The scene before him shook violently. Threads of blood-red spread inward from the edges of his vision, mingling with the mist until they formed a dense haze.
Prayer ribbons fluttered around him, their hastily scrawled words refreshing frantically and embedding themselves in his eyes like blood vessels.
[You killed Reiko.] [You killed Reiko.] [You killed Reiko.]
There was no loop notification, no ending narration. It was as though a sudden malfunction had forced him out, or a bug had triggered and crashed the game.
The scenery of Rabbit God Town was washed away by a torrent of blood. The blood thinned into a faint film, then vanished without a trace in a gust of wind.
Qi Si sat in an empty classroom. The scene was frozen, its colors dull, and gray-white mist filled his surroundings.
A pitch-black figure charged out of the mist, reeking of blood, and clamped a hand around Qi Si's throat. "You killed Reiko... you actually killed Reiko..."
The hands of the Pocket Watch of Fate ticked steadily. The outline of a clock appeared in Qi Si's eyes, along with a fleeting phantom of blood-red leaves.
He watched the newcomer quietly, feeling those icy fingers dig into his flesh as suffocation spread through his chest. He never struggled.
The grip on his neck gradually loosened. The figure stepped back, revealing a face crisscrossed with bloody marks and twisted, bent limbs beneath it, like a corpse that had been shredded and pieced back together.
"You should have saved her... but you killed her..." the figure murmured, his voice sounding like he was crying.
Qi Si raised a hand and gently wiped the blood and grime from his neck. Dark bruises ringed his flesh like a vicious chain, bearing witness to the danger he had just faced.