The enormous straw maze stretched on endlessly, but the huge female corpse nailed to the pillar had vanished. Schiller now sat on the ground with his back against the pillar, while an elegantly dressed woman with a kindly face stood before him.
"Stop running away. You will become my child."
Schiller pressed his lips together. Blood streamed down from his forehead, and several wounds pierced by sharp weapons covered his body. The skin on the back of one hand had been completely flayed off.
"Where did you hide that woman? Why won't you let me kill her?" the woman asked. "Did she bewitch you? Did she make you swear loyalty to her? But those are all lies. Get up, come to Mother..."
Schiller remained seated in silence, showing only resistance and a desire to stall for time.
The woman flashed behind him again. "You can't hold out much longer. I admit your mind is strong, but I've seen too many tough ones. In the end, they all returned to my embrace. Why won't you come over, child...?"
"Because you don't deserve it."
The air froze at those words. Schiller finally cracked his eyes open, staring dazedly at the ground before him. "You are not a real mother. You are merely the pitiful product of resentment. You are the one who needs to wake up."
The woman's expression immediately turned cold. A knife appeared in her hand, and she seemed ready to slash at Schiller again.
"You gave your power to your children, but they betrayed you. That filled you with regret and resentment. It made you realize that generous gifts would never lead them onto the right path. Thus, Mother was born."
"You taught them lessons in the mental world, gave birth to them anew, and mercifully gave them another