Eventually, I was left alone. Aiko had gone off to her room to sleep, leaving me sitting there in silence, the echo of her footsteps fading into the distance. For a while, I just sat still, staring at the empty hallway, trying to make sense of everything that had happened. My head was spinning—pain blooming behind my eyes, crawling down the back of my skull until every breath I took felt heavier than the last.
I needed air. Real air.
So I walked out of the castle, letting the cold night swallow me whole. The wind outside was sharp, biting against my skin, but somehow it felt cleaner than anything I'd breathed in a long time. I didn't stop walking; I climbed higher, scaling staircases and crumbling battlements until I finally reached the top of the castle.
And then… I saw it.
The view stretched out before me like something from another world—because, I suppose, it was. A massive city sprawled beneath me, its edges surrounded by towering black walls that rose like jagged teeth into the sky. Beyond those walls, there was nothing—just the endless ocean of black, a void so deep and still that it made the air itself feel heavy. Yet even within that darkness, one structure pierced the horizon: the Crimson Spire.
It was colossal—so tall that for a moment, I truly believed it could reach the sun. Its surface shimmered faintly, reflecting the bleeding light of the moon, and it radiated something that felt ancient and hungry.
For all the horrors that existed in the Dream Realm, there was still something strangely beautiful about it. The air was clean here, untouched. In the real world—even living in the wealthiest districts of NQSC—everything smelled artificial. Purified. Filtered. Manufactured. But this air… this air was real. It was raw and cold and alive.
I let it fill my lungs, let it sting against my throat, and for a fleeting moment, it almost felt like peace.
The city below was silent, bathed in pale moonlight. There was something eerie about the stillness—streets empty, windows dark, as though the entire place was holding its breath. And yet… it was beautiful. Beautiful in a haunted, tragic way.
Honestly, if not for the nightmare creatures lurking just beyond those walls, I could almost imagine living here. Then again, without them, I'd have to drink human blood to survive—and that thought alone shattered whatever fragile fantasy I'd built in my head.
I stayed there for a while, just standing at the edge of the rooftop, letting the cold seep into my bones. The air numbed my fingers, my face, even my thoughts. For the first time in what felt like forever, my mind was quiet.
Until the moon began to bleed.
At first, it was just a faint red haze. Then it deepened, thickened, dripping across the sky until rivers of crimson light poured down over the city. I stared in silence as the bloodlight swallowed the streets, flooding alleys, rising higher until the entire city seemed to drown beneath it.
And then it reached me.
The world tilted. I couldn't breathe. My chest tightened as if invisible hands were pulling me under. I tried to move, to fight it, but everything went red—everything drowned in that impossible, suffocating color.
And then… a touch.
A hand gently brushing through my hair, a soft, cold caress against my temple. I blinked, gasping, and when my vision cleared, I was back. I was lying down, my head resting on someone's lap.
Seishan's lap.
Her fingers traced slow, careful circles through my hair as she looked down at me. In the moonlight, she was almost ethereal—her grey skin catching the faint light, her red velvet dress dark as spilled wine. Beautiful. So beautiful it hurt to look at her. But her blood… gods, her blood was wrong.
Even without focusing, I could feel it—thick, distorted, sickly. Every instinct in me screamed to turn away, to stop sensing it, but I couldn't. Not anymore.
After everything that had happened—with Aiko, with that kiss, with the chaos that had followed—I was numb. Empty. And maybe that was why I didn't move when Seishan spoke.
"You know," she said softly, a teasing lilt in her voice, "you shouldn't run away and hide on a roof right after giving someone a love letter."
I sighed internally. My mind was a fog, and her words barely sank in. I wasn't listening. Not really. My focus was on her pulse—the rhythm of it, the alien flow that set my teeth on edge.
She tilted her head, studying me. "I've thought about your confession," she continued. "And… I guess I wouldn't mind dating you."
Her long black hair fell forward, forming a curtain between us as she leaned down. Her lips met mine—cold, soft, deliberate.
For a heartbeat, I did nothing. Then everything inside me clicked.
Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
My instincts roared to life, and I activated my ability. The world around me shifted, colors fading into translucent layers as I looked through her—through flesh, through veins, through every secret her body held.
What I saw made me smile. Not the smile of joy, or love, but something darker.
Her blood wasn't hers. It didn't flow naturally—it twisted and looped like a mockery of life, as though something had forced it to move, to mimic humanity. It was imitation. A puppet's pulse.
And suddenly, everything made sense.
A laugh escaped my throat—quiet at first, then louder, rougher, almost manic. I kissed her back, hard, until her legs trembled beneath me. She broke away, breathless, eyes wide with confusion.
I stood.
With a single motion, I slit my wrist open, feeling the warm rush of my own blood spill out. It didn't hurt. Pain had long since become familiar—almost comforting. I shaped that blood into a weapon, forming a crimson arrow that solidified and hardened as I loaded it into my crossbow.
I looked down at her, still smiling.
"Thanks, Seishan," I said quietly, my voice steady, almost calm. "I'll be sure to thank the real you too… when I get out of here."
Her expression twisted—fear, anger, or maybe confusion—but I didn't let her speak.
I turned the crossbow, pressing it against my own forehead. The blood arrow glimmered faintly under the bleeding moonlight, the same color as everything else in this damned world.
And then I pulled the trigger.