The Insane Regressor: Throne of Pride

Contrary to all expectations, the chase continued for hours.

With every passing hour, Bran grew more aggressive, the number of intact rooms dwindled, and more sweat gathered across Ravian’s brow.

’They even recreated sweat?’ Ravian thought, wiping it away as he fled Bran as fast as his legs could carry him.

The wounds covering Ravian’s body continued to multiply. One of his ears had even been severed, and he now held a strip of torn cloth against the side of his head to contain the bleeding.

The chase did not stop for even a second. At times, Bran came within inches of ending Ravian’s life; at others, Ravian simply hid while Bran tore apart entire rooms throughout the palace in search of him, only to spot him again in one of the nearby chambers.

While Bran searched the third room like a madman, destroying nearly everything inside it, Ravian descended a narrow servants’ staircase and returned to the main hall through a different route.

He found Mirai still alive.

She remained on her knees with her face pressed against the floor, her body trembling violently. Aldric’s eyes were still barely open as he watched her in utter helplessness.

Ravian immediately moved toward them.

He removed his black coat and tore its inner lining into long strips, then wrapped them tightly around the severed stumps near Mirai’s shoulders to slow the bleeding.

Mirai gritted her teeth to keep herself from screaming.

”Your plan...” she said in a broken voice. ”It didn’t work.”

”It did,” Ravian replied as he tied the second strip. ”You made him stop and delayed him. That’s more than I expected from your plan.”

Mirai raised her eyes toward him in pain, watching him help them despite knowing that, out of everyone remaining, the serial killer was specifically hunting him.

”You’re insane,” she said.

”I hope that’s a compliment, Mirai. Otherwise, I’ll leave you here looking like a dolphin,” Ravian replied mockingly.

”You! You still think this is funny even now?!”

Mirai could not understand how Ravian’s mind worked.

”Tsk, tsk. It’s fine. This is only a somewhat realistic spiritual body. Your real body is completely unharmed,” Ravian reminded her, causing some color to return to her pale face.

Once he finished bandaging her wounds, he pulled the coat back on, then moved toward Aldric, bent down, and carefully lifted him over his shoulder. The old man’s body was lighter after losing both arms and both feet, though his weight was still enough to slow Ravian down.

”Where is the hiding place you mentioned?” Ravian asked, turning toward Mirai.

Mirai looked toward the side corridor.

”Behind the linen storeroom in the servants’ wing. There’s an inspection chamber hidden inside the wall that can’t be seen from the corridor. Use the key with the crescent-shaped head,” she said, looking toward a particular key on the ring in Ravian’s hand.

Ravian found the key among the others.

He helped Mirai stand, then braced her against his shoulder to keep her from falling.

She could no longer clutch his clothes as she had done ever since they left the mirage servant’s room, but she walked beside him despite the pain, leaving droplets of blood behind her.

Mirai guided him through two narrow corridors until they reached the linen storeroom. Ravian pushed one of the shelves aside, revealing a wooden door whose color blended seamlessly into the wall.

He opened it with the crescent-headed key.

Beyond the door was a narrow, windowless chamber that had once been used to store servants’ records and spare equipment. It could not be seen from the corridor, and even knocking against the storeroom walls would not reveal it easily.

Ravian carefully placed Aldric on the floor before helping Mirai inside.

Mirai looked at him, her face now frighteningly pale.

”Rayan...” she said hesitantly.

”What?” Ravian turned toward her again, watching her with the same strange calm he had maintained even in their current situation.

Mirai smiled involuntarily when she saw his composure.

”Don’t die.”

A faint smile appeared on his lips.

”I never promised that I wouldn’t die,” he said. ”I promised that I’d get you out of here alive.”

Before she could respond, he closed the door and turned the key in the lock.

Ravian pushed the shelf back into place, then tore down a nearby curtain and quickly smeared and wiped away the bloodstains across the storeroom floor until the trail no longer pointed toward any particular corner.

Then he ran without looking back.

The sourceless light streaming through the palace windows had begun to fade. There was not much time left before the first toll of the Black Bell.

Meanwhile, Bran had emerged from the third room after realizing that searching at random would lead him nowhere.

He crept into the middle of the corridor in deadly silence and listened.

He heard no footsteps. No doors. Not even the sound of breathing.

For several seconds, nothing existed in the entire palace but silence.

Then a faint voice reached him through one of the copper pipes built into the wall to his left.

Bran stopped and slowly approached it.

The voice was weak, but clear enough for him to recognize.

Ravian’s voice.

”...I need to stay here until night falls.”

The voice fell silent for a moment, then returned.

”My office is the last place he’ll think to search. If I remain still, enough time will pass without him finding me.”

A smile appeared on Bran’s face.

He ran his fingers across the copper pipe.

Ravian was clever.

He had returned to the office where he had worked since the beginning of the game, a place Bran would dismiss precisely because it was the most obvious location anyone searching for Ravian would think to check.

’The safest place is also the most dangerous, isn’t it?’ Bran thought. ’A smart choice. But his luck was terrible.’

By what seemed like pure coincidence, Bran had passed one of the pipes connected to the office, allowing Ravian’s muttering to reach him.

Bran twirled one of the axes in his hand before beginning to walk toward the Correspondence Office.

He did not run this time.

He had already charged after Ravian into more than enough empty rooms. This time, he advanced calmly, watching every side corridor and making sure there was no other route Ravian could use to escape.

He would not give him another opportunity.

The first toll of the Black Bell was drawing near.

If Bran entered the office during the final moments before it rang, Ravian would not have enough time to escape, reach another participant, and communicate with them. Bran would end everything with a single blow, then return to Mirai and Aldric and begin the final stage of his game.

He reached the corridor leading to the Correspondence Office.

No sound came from inside.

Bran first circled around the office through the rear service corridor and wedged one of his axes through the handle of its smaller rear door, preventing it from opening. Then he returned to the main entrance.

He gripped the door handle.

For two seconds, he remained motionless and listened to the silence beyond it.

Then he threw the door open and charged inside with his axe raised.

But... the room was empty.

Ravian was not behind the desk. Nor was he beneath the table. He was not even near the pipes through which Bran had heard him earlier. Even his black coat was nowhere to be seen.

Something else, however, awaited Bran on the opposite wall.

Enormous words had been written in the Correspondence Office’s red ink, stretching from one side of the wall to the other.

A Traitor never wins, not even in nightmares, Bran.

What hope could you possibly have in a nightmare where you encountered me?

This is your nightmare, not mine... Traitor.

Bran stared at the words.

The smile vanished from his face.

Ravian had not been muttering to himself. He had known that his voice would travel through the pipe, and he had known Bran would hear it at precisely the right moment.

Ravian had entered the Correspondence Office to leave the message, then used the copper network to summon Bran there.

He had not been hiding.

He had been communicating with him... in his own way.

And now Ravian had become the last participant to establish genuine communication with Bran before nightfall.

”That bastard...”

Bran turned and ran.

He no longer cared about concealing his movements. His axes struck the walls as he charged through the corridors and raced back toward the main hall.

If he could reach Mirai or Aldric and communicate with either of them before the bell rang, he might be able to override Ravian’s status as the last person to communicate with him. Then the entire night would lie before him, and he could do whatever he pleased with Ravian.

He needed only a few seconds.

Bran reached the doors of the main hall moments later.

But... Mirai was gone.

Aldric was gone as well.

The pool of blood and the severed arms remained on the floor, but both bodies had vanished completely.

At the opposite end of the hall, standing before the enormous window through which the day’s last light streamed, was a white-haired young man with his back turned toward Bran.

His black coat reached his ankles, while his long white hair moved in the faint breeze slipping through the edge of the window.

Bran stopped for a fraction of a second.

Then he released an enraged roar and charged toward him.

Ravian looked back over his shoulder.

The smile on his face was calm, confident, and filled with a pride that made the madness on Bran’s face appear cheap by comparison.

”Didn’t I tell you, Bran?” Ravian said.

Bran continued rushing toward him with both axes raised above his head.

Ravian turned around slowly and fixed his crimson eyes upon him.

”You may be the nightmare of many people in the real world,” Ravian said in the same calm, arrogant tone. ”But here...”

”I’m your only nightmare.”

Only several meters remained between them.

Ravian raised one hand and waved at Bran with a smile.

Then he said, ”Checkmate.”

Dooooooong!

The Black Bell rang for the first time.

The entire Evernight Palace trembled beneath the echo of its toll, the window for accusations closed, and the fourth day began drawing its final breath.

Night began to fall.