Lynn listened to her sleep-talk in a daze, as though, in that instant, a scene had appeared in his mind.
A raging fire. Relentless pursuers.
That doll had pushed her reality warping ability to its limits, fleeing desperately with the only one still alive.
She had told her to stay there while she went to lure the pursuers away.
She had said she would definitely return.
She had told Miao Miao to wait there for Mommy.
But day after day, no one came. All that awaited her was withering and wandering.
Was that what happened?
Lynn looked at the bloody, cruel photographs scattered across the floor, at the traces of cursecraft lingering on them.
Had that woman used cursecraft to blind her to the truth?
They were evidence of that tragic ordeal.
Yet she hadn't wanted those horrific memories to torment her.
Was that why she had given her this beautiful lie?
Or perhaps she had always made Miao Miao carry these photographs because she hoped someone would one day discover the truth within them, so that this tragedy would no longer remain buried in those dark shadows...
Was this her way of hoping that, someday, Miao Miao might find that faint chance of salvation and hope in this Dark World...?
Lynn took a deep breath.
But this was the Dark World. This was hell.
Even the light was obscured by thick clouds. How could anyone find hope in these ocean depths?
Still...
Lynn closed his eyes, slowly extended his paw, and pressed it against his chest.
As white light swirled around him, he activated Curse Removal for the second time. His body rapidly lengthened and transformed, gradually returning to human form.
He opened his eyes, their light now exceptionally resolute.
He was going to do something very dangerous, and