Eldritch Horror Theatre

Get on the line and start turning those screws, little girl. Hurry it up.

Single out the key points, strike hard, and leave just enough room. With that whole routine laid out, there was no need to appeal to emotion—Fu Qian trusted Serana had already grasped how urgent the situation was.

The four Judgment Angels he had swatted away were living proof: they clearly could still move, yet not one of them had climbed back up to press the attack.

Perhaps a full mobilization hadn’t happened yet, but by the looks of it, the odds of that were already slim.

”Thank you... for the reminder.”

The closest Serana’s lips moved, going so far as to thank Fu Qian for his warm reminder.

She clearly had plenty of questions she wanted answered, though it was just as obvious she already knew she wasn’t in a position to ask them.

What remained now was simply a choice. Faced with such an uninvited menace, should she take his advice and continue the ritual?

Whoever he was, he clearly had ulterior motives. She had to weigh the risks of going along with it—most directly, leaking secrets.

Or should she give up the chance outright, let him kill or butcher her as he pleased, and stick to nonviolent non-cooperation?The second option sounded like the safer bet—crack!

Right then, Serana reached out and snapped off the rose in front of her. The sound it made was downright peculiar, like a snapping finger bone.

Such a resolute move said plenty about her attitude.

Weighing the pros and cons, she ultimately couldn’t bring herself to pass up this opportunity—and she really was making every second count.

...

Truly a fine descendant of the Progenitor.

Watching such a decisive move, Fu Qian wasn’t surprised in the slightest.

Purely in terms of personal gain and loss, nonviolent non-cooperation would definitely have made more sense under the circumstances.

After all, Serana hadn’t been all that eager to advance in the first place, and she had even been forced to split herself up and enter this bizarre state.

Now, with someone showing up out of nowhere and putting her under extreme pressure without a word of explanation, flipping the table and calling it quits wouldn’t have been anything to regret.

Yet judging by how she was acting right now, her desire to carry out the ritual really did seem to involve a measure of filial devotion.

She seemed to have always wanted to get to the bottom of whatever suffering the Progenitor might be enduring.

Now that she had actually made contact with the ”Progenitor,” she was even more reluctant to let go. All in all, had she been caught by a ”weakness of human nature”?

Of course, even if Serana’s filial devotion fell short, Fu Qian had plenty of ways to spur her on.

As for the Red Moon, there was no way it would let her leave so easily either; this just saved a bit of trouble.

In any case, things were progressing smoothly. The employee had resolved to work hard and officially stepped onto the assembly line.

Though hard work didn’t necessarily guarantee good results—

Looking at the rose in Serana’s hand, Fu Qian could almost feel her disappointment.

Fresh and dewy, it hadn’t faded in the slightest from being plucked.

Clearly, though, that wasn’t what Serana wanted.

Once she realized the roses represented a bloodline family tree, doing something like this theoretically carried considerable risk.

Serana had managed to find the flower representing herself, so what would happen if she plucked it?

Could it work like the voodoo dolls of legend and make the corresponding Blood Clan descendant drop dead on the spot?

Given the peculiar nature of this dream, that was definitely a risk worth worrying about. That also made it easy to see why a figure stood guard before every ”Serana” rose.

First of all, Serana had come in here to receive guidance—specifically, the guidance of the ”Starry Sky Rose.”

However, with the Progenitor in such an abstract state, the situation she faced was likely quite different from what her predecessors had experienced, leaving her no choice but to figure things out for herself.

Once she grasped the true nature of the vines and found the rose corresponding to herself, hoping to contemplate it up close in search of guidance was a natural train of thought.

Unfortunately, judging by how things had gone so far, Serana didn’t seem to have gained much from it.

That left an obvious backup plan: testing things out with her own hands.

Like plucking the flower outright to see what would happen.

The fact that none of the Seranas standing there in silence earlier had reached out meant they were very likely stuck on this exact step.

Would plucking it make her drop dead on the spot?

Even if it only delivered a shock, would she be able to withstand it?

With no prior experience to draw on, these were all valid concerns.

Thankfully, with his help, the Serana beside him had bravely overcome that hesitation. With no room left for misgivings, she had no choice but to take the gamble.

As for the final result—

The good news was that she looked completely fine—in fact, every single Serana was fine.

The bad news was that the test didn’t seem to have yielded anything.

Pretty as the rose was, it hadn’t granted this brave soul any insight, nor had the ”Progenitor” reacted to the act at all.

Crack, crack—

The proof came after a brief silence, when two more snaps rang out in quick succession.

The figures standing before the other two ”Serana roses” had made their move as well.

In the end, both of them struck the exact same pose, staring blankly down at the roses in their hands.

”May I have a look?”

The mood was slightly deflated, yet Fu Qian paid no mind at all to the staff’s feelings, asking outright to have these seemingly fruitless spoils handed over.

...

Serana didn’t object. From the silent way she held it out, it was obvious she didn’t care much for the flower anyway.

No—make that three flowers.

In that moment, Fu Qian felt as if he were watching a game of pass the parcel.

Aside from the one right in front of him, the other two Seranas holding roses also held them out quite naturally at the same time.

Fu Qian didn’t even have to go over and take them himself; other Seranas automatically stepped up and passed the flowers along from hand to hand until they reached him.

From a display like that, one could even draw a fairly optimistic conclusion.

Namely, the Seranas were still on fairly harmonious terms with one another for now, and hadn’t started hunting for a traitor the way the Red Moon’s side had.

”Thanks for the trouble.”

They really did look completely ordinary?

Offering a casual pleasantry, Fu Qian stood there holding the flowers, almost feeling like a chosen bachelor on a dating show.

Looking over the things in his hands, however, he reached much the same conclusion as Serana. Their texture could barely even be called woody—the overly hard, smooth feel made it seem as if they had just been snapped off some grand sculpture.

And that was all there was to them. Holding them brought neither auto-navigation nor even a curse.

Which meant there didn’t seem to be many options left for where to explore next.

Fu Qian glanced up at the highest point of the dome, which had now been vacated, and noticed the Seranas were already ”flowing” toward it—oh?

Instead of hurrying after them, Fu Qian turned to look to the side.

Where the rose had been plucked, a new one had quietly grown back.