Seeing Emilie's presence at the doorway, Philippe's heart felt as if it were forcibly wrenched; that shock quickly turned into a cold wave of grief as a horrifying conclusion formed in his mind.
That meant Armand...
He bit his lip so hard that he tasted the warm, metallic tang of blood, a small pain to mask a greater one.
A moment later, a sword appeared in a flash of light in his palm, materializing from his invisible inventory, and he immediately pointed it at the girl's figure.
With a similarly cold and slow movement, Emilie raised her sword, its sharp blade reflecting the flickering torchlight, toward him.
At that moment, a sound began to echo from all corners of the room: the odd and irregular patter of footsteps, some dragging, some staggering, interspersed with the sounds of bodies falling and trying to rise again.
Philippe narrowed his eyes as one by one those figures emerged from every shadow and dark corridor, not with surprise, but with a horrifying understanding.
The fully armored guards, the servants in luxurious gowns, even the elegant queen, all moved in stiff and unnatural ways, their skin showing the same signs of decay as his own.
Now he understood why the palace felt so empty!
He looked up at the floating Madeleine, then nodded silently.
"Let me guess," Philippe said, his voice clear amid the oppressive silence.
"The reason you're just staying there is because you're controlling all these people. It must be difficult, right? Even just to speak, it probably feels like lifting a heavy burden."
He paused, seeing no reaction from Madeleine. "You can control them, but in exchange, you can't move your own body. That's why you've positioned yourself up there, protected by an aura that pushes away anyone who approaches, and that's why you didn't notice what I did to the king. All your senses must be in chaos from controlling too many lives."
As he spoke, the living corpses began to move closer, and a bitter smile curved on Philippe's lips.
"It seems my guess is correct."
Right at that moment, Emilie lunged forward, her leap as light as a feather yet so swift in closing the distance, her sword gleaming ready to slash.
Philippe merely smiled, then a crackling dimensional rift tore through the air beside him, slowly sucking his body into the dark portal.
He decided to escape!
Only a fool would fight a battle he couldn't possibly win!
If there was a better plan, why choose the worst one?
***
Meanwhile, in the silent corridor, Armand, who was recovering, suddenly saw a dimensional rift appear before him.
It was the portal that rifthounds usually used to come and go!
He immediately grabbed his sword, preparing to face a possible rifthound attack.
At that moment, from within the tear in reality, a human figure stumbled out.
It was Philippe!
Realizing it was his friend, Armand's shock at his rifthound-like appearance quickly turned to relief. He didn't ask why he had that ability.
Everyone has secrets!
"Thank goodness you're alright," Armand sighed, then narrowed his eyes. "How's the situation?"
Philippe simply replied, "Bad," while showing his arm that was starting to display signs of decay.
He stared toward the darkness where the throne room was.
"She has an ability that can affect the entire world. In exchange, she's trapped in place, unable to move."
Armand nodded in understanding; from Philippe's earlier story, he realized their enemy was actually Madeleine.
"Do you have a plan?" Armand asked.
Philippe shook his head. "Honestly, no. The items I have are very limited."
Armand frowned. "What about the usual way?"
What Armand meant by the usual way was without relying on the system.
Philippe shook his head again.
"It's difficult, but not impossible. It's just that fighting an anomaly like that the usual way feels... almost impossible."
Armand sighed. "So, we're truly at a dead end."
After a brief silence, Philippe looked at the exhausted Armand. "I want to know, can we wake Emilie up?"
Armand let out a small, humorless laugh. "Not the usual way, buddy," he explained. "During the fight earlier, I kept talking to her. But she didn't respond at all, as if her consciousness wasn't there."
Philippe murmured, "I see...."
His gaze returned to the darkness at the end of the corridor.
***
In the throne room, Emilie, who had just lost her target, turned and walked calmly toward the door.
Suddenly, her face contorted in pain, her body staggered, and she tried to support herself against the wall.
At that moment, a scream escaped her throat but was held back, as if something inside her head was waging a fierce war!
She dropped her sword with a loud clang, both hands clutching her head as she continued to scream hysterically.
After what felt like an eternal few moments, she stopped and looked up; her expression flickered rapidly, alternating between the cold, blank stare and her usual face, filled with confusion and pain.
The real Emilie was fighting to take back control of her body!
The living corpses controlled by Madeleine noticed this anomaly, their heads all turning simultaneously toward Emilie.
Soon after, Emilie took a deep breath, her body stopping its trembling. She bent down and picked up her sword again. As she turned, her usual face now stared at the horde with a sharp and determined gaze, before finally shifting upward, toward Madeleine.
She was back!
Emilie had returned!
Instantly, the living corpses moved in unison with their strange gait, then from slow steps they shifted to running at unnatural speeds, attacking Emilie all at once.
***
Outside the palace walls, in the city where the residents were asleep, they began to wake due to an unbearable itch.
The apple seller woke up because of the itch—scratching his arm repeatedly in frustration until he couldn't stand it anymore and lit a lantern.
Under the flickering light, he saw in horror that the skin on his hand was cracking and peeling like snake skin, a sight so disgusting it made him nauseous.
At that moment, he suddenly ran to the kitchen, pouring salt and chili powder over his decaying skin, only to feel a torturous stinging pain.
This wasn't a nightmare!
He thought it was all just a dream that he would wake from when he felt the pain!
That's when he heard hysterical screams from outside.
Hearing that, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes.
He opened the window and found the streets filled with his equally terrified neighbors.
All showing the same signs of decay on their bodies!
His eyes widened in horror, unable to say anything. Slowly, he looked back at his hand.
For some reason, he felt the decay worsening, though the process was slow....
***
A/N: Hey! I'm still expecting comments from you all!!! Forget about power stones, I don't need them! NVM, I still need them. But clearly I prefer comments much more, so comment for me!
Anyway, as you all know and feel, this arc is almost over and we'll return to the future where everything began. The past will become the past and be forgotten just like that. But of course, all of it is connected... wait, will it be connected?
Who knows.
If you want to read the 7 advanced chapters with a faster update frequency than the webnovel, you can read it on my patreon whose link is below:
https://www.pâtreon.com/Junxt
Replace "â" with "a" and search for it in your browser.
By the way, don't forget to throw a power stone and leave a review to motivate me :)