Nun Route? #6
A sharp scream I'd heard once before bursts out. The horrifying sound tears at my ears, dragging me back to that moment.
When I activated the Reality Re-cognition Device... Secrem had shown that same manic terror back then. Her reaction now is almost identical.
Is there some connection between those two events? Or does Secrem simply react this way to anything she finds terrifying?
I look at her face, twisted with fear.
"A, aah! Aaaaaah!"
The reason this vampire is terrified is the grimoire. Right now, I'm under hypnosis, opening the book and holding it out toward her as instructed. The contents remain hidden from me.
But Secrem can see them.
That vampire is a powerful anomaly. She knows things humans never could, which is why she's recognized the grimoire's true nature and fallen into panic.
She possesses this kind of knowledge yet lacks any real resistance. Her half-measures have caught up with her.
The real problem was that she hypnotized me in the first place.
Looking back, trouble always followed whenever she tried to hypnotize me.
"You, you! Quickly...! That thing! Hic, hiiik!"
Just as Secrem clutches her head and tries to flee—
—Saaah.
From the grimoire.
A sinister aura billows out like mist.
Mist... is it mist? Black mist twists into an eerie shape. Something wriggles like insect legs, stretching outward.
Then it seizes Secrem.
You have activated the item 'Hospital Director's Grimoire'.
You can now view Reality Recognition Value.
Reality Recognition Value: 0 → 130
What?!
What the hell is this?!
Extreme confusion hits me at the sudden notification, but there's no time to dwell on it.
"Let go, let go! A, aah! Aaaah!"
Something unidentifiable yanks Secrem forward. It seems to be trying to drag her into the grimoire itself.
Is this what it means for the grimoire to activate? What exactly is this book? What kind of power does it have that it's trying to devour Secrem?
"Hiiiiik!"
Only terror remains on Secrem's face.
The successor to the True Ancestor, a high-ranking vampire, is now thrashing and weeping in complete panic.
But it's useless.
She can't resist the grimoire. She's being pulled in as if her hair has been seized. What happens if she's dragged all the way inside once her strength runs out?
Will she really be devoured by my activated grimoire?
—Fwoosh!
Blood begins bursting from Secrem's body. As if gravity has formed inside the grimoire, the blood falls horizontally, soaking the pages.
I realize her very existence is being scraped away.
She's weakening.
"No...! My, my blood! Please! I'm begging you! Stop! Hah, aaaah...!"
A terrified plea.
Her face reminds me of her in the first loop.
The events of the first loop are ultimately my own. I simply don't remember because I became a ghoul.
Some of those memories reached me through the Geha-nak incident, bringing a sense of pity with them. Secrem and I were quite close, after all.
Because of that, I know exactly what kind of being she is.
"Vampire. Have you ever stopped when someone begged you to?"
"I don't know, I don't know! I'll stop from now on! Please! Please...!"
Blood keeps flowing. Her armor form vanished long ago. The extremely weakened Secrem clutches the back of her head, bowing it as she strains with everything she has to resist.
"Please close it! Close it, I said!"
Would closing the grimoire end this?
In this moment, I feel a strange madness take hold. I want to witness the full power of this terrifying grimoire. At the same time, thoughts of its danger rise wildly.
Right now, I feel as if I'm standing in a flower garden. Countless flowers of every shape and color bloom around me.
Each flower is one of my thoughts. The impulse to know the grimoire's truth, the reason warning of its danger. All of them scatter pollen, releasing thick fragrance as they assert themselves.
While my mind feels on the verge of paralysis, I reach a decision.
I have to eliminate Secrem here. If I don't, she'll eventually return seeking revenge.
However.
I have no idea what will happen if this activated grimoire devours her. Secrem is a powerful vampire... which means, in a mystical sense, she's excellent meat and a fine offering.
If the grimoire feasts on such a precious sacrifice, who knows what might happen to me.
I don't know where this realization came from... but I know I must proceed.
Above all else, that Reality Recognition Value is bothering me.
"Aaaaaah! Hic! Hiiiiik! No, nooooo!"
Looking at Secrem, now dragged right in front of me.
I speak.
"Secrem."
"Ah?!"
"Run. Do everything you can. Don't let the grimoire swallow all of you."
In this world, a true name carries deep meaning. For an instant, red light blazes in Secrem's eyes.
And then—
—Chwarararak!
She transforms into hundreds of blood-red bats. They flap their wings desperately, but mere wingbeats cannot escape the grimoire's domain. In an instant, over a hundred bats are skewered by tentacles.
—Shushushuk!
The black tentacles impaling the bats vanish into the grimoire. Like an octopus madly spearing its prey with tentacles, it frantically skewers and devours the bats. The bats, trapped by the grimoire's gravity, can barely move as they are hunted.
—Shushushuk!
The maddened grimoire thrashes its tentacles in a frenzy. Bats struck by them dissolve into bloody mist and disappear. Amid the insane scene of tentacles butchering hundreds of bats, a new message window appears in my vision.
Reality Recognition Value: 130 → 2,900
The unknown value keeps skyrocketing. This is definitely not normal. I can't feed this grimoire any more.
Reality Recognition Value: 2,900 → 5,400
It's getting dangerous.
Only about twenty bats remain.
The tentacles thrash wildly to claim the last prey.
Then, when only a single bat is left—
"Get in!"
I shove the grimoire into my inventory.
—Fudak!
The blood-red bat soars high.
It flies off and disappears beyond the city.
You have repelled the vampire.
You have obtained 2,000 points as a reward.
Two thousand points as a reward.
It feels stingy for defeating the True Ancestor's successor, but the word "repelled" bothers me.
Because I drove her away rather than killed her, perhaps.
"..."
The grimoire... slips quietly into my inventory. As if the frenzied feast from moments ago was a lie, not a single trace remains at the scene. Even a terrifying grimoire like this can't escape the status window and inventory, it seems.
In the end, the grimoire didn't devour all of Secrem. That means it only partially claimed its offering. I can consider it stopped before anything catastrophic occurred.
And Secrem.
She escaped with only the power of a single bat remaining. At that level, there's no need to worry anymore. A vampire with that little strength would be weaker than a ghoul.
Having thought that far, I raise my head.
—Charrrk.
The red chains embroidered in the air are melting away.
The dripping blood evaporates instantly and vanishes.
The same happens to the chain cocoon at the center.
The cocoon has completely peeled away.
—Thud.
The nun falls.
"Sister!"
I dash toward her.
As I run, I think.
Did the nun see everything that just happened?
If she did, what should I do?
I kneel in front of her where she lies on the ground. A large hole has been punched through her abdomen, and massive amounts of blood pour from her torn habit.
Is she dead?
"Ah...!"
When I touch her, she's still alive!
But only barely.
Her eyes are open, yet she's completely unconscious.
She probably didn't see me going berserk with the grimoire. What should I do now?
"Ah, right!"
There's the bag the nun threw aside. I hurry over and bring it back. It contains holy water and other items. I immediately open the holy water and pour it over the nun's face.
"Sister! Come to your senses! You'll really die if you stay like this!"
Should I pry her mouth open and make her drink it?
While I'm thinking that—
"Kuh! Khak...!"
"Ah! You've regained consciousness! Quickly! What should we do?!"
"A, aauu... eeu... ehu-ehu...?"
The nun mutters like she's drunk, then reaches out her hand. It looks like she's asking for something. Ah. The cross hanging from my neck?
I take it off and hand it to her.
"Here it is!"
The nun grasps the cross.
Then she murmurs something.
—Hwaaaah!
Light bursts from her hand.
"Ah...!"
For a moment, that warm light makes me feel cozy. When the radiance fades, the nun lets out a breath.
"Hoo... I really thought I was going to die."
"Have you recovered?! Th-that hole in your stomach...!"
"I filled it."
"Filled it?!"
"It's a heal. A heal. You know how these things work, right? I restored my body with my devout faith. The True Ancestor really... If she wanted to kill me, she could have. She sealed me instead, trying to turn me into a vampire, and that's why I'm alive."
"Thank goodness!"
Whatever the case, she's alive—that's what matters!
"But what exactly happened here?"
"Excuse me?"
"How are you and I still alive, and where did the True Ancestor go?"
Suspicion clouds the nun's eyes.
