⚠ This chapter may contain explicit depictions of abuse and potentially triggering content. Please proceed with caution. ⚠

A complex collection of fragments that shaped everyone's truth - while memories were stored in the brain, it wasn't as straightforward as data being stored in a computer. For example, even if you were to remove part of someone's brain, that wouldn't be enough to get rid of all their memories for good. After all, many different elements came together to give shape to that record of our lives. Visual feedback, the sense of smell, feelings of happiness, sadness, surprise or fear. They were all stored in different sections of the brain, some may even call this fusion of memories one's soul.

But how much truth was there to it?

Were souls something real to begin with? Was it something that could be proven with the power of science? Were souls and memories the same, or were they entirely different concepts that made up a person?

This kind of research led to the development of a certain Velvet Burst. While many experiments resulted in several casualties, eventually, the researchers were able to find a pair of kids that could stabilize the technique. A technique that forced two souls to swap into opposite physical bodies.

If memories were physically stored in your brain? What would happen if a different soul were to get access to that terminal?

"Scarlet Outburst!!"

As Faith's voice echoed in Celeste's head, her vision was clouded by a massive burst of red light. Her world started to spin, and her consciousness was drowned out by the feeling of electricity assaulting her limbs, sending her body into a sudden convulsion.

★

☆Scarlet Reverie - Memory Outburst

As sudden as it began, her body now hit the cold floor. With consciousness slowly returning to her, she could immediately tell this wasn't her body. This body was too small, it felt like the body of a little girl. Not long after, she was assaulted by unbearable pain all over, it was as though something blunt had struck all her limbs at once, like she was being repeatedly stabbed all over.

The room where she stood was insanely cold, and she could hardly tell what was in front of her thanks to the bright artificial light. Barely able to see her limbs in front of her, she realized her arms were covered in bandages, the same kind of bandages she could feel wrapped around her head. Just what happened to this body for it to be damaged this badly?

Shaking her head to sway the bangs of her long black hair away, Celeste stared at a screen in front of her with her blood-red eyes. It looked like a LED screen that displayed a numbered list. The names on top were colored green and changed colors into a yellow and orange gradient until the ones at the bottom were colored red.

After taking a peak at the top, the list read:

1- Miracle

2- Dream

Following the instinct of this body, her sight lowered to the very bottom of the list:

776- Mirage

777- Wish

778- Faith

779-

"I lost... again?" Celeste's lips moved, but in reality, it was like looking at an old movie from this body's point of view. "I can't fail again, I can't fail again. If I don't win against Wish then I... I'll never be able to meet her again. I can't lose again."

And then, everything went blank.

★☆Limerence Reverie - Memory Outburst

"Sorry, but I am shutting you down. You don't need to see any more than this." Faith frowned while holding his hand against his forehead. While this was Faith's consciousness, this was the body of a much younger Celeste.

Scarlet Outburst was never originally Faith's ability. In fact, you could say that this was a Velvet Burst that wasn't artificially created, but rather an anomaly that naturally existed. All the experiments did was find out how to stabilize it. Being the only one who could stabilize such a dangerous technique when faced with the beast of the stars, Faith had easily learned how to navigate the sea of fragmented memories.

Having connected with Celeste's body meant that he now had full access to all of her experiences. As for why he did this, was it to help Celeste, or was it to learn more about the Artificial Heaven?

Eri connecting through Claire with an outburst before made him uneasy because this was a technique that heavily relied on compatibility. The reason so many kids before him failed to connect with Wish was that they were unable to withstand her mental state, so connecting to her mind simply broke them apart. It's not like Faith got away unscathed either, but this is precisely why it was so dangerous, in the process of becoming compatible with Wish, his very being had become a hazard as well.

Was Celeste going to be able to handle connecting with him? He could only hope he could lessen the impact by shutting her down and forcing her into the second stage of the outburst.

At any rate, he knew he should start navigating Celeste's memories. It's not like a Scarlet Outburst would last forever either, and it was not a technique made to peak into memories in the first place, you could say that this was just a side-effect of the body swap. He couldn't lose this chance.

Faith stared at his reflection in the mirror. He saw the face of a 15-year-old girl with shoulder-length red hair. She was smiling at herself while she adjusted the red ribbon on her black and white uniform. It seemed like today was her first day of high school, for someone who couldn't relate the concept of school to any good memories, it was hard to understand why Celeste was so enthusiastic about it.

Walking downstairs, she was greeted by a girl who seemed to be at least four years younger than Celeste. She was busy watching a morning cartoon, but quickly reacted the moment she saw her sister.

"Celly!! Good morning!!"

"Morning!!" Celeste then looked around the empty house. "Did Mom already leave?"

"Yeah! She left you some food in the fridge!!"

After taking a look, Faith could only wonder if this really was food. All he found was two slices of bread on a plate with a single slice of old, rotting cheese in between. Was this a cruel prank? Judging by Celeste's reaction, he quickly understood this was just what was normal for her. The fact that there was any food at all was a nice surprise.

Displeased by the taste of the stale food, Faith then saw Celeste find what looked like a note and a small box next to the counter. It was a present from her mother to cheer her on, a silver ring with a bright red stone.

Celeste couldn't help but smile. She had seen this ring on the display of a fancy store before, and every time she saw it she was captivated by its vibrant color. She had jokingly asked for it before only to end in rejection. Was she really giving her this?

Feeling proud, Celeste left the house and adventured into the unknown lands of her high school debut.

It was supposed to be a good and peaceful day, and yet...

(Something is weird.)

Faith had clearly seen Celeste get closer and closer to the school, and yet, she was now standing in the street right outside her house again.

Just like this, Celeste's memory continued to loop. She would walk all the way to the school only to find herself outside her house again.

It was hard to tell, but paying close attention, Faith concluded that this wasn't a perfect loop. There were tiny differences every time it happened, the people passing by, and the roads Celeste would take to school were all different. But above all, somewhere down the line, she was not wearing her ring anymore.

Thanks to seeing this through her memories, Faith had a clear read on Celeste's train of thought, so he could tell she didn't remember this ring anymore. Her memory was slowly degrading with each loop.

Why? Was her memory damaged because of the Artificial Heaven? No, this was still inside the Scarlet Outburst. He didn't know when Celeste was taken to that simulation, but this clearly wasn't it. The only other explanation he could find was that the accumulation of memories in this loop had successfully scrambled her consciousness.

He had never encountered a phenomenon like this before, but since it came to this, he would have to intervene and dig deeper into her memories. Up till now, he had been seeing everything from Celeste's main line of consciousness, but there was more to memories than that. The faces of people in the street, the words on random signs. Humans may not always remember everything they see, but as long as they experienced it, it was still recorded somewhere.

With his consciousness still synced with Celeste's body, Faith activated his Eschatology. It may not be as effective as usual in this state, but it should give him clear access to anything recorded in Celeste's surroundings.

This is when he noticed a bigger abnormality. Throughout every loop, there had been someone walking close by.

Shining blue eyes, and short blonde hair. She had been keeping a distance, but she had definitely been stuck in this same endless loop. The moment he saw her face, Celeste's memories triggered a strong reaction, immediately giving him that girl's name: Alice.

For a split second, Faith could see the ring on Alice's finger, and with another sudden loop, Celeste suddenly stopped walking, her attention taken by a ring lying on the ground, one she couldn't recognize anymore.

☆

The Philosopher's Stone, it was Alchemy's ultimate goal, an elixir of eternal life, something only heard of in legends. Alchemy wasn't something that existed in a world that instead went on to develop Science, if you were to ask anyone they'd think of something they saw on movies, or think that it was just a myth, something abandoned in the past thanks to having no real basis in this world.

So if what if we reversed this point of view? The power to develop techniques to expand one's lifespan and give humanity abilities beyond their imagination, in a world without science, it wouldn't be surprising for such a myth to exist.

What started as something small, became the power of science that continued to evolve and go past its original goals, looking for new horizons, opening new doors for humanity. So then, in a world where Alchemy and eternal life were common, what was the current goal of Alchemy? If someone already had the ability to live forever, where would Alchemy evolve from here? To Elizabelle Elaitea, it was a simple answer, if you could live forever in this world, then the goal was to see the world beyond, and the one after that too. A power to transcend the cycle of reincarnation, to see the beyond without losing your own self. Eternal life was only the first step. This world was only the first stage.

Had an alchemist like that been here, the sight before them would have been both alarming and fascinating. For an expert in the human soul and the foundation of the world, seeing the very moment reality began to unravel like this was like a dream come true. But for someone like Caroline, this didn't mean anything.

A significant part of the ground in the abandoned mall had broken over and fallen, Caroline had been standing close to the inner edge as Faith and Celeste entered a Scarlet Outburst. There should have been an impact as the ground descended, but that never happened. The descending floor below her had simply stopped moving.

Was this still the mall? Everything was bathed in a bright red light, making it hard to see, but two bodies were lying unconsciously not too far from where she stood. She tried moving forward, but her entire body felt incredibly heavy, it was as though the gravity in the environment had entirely shifted. For a split second, the images entering her vision were like looking at herself in third person.

Despite standing in what looked like a very large circular platform with some floating, broken chunks, there were no walls around them. Instead, there was something surrounding them. Before she could tell what it was, her sight returned to normal. Even if she couldn't understand why, goosebumps rapidly spread throughout Caroline's skin.

"This one feels like a dead end too, but I don't want to reset just yet, I finally got to see something different," Caroline spoke to herself, trying to take a better look at the bodies next to her.

She wasn't familiar with the technique Faith used at all, so to an outsider, it was hard to tell whether they were unconscious or dead. Was Faith's plan to self-destruct along with this girl, or was there more to it?

It was like Caroline was the only one left in a world with no future.

If it came to this, should she trust Faith? Did he really have a plan in this situation? Or should she resume her original plan and get rid of Celeste while she could?

As the Error Spot grew stronger, the sound of gears reached Caroline, accompanied by the sound of something moving, something massive, something getting closer. As her vision switched between third person and back to normal, she decided to act while she still could and approached Celeste's body.

"It's simple." Even if Faith didn't want this, it wasn't a situation where he'd get to choose a good ending anymore.

☾

With the resounding sound of a gunshot, the world was enveloped in silence. Caroline could only watch as the lifeless body of a red-haired girl collapsed into a pool of blood. What expression was the boy making at a time like this? Only able to see Faith's back, she had no way to know.

Where did it all begin?

An invitation to join a certain company in the City of Light. Despite the letter only coming with an address and not the name of the company, Caroline was in a position where she had nothing to lose. An opportunity like that didn't come every day, and she desperately needed the money. If this was some sort of scam, then so be it. The super-part timer wouldn't back down from a challenge so easily.

And yet... it turned out to be such a long long journey.

How long had it been since the day she first stepped into Glint City and met that boy? To Faith, it had only been about three days, as for Caroline, she had stopped counting somewhere along the way.

The first time she encountered a major wall was at the Castle of Hope. After climbing to the top floor of that bizarre structure, they had encountered a man named Orion - an old man who ran a burger shop, and the current administrator of operations for that base. Of course, this too, was only a copy while the real Orion slept away in the Artifical Heaven.

They would meet Eri trying to save her sister, Faith would break into the castle, and in the end, the moment everyone got distracted, Orion's copy would end May's life with a deadly bullet.

Five times, ten times, twenty times. On the fifty-fourth try, Caroline finally found a solution that would stop May from dying.

The next obstacle would then turn out to be much bigger and much more complicated. After being together with Eri and meeting Ryuusei, they would find a girl named Estelle passed out in a fountain. No matter how hard she tried, and what different options she tried to explore, in the end, the solution was way less obvious than she would have ever expected.

The key to getting past that incident was to abandon Estelle.

It was always an unfortunate outcome, but she was well aware of what was always the answer to get past Celeste.

Yet, this didn't happen this time. Events that were fated to happen time and time again had changed. Why? Why did everything change so drastically so early on?

It's not like she always intended to get rid of Celeste. If it was possible to keep someone alive, it was best to keep them alive. After all, you never know where or when someone would be the key to progress forward. Reducing someone's entire being to a convenient tool like that didn't sit right with her, but when you lived in a world like this, you weren't left with much of a choice.

Of course, in the end, the key to progress from this incident was to kill Celeste.

Reasoning with her didn't work, trying to capture and restrain her proved impossible, and trying to stop Faith from meeting her in the first place always backfired.

Eventually, Caroline stopped looking for a different answer, she had accepted her death as something normal.

So then, why was everything so different this time around? The answer was a very simple one. Despite everything Caroline had seen, Mirage was nowhere to be found in her previous World Fragments. But this time, that hero had appeared before her at Noa's house, she had become involved with Celeste's incident.

Despite all this, this was Caroline's first encounter with an Error Spot. She had faced countless unreasonable situations, but such an error never manifested. What's more, this time she learned a lot of new information she never encountered before either, such as the existence of the Artificial Heaven and the Scarlet Outburst.

Even moving inside this Error Spot felt like an impossible task. Barely moving a single step forward was like fighting against immense gravity, her body moved slowly and out of sync with her commands.

Everything pointed to this being another dead end, but why did it happen so early? She should have already conquered this incident long ago. There were many more difficult challenges waiting for her, she couldn't allow herself to be stuck all the way here. Things weren't supposed to be able to change so drastically, what was all of her hard work for? Did this mean all of her progress moving onward was all lost? Was it all for nothing? If another roadblock like this appeared in a path she had already cleared, how was she supposed to get through the Colissions, the Broken Light, or even the Day of the End?

☆

Slowly, she was able to reach Celeste's unconscious body. Letting her own legs collapse under the pressure, Caroline knelt next to her, her palm reaching for the girl's neck.

"Don't touch me!!"

The voice that spoke was Faith's voice, and yet, it carried an unusual aggression and shakiness that made it hard to believe it was him. The brunette turned her head around, only to be met by a pair of bright emerald eyes. The contorted expression on the boy's face, his shaking hands, the unsteady posture. It was obvious that whoever stood before her wasn't Faith anymore.

Caroline sighed. This was a dead end, it had to be, but maybe she could still find more answers that would be of help in the future. For one, she had never seen Faith use a Scarlet Outburst, she didn't know what this technique was at all. Despite everything she had lived through, she still couldn't understand that boy. They already recovered the Philosopher's Stone, saving Elizabelle was their main objective, it was the request they had to fulfil. So why did Faith go out of his way to approach Celeste again after that? There was no way he of all people would move based on blind emotion. Did he really have a plan to get out of this? Could she really trust him this time? Or did he miscalculate and fail? It's not like that never happened before.

Did Faith predict the Error Spot would distort to this extent? Did he know Caroline would come to his aid? It's not like he told her to come here and help him, but somewhere along the way, Caroline had ended up here too. If there was any meaning behind his actions, she wanted to see the possibility that boy had seen. If he miscalculated, she would have to make up for it.

"Fine then." The brunette sighed and clenched her fist. "I'll protect the answer you envisioned, so don't fail me this time, boss."

☆Limerence Reverie - Memory Outburst

To Faith, this was one of the most revolting sensations he had ever experienced. If he had to choose between this and getting to experience Wish's deaths again, he would choose the latter in a heartbeat.

At first, Celeste was happy for having met this new friend, she had finally met someone she could talk to about the popular show that aired last night and someone that she could ask for advice if she didn't understand something in school. It was such a mundane thing, something normal for anyone else, but for Celeste, it was like a dream. For the first time in her life, she didn't have to live in solitude anymore.

As time passed, thoughts about this girl started to flood her mind. Simply thinking of her would make her happy and nervous, she would look forward to every new day because she would get to talk to her again, to see her again. To think she could be close to someone so pretty and nice. Accepting it was difficult at first, but Celeste had no doubt that she had fallen in love. Every moment spent with Alice was a treasure to her.

Yet, the more time they spent together, the more her memory would become jumbled and fragmented. Faith could only conclude that this was the result of her mind taking damage because of the Artificial Heaven. He had no way to tell whether the memories he was seeing were real or not anymore.

At times, he would see Alice being cold and harsh to Celeste, at times it was as though she was desperately trying to get away and cut all ties, while at times, the same scenario would repeat, but Alice would be nice and caring. What remained constant between these scenarios, is that Celeste's love for her didn't change regardless.

Of course, it was easier for Celeste to focus on her connection with Alice when her relationships with everyone else were so fractured.

Not being too familiar with the outside world, Faith couldn't tell whether this was common or not, but it was easy to see how unusually cruel other kids could be.

On what was just another day in the middle of summer, Celeste walked into the classroom only to hear laughter from a group of girls sitting by the corner. It wasn't only her imagination, the look in their eyes, and their pieceing stares were enough to confirm they were making fun of her.

Once she reached her seat, the usual handwriting all over her desk was there without fail. Even if it was the usual, the constant death threats and messages insulting her appearance always hurt the same.

Had Faith been able to act, he would have left school without bothering to return, but these were Celeste's memories, so he was still forced to live through this without a choice.

("It's okay.") That girl reassured herself as she hurried to clean her desk before the teacher walked in. ("As long as Alice is my friend, it's okay even if everyone hates me.")

What about Alice? On more than one occasion, she had tried to fight back against the people bullying Celeste, but it didn't work. Often, it shifted to people bullying Alice instead. But even the few days they changed their target, it always came to a quick end before the situation worsened for Alice, to the extent it was almost unnatural.

Snip

Celeste's breathing froze the moment she heard the sound of scissors so close to her ear. The sound was followed by laughter as the boy sitting behind her snipped away a long chunk of her hair.

It was a deep cut, bad enough that it made part of her hair look choppy and uneven, it wasn't something she could fix or hide easily.

Deep inside she wanted to scream, she wanted to fight back, but instead, she recoiled in her seat in fear as the class laughed at her. Above all, she was absolutely terrified of Alice walking into the room, of seeing her like this.

Of course, the teachers didn't do anything to help, and Alice who she relied on, thankfully wasn't here today to see her like this. On the other hand, she couldn't help but worry, that girl had been missing for a week now with no explanation.

At the end of the day, just like all the past days this week, her class remained in the classroom to work on a big project for the summer festival that was taking place tomorrow. She didn't know the details but it seemed like her class had managed to snatch participation in one of the biggest events for the festival.

Despite this, Celeste decided to go back home, something she would soon come to regret.

★

"Why?! Why are you coming home like this?!"

The loud screams of her mother made Celeste's body tremble. Ever since arriving home, she had been trying her hardest to hide what happened to her hair because she knew it would end up like this.

"But I couldn't-"

"Shut up!"

Without warning, the loud sound of breaking glass echoed through the house as the woman smashed a plate against Celeste's head. The red-haired girl raised her arms to try and defend herself, not even having the chance to worry about the blood running down her forehead.

"I told you, didn't I? I warned you!! The only reason you get bullied is because you are like this!! If you weren't such a coward this wouldn't happen to you! This is all your fault, it's your fault! To think I've spent all this time, all this effort, looking after you, taking care of you, and this is how you repay me? Look at you! You are pathetic, a failure!"

Trying to escape to her room only ended up with Celeste being slammed into a table. Trying to defend herself was useless, trying to explain was useless.

"Stop crying! I don't want to hear it, I don't want to hear it, I don't want to hear you, shut up, shut up, shut up! Do not cry!!"

After what was an eternity, the girl had finally found a chance to escape and lock herself in her room. There were loud knocks on the door, enough that it felt like it would be torn apart at any moment, accompanied by loud screaming. The girl could only cover her ears and silently cry while hiding in a corner.

("If Alice was here, maybe she could help me. Maybe I could run away and stay with her, if it's Alice then...")

She looked into the mirror, it was a far cry from that cheerful girl at the start of her first day in high school. The missing chunk of her hair was extremely noticeable, it wouldn't be something that could be fixed unless she cut down most of the hair she had started to grow and take care of. Her face was swollen from crying, and her white uniform was covered in blood dripping down the top of her head.

Faith could only try to look away as the girl who didn't know the first thing about first aid awkwardly tried to tend to her wounds.

Eventually, she fell asleep, and before she knew it, it was time to go to school again.

She knew her mother would already have left for work early in the morning, but that didn't make it any less scary to open the door to her room again. Of course, this time there wasn't any kind of breakfast waiting for her, nor did she have another clean uniform to change into.

After trying her hardest to rinse out the blood stains with water, it only made her uniform wet without the deep red being washed out. The sensation of the wet fabric against her skin was awful, but at least it helped wash out the smell of blood a little.

"Celly?"

She was approached by Aurelia, her little sister. She was still too young to understand the situation, but she had run to Celeste before she left with an old sports cap in her hand.

"Um... it's going to be okay! This will help!"

Celeste could only give her a sheepish smile as she put on the cap and left. In truth, it wasn't all that helpful. The colors were weird and ugly, it was likely one of her father's old caps, if she walked into the school like this, they would definitely make fun of her. On the other hand, if she didn't wear this, they would make fun of her hair either way, it was a matter of choosing which one was less worse.

("I wonder if Alice will come to school today. I really don't want her to see me like this but I really miss her. If she's here today, maybe I can have a good day, we can eat lunch together and go back home together!")

In the end, she hid the cap in her bag and walked past the gate leading to her school.

Upon approaching the classroom, something was off, there was a lot of yelling coming from inside the room. When Celeste walked in, instead of others focusing on her, they focused on two boys who were fighting by the blackboard.

"It was you, wasn't it?! Do you know how hard we worked on making this project for the festival? I even got in trouble with Dad because we had to pay so much for it!! We left the trophy right in this room last night, and now it's missing!!"

"It wasn't me! Why the hell would I take it?! We all worked on this together, didn't we?! Stop being stupid!!"

"Then who did it!?"

Even if this fight had nothing to do with her, Celeste couldn't help but feel uneasy as she sat down.

"It was probably her! She didn't even try to help us with the project!!"

The moment Celeste looked up, her heart sank as she saw one of the boys pointing his finger at her.

"Oh! I remember! I saw her running out of this room earlier, it has to be her!" "Of course it was the cow, she probably thought she could get back at us if she took it." "Do you have no shame? You aren't good for anything, you didn't even help, and now you are trying to mess with us?!" "Ugly cow, give us the trophy or hand over the cash!" "Eh? But I don't think it was her-" "Of course it was! I saw her stealing it!!"

"It wasn't me." Celeste whispered under her breath, but her voice was so low it was drowned out by everyone else's.

"Hey." A girl approached her with a sly smile. "Give it back and we won't get mad, okay?"

"But... I don't have it, I don't know what you are-"

"We don't have much time before the festival starts so we are in trouble if we don't find it. Please?"

This time, Celeste didn't have the chance to speak up before someone pulled her out of her seat by pulling her hair and shoving her face her into the desk behind hers.

"Hey, stop being stupid. I know you did it, my friend over there saw you and I trust her. Now hand it over."

The more the pressure built up, the less Celeste could find the courage to speak up again.

It's not like everyone in the class had been evil and plotting against her. From their perspective, they had come together to work on this big project for the school festival. They had barely made it in time to meet a deadline that would affect their scores this year. For many, there was a lot of time and effort spent there. All it took was one rotten person to spread their bad intentions to everyone. If someone claimed they saw her, if that someone had friends that believed in them, there was no reason to trust Celeste more. If someone was always alone, it was normal to conclude there was a reason why they were always alone. The more people became convinced that something was the truth, the more others would believe in it without questioning it.

Moreover, even before Celeste arrived, the situation had already become a heated one. Everyone had wanted to find a culprit, everyone wanted to direct responsibility somewhere.

All they needed was a small catalyst. With one girl already having inflicted physical pain on Celeste, it wasn't hard to spread the idea that violence was okay if this person deserved it. After all, it was justified, after all, if someone already did it, then you may not get in trouble for doing it too.

There were a few students that wanted to stay away from this as much as possible, some ran away from their seats and towards the blackboard, while one even ran out of the classroom to look for a teacher. As for the rest, they had all mercilessly ganged up on Celeste.

The girl couldn't do anything as her clothes were torn, punches and kicks flew from all directions, at some point, one of the chairs slammed into her, and she was thrown against the wall. There was blood spilling out of her mouth and her nose, and her sight was blurry. Amidst it all, she could only conclude that her mother was right, she deserved this for being so pathetic.

In a second, it felt as though all that chaos had fallen into sudden silence. At that moment, a familiar voice reached Celeste.

A girl with blonde hair stood at the entrance of the classroom, staring at the scene before her with a sombre expression.

"What do you think you are doing?" Alice dropped her bag onto the floor and approached the students who had formed a circle around Celeste, of course, she received no response.

Her actions were then methodical and in quick succession.

"Hey."

Alice grabbed someone's pencil case and pulled out a pair of scissors. Incidentally, they were the same scissors that had cut Celeste's hair the day before. First, she grabbed the ponytail of one of the girls forming the circle, she pulled her head backwards with a lot of force and stabbed the scissors into the girl's throat, instantly ending her life.

"Listen to me if I'm talking to you."

The moment the girl lifelessly fell into the floor, other students seeing this started to scream, breaking into a chain reaction that snapped them out of attacking Celeste and into trying to run for their lives.

Enraged, a boy tried charging at Alice to stop her, only for a sharp pen to stab into his right eye, forcing him to fall backwards. She kicked a table next to her to stop another boy from running before bashing his head open with a chair.

"Does anyone want to tell me what is going on here?"

Her voice was calm and collected.

No matter how much they tried to run, it was impossible. It was as if their feet were glued to the floor, they couldn't progress more than one step. One by one, all the students that were previously attacking Celeste lay lifeless on the floor.

"Are you okay?"

Alice then extended out her hand to the red-haired girl who cowered in fear in a corner. Alice's voice was recomforting, but her senses were so shaken up Celeste couldn't even see who was standing before her.

"N-No!" Celeste cried in terror at the scene before her. "I don't want this! I don't want this!! I deserved this!! This shouldn't be happening, they didn't do anything wrong!! It was me, I was in the wrong, it's all my fault, I deserve this happening to me, it's my fault!!"

Alice could only stare at her with a confused look.

"Are you sure? Is this really what you want?"

"I...I..."

The blonde brought her hand to her chin, pondering for a moment, her calm demeanour was almost disturbing.

"Maybe I was wrong. I didn't intend to let my anger win so easily, so I apologize." Alice spoke, glancing at the bloody scene before her. "Let me ask one more time. Is this really want you want?"

"I'm sure!! It's okay, that's how it should be, that's what I deserve!"

"I'm sorry, I don't understand. If that's what you want, I'll accept it."

As Celeste's eyes opened wide, a radiant light-blue light engulfed Faith's vision. The source of light was a halo that had manifested over Alice's head, despite the angelic nature of it, it had two pointed ends to the sides, as is defying the nature of angels and the world itself.

The reason Faith had been able to see this wasn't because of Eschatology, at that time, Celeste had seen it as well. At that time, this image was burned deep into her memory.

"I'm sorry, Alice."

As Celeste spoke, the halo started to spin. Faith looked at it intently through Eschatology, but his ability was shut down for a split second. It was as if the world was so overwhelmed that it couldn't process its own existence.

At that moment, Faith finally understood. The distortions in Celeste's memory weren't caused by the Artificial Heaven, they were caused by Alice.

In the blink of an eye, time itself had rewound. None of the students had taken any damage, their wounds were all completely healed, and just like before, they continued to violently assault Celeste.

This time, Alice didn't walk into the classroom.

☆

"I'm not going to do anything to you, so let's calm down, okay?"

Caroline attempted to back away from ⇋Celeste's body, but the slowdown from the Error Spot only made it harder for her to move at all. Without needing to say a word, the immense level of aggression coming from that girl reached her loud and clear.

"I just got a little lost, and I'm trying to get away from here. I'm not trying to hurt you. I know you are scared but it's going to be okay! It's going to be okay, so don't worry!"

The brunette's bright attitude caught ⇋Celeste off guard. The girl residing in Faith's body slowly relaxed her posture, slowly lowering her glance, but her alert only jumped up after seeing her own hands.

"What?"

⇋Celeste stared at her hands. These weren't her hands. She then glanced at her unconscious body. What was the meaning of this? What happened to her? What was this body?

Instinctively moving her hand behind her neck, she then noticed the change in the length of her hair. The weight from the long black coat around her was much different from the comfort of her dress, simply closing and opening her fist felt disturbing.

"What did you do to me?"

⇋Celeste began patting her body down in different areas, everything felt different. She was desperate to find any hint of familiarity but it was useless.

"What did you do to me?! Give me my body back!! Give it back!!"

Feeling herself up, it didn't take long before ⇋Celeste found and pulled out the Scarlet Grimoire, pointing it directly at Caroline.

The brunette knew she was running out of time, this really was a dead end, wasn't it? It was now obvious that ⇋Celeste was inside Faith's body, and when it came to this outburst, reasoning with her was impossible. Moreover, she didn't know what the extent of the Scarlet Outburst was. Did Celeste have access to Faith's abilities now? If she had access to World Break, it might as well be all over.

Caroline's eyes looked at ⇋Celeste and then at the disturbing scenery around them. As the red light of the outburst dissipated, everything became much more colorless and lifeless.

Throughout a second of silence, the sound of something writhing in circles around them could be heard accompanied by the sound of distant trumpets, it moved ever so slowly, and all around the entire area where they stood.

"Hey," Caroline raised her voice, her eyes locked into the gun that could shoot at any moment. "You can see the trajectory of that bullet, can't you?"

"Huh?"

"Where is it going to hit? How long is it going to take?"

A loud gasp left ⇋Celeste's lips before she brought her palm to her face. The same way you could make someone breathe or blink manually if you brought it up, if this body still had Faith's abilities, simply saying this forced ⇋Celeste to manually trigger Eschatology.

An immense amount of numbers, data, figures she couldn't comprehend, colors she couldn't comprehend, world layers overlapping, hidden doors, eyes staring from all directions, crumbling pillars, a golden wheel, the contents of Caroline's pocket, all the different layers that composed her body, the snake that bit its own tail, and the overlapping images of the approaching future. It all assaulted ⇋Celeste's vision at once.

"A-Ahh-Ahhhhhhhh-W-W-Wha-"

⇋Celeste had started to scream but her voice would abruptly cut off as she violently hyperventilated. Even if she had access to Faith's abilities, it didn't mean she knew how to navigate it. Such an overload of information would be enough to overwhelm anyone, but Caroline had to make the most out of this opening.

She had to reverse this situation somehow, there had to be a chance somewhere. Her biggest problem was the massive slowdown spreading throughout the Error Spot.

At the start of this Error Spot everything had been covered in ice, not too different from Claire's attack at the Castle of Hope. Soon after, everything started to crumble, and it was only until that, that the slowdowns worsened. What was the cause of this slowdown? Was it gravity, a distortion in space?

Currently, Celeste had three Velvet Objects. The red triangle on her neck, the demonic horn on her head, and the deathly scythe. Caroline didn't know which object had which effect but Celeste's abilities should have been the following:

1. The ability to shatter anything she touches.

2. The ability to expand and constrict the space between her and someone else.

3. The ability to tear space open and move an object from one place to the other.

If it was a space distortion, it was one of those last two, but which one? Or was it both of them? Even if ⇋Celeste was currently in shock, she wasn't affected by the slowdown, and there was no telling how she would react to what was about to happen next, it was now or never.

Launching herself above the unconscious red-haired boy, Caroline reached for the scarf around her neck, rapidly pulling it down while her other hand reached for the Velvet Object on ⇋Celeste's neck.

The moment her fingers made contact with the scarlet device on that girl's neck, her arm was forcefully swung in the opposite direction as a bullet pierced her shoulder.

"Stay away!! What are you trying to do to me?! Don't touch me!!"

The brunette could only press her lips together as her body spun in midair from the impact, falling face-first in slow motion. But even if she failed to take that Velvet Object, she used her other hand to pull away the horn sitting on ⇋Faith's head. The sight of a second bullet was reflected in Caroline's eyes as she stabbed her exposed neck with the blunt side of the horn.

The moment her finger pulled the trigger, a projectile flew right back at her, grazing ⇋Celeste as it crashed into something. She had only been able to avoid it thanks to that boy's body warning her of the incoming danger.

Caroline breathed heavily, the horn in her hand had shattered into dust and scattered into the abyss. Moving a step forward with the leg she used to bounce back the attack, she was finally free from the Error Spot's slowdown.

As the world roared with a distorted cry, a massive black spiral was slowly forming in the air above that deadly stage.

☆Limerence Reverie - Memory Outburst

In the aftermath, the teachers escorted Celeste to the infirmary and offered to call her parents to pick her up. The thought of causing trouble for her mother terrified her, so she begged the teachers not to do it. They refused to listen, but luckily, they told her that her mother never picked up.

The school festival boomed with activity and the brightness of youth. Bright colors and flashy stalls everywhere, groups of friends laughing together and working together.

All alone, Celeste went back home.

She had to hurry, she had to get there and hide these torn clothes before her mother could see them. If she were to see them, Celeste would never hear the end of it. But it was hard to see, the swollen purple skin over one of her eyes heavily clouded her vision, and the loss of blood made her weak.

Unfortunately, once she reached her home, her mother was waiting for her by the entrance. In truth, the teachers managed to contact her eventually, but she didn't bother to pick her daughter up. Judging by the look on her face, what waited for Celeste wasn't anything pleasant, either.

"Did you think I wasn't going to find out?! Look at you! You are a disaster! Why? Why are you doing this to me? What are people going to say if they find out you are my daughter? If they see you like this?! Why do you hate me so much? I have done nothing but give you love! I've always loved you so much, taken care of you! So why do you hate me?! Is that why? Is that why you are letting all this happen? Because you hate me? Is that why you are doing this to me?!"

It was hard to tell whether this screaming voice was any better than the physical pain. Celeste could only wonder when was this nightmare going to end. If she were to be truthful, she did hate her mother, she hated her with all her heart. But it's not like she was trying to hurt her, it's not like she was trying to be such a failure on purpose. It's not like she wanted this to happen. It's not like she didn't want to live a normal, happy life.

In the end, this is what she deserved, wasn't it? There had to be a reason why this had to happen to her and no one else. It was because she was like this. If she was different, if she was stronger, if she wasn't so scared, then, maybe her life would be different. If she wasn't such a failure, then, maybe Alice would love her.

It was ridiculous, wasn't it? Even at a time like this, even at the very end, she could only find comfort by longing for the love of that girl. Even if she suffered a lot, if Alice loved her, then things would be okay. As long as she had Alice, she could make it through this.

"Why? Why did it have to be you? Why did you have to be born? If it was only Aurelia, if it was only your sister, we would have been okay. Why did I have to have you? You are a mistake, you are my mistake. You are rotten." As her mother's words pierced her heart, that woman had taken grasp of a sharp knife. "You are a curse, you are nothing but a curse. I have to get rid of you, I have to purify this house from this curse, I can't take it anymore, for me, and for this family, I need to get rid of it, I need to fix it, I have to fix it!!"

"Wait!!"

With a powerful swing, the sharp blade stabbed into Aurelia's back. After having looked from a distance at first, she had tried to help her sister at the very end. Falling to the floor in a pool of blood, that little girl didn't move again.

"No!!" Their mother screamed after realizing what happened. "No!! I couldn't- You couldn't-! This can't be happening!! I can't lose my little girl like that!! Lia? Lia? Please don't leave me! I love you, I love you so much! I didn't mean to-! No! No!!"

And in the middle of that crisis, her mother pointed the knife at her own throat.

"This is all your fault, this is all your fault! If only you were never born, this wouldn't happened! This is all your fault!!"

Shaking in rage, Celeste's mother immediately took her own life.

Looking in terror at what just happened, there was nothing Celeste could do. She could only sit silently in horror, not moving from the spot, not taking her sight away, until finally, her father came back home to find that horrid scene.

In the end, the family was reduced to a broken little girl and her absent father. While his attitude was the exact opposite of her mother, it was clear he didn't know the first thing about taking care of someone else. In a way, he might as well have never been there. It was no surprise that his restaurant was more important to him, and after that day, it was as though Celeste lived on her own in those haunted walls.

She never had the courage to step outside again, so she never went back to that school, and no matter how hard she tried to contact her, she was never able to reach Alice again.

☆

Caroline ripped off a piece of her scarf and wrapped it around her shoulder to stop the bleeding. She was unable to use her left arm anymore, but thankfully this didn't seal her fighting style.

⇋Celeste raised her gun again but was swept off her feet as the space between her and Caroline was reduced in an instant.

"You can see where I'm going to hit you, can't you?"

The brunette spoke with a carefree voice as she dropped her body into the floor, holding her balance with her right hand. She stood still for a second, waited for ⇋Celeste to fall back first after she saw the route of Caroline's attack through Eschatology, and launched a kick upwards. Despite her attempt to throw ⇋Celeste off, the attack failed to connect, but Caroline pressed on and spun in midair. The first flying kick missed as Celeste ducked but the second one was a clean hit on her shoulder. The impact was strong enough to make dust and pieces of rubble fly, Caroline was going all out.

The super part-timer was well aware of how difficult it was to fight someone with access to Eschatology. Even if ⇋Celeste's reaction time wasn't the best, Faith's body was used to dodging incoming attacks, and that body's muscle memory remained even now.

Unfortunately, Caroline had missed taking something into account. This wasn't a simple body swap, it was an Scarlet Outburst. It wasn't as simple as fighting someone in Faith's body.

"Give me my body back!"

⇋Celeste's hand had taken a firm grasp of the brunette's collar. Aside from having taken no damage from that hit, a bursting, red aura had started to envelop her, and massive heat was rapidly radiating out of her body, enough to make Caroline feel like her skin was starting to burn just from being close.

An otherwordly spiral spinning above their heads let out a roar. It spun, and writhed like a snake, with parts of it distorting, expanding and contracting. It was not made of light, and it was not made of any other material found in this world, it was truly something that no one was meant to see. Was the power of Eschatology exposing hidden world layers because this was an Error Spot, or was this a result of the Error Spot as it is?

The brunette was able to escape ⇋Celeste's grasp as the space between both rapidly expanded, only the grey sweater that was forcibly torn off remained in the hands of the green-eyed girl that stood before her.

As the fabric of that sweater began to tear apart from the force of the energy surrounding ⇋Celeste, the body of the red-haired girl that remained unconscious slowly started to float, no, it was being pulled into the spiral that floated a few meters above.

Bouncing a bullet that grazed ⇋Celeste's arm, Caroline launched herself at the body where that boy's essence resided. She forced the body back into the floor with a tackle, but instead, her scarf started to get pulled into the spiral.

It was like being pulled by a very strong gravity. There was no telling what would happen if you got taken in by something like that, there was no guarantee that World Reset would trigger if she were to die here.

She had to get out of here, but where? Looking past the broken piece of ground where they stood, their surrounding was nothing but an endless white abyss. Pieces of stone floated above them, but it wouldn't be enough to jump all the way back to the surface of that mall.

For better or for worse, Caroline's body was stopped from being taken by the spiral as ⇋Celeste launched herself forward, forcing Caroline into the ground and stepping on her torso. It was like being hit by a truck and then being pinned down by nails, the force of the impact was way above the force of being hit by another human being.

In this position, Caroline couldn't get up to defend herself with her legs, and one of her arms didn't work anymore. Looking to the side, Eri's megaphone lay on the floor, it wasn't too far away, if only she could get to it then maybe there still was a way out.

Caroline stretched out her right hand with all of her might as the Scarlet Grimoire was pressed against her forehead. But no matter how much she tried, she couldn't reach the megaphone in time.

☆Limerence Reverie - Memory Outburst

At the end of her memories, an infinite door shrouded in ethereal blue stood in the midst of a bright abyss. Both Celeste and her father had been kidnapped in their sleep, and Faith couldn't get any real answers as to who the culprit was, but there was no doubt the door standing before him was the door to the Artificial Heaven.

Once he crossed that door, there was nothing there, it was the end of the records in Celeste's mind. Celeste's memories were never jumbled by the Artificial Heaven because the simulation had failed to trigger for her. There was no heaven for her.

Perhaps, this is why she was eventually ejected from the system, unlike the others who remained trapped even now.

As the fragments of her memories began to fade away, Faith whispered in a faint voice.

"You did your best."

☆

The Scarlet Grimoire fell into the ground, ⇋Celeste could only hold her chest with a tight grip as intense pain assaulted her body. Letting go of Caroline, the girl residing in Faith's body collapsed.

Caroline knew she had seen this before, it was the poison that had been affecting them ever since going to that restaurant. Why would the boy's body collapse at a time like this? Following Noa's dosage should have already cured them, he even reminded her to take the final pill before- so that's what it was. Did he not take the medicine on purpose?

Oddly enough, the strong pull of the spiral had softened, it no longer tried to draw her in, but that didn't mean this Error Spot had come to an end.

"W-What...?"

A soft voice spoke from Celeste's body. Turning around, Caroline noticed the color in that boy's eyes had changed, those piercing red eyes she could never mistake were now glaring at her as the boy coughed.

Without saying a word, he reached for the final pill stored in his pocket and swallowed it before picking up the Scarlet Grimoire. As expected, the medicine wasn't about to work so fast, even if it came from that genius doctor. Even so, the revolting sensation in his heart hurt more than the poison.

The moment she glanced at Faith and Caroline, Celeste jumped back and lowered her head. It was like looking at a scaredy cat, none of the aggression she showed before was there anymore. If Faith's hunch was correct, and judging by Claire's sudden attack, leaving the Artificial Heaven would undo someone's mental locks, causing them to act on impulse and without any awareness of their surroundings or other people. If doing an outburst with Eri had saved Claire, then the girl cowering before them was the true Celeste.

"U-Um..."

She tried speaking up, clearly panicked by looking at the eerie state of her surroundings, but her voice had been so low no one could hear what she said afterwards.

"You don't have to be alone anymore." Faith spoke, slowly gathering the strength to stand up and approached the girl who stared at him with tears in her eyes. "Once we get out of here, we can make a new future together."

The red-haired girl hesitated for a moment, reaching out for Faith's hand. Was there really a future like this for her? Could she trust this person? Was he there to save her? It was like a dream come true.

Yet, the moment her fingertips grazed his palm, Faith pulled his hand away, looking down at that girl with disgust.

"Did you really think it would be that easy? Were you relieved?"

"I-"

"Weren't you supposed to love Alice? So why are you accepting this so easily?"

"I... I didn't mean to-"

But Celeste's soft voice never reached anyone.

"Did you really love Alice that much, or did you just want someone to save you?"

Celeste couldn't bring herself to reply, she could only glance at the old, worn-out ring on her hand as she desperately tried to escape that boy's words.

"There were a lot of things you wanted, and eventually, you got some of them. Do you remember what happened all those times?"

The time her father took her to a festival outside of the city that she always wanted to go to, the time she saw a shooting star, the time she was praised by a teacher for her good grades, and even the time she got a new dress. Faith had seen them all.

"What do you know?" Celeste whispered under her breath.

"You were supposed to have been happy, they were things you really wanted, things you really enjoyed, but every single time you could only think about Alice, you could only think about how you wanted her to be there, to experience those things with you."

"It's because... she's special! If Alice was here, if she was here right now, then everything would be okay, so-!"

"But she's not here right now. In the end, you ended up miserable every single one of those times. No matter how much you longed for it. You should know this really well, this was always one-sided. Alice didn't waste her time thinking of you."

"No-! That's not true! Alice is nice, she cares about me, it's just- she's just-"

Slowly, Celeste's voice had finally started to become louder.

"Every time you spoke with her you spent every moment scared of being annoying, you were always scared that she would hate you, that if she got to know you well, she wouldn't talk to you anymore. You wanted to share all these things with her, but you know really well that she didn't care that much."

"Please stop. That's not it, that's not it, that's not it... she was cold sometimes but that's just because- I'm annoying! That's just because dealing with me isn't pleasant but she still-!"

"If Alice stopped talking to you, everything you experienced, wouldn't it have been the same anyway?"

"It's not... like I didn't know... I"

"You were scared of being left alone, but in the end, you were always alone to begin with."

"I know that! I know that already! I know I was always alone! I know it was all a fairy tale in my head! I know it! So what? If I believe strong enough, if I keep trying, if there's a chance then... maybe, maybe it will be different one day! And she will love me! There's nothing wrong with that!"

"You are wrong. Your belief is meaningless."

"W-Who are you to say that?! This is not even your problem! If there's no chance for it to come true then... then... why did I keep myself alive for so long?!"

"Have you really been living all this time to begin with?"

"Huh?"

"Every day and every night, the time you finally conquered your worst subject at school, and even the day of your sister's funeral."

"That's... stop. I don't want to hear it anymore, stop."

"All you could think of was about Alice, of what could have been, of how much your life would have improved if she was there for you."

"If you don't stop I-"

"Can you really say that you've kept yourself alive all this time? Did you give yourself the chance to experience your life at all? It's all about Alice, it's always Alice. So what is there left of Celeste?"

"What does it matter to you? I know! I know that! But then... then what was everything for... I know I'm pathetic, I know I'm stupid, I know I'm shameful for wanting someone's love so desperately! But what else could I do?! If I can't have this then... I... I should just go ahead and die then! I can't do this anymore! It was all for nothing, it was all useless! Someone like me shouldn't be alive! I know that!!"

"Do you really want to die?"

Faith's question spread a sinking feeling down Celeste's body, but she was quick to answer.

"I do! Of course I want to die!!"

Without hesitation, the boy loaded his Scarlet Grimoire and handed it to Caroline.

"You have permission now." He spoke to the brunette. "Take the most optimal action."

Caroline was unsure of how to react. According to her experiences, this incident always ended with Celeste dying, but the one who had taken that action was Faith. Moreover, a conversation like this never happened, everything they were talking about was so foreign to Caroline she was completely out of the loop.

If he really intended to end Celeste's life then why- but on the other hand, if this could set Caroline's world back on track, it's what she always knew should have been done.

As everyone fell silent, the eerie sounds of wind and distant train tracks echoed in the expanding abyss. The grinding of gears, the writhing of something running across the ground, and the echoing voices that overlapped from within the black spiral, they were all broken by the sound of a gunshot.

It was immediately followed by the sound of steel as the bullet bounced back past Caroline and onto the ground.

At that moment, Celeste stood with an awkward stance, she had barely stopped the attack with her scythe. Her eyes opened wide, the red-haired girl couldn't process what had happened, her hands and legs were shaking, and her breathing was erratic to the point of hyperventilating.

"I...I want to... I should just die, I don't want to keep trying, I'm tired, I'm so tired! I can't do this anymore! I-"

Faith sighed, falling on Caroline's shoulder as it was hard to keep his balance with the poison still flowing through his body.

"Are you angry?"

Celeste could only frown as her grasp on her weapon tightened, she was scared, she was terrified of the boy standing before her. Why did he know so much about her? Why was he saying all these things to her? After all she's gone through, after all the misery she experienced, why was this person acting like he actually understood? Why was he denying the light of hope that kept her going all this time? Why? Why? Why? Why could no one ever understand her?

"Don't run away. If you are angry, it's okay."

"Angry...? Of course I'm angry! Of course I'm going to be angry!! I told you to stay quiet so many times, I asked you to stop so many times! I'm tired of listening to your nonsense! Leave me alone!! I'm not giving up, I'm not giving up on Alice! I'm not giving up on anything! I-I..."

This time, Faith stepped back, glancing at Caroline as his leg gently tapped hers. She knew this sudden motion had to be some kind of signal, and judging by the intense aura of aggression pouring out of Celeste, it wasn't hard to tell what he meant.

Up until now, facing Celeste had been like facing a machine that acted the way it was programmed to, but now this aggression was coming from a lonely girl with real feelings, real frustration. It wasn't someone on autopilot anymore.

Clenching his fist, Faith glared at Celeste who moved a step forward, the grip on her weapon tightening more and more.

"I will shut you up! I will destroy you!!"

☆

Mirage dashed at full speed across the remains of the abandoned mall. She carried Claire on her back and made sure Eri had continued to follow her.

Unlike the place where Faith stood, the effects of the Error Spot weren't as strong here. Several areas of the mall were still frozen solid while others crumbled away, but there wasn't any sight of the distorted abyss or the strange spiral.

Still, why had Faith chosen to stay behind? She couldn't imagine that he wanted to save Celeste, if anything, he was only after her Velvet Objects, wasn't he? To Mirage, it wouldn't be surprising if he abandoned her to die after he got what he wanted.

The hero couldn't help but blame herself, she should have been able to prevent this, she should have been able to save everyone, but she couldn't go back for Celeste in this situation.

As the well-known clothing stores crumbled apart into the snow, Mirage stepped into a corridor that led to an electronics shop. It was hard to tell if she was going the right way, she had only been inside an Error Spot once before and managed to make it out through sheer luck. It was like trying to escape a maze that was constantly changing, but with the snow becoming lesser and lesser, she had to be close to the exit.

With a loud rattling sound, the shutter leading to the exit of that shop closed down, and Mirage was forced to halt. She desperately looked around for an alternative route, but it was at that moment that all the television screens that surrounded them lit up.

The hero extended out her arm to protect Eri as massive bursts of blue lightning jumped from the screen. They bundled together into a floating ball of static, before taking a humanoid form that shook Eri to her core.

"The Philosopher's stone," Raiko spoke, pointing at Eri. "I would appreciate it if you handed it over."

☆

"X, isn't there anything you can do?!"

Noa yelled at the man in a fancy black suit. Both stood inside a bright white room, with a bed in the middle. The patient had been connected to several machines, with one of them beeping as a graph was displayed on a screen.

"Even if you ask me that, if you of all people can't do anything, I'm not too confident."

The doctor bit her lips as she read all the different life signals in the machine. She had been forced to do emergency surgery, but even this wasn't giving her good results. Just what in the world had happened to May? The injuries this girl had suffered weren't normal by any means. It was like several of her organs had been forcefully pierced by something, most of the damage was internal, and it was hard to tell how she was still alive, or how much longer she had to live.

With injuries this bizarre, regular medical procedures weren't going to cut it, she needed to use her ability to heal her, but she had already spent all her energy healing Mirage. Usually, this energy may come back in a few hours, but in just one night she had to heal Caroline, Ryuusei, Eri, Faith, and Mirage. The latter who had wounds massive enough to rival May's current state.

That boy would go out there and save Elizabelle, meanwhile, Noa would make sure to save May's life. That had been their agreement, and yet, could she really keep her end of it?

If only Liz was here, the power of her alchemy could easily recharge Noa. Together, they knew no limits. Of course, there was still a way, the small fragment of the Philosopher's Stone that Noa had with her. It was so tiny it couldn't compare to the stone that was currently in Eri's hands, but she couldn't bring herself to use it, even if it meant sacrificing someone else.

☆

"Warning! Warning! Stage-"

"Wa rning! Wa r ning! Ste-"

"Wa !?ing! Warn??g! S???-"

"???!ing! W??g! S!!!?!1281208-"

Mirage's Entropy Scale displayed a glitched-out message in a loop before turning off. She couldn't imagine one of Claudia's inventions breaking down so easily, was it because of the entity that stood before her? Was it something beyond the records of the scale?

Mirage rapidly glanced at her surroundings. The doors to progress forward had been shut, and the way back would only lead into the centre of the Error Spot. Not only that, but the Error Spot itself was progressing and spreading, it would be a matter of time until its harsher side effects reached this place too.

Originally, the Entropy Scale only went up to Stage 4, Supernova. The Event Horizon label was only added once Mirage joined thanks to no one in the organization being able to figure out the basis behind Velvet Burst. As a member of GHOST, her primary job was to terminate supernatural threats, facing strange entities was not new to her, but up till now the scale had never failed to assess their danger level even once.

Had it been level two or three, she could end this fast and move forward, but anything beyond that wasn't so simple to deal with. If she made a mistake it could prove fatal.

"I apologize, perhaps you do not know the term, or it could be that I did not explain properly. That red stone in your hand is the Philosopher's Stone, I would be grateful if you handed it over."

Eri's fist clenched harder, the pointy ends of the stone burying deeper into her skin. Simply holding this stone had been like holding scorching fire. Throughout their escape, Eri had been desperately struggling with the burning sensation in her hands. Just what was this stone? The Philosopher's Stone? Like the one from games or that manga she read once? Earlier, thanks to Claudia and Caroline, she had learned that her megaphone was a Velvet Object. Could this stone be one as well? Is that why they wanted it so badly? She knew she had to protect it, she knew Faith had wanted her to keep this stone safe but...

Simply staring at glitching out entity with long white-hair was enough to make her willpower crumble. Last time, they had made it out alive thanks to a miracle. Those bizarre scenes she had seen of this entity killing the others were still fresh in her head. If the stone was all they wanted, then maybe... maybe it would be okay.

"You can have it-"

"Of course we are not handing it over!"

Mirage spoke, and then glanced back at Eri.

"I know this is scary, but listen. Someone's life depends on whether we bring that stone back, as well as your sister's life. Don't let go of that stone, no matter what, that's all you have to do. I'll keep you safe."

"I do not understand." Raiko remained silent for a second. "Even though I always ask politely, I never get what I want. Why are humans like this? Well, that is fine. I do not need you to hand me the stone, I will take it. If you intend to oppose my decision, please do not blame me if your life comes to a short end."

The distorted voice that spoke was enough to make anyone run away, it was almost like there were two voices overlapping each other accompanied by a distorted, angelic reverb at the end of every sentence.

Electric sparks had begun to gather in Raiko's fingertips and with an explosive sound, a burst of lightning shot towards Eri like an arrow.

Sparks flew and collided with the walls as Mirage intercepted the hit using the Wheel of Fortune.

"I don't have the time for this!"

With Claire on her back, Mirage shot her hook towards the roof of the electronics shop, she kicked over a counter with cellphones on display in Raiko's direction, before hurling her pouch full of explosive powder into the air. Following a chain reaction, all the devices exploded one after the other around the entity, making snow and dust fly everywhere.

Eri could only close her eyes as Mirage pulled her up with her right arm, grabbing her by her waist and flying towards the roof using her hook.

Releasing a powerful punch with the Wheel of Fortune, a hole was torn open above, letting a landslide of snow and rubble descend. Usually, this would have been enough to terminate a lower-level threat.

"Interesting." A burst of electricity blew away the rubble and snow into the walls, and Raiko stood intact in the midst of the broken shop. "Is this the anomaly Viktor wanted me to research?"

"Are you okay?"

Mirage asked as she swung from wall to wall across the mall. After blowing past the broken roof, she landed by what looked like a restaurant area full of familiar brands.

"Y-Yeah, but-!"

"Of course we are not! What was that thing?!"

Despite Eri's attempts at acting like nothing was wrong, Claire was increasingly getting shaken up.

"It's the person we found below that restaurant!" Eri tried to explain, but the lack of context only made things more confusing.

"You are really fast, huh?"

Hearing that distorted voice again let them know they were being followed. But from where? Eri's eyes darted all across that abandoned mall, but all she was met with was emptiness, crumbling walls and rotting flowers.

Walking by a set of shut-down electric stairs, next to a balcony that led to the floor below, Mirage shot her hook into a pillar, ready to fall all the way down, but the disturbing sensation of static made her realize her mistake. She let go of the hook, letting herself free fall into the lower level of the mall. As she did, a blue arrow of lightning blasted her hook away.

This troublesome opponent heavily restricted her mobility. Even if the Wheel of Fortune could act like a lightning rod, if electricity spread from the hook and into her body it would surely get to Claire and Eri as well.

Unable to find a safe way to land, Mirage took in the impact by crashing into the floor with her left arm, but the inertia still caused her to roll into the snow, making her let go of Claire and Eri who were also hurled to the side.

Slowly, the eerie sound of something moving in circles could be heard.

What should she do? She had to get Eri and Claire out of here, that was her priority, she didn't have time to lose, but could she really escape an Error Spot with an enemy like this following them? Should she try and terminate this opponent first?

What about Phantasmagoria? It's not like she didn't try it already, but that ability often worked by altering a human's senses to perceive the world. It was useless if she didn't know what senses this entity relied on.

"Eri, don't move!"

As Mirage yelled, she jumped above the girl who desperately seemed to be looking for something, and swung her left arm in the space around her like a crescent moon. The Wheel of Fortune had once more absorbed a massive electric attack, but the pain spreading throughout Mirage's body was telling her she wasn't able to fully nullify the blow this time, had it hit Eri, it may have been enough to kill her instantly.

"Ah, I got it."

Standing a few steps in front of Eri, Raiko's fingertips reached for a bright red stone that had fallen in the snow. After landing and rolling around, Eri had let go of the stone before she realized it. She had to find it, she had to secure it, she had to protect her sister, she couldn't let Faith down, but before she knew it. She had failed.

Yet, the same hand that now held the Philosopher's Stone was frozen solid in the spot.

Claire extended her hand out towards the entity, the bangle in her wrist letting out a red glow, her hand shaking violently as the sensation of something pushing back against the ice overwhelmed her.

Holding her breath, Mirage released the damage taken by the Wheel of Fortune, forcefully shattering Raiko's hand into pieces. The stone fell to the snow once again, and Eri desperately dashed to grab it before running towards Claire.

Even after taking such deadly damage, the entity was unaffected. It was hard to see their expression thanks all the distortion around their body, but Mirage was barely able to see Raiko's eyes following Eri. Mirage desperately launched herself in front of the black-haired girl, unable to use her left arm to stop the attack this time. With an explosive sound, Mirage's body was sent flying into the ground, snow being torn apart as she slid a few meters away, and then it all collapsed, burying her deep beneath the rubble.

Eri could only gasp, calling out to Mirage, but the entity still glanced at her without mercy.

"If I ask again, will you hand over the stone?"

Was there a right answer at a time like this? This stone had the weight of Elizabelle and May's lives, but if she didn't hand it over, Claire would surely die here, and even for Mirage, it may have already been too late.

What was she supposed to do? Usually, her sister would come in and save her at times like this. Should she wait to see if Faith made it here, could he make a great entrance, save everyone's lives and fix this situation? As much as she wanted to believe that, that false hope was just running away from responsibility, running away from the choice she had to make.

"You don't have to answer."

Slowly, Mirage crawled her way out of the snow. Her balance was off, but she still stepped forward. Her clothes torn apart and burnt on all sides, her sight becoming blurry.

As the hero stepped before them, a bizarre black spiral had started to form in the air a few meters above them.

If Mirage took damage anywhere else, the Wheel of Fortune would still activate, but it would be less effective. Her skin had not been burnt, but intense pain from the electricity was still spreading throughout her entire body.

"As long as I'm here, nothing will happen to you."

Raiko remained silent. The entity's sight glanced at the spiral before looking back at Mirage.

"Are you really human?"

"At this point, I'm not sure myself." The hero shrugged. "I am Mirage, and that's all there is to it!"

Looking around, Mirage could tell the effects of the Error Spot were getting stronger. She had to get out of here fast, she had to find an opening no matter what.

The hero tried to step forward but was forced to fall on her back, using the Wheel of Fortune to stop several arrows of lightning that flew like ballistic missiles from above.

This time, a massive wall of ice had sprung up, shielding Eri and Claire. The green-eyed brunette couldn't stop shaking, she had made this wall using the bangle in her wrist, but she didn't know if it would be enough. She didn't even understand how this power worked, she was acting purely on instinct, but how was this instinct going to take her? She still couldn't walk, so it's not like she could be of much help, if worst came to worst she would have to crawl out of here, but there was no way she could survive like that. She had to do something, there had to be a way to use this power to get out of this situation, there had to-

As she glanced at the girl standing next to her. Eri had closed her eyes, and was tying her hair into a braid. Was she out of her mind? Had she given up?

"This isn't the time for this-!"

"Silence. I'm running a simulation to find our best route out of this situation."

Eri's voice sounded much different, it sounded deeper and more mature. For a moment it felt like someone else entirely was standing there.

Using her ribbon to tie the end of her braid, Eri looked at Claire.

"If you want to get out of here, do what I say. Don't mindlessly use that power."

"Huh?"

"Believe in me, Claire."

The short-haired girl then let out a yell, startled as Mirage's body collided against the ice wall with a lot of force. With sparks swirling around, the entity was preparing another attack.

"Listen to me, Mirage."

The black-haired girl leaned close to the wall. Her voice sent chills down the hero's spine, for a second she was convinced that the one speaking to her was that deadly mastermind.

"I will navigate Claire out of this place. If you don't have to protect us, you can finish this, correct?"

"I can't let you go alone in an Error Spot-!"

This time, the voice that spoke was Eri's regular voice.

"Believe in me!!"

For a moment, hearing those words, she only remember Wish telling her the same long ago.

"Fine, I'll trust you, Eri!" Hearing those words, Mirage didn't hesitate. "Get out of here and go find Noa!"

Mirage kicked up a wave of snow and then charged at Raiko. Another burst of electricity came her way but an ice spear stabbed into the entity's side, forcing the attack to miss. As the hero launched herself with a massive punch, the two girls escaped with all their might.

The size of the spiral only grew bigger, eerie sounds of distant trumpets and the waves of the sea were rapidly getting louder. But now that she was free to fight without worry, she could do it, she could finish this.

"Prepare yourself." Mirage cracked her fists and took a fighting stance with her arms in front of her body. "I will save everyone and reduce you down to zero!"

☆

In an instant, both Faith and Caroline were blown away as a powerful aura emanated from Celeste, the energy let out an intermitent pulse that shook the world to its core. After all, a Scarlet Outburst went both ways, while part of its power manifested in Faith's body earlier, this time it was released in Celeste's.

"Why did you have to go and make this more complicated?" Caroline complained, glancing at the boy who fell next to her.

"What about you, what are you doing here?"

"What do you mean?! You trusted me to deal with her so I-"

"I didn't trust you, I still don't trust you one bit, that's why I didn't drink the medicine. Well, you did help a lot, so I appreciate it."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Caroline sighed as she stood up. "So what's the plan now, boss?"

"Just don't die."

"You... are you two making fun of me?" Bright emerald eyes glared at them. "All that talk as if you knew better, but what do you know?! You are not alone!! You don't know anything!!"

Faith released a Burst Blast, but it was torn apart in half by Celeste's scythe, and then bounced back from behind him. It was the Velvet Object's ability to transport something somewhere else.

He had been able to dodge the incoming hit, but Caroline was hit by a stray blast, and sent rolling closer to the edge of the abyss.

"Tch."

He had no choice but to charge at Celeste and stop a swing of her weapon with his gun, the shockwave of the impact causing the earth itself to tremble. Faith's arms were immediately pushed closer to his body, the blade of that girl's weapon moving closer to his face.

"What do you know? Yeah! I wasted years of my life obsessed with someone! I wasted it all knowing she didn't love me back! So what!!"

"What are you going to do now?"

"I-I- How am I supposed to know!!"

Another downward swing moved towards Faith, but the girl's weapon was thrown off balance by Caroline's flying kick. Her arms were still burning from the impact, and half of her scarf had been melted away.

"I have no idea what you are up to, but can you at least think of me for a second?! Stop provoking her, you dumb, stubborn, idiot, stupid boss!!"

The brunette pushed Faith back with a headbutt before launching herself at Celeste. She disarmed her with a spinning kick, and pushed her body backwards with a kick to her chest. As Celeste lost her balance, Caroline was ready to finish it, but the aura of the Scarlet Outburst swole up again, blowing her up into the air.

Faith used a Burst Bullet to fly, rapidly covering the distance of Caroline's trajectory, and catching her in the air.

Using the ability of the Velvet Object again, this time Celeste's scythe came flying above them like a boomerang. Holding onto Faith, Caroline forced both of their bodies to spin in mid-air, parrying the weapon away.

Thanks to the boosted power of the outburst, Celeste was able to fly into the air with a single jump. She caught her weapon in her hands and flew straight at Faith.

While Caroline focused on defending, Faith tried to open the distance with another burst shot. The shot was cut in pieces, that were then transported everywhere. As they flew upwards through the gap that had opened in that mall, and ascended away from the abyss, stray particles of the burst shot ricocheted in all directions.

The boy could feel his body start to burn as the outburst's aura approached closer and closer. He released one more blast, but it was shattered apart. As long as that girl was not trying to defend herself, World Break won't trigger. She was focused on destroying her opponent, nothing could stop her.

With Celeste's hand managing to reach his coat, its corners were rapidly turning into dust and the destruction was spreading upwards.

As though space itself had contracted, Faith and Caroline emerged on the other side, falling back into the floor of the collapsed mall. With Celeste landing on the other side, there was now a giant abyss between them.

With his consciousness flickering in and out, Faith leaned against Caroline's body.

Looking at their tattered bodies, for a second, Celeste could only wonder if this was okay. In reality, should she really be redirecting her anger at this person? Was there any point to this? It was just like her life. She had wasted away so much of it on nothing. Unable to fight back, unable to speak up, she would just run away and cling to the hope that someone would save her.

This is exactly why that boy had no choice but to speak up. He didn't intend to save her, he knew it wasn't so simple. Promising to be there for her and help her make a future together would have been easy, but he didn't have interest in carrying that kind of burden for the sake of someone. To him, people that ran their mouths for the sake of it, people who trapped others with the promise of false hope, they were nothing but scum.

After all, it was the same for him. Back then, he didn't know of a world outside the walls of that cursed facility. He didn't know it was okay to want to live. He didn't know it was okay to choose for yourself. And no matter how much he wished someone would come save them, in the end, no one did.

"What are you going to do now?"

He had no choice but to press on. That facility had been a cage for him, but just because that cage was broken open, it didn't make it easy to step outside. No one but Celeste could make that decision, but if at least he could break that cage, that would be enough.

"What do you want to do now? No one has come to save you, and no one will. Are you going to give up and live in delusions, or are you going to fight back?"

"Fight back...?"

"If you are angry, it's okay. If you hate the world, it's okay. If you want to destroy me, it's okay. But at least choose what you want to do for yourself, for your own sake!"

The aura out of the outburst was slowly fading away, Celeste could tell the power that kept her going was abandoning her, but she couldn't back down, not now.

With a blast from Faith's gun, Celeste attempted to defend herself but the attack purposedly missed her. As the massive blast ran into the distance and crashed into the snow, Caroline jumped across the abyss, and forced the scythe out of Celeste's hands with a crescent-moon kick.

Celeste could only stagger backwards, but she wouldn't give up, pressing her hand against the floor, the hole leading to the abyss below them started to expand, the earth itself was starting to turn into dust and crumble.

Using a blast to fly across the abyss, Faith grabbed Caroline by her waist and pulled her away into solid ground. They barely had time to land as Celeste ran towards them, her hand disintegrating one of Faith's point-blank Burst Blasts as she charged with all her might.

"If you can only see your delusions, then I'll open your eyes to the truth!"

Celeste let out a gasp once she noticed the boy didn't run away, instead, he ran at her head-on.

His eyes locked with Celeste's eyes, even if her hands were still her deadliest weapon, that boy didn't stop. He knew that with a single touch, she could make him fall apart in an instant, but even so, Faith didn't back down.

Standing right in front of her, the boy grabbed her wrist, pressing her hand against his chest.

"It's okay. If you want to destroy me, do it. If that's what you really want, I won't stop you. But before that, I just want to know, what do you want to do?"

"I..."

Caroline could only hold her breath as that deadly hand took a tight grasp of Faith's shirt. Ever so slowly, his button had started to crumble into dust. Ever so slowly, a hole was torn open in the fabric of his clothes, and it didn't take long before his skin started to peel apart.

"I... don't know! I don't know!" Celeste couldn't hold back her tears anymore. The immense anger that haunted her heart all changed into sadness, and her hand, ever so slowly, let go of the boy. "I don't want to waste my time anymore. I want to live! I just... I just want to live and be happy... I just wanted someone to love me, but I want to live my own life too!! Even if it's selfish, I want both!!"

There was nothing he could say anymore. In truth, he had no idea whether he did the right thing, he didn't know if this was the logical thing to do, or if the things he experienced in the outburst pushed him into it. But at the very least, this was the most he could do for her. At the very least, the cage that kept her captive for so long should have been broken.

☆

An incredible force was trying to pull Mirage away, but she planted her feet on the ground and continued moving forward. Raiko stood only a few meters away, but the walls around them had started to collapse.

Consecutive bursts of blue lightning shot in a straight line, but Mirage didn't try to dodge them. She took every attack head-on, she tanked every impact with the Wheel of Fortune. Even if her body was screaming at her to stop, even when the attacks would only grow stronger with each hit. She would end this here.

With a dash, Mirage launched herself at Raiko. The spiral roared as a thousand voices flooded that desolate land. Broken vending machines, the display glasses, and the walls of the stores around them all crumbled and were reduced to dust.

A massive lance of lightning, piercing arrows, projectiles of sand and stone moved through magnetism, she took every hit directly. At times, it would force her body back, at times, it felt like her blood vessels would all burst. The damage was spilling out more and more from what the Wheel of Fortune could manage to stop. Her skin was rapidly burning, and smoke was pouring out of her body.

But she was almost there. All she had to do was to get within distance, to get within reach.

In a final attempt to stop her, massive pieces of stone and glass from the hubris around them had gathered into a giant ball held together by magnetism.

As she ran forward, the massive projectile flew through the air and into Mirage.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!"

Letting out a battle cry, Mirage's fist blasted through the stone and made direct contact with Raiko. The full force of the Wheel of Fortune had been released.

"Just as I thought." For once, Raiko's voice had joyful laughter mixed in. "You are not human after all."

ϟ"This is too dangerous, we are pulling back, Raiko." ϟ

A voice only the entity could hear spoke. As Viktor unplugged a device from his phone, the entity started dissipating into thin air.

With the sound of breaking glass, Mirage's fist shattered Raiko into pieces that dissipated into nothingness.

"It's now up to you, Eri, please get out safely."

With the hero's body toppling over and her eyes closed, Mirage was pulled into the spiral.

It was as if thousands of hands had all taken hold of her body at once. A million voices got louder and louder, there was no up, down, left or right. It was like being torn apart from your very core. It was the world asking for payment for having been disturbed.

And in the blink of an eye, the abandoned mall, and the Error Spot all faded away.

All that remained were the windy streets of the Blue District.

In the end, there was no way to stop the world.

☆

"I can't save you, and I can't tell you how to live. But if you ever need anything, even if you want to destroy the world itself." Faith placed a business card with the name "Anything Scarlet" on Celeste's hand. "Just submit a request, and we will help."

The red-haired girl could only stare at the card, barely being able to read it through her tears.

The fact she had always been alone, and the fact that she still had the chance to live. At some point, she had been a bright person full of hopes and dreams. At some point, there were many things she had wanted to achieve in her life, even if some were ridiculous dreams, she wanted to be someone famous, she wanted to be rich, and she wanted to help save her family from their bad situation. At some point, she was still excited about all the possibilities ahead of her.

Eventually, her idea of love had become the strongest poison. Was loving someone wrong? No, her love for Alice was real, and there was nothing wrong with that. All of her thoughts of longing for love were not meaningless. And yet, if that love had caused her nothing but pain, if the idea of love had started to take her life away, maybe letting go of that love was for the best.

Standing in the desolate streets of the City of Light, Celeste held an old ring in her hand. The ring was rusty, damaged, and had lost most of its color. She had desperately guarded it, desperately wanted to find someone whom this ring could fit, lied to herself into thinking nothing had changed, that her hope was still there, that its radiance was the same as the day she first saw it in display. But the truth was, that radiant jewel she had fallen in love with was not there anymore. Making her choice, the ring slowly turned into dust that was carried away in the wind.

This was her first step towards finally living her life.