Eldritch Horror Theatre

”What do you mean?”

Given her past experiences dealing with him, Serana considered Fu Qian’s words pure nonsense meant to mess with her head. She had no desire to hear another word.

Unfortunately, at that very moment, his single sentence shattered her strategy.

”Through trial and deduction, you’ve confirmed that this is the only anomaly here. Logically, there should be more information present.”

Fu Qian held up a finger.

”Yet at the same time, you can’t find it.”

”It’s obviously there, yet you can’t see it. The only explanation is that your method of observation is wrong.”

”You’re not trying to tell me that I shouldn’t use my eyes, are you? Do I need to seal my vision and use my ears and nose instead?”

”No, no, no. If we approached it from that angle, there would be too many possibilities, and none of them logical.”

Fu Qian waved his hands dismissively.”We need to start with the variables unique to this place.”

”Think about it. What is the one variable exclusive to this place?”

”The restriction...”

Serana understood instantly, but she immediately shook her head.

”It’s useless. I’ve stayed here to my absolute limit more than once, and nothing special ever happened... You’re not going to tell me I didn’t push myself far enough, are you? Because that would be highly suspect.”

As she spoke, Serana couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh.

”Setting aside the fact that I would never put myself in such danger over a mere guess of yours, I can say with absolute certainty that you’d be the first to collapse when the time comes.”

”Don’t be so narrow-minded. If I wanted to kill you, would I really need to go through all that trouble?”

Fu Qian gave her a look of utter disdain, immediately rendering her speechless with an irrefutable point.

”Where do you think this omnipresent restriction comes from?”

”I don’t know.”

Serana answered swiftly.

”Although I’ve experienced it many times, I truly can’t answer that. If you mean we should start by figuring out its essence, then I don’t think that’s very feasible.”

”Excellent.”

Fu Qian was quite satisfied with Serana’s clear-headedness.

”When facing a variable that clearly exists but cannot be understood, the process of elimination is quite a useful tool.”

He gestured to himself.

”Besides staying until your limit like you mentioned, I’m sure there have been extremely lucky instances where you found your target the moment you arrived.”

”Of course. More than once.”

Serana nodded firmly.

”So, you’ve essentially experienced this restriction across its entire spectrum—from absolute minimum to absolute maximum.”

”Right. So what’s left to eliminate?”

Serana was puzzled.

”There is one.”

Fu Qian nodded nonchalantly and lashed out with a kick.

Startled by the sudden movement, Serana subconsciously dodged. A muffled thud echoed, and the view before them abruptly opened up.

The building, already in ruins, gave way beneath his foot, blowing a massive hole in the wall.

Amid the flying rubble and fine dust, bright moonlight spilled inside.

”What are you doing?!”

This act of immense disrespect toward the Progenitor nearly made Serana lose her temper and attack him.

”Minimum, maximum, and slowest.”

Fu Qian completely ignored her, holding up three fingers in succession.

”You’re missing one—the fastest.”

As he spoke, he took a step forward, walking right through the gap. He stood at the boundary between light and darkness, leaving only a single arm within the shadow.

”I’m sure you usually avoid this sort of situation. Want to try reaching your limit this way and see if there’s any difference?”

This...

Seeing Fu Qian’s body sharply divided by the moonlight, Serana understood what he meant.

But would this really work...?

”I don’t know.”

As if answering her internal doubts, Fu Qian smiled faintly.

”Since we’re already here.”

That four-word mantra was as effective as ever. Serana hesitated for only a few seconds before stepping forward to mimic him.

However, her method was slightly different; she chose to spread her wings and cast them into the shadow.

”A child worthy of teaching.”

Fu Qian nodded in satisfaction.

...

Time ticked by, minute by minute. Soon, a heavy, oppressive pressure bore down on them. Fu Qian felt as if he had been encased in concrete.

On the arm he left in the shadow, regular black patterns were already beginning to spread.

The efficiency was indeed much higher.

”Strange.”

Serana’s voice drifted over, sounding similarly strained.

”How so?”

”I think I hear a sound. It’s getting clearer and clearer...”

As she spoke, Serana stared in disbelief at her wings.

”It really is different from before...”

Similar to Fu Qian’s arm, her wings had completely turned black. Even the black, swirling patterns that originally covered her body were slowly converging onto them.

”The two parts... it’s as if they are in complete Dislocation!”

”Agreed.”

At Serana’s realization, Fu Qian nodded.

It was truly a unique sensation. His limb was clearly still there, yet a bizarre barrier seemed to separate it from the rest of his body.

Even attempting to move it felt like making contact across space and time.

But Fu Qian remained still, carefully sensing a certain shift on the mental plane.

”I think I hear a strange sound, too.”

A moment later, Fu Qian nodded.

”No, the brightness here is too high. I’m about to reach my limit.”

Serana’s voice had become incredibly labored.

”We need to get out first—what are you doing?”

Mid-sentence, her voice abruptly spiked in pitch as she stared at Fu Qian with wide eyes.

In his hand, he held a bloody wing that had been violently torn from her back a second earlier.

’This guy actually intends to use this opportunity to kill me...’

’But why? I can’t think of a single reason...’

Between his completely unexpected attack and the restriction on her body nearing its absolute limit, Serana barely had any time to dodge.

”You maniac!”

Shocked and furious as she was, Serana hadn’t lost her wits. The moment she pulled back to put distance between them, she dropped into a crouch, striking a bizarre posture.

”Why the rush?”

Unfortunately, she was interrupted a second later as Fu Qian caught up and delivered a swift slap.

”Trying to put the Ancient Recollection away?”

”What a pity. You said earlier that the method you told me was correct, just incomplete. That seems to imply that as long as I stop you from taking this stance, you won’t be able to activate it.”

Smiling as he spoke, Fu Qian casually tossed the bloody wing aside. No matter how one looked at him, he resembled a psychopathic human fiend.

The accumulation of restriction on his body was equally severe, but comparatively, he was in much better shape than Serana.

”Besides, is this what you call resolve? Forgive me for being blunt, but isn’t it a bit too fragile?”

”The moment your personal safety is slightly threatened, your first thought is to run away?”

”What do you mean?”

With his interference, running away was entirely out of the question. Facing his mockery, Serana steeled her heart and demanded coldly.

Unfortunately, the only response she got was another sickening sound of tearing flesh.