Eldritch Horror Theatre

That hairstyle... really was dangerous.

Indeed, the instant Fu Qian turned around, he didn’t just see a Red Moon who looked far more normal than usual—he saw many more of her.

Across the barren expanse of the Half-Step Moon, where nothing lay but gravel and broken stone, one Red Moon after another was looking his way—sitting, standing, crouching, or lying down.

Whether their postures were natural or twisted, the smiles at the corners of their lips were completely identical, pure and unadulterated.

Honestly, it was a deeply reassuring smile. If a child came home to an expression like that, they would probably already be happily wondering what delicious food they were having for dinner.

When there were too many people making dinner, however, it was another story entirely.

So much so that even Fu Qian, a man for whom all taboos are lifted, seemed to sense just how unlucky that side-ponytail hairstyle was in that moment.

It seemed ”Mother” hadn’t gotten better; something had gone wrong.

Sure enough, a simple surprise wouldn’t have made her so impatient as to drag him straight over here.

”I wasn’t going to drink any more, really, but a senior insisted on buying me one more glass.” Even as these thoughts crossed his mind, Fu Qian put on a smile and earnestly explained why he had been fooling around at a bar so late.Having ”Mother” force a surprise on him without asking might be heartwarming, but her decisively reaching out for help when trouble hit was far more gratifying.

”You’ve grown up...”

Living up to that image, the Red Moon forgave the young man who had come home late from drinking after he offered nothing more than a casual excuse.

Her gaze stayed locked on Fu Qian as her smile deepened, and she even sighed as if watching a child finally stand on his own two feet—as though telling him he no longer needed to report back just for having a drink.

Well, that was true enough... Never mind his age and Rank, he had even made full professor over at the Academy, hadn’t he?

Certain he understood her completely, Fu Qian blinked.

”Tilanqi?”

...

They say that calling your mother by her name once you’re grown up will bring out childhood-style maternal love.

As it turned out, it really seemed to work.

The instant that special name left his lips, everything around him fell silent at once.

Those soft calls—numbering in the hundreds—came to an abrupt halt, and the smiles faded from their faces right along with them.

”Tilanqi...”

After a moment of silence, one of them was finally the first to repeat it in a low murmur.

The one right in front of him even crouched straight down and wrapped her arms around her knees, as if struggling to bear the weight of the name.

”Yes... Tilanqi.”

It didn’t take long, however, before she lifted her head to look at Fu Qian again, her eyes growing steady and firm.

”That is my name.”

So it really was...

In that case, he seemed to have a rough idea of what was going on here.

There was real weight behind that gaze, enough to make Fu Qian let out a long inward sigh.

He obviously wasn’t itching for a beating. Since the Red Moon had run into trouble, the first step was figuring out where that trouble came from.

And for Fu Qian, a guess came to mind in an instant.

Among the new variables that had cropped up recently, two stood out above the rest. The first, naturally, was the major discovery in the Archipelago mentioned earlier.

The relationship between the Primordial Moon and the First Generation Dark Moon, and even the possible connection between the lingering dreams of the Archipelago and Annalise...

Since she was the symbol of the moon at this current stage, it was only natural for the earlier commotion—and even the shattering of that dreamscape—to trigger some reaction from the Red Moon.

As for the second, it was of course the name he had obtained during his last mission: ”Tilanqi.”

Especially since, the very moment he stepped out of the Warehouse after finishing that mission, he had actually shouted it once at the sky.

There had been no visible reaction at the time, which had even left him a little disappointed.

Could there have been a reaction after all, only the Red Moon hadn’t been in a rush to let him know?

Frankly, between the two possibilities, Fu Qian leaned toward the second—which was why he had opened with the name to test the waters.

His reasoning didn’t even involve anything as lofty as the Wisdom of the Deity; it came down to the simplest logic of all—efficiency.

At that moment, he glanced up at the sky. Bathed in the Crimson Lunar Radiance, another graceful figure was already descending from above, the tips of her toes slowly coming to rest on the rough gravel.

The count of ”Mothers” went up by one.

Indeed, ”Tilanqi” was still being continuously birthed from that lunar radiance, as if it would never stop. Leaving aside what that meant for now, just going by the pace in front of him, he could easily run the simplest calculation of production efficiency.

The conclusion was that accumulating such a frightening number could hardly have started tonight.

If it had started the moment he shouted that name, on the other hand, the numbers made much more sense.

...

So calling ”Mother” by her name really did carry dire consequences? Even so, this reaction was a bit much.

As Fu Qian quickly sorted through his thoughts, the words ”That is my name” kept echoing in his ears.

On one hand, this was undoubtedly a major breakthrough: his guess about the relationship between Annalise and the Red Moon had just been confirmed by the person herself.

And right along with it came all the related deductions.

Such as Annalise’s Death Rattle, and the origin of the Archipelago’s Divine Dream.

On this night thick with the scent of alcohol, the Chronicles of the Moon were still being filled in.

On the other hand, while the Red Moon finally recalling her true name at his prompting sounded like good news, her reaction seemed somewhat extreme.

Was what she was doing right now an attempt to break free from the shackles of the ”Moon”?

And had she started the very instant she heard that name?

Her mental state had been a complete mess due to Annalise’s ”contamination,” and upon finally seizing hold of this Anchor Point, she had begun trying to purify herself.

The problem was that, in theory, this chronic affliction had already lasted a thousand years.

Such a violent, ruthless struggle wasn’t necessarily something a shattered mind and body could endure.

What lay before him seemed to be the result.

Whatever the case, there was no way Fu Qian could take this to mean the Red Moon had succeeded—let alone succeeded many times over.

No matter how he looked at them, these ”Mothers”—each seemingly capable of some degree of communication—were products of failure.

And regardless of who had extended the invitation just now, or whether the real intent had been to share her joy, it could be seen as a cry for help after stepping into some kind of extreme crisis.

He might not have much time left.

Originally, there had likely been a certain balance between Annalise and Tilanqi.

Now that the balance was broken, the Red Moon’s fixation on her own face might instead drive her into total collapse. And naturally, as the one who had called her by her full name, he would be the chief culprit behind the tragedy.

What was more, that wasn’t even the only way he had sabotaged his ”Mother”—

At one point, Fu Qian’s gaze rose to the red moon hanging overhead.

The biological grooves and ridges across its surface were still faintly recognizable.

Notably, however, the circular mark that had represented the King of Ye Island was now completely gone.

The tonic he had gifted to ”Mother” seemed to have finally been fully digested.