Normality

It was like countless mosquitoes were buzzing in her ears. The shrill, agitated sound wore down Eve's composure as unease, panic, terror, and every other negative emotion tried to devour her reason.

Eve wanted to scream, but Lorenzo was pulling her along. The lunatic bastard felt strangely dependable at that moment. His hand held hers, keeping her last shred of reason intact.

The two of them ran desperately through the dark passage, but it seemed to have no end. They never saw the path's end, and though the tide of death behind them had vanished, the whispers echoing through the darkness warned them that it was still in hot pursuit.

"Don't be afraid. That thing can't catch us!"

Lorenzo suddenly spoke, as if to reassure the girl.

"It's a mass of fused human bodies. Although that thing defies common sense, it still follows the laws of reality to some extent. For example, if it's too fat, it can't run fast; if it's too big, it can't squeeze through."

As he spoke, he scooped Eve up. She was so terrified that she seemed like a doll, limp in his arms as he handled her however he pleased.

The passage was a head taller than an ordinary person. It was hard to spot in the darkness, but danger had sharpened Lorenzo's senses. Without hesitation, he tossed Eve up into it, then climbed in after her.

This was a secret passage in the Underground Palace. Given Sabo's wariness, it was probably a maze of interconnecting routes. One of them might lead to a hidden exit. If those strange Fiends weren't around, Lorenzo would have had all the time in the world to try them one by one. But now, he could only stake everything on luck.

He hoped the Goddess of Luck was still watching over him.

Fear and death pursued them. Eve couldn't understand how the detective could stay calm in a situation like this. Why wasn't he afraid?

His composure and resolve were far beyond those of ordinary people. Thinking it over, if you set aside his awful personality, he was practically an invincible genius. His cunning schemes and swordsmanship both surpassed everyone else's.

Eve was about to ask him something when she felt it: Lorenzo's hand, gripping hers tightly, was trembling. It was slight, but she felt it clearly.

He was afraid, too. The damned detective was actually afraid. But Eve knew he was different from her. He was forcing himself to stay calm. That was the only way they could make it out alive.

As for death? Lorenzo didn't care about that sort of thing. He was the kind of lunatic who'd hear Death knocking at the door and still pull out his Winchester to shoot through it.

Lorenzo had to live. He absolutely had to. He had made it to Old Dunling, and the wonderful new life he'd dreamed of was already within his grasp. He could lounge in the square with a cigarette dangling from his lips as he fed the pigeons, or ride the Steam Tram around the entire mechanical city.

No one could take his life away from him—not even the Fiends clawing their way out of his memories.

"Don't worry. It's normal to be afraid. That thing exerts pressure on your mind, forcing all kinds of negative emotions upon you. Once you give in, you'll become a puppet of fear!"

Lorenzo explained it to Eve as if he'd faced something like this before.

He savored the taste of tobacco, and in the darkness Eve could only see the cigarette's glowing tip and smell the smoke lingering around her.

She couldn't make out Lorenzo's face, but she could feel another strange emotion rising within her.

"We have to get out quickly. If we can, we need to alert Suaran Hall's rescue team. Ordinary people facing something like that would only be walking to their deaths."

His voice was calm, but beneath that calm lay anger and self-reproach.

This was Lorenzo's fault. When he'd seen Wall's mutated corpse, he should have realized what was happening. For some reason, Wall had already begun to mutate into a Fiend back then. Lorenzo had killed him in time, before the transformation was complete.

Perhaps that was why Wall had begged Lorenzo to kill him. He must have realized he was changing. He hadn't wanted to become one of those monsters.

Lorenzo should have stayed vigilant forever. Life in Old Dunling had made him careless. The grotesque changes in the flesh had been so obvious, yet he hadn't even considered this possibility.

"Th-then... what exactly is that thing?"

Eve steadied her breathing and tried to calm herself. Then she gripped her weapon and asked the figure in the darkness.

The question seemed to dredge up unpleasant memories. His answer came with difficulty.

"A Fiend."

"God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light."

Those were the opening words of the Gospel Book. Believers often used them to understand God's power and holiness. But what the Gospel Book didn't record was that where light was born, darkness must also exist.

Some philosophers understood it this way: just as all things in the world stood in opposition to one another, people could only understand warmth because of cold. Goodness was precious only in the face of evil, and only death could reveal the beauty of life.

It was as if God were testing mortals. Alongside the light, the blackest, deepest abyss rose from its shadow, nurturing monsters known as Fiends.

The word "Fiend" first came from the Gospel Church's Book of Isaiah, where it described those who opposed God. Unlike mortals who bathed in the radiance of God, Fiends crawled out from His shadow, luring mortals into the depths of depravity. They consorted with sin and violence, and were cast out of Heaven, left to scrape out an existence in Hell.

Eve was a little dazed. Of course she knew what the word meant. Old Dunling had originally been founded by the Romans, who had brought not only prosperity to the place but also their faith. Though the Gospel Church's influence over the nations had fallen to its lowest point, it still had a great many believers. Eve's late mother had been one of them.

When her mother was alive, she had told Eve all about these things. She had even given her a Christian name. So Eve knew a great deal about matters of theology, but that knowledge only made her more afraid.

"This... how is this possible...?"

Her understanding of the whole world was overturned in that instant. Eve's heart, which had only just begun to settle, pounded wildly again, its beat as clear as a bell in the deep tunnel.

Eve had always scoffed at faith in myths and gods. She thought it was all made up by those in power to secure their rule and reap profits. Yet things that belonged in myths now stood before her, real and tangible—just as Lorenzo had said, they were no mere hallucination.

"Nothing's impossible. We have to get out as soon as we can. I don't know how a Fiend ended up here, but there are at least several hundred people in this Underground Palace. They're all people who've lost the ability to move because of the hallucinogens. They're its food, and it'll only grow bigger and more terrifying."

Lorenzo's voice came from the darkness ahead.

"...How do you know all this, Lorenzo?"

Eve stopped in her tracks. The whispers in her ears grew louder, as if some strange monk were right beside her. The hallucinogens' effects, combined with the Fiend's assault on her mind, had left her in a terrible state. She could hardly trust anyone.

She pointed her gun at the figure in the darkness. It was her own pistol, fully loaded.

"Don't give in, Eve. It's already affecting you."

Lorenzo's voice remained calm, completely unconcerned that Eve was pointing a gun at him.

Cold sweat slid down the girl's cheek as her breathing grew heavier. Thoughts tumbled through her mind, and the doubts she had about Lorenzo grew larger under the influence of her negative emotions.

Why did this detective know so much? Why had he chosen her to come with him? Was it really for the rescue plan? Those questions weren't damning enough. The most damning thing was Lorenzo himself.

A detective skilled in combat and hidden knowledge—Lorenzo's very existence was the biggest red flag.

"Don't be afraid, Eve. I understand. The first time I faced a Fiend, I was just like you... I nearly killed my friend. That's what they do. They destroy a person's mind outright. Anyone who fights them has to guard not only against the Fiends, but also against their own companions when they go mad."

Lorenzo tried to reassure her in the darkness, but his hand had already tightened around the Cane Sword. This was a dark tunnel with poor visibility, and he and Eve were close together. If he drew fast enough, Lorenzo was confident he could kill the girl before she fired.

There was no inner conflict to speak of. Ever since the first time he'd raised his sword against a Fiend, Lorenzo had understood that fighting such an aberration came at a price. It could cost a person's kindness, their principles, or even the warmth of their blood.

"Eve, calm down. Don't disappoint your ancestors."

His voice grew stern. At that moment, Lorenzo sounded like a rigid old teacher scolding an inept pupil. Yet as he spoke, he had already raised the Cane Sword above his head. With Lorenzo's strength, he could cleave Eve in two in an instant.

Conflicting emotions twisted inside Eve. The hand gripping her gun trembled. The two of them faced off in the darkness for nearly a minute, and after that long silence, Eve finally lowered her weapon.

"I... what's happening to me...?"

Eve sank helplessly to her knees, her eyes bloodshot. Her lovely face had gone pale, her youthful energy gone. She looked like a sickly old woman.

"Fiends are strange things. They can't even be considered living creatures. Anything they touch becomes tainted by their bizarre nature. Like a vessel touched by one: if an ordinary person touches it, they'll have nightmares.

"Likewise, if an ordinary person looks at one, hears it, smells it, or does anything else that lets them perceive its existence, they'll be affected. The strength of that effect depends on how much contact they've had with it. It makes them 'go mad.'"

Lorenzo lowered the deadly Cane Sword and helped Eve up as he put her gun away, in case the girl did something stupid again.

"Even reading about them won't do. That's why you must not look, must not touch, must not know."

Eve struggled to turn her head. In the eerie atmosphere, Lorenzo still looked as calm as ever, as though he hadn't been affected at all.

"Then why aren't you... afraid?"

Lorenzo helped Eve forward, answering as they walked.

"There are a lot of factors. It's like living alongside a tiger. The first time you see one, you'll be terrified. But if you see it every day, you'll start thinking of it as nothing more than a fierce big cat."

Light spilled down from ahead. It looked like an exit.

"So, to you, that horrible thing is just a big cat?"

Seeing light after the endless darkness finally eased the girl's nerves. At Lorenzo's comparison, she even felt like laughing.

"When fear becomes normal, it becomes nothing more than an ordinary emotion. I told you, I used to be a priest, from Florence in the Holy Gospel Papal State. I know Fiends are unknown things, and to fight them, we need something equally unknown."

Lorenzo lifted the Winchester, hooked his finger through the guard, and spun it with a sharp flick. The shotgun turned elegantly as he loaded it mid-spin. His cigarette had burned out, and Lorenzo stamped out its glowing ember and ash.

"Centuries ago, the unknown that protected us was called God and faith. Now, it's machinery and energy."

Lorenzo yanked off his mask. Wearing the thing had been truly uncomfortable, and the light filtering in from the exit finally let Eve see what he looked like.

She had always thought Lorenzo was afraid too, that the detective was simply strong-minded enough to force himself to stay calm. But the truth was that his face was full of fury. That was no expression for a man in fear.

His hand holding the gun trembled uncontrollably. It wasn't fear. Lorenzo was simply too excited.

He knew exactly why he felt this way. Like the hunter who'd locked away his rifle, all the trees had been burned to charcoal, and the hunting forest had vanished into the river of history. The so-called hunter had been left far behind by the new age.

But then one day, as you drifted through life in a daze, you discovered that the dark forest still existed, crawling with the strange creatures that should have burned.

You picked up your long-abandoned rifle and welcomed a new beginning.