Tsunami

Beatrice froze.

A moment later, she realized belatedly—had she just made eye contact with him?

Beatrice remembered what had happened the last time she looked directly at him. Her soul had been unable to withstand even a single encounter, collapsing on the spot and plunging her into permanent madness.

But...

Beatrice stared at him through the observation window. After a while, she rubbed her eyes.

Why hadn't anything changed?

It was as though she had merely met the gaze of some ordinary being. Her heart was utterly calm, and even her intuition gave no warning, as if there were not the slightest danger. Was this an illusion?

Was her life flashing before her eyes?

Or was she already dead?

Suddenly, the eye in the observation window shifted away, then fled back into the depths of the furnace as though escaping.

Beatrice was full of questions. What was going on? Why had it suddenly turned out like this?

"The chamber pressure is dropping!"

"The total output and Pollution flow rate on my end have stabilized too!"

"The Tsunami Generator has returned to normal as well!"

While Beatrice was still dazed, Monica had already walked over and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"It nearly went out of control just now. Luckily, I acted in time and managed to salvage the situation." With that, she lifted her chin.

"I see..." Beatrice nodded in realization. She had almost thought her prayer had worked just now.

On second thought, that was impossible. Her incoherent prayer had been nothing more than an instinctive reaction. Not to mention that she knew nothing about that strange whisper, even if she had known its location within the Sea of Unconsciousness, a prayer that violated the proper rites could never have worked.

"Thanks to you. I nearly died just