There were no indescribable strange creatures in the corridor, no terrifying wraiths with transparent bodies, not even anything with a visible form.
There was nothing in the corridor where the candlelight flickered.
And deep in the corridor where the flames had completely gone out, the walls emitted a faint glow. That glow nearly blended into the darkness, flickering at a rhythm like a heartbeat.
The instant he looked at those faint lights, Shade truly felt as though he heard the pounding of a gigantic heart. In that moment, his body and soul were completely frozen by time and space, and he vaguely understood something.
What he had seen was Terror Castle. There had never been anything chasing him from the start. The thing that radiated fear, that seemed to drive away all outsiders, was Terror Castle itself.
Those deep, faint lights represented Terror Castle itself. And so-called "Terror Castle" actually possessed consciousness—it was a living thing.
The fear that surpassed all limits nearly made Shade lose consciousness entirely in an instant. The impact of that fearful emotion even made him feel as though he was about to fall into an eternal slumber from which he would never awaken.
"No, would I be afraid of fear?"
Beneath the tree in Thousand Tree Forest, memories flooded into his mind of standing shoulder to shoulder with the two Witches against boundless terrifying darkness after the deity had temporarily departed. This fear seemed to awaken some power lurking within his soul. Tree's Kiss, the Spirit Rune that had never been linked to any Thaumaturgy, trembled slightly within his soul.
At this fragile instant when his emotions were close to complete collapse, the primal fear gripping his body and the clarity of his soul awakening through courage formed a stark sense of dislocation. For the