Lynn raised his head and strode toward the towering black Castle.
The Barrier surrounding the entire Castle opened a gap before him. Outside its gates, one high-ranking doll and puppet after another watched him warily, as though facing a terrifying demon.
Lynn stepped forward in silence.
He passed through the Cursecraft Barrier around the Black Fortress, its surface engraved with countless patterns.
And the moment he stepped inside-
Lynn sensed an atmosphere utterly different from the world outside. Even the air had become moist, unlike the Dark World beyond, where the stench of decay and dry, nauseating dust lingered everywhere, at all times.
This place was like a secluded paradise, a pure land sheltered by an Origin.
Madam Doll and the others hurried to meet him. As she looked at the smiling young man she had once known so well, the complicated emotions in her eyes were unmistakable.
"Lynn, how did you find this place?"
Lynn adjusted his Monocle and looked at the daughters beside Madam Doll, whom he had only ever seen in the manual.
"When I woke up over a month ago, I asked a friend to look for you, but there was never any news. I thought you'd all... Then I was unconscious for nearly a month. I only got word a few days ago. I knew that if you were still here, she couldn't possibly be dead. I believed that."
Madam Doll and the others fell silent.
That chaotic battle over a month ago surfaced in her memory once again.
Flesh and the Mechanical Church, the Ruler of the Vision Realm-even the Jailers who existed only in legends had entered the fray, one after another.
And even now-
They still could not see the full picture.
They knew neither its origins nor its causes and consequences.