Inside the Hall

Lovia was pulled back by Alice.

She stopped in confusion and looked at Alice. Alice gazed into the hall, frowned, then hesitated before saying:

"How about... you go back outside first?"

"Why?" Lovia asked with a frown.

Alice shook her head. The scene before her swirled in colorful flux, and there was not much she could grasp. The clearest things were an expanding shadow and a pair of eyes filled with confusion and pain.

She looked at Lovia and said bluntly:

"If you go in, you'll die.

"I'm not confident I can bring you out alive."

"But..." Lovia still wanted to say something.

Colin Iliad and Derrick both stopped what they were doing. Klein did not advance either, and Colin asked:

"What's inside?"

"'Dark Angel' Sasrir. I think the pathway He once controlled should have been the 'Hanged Man' pathway," Alice said uncertainly. "As for now... He definitely has no Beyonder Characteristics. The reason for His existence... I don't know exactly what it is, but it must be connected to the Chaos Sea. And the corruption of the Chaos Sea... I can't resolve it."

After several silent seconds, Lovia replied with a somewhat complicated expression:

"I originally thought You had come to take the item inside the hall.

"I originally..."

She paused, as though swallowing back something she had wanted to say. In the end, she only said:

"You did remind me of something—will I, like a shadow, be affected by the power of degeneration?"

"...No," Alice answered honestly. "At least, I didn't see this possibility... I only saw that you would die—not from being killed by us, but from the influence of a high-level existence? You understand."

"Will I be of help before I die?" Lovia showed Alice her first smile. It looked slightly stiff.

Alice fell silent. She