"I… I wasn't entirely honest about what my aspect truly is, I admit." His voice wavered, less steady. "At first, because it wasn't relevant to our mission, and now, because it isn't a cheap solution." The silence weighed for an uncomfortable moment before he continued.
His gaze wandered around the room, visibly uneasy.
He took a deep breath, choosing his words carefully. "My innate ability is to turn people into vassals. Sofia can explain its effects better. I suggest you listen carefully before deciding."
Sofia moistened her lips, fidgeting with her fingers.
Eric remained motionless in the face of the revelation, his expression blank, like a mask. Shelly, startled, did not hide her revulsion. Her face twisted between disgust and discomfort; the air grew heavy.
After a brief silence, Sofia spoke hesitantly. "I share my soul with Giovanni… This allows me to draw upon any memory or Echo he possesses."
It was still an unprecedented ability, but suddenly, the days they had spent together made far more sense.
The giant leaned over the table, his gaze fixed on Sofia, tension rising like a shadow crawling up the walls.
She was a unique specimen.
"And? What else does this ability bring?"
Sofia pressed her back against the chair, trying to keep her distance.
"Any positive effect on Giovanni also reaches me. Surviving without supplies or resisting the song, for example."
Shelly frowned, confused. "So you can use his attributes too? Is he affected by yours?"
Unsure how to answer, Sofia looked to Giovanni. He shook his head clearly. "No. I'd know if my brain had grown overnight," he added.
There didn't seem to be any downside to gaining access to new tools, weapons, and abilities, all for free.
But anyone with a functioning head knows that when something is free, it only means you are the product.
"Can this connection be undone?" Eric focused on what he considered the most important point. Any action with permanent consequences was extremely dangerous.
Giovanni wanted to give an uncertain answer, but he was almost sure that… no. Perhaps if he continued advancing through the ranks, the situation might change, but at present, he had no ability to modify his list of vassals.
"I'm incapable of undoing it… for now," Giovanni admitted.
Any trace of temptation that the offer might have caused in both of them vanished completely. Becoming the servant of someone they knew, for what? At most eight days?
"Great! We came here to retrieve your doll. Just start this damn plan already so we can reach the waterfalls as soon as possible." Shelly had clearly heard enough.
Her only options were becoming a stranger's doormat or sleeping herself to death. It was a miracle she hadn't exploded already.
"Don't compare me to how adults treated you when you were a child, please." Sofia's mouth moved on its own, replying with venomous animosity.
Unlike last time, Shelly didn't start an argument. She simply remained visibly furious.
The words had struck home.
Pushing herself off the wall, Shelly left the room with heavy steps.
Sofia stayed where she was, a little pale.
Giovanni wiped his face, feeling a headache bloom from the stress.
The other boy remained in the room, even after discarding any possibility of accepting that solution, no matter how desperate the moment became.
"Only her benefits were mentioned. And yours, Giovanni? What level of authority do you have over your vassal?"
Another question without an answer.
The delicate boy avoided, like a plague, any action that might suggest giving Sofia an order. He simply felt their relationship would be irreparable if the worst came to pass.
"I can't say. Call Sofia by her name, please." His neutral tone was a clear sign that he was growing impatient with the disrespect. The girl stood up from the chair without a word and headed for the exit.
Before she could leave, she stopped at Eric's next words.
"Then order her and find out."
***
Giovanni's gaze darkened.
Sofia was very close to having a panic attack.
This whole topic, which she had avoided and pretended didn't exist, was being unearthed and forced upon her and Giovanni.
That day, when she accepted the offer, she had only one desire in mind.
Survive.
She didn't trust herself to return home alone and, at the time, still acted under the impression that her friend was a superpowered heir.
It might have been reckless, but with mere minutes left before being thrown into another world, naked and unarmed, necessity simply screamed louder.
One way or another, she had gotten what she wanted.
Protected inside a massive mansion, surrounded by capable fighters, and stronger than she had ever imagined she could become.
She had slaughtered dozens of awakened creatures with her own hands, something few Sleepers could boast of having done on their first trip to the Dream Realm.
By normal standards, she was exceptional.
But now, her decision had come back, bringing consequences to match.
"…"
Giovanni, beside her, remained completely silent and neutral. It was unsettling to see him like that, especially now that she had grown used to the lively, playful person he hid inside.
Sofia didn't dare move either.
Her shadow stretched along the corridor.
In the meeting room, the metal cage full of vagamules that Eric had summoned was the only source of light, highlighting the darkness.
Maybe it was just her impression. With every word spoken, the environment grew more oppressive, quieter.
Darker.
"If you wish to keep things as they are, then do so." Those words brought no comfort.
Living haunted by uncertainty wouldn't ease her heart. It might even be less shocking at first… but it would never allow her to accept her new reality, whatever it might be.
'Breathe…' Her thoughts repeated commands to her paralyzed body.
Giovanni was a strange boy, but even so, he had earned her affection.
Accustomed to being ignored or treated as an object of ridicule, it felt unreal to see someone treat her as special.
He had sought her help since their very first class together, and throughout the rest of their days at the academy, he saw her as someone to aspire to.
Sofia admitted that having someone depend on her made her feel proud of the abilities she had acquired.
She wanted, at all costs, to preserve their bond and return home with her friend.
But what would happen if Sofia truly was what the others claimed? A piece of property? A pet?
No relationship of equals exists when one side is the owner.
Sofia tried to smile, nervous. "Gigi… we don't need to focus on this now. There are more important things. L-let's prepare the ambushes!"
Yes, there was a plan to be made, an expedition to begin. These problems hadn't affected them so far. Why would that change all of a sudden?
Giovanni didn't look at Sofia, nor did he reply. Instead, his gaze remained fixed on Eric, more intense than ever.
The legacy was not intimidated.
"I…" Giovanni seemed to lose his strength, turning his eyes to Sofia. If his posture conveyed anything at that moment, it was fear.
"I can't."
***
A song echoed in the darkness…
Hot water turned to steam, filling the thermal chamber the duo had recently repaired and cleaned. Even with the option of lighting the wall lamps, Giovanni chose to bathe in darkness.
Not that it made a difference. He saw the environment the same way regardless.
'What do I do… my god. What do I do?'
He had never felt so cowardly. But would another choice have been better? If he had ordered Sofia to do something and she obeyed, would his heart feel any lighter?
Every path led him here.
A well of anguish.
In his hands, he held the bar of soap he had made earlier. Feeling clean brought physical relief, but everything around him felt wrong.
Why had things ended this way? At what point could he have changed things? Made a different decision?
He only needed an answer.
But there was only silence.
Not even the light that guided him when he closed his eyes was of any use now.
Its familiar warmth still pointed in the same direction.
The waterfalls awaited him.
And he needed to guide a team that barely tolerated one another to reach them.
He reflected on everything Omar, Beako, Margaret, and so many others had taught and advised him, trying to find some light at the end of the tunnel.
But none of them had taught him how to lead or how to decide the morality of controlling another person.
'I can't stay here… they don't have much time. Be productive, Giovanni. Fix things, Giovanni.'
He dug his fingers into his hair, his nails pressing against his scalp.
On the chamber walls were artworks of a beautiful mermaid singing to the world in all her grace.
People fell to their knees before her, willing to offer the world just to bask in her presence.
Mere drawings, and yet the boy felt watched, judged.
What had she felt, with so many people offering their bodies and souls? Pride in her power? Pity for those foolish souls?
Or shame like his?
'Enough…'
Giovanni rose from the water, grabbing the nearest towel to dry himself before donning his gold-and-blue-toned tunic once more.
Everything would be fine.
He had to believe that.
***
Creatures perished one after another, unable to react to a fast, calculated massacre.
Sofia identified their abilities and weaknesses. Gaius incapacitated them. Shelly and Eric killed them without giving them a chance to fight.
Isolated groups were hunted to extinction, their bodies opened to collect any useful materials, such as Soul Shards and fresh meat.
They worked efficiently, but there were cracks that could not be repaired, no matter what was done.
Sofia acted just as she had before, focused and energetic as she organized tasks.
Eric spoke only when necessary and carried out his work with near-perfect efficiency.
Shelly followed him, usually in silence.
But it was noticeable that they were weaker, slower than when they had fought side by side atop the crater wall.
The feral girl looked worse still, with dark circles under her eyes.
The plan to spend several days there, training and relaxing, was simply unsustainable. With every extra hour that passed, the other two drew closer to collapse.
They needed to amass as much strength as possible in an unhealthy, brutally tight window.
The most important part, agreed upon in the meeting, also advanced at full speed.
Eric's black helmet was given to Giovanni so he could chart an ideal route for the group to circle the crater, passing through the northeast of the abyss until reaching the waterfalls in the north.
Walking there and back would take far too long, so the boy developed an extraordinary method.
'I can't believe this is working…'
Leaping from the plateau with the [Membranous Glider], Giovanni descended just enough to reach the terrain below with his seismic sense and began studying the land midair, completely invisible.
He would still eventually reach the ground, so to ensure he stayed airborne…
The boy transmuted the surrounding air, creating hot currents that repeatedly lifted him.
There was no time for idle talk.
Hour after hour, Giovanni wracked his brain, retracing paths in his mind. When everything was dangerous, all that remained was to measure which threats were less inconvenient.
'Sorry, Beako… I can't honor your advice.'
His former teacher had said he was still just a human. That abusing the power granted by his memory was a vicious path.
But at this point, Eric and Shelly had likely gone at least five days without sleep.
Both had constitutions that would put even the healthiest humans to shame.
But staying awake was one thing.
Crossing an entire corrupted region, infested with beings more powerful than they were in this state, was another.
Sleeping for even an hour would have been disrespectful to them.
In the kitchen, meat was salted and smoked, and potable water was stored in large quantities inside metal bottles made by Giovanni.
Soul Shards were divided equally among the three members who needed them, but Shelly received the largest portion.
Raw increases in power were the only way to compensate for the drop in performance caused by fatigue.
Truly useful memories gained were few. No new Echoes were acquired.
"We need to leave soon…"
Giovanni gnawed at his nails, murmuring to no one.
He was certain he had found the best possible route, avoiding nests of volatile creatures, lacking natural barriers, and tracing a path as straight as possible to their destination.
Even so, it would still take, at best, two days of travel, even if they moved at an inhuman pace.
They would have to endure until then.
The darkness of the bath chamber felt even worse than before, pitch black.
Had the world always been this dark?
'I need to… get out.'
But his body was drowsy, even though it shouldn't have been. His sluggish mind noticed too late that, even alone, the place was not silent.
Someone was humming a tune.
He was.
After a few seconds, the environment fell silent again.
The boy had gone still.
In a deep slumber.