Negotiation

His shrill laughter echoed in my ears, growing more piercing, growing fainter. All my blood seemed to rush into my brain, and the air was slowly squeezed out of my lungs. The immense pressure forced my mouth slightly open. I tried to pry Jason's hand away, but my limbs seemed to have lost their strength, and my vision grew darker and darker...

"But I'm willing to give you a chance. Offer up your soul, and I'll allow you to be with Jason again, immortal!"

Just then, someone seemed to fall through the cellar entrance, landing hard and swearing loudly. Then, when he saw the scene in the cellar, he immediately raised his gun.

"Fuck... eat lead! You water-fearing, hockey-mask-wearing bastard of a demon serial killer..."

Ash held his precious gun and blasted Jason in the back. Jason let go and turned around, his eyes fixed on Ash, then drew his blade, his machete.

I was thrown to the floor. Propping myself up, I gasped for breath. My ears kept ringing, as though something were exploding.

Ash swore loudly. The only things his precious gun had probably left on Jason's back were traces of purification from the salt and two more holes in his already ragged clothes.

Although it did no real damage, it had clearly caught Jason's attention. As Jason swung his machete viciously at him, perhaps some ability beyond human limits had erupted in that desperate situation: Ash actually leaped up, grabbed the edges of the cellar entrance with both hands, and climbed out just like that.

Jason chased after him.

I regained the ability to move and struggled over to the book.

"I can call Jason back at any moment..."

"I want to make a deal with you. Me in exchange for Jason." I interrupted him.

The book seemed to have heard some enormous joke and burst out laughing. "You, make a deal with me? On what grounds?"

"Because you want my soul and body more than Jason's, don't you?"

"What the hell are you..."

"There are three copies of the Necronomicon in total. Only two have appeared so far: you and Ash's copy."

"I've studied you for seven years, and I've found something you have in common. You never torment someone endlessly. You either possess them or kill them outright."

"You've never kept tormenting someone, even after they've lost their mind and become better off dead."

"Why?" I asked a question I had harbored all this time.

For once, the Necronomicon did not continue his racket.

"So I suspect that perhaps you aren't trying to torment them, but weaken them, right? Going to all that trouble just to weaken a soul-is it because that soul is important? That's also why you came looking for me as soon as you woke up. Am I right?"

"Heh!" He sneered, but did not deny it.

"Then how about we make a deal? I'll exchange my soul for Jason's. Whole and intact..."

A scream came from Ash above, along with the sound of something collapsing? He sounded pretty lively, so that was good.

"And Ash's," I added. Someone had to survive.

"You're a clever man. I admire you. But what makes you think you can make a deal with me? Jason kills you, kills that dumbass upstairs, and I get three souls."

"Look." I pulled open my coat. Something inside was pressed tightly against my chest, constantly emitting faint beeps.

"This is a device that monitors my life signs. The instant my heart stops, this will stop too. Then my people will drop a nuclear bomb centered on this cabin. You don't know what a nuclear bomb is, do you?"

"It's equivalent to dozens of tons of explosives detonating together in one concentrated explosion."

"But that isn't the most terrifying part. The radioactive fallout from the ground burst will contaminate the soil and shallow groundwater within a 0.3-kilometer radius. The area will have to be sealed off for at least ten years to reduce the radiation risk. As for reopening it completely... who knows how many years that will take."

"And you, at the center of the nuclear blast, will turn to ash along with this cabin. If even that can't kill you, there's nothing else I can do. But you might have to endure almost two hundred years without a living creature for dozens of miles around, or a single person for hundreds of miles."

"You're threatening me?" The face on the book contorted. "This is simply the funniest thing I've ever heard, even in hell..."

"If you won't agree, there's nothing else I can do... You can read people's minds. I'm serious, and you know it, don't you?"

"Your threat is ridiculous... If you do that, you, that Ash, and that Jason will all die completely... whereas I..."

If this couldn't threaten him, he wouldn't be using those two to scare me, so it was working after all.

"Then there's nothing else I can do," I said quietly. "I've run out of options. I'll have Jason kill me right now." I paused. "Then the nuclear bomb will land on your head in about ten minutes." I was lying to him.

As I spoke, I shouted Jason's name and started climbing toward the cellar entrance.

"Wait. I agree."

The Necronomicon called me back, his voice dropping as he said each word distinctly. "I agree to that deal."

Just as expected.

"Good. Then first you have to keep Ash safe." I listened to the sounds above, which had already grown much quieter.

He muttered a few incomprehensible incantations, and something dragged Ash down in a sorry state. I glanced at him. Good, no missing arms or legs. Jason followed him down and stood at the cellar entrance, watching us coldly.

"Ow, shit! What's going on?"

"Ash."

"Uh... Luo Ya..."

I pointed to the book on the table. "Let me briefly explain what happened. I made a deal with it. He gives up Jason and keeps you alive. In exchange, I give it my soul."

Ash looked somewhat incredulous. "You can actually make deals with this thing?"

"No, wait. Soul..."

"Why? Have you lost your mind?"

Having just finished his life-and-death battle with Jason (frantic flight), Ash did not understand what was happening. Why was Luo Ya, who had only recently become his friend, suddenly about to sacrifice his soul?

"I'm giving you a new task now. Get out as fast as you can, then tell my assistant there's no need to launch the nuclear bomb. Just proceed with the follow-up arrangements."

I smiled at him. "You can collect your money, then go live your carefree life. Didn't you say you wanted a really cool car? Now you can have it."

Ash, who was still fairly young, would never accept this plan, but the Necronomicon was already impatient and had no desire to listen to our meaningless conversation. He simply bundled Ash up and threw him out through the cellar entrance.

"All right, then allow me to state the terms of the deal. First, set Jason's soul free, and never harm or interfere with him. Let him keep doing what he wants to do."

"What if he hurts me, little bunny?"

I raised my eyebrows. "As the most powerful dark force in this area, are you really afraid of Jason's rusty machete?"

"I like your description, but this is necessary."

"Fine, then let's add another clause: neither of you may attack the other. Will that do?"

"I accept."

"Second, you must ensure Ash gets out in one piece. He has to speak to my people, or the nuclear bomb will still hit this cabin within five days."

"One more clause: you must free all the undead under your control, including those at Crystal Lake."

"Then there's me. I am willing to offer my soul to the most powerful force in this forest... to the Necronomicon. But on the condition that he tells me why he wants my soul so badly, and what he did to Jason over those seven years. Deal?"

Seemingly having obtained what he had always wanted, he did not dwell on the small... unexpected demand I had made.

"It's a deal..."

Jason came first. His massive body suddenly shuddered, then he fell to his knees, clutching his head tightly in both hands, trembling so hard he could no longer hold himself up.

Immediately afterward, something escaped from the pages-dozens of them. I understood that these were the people who had died at Crystal Lake. Perhaps they included... Mrs. Pamela.

I wanted to approach Jason, only to discover that my feet could not leave the spot where I stood.

"All right, here's the first thing. I didn't do anything to your little boyfriend. He lost anything that could be called a soul long ago. Yes, I lied to you earlier." He let out a few chuckles, seemingly unable to help himself.

"For a thing like him, the moment he came back to life, his soul could no longer be considered a soul. He can neither go to heaven nor descend into hell. All he can do is wait for the day his body can no longer move at all, then dissipate into this world."

"I, however, can use his body as a medium to do some... things I enjoy. Yes, he made a deal with me before: he would stay, and I would let you go. But he isn't someone who keeps his word. He refused to obey my commands..."

At this point, he seemed to think of something that delighted him. He laughed and said, "Do you know the cruelest way to treat a dead soul? Make him relive his death. I repeated it at least a hundred times, but it was merely pain, pure pain... That bored me."

"So I gave him something else. Would you like to guess?"

I could guess. If the physical didn't work, then the mental. My scalp prickled, and all the blood in my body surged toward my head. Bone-chilling hatred swept through me. I clenched my fists tightly, my nails digging into my flesh.

Seeing that I remained silent, he continued, "You're very clever. I've known that from the start, so I imagine you've guessed too, haven't you?"

"At first, I only repeated the process of his mother being beheaded, making his mother question him, curse him, and berate him. It actually worked very well."

"For almost the first... several dozen times, I suppose, he would beg, cry, and tremble. Can you imagine? It was like a worm..."