【Lynch, stop.】
For the first time, the gentle and calm female voice carried a hint of anxiety, resonating clearly in his mind:
【You are wasting your life. You cannot help her; you will only end up being consumed by the filth yourself. The power of distortion is not something your will can contend with. Even if you invoke your authority, it will not be enough to resist it. Once your soul is eroded, you will share her fate.】
But Lynch held onto Officer Natalie's twisted body even tighter, unmoved.
‘No, there is still a glimmer of hope.’
‘Your words just reminded me. Perhaps she is already powerless to resist the distortion alone, and since external forces cannot interfere with the soul, I will turn myself from an external force into an internal one. I will help her fight the erosion together.’
‘Just tell me, is there any possibility of success?’
Perhaps feeling the burning heat of Lynch's embrace, the officer's eyes, which were about to fade completely, regained a trace of life. Her lips, already covered in granulations, moved as she gathered all her strength to utter one word.
“No.”
“Shut up, woman. Even if I am just walking to my own death, I will not let you face it alone. As long as there is a glimmer of hope, I will seize it. Now, hold on for me, stay still, and wait. I am here with you.”
Lynch shouted, ignoring the sticky pus and writhing granulations on her face, pressing his own against hers with absolute resolve.
Forehead to forehead, nose to nose, eyes to eyes.
Then, he activated his most useless ability.
【Authority, Death, Ability, End Resonance.】
Resonating with the dying to enter their soul world is usually used for listening to last words, but if one is willing to risk their life, it can be used for other purposes.
Such as resisting erosion.
Red mist representing mystery surged from Lynch's body, enveloping them both in an instant. However, the moment it touched Officer Natalie's distorting body, it was immediately repelled.
It failed.
The muscles on Lynch's face twitched, the corners of his eyes nearly tearing, but without a moment's hesitation, he began the second attempt.
It must work. I was just inexperienced with my first use. The next one will definitely be fine.
The red mist surged again, only to be rejected by the officer's body once more.
Damn it, what is happening? Don't fail me now.
Lynch's eyes were bloodshot, and his heart grew increasingly restless, but a flash of insight struck him, and he realized a problem.
Wait, it requires someone to be dying, but does soul distortion actually have a dying process? Is this attempt fundamentally impossible?
Regardless of whether it works or not, I will not give up until the very last moment.
Gritting his teeth, Lynch held the officer's eerily writhing body tight and squeezed his eyes shut, no longer considering the effectiveness of the ability, simply activating it over and over again.
Lynch did not know how many times he had tried; he only knew that the aura emanating from the body in his arms was becoming increasingly bizarre and dangerous.
If it erupted like Klin's, he would surely die.
But Lynch had already cast aside all concerns. If he didn't succeed today, he would die here. There was no third path.
Again.
Once, twice, three times...
The body in his arms suddenly erupted with intense mystery filth, and at the same time, the red mist that had erupted again suddenly sank into the officer's body.
In a trance, Natalie Angel had a dream, and everything within it felt so real.
Tall buildings, narrow alleys, dim gas streetlamps.
A tall, middle-aged gentleman held a sword, shielding a young woman behind him with his own body.
Opposite them, in the open space outside the dark alley, a giant pentagram formed an altar. Thick blood flowed through the lines of the altar, and a priest chanted loudly beside it, while over a dozen cultists and dozens of hideous monsters lurked nearby.
Under the moonlight, even when facing these bizarre existences, the young woman in plain clothes spoke of her determination and courage with a firm expression.
“I know I have been linked to mystery. I know I might die at any moment, but I am not afraid of them.”
“I want to follow behind you. I want to use my strength to fight them. I also want to do my part to protect innocent citizens.”
“This is my own affair. I do not want to wait at home anymore. I have also studied professional swordsmanship. Let me fight with you; I can be of help.”
However, as the cultist priest's chanting grew more fervent, blood began to fill the center of the altar. Piercing wails rang out one after another from unknown corners, and a bizarre, terrifying shadow slowly crawled out from the center of the altar.
The fear engraved in her soul shattered the young woman's reason. She screamed in terror, rushing out of her hiding place, desperate to flee.
In an instant, all eyes focused on her. The cultist priest raised his hand toward her, and a massive power descended from the sky.
Just as the woman was about to be consumed by the power, a tall and broad back appeared before her. The middle-aged gentleman shielded her with his body, blocking the immense power for her.
Under the impact of the power, the middle-aged gentleman was already covered in wounds, but he still drew his sword and charged into the cultists. His blade was like snow, cutting down all his enemies until he finally struck the blood-stained altar with one blow.
The erupting energy impact destroyed almost everything around the clearing, yet when the smoke cleared, the middle-aged gentleman had shielded her from the blast again, leaving the young woman behind him unscathed. The young woman ran as if mad, carrying the middle-aged gentleman on her back, but just as the club appeared before her eyes, the body behind her breathed its last.
Heart-wrenching pain filled Natalie Angel's soul in an instant, because at that very moment, she saw the young woman's face.
It was her own face.
Yes, that was the truth.
The ordinary person in Natalie's story who did not want to die, the ordinary person whose fear and reckless flight had ultimately caused her father's death, was actually herself.
Perhaps she had truly hoped that, like the ending of the story, the ordinary person who caused the harm would also be consumed by mystery. But reality was often crueler; her father had died, and Natalie Angel had survived.
This fact, which she dared not recall and refused to accept, but which gnawed at her heart whenever the night was deep and silent, was torn open once more, exposed before her.
Sadness, self-reproach, loneliness, regret...
All kinds of unbearable negative emotions flooded her consciousness simultaneously. The heart-wrenching pain gnawed at her heart, making her feel nearly insane the moment she regained clarity.
Despair, extreme despair. Under the impact of these emotions, even breathing became a luxury. She felt only immense pain, wishing only to escape forever and forget everything completely.
And this was only the beginning. The brief dream kept replaying itself, over and over, each time clearer than the last.
Yet Natalie could do nothing but watch helplessly as she lost her mind time and again under the deterrence of the filth, screaming as she rushed out of her hiding place, watching her father's figure shield her again and again, becoming covered in wounds under the impact.
Repeating her most painful memories countless times, from despair to numbness, the thousands of times she felt this pain left her mind a blank slate.
Unconsciously, the world bearing these nightmarish memories was already riddled with cracks, and countless terrifying granulations were seeping in through the gaps.
More and more, denser and denser, the entire world seemed ready to collapse at any moment, yet it persisted, always walking on the edge of collapse, as if waiting for something.
Perhaps I am hoping for something, but what am I waiting for?
Her numb and rigid will was already unable to think. Persistence and waiting had become her final instincts, but human will has its limits. At the final moment, the entire world shattered completely.
Twisted shadows, hideous tentacles, writhing granulations, countless bizarre existences seeped in from outside the shattered world, frantically devouring this broken reality.
Facing the encroaching bizarre existences, the young Natalie just raised her head blankly, staring dumbly at the dark sky.
I feel like something is missing there. I feel like I am waiting for something.
Right, the moon. There should be a red moon there.
The next moment, in the shattered sky, a red moon burst through the endless distortion and grotesquerie, hanging high in the center of the firmament. Crimson moonlight spilled onto the surroundings, causing the footsteps of the filth's erosion to hesitate.
Under the moonlight, Natalie saw a blurry yet familiar figure appear before her. Natalie could no longer realize who he was, but seeing him made her heart feel warm, as if a long-lost emotion had welled up.
It felt like joy.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Officer Natalie.”
“What a thrilling scene. It seems I arrived just in time.”
“I am sorry for leaving you to face them alone. From now on, let us fight side by side. Regardless of the outcome, we live and die together.”
The solid, broad back stood before her, just as she had seen in countless memories. The familiar figure raised his cane, tucked it back toward his waist, and aimed it at the countless granulations that were eroding toward them.
The next moment, the distortions and grotesquerie, terrified by the moonlight, finally surged over from all directions. And that broad back simply brandished his cane and charged straight into them.
“No!”
The past and the present intertwined; the two backs gradually overlapped, indistinguishable from one another. The immense impact of the tragedy about to repeat itself allowed Natalie Angel's nearly shattered will to recover slightly. Reason and memory returned to her brain, and she instinctively let out a shrill cry:
“Lynch.”
With that cry, endless pus and granulations exploded into a sky full of red mist, and the two bodies tangled together, crashing heavily onto the floor.
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