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What I saw was out of my mind. I couldn't believe my eyes.
The sky was *red*. Not sunset red—crimson red. Blood red. Dark red clouds churned overhead like something alive and angry. This wasn't the blue sky from my world. This was... wrong. Everything about it was wrong.
Also, something weird happened the moment I stepped through that door—all my injuries were gone. Healed. Like magic or some shit. The cuts, the broken ribs, the pain—all of it just *vanished*.
And that red hexagon thing I had before? The one that disappeared into the door? It was back in my pocket. The same Ghost Essence.
So does that mean after defeating a Ghost Rebound in a Tier 7 Mirror World, I don't lose my Ghost Essence? Or is that only for this specific case? I'm so confused right now.
What even *is* a Tier 7 Mirror World? Is my Ghost Essence also Tier 7? I can't be sure about anything anymore.
I looked around. This vast world with its crimson sky stretched endlessly in every direction. Broken medieval buildings scattered across the landscape—churches, towers, walls—all completely destroyed or ruined by some kind of supernatural disaster. No grass. No trees. Nothing alive. Just dead stone and red sky.
Behind me, the door I'd entered through was gone. Vanished. Like it never existed.
Great. Just *great*.
There was some kind of stone path leading somewhere through this wasteland. My eyes followed it through the red foggy air until I saw something rising in the distance.
A cathedral. Massive. Multiple spires reaching up toward that fucked-up red sky like stone fingers trying to claw their way out of hell.
"What's that supposed to be? Am I in another Mirror World again?" I muttered.
*You're screwed.*
I froze. That voice—it came from inside my head. Same tone as mine, but distorted and muffled, like someone recorded me underwater.
"What the—" I spun around, looking for whoever said that. Nobody. Nothing. Just ruins and red sky.
I'm really going crazy now, aren't I? I banged my hand against my head, trying to knock some sense back in.
**[Welcome to The Sanctus Mortis]**
The announcement slammed into my skull like before. That same robotic voice echoing inside my brain.
"Sanctus Mortis? What's that supposed to mean?" I shouted at nothing. "Should I go to that cathedral or what? And what am I supposed to do with this red Ghost Essence?"
I pulled out the hexagon from my pocket and stared at it, turning it over in my hands. Maybe something magical would happen if I just... held it? Thought about it really hard?
**THINK ME. HOLD ME. CONSUME ME. ABSORB ME.**
The voice—no, not a voice, an *echo*—came from the Ghost Essence itself. I could sense what it was trying to tell me, what it wanted me to do.
Then suddenly, the hexagon ripped itself from my hand.
"Wait—what—"
It rose up, floating right in front of my face with no support, nothing holding it up. The red color deepened, fluctuating, pulsing brighter and brighter until I had to squint.
The hallucinations hit.
Same dream. Same Mirror World. Same intense pain from before. Same monster with its eyeless face and too-long arms. And my own voice—that crazy, desperate voice—ringing in my head, screaming, begging, threatening to make my skull explode.
"Stop! STOP!"
Then suddenly—
A jet-black blade stretched before me, veined with glowing crimson light that pulsed like a living heartbeat. The red glow cast eerie shadows across my hands, warm and unsettling, as if the sword itself harbored some dark flame within its obsidian steel.
I stared at it, brain struggling to process what just happened.
"So the red Ghost Essence can also be used to make weapons? How... interesting."
But how did it manifest like this? Was it because of my emotions? I remembered while holding the Red Essence, I'd been thinking about the pain—the monster, the fear, the desperate fight. Or was it the Ghost Essence itself that simulated my emotions?
I gripped the dagger tighter.
Then the pain hit.
I fell to both knees, hands pulling at my hair. I couldn't handle it. Couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. Information poured into my head like someone was drilling it directly into my skull.
*Intense fear for 3 to 5 seconds... unable to move... cuts deep into wounds... stronger on weaker ghosts... brief panic... negative impact on overuse... can't wield more than 1 artifact...*
The words kept coming, faster and faster, each one burning itself into my brain.
When it finally stopped, I was gasping, nose bleeding onto the cracked ground.
"Okay... okay..." I tried to organize my thoughts, tried to make sense of what I'd just learned. "So I can cut deeper using this weapon. That's... good, I guess."
But the fear effect—does it make *me* panic for 3 to 5 seconds? Or does the enemy feel it? I'm so confused.
And I can't use this weapon for a long time? What happens if I do? What are the side effects?
That last part bothered me the most. "Can't wield more than 1 artifact." Does that mean I can only use this weapon and nothing else? What happens if I try to make another one?
Wait, it said "artifact," not "weapon." Does that mean the Ghost Essence could have created anything depending on my emotions? Different shapes, different effects, different side effects?
It does seem that way, but I'm not sure. I don't know anything for sure anymore.
"Ah, shit..." My head was pounding. The information overload left me dizzy and nauseous. "Should I go to that cathedral? Look around and figure out what's going on?"
I stared at the distant spires reaching toward the blood-red sky.
Didn't have much choice, did I? The door behind me was gone. The only path forward led straight to that massive stone structure.
I gripped the black dagger tighter. Its warmth pulsed against my palm like something alive.
"Alright then," I muttered, forcing myself to stand on shaking legs. "Let's see what fresh hell is waiting for me in there."
The cathedral waited in the distance.
And somewhere behind me, I heard that voice again—my voice—laughing softly.
I didn't look back.