CHAPTER 76: DREAM

"...Seven... eight... nine."

Filch’s finger hovered in the damp air. He paused, lips pressing into a thin line, before turning the finger inward to point at his own chest.

"Ten."

Just ten souls left standing under the oppressive, haunting glow of the Crimson Moon. Suddenly the blood red glow seemed more haunting than it ever had. The emptiness now felt more like a physical thing trying to crush what little resolve remained.

There were only ten people remaining, out of the original

... how many?

’Damn it... how many were there initially?’ Ishiki gritted his teeth. He had no idea how many of them there were. He couldn’t even remember if most of the names ever existed or not.

Worse, he couldn’t even recall the faces of the missing. Were they tall? Short? Did they laugh? Did they cry? Or were they just empty silhouettes that his brain had filled in to make the crowd seem larger?

It was like trying to remember a dream five minutes after waking up.

"Listen..." The princess spoke in a bitter tone. "We leave when the Silver Moon rises. Be ready."

That was it. There were no rousing speech or promises of survival. There was nothing they could do about it, except getting the hell away from this cursed place.

The group dispersed, of them returned to whatever things they were doing. But most of them were not gonna do anything other than just sit ideally and wait... wait for the inevitable.

Filch, Nina and another guy named Liu Xi had stayed behind with the princess to have a meeting about their escape to the forest and beyond.

Ishiki watched them for a moment, feeling a pang of something that might have been envy, or maybe just loneliness.

He turned away.

He was not interested in company or rather, lately he was terrified of it. He was reluctant to get close to anyone... maybe... maybe he was close with someone before.

But he no longer remembered them. But he still remembered the frail guy and Bern.

’Curse it.’

He walked through the same way, towards the same house at the edge of the clearing and under the same environment.

The only thing different was that... now everything was empty. He found it strange.

Ishiki knew that this place used to be full of people shouting, arguing, training or crying, but it was empty now and no one existed other than him and the other nine who had made it through the harrowing week.

Some had died during hunts. That toll was not too big, but the disappearance one was. At first two people each day... then three and yesterday eventually, five players had vanished.

Ishiki rubbed his eyes. Dark circles bruised the skin beneath them. He hadn’t slept in a week. Maybe longer.

Time was a meaningless concept here, measured only in the alternating cycles of red and silver light.

’Who knows? Maybe... this is all a cruel joke and none of them actually exist.’ He felt his heart ache at the thought.

Has he been living with ghosts this whole time? Constructing a reality out of madness? Who knew when the remaining nine would vanish like morning dew under a hot sun, leaving him truly, finally alone?

Soon, he reached the sole house that stood apart from the rest and much closer to the Crimson Canopy. It was the house, where he first woke up after surviving the vile forest.

... And where someone had treated him and cured his injuries, a healer perhaps. But the thing is, did they ever exist?

Shaking his head, Ishiki pushed the thoughts aside and focused on what was important right now. He sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall.

Then summoned his status window. The platinum hued screen flashed before his eyes.

========= Player : ????? ========

Name : Ishiki

Age : 16

Title : [Memory Reaper]

Rank - [Mythical]

Exclusive Skill - [Soul Archive]

Skill Description - [Allows the bearer to chain the very consciousness of the Slain in an eternal collection. The new master can reap the memories within.]

Exclusive Corruption - [Phantom Voice]

Corruption Description - [Listen closely When the Reaper speaks, You may hear the whisper Of everyone they’ve reaped.]

Synth Reactor Tier - Innate

Level - 10/50

Data Fragments - 4,830/5,000

Basic Abilities :

Strength : 15/100

Agility : 15/100

Endurance : 15/100

Charisma : 13/100

Protocols : [Recursive Anomaly (Unknown)], [Curse of the Forgotten (Exclusive)]

Attribute : [Half Royalty (Epic)]

Skill Cards : [Ghost Blade (Epic)]

==============================

{Vestiges}

{Relics}

{Shop}

===============================

Ishiki looked at the whole thing and lingered at section where his level was showcased. He was close to breakthrough, just one more beast and he will be level 11.

The change won’t be much... but yeah, every powerup—no matter how tiny will eventually help. It won’t make a big difference and to be honest, it won’t even be evident.

He had desperately walked towards the singular goal of getting powerful for what was to come. Weak won’t be able to survive the journey through the Crimson Canopy.

Without contemplating further, Ishiki focused on the vestige section. He had finally received an armor.

Vestiges - [Aether Blade (Legendary)], [Curved Bone (Rare)] , [Hard Nub (Common)], [Berserkers Effigy (Rare)]

Looking at the [Berserkers Effigy], Ishiki shrugged. It was his first armor type vestige, and he received it from killing the leader of the Smikewolves. It was a Rank 4, infested Withering beast.

The screen describing the armor materialized.

=========================

Vestige - Berserkers Effigy

Type - Armor

Rank - Rare

Adaptability - II

Description - [An armor woven from the iron-hard pelts of those who hunt in packs. It smells faintly of copper and old rain. In the depths of the Crimson Canopy, a pack of wolves sought to claim a meal, only to become one. They were undone not by strength, but by a Cruel Ghost who walked unseen among them. He fed their leader his own rage, and in return, stripped the beast of its skin to wear as a trophy.]

Abilities - Grace of steel, weightless

Grace of Steel - [This armor is made up of the hardened fur of Smikewolves. The hardened fur can even cut steel. True defense demands sacrifice. The fur remembers the pain; it stiffens and hardens the more the wearer bleeds.]

Weightless - [The armor retains the supernatural resilience of the Smikewolf alpha. It is light as breath but turns blades like tempered steel.]

========================

Ishiki’s eyes twitched after reading the description, of course he had read it already... but still it never failed to get on his nerves.

’Description my ass. The System doesn’t even know what that means.’

Leaving the editorializing aside, the armor was... situational. The only redeeming quality was that it was light as a feather and did not limit Ishiki’s physical activities.

Other than that.

It would become very hard, in case Ishiki bleeds a lot.

’For gods sake... an armor is used to stop that from happening.’

He sat there for a long time, staring at nothing. Then practiced a little with the Curved Bone.

His body was a map of aches and bruises. His head throbbed with a dull, rhythmic pain. Ishiki was dead tired. Actually he was at the very edge.

A week of sleep was slowly catching up with him. For some reason... today, everyone else was asleep too.

Ishiki lay down on his makeshift bed of rags. The fabric smelled of dust and old sweat, but right now it felt like silk sheets.

He grimaced at his thoughts... his mind was not thinking straight.

’Of course everyone is asleep. They need full energy to run... soon enough.’

Thinking that, Ishiki narrowed his trembling eyes. They were tired beyond reason and just wanted release.

Sure, it would be bad to undertake the journey like that. He needed rest.

He sighed and closed his eyes.

His tired body submitted to the approaching solace and within seconds, Ishiki fell asleep.

After weeks of sleeplessness, Ishiki finally slept and saw a dream.

A dream of beginning and end.