"I am dead...?"

"What does that mean... I can't understand."

Merka slumped weakly to the ground, blood gushing out of his mouth like a broken faucet, staining the pristine white tiles of the hall.

Intense dizziness churned in Merka's brain, threatening to strip his consciousness from his body.

Faced with such danger, Merka couldn't help but lend some credence to Lilith's seemingly nonsensical words.

If I were to die... how would I want to die?

"Of course, of old age... hehe."

Merka grinned, a bitter smile, flipped over, and lay flat on the ground.

All the strength in his body was being drained by the blood flowing out, a deep sense of exhaustion creeping over his spine, as heavy as if ten stories were pressing down on him.

He pressed his hands over his body, but there were no warning signs of pain coming from anywhere.

The sensation was strange; he found no visible injuries on himself, yet his life force was unquestionably ebbing away.

Merka took a deep breath, spitting out the residual coagulated blood in his mouth to the ground, forcing himself to calm down.

He began to use magic to heal himself, replenishing his energy starting from his legs, working his way up his body inch by inch.

Suddenly, when he reached his kidneys to heal, Merka immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Ha... ha, cough, cough, cough!"

Merka spasmed in pain, gasping for air as if he had been punched.

The splattering blood hit the ceramic tiles on the floor, sounding like the emptying of a basin on a table.

"Is it my kidneys that are malfunctioning... but what caused it?"

The surroundings gradually shifted from warm tones to cool tones, speckled shadows creeping from every horrifying darkness, corroding the remnants of impressions in Merka's mind.

The playful sounds outside the door faded into silence, the buzzing in Merka's mind suddenly disappeared, replaced by a heavy atmosphere as if something major was about to happen, filling the entire room.

Gritting his teeth, Merka endured immense pain, lowering his head.

He saw an owl reflected in the pool of blood he had formed.

Rough feathers, sharp talons, fierce as a wolf's fangs. Its claws hooked on the table not far from Merka, staring quietly at him.

Its huge eyes, curved beak, and sinister expression made it seem like a shrewd opportunist.

Strangely enough, as Merka looked up to examine it closely, he found his blood slowly spreading, flowing back from the ground under the table onto the tabletop.

The owl, almost human-like, pecked at Merka's blood on the table, staring fixedly at him with its large eyes.

"Are you... just a hallucination of mine?"

Seeing the motionless owl, Merka involuntarily asked this question.

“Why ask such irrelevant questions."

"Does it matter if it's a hallucination or not?"

Even more frighteningly, the owl began to speak.

Its deep male voice resonated like a death knell reciting a prayer during a life harvest.

Merka widened his eyes, noticing a hint of a smile on the owl's face.

"All self-awareness is an illusion, Merka."

"From the moment a person is born, they are already dead."

"You are too naive."

"If you cannot understand this, you will eventually..."

Suddenly, Merka laughed, seemingly catching the owl off guard, interrupting its flow of speech.

"Hehe... hearing that reassures me."

Merka laughed softly, one hand covering his kidney.

"Hmm?"

The owl looked slightly surprised, observing as Merka pulled out a shimmering silver metal sphere from his pocket, tilting its head in confusion.

"Since I can't dispel this illusion..."

"Then let me plunge deeper into delusion!"

Merka placed the backdrop on his forehead, softly incanting a spell.

In an instant, Merka felt light.

Using the backdrop, he forced himself to ignore the injuries on his body.