Time stood still.
The cold air underground seemed to thicken into a viscous gel, every breath dragging under crushing pressure. Footsteps from the stone stairs overhead beat like drums of doom, striking the heart at its most vulnerable point. There was more than one person. They were cautious, well trained, and closing in fast.
L's pursuers? The tentacles of the "Deep Nest"? Or local gravekeepers in Vienna who had been alerted?
Whatever they were, the time I had left could be counted in seconds.
Before me lay the metal volume radiating an ominous glow-the "Chapter of Binding." The ancient consciousness's words echoed in my mind: To bind a beast, you must enter its lair. To break a curse, you must hold its source. Use the Death Note's own power to bind the Death Note? That sounded like a paradox only a self-destructive madman would attempt.
The price was... sacrificing the "self."
The Death Note gripped in my right hand transmitted a scorching hunger that almost melted my palm. It wanted the "Chapter of Binding," wanted to devour the knowledge within it, knowledge that might share its origin yet counter its nature. That hunger was so intense that I could almost "hear" its silent, greedy roar.
There was no other choice.
Either take the risk before the pursuers arrived, stake my consciousness and existence on an attempt to put reins on this rampaging beast.
Or wait helplessly to be completely assimilated by the notebook, or fall into the hands of those unknown forces outside, with a potentially even worse end.
Time to gamble.
I drew a deep breath of the cold air, laden with decay and knowledge, clamped the high-powered flashlight between my teeth to free my left hand, and thrust it toward the open "Chapter of Binding"!
The instant my