"Huff~ Huff~"
The Eagle Country in the 1910s.
Florida, on a wet dock.
Hislay gasped for breath as he sprinted desperately toward the sea.
He ran to the end of the pier.
He slammed on the brakes and, using the momentum of his sprint, swung his arm in a wide arc.
"Get the hell out of here!"
He threw the rag doll he was holding into the sea!
"Thump!"
Water splashed up, and the rag doll sank to the bottom of the sea.
"Next, all we need to do is set up a seal..."
Hislay, clutching his knees, was breathing heavily.
But just as he was about to unleash the power of the laws, his expression froze.
It was completely empty.
Where did my divine power go?!
Hislay's eyes widened as he finally realized a fatal problem.
The white River of Time washed away all his extraordinary powers.
Now, he's just an ordinary person!
"Gurgle..."
Before he could recover from the shock...
Suddenly, a string of bubbles rose to the surface of the sea ahead.
"Bang!"
Water splashes!
The rag doll he had sunk to the bottom of the sea actually jumped out of the water!
It arced through the air and landed on the pier.
Completely ignoring Hislay, he took off running with his short cloth legs straight toward the general store.
"No!"
Hislay's expression changed drastically, and he turned to give chase.
But he had only taken one step.
The rag doll running ahead suddenly stopped.
"Gala."
Accompanied by the sound of joints twisting, the rag doll's head...
It rotated 180 degrees without moving its body!
Those glassy eyes were fixed on him.
Hislay's face immediately fell.
A sense of crisis surged through me!
He instinctively began to back away!
But it was too late.
"Boom!"
The wooden plank shattered!
That seemingly flimsy rag doll suddenly exploded with air currents and charged forward!
It launched a sharp spinning kick in mid-air!
"Bang!"
That cloth shoe kicked Hislay in the stomach!
A tremendous force erupted!
Hislay was kicked flying on the spot!
"Thump!"
This time, it was him who was sunk to the bottom of the sea.
"Gurgle..."
Seawater instantly flooded his mouth and nose.
Hislay's internal organs spasmed from that kick, and he couldn't breathe at all.
They didn't even have the strength to struggle and swim.
His vision gradually blurred, and his body slowly sank into the deep sea.
He completely lost consciousness.
And at the dock.
The rag doll stood on the edge, watching Hislay disappear into the sea.
The mouth, sewn together with thread, stretched upwards, emitting a chilling, wicked laugh.
Hahahaha!
Then, he turned and left.
I don't know how much time passed.
"Cough cough! Wow!"
Hislay coughed up a mouthful of salty, bitter seawater, jolting him awake from his coma.
He found himself lying on a beach.
It was already dark; evening had fallen.
"It was you... who saved me?"
Hislay clutched his aching abdomen and struggled to sit up.
He saw a man sitting on a rock not far from him, with his back to him.
The man was wearing a trench coat and a fisherman's hat pulled low over his head.
Hislay instinctively assumed that a passing fisherman had pulled him out of the sea.
"Thank you... but I have urgent business and must leave immediately."
He didn't even get a clear look at the other person's face before he staggered up from the beach and ran toward the street.
And after he left.
The man sitting on the rock turned around.
He took off his sunglasses and then casually ripped off his fisherman's hat.
A young face with an extremely cold expression was revealed.
The visitors were from Jiangnan.
"You can't die yet..."
Jiangnan watched Hislay's disheveled figure and muttered to himself.
He then silently followed.
On the other side.
Hislay his stomach and ran wildly through the street.
The cold wind blew against his soaked suit, making him shiver.
But his mind is clearer than ever before.
You absolutely must not confront that rag doll head-on!
I'm just an ordinary person now; going there would be suicide!
We must find that guy's true form first!
Tailor...
Marie Onette!
This time, I will not let you succeed!
Hislay gritted his teeth and went back to that familiar grocery store.
This time, however, he did not rush in rashly.
They hid in the dark corners of the outer wall.
From inside the general store came the innocent laughter of little Hislay.
"The baby's back!"
"Mom and Dad, look! The doll has come back by itself!"
Janet and Steven exchanged a glance and smiled helplessly.
They are adults, so naturally they cannot believe that a rag doll can grow legs and run back on its own.
"That robber must have had a change of heart and dropped the stuff halfway there, which this little guy just happened to pick up."
Steven said in a low voice.
"But..."
Janet frowned slightly and raised a question.
"Steven, didn't you think... that robber looked kind of familiar?"
"The way he gets angry is just like you."
Steven shook his head upon hearing this.
I think quite the opposite.
"His eyes look exactly like yours."
The couple discussed this quietly under the dim light.
And in the corner of the outer wall.
Hislay was lying in front of a mouse hole, listening intently to the conversation inside.
"Of course it's like..."
"Because I am your son."
Hislay gazed at his loving parents in the firelight, repeatedly pursing his chapped lips.
How ridiculous!
He played the role of a lifelong romantic, going mad for the Tailor and becoming a god for love.
But his true love had already passed away that year.
"Now that I'm here, I'm determined to change all of this."
Hislay looked up at the last rays of the setting sun on the horizon.
Time is running out.
Soon, Marie Onette will come to visit in person.
He had to plan ahead and find a way to fight that monster.
At least...
We can't let our parents die today!
A moment later.
"Thump, thump-thump, thump."
A knocking sound came from the back alley of the grocery store.
That was a code that Hislay invented himself when he was a child.
Sure enough, not long after.
The back door of the grocery store was pushed open.
Little Hislay placed the doll on a chair in the shop and poked his little head out.
"Don't wander off, dinner's almost ready."
Janet's instructions came from inside the room.
"Okay, Mom!"
Following the sound of the coded message, young Hislay curiously ran into a dead end.
"Strange, there's nobody here..."
He scratched his head, and just as he turned around...
A large hand reached out from the shadows, covered his mouth, and dragged him to a corner!
"Waaaaah!"
Little Hislay was terrified and struggled desperately, trying to scream.
"Shh... don't be afraid, it's me."
Hislay lowered his voice and appeared in his line of sight.
Upon seeing that it was the homeless man who had snatched the doll, the fear in Hislay's eyes deepened.
"Listen to me quietly."
Hislay looked at his young face and asked in a low voice:
Aren't you curious how I know your code?
Upon hearing this, Hislay's struggling movements froze instantly.
Yes.
How would this strange person know?
That was a code he made up himself while playing an adventure game; even his parents didn't know it!
Hislay then provided the answer.
"Because, my name is also Hislay."
You...!
Young Hislay stared in shock, his eyes wide.
He recalled the things his parents had been whispering about in the store earlier.
This weirdo...
She looks like both her father and her mother...
Furthermore, they knew his secret code.
That would be...!
It's me?!
When Hislay looked at the strange man again, the fear vanished.
He seemed to see himself reflected in the other person's weathered eyes!
But it was covered in wounds...
Hislay slowly released his hand from his mouth.
"I come from the future."
Hislay looked at him with extreme seriousness in his eyes.
"Now, I need your help to save our parents."
Although Hislay was young, children who grow up in the slums are often precocious.
He swallowed hard and asked in a low voice.
"What do you need me to do?"
Hislay took a deep breath.
I need you...
"Temporarily disappeared."
About half an hour later.
The fire in the stove inside the grocery store was already burning very brightly.
The couple finally realized something was wrong.
It's already dark.
Janet wiped her hands and went to the back door to take a look.
"Why isn't Hislay back yet? He usually comes home obediently after being out for ten minutes!"
"Could it be that strange guy from earlier?"
Steven put down his carving knife, his face turning deathly pale.
"His real purpose... wasn't the doll, but Hislay?!"
Upon hearing this, Janet burst into tears on the spot.
"What do we do... Hislay... Where are you! Come out now!"
Don't scare Mommy!
Janet rushed out of the store like a madwoman, shouting in the dark street.
"It's too dangerous at night, and the two of us are too slow searching!"
Steven grabbed his coat and pulled his wife back.
"Let's go find the sheriff first! We'll report this to the police!"
Janet nodded in agreement, tears streaming down her face.
The couple Human Heart and quickly left the grocery store.
In their haste, they even forgot to lock the door of the grocery store.
Not far away.
Standing atop an abandoned attic, Hislay took in the entire scene.
He quickly climbed down the ladder.
In a hidden pile of clutter in the attic.
He found little Hislay hiding obediently inside.
"You stay here. No matter what noise you hear, don't come out."
Hislay Jr. nodded emphatically.
I promise you.
"You'd better watch out for my future self."
Hislay paused for a moment, then returned a smile.
Don't worry.
Hislay returned to the open-doored grocery store.
The room was quiet, with only the crackling of the firewood in the fireplace.
He went inside.
I spotted the rag doll sitting in the chair right away.
"You shouldn't have ruined my plans..."
A childlike voice drifted softly through the empty shop.
"Call!"
Along with this sound, all the candles in the shop were simultaneously extinguished by a gust of cold wind!
Only a faint red glow remained from the fireplace.
The rag doll sitting in the chair had its eyes glowing with a scarlet light!
"Sizzle... sizzle..."
A chilling tearing sound rang out.
The rag doll's back was suddenly ripped open from the inside!
In Hislay's gaze.
A emaciated body, its limbs twisted at inhuman angles, covered in sticky flesh and blood.
It struggled to crawl out of that tiny rag doll!
She had a hooked nose, skin as dry as tree bark, and a head full of sparse white hair.
This is the true essence of [The Tailor] Marie Onette!
The old hag writhed on the ground a few times before gradually regaining her balance.
Then, she pulled out an exquisitely beautiful loli skin from the tattered rag doll.
In front of Hislay, he put the human skin on his body.
In the blink of an eye.
That ugly old hag is gone.
Instead, there was a little girl dressed in a gothic dress who looked like a beautiful doll.
She straightened her skirt, her scarlet eyes staring directly at Hislay.
Who exactly are you?
Hislay didn't answer her pointless question.
He clenched his fist, his nails digging into his flesh, and asked through gritted teeth.
"What will it take for you to let this family go?"
"Let them go?"
Marie Onette covered her mouth and giggled.
"Of course... that's impossible."
She stuck out her tongue and licked her lips.
"That woman named Janet, and that man named Steven..."
"I've been drooling over their looks for a long time."
"Despite being among the poorest people, struggling to even get enough to eat, she possessed such a vibrant and beautiful body."
"This is an absolute waste!"
She spread her arms wide, speaking with a morbid fervor.
"So, I'm going to peel them off, make the most perfect toys, and carefully store them in my workshop!"
"And... what about their son?"
Hislay asked, enunciating each word clearly.
Marie Onette tilted her head, her smile growing even more innocent and carefree.
"Of course, it's... being the owner of these toys and the actor in the play~"
"Dad, Mom, and our lovely son..."
"A family of three, forever playing house together..."
"Isn't this script moving?"
I'm going to kill you!!!
Hislay flew into a rage upon hearing the word "script"!
He pulled out Deboning Dagger that he had hidden under his coat!
She pounced on Marie Onette!
He was calculating in his mind.
The current Marie Onette is not yet the infamous tenth seat [Tailor] of the Desolate God Society in the future!
At this Time Node, she was at most a deranged killer who skinned people alive!
She's not that powerful!
Even if he has now lost all his divine powers and become an ordinary person.
But as long as you utilize your combat experience!
As long as your attack is frantic and lethal enough!
We will definitely be able to defeat her!
Die!!!
The dagger was aimed straight at Marie Onette's throat!
Faced with this sudden attack.
Instead of panicking, Marie Onette sneered.
"What a rude beast."
She leaned back, easily dodging Hislay's thrust.
"Foolish mortal, you cannot defeat me."
Marie Onette turned her head and revealed a sickly smile.
"However, upon closer inspection, I find your exterior, filled with hatred and struggle, quite appealing."
She stretched out her little hand.
The tips of all ten fingers split open, extending ten sharp, blood-red threads!
"Since you're so eager to die, then let me play along in this childish game..."
"Let's get another new toy!"