Vô danh

I didn't rush in the first few minutes. I walked, feeling the gazes of Jinn, Alalia, and Dylan on my back, until the trees did their job of hiding me. I walked with slow steps, simply feeling the small, rapid drops of rain falling on my skin.

My casual clothes quickly became soaked, as did my hair, making the water trickle down my already wet face and drip from my chin.

The first thing I noticed was that the smell of blood and rot didn't come from the rain itself—or at least not from these drops. It was something farther away, much farther, but somehow it managed to reach me even through this curtain of water that stretched for dozens of kilometers.

I glanced around for a moment. The ground absorbed the water well, even after so many days of rain. The soil was muddy, flooded. The trees seemed shrunken, their twisted branches almost as if trying to shield themselves from the cold rain and wind.

Ignoring the loud noise of the rain, I closed my eyes as I continued walking.

I knew there was something in the storm. I wanted to know if it affected me and, if it did, whether I could detect it. I paid attention to my body's functions. I focused on my memories. I honed in on my mind. Finally, I examined my soul and my Spiritual Realm.

Nothing. I couldn't sense or discover anything. Everything seemed in order. I opened my eyes and pulled up my status screen.

[Current Status: Healthy (High-Extreme), evolving (High-Extreme), adapting (High-Extreme), headache (Minimal), wet.]

Apart from the fact that the stream found it amusing to point out that I was wet—something I absolutely wouldn't have known without its help—everything was normal.

The statuses "Healthy," "evolving," and "adapting" had always been there. Well, the first one had since I used the status screen for the first time; the other two appeared shortly after Jille but never disappeared since, only growing.

As for my headache, it was due to my "glimpse" into hell and the situation that followed. Figuring out what "The Eye," as the stream called it, was up to stressed me out—not going to lie. Still, it was already passing and was minimal.

"No The Outer Foreigner Presence," I muttered, then raised my voice: "Ozma, everything clear on your end?"

("Nothing unusual, at least nothing I can detect.") The response came a second later. ("The Nightmares are normal too.")

I licked my lips. The taste of rain was slightly salty. "That is... I can't tell if that's good or bad."

A small explosion appeared in my vision, triggered by a missile that fell like one of the raindrops.

[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]

I'm just going to ask to be sure, even though I already know the answer. In what kind of messed-up logic is not being infected by the Outer Foreigner Presence—or whatever this disease/corruption/thing is—a bad thing?! ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

"For the same reason you get vaccinated," I shrugged, resuming my walk. "Poison in small doses builds resistance, maybe even immunity. That was my plan... I don't know why I'm not being affected."

Adapting to whatever this was seemed like the best-case scenario. That's why I entered the storm unprotected. It was risky, sure, but if I couldn't resist whatever the rain carried, forget fighting the Eye—just existing in its presence would be a problem.

Maybe it was some natural resistance of mine. I could tell it wasn't my title, so it wasn't the stream. Being near the Realm wasn't ruled out either; the rain might be different deeper into the storm...

My thoughts were interrupted by several messages, all delivered by a yellow fish walking on two fins, carrying a sack on its back. It tossed the sack into the air before continuing its path until it disappeared.

The stream really liked making me look insane, didn't it?

[MagicalGirlSera-Tan]

I didn't know you were a masochist. Well, it's not that uncommon, to be honest. I've got some whips if you're interested.

(Emote of a devilish magical girl in a latex outfit)

[Darkness]

A comrade? I could teac—

[AdvocateOfGenderEquality]

Ignore her. Darkness hasn't been well mentally for a while. Aqua tried healing her, but it didn't work. Good luck with your fetishes, DS!

(Emote of a generic guy giving a thumbs up)

[AsuraLady]

When you return to my world, you have an appointment with a psychologist, and depending on how things are, a psychiatrist. It's already scheduled; she's a sweet lady. I've talked to her a few times—you'll love her!

(Emote of a lion with a pink mane smiling mischievously)

"I'm not a masochist. Glynda's the one who likes whips." I felt a vein in my forehead twitch. Maybe it was just a raindrop. "And if you come near me with one, I'll start praying in ancient Hebrew. The stream will help me perfect the pronunciation."

Even though Serafall was a Satan, I was sure it would affect her.

I ignored Darkness's and Kazuma's messages, but not before flipping off the latter, and replied to Saya: "I don't need a psychologist, but thanks for the concern."

[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]

Amazing—he doesn't even flinch… ¯\(ツ)/¯

I brushed Stark's message aside with the back of my hand and summoned the Angel Greaves to my body. The minimap showed no red dots. Given the name the stream had given the clouds above, that was surprising.

I jumped and began running upward. Within seconds, I reached the first layer of clouds. The moment I plunged into the sea of gray, I felt the air grow heavier. The atmosphere darkened—not just from the lack of light but as if darkness itself was right.

The stench of blood and decay was stronger too. I could still tell the source was distant, whatever it was, but the clouds seemed to carry— transmi t—the scent more effectively.

It was disgusting. I looked around. No eyes...

"It's worse up here," I said aloud. "What an unpleasant feeling..."

...But I still felt like I was being watched.

The sensation of being watched always existed whenever I stared into the storm. When I entered it, it worsened. It felt as if something were watching me from the shadows. Up here, in the clouds?… It was as if something were observing the back of my neck, just a few steps behind me.

With a thought, I turned and guided my mana around my body. Several lightning bolts from the storm, as if finally noticing I was up here, came straight at me. None of them were red, much less had any 'intention' behind them. I was simply the highest point and the best conductor around.

I didn't fight or resist the electricity. I just shaped my mana, creating my own bolts, intertwining them with those from the clouds, and guiding them toward the ground.

I let my body drop near where the lightning had struck and pulled out the map Dylan had given me. It was a map of the villages closest to the kingdom.

Thinking about it, I hadn't compared the world map I got from the Dungeon with Dylan's map. Something to do later.

After quickly analyzing the map and finding my location, I took off, a thin layer of Shadowflame covering my body to prevent everything around me from being destroyed.

It didn't take long to reach the first village. It was more of a small settlement, to be honest. It was empty—of both people and domestic animals. I confirmed this by circling the area and scanning everything with the Minimap.

I quickly noted it on the map, alongside Dylan's annotations. The guide had made notes based on information from the crown that Charlotte had provided him. The numbers matched. All the residents of this village had either entered the kingdom or were in its vicinity, in the newly established 'city.'

Alalia also gave me an approximate number of living beings she could sense. "The storm slightly disrupts my senses, so I might be off by a small margin," were her words. Even so, she also confirmed that there was no one here.

"Well, I guess it's better than finding a body…" If I'd found the body of someone listed as being within the kingdom, then we'd have a real problem.

The next village was in the same condition: only empty houses, no Terrarians or animals. I made notes as I did with the first and moved on.

The deeper I ventured into the storm, the stranger the environment seemed. The smell of blood grew stronger, though not as much as the stench of rot. The latter was so overwhelming I could taste it in the air.

The rain became heavier, almost as if it were falling in anger upon me. The clouds darkened further, turning to a dark gray, almost black. Lightning strikes became more frequent, moving like snakes. Red bolts began appearing closer.

It wasn't until the twenty-first village, considerably far from the kingdom and its barrier, that the environment shifted significantly. It became oppressive; the shadows between trees and the corners of houses darkened. The wind howled, like screams.

It was in the next village that I found the first body: a man—or something that resembled one. He was bloated and swollen, trapped in a flooded drainage ditch.

The corpse had clearly been there for days. I didn't know who he was, but not all the residents of this village had been accounted for, so deaths here were expected. I didn't need to get closer to notice the man's green skin—an unnatural green. When I turned the body over, facing it upward, I confirmed what I'd already suspected.

"Eyeless…" I frowned at the sight, sighed, and pulled the body into the VoidBag. "Fucking bizarre… They look like they burst from the inside out, just like Gilbert said."

A green corpse, which I was almost certain was a failed zombie, shouldn't have seemed so strange, eyeless or not. But with everything I knew, the simple absence of eyes made the body seem far more unsettling than it should.

On the way to the next village, a chill ran down my spine. I stopped the moment it happened and looked around. Something was wrong; I could feel it clearly. It took me a few seconds to realize what.

"What time is it?…" I murmured. A quick glance at my watch confirmed it was half past two in the afternoon. "Not much time has passed, so why does it feel like?…"

With a swift movement, I leapt into the air. I drew my mana around my body, creating paths for the lightning to follow into the ground, avoiding me. Then I ran through the air, heading toward the sea of black clouds above.

The stench of blood and rot hit me even harder as I entered the clouds. I also noticed something different. The sensation I felt upon entering the clouds was similar to when I entered the Vault in Remnant.

I frowned, wondering what it could mean, and swirled my mana between my fingers, shaping the wind, before slashing at the air with clawed hands.

Dozens of meters of cloud layers were torn apart effortlessly, revealing the landscape they concealed for a brief moment. Strangely, the clouds moved almost like a living fabric, writhing and quickly stitching up the tear my hand had made in their 'black canvas.'

They weren't fast enough. I still caught a glimpse of the sky behind them… A sky I hadn't seen since coming to this world.

Extinguished stars in a black sky. I probed the 'void.' My head ached…

"Of course it does…"

… Terraria's night sky.

It was night.

[...]

POV: Jinn

I looked out the hallway window aboard Proto-A. The sky was clear, the sun shining high, just shy of its midday peak. Terraria was beautiful, reminiscent of Remnant in an older era. It was nostalgic.

"He said it's nighttime?" Alalia's melodious yet serious voice came from beside me.

I glanced away. The dryad stood in her true form—the same one she had used during the conversation with Devas, or almost. Her height was different now; she was taller, nearly Glynda's height, with white hair and more modest curves. The air around her was cold.

"Winter?" I asked. "The other was summer?"

She nodded. "One of the facets I possess. It helps me think more calmly and clinically, but I don't like it much…" Her brow furrowed, and I saw frost forming at the edges of the window. "Did Devas truly see the night sky?"

"Something like it. There were no stars—or if there were, they were dim." He used that word himself, for some reason. "No moon either. At least, he didn't see it."

Not that he had searched for it. Devas had looked away the instant he realized what he was seeing.

Alalia closed her eyes, and I felt the environment around us shift, becoming an extension of her. I looked at the window again. The grass on the ground rippled, matching the pulse of mana emerging from both the earth and the dryad, blending into waves. Branches and leaves swayed, resonating with the nature around them.

Even the Terrarians who were training Aura were affected. Devas's group — along with Charlotte, Helena, Melissa, and Darnell — had their mana momentarily disrupted. I noticed a faint smile appear on each of their faces. The only one who seemed to perceive something more was Dylan, who glanced around before fixing his gaze, glowing with a blue aura, in our direction.

He observed me briefly before turning his attention to the left, where Alalia was — or at least where she should have been, were it not for the illusion projected to conceal her presence in case someone looked through the window. Dylan's brow furrowed slightly more before he shifted his focus back, closing his eyes once again, still seated cross-legged as he trained his Aura control.

He was skilled. Far better than Jaune Arc by a considerable margin. It took him no more than five minutes to start using his Aura effectively in battle.

Everyone there was highly talented, in truth. Dylan was by far the most proficient, followed by Charlotte and then Helena. The princess and the duchess grasped how Aura worked just minutes after the guide. Melissa came fourth, followed by Gilbert and Darnell, who were roughly tied. The "worst" — at least within this anomalous group — was Robyn.

Selina had not yet begun training her Aura, so I didn't include her in the list. She remained locked in the room Devas had assigned to her aboard the Proto-A, caught in a manic state of insight and inspiration.

However, if ranked by the amount of Aura, the order would shift slightly. The first and last places would swap. Robyn possessed, by far, the greatest amount of Aura. She didn't come anywhere near Devas, just as Dylan couldn't compare to him in skill, but the fox-woman had as much Aura as two or three ordinary Huntsmen or Huntresses combined.

The second-largest Aura belonged to Helena, followed closely by Melissa. Mother and daughter were practically tied. After them came Charlotte, then Gilbert and Darnell. Dylan had the smallest amount of Aura in the group, though that was by no means insignificant.

I scanned each of them before pausing momentarily on Robyn.

I had also figured out her secret within about ten seconds of meeting her in person. Aside from the distinct movements — especially in instinctual situations like fear, happiness, or excitement — inorganic materials reacted differently to mana compared to organic ones.

Being extremely sensitive to mana, it was all too easy to tell the difference between a real tail and an anal plug.

Did Devas know? … Probably — I hummed internally. He had plenty of ways to figure that out quickly. If I had to guess, it was thanks to the VoidBag. I'd have to ask him later. This was the first time I'd uncovered a secret like that without the relic telling me, and I wanted to talk to someone about it!

I turned my attention to Alalia when she opened her eyes. She blinked three times before her pupils focused.

"It's daytime… Even in the storm, I can tell it's daytime…" she murmured to herself.

"I'm sure Devas wasn't lying." I had also seen the dark sky in the broadcast. The phone was propped against the window frame.

"...I'm not saying he's lying. It's just that..." Her brow furrowed, and her gaze unfocused for a moment as she turned toward the storm. "This shouldn't be possible… Unless..."

She abruptly turned to face me. Her long white hair rippled, bringing a breeze down the hallway.

"Ask Devas how that sky felt. Just ask if it seemed like a fake sky, like a painting!"

I typed her exact words into the broadcast's (CHAT). Devas was moving as he read them. He'd resumed running the moment his feet hit the ground.

I'd thought he'd come back after seeing the night sky, but he remained within the storm.

His response came a second later, his voice serious and slightly tense:

"It wasn't a painting. Tell Alalia that fucking thing was as real as it was fake."

A low, guttural sound escaped his throat — a growl. He placed a hand on his head, a faint look of pain crossing his face, and continued:

"It wasn't the sky of this world. It was something separate. A kind of distinct dimension, or something close to it. The natural sky of this world is different from that starless sky above the sea of gray clouds..."

I relayed his words to Alalia as he spoke. With each syllable, the dryad's face grew more tense. Her brow visibly furrowed. I was sure I was mirroring her expression.

"That's why the night wouldn't end..." Alalia's words left her lips like a gentle breeze. Her gaze was shaken, teetering on the edge of terror. "An endless night"

"The only upside is that I could sense that sky had a limit... A border...." Devas's voice came through the phone. As I passed his words to Alalia, her expression hardened further. He added with a furrowed brow:

"Fuck it, what a headache. Can't Alalia destroy that sky? It'd make things a lot easier."

"Can you?" I asked.

"How would I even do that?!" Her voice rose. The air around us and the Proto-A grew colder and more agitated. "I can't even feel that sky!"

I quickly typed her words to Devas. He stopped running, stared at the broadcast screen, and blinked, confused.

"Is she messing with me?!" He shook his head, incredulous, before resuming his run. He was the only point of light and color in the storm; everything else was dark and gray, while he glowed purple, wrapped in Shadowflame.

"Throw Terraria's natural sky into the storm's sky! Push one sky against the other, create a bigger storm to swallow this one, or toss a damn star into that starless sky! Any of those options should work. Tell her to pick the easiest."

I admit it took me a few seconds to pass on the message this time. Creating a storm to swallow another was one thing… but throwing a star into the sky? Forcing Terraria's natural sky against the storm's sky?

"He wants me to create and throw a star into the sky?!"

"Or create a storm to swallow the other."

"He wants me to forcibly push the world's sky?!"

Alalia shook her head, incredulous. Where her hair touched, a thin layer of frost formed. She closed her eyes for about ten seconds before opening them again.

"I don't know if I can create a star, so forget that. Pushing the world's sky against the storm's sky is possible, and so is creating another storm, but…" She murmured to herself, biting the tip of her thumb. "I'll need more power than I can handle in my current state. That will weaken me or put me to sleep… and I won't be able to suppress those two. They'll start spreading again..."

So she could actually push the sky... I didn't even know if the sibling gods could do something like that.

I pushed my tumultuous thoughts aside and typed Alalia's response into the (CHAT) for Devas.

"Of course, if someone's keeping those two biomes in check, it's her..." Devas muttered aloud, stopping in another village. "Fine... Forget it. Tell Alalia to keep doing what she's doing. Hold those two things steady, protect the kingdom, and find a way to unfuck the sick. I'll figure something out on my end."

The look of relief that spread across Alalia's face when I relayed Devas's words was almost tangible in the air. She really didn't want to go near the storm, did she? Why?

"He knows about the Red and the Purple? Of course, he does." I heard Alalia murmur to herself before a faint smile appeared on her face. She glanced toward Devas for a moment, then turned to me.

"The matrix protecting the kingdom won't be deactivated. The barrier can be activated at any time. Are you free?" Her eyes flicked to the relic at my waist before locking onto my face. "I want to purge that eye's influence from everyone's minds. With your help, it'll be much faster."

"Devas said curing the sick is a priority. I can work on the Proto-A later." I nodded before slapping my thigh. I lifted my dress, revealing a palm mark with an eye at its center, showing it to Alalia. "And I think I know where we can start…"

The eyes in the shadows around us slowly opened. Alalia watched them with curiosity.

"It really is similar to the stag's energy… Fire against fire?"

"Insanity against insanity. I think that's the best way to describe it."

Eye against Eye.

[…]

POV: Devas Asura

I threw the green bodies into my inventory and marked the location on the map. Another village, no survivors. No animals, no Terrarians. I stored the map and kept running.

Even the number of corpses was small. One or two at most, and that was only every five villages…

("How's your headache?") Ozma's voice echoed in my mind.

("I'm fine. It's not as bad as it was after Jinn's question. A little worse than when I 'looked' at hell, that's all.") It wasn't anything serious. More shock than actual pain.

A false sky above the clouds. Well, not exactly false, but… unnatural. Damn, I hadn't expected to deal with Type-Moon-level problems so soon. Infecting Terrarians just by existing was one thing. Creating zombies and demon eyes, another. But distorting reality and creating a starless black sky? Now that was ridiculous.

Ozma spoke again a few seconds later.

("What's the plan? I have to admit, this is the first time I've faced something like this. Normally, I'd be pleasantly surprised to encounter something new, but the feel of this storm and the sight of that sky disgust me.")

("I'll explore the storm for a few days before heading back to the kingdom. I want to see if I can find anything useful.") The information I already had was good, but the more, the better. ("After that, we prepare. I want the Proto-A ready, the kingdom fortified, and everyone protected for when the shit hits the fan.")

("We'll wait?")

I shook my head. ("No. I'll return to the storm later. Alalia can't do shit against it, and I don't want her trying. Suppressing the Crimson and the Corruption is more important. I want to weaken all of this first.")

("The storm you created against Salem?") He guessed.

("That too. The Hallucination Storm is an option, but it's not the only thing I'm considering.") My storm was too small to handle this on its own. ("Killing the Eye is the main goal. Once it's dead, the storm and the starless sky should disappear.")

("You're hiding something.")

("You know me so well already?") I joked.

He scoffed. ("I'm in your mind, or almost. It's easier to notice things here. Besides, I'm old; I've learned to read people.")

("Fair enough. I have an idea that could weaken the starless sky, but it's risky. I'll need to do some calculations with Jinn when we're back.")

("Math and magic. This will either go very wrong or very right.") Ozma hummed. ("What happens in each case?")

("If it goes wrong, I'll screw myself over or die. Probably the latter, if it goes very wrong. If it goes right, the Eye dies and… well, all's well that ends well. At least, I hope. At the very least, the storm and the starless sky should weaken.")

("And this is just two days into our time in Terraria.") He pointed out.

("Crazy, isn't it?")

The connection went silent before he snorted and laughed. Then he replied, ("I'm here for whatever you need. I might not be the greatest magic expert in Remnant, but I'd say I'm in the top three.")

("I'll count on your help later, then.") I replied, ending the conversation and focusing on my surroundings.

I kept heading toward the coast. I should reach BlueHarbor in a few minutes. Gilbert had asked me to check on Simon and the village if possible, so I would, even though it wasn't a priority.

As night fell—the real night—the environment grew even darker. The sky became a black canvas, illuminated only by lightning, which now flashed entirely red.

I knew it was water raining down. I made sure to analyze the droplets with Analyze: Item every few minutes. But whenever the surroundings were lit by the red lightning, it looked like it was raining blood.

"Paranoia-inducing hellhole," I muttered, checking my status.

Still normal. No The Outer Foreigner Presence.

Nothing appeared on the minimap. No red dots. Only the occasional yellow ones representing animals—a setting I had activated. But even those dots began disappearing until no life remained apart from vegetation.

I stopped in place. A shiver ran down my spine. I scanned the area using all my senses and the minimap, but nothing. No insects, no small or large animals. Nothing. Life had simply ceased past a certain point.

The farther from the kingdom, the less life, until there was none…

Absolutely fantastic.

The worst part wasn't the absence of life but the absence of bodies. No corpses, no traces. Just a silent, empty forest, save for the incessant sound of rain.

I had the sudden urge to burn this entire place—forests, villages, mountains. Everything under this rain…

I circulated mana through my body and took a deep breath, activating Sun Breathing to the max. I looked around again. I could still feel gazes coming from above and the shadows of the trees. I resumed running toward the shore.

It didn't take long to find the fishing village we'd visited on the way to WinterHord.

The optimistic part of me still hoped to find people. Terrarians alive, hiding, even if marked and infected by the presence of that thing... The pessimistic part—the realistic part—knew there wouldn't be anyone.

That's why I hadn't hurried. Why I hadn't rushed full speed to this village, even with Gilbert asking me to check it.

There was no point in rushing. Visiting a graveyard didn't require urgency, even when it had no bodies.

BlueHarbor was empty too.

[...]---[...]

An arc I wanted to post some time ago, just like Village Jille and WinterHord. I really like Terraria's arcs.

Well, regarding the chapter: a lot of stuff has been discovered, a lot of stuff is about to happen, and 'The Eye' is stronger than expected by many people.

I won't go on for too long, as always: good Night and happy reading! Comment, and I will reply with my best, without giving spoilers.

O

I spent some time exploring BlueHarbor.

There was nothing alive in the village—something I noticed instantly. The only sounds were those of the rain and, unlike other places, the crashing of ocean waves, which struck the sand aggressively.

The color of the water shifted: sometimes dark blue, an abyss I could only perceive because my eyes had adjusted to total darkness...

"Craaack!"

...Sometimes blood-red, whenever lightning illuminated the scene. There was a lot of lightning. The ocean seemed angry.

I stared at the sea from a distance. Each wave, each motion of its waters. Strangely and curiously, I couldn't feel anything there. No kind of 'gaze,' no sort of 'presence,' contrary to what I had expected. I wasn't sure whether to take that as good or bad news.

I walked slowly among the beach houses, letting my eyes wander, searching for anything I could uncover. The other villages were the same: houses upon houses, empty, drenched by the relentless rain, and sometimes containing green, swollen, decayed corpses. All eyeless.

But BlueHarbor was different.

The first thing I noticed were the doors. Some of them appeared to have been broken open. A closer look revealed that the hinges had been forced from the inside. Something inside the houses had forced its way out.

None of the other villages had this. None of the other villages had various bloodstains on the interior walls of their houses, as if something had bolted out so quickly that its injuries—or what I presumed were injuries—had sprayed blood across the white wooden walls.

The smell of the blood wasn't normal either. I was used to the smell of blood; this blood didn't smell like blood. It smelled rotten, rancid. The wood it had splattered on also seemed slightly corroded.

This stank—literally and metaphorically.

An Analyze: Item on the blood revealed it belonged to a Terrarian recently turned into a zombie. More specifically: blood from the veins of their eyeballs.

"A demon eye?…" I murmured, running a finger through the blood trail. It was dry but still had a consistency like glue—or tar.

It made sense. The explosion, or implosion, or whatever happened when the eyes came out, must have been violent enough to force the body's blood to gush out.

"But why hadn't this happened in any other village?…"

("Could something have forced them?") Ozma guessed.

"Maybe… But what?" I muttered. What was different about this village that didn't exist in the others? Or at least, I thought it didn't.

The answer was obvious.

I followed the faint, subtle blood trails through the village. They seemed ingrained into the wooden ground as if corrupting it—reddish-brown, putrid stains—and even after days of rain, the water couldn't wash them away.

The trail seemed to lead to a single place. Not all the houses had their doors broken, but those that did all pointed to the same path: a more isolated house, slightly removed from the others and the village's entrance.

The VoidBag gave it away before I even entered the house, but once I explored it, I found something in one of the rooms I'd been expecting to find for some time: a demon eye.

[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]

This is the most disgusting eye I've ever had the displeasure of seeing in my entire existence. Please, DS, burn this shit immediately!

(Iron Man flamethrower emote)

I dismissed the message with the back of my hand and approached the demon eye. It was dead—I could tell without closely inspecting it; the hole on the side of its retina was a dead giveaway. The eye also looked dry; it had been dead for a while.

Still, Kazuma was right about one thing: this eye was disgusting. Not because it was a giant, bloated eye—that was just part of it. Just looking at it gave me an uncomfortable feeling. Touching it was even worse. It was like holding a rotten, fleshy fruit; the smell wasn't much different, just more cadaveric.

I could tell the eye had died with an 'expression' of rage somehow. Just looking at its iris betrayed its emotions. Part of the thing also seemed sad for some reason.

A quick Analyze: Item gave me a description of what I already suspected: the eye was from a Terrarian, 'born' due to The Outer Foreigner Presence and awakened when its former owner looked at the 'Great Eye in the Sky,' awakening their 'True Eyes.' The stream didn't specify whether that was the moon, the moon of the starless sky, or 'The Eye' itself.

I knew many people in the kingdom, who were likely infected by The Outer Foreigner Presence, gazed at the moon every night, but no demon eyes had been born yet. The 'disease' was still dormant. The question was: why? I could think of a few possibilities…

The most obvious was that the 'Great Eye in the Sky' referred to the moon of the starless sky, hidden behind the clouds, or 'The Eye,' not the world's natural moon, but I doubted that was the case. There was no reason—it was just instinct. The moon was guilty; I knew it.

The second possibility was that The Outer Foreigner Presence, after reaching (High-Extreme)—which was the 'level' of 'infection' Juan had—could be 'awakened.' It was likely. But the third possibility seemed the most plausible: knowledge.

None of the people in the kingdom had knowledge of 'The Eye,' the starless sky, or what the storm truly was. The same went for whatever the 'Great Eye in the Sky' was—perhaps even something else entirely. None of them knew. They were all 'blind,' so to speak.

Ignorance was bliss. I liked that saying, and it seemed—and probably was—infinitely more accurate when knowledge involved anything Outer…

"Jinn, tell everyone to avoid looking at the moon at night. Just as a precaution," I said aloud, frowning. "Not the general population; leave them in ignorance. Just those who know what we're dealing with."

I clicked my tongue, irritated and stressed. My head still hurt, too. Damn, I wanted to be wrong. I really did. But I felt I wasn't, and I usually wasn't. That meant I was screwed.

I knew too much…

I shook my head and returned to reading the information about the demon eye in my hand. One part had caught my attention, aside from how these eyes 'came to be': who it belonged to.

[The demon eye originally belonged to the traveling merchant Gallius. Caught off guard during one of his investigations, along with his caravan, his left eye wandered back to his home, driven by a final instinct: to warn his father about the danger looming above all.]

The son's eye tried to warn the father…

I tossed the eye into the VoidBag, along with the bodies I found at the house's back door and further down the trail. At the end of the trail of corpses—zombie carcasses—I found only a yellow rain hat buried in the sand.

No sign of Simon.

… He probably arrived too late.

[…]

I spent the rest of the night in the storm. I tried to find more—clues or living people. I found some of the former but none of the latter. Just bodies, more and more green, swollen, eyeless bodies.

I didn't find Simon, alive or dead. I searched the area around BlueHarbor, but the best I found, besides the yellow rain hat that belonged to someone named Charles and had been swapped with Simon—something Analyze: Item revealed—was a sort of gray stone cave with a tunnel or path carved into the rock, at the northernmost part of the beach.

Inside the cave, I found some emergency provisions and supplies. The area had been ransacked, with various items scattered across the floor as if someone had grabbed whatever they could in a hurry. I followed the tunnel, its floor completely flooded, walking for a few hundred meters until I reached a fork.

The left path stretched on for another few dozen meters, sloping upward and ending in a section of forest whose exit was camouflaged by dense foliage. The vegetation was thick and dark, concealing a narrow, makeshift trail. The camouflage didn't appear to have been disturbed by anyone before me.

The right path was different. It didn't lead to the forest but instead narrowed and sloped downward before curving and ending in what seemed to be a sort of improvised dock. The dock was built from the same white wood as BlueHarbor's houses, though much more weathered, and it was situated in a grotto.

I examined the place quickly. It didn't seem like a living space—there were no beds or anything of the sort. The dock was empty as well.

On the far-left wall, there were shelves containing small boxes. Some held fishing hooks, others artificial lures, and some contained leaves—various kinds of leaves, all rummaged through. Some had calming properties, others helped with bad breath, repelled insects, were used as incense, or even to brew drinks.

Nearby, in larger crates, I found fishing nets of various sizes, repair tools, hammers, saws, nails, screws, and screwdrivers. There were also spare parts for fishing rods, shackles, lines, and other components whose names I only learned thanks to Analyze: Item.

"All of this belongs to Simon…" I murmured aloud. My voice echoed through the cave before fading into the tunnel.

Everything I analyzed so far had the same information: Simon's name appeared in every description, indicating that he had either crafted or purchased each item.

("Maybe he managed to escape?") Ozma's voice rang out, audible both to me and the stream. ("There's no boat at the dock. The painter's in the water.")

I walked over to the dock, asking, "Painter?"

("The name of the rope that secures boats to the dock. An old term for mooring line,") he explained briefly before adding, with a faintly nostalgic tone: ("I was a fisherman in some lives. It's a tough job. If there's a Grimm attack, the chances of surviving at sea are slim. I've died that way before. Fighting adrift in a nighttime storm is truly difficult.")

"I can imagine it's complicated…" I murmured, crouching to observe the murky seawater flowing into the grotto. After a few moments, I stood and approached the dock's edge.

I leapt onto the nearest rock, then onto another farther away, about ten or twenty meters distant. That last one was swallowed by each wave, reemerging briefly only to be submerged again moments later. The rain once again enveloped me, now joined by the stormy sea and its waves crashing against my body, failing to drag me into the ocean.

"Why choose the sea over the forest?…"

("A fisherman would almost always choose the sea.")

"This kind of sea?" I gestured toward the horizon.

The rain fell as if attacking the ocean, which retaliated with waves over ten meters high, colliding against one another and sending water even higher. On the horizon, I could see typhoons and hurricanes reaching the clouds, surrounded by red lightning.

("You have a point… A fisherman, more than anyone, knows how deadly a sea like that is.") His tone was thoughtful. He hesitated before continuing: ("Maybe he saw something in the forest and chose to risk the sea instead?")

I didn't respond verbally this time. I simply hummed while observing the ocean, tilting my head toward the sky, which began to turn gray again as the natural dawn broke through. After a few seconds, I murmured, "Maybe he did… Maybe…"

I cast one last glance at the sea before jumping away, crossing the rocky expanse where the grotto lay. I ran through the air for a few moments before landing in the forest and continuing on solid ground, the Shadowflame subtly enveloping my body.

"A stormy, tumultuous sea or a dark, silent forest?…" My voice was drowned out by the rain. A thunderclap echoed, painting the surroundings in blood-red light.

I didn't know what Simon had seen to make him choose the sea…

… But it couldn't have been anything good.

[…]

It took me almost an hour to reach my destination, without running at full speed, and confirm one of my theories: the starless sky had a limit, a boundary. The storm must have one too, logically. But where was that limit?

The answer came when the raindrops began to cool—without turning to snow, somehow—and the sky cleared just before I reached the base of the first mountain in the WinterHord range. It was as if something had sliced through the clouds. One moment, everything above was gray, and in the next, it wasn't.

I'll admit I sighed in relief upon leaving the storm behind. Not only did I feel a weight lift from my shoulders and the oppressive air ease, but I also noticed that the gaze watching my back had withdrawn. The storm still 'watched' me, but from much farther away, with a much blurrier, unfocused 'view.'

The first thing I did after leaving the storm was to put distance between us. This time, I didn't hold back my speed and vanished from where I stood, reappearing seconds later at the peak of the tallest mountain I could find. At the summit, I used the Angel Greaves to go even higher and didn't stop until I could see the top of the storm clouds.

"Clear as day, just like the kingdom's view," I murmured to myself, standing in the air on a small translucent platform of solidified wind. I grumbled, slightly puzzled: "The starless sky can only be seen beneath the storm?…"

Even in the kingdom, you could see the sky above the storm. A normal sky above an abnormal storm. That's why I was so surprised to see that night sky—a sky that now didn't exist. I could see the gray clouds, the thunder, and the rain falling fiercely, but above it all, it was clear. It was daytime. Dawn was breaking.

If I hadn't seen that dark, starless sky for myself, probed the 'void' with my senses, and felt its boundary, I might've thought I was going insane. I might've even believed it was an illusion. Paranoia played tricks on the mind, and that damn place was undoubtedly a paranoia-inducing nightmare.

But no. I knew I wasn't insane. And even if I didn't have that certainty, I wasn't the only one who had seen that sky. Ozma had seen it. The (CHAT) had seen it. I might be wrong, but I doubted the stream was. The recording didn't lie; the sky had been dark and starless at that moment.

I watched the twilight above the storm as I thought. The contrast between the orange dawn and the gray darkness of the clouds was, in a way, beautiful.

A few seconds later, Ozma's voice broke the silence around me.

("Don't you think the timing of this is a bit suspicious?")

"Absolutely," I agreed without hesitation, immediately understanding his point. "It's almost too obvious when you stop to think about it..."

("Not really,") he countered, before explaining: ("It's obvious to us because we have the information and because you tore through the cloud layer from the inside, exposing the starless sky. But without that, it would be tricky to connect the dots.")

I hummed thoughtfully for a moment before agreeing again. "You're right."

That was when the messages started appearing in my vision, one by one, emerging from small clouds.

[AdvocateOfGenderEquality]

And would you stop speaking in riddles, please? No one likes that crap! What the hell are you even talking about?!

(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]

DS, you need to remember that if it weren't for you, all—or almost all—the people in WinterHord would've died. No one would know the deer's powers.

(Thinking man emoji with crossed fingers)

[GreenSatan]

Some kind of power mimicry? Or did The Eye already have that ability and is just imitating something the Deerclops did?

[JiraiyaIsAnIdiot]

It's easier to follow a trail than to create one.

(Emoji of a wise old toad)

[WiseWizardGleam]

Miss Alalia mentioned she couldn't sense the starless sky. Could that be why? An illusion or hallucination in this case.

(Old wizard thinking emoji)

[AdvocateOfGenderEquality]

Am I seriously the only one who doesn't get this?! Aqua, Megumin, Darkness, where are you? Say something! I refuse to believe you guys understood!

(Generic guy yelling out a window emoji)

I read the messages quickly before they dispersed into the air.

"Welcome back, Fukasaku. Have things calmed down on your end? Do you need a summary of what's happened in the last few days?" I asked, sensing the old toad's presence.

He, along with his wife, Jiraiya, and Minato, had been absent for some time due to the war. Their comments had become scarce during this period.

[JiraiyaIsAnIdiot]

Jiraiya-chan was called away from the frontlines, so my presence hasn't been required in the past few days. Something about negotiations or something like that. I'll ask someone from the (CHAT) for a summary of recent events. No need for you to waste your time on this old toad.

(Emoji of an old toad sipping tea calmly)

The message was carried by a fly, which was promptly devoured by a leaping toad that vanished moments later.

I nodded. "Alright then," I replied to the message before chuckling at the spam of 'Explain this shit!' messages Kazuma was sending.

"The storm appeared right after the Deerclops' storm," I pointed behind me in the direction I knew WinterHord lay. Not that it was necessary—the storm had engulfed the entire mountain range before, though it was much smaller now. "Not only that, but the fact that the starless sky was hidden says a lot."

Dumbledore had mentioned it: it was like an illusion—or, in this case, a hallucination. It was too coincidental not to be connected. And in some ways, it was obvious. The problem was that it was only obvious to those who knew about the Deerclops' powers—or rather, knew that the deer had created the storm—and had seen the starless sky.

From the outside, it was just a bizarre storm. From the inside, it was even stranger, with that sky visible only to those within it...

Before I could move again, another message appeared in my vision.

[(MOD)JinnOfTheLamp]

Alalia said the Deerclops made the world hallucinate! I'm relaying her words. According to Alalia, the sensation she perceives in the storm is different from the Deerclops' storm.

(Chibi-Jinn typing rapidly on a phone emoji)

"The Deerclops did what?! Are you kidding me?! What the fuck?! how?!"

My shock and surprise were so great that I partially lost control of the platform I was standing on, plummeting through the sky for two or three seconds before instinctively moving my arm, pulling air into my hand, solidifying it, and hanging onto the sky itself.

"Jinn, I want answers. Tell Alalia to explain what she knows," I said, turning toward the stream camera before solidifying the air beneath my feet and standing upright again.

It took a few minutes for Jinn to transcribe everything the dryad had said. With each new explanation, my emotions shifted slightly. By the time everything was laid out, I turned toward the remnants of the deer's snowstorm. It was much smaller than it had been a month ago, but it still lingered, holding its shape with the last vestiges of his nightmare energy.

I felt my own energy twist, as though excited by the knowledge, while my Nightmares stirred within my Spiritual Realm, howling, growling, and whispering upward.

"A hallucination for everything outside the storm, outside that little 'world,'" I murmured, repeating Alalia's words as transcribed by Jinn in the (CHAT), a growing smile forming on my face.

My storm wasn't like the deer's—it was close, but not identical. It was something mine, created from my 'insanity' and 'madness'... but I had seen his storm. I had been within it. I knew how to replicate it even more effectively if I wanted to...

"This changes a lot..."

...This made a lot of things easier.

[...]

After the 'discovery,' I resumed running, heading straight for WinterHord. I passed through the storm surrounding it just seconds later and entered the city shortly after. The barrier was no longer active—it seemed that the current cold was something 'normal' for the inhabitants.

("Aren't you going to show yourself?")

"No. I just want to check if the people here are 'infected' too." I answered Ozma without stopping. "The rain didn't reach them, just like in the Kingdom, but the Kingdom has Alalia and the matrix for protection. Here, they don't."

("Good thought. Maybe this 'disease' spreads through the air too, not just the rain.") He replied before falling silent.

I walked casually through the streets of WinterHord, wearing winter clothes that concealed my face while my nightmare energy diminished my presence. 'The shadow at the corner of everyone's vision.' No one even noticed me, not even the residents I 'accidentally' bumped into to use Analyze: Item.

The city was much more bustling than the last time I'd been there. The residents' expressions were tired, but with a kind of joyful exhaustion. The air of melancholy and despair had been swept away long ago, and everyone seemed to be recovering from what had happened. Even the destroyed houses and buildings were being rebuilt.

No one was infected. I analyzed almost two hundred people, those that cost less, spending around three hundred thousand SP.

After that, I headed to the WinterHord mansion. I could've entered unnoticed and gone straight to speak with Annabell, but I chose to reveal myself to the guards at the mansion's entrance. They recognized me instantly, with wide eyes and surprise. In their gazes, there was respect and perhaps even a kind of 'adoration.'

It was strange to be looked at like that...

I met Annabell a few minutes later. The countess wore clothes as elegant and stylish as I remembered—worthy of someone I knew to be the 'stylist' NPC. She seemed surprised by my presence. I could also feel a slight fear coming from her.

"My apologies for the delay, I wasn't expecting visitors. I quickly changed to see you as soon as I could." She gave a slight bow, pulling her winter skirt to the sides. I returned the greeting. "Please, sit down. What brings you here?"

"No need to apologize, I came without warning. The fault is mine." I shook my head, waving my hand as I sat at the tea table. Nobles seemed to have a tendency for this, for some reason.

"As for my visit: I assume you've seen the storm at the edge of the mountain range?"

Her face immediately furrowed.

"Yes, I'm aware. I couldn't get in touch with the Kingdom; I thought it might be due to the snowstorm, so I sent my men out of it. To my surprise, there was another storm… Do you have any information on what that is? Is it another…?"

Her words died in the air. I shook my head, both to decline the tea she offered and to deny her last question.

"It's not another creature like the deer, don't worry." The less she knew, the better. "But it's something abnormal. My group, along with the Crown and the Oakwood house, is investigating. Did you notice a higher number of sick people in the duchy?"

"The Crown and the Oakwood house?…" She murmured to herself before her gaze focused on me again, alarmed, presumably by the last part of my statement. "No, but what kind of illness are we talking about? Something contagious?"

"As far as we know, no. It's a really strong flu, resistant to medications and doesn't pass with time." I explained briefly before adding: "It's due to the rainwater, from the storm. Don't send anyone there, and WinterHord will be fine. Have you sent anyone into the rain?"

If she had, it would be better to take those people back to the Kingdom with me. There, they'd have a better chance of surviving than here.

To my relief, Annabell denied: "No, everyone living in WinterHord, myself included, is hesitant about any kind of storm. I intended to send some people to the Kingdom in about one or two weeks, in case the rain didn't pass, but I haven't done that yet."

"Perfect. Don't send anyone unless absolutely necessary. If you do, use carriages with waterproof Mystic Symbols." I thought for a moment before adding: "Warn them not to let the rain touch their skin, and also avoid breathing outside the carriage. Use air filters."

Annabell looked at me with a strange expression, clearly worried.

"Even the air?… Should I activate the barrier matrix again?"

"It shouldn't be necessary, but keep an eye out for any abnormal number of people with the flu or colds. If you think you should activate the barrier, do it. Your instinct saved your people once, follow it, and it might save them again."

The people of WinterHord should have a higher resistance to colds, so any increase in cases should easily alert her.

She simply nodded, remaining silent for a moment. I imagined she would ask if I was infected with the 'disease,' since the only way to WinterHord was through the rain, but she didn't. She probably thought I came with the Humvee.

After one more short conversation, I said my goodbyes to Annabell and headed out of the city. I didn't head back toward the storm, but went around WinterHord. I hadn't been able to find where the Deerclops was sealed before, both due to lack of time to search and the lack of mobility I had back then.

Now, even though time was still short, my movement speed was incomparable to before.

While I searched for the place where the Deerclops was sealed, Ainz decided it was a good time to ask for the conversation he had mentioned earlier, when my group appeared with the others. I quickly pulled him into an isolated (CHAT), which, curiously, he didn't want me to keep private.

It wasn't hard to understand the reason after a few words.

[AinzOoalGown]: I wish to donate 1,000,000,000 SP for you to buy the upgrade [Reality 4D (Safe)]. I know how something like this can be invasive, since it would share everything you feel with the (CHAT), so I'd like to ask if you would buy it if I donated, as it's not a small amount of money, given the conversion.

Ainz was smart. The private (CHAT) served to have the conversation without interference, while making it public ensured there would be witnesses. If I spent the SP on anything other than the upgrade, I'd lose the trust of many people who might think about doing the same now or in the future.

Serafall had done something similar by donating for me to buy the mental microphone. Stark too, at the beginning of the stream, donating for several cameras. In fact, more than half of the cameras the stream currently had were "bought" by him.

Of course, Ainz could have written in the donation that he wanted me to acquire the [Reality 4D (Safe)], but, as he mentioned, it was something invasive. The upgrade would share everything I felt with the stream—even though I was sure there would be possible settings for that. His approach, combining the public (CHAT) and the direct question, covered multiple possibilities.

Sure, I could simply accept and spend the SP on another upgrade, like the VoidBag or the Minimap, erase that part of the stream, and edit the recording, forbidding any mention of it in the CHAT. But there was no reason, nor any need, for me to do that.

"I'll configure the upgrade the way I want. I won't let my thoughts or emotions be felt, but almost everything else is acceptable," I finally answered.

Was it hypocritical, in a way? Yes. I had been able to feel, "read," and understand the emotions of everyone around me for some time. Humans were easy to sense, Terrarians more complicated, but Shadowflame helped me in that case.

Not wanting my emotions to be known, even though I did this to others, could be called hypocrisy… But I never denied being hypocritical, so fuck it.

[AinzOoalGown]: I didn't expect another answer. I just wish to feel other worlds, just like you can. I'll be satisfied feeling the environment around you, the mana, and what it's like to be in the same place as you.

(Skeleton emote handing over a credit card)

A few seconds later, a notification appeared in front of me:

-//-

[AinzOoalGown] Donated 1,200,000,000 SP!: Thank you for your understanding, Devas. The other 200,000,000 SP is for any inconvenience I might have caused, as well as a gift from me. You gave me good advice, and I'm grateful for that.

-//-

Unlike Stark, Ainz didn't prolong the donation message. He simply wrote what he wanted and nothing more. Out of curiosity, I checked my total SP:

[Current SP: 1,362,431,677]

That was a hell of a lot of SP, but I didn't hesitate to access the stream shop and buy the upgrade Ainz had requested. I hadn't visited the shop in a while, since I had bought almost all the cameras. Everything was too expensive, so I avoided going there.

Fortunately, I didn't need to search for the upgrade manually thanks to the search bar. With a tap, my total SP plummeted and the upgrade was acquired.

[Reality 4D (Safe): 1,000,000,000 (Purchased!) (Deactivated!)]

[Current SP: 362,431,677]

As expected, the [Reality 4D (Safe)] had several configuration options. I spent a good few minutes adjusting everything, to the point of interrupting my search for the location where the Deerclops was sealed, and stood still in the snow while I read.

Curiously, there were two available modes: 'Share Senses' and 'Simultaneous Existence'. Both did what they promised, but in different ways, and both were only recommended for viewers who were sitting or lying down, although they could be used normally.

The first mode, 'Share Senses,' did exactly what the name suggested: it shared my senses with the viewers, putting them in my point of view. Sight, hearing, touch, taste, or smell—everything could be configured. Of course, with specific restrictions to avoid sensory overload, as my current senses could literally melt the brain of ninety-nine percent of the (CHAT).

There was even a note explaining that the [Reality 4D (Safe)] prevented something called "extra-sensory addiction" and "extreme sensory addiction."

The first occurred when a person experienced sensations beyond their normal capacity, such as mana or nightmare energy. The second happened when a person's senses became so heightened that all their normal senses seemed insufficient, leading to addiction.

As for the second mode, 'Simultaneous Existence,' it was more complex. It created a "false existence" beside me for each viewer, allowing them to feel the world where I was with their own senses, rather than mine. They would feel what they should feel if they were in the same place as me, instead of feeling through my senses.

This simultaneous existence stayed close to me, with a maximum distance of ten meters. Just like the first mode, there were filters and detailed settings.

I spent the next few minutes configuring both modes. For the first, I completely disabled any functionality involving my thoughts or emotions. I also enabled the 'Unrevealed Secrets' mode, which basically prevented my senses from revealing secrets to the viewers, like Robyn's second tail.

For the second mode, I only enabled 'Unrevealed Secrets' and left the rest for the stream to configure automatically. Although it was possible to manually adjust each viewer's sense, I didn't bother—way too much to configure...

Finally, I activated both modes, allowing people to choose which one they preferred. I'd probably leave only the second one activated normally, but I was curious and wanted to see everyone's reaction to the first mode.

I could see the number of people using each mode, and as expected, the vast majority of viewers chose the first.

The entire (CHAT) literally froze for a few seconds. No new messages appeared in that interval until a single message appeared, seemingly summarizing what everyone wanted to say:

[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]

HOLY FUCKING GOD!?

I must have looked like a complete maniac, laughing alone in the middle of absolute nothingness, surrounded only by ice and snow. I went back to exploring the mountain range, even while I laughed.

... I didn't find the location of the Deerclops' seal, even after it started getting dark.

[...]---[...]

First of all: The delay in releasing this chapter was because I was finishing the draft for this arc. I want it to be as good as Jille and WinterHord, or better. At the very least, I want it to be just as good.

Now, let's get to the chapter!

A chapter with discoveries, some correct, some not so much, and some really useful for the future. This storm has several 'secrets' and 'whys' behind how and why it exists. It's something I plan to explore, it will be important. The starless sky as well...

This conversation that Devas had with Ainz is the 'spoiler' I deleted in the RWBY arc. Having the viewers with [Reality 4D] at that moment would have been a huge spoiler for something I want to do in this current arc, in case I were to write from one of their perspectives.

Ah, yes, the next chapter is from the CHAT's POV, but it will follow Devas. They will narrate what Devas is doing.

Finally, the Deerclops seal: There is a reason Devas didn't find it. I won't say why, but it's something that will come back in the future.

Well, I think that's it. I'm excited about this arc and everything that will happen in it. I hope you are too. This arc should last the same as WinterHord, or even shorter, it's something small, just in case anyone wants to know. After that, Devas will move on to another world.

That said, good Night and happy reading!