The Insane Regressor: Throne of Pride

The Nightmare Lord—the being they had taken to calling the Nightmare—descended into the hall in his ever-shifting form, his features never remaining fixed. Now, more often than not, his face bore an expression of rapturous delight that no human would have found natural, and the sight made everyone present frown, even Ravian.

”Two of you have died in only two nights...” the Nightmare said as he looked at them, undisguised pity coloring his voice—though it sounded far closer to condescension.

He then fixed his eyes on Talia, who had summoned the trial.

”Either you are so absurdly stupid that you cannot protect yourselves from a mere act of communication, or this Killer is absurdly smarter than all of you. But it seems to me that you are the fools, not that the Killer is exceptionally intelligent,” the Nightmare said, his eyes roaming over them one after another.

Ravian then stepped forward.

”I do not think it is wise to judge us as either stupid or intelligent this early. This is only the third day,” Ravian said, salvaging a measure of the group’s dignity.

But why?

Because remaining silent would make him seem mysterious, and mystery in a place like this would turn into suspicion—the last thing he wanted now, since it might cause him in particular to come under closer scrutiny. He had therefore decided to intervene every now and then, ”as though he were helping,” even though he knew perfectly well how this situation would end.

Ravian looked at Talia, who stood trembling beside him.

Now that he focused on her properly, Ravian noticed that she wore a multilayered white dress suggestive of noble birth. It suited both the way she carried herself and the handkerchief she always kept in hand wherever she went—a handkerchief she seemed to have obtained from the palace kitchen—even though there should have been no such thing as germs in a spiritual world like this. Yet it appeared to be nothing more than an ingrained habit, one she maintained even in a germless spiritual world.

That noble girl was now trembling beside Ravian, her eyes darting around the hall so rapidly that they almost seemed to pulse like beating hearts as they searched for one final escape route.

Yet she could not find one.

’Did you only grasp the magnitude of what you had gotten yourself into upon seeing him?’

Ravian’s gaze slid from Talia to the Nightmare. Talia’s entire demeanor had changed the moment he arrived.

The Nightmare was now dressed in an elegant suit resembling those worn by high-ranking nobles at important gatherings. He wore a white shirt beneath a black jacket, immaculate black trousers without a single visible crease, and an expensive pair of genuine leather shoes; at times, he even appeared wearing a tall, cylindrical top hat.

He looked like any noble Ravian had previously seen in the imperial capital, the City of the Black Rose. Ravian did not understand the purpose of such adornment in a spiritual world like this, but he did not try his luck by asking.

The Nightmare stepped two paces closer, his feet alighting on the floor without stirring any dust or causing even the slightest tremor upon impact, as though he had not touched the floor at all.

He then stared into Talia’s green eyes, his own opened wide as though he were deliberately trying to instill terror within her.

Then he said:

{Name the two living witnesses to real communication between the accused and the victim.}

Talia swallowed, then pointed quickly.

”Sir Aldric and Sylvan. They were with her yesterday evening when she went to inspect and reexamine Kaiden’s tube. Both of them saw what she did.”

Aldric squeezed his eyes shut at that moment.

The focus and hope in Sylvan’s eyes, meanwhile, vanished all at once.

”I wasn’t there,” he said in a low voice he could barely summon.

Talia froze in place, then slowly turned toward him.

”What?”

”I was supposed to go with Aldric and Mirai to inspect Kaiden’s tube, but I didn’t,” Sylvan said, then shifted his gaze toward Ravian. ”Rayan summoned me beforehand to move some supply records from the Correspondence Office to the kitchen, so they went without me.”

Talia stared at him as though she could not comprehend the words that had left his mouth.

”But... we agreed that the three of you would go together,” Talia said haltingly as she slowly shook Sylvan, as though doing so might rouse him and make him change his answer.

But he did not.

”We did,” Sylvan said with a nod. ”But I wasn’t there to witness the inspection that time... I’m sorry.”

He lowered his head.

The light in Talia’s eyes dimmed as she stared at him.

Then it was Aldric’s turn to give his testimony.

”Nor did I witness any communication. I saw Mirai inspect the tube and apply the wax exactly as she did with the rest of the tubes. No one has yet provided any evidence that Kaiden understood a private meaning from it,” he testified, unable to lie; otherwise, the entity would simply uncover what had actually happened within its own world.

All of this seemed to be nothing more than a formality intended to establish grounds for judgment against the participants.

Talia’s entire body trembled.

Then she turned toward Ravian.

The desperate terror in her eyes was enough for anyone to understand what she was asking him without the need for words.

Ravian looked at her with an expression filled with pity, then said calmly, ”I asked Sylvan to move the records because they were related to the kitchen’s work. I had no idea this would happen... I’m sorry, Talia.”

”No...” Talia shook her head and rushed toward him.

Closing the distance between them, she seized the front of his jacket with both hands.

”No, no, you knew Sylvan went there, didn’t you? Say that you saw them. Say that you’re the second witness, please... I don’t want to die.”

Ravian did not try to push her away. He placed his hands on her shoulders to keep her from falling and continued looking at her with an expression that was calm, yet sorrowful enough for everyone in the hall to believe it.

He was not truly saddened. By making that accusation, Talia was now trying to get them killed so that she herself could survive.

She was simply asking him to guarantee his own death if Mirai truly was the Killer.

”I didn’t see it,” Ravian said, gently shaking his head. ”...I’m sorry.”

Ravian’s apology, however, was different from Sylvan’s. Sylvan was sorry for dashing Talia’s hopes, while Ravian did not care about her hopes at all; he was apologizing for his lie.

He had deliberately summoned Sylvan the previous evening to keep him away from Mirai and Kaiden, thereby ensuring that no valid accusation could be brought against Mirai. He still needed her role to remain unknown to everyone.

Talia remained standing before Ravian, several loud gasps tearing from her in rapid succession.

Then her emotions erupted.

”Noooo!!” Her sobbing voice rose as she clung to him even more tightly.

The mist above the table stirred.

{The two-witness condition has not been fulfilled.}

{No real communication between the accused and the victim has been proven.}

{The accusation is invalid.}

{Penalty for a false accusation... Death.}

Talia gasped and shook her head violently.

”Wait! I only made a mistake. I didn’t—”

{Penalty for a false accusation: Death.}

Black mist spread from her shadow and climbed around her legs.

She tried to retreat, but her body no longer responded. Her hands remained clenched around Ravian’s jacket, and the color slowly drained from her fingers as the mist reached her chest.

”Help me...” she whispered, looking at him.

Ravian’s expression did not change. Instead, he leaned forward gently until his lips were close to her ear and whispered in a barely audible voice, pausing between each phrase:

”I know you’re afraid... but I’m afraid too, though for a completely different reason... Don’t resist.”

Ravian did not feel diminished by admitting fear. He considered it a necessity of human life, and so he felt no shame in speaking of it or acknowledging it. But fear came in many forms, and all of them were harmful so long as a person failed to control them and instead allowed them to take control.

Yet when a person mastered fear, it became a tool: a tool for his ascent, a tool for sharpening his thoughts, and, most important of all, a tool for his survival.

The mist then reached Talia’s neck.

Her crying stopped abruptly, and her eyes widened for one final moment before her fingers loosened around his jacket and her body collapsed forward. Ravian caught her before she struck the floor, then slowly lowered her while still wearing that same quiet sorrow on his face.

The mist disappeared, and white light returned to the lamps.

{The penalty has been carried out.}

{Number of remaining participants: 6.}

Complete silence descended upon the hall.

Ravian remained kneeling beside Talia, staring into her lifeless eyes, while, to the others, his own showed nothing but cold, helpless regret.

Within his mind, however, there was only a single thought.

’I warned you before that acting rashly out of fear would kill you, Talia... If only you had listened to my advice.’