pattern in my eyes spun.

“He was the one who helped me find you,” Verica said, squaring her shoulders and meeting Luka’s gaze. “And he got me out of — a really bad situation, too. I think it would be good to have him on our side, at least for now. Let’s try and work together, okay?”

Wow. She was actually standing up for me? My hard work had paid off after all.

Luka looked at Verica’s nervous expression, then back at me. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“Why did you help Verica?”

“Her blessings are important for surviving the current situation.”

Luka nodded slowly, but he didn’t miss the guilty look Verica gave me. Not that I knew what she was thinking, either.

“So as long as our interests are aligned, you’ll help us?” Luka said.

“That’s how it works for most people.”

“And for you?”

Couldn’t he just leave it alone? “I’ll help as long as it suits me.”

Luka considered me a moment longer. The strings in his vision flickered back into view.

Then he finally sheathed his sword.

“Alright. I can work with you too,” he said. “But if we’re going to cooperate, you’re going to have to answer some questions first.”

Damn it. It couldn’t be that easy, huh?

I hated answering questions so much.

Chapter 23 Chapter 25