⟨⟨Processing complicate. The Spirit Art [Astris Perception] has been acquired⟩⟩
The voice of Yuzuriha's assistant echoed at the back of her mind like a bell tolling in the fog. She didn't understand what it meant but this was a really bad time to be talking to her, especially with what she was dealing with
But before she could say a word, something phenomenal happened.
'More…color'
At first, it came as only a flicker, like someone had just struck a match in a lightless void. And then suddenly, it bloomed and stretched outwardly.
Everything, and she meant everything, started to take shape.
Her eyes could see faint colorful blobs shaping themselves around her, they shifted like liquid before slowly pulling themselves into the rough outlines of objects.
The floor she was no longer touching beneath her feet glowed with the same radiance and the walls pulsed softly like living veins.
Shapes that had once been lost in the shadows now stood before her like sketches on parchment. She saw the shapes of three beds. A book resting on a table. Dust particles dancing in the air and even the plants near the window had a soft halo about them.
Yuzuriha could see furniture. The room's depth, dimension and presence.
For the first time since arriving in this world, she didn't feel completely blind.
She was able to see shapes and color other than the abyssal darkness she had been subjected to.
It was clear yet it felt different though. In that moment she felt as though she could see something that eyes could never reveal.
This was surreal, it was beyond what human senses could grasp. She was perceiving something deeper, more fundamental than anything she had ever seen in her old world.
She was seeing the world of astris. It was incredible, it was beautiful!
Yuzuriha could feel her heart beating loudly inside her chest. However, she couldn't tell whether that was from the excitement she felt or the fear of being pinned against a wall out of the blue.
She turned her attention to the silhouette in front of her. It was Marcille, or at least…the shape of her.
Her older sister stood like a tower of flickering energy encased in yellow shimmer that pulsed in tandem with her breath. Her body seemed to have been composed of condensed astris which was clearer than anything else in the bedroom.
Yuzuriha could even make out the rapid fluctuation in her, from what she could see, things did not look good for her.
And what terrified her the most was the weapon Marcille held, it shaped itself like a spear. Its sharpened edge was pressed right up against her throat. Even without seeing it, she could feel how deadly it was.
A couple of seconds had passed since Marcille had asked her question and Yuzuriha still had no clue on how to answer her.
On one hand, she could continue to feign ignorance and on the other, she could come out and tell her what happened.
'No, I shouldn't do that. I don't think she could handle the emotional impact. But still, that doesn't really help me in this situation. I have to come up with something convincing'
She considered all the ways this could pan out. Through the question Marcille asked alone was enough to make her deduce she had been figured out.
So fast too, this girl is pretty sharp! But what gave her away?
Despite the lingering pain of being bashed against a wall and having a sharp weapon trailing across her skin, Yuzuriha was not panicking. She was calm, or rather, she didn't have much of a reaction.
Before she could ponder on it, Marcille did a follow up on her question.
"Oi, I'm talking to you... Who the bloody hell are you?!"
It was clearly obvious where this was going. If she didn't give some sort of answer, something bad was going to happen to her, not sure what but something bad for sure.
However, there was another issue.
'Crap, not again!'
She hadn't even realized it until now, but she was a mute again.
No matter how much she wanted to say something, to call out, to explain, no sound was coming out, heck her mouth wasn't even obeying her.
Yuzuriha couldn't be vocal, so she settled on the next best thing, which was shaking her head vigorously. But that didn't do much to help her case.
"Stop that! You…you're not my little sister. You're not Yor, are you?"
Marcille said in a trembling voice. It wasn't out of fear, it sounded more restrained. Cold. Clinical and laced with suspicion.
Her fingers twitched. A dagger in her chest would have been more merciful, but she didn't allow that to get to her.
'She isn't lying, I'm not really her sister. Guh! Why am I thinking about stuff like that?! I need to find a way to survive this or else I'm dead! And why can't I talk now?!'
Once the astris around Marcille began to flare up, that's when she began to panic because it meant she was getting a step closer to losing her mind.
'And if that reaches its boiling point I'm screwed!'
That's right, she was going to get killed…again.
Marcille continued with a sharper tone.
"You're not saying anything. It must be true. I knew it. Ever since I first laid eyes on you, I noticed something off, but couldn't exactly pin my finger on it. Openly enjoying Leo's cooking support my suspicions but that wasn't enough, not until this moment…I saw…"
At that moment, Marcille's astris went from yellow to grey almost instantly. Yuzuriha raised an eyebrow over this.
"I saw...something I can't explain"
The change of color was indeed strange, but by the tone of her voice, Yuzuriha could tell what Marcille was feeling— it was dread.
"You're not her. Tell me right now. What are you and what have you done with my little sister?!"
She said, this time with a strange mix of pain, fear and fury.
The room fell still.
"Are you…a Fallen Soul?"