Not long after that, elsewhere.
Black Swan slipped into the hotel room where Acheron was staying in reality.
Like a silent ghost, she strolled through the simply furnished room, which held almost no personal belongings. She looked around, a flicker of interest passing through her eyes.
"Your room in reality is unexpectedly plain..."
"Just like your outward appearance, Miss Acheron." Her fingertips brushed across the spotless tabletop without leaving a trace.
An exquisitely crafted antique music box, its surface covered in intricate dark patterns, sat defenselessly on the small round table in the center of the room, gleaming lavishly beneath the soft overhead light.
Black Swan's gaze was immediately drawn to it.
She approached, bent slightly, and carefully examined the music box, a satisfied smile appearing on her face.
"It came without any effort."
"This is the music box—the invitation received by the Annihilation Gang..."
"Memories about you do not belong to you alone—I know much, and foresee even further." She seemed to be showing off to the absent Acheron.
"With a few methods, even the dead can be made to speak, let alone an object that carries memories."
She raised her right hand, fingers slightly spread, and aimed it at the seemingly ordinary music box. Invisible Memoria began to gather and flow in her palm, carrying a mysterious halo of light.
She closed her eyes, her long lashes falling over them, her expression focused.
"What exactly happened? Let me reveal the fragments buried by time."
Amid the flowing Memoria, chaotic, agonized screams surged into her senses like a tide.
[Help... help...! Someone...]
[Those chains are piercing my spleen, my lungs!! No—!!]
[Father... save me!! I don't want to...]
[Aaaaaaahhh—!!] The desperate scream cut off abruptly.
"..." Black Swan kept her eyes closed, her delicate brows faintly furrowed. These memory