Dusttale 04

Murder leaned against his doorway, waiting for time to pass.

Just as Murder was about to fall asleep, a ghostly shriek rang out from his room.

"Aaaah!!!!"

Hearing the scream, Murder hurriedly opened the door, only to find his female counterpart lying on the floor, black determination streaming from her eyes and a serene expression on her face.

"Surely it wasn't that bad..."

Out of the goodness of his heart, Murder decided to help by burying her first, but when he touched Killer, she suddenly grabbed his hand.

"Ugh... my head hurts..."

Murder flashed over to the doorway, red and blue light flickering in his pupils.

"Wait... don't panic... I don't know what you just showed me... but I'm back to normal now. Thank you."

Killer pointed at the soul in front of her chest. Murder followed her finger and was surprised to discover that, at some point, her soul had returned to the shape of an upside-down heart.

"My soul... when it's in this shape, it means I'm normal, and you can talk to me;

when it turns into a round target, I'm relatively dangerous and not trustworthy. That's Stage 2;

beyond that, I also have Stage 3. When my soul looks like it's melting, that's when I'm at my most dangerous. I'll kill anyone who comes near me."

For some reason, Killer suddenly began explaining all this to Murder.

With that explanation, Murder more or less understood the situation.

"So the one who fought me just now was your Stage 2?"

"Yes."

Killer got up, brushed the dust off herself, and walked outside. Murder thought for a moment before deciding to follow alongside her.

"Earlier, because of some circumstances beyond my control, I couldn't suppress my urge to kill, and it swallowed up my sense of self."

Noticing that Murder had followed her, Killer continued her explanation.

"Good thing Nightmare wasn't here, or my Stage 2 wouldn't have been so easy to suppress."

"Nightmare?"

Murder had heard that name from visitors from other Multiverses. He guessed Nightmare was probably some great villain who wreaked havoc across the Multiverse.

Since it had nothing to do with him, he hadn't looked into it any further.

"Oh, right. I completely forgot you don't know him."

Killer smacked her fist into her palm as though she'd just realized something.

"Never mind that black Octopus freak for now. Let me ask you something first."

"...Go ahead."

What kind of name was 'that black Octopus freak'? It felt like this girl really hated that Nightmare guy.

"Well, I can tell you've got something special about you. You'd make a pretty good trading partner. How about this? Let's make a deal."

"A deal?"

Music inexplicably started playing in the background, leaving Murder rather baffled.

Lethal Deal now playing...

"Hey! You've got the wrong music!"

Killer shouted angrily into empty space. Whether it had actually heard her or not, the music slowly stopped.

"...Well, I can help you reset your universe so everyone here can be saved;

I can help you put an end to your nightmares, so you won't have to worry about your universe anymore;

I can also take you to other universes to fight the bad guys, so you can atone for your sins. What do you think?"

"..."

Every word Killer said struck right at Murder's heart. He simply couldn't refuse an offer like that.

If his own universe could be safe and sound, and he could spare the time, he thought he'd be willing to stop tragedies from happening across the multiverse.

Watching Murder's expression gradually soften with interest, Killer felt a little sympathy for him.

The moment she'd first seen this other version of herself, she'd known-he had to be another poor soul tormented by humans.

Ever since she'd happened to escape that Octopus man's control, helping others across the Multiverse had become her new goal, specifically preventing tragedies from happening in different universes.

Now that she'd inexplicably arrived in this timeline, which was somewhat similar to her own (though actually very different), Killer guessed that this version of herself would be interested in saving others.

Naturally, her decision to recruit him had only been a spur-of-the-moment whim. If he was deeply attached to his own timeline, she wouldn't force him.

She would still help Murder reset it, and she wouldn't make him leave with her.

If he did come along, she'd gain an extra helping hand for nothing, and helping others would become easier.

...If he wanted to stay in his peaceful timeline, that was fine too. She could do perfectly well on her own.

Of course, before heading back out into the multiverse, she had to prepare thoroughly in this timeline.

At the very least, she had to make sure her soul wouldn't keep slipping back into Stage 2, and that Nightmare couldn't turn it back to Stage 2 with a casual squeeze.

Just as Killer was considering her plans for the future, Murder spoke.

"...All right."

"Great choice!"

Killer gave him a thumbs-up.