Xio raised her head and saw blood-red moonlight spilling from the sky, turning the surroundings cold and sinister, while countless shadowy wraiths seemed to be watching the real world from behind a thin veil.
Faintly, Xio seemed to hear weeping, cries, and whispers.
Knowing the abnormalities that came with the Blood Moon, she showed no panic as she entered a public restroom by the roadside and washed her face with tap water.
But the weeping, cries, and whispers did not stop.
Xio wiped her face with her sleeve, then listened closely for several seconds. Her brow gradually furrowed, and she drew from the leather sheath at her waist a transparent dagger that seemed to be made of more than a dozen translucent stars.
This was the Beyonder weapon Princess Vera had "lent" her before she had been dragged into the Daniel Labyrinth, and it was also the culprit behind her current "getting lost."
Xio suspected that the residual spirit within the item had temporarily strengthened under the Blood Moon's influence.
As she drew out the dagger, emotions such as melancholy, sorrow, and pain crept into her heart, as though they had substance.
In a daze, Xio saw a brother and sister who had relied on each other since childhood, inseparable and close, gradually turn against one another because of disagreements within their family. The younger sister remained faithful to the family's original path, while the older brother followed an elder onto another Pathway.
In the end, their differing ideals led to the complete fragmentation of the family. After a violent conflict, the younger sister killed her beloved brother with thirteen Edicts, then committed suicide in her grief.
"Tamara..." Xio murmured the name as immense sorrow filled her heart, making her unable to resist raising the dagger toward her own chest.