"..."
"Honestly, while I enjoy speaking in riddles myself, I hate when others do it to me. Can't you be direct for once, wraith of Babel?"
"…I may lose my memory for a time."
"What do you mean? Don't tell me you plan to ignore the terms of our contract. You're welcome to try. I wonder—can you withstand the full force of the Sarkaz's ocean of consciousness? I find it curious that a fragile vessel like you carries a soul so disproportionate to its shell."
"I'm only informing you, Kashchey… I won't forget our contract. If anything, losing my memory may make it easier for me to fulfill it."
"Heh… it had better. Don't think that just because I can't pry into your mind, you're beyond my reach, Doctor."
"..."
"You should know this well—the contract cannot truly bind me. My vessel is not limited to just Satan."
---
A rabbit-eared girl led the Doctor into the streets.
And there, they crossed paths with Talulah.
"Leader, a suspicious armed group has appeared."
"Doctor… we may have trouble," Amiya said gravely.
She had done her homework before coming.
The woman in the tailored military uniform before them—she was the true leader of Reunion.
"..."
Talulah's cold gaze swept over the Rhodes Island party.
---
As a child, the young Talulah could never understand why Kashchey was so fickle.
He could speak calmly with an infected commoner, yet execute a noble on the spot for the slightest offense.
Was it because the infected peasant was too insignificant to harm him?
Or because the noble harbored some hidden malice?
Talulah never understood.
To her young eyes, Kashchey was simply hypocritical.
She once asked him why he treated people with such different standards.
"Talulah, we must keep our gentleness for comrades, and our cruelty for enemies."
At the time, she barely grasped his words.
But as she grew older, she began to understand.
She still could not be as free and unrestrained as Kashchey, but at least she had learned this much: never reveal her true heart to an enemy.
---
And this so-called "medical organization" was far too suspicious.
Talulah knew of Rhodes Island.
Back when she was still a philanthropist, fighting for the rights of the Infected, she often dealt with organizations that produced medicines to ease their suffering.
Rhodes Island had been among them.
But when she once foolishly showed the reimbursement receipts to Kashchey, all she got was his mocking laughter.
"An organization that bleeds money nonstop, and you trust them? Aren't you afraid their drugs are cut with cheap substitutes?"
He scolded her harshly.
And so, she scratched Rhodes Island off her list.
After all, much of the money she used for charity came from Kashchey's "donations"…
The rest was pocket money he doled out.
She had no real head for finance.
---
In the end, not buying from them was the right decision.
Looking at the group before her, there was no way they were merely a medical company.
Yes, some medical firms employed security staff, but that hulking man with the shield and shades, or the blonde Kuranta beside him? Those were no ordinary guards.
Her eyes narrowed on the figure cloaked from head to toe, the one who seemed to be the center of the group's formation.
The "Doctor."
Of course, the icy sharpness in her gaze was second nature by now—after spending so long with Kashchey, how could she not have picked up a few bad habits?
"..."
The Doctor said nothing.
Having lost his memory, he couldn't fully grasp the situation.
Seeing this, Amiya had no choice but to step forward and speak:
"May I ask… is Reunion truly behind the Chernobog riots?"
Talulah remained silent, her cold demeanor intact.
It was a posture partly borrowed from Kashchey—mere mimicry, really.
But she found it useful enough.
Alina, standing beside her, sighed inwardly at Talulah's "mysterious leader" act.
"Of course not. In truth, someone deliberately invoked our name to spark the chaos. We suspect the Ursus military is behind it."
Alina answered in Talulah's stead.
If unnecessary conflict could be avoided, so much the better.
Amiya spoke cautiously.
"Then could you let us through? We're just a medical organization, dragged into this chaos against our will. All we want now is to withdraw safely from Chernobog."
Beside her, the Doctor still hadn't said a word.
Yet, with the corner of his eye, he kept studying the girl at his side—the one who called herself his companion, the one who had pulled him from the sarcophagus.
"..."
Even with his memory gone, the Doctor felt an inexplicable closeness to her, a strange familiarity.
But reason urged him to remain vigilant—scrutinizing everything, doubting everything. He needed more information.
"Of course."
Alina glanced toward Talulah.
Talulah, still wearing that cold expression, finally ordered her troops to step aside and open a path for this suspicious "medical" group.
"You'd better not try anything."
Her warning cut sharp. After all, what kind of medical organization carried such firepower? And for them to appear right here, right when Chernobog was in the midst of an uprising… far too convenient.
…And I haven't even called you suspicious yet, Amiya muttered inwardly.
Still, she was more inclined to believe Reunion truly wasn't behind the riot.
From its members, she felt something different—an energy like a campfire, enduring and warm.
Whereas the rioters they had fought along the way radiated only one thing: the fanatical urge to burn the world to ash.
---
"Hehe… little W, you'll see the Doctor soon. Oh, and the heir as well."
"Satan, you—! (Kazdelian Profanity)"
"W, I'm giving you the chance for a reunion! And who knows, maybe you'll run into even more old friends."
"You're like this, the Doctor's like this, even that green-haired Feline's the same—can't any of you speak plainly for once?!"
"Nope~"
"(Kazdelian Profanity!)"
"…Your manners are pathetic. Can't you say anything besides curses?"
You bastard, unmute me!
"Phew~ quiet at last. Don't worry, you'll have your freedom back soon enough."
The Sarkaz in the tailored suit stood atop the wall at the edge of Chernobog, staring up at the leaden sky.
Satan had come specifically to support Kashchey's vessel. After all, the Black Snake inhabiting Koshelna wasn't nearly enough to withstand a Catastrophe.
If this operation succeeded, Satan's own position would be secure for a long time to come.
He had brought with him a great many fragments of the Black Snake as reinforcements.
Beside him, a band of Sarkaz mercenaries continued their desperate struggle…
Though, from a distance, it looked very much like they were fighting against nothing but the air itself.