Dusttale 06

"So..."

Murder looked around. They were surrounded by amalgamates drawn to the two of them.

"...What are we doing here?"

"I'm going to use the research equipment here to stabilize my soul. Unless you want to end up fighting my Stage 2 self halfway through our trip?"

Knowing her attacks were useless against the amalgamates, Killer didn't bother tangling with them. She grabbed Murder and hurried toward the Determination Extractor.

"...No."

Murder lowered his head. Now everyone in his timeline had been saved. It was time for him to atone, too.

In all honesty, he really disliked Killer. From the few things she'd said, Murder had worked out that, during her time in the multiverse, she'd always been that intensely curious Stage 2 persona. From his encounter with her, it wasn't hard to guess how many kind souls she'd deceived with her cute appearance, then betrayed and killed.

But traveling alongside someone he hated to save more monsters from tragic fates... that was the only thing he could do now.

Murder shook his head and stopped dwelling on it.

Seeing the hearts floating above the amalgamates behind them gave Murder goosebumps. Although he had ways to deal with them, he no longer had the right to kill indiscriminately.

He could only keep running with Killer.

"Come to think of it... don't we have a shortcut?"

"...Good point."

Perhaps she'd grown so used to moving between battles that running a little farther didn't seem strange to her. She certainly had the stamina she'd built up for it.

But Murder found it very strange. If there was an easier way, why insist on running all the way there?

The two stepped into a shortcut together and arrived at the Determination Extractor in the True Lab.

Murder and Killer immediately got to work.

Murder operated the buttons, levers, and keyboards scattered around the room. When he pressed Enter for the last time, the surrounding steel doors slowly lowered, keeping anything from bothering Killer.

Killer operated the Determination Extractor. Once, while spreading negative emotions, she'd briefly regained a little clarity. Without a second thought, she'd rushed to that timeline's True Lab to study her determination.

Although Nightmare had noticed something was wrong and forced her back into Stage 2, she'd already learned how to control her soul by then. All she needed was a chance to escape Nightmare.

This was that chance. The accidental overlap of timelines had not only found her a suitable teammate; its scrambled database also kept Nightmare from finding her among the countless parallel universes.

Killer was certain of that. Nightmare's ability to sense negativity was like a dog's keen nose. As long as she stayed somewhere like a garbage dump, his senses would be disrupted, leaving him unable to find her.

By the time he found Killer, it would be too late. Her soul would already be fixed in place, and Nightmare probably wouldn't think she could serve him anymore. After all, this technology had been developed specifically to prevent and treat all kinds of soul alterations.

Even as she thought, Killer's hands never stopped. Her fingers flew over the keyboard, adjusting the Determination Extractor's parameters. Everything was going just as she'd planned.

Just then, something unexpected happened. A figure appeared before the steel door and slowly approached them.

Murder instantly went on guard. According to his memories of his timeline, there had never been anyone like this in the True Lab. His build, his clothes...

A terrible suspicion formed in Murder's mind. Could it be ▇▇▇...?

If it was him, Murder had no chance of stopping him. But... he'd seen him disappear during that experiment with his own eyes.

As the figure drew closer, the red and blue in Murder's eyes grew brighter. The wavering magic in his hand was poised to strike.

The instant the light above Murder illuminated the figure's face, the raging magic in Murder's hand shot out.

Just as Murder had expected, the attack passed straight through the figure's chest without doing any damage.

"Um... Murder? What are you...?"

Murder looked back and found Killer staring at him in confusion.

"...It's nothing, Killer. Keep working."

Killer couldn't see ▇▇▇ either. It seemed Murder was the only one here who could.

"Sans... is this... how you welcome your senior?"

With his handsome face, tall figure, and well-suited glasses, Dr. ▇▇▇ looked just as striking as he had before disappearing into the CORE.

But Murder's expression didn't soften in the slightest at their long-awaited reunion.

"...Are you... actually still alive?"

Clearly, something terrible had happened to Dr. ▇▇▇. Something so terrible that Murder had thought he no longer existed.

"Sans, of course I'm still alive. I've appeared here mainly because of a slight error in your timeline."

A faint smile appeared on ▇▇▇'s face.

"Thanks to that error, I managed to return here."

"Speaking of which, you're planning to leave this place next, aren't you? Why not take this with you?"

▇▇▇ handed Murder a small device.

"Carry it with you, and I'll be able to appear beside you in a nonphysical form when you're in danger and assist you in battle."

"Are you sure it's not for watching us?"

Murder was deeply suspicious. He didn't believe ▇▇▇ would be that kind.

"Of course not. If I wanted to watch you, I wouldn't need this thing at all."

"..."

"...It's getting late. Once you've finished your business, you should set off. I'm rather curious about what you'll encounter, too."

▇▇▇ waved and vanished into the wall.

Murder sank into thought.

What was he really after...? Having worked with him before, Murder knew he wouldn't be kind enough to give him this device simply because he wanted to protect them.

Suddenly, a sharp explosive crack beside him broke his train of thought.

He looked up and found that Killer had collapsed unconscious at some point.

After dragging Killer aside, Murder examined the data from the process she'd just run.

"100... 80... 100... These values... are these really meant for treatment...?"

Murder's astonishment grew as he went through the values.

"Parameters this high... she's a complete lunatic..."

Looking at Killer slumped against the wall, Murder was at a loss for words. He simply leaned against the wall as well and closed his eyes to rest.

An unknown amount of time later, Killer slowly woke, surprised to find her head resting on a soft pillow, with the ceiling of the True Lab above her.

"You slept for three days. How are you feeling now?"

Murder's voice came from beside her. He was sitting next to Killer, reading a book.

If she hadn't taken so long to wake up, I wouldn't have gotten bored enough to find her a pillow, Murder thought.

"Mm..."

Killer rubbed her head and stood up.

"I think... it worked...?"

Killer's soul manifested then, in the same inverted-heart target shape as before. The only difference was probably in the details.

Her soul was now shrouded in mist, with strange white code covering it. It looked deeply eerie.

"The method I used is actually pretty unorthodox. It lets my soul stay in its current state indefinitely."

Killer adopted a thoughtful pose.

"My personality disorder is severe, and it's hard to treat effectively. Under the circumstances, you can hardly blame me for resorting to unconventional methods, even downright dubious ones."

"That should finish stabilizing it. Come on, Murder! I'll take you to the multiverse."

Murder took Killer's hand. As a rift in spacetime opened, the two disappeared from Dusttale.