Illusion Report

"It’s so rare for a human like you to trust a resident like me. So unlike Chaisi. He doesn’t even truly understand the situation."

The mother’s voice echoed softly in the room, speaking of Chaisi in a tone his mother had never used: "That child has disappointed me so.

"...To show my sincerity, I am willing to share what I know with you. Not all residents want to enter the human world, but few are willing to stay in the Nest. You don’t need to worry about any of them who want to come, no matter how powerful they are. However, among them, there are a few you should pay special attention to..."

Chaisi had heard enough.

’I either stop this, or I die trying. I’d rather die than witness this nightmare become reality.’

The human and the resident were deep in conversation, neither noticing that he was forcing himself to quietly, little by little, recover his strength.

The desk lamp had rolled too far away for him to reach. This was no time to hate himself for not being taller. ’What can I use nearby?’

There was nothing that could even be called a weapon.

He could only rely on himself.

Uncle Kai probably never dreamed that the combat skills he’d sent Chaisi to learn would be put to use in a place like this.

The resident maintained Daiju Monroe’s legs, which meant they were still a pair of legs with a human structure. And since it was standing like a human, it could also lose its balance like one.

Chaisi’s hand shot out, grabbing for the shin on his chest.

Without even realizing it, his hands had grown large enough that he could wrap them completely around his mother’s leg.

Lying flat on the ground, Chaisi gripped the resident’s shin with both hands. He summoned every ounce of strength he could muster and shoved it upward. The shadow of the foot swept across his face. With one of its legs yanked out from under it, the resident predictably tilted to one side and fell heavily to the floor.

The moment the pressure vanished from his chest, Chaisi rolled away, grabbed the lamp, and leaped to his feet. In that instant, it was as if he wasn’t swinging the lamp, but the heavy base was yanking his arm, pulling the entire side of his body up and back, before crashing down on the resident, who had just bent over to lunge at him.

At thirteen, Chaisi’s strength was already at a point where even his combat instructor was unwilling to face it head-on.

This time, the resident couldn’t completely suppress an enraged shriek of pain.

Thinking back on it later, this was probably the moment Uncle Kai was startled awake.

Chaisi refused to consider the possibility that, a few minutes later, Uncle Kai had sensed his son’s departure in his sleep.

"Chaisi!" Damian yelled furiously.

He didn’t seem to hear.

Chaisi twisted around and lunged for the wooden fortress. The lamp still in one hand, he thrust his other hand into the air, through the Black Abyss, and this time, he got a firm grip on the piece of pajama fabric—yanking it down.

"What are you doing!" Damian rushed forward, ramming his shoulder into Chaisi.

Despite the one-year age gap, he was a full size smaller than Chaisi. Chaisi only stumbled before steadying himself again.

’Once the Path is closed, no matter how angry my little brother gets...’

He looked up and froze.

The vague, blurry form of Daiju Monroe was gradually rising from behind Damian, its eyes meeting his.

It raised an arm that grew thinner and sharper, until the part that was once a hand solidified into the shape of a scythe.

’Why didn’t it fall back into the Nest? It’s rising silently from behind Damian to—’

"Watch out!" Chaisi grabbed Damian’s shoulder and shoved him hard to the side.

But he’d worried for nothing; the resident’s target wasn’t Damian.

As his brother was shoved heavily to the ground, Chaisi saw it—the Path was still there.

The fabric came off the wooden splinter and fell to the floor, and so the swirling Black Abyss that allowed the resident to enter floated down to the ground as well, like a deep well opening up in the floorboards.

The "corridor of the Path" curved in a half-circle, still following loyally behind Damian, like a pair of long, folded, deep-black wings.

That moment of distraction, his eyes drawn to the Path, cost Chaisi his only chance to dodge the resident’s attack.

The sharp, scythe-like hand pierced through his chest, sinking deep between his shattered sternum and shoulder blade.

It rested inside Chaisi’s dark, warm, wet body, like a fetus that had finally found its home.

The resident deliberately made a sound with Daiju Monroe’s voice, "Oh, dear."

"I forgot, human hearts are on the left!"

The mother’s voice was full of regret. "Hm, no, no, that’s not right. It’s not that I forgot and missed my chance. It’s because I was following Damian’s order not to kill you... Yes, yes, that’s it."

It lowered its bridge-like neck to look at Chaisi’s condition.

"Are you going to die? Gosh, I specifically avoided the heart. If you still die, it’s not my fault. Let me just pull my hand out quickly to show I don’t mean to kill you, how about that?"

Before it even finished speaking, the hand was yanked violently from his flesh. Blood sprayed out like a misty rain, landing warm on Chaisi’s face.

By the time he came to his senses, he was already sitting on the floor, with no memory of when he’d fallen. If his back hadn’t been propped against the edge of the bed, he probably would have slid the rest of the way down until he was lying in a pool of his own blood.

"...Brother Chaisi?" Damian, seemingly frightened, called out in a small voice.

"See? Not dead. You’re not going to die," the resident said comfortingly. "My aim was too precise. I completely avoided the fatal spot, sigh."