Where to Buy the Ground Ticket? (1)
Where to buy the ground ticket?
Shit, I didn't know that was real.
If it wasn't, I could have been declared incompetent.
Is the evacuation angle this far away?
Ah~ That aside, look at that bullet screen, it's disgusting.
“...Elia.”
“Captain! Klinga has entered the protection zone!”
“Port side! The bullet screen is thin! What the hell are you doing!”
Lora unnie is so cool...!
By the way, a question arises here.
The red fog marked on the navigation chart was extremely suspicious.
Knowing that, why did I shout ‘Gaza~!’?
If it's suspicious, I should avoid it, why did I stick my face out?
“Captain, we are entering the coordinate area you mentioned!”
“Elia, you have to answer.”
Thinking about it, this is a horror movie cliché.
That thing where you go into a suspicious house and meet a ghost.
But how can I hold back my curiosity?
“Gunnery officer Yuri! What about the Nautilus Cannon?”
“Ready! Captain!”
“Elia?”
After all, this is the ship you chose.
Endure with evil and force.
Still, don't worry, when it comes to death, we're all together!
“Cloe! What's the arrival time of Roskova and Freig?”
“At least 20 minutes more!”
“Elia, are you ignoring it again?”
Another question arises here.
Why am I advancing to the center of the enemy fleet?
“Why, because I told you to.”
Close your eyes and think.
There's no fear of death.
Instead, the nausea rising from earlier...?
Nausea? Nausea? I'm fine.
“You can't be honest at all.”
The smell of blood is getting stronger.
My stomach is too nauseous.
But I can't deal with that.
“...Ice Tang, you're being so heartless?”
This is a hallucination. Now I know.
That hallucination that has tormented me terribly.
It wasn't the crazy scientist's voice I heard last time.
It would have been better if it was the crazy scientist.
“Turn your head.”
“Captain? We have arrived at the designated coordinates.”
“Look at me, Elia.”
This voice was painful.
A heart-wrenching sadness surged.
A face full of mischief, clear purple hair.
I know the owner of this voice.
“...Irien.”
“Captain?”
Something was placed on my shoulder.
The skin on my shoulder felt like it was burning.
I was startled and opened my eyes, but nothing was there.
“It's hot, Elia. Too hot. It hurts.”
You know. You've experienced it many times.
Take a deep breath. Stay calm. Breathe slowly.
“Give me painkillers like that time, Elia.”
“Captain, are you okay?”
The nauseating smell of burning flesh fills my nose.
It's hard to breathe.
“Elia, hug me. I'm cold, I'm too cold.”
“...Captain?! Captain!”
“I'm cold, Elia. The bleeding won't stop.”
It feels like hands are touching both sides of my head.
The chill of a frozen corpse flowed through my body.
Sweat is pouring down. My chest is tightening.
“...Huh? Ice Tang.”
‘It's a hallucination. It will disappear if I wait a little.’
But it's visible. The corpse is smiling.
Blood is gushing from the torn chest.
My head throbs, and my breathing quickens.
Ignore it. Ignore it. Don't interact.
“-Can you see me?”
I can't ignore it. I can't ignore it.
I know it's not real, but it feels too real.
“Answer me, Elia. You can see my appearance, right.”
“Doctor! Call Dr. Reina immediately!”
“Look at me, Elia. ‘The Fear of the Beginning’.”
The boundary between reality and hallucination is collapsing.
I was standing in a burning purple flower field.
The sky above my head was all ash gray.
A cypress tree standing tall on the hill.
“...Elly, ugh, ah, sorry, let me. Leave me.”
“I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to! I will never abandon you!”
The past me blocks Irien's wound area with trembling hands. But I couldn't block it. Red blood was pushing out between my fingers. My heart was pounding hard in my chest.
“Ah, aah! Blood, blood! How, how to-!”
“H, ugh. Hoo, hit, kuck kuck, ya, ice tang, hweet.”
But strangely, the blood that should have stopped by now was gushing out and starting to fill the floor. The blood that had risen to my knees was still rising without stopping. To not drown in the sea of blood, I stepped on the cypress tree and climbed up.
“Where are you going?!”
At that moment, Irien grabbed my ankle.
Pain as if the bones were breaking.
Blood tears were pouring from her pitch-black eye sockets.
“You're abandoning me again, Elia?”
No. This isn't Irien. I shook my foot to shake off Irien, but it was useless. Her fingers tore into my thin ankle and stayed stuck, not moving.
“Are you trying to live alone again this time?”
The smell of blood stung my nose.
This is a hallucination. This is a hallucination.
“You're going to clean my grave alone again?”
“You're not Irien.”
“Do you really think that can be atonement, witch?”
The corpse is giggling.
Sticky blood has now risen to my chin.
“Hehe *crack* Your death is the only atonement.”
“Shut up. You're just a corpse. This is an illusion.”
“Is that so? Then how about this?”
The space is breaking. The pitch-black darkness swallows my surroundings as hundreds of fragmented memories stir in my head. The image of Irien, who was floating like puzzle pieces in the memory, is fitting together one by one. When I open my eyes again, instead of the corpse, the 'Irien' of that long-ago time is standing there.
“See? Can you see this?”
Flames rise, and the scene changes. My eyes are now fixed on the corpses hanging from the ceiling of the prison. Corpses in prisoner uniforms hanging from the ceiling, swinging back and forth slightly. But the appearance was somehow familiar.
“Who is it?”
Among the corpses, the one with the unusually long tongue and eyes met. At that moment, accompanied by a disgusting sound, the left eyeballs of the corpses popped out all at once, then fell to the ground with a thud. The fallen eyeballs spun around and looked at me all at once.
“You're all Elia. The one who can't die.”
**Hehe, Elly, ah? Ehehehehe**
**Elia, Edelvine. El, hehe, hehe**
**Witch, witch hehe, witch, hehehehe**
Laughter bursts from the center of the corpses hanging from the ceiling, and the voice gets louder and louder. I covered my ears with both hands, but I couldn't stop the ominous echo ringing in my ears.
“You can't hear any sound, Elia?”
Through the laughter,
The sound of chains being dragged comes.
“Look behind you.”
When I turn around, another group of corpses was standing. Corpses with limbs cut off by mines, joints in the neck bent at strange angles, corpses melted by flames, corpses with heads blown off by bullets, corpses with intestines spilling out. All were the deaths of comrades engraved in Elia's memory.
“Remember? Your precious family.”
The corpses line up behind me.
“Get away from there. Come into my arms.”
“After all, without my help, you can't win.”
“Give up and come with me.”
“The flesh chosen by the cursed god.”
“Sacrifice that immortal flesh, Elia.”
“It's the only way for you to be saved.”
“Let's make it easy, Elia. Forget about promises.”
A pitying gaze. It was as poisonous as it was to me. Wearing Irien's disguise, it persistently contaminated my mind.
“...As you wish.”
“Time's up.”
A faint command from somewhere.
A few fireflies were floating around me.
“Having the priest of the firefly by your side. How thorough?”
“...As you wish.”
“Remember, I'll overlook this time... .”
“...It will be as you wish.”
“If you're next to me next time, I'll kill you.”
A threatening voice. My eyes meet the empty eyes of Irien in the void. The command becomes clearer and clearer.
“It will be as you wish.”
“Now, command them to kill me.”
Irien pointed to the corpses behind me.
“It will be as you wish.”
“Are you hesitating?”
“It will be as you wish.”
“You killed Eve with your own hands.”
She whispers gently to me.
With that, something in my heart broke.
Don't say such things with Irien's face.
“It will be as you wish.”
“If you don't shoot, everyone in reality will die.”
This isn't Irien. Really? Can I be sure? Isn't it just that you don't value Irien much? What are you saying, Irien is precious. Precious? Do you know who Irien is? Moreover, she's already dead. She's dead. How can something that has died and disappeared be precious?
“-From now on, I'll count to three.”
Hurry and kill that.
You have to escape from the hallucination.
Moreover, everyone in reality is dying.
I have the right to kill that.
What are you hesitating for. Shoot and kill quickly.
“Three.”
That appearance is a hallucination created by my memory.
It has no meaning. Nothing.
Just kill and end it.
“Two.”
“Shut up!”
Irien said it's not my fault.
It said it's not my fault.
But actually, everyone died?
Think about how many people died around me.
It can't be coincidence. It can't be coincidence.
You killed even Eve. How can this be coincidence?
No. Eve was infected.
She wasn't chosen by that person. So...
She wasn't chosen?
Ah, you were chosen.
Yes, you were chosen, so you survived.
I'm jealous, Elia. Really jealous.
“One.”
I raised my trembling arm and pointed at Irien.
The corpses pointed guns in the direction I was pointing.
“...Shoot.”
“Louder.”
My throat was hoarse.
That's not Irien.
I know it's not. I know, but...
“You'll kill all the surrounding people again?”
“Shoot.”
“I can't hear you, Elia.”
Irien smiles.
Her last smile left in the memory.
It was a kind smile.
“Shoot!”
The scream tearing my throat.
Clang, and a bang sound was heard.
Simultaneously, the flash of the Nautilus Cannon split the universe.