The air in Howard's suite was thick with tension, the dim light casting long shadows over the body bag on the floor.
Ch'en stood frozen, her grip on Chi Xiao trembling as Howard's request echoed in her ears.
Her eyes, still red from earlier tears, locked onto the three-eyed crow perched on the desk.
"You… you want me to stab your body?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper, as if repeating it might change what she'd heard.
Howard's crow form nodded, his three crimson eyes steady.
"Yes. That's what I said."
Hoshiguma, leaning against the wall with her shield at her side, crossed her arms, her brow furrowed.
"Hold on. Wasn't the whole point to get you back into your body? Not… carve it up?"
Her voice carried a mix of disbelief and unease, her earlier resolve shaken by the absurdity of the request.
Howard's feathers ruffled, his tone softening but firm.
"I know it sounds insane. I get why you're worried. But this is the only way."
Ch'en's jaw tightened, her fingers twitching around Chi Xiao's hilt.
"Explain, Howard. Why this? Why now?"
He hopped down to the body bag, his talons nudging the zipper open further, revealing the grey, lifeless form inside.
"Remember that time at the fast-food joint, Ch'en? When were we talking about my ability ?"
He paused, his eyes flicking to her.
Ch'en nodded slowly, the memory surfacing. She had watched, stunned, as he transformed into her, while Hoshiguma recalled that moment during the mission.
"Yeah. It was… unnatural."
Howard's voice grew steady, deliberate.
"My body isn't just capable of shapeshifting. It regenerates—fast, strong, almost unstoppable. Even now, it's trying to heal, despite… this."
He gestured to his corpse, its grey skin eerily smooth where wounds should have been.
Hoshiguma stepped closer, her eyes narrowing.
"So why stab it? If it's healing, shouldn't we be protecting it?"
Howard hesitated, his mind racing through a dozen lies he could spin.
I can't tell them the full truth—not about my body, not about where I come from.
The secrets of his existence, his knowledge of Arknights as a game, they were too much to unravel now.
Instead, he settled on a half-truth.
"When I chased the entity last night, I saw it react to my blood. It flinched, like it was… repelled. I think it's why I wasn't fully taken. My body's strange—different—and I'm betting my blood is the key to killing it."
Ch'en's eyes widened, processing his words.
"Your blood… can do that?" She stepped closer to the body bag, her grip on Chi Xiao tightening, though her hands began to shake. Staring at
Howard's lifeless form—his familiar features now grey and still—felt like facing a family member on the edge of death.
This is wrong, she thought, her stomach churning.
Like I'm about to kill him myself.
Howard, sensing her turmoil, fluttered to her shoulder, his voice low and reassuring.
"Ch'en, it's okay."
"You can do this. If you don't, we might not save anyone—not me, not the next victim, not Siesta."
His three eyes met hers, steady and warm despite his form.
"Close your eyes. Plunge the blade. Trust me."
Hoshiguma watched, her own unease palpable, as Ch'en took a shaky breath.
With a grimace, Ch'en shut her eyes and drove Chi Xiao into the stomach of Howard's body.
The blade sank deep, and she gagged, nausea rising as the act felt like a betrayal.
Hoshiguma's hand twitched, wanting to stop her, but she held back, trusting Howard's plan despite the madness of it.
Blood seeped from the wound, slow at first, then flowing steadily, pooling around the blade.
It moved unnaturally, crawling up Chi Xiao's edge, wrapping around the steel until it reached the hilt.
Ch'en's eyes snapped open, her breath catching.
"Howard, what's happening?" she asked, fear lacing her voice.
"Watch," Howard said, his crow form perched intently.
The blood's dark red hue began to shift, deepening to an otherworldly dark blue, shimmering with an eerie luminescence.
The blade itself seemed to pulse, its color transforming in sync with the blood.
Howard's beak curved into a grim smile.
To defeat a Collapsal, you need its nemesis.
His mind flashed to the knowledge he carried.
The Seaborn. A being that eternally adapts, evolves, and consumes.
If anything can counter a Collapsal's reality-warping chaos, it's their relentless mutation.
"We're using my blood's essence," he said aloud, his voice steady.
"With my blood fused with your sword, you can fight it. This is our weapon."
Ch'en and Hoshiguma stared, the weight of his words sinking in, as the blue-tinged blade gleamed with a power neither fully understood but both knew could change everything.
The suite was steeped in an unnatural stillness, the air heavy with the faint glow of Howard's blood-tinged blade, now pulsing a deep, otherworldly blue.
Hoshiguma glanced at her watch, expecting the soft light of dawn to filter through the curtains.
"It's 6:00 AM," she said, her voice low, but her eyes widened as she looked outside.
The night clung stubbornly to Siesta, an endless shroud of darkness unbroken by the sun.
"Why the hell is it still dark?"
Ch'en swallowed hard, her grip on Chi Xiao tightening, the blue glow casting eerie shadows across her face.
Her heart pounded, a cold sweat prickling her skin.
"This is… hell."
Hoshiguma's massive frame tensed beside her, her usual bravado faltering as the unnatural night pressed against them.
For both, the hotel felt like a living nightmare, its opulent façade now a cage.
Howard's three-eyed crow form perched on the desk, his crimson gaze sharp.
"It's the entity," he rasped, his voice cutting through their fear.
"It's rewriting reality around the hotel. I've seen its marks—time, space, everything's bending to its will."
Ch'en's eyes flicked to him, her voice steady despite the dread.
"What do we do, Howard?"
"Listen carefully," he said, his tone urgent, commanding. "From now on, I need you to do whatever I say."
***
In the adjacent room, Lieselotte, a young Caprinae woman from Leithanien, paced restlessly, her hooves clicking softly against the polished floor.
Sleep eluded her, her mind tangled with unease.
Maybe I shouldn't have listened to that oni, she thought, her fingers tracing the edge of a table.
She'd come to Siesta as the lucky winner of a free vacation, a rare escape from her modest life.
But now, trapped in this room, she felt like a cornered animal. I can't afford to leave.
No money, no way back.
Her options were gone, leaving her no choice but to trust the strange woman who'd paid her to stay here.
A sharp knock jolted her from her thoughts.
Through the peephole, she saw Hoshiguma's towering figure and another woman—Ch'en, her blue blade gleaming faintly.
Lieselotte's fingers trembled as she opened the door a crack.
"What's going on?" she asked, her voice quivering.
Hoshiguma pushed inside, her presence both reassuring and intimidating.
"Everything's gonna be alright," she said, her tone firm but kind. "Just listen to one thing."
Ch'en, her expression grim, stepped forward, drawing Chi Xiao. The blade's blue glow pulsed as she traced a line around the doorframe, the mark shimmering with an unnatural light.
She pressed an earbud into her ear, her voice low.
"Howard, the door's done."
Howard's voice crackled through the earbud.
"Good. Move on."
Hoshiguma knelt slightly, meeting Lieselotte's frightened eyes.
"Whatever you hear, whatever anyone says—even me—do not leave this room. If you do, you'll die."
Ch'en moved to the windows, dragging her blade along the frames, leaving glowing blue marks.
She found small holes in the walls—vents, cracks—and traced them too, the blue lines forming a protective web.
"Don't turn on the bathroom tap," she added, her voice sharp.
"Stay near your bed."
Lieselotte's eyes welled with tears, her voice breaking.
"Why is this happening to me? I just wanted a vacation." She nodded, sobbing, her body trembling with fear.
Hoshiguma pulled her into a brief, firm hug.
"We'll get to the bottom of this," she promised.
"When it's over, I'll make sure you get what you deserve—more than just a vacation."
As they stepped out, closing the door behind them, Howard's voice came through the earbuds, steady and commanding.
"Remember what I told you. Listen only to me. Nothing else."
***
Ch'en and Hoshiguma stepped into the elevator, the metallic doors sliding shut with a soft clang.
The air inside was stifling, charged with the weight of their mission.
Howard's voice echoed
"Press the ground floor button," he instructed, his voice a low rasp through the earbuds.
Ch'en's finger hovered over the button, her expression taut. She pressed it, the elevator humming to life.
"We should've brought our tactical gear," she muttered, her free hand twitching as if reaching for the familiar weight of her Lungmen equipment.
Hoshiguma nodded, her massive frame filling the cramped space.
"Yeah, just shorts and a turtleneck don't cut it for this."
Her shield rested against her side, a poor substitute for her full kit.
"Feels like we're walking into a war zone half-ready."
Howard's voice crackled through the earbuds.
"None of us could've known. Not even me." His tone was grim and steady.
"Listen—the elevator won't go back up from here. It's one way now."
Before they could question him, the elevator lurched, descending with a sudden, stomach-dropping speed.
Ch'en gripped the railing, her knuckles whitening.
Hoshiguma braced herself, her lighter flickering in her hand.
"What the hell, Howard?" she growled.
"Get ready," Howard said, his voice sharp.
"The entity's waiting. We're meeting it head-on."
The elevator plummeted, the digital display flashing past zero, ticking into negative numbers—impossible depths beneath the hotel.
When it shuddered to a stop, the doors slid open, revealing an unfamiliar hallway.
Darkness swallowed the space, the air thick with a cold, unnatural weight.
Only one lamp flickered at the far end, its weak light barely piercing the gloom, casting jagged shadows across walls that seemed to pulse faintly.
Hoshiguma flicked on her lighter, the small flame dancing in her hand.
"This place… it's wrong," she whispered, her voice barely audible.
Howard's voice cut through the earbuds, urgent and unyielding.
"Don't look back. No matter what you hear, no matter what you feel—focus only on what's ahead. Move."
Ch'en drew Chi Xiao, its blue-tinged blade glowing faintly, a beacon in the dark.
Hoshiguma raised her shield, her lighter casting a trembling light.
They stepped forward, the darkness closing around them like a living thing, ready to swallow them whole.
Outside the Siesta Solace Hotel, the night was alive with the hum of organized chaos.
A special forces unit, clad in sleek black tactical gear, had surrounded the building, their movements precise and silent.
Floodlights cut through the unnatural darkness, illuminating the hotel's gilded façade.
Drones hummed overhead, scanning for anomalies, while operatives armed with Originium-infused weaponry formed a perimeter, their faces hidden behind visors.
A voice crackled over their comms, calm but authoritative.
"Commander, this is Unit Leader. We've confirmed the presence of a Collapsal. Energy signatures match known patterns. Awaiting observation protocols to proceed."
"Understood," came the reply from a central command post.
"Initiate Protocol Epsilon-9. Full containment. No civilian access until observations are complete."
The operatives tightened their formation, their weapons trained on the hotel.
The air buzzed with tension, the weight of facing an infohazard pressing against their disciplined resolve.
Inside, they knew, something far beyond human comprehension was stirring.
In Howard's suite, a bizarre scene unfolded.
The body bag lay open, his grey, lifeless form exposed.
Blood began to seep from the stab wound in his stomach, not pooling but rising, forming thin, crimson strings that floated upward.
The strands twisted and merged, weaving into a shape that vaguely resembled a Terran figure, suspended in the air.
The lump of blood pulsed, its surface rippling as if alive.
A whisper emanated from it, faint but unmistakably Howard's voice, echoing through the room where the earbud lay on the table.
"I'll join them soon," it murmured, the words heavy with resolve.
The blood figure shimmered, its form incomplete but growing.