Chapter 54 - EP.2 Mountains of Corpses, Seas of Blood 8 (Revised Latter Portion)

"Hah."

Ash let out a quiet sigh, laden with utter exhaustion and anger. They had reached the VIP lounge, with its closely packed private rooms, only to find yet another group blocking their way.

This group, however, was different. They were neither troops armed with heavy weapons nor ninjas or mercenaries.

They were women.

Women in glamorous but somewhat disheveled clothing, walking toward them with vacant, unfocused eyes. Instead of weapons, they carried liquor bottles and drinking glasses broken into sharp edges.

Ash had little difficulty guessing who they were. They were probably prostitutes from the VIP lounge whose memories had been altered.

"Those sick fucks...!"

Siren swore before she could stop herself. She rarely cursed, but faced with a sight like this, even she apparently couldn't help it.

"Sir."

Zero and his siblings were just as shaken by the appalling sight. They didn't swear like Siren, but the tremor in Zero's voice made it clear.

"What should we do...?"

Ash turned toward Zero.

"This Maestro fellow must need time, if he is sending even women like these to block our path."

"So it seems."

"Perhaps he is buying time to escape. Or preparing a trap. Either way, we are short on time."

"Surely you don't mean..."

Zero looked at the staggering women.

"That we should kill them all and break through quickly?"

"That would be one way."

"Sir!"

"But I know a better one."

Ash placed a hand on Zero's shoulder.

"With that in mind, could you buy me a little time?"

"... Pardon?"

"Why so surprised? Did you truly think I would suggest killing all these women?"

He turned his gaze toward them.

"However little time we have, must we not distinguish the perpetrators from the victims? These women are victims, just like your siblings. Victims who haven't even been given proper weapons."

Zero felt an involuntary surge of relief. He thought the same way.

Taking a moment to collect himself, he finally focused on the "better way" Ash had mentioned.

"What is this better way you spoke of?"

"It is simple. While the five of you hold their attention, I will go ahead and end this. It will not take long."

"... You intend to run through them?"

Zero's eyes widened behind his mask. Before him stood well over a hundred people, a veritable wall of flesh. Getting through that dense crowd without meeting any resistance seemed impossible at first glance.

But Ash nodded.

"Indeed."

"Is that... possible?"

"For me, it is."

There wasn't the slightest hesitation in his voice. So Zero asked no further questions, instead nodding his agreement.

"Buying time won't be a problem."

"Good."

Ash immediately turned to the rest of the party.

"You all heard us. We will split up now. Buy me a little time."

Meanwhile, Zero took the data chip from inside his clothing.

"Sir. Take this."

"Mm."

Ash accepted the chip and carefully tucked it away, then addressed the others.

"I will go ahead, then."

With those final words, Ash shot upward explosively.

Soaring Shadow over the Sea of Clouds.

It was an explosive leap that seemed to defy gravity. Spiraling upward, he rose high enough to reach the ceiling, where an ornate chandelier hung.

"Oh...!"

Zero couldn't help exclaiming at the extraordinary leap. At the same time, he realized something.

'He's been matching our pace all along.'

Meanwhile, Ash used the hanging chandelier as a foothold and launched himself again. His black exploration suit spread like wings, casting a shadow over the heads below.

Zero was staring blankly after him when a hand touched his shoulder, making him turn.

"Quite surprised, are you?"

It was Siren.

"Ah... yes. I never imagined movement like that was possible."

"Hehe. Everyone reacts that way when they see what Mr. Ash is really capable of."

"I see..."

Zero murmured his reply, recalling that extraordinary leap, then voiced a question that suddenly occurred to him.

"But why are you the one looking so proud?"

"..."

Briefly flustered, Siren adjusted her grip on her blade.

"Well, then! Let's get on with our job!"

Her response was painfully awkward, but she wasn't wrong. Zero readjusted his own grip and looked ahead. The vacant-eyed women were already close.

* * *

'That must be it.'

Having crossed the VIP lounge as though in flight, Ash soon found his destination. A golden door, larger and more elaborate than the others, had come into view.

He landed silently before it, then kicked it without hesitation.

BANG!

The door crumpled like paper and flew inward, revealing the Chamber of Contemplation at the far end of the VIP lounge.

It wasn't a room. More precisely, it wasn't a space designed to serve as one.

It was a dome-shaped chamber with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of monitors packed across its walls. Each screen was playing a different image, even now.

The moment a baby first smiled at its father.

The sorrow of a night spent parting with a lover.

The rage of a Pathfinder betrayed by a comrade.

The thrill of holding hands with a first love.

They were all someone's memories. Memories belonging to countless nameless people streamed endlessly across the monitors.

But Ash paid none of it any attention. His gaze was fixed on the old man watching the images from a plush sofa beneath the monitors, and on Aria, the woman attending him.

The old man tipped his glass and spoke. His voice held a strange composure, as though he had transcended everything.

"Ah, a guest. Welcome to the Chamber of Contemplation."

Without taking his eyes off the monitors, he continued.

"This is a collection of humanity's most intense and radiant memories..."

Before he had finished speaking, Ash strode toward him. The old man frowned, as though the footsteps had spoiled his enjoyment.

"Our guest has no manners. Aria."

Aria stepped forward from his side. Both her forearms split open, revealing a pair of chilling blades.

"Teach him some manners first."

As if those words were her signal, Aria lunged at Ash.

CLANG!

And lost her left arm.

Unfortunately, that was only the beginning. The next attack shattered the blade mounted in her right arm. Before she could react, staggering off balance, Ash shifted his grip and struck the back of her neck with the spine of his sword.

THUD!

That was all. Aria lost consciousness. It had happened in literally the blink of an eye.

"... Huh?"

The old man made a stupid noise. The strange composure he had displayed moments before was nowhere to be found.

Ash briefly regarded Aria's fallen body, then turned and walked toward the old man.

THUD. THUD.

His footsteps echoed through the silent Chamber of Contemplation. At their bleak, steady rhythm, the old man involuntarily swallowed.

"... To be honest, since you were stalling, I thought you might have something clever in mind."

Reaching the old man at last, Ash kicked the sofa he was sitting on.

"Gah!"

With a pitiful cry, the old man toppled over along with it.

"Were you hoping for a glorious death, or something of the sort? It seems I overestimated you."

While the old man groaned from the unexpected kick, Ash approached and squatted down like a street thug. He seized the old man by the hair and hauled his head up, forcing him to meet his eyes.

Then he spoke in a low electronic voice.

"How do you do?"

His turquoise optical sensors shone menacingly as he stared at the old man.

"You appear to be this Maestro fellow. Am I correct?"

The old man couldn't answer. Ash took that as confirmation.

"The truth is, I am in a very foul mood. I always get this way on days like these. A habit I have yet to break."

Ash continued.

"So you had best answer carefully from now on."

"Wh-what is the meaning of..."

"First question. Dreamweaver's signal amplifier. Is it here?"

The old man's eyes shifted involuntarily toward a machine resembling a squat tower.

"Excellent."

Though the old man hadn't actually answered, Ash understood and nodded.

"Now, stop it. All of it."

The old man burst out shouting.

"Y-you bastard! How dare the likes of you give me orders...!"

Ash shook his head.

"I believe I made myself clear. I am in a very foul mood."

His steel index finger touched the old man's chest.

"Have you ever heard of Tendon-Splitting and Bone-Wrenching?"

"What does that... Aaaaaaagh!"

Tendon-Splitting and Bone-Wrenching.

Originally a torture art from the Central Plains, it used qigong and acupoint sealing to twist a victim's muscles, bones, and blood vessels, inflicting the excruciating sensation of flesh being torn from bone while they were still alive.

Taking inspiration from it, Ash used Electric Acupoint Sealing to send his lightning energy into the old man's body.

"Grrrrrrgh!"

Pour lightning energy into a human body?

At that point, it was no longer an exquisite technique like Tendon-Splitting and Bone-Wrenching. Burning through the entire nervous system and tearing through the internal organs, it was closer to electrical torture.

Still, well, the effect was similar.

"Urrrrrgh...!!"

Faint steam rose from the old man's body. Only then did Ash lift his finger. Looking at the convulsing man, he spoke in his electronic voice.

"Stop Dreamweaver."

Startled by that icy electronic voice, the old man screamed in a fit.

"Wh-what are you doing?! You tin-can bastard...!"

"That does not answer my question."

His index finger touched the old man's chest again.

"Grrrrrrgh!!"

The steam rising from the old man's head doubled. Even the ends of his hair began to singe.

The instant Ash finally removed his finger, the old man cried out before he could even be questioned. Somehow, his tone had become exceedingly polite.

"I-I cannot! I can't! I tell you, I can't!"

So Ash asked,

"Why?"

"B-because I don't have the kill switch! All you need to do is insert it and say the activation phrase, but I don't have it now..."

"Hmm. I see."

Having learned how, Ash swung his fist straight at the old man's jaw.

CRACK!

Struck by the sudden punch, the old man collapsed unconscious. Now that Ash knew how to operate it, there was no need to rely on the man, was there?

Ash stood and approached the machine. Searching inside his clothing, he took out the data chip and pushed the kill switch into a memory slot that looked unmistakably like a keyhole.

The click as it locked into place rang through the quiet room.

A fan began whirring inside the machine, perhaps as it read the data. A moment later, a brief message appeared on the monitor.

[RESET SWITCH. . . ACCEPTED]

[ACTIVATION PHRASE. . . READY]

Looking at the brief message indicating it was ready, Ash quietly recited the activation phrase.

"Everything you have experienced is nothing but a dream."

[CONFIRMED]

[OVERRIDE SEQUENCE INITIATED]

A moment later, the core inside the amplifier began humming as if in response. An immense, invisible wave spread outward from the machine in concentric circles.

One by one, the monitors filling the Chamber of Contemplation, still endlessly replaying people's memories, went dark.

Like ripples spreading across still water, the darkness gradually swept through the entire chamber. Hundreds, thousands of memories lost their light in succession and faded into the dark.

When the final monitor went out, only silence and darkness remained in the room once filled with other people's lives.

That was when something changed.

BZZT.

All the darkened monitors switched on again at once, as if by prior agreement. No one's memories remained on them.

[NO SIGNAL]

All that filled the screens was the no-signal message and a bland system logo.

But Ash couldn't tear his gaze from the monitors filling the room. His optical sensors flickered violently.

"That symbol is unmistakably..."

It was the emblem appearing behind the no-signal message—a swirling design that seemed to depict a vortex.

The vortex symbols on the countless monitors bathed the entire room in an eerie light.