The warm afternoon light bathed Bonn City in a soft golden glow.
The once-chaotic, half-ruined streets had gradually calmed under the city guard’s watch.
Perched on the bed, the brown-haired girl in her gray Lolita dress and pure white stockings gazed silently out the window at the peaceful scene. She hugged her knees, mute.
*Click.*
A faint door latch sounded. A figure slipped soundlessly into the room.
“I’m back.”
Chloe’s voice was gentle as she approached the bed and sat down lightly.
After a long silence, Chriss slowly lifted her face. Her eyes met Chloe’s—eyes brimming with concern.
“Sister…”
“Hmm?”
Chriss’s whisper carried an unusual tremor, her voice slightly hoarse.
The heavy gloom thickening the air pressed even on Chloe’s chest.
She’d let Rayelle take Chriss out, hoping to bring her some joy in these final days.
But the accident on their journey had backfired terribly.
“…Will I… turn into a monster like that too…?”
Chriss’s voice was barely a breath. Fear clouded her eyes.
Her small hands trembled as they reached up, clutching Chloe’s skirt. She gripped it tightly, knuckles white, the fabric crumpling under her desperate hold.
Seeing that helpless gaze, Chloe fell silent.
She didn’t know what to do. What to say.
As sister. As guardian. She should protect Chriss. Comfort her. Yet no words came.
In the quiet, Chriss forced a weak, fragile smile.
“…Sister… I have a request… If I reach the breaking point too… if I can’t hold onto my human form… or my mind anymore… please… please…”
Her voice cracked, trembling too much to continue.
But Chriss swallowed hard. She wiped the tears from her eyes and fixed Chloe with a determined stare.
“Please kill me yourself… Before that happens… I don’t want to hurt innocent people. Especially… Rayelle…”
Chloe’s fists clenched. She looked up, dazed, meeting Chriss’s eyes.
Those same-colored eyes held an aura of fading life—yet still flickered with a stubborn will to live.
“She’s so kind. So fragile. I couldn’t bear to hurt her. Not her body… not her heart…”
Chriss’s whisper grew fainter. Her body shook uncontrollably.
But she pushed the final words out:
“If there’s no other way… just let me slip away quietly.”
Chloe saw it clearly: Chriss feared death. Feared becoming a twisted monster.
But what terrified her most was losing control and hurting others—and she’d begged her closest person to stop her.
Chloe gritted her teeth. She surged forward, wrapping Chriss tightly in her arms. Her hands stroked the sweat-dampened back, slow and soothing.
The gentle rhythm eased Chriss’s trembling.
“Mmh…”
“Don’t be afraid… It won’t happen. I won’t let it happen…”
Chloe’s usually steady voice wavered.
The practiced lie tasted bitter on her tongue.
“I’ll find a cure… Don’t worry. I’ll stay with you. Until the very end…”
Chloe’s firm tone brought Chriss a flicker of calm.
But she knew.
Her sister was only comforting her.
She knew how hopeless Extraordinary Power corruption truly was.
Still… holding onto hope felt better than walking numbly toward death, didn’t it?
“Mm. I believe you, Sister…”
Chriss offered a faint smile. Like a child seeking her mother, she nuzzled against Chloe, breathing in that familiar, calming scent.
It always soothed her restless heart.
As her emotions settled, weariness washed over her.
“It’s almost time, Chriss. Rest now.”
“Okay…”
Noticing Chriss’s drooping eyelids, Chloe lifted her gently onto the bed. She tucked the covers around her small frame.
“Sleep well. It’ll get better…”
“Mm.”
Chriss nodded softly. She curled into a tiny ball and closed her eyes.
Within moments, she drifted into deep sleep.
Chloe half-sat on the bed’s edge. One hand stroked Chriss’s hair. The other traced intricate sigils in the air.
Golden light pulsed softly from runes on the floor and bedding, slowing the corruption creeping through Chriss’s body.
“Time… is running out…”
Chloe tore her gaze from Chriss. One last look at the bright sunlight outside. Then, her expression cold, she walked out of the room and into the silent darkness of the house’s depths.
*Click.*
She opened a hidden door in the stairwell and descended the spiral steps. At the bottom stood a heavy iron door.
Inside lay a wide, shadowed basement.
Racks of sharp blades of all sizes lined the walls.
The floor, stained dark crimson, held iron cages filled with biological remnants—twitching tentacles and strange growths visible among the remains.
Chloe ignored them. She strode to the room’s end.
There stood a black table.
Above it, a complex blood-red sigil rotated slowly, grinding with a teeth-jarring *creak*.
“Another change…”
Chloe frowned. She snatched a parchment sheet and held it over the sigil.
*Scratch-scratch-scratch.* Ink raced across the page, forming lines of text.
Chloe took a steadying breath and read:
**Inspection Report #1371**
**Name:** Chriss
**Extraordinary Power:** Sequence 7 – Holy Feathers
**Awakening Level:** Second Rank 35% → 37%
**Corruption Level:** 49.3% → 49.7% (Critical Threshold: 50%)
**Estimated Time to Critical Threshold:** 3d 19h 45m → 1d 12h 13m
The glaring “1d 12h 13m” struck Chloe like a physical blow. She slumped into the chair, eyes half-closed, wanting to shut out the world.
Every time she saw this report, she fought the urge to tear the parchment to shreds.
“Only one day left…”
Chloe covered her eyes. Her voice trembled.
Crossing the threshold meant total loss of sanity. Irreversible ruin.
Dormancy could only delay it—not stop it.
Even with all Chloe’s knowledge, keeping Chriss in dormancy would buy at most one week.
So young. Only one week left.
It was cruel. Unbearably cruel.
Chloe hadn’t told Chriss. She couldn’t bear to see that despair. That pain.
*“…If I reach the breaking point… please kill me yourself.”*
How much courage did it take to ask that of the person you loved most?
Chloe didn’t know.
“No… It won’t come to that… I’ll change this… I *will* save you. Whatever it takes…”
Chloe’s fist tightened. Her gaze locked onto the thick tome beside the table.
Its cover, etched with sinister patterns and stained dark crimson, bore four stark words:
**FORBIDDEN SPELLS MANUAL.**
