Chapter 37 Part 2

“Here, this is my pay for the month. It’s all for you and your brother. From today on, you’re on your own! I won’t count on you for support in my old age. If we can each make our own way, that’s more than enough to make your dad happy!”

“I’ve asked Doctor White. You won’t stay sick forever. Once you grow a bit more and your immune system strengthens, the attacks won’t come so often.”

“Doctor White also said he really likes you—you’re the most well-behaved kid among his patients. He said you could take piano lessons with his daughter. I’ll pick you up every day, little brother.”

“…Don’t cry, don’t cry. Your body’s weak; if you cry too hard, you’ll get sick again. Doctor White wouldn’t want to see you like this from down below.”

“…What? You—you want to give that money to Ali!? But that’s the money you saved up to buy a piano!”

“…All right, Ali’s lost Doctor White now—she has no family left at all. At least you still have me. She really does need it more than we do, with that pack of rotten relatives she has…”

…

Ode fell silent, caught off guard by the sudden flood of memory fragments. A touch of embarrassment crept in as well. He had no idea if the young boy realized his past was being laid bare like this. Clearing his throat, Ode tried to speak. “Hello? Uh… that friend just now?”

‘Yes…’

The gentle response came through the darkness, as if from a great distance away, yet it filled the space and echoed all around.

…

Ode realized in an instant that what he was experiencing was indeed one of the entry methods from his culture class: “being carried in by a Phantasmal Dream Realm creature.”

The boy hadn’t opened a gate. He’d opened his soul.

And in that vast, profound soul—where fierce winds howled and echoes reverberated—the memories continued to play:

“Don’t waste time on odd jobs. Your dream is to take the stage in Vienna; mine is to watch you do it. Poverty already forces us to run twice as hard as the rich—don’t squander our time.”

“Jack! Jack! Look at this… I’ve been invited to study with the master!”

“Yeah, it’s that master we’ve always admired! I told him about a friend of mine with even more talent, who just couldn’t afford the audition… He said I could bring you along when I go to learn, so you can play a piece for him!”

“Hm? No need to thank me… If you and your brother hadn’t helped me out all along—and loaned me money after my father died—I wouldn’t have made it this far.”

“Anyway! I’m sure of it—you’ll become my fellow apprentice!”

“Hm? Dreaming again? That dream where your legs work fine, and you command the entire Vienna Golden Hall for your performance… Man, what a dream. How come I never get one like that?”

“Hey! Forget that. I heard there’s a big event in Southampton—they need a pianist. The government approached our teacher, and he recommended you. Uh… do you have a tuxedo?”

“Ha! Knew you wouldn’t splurge on one. I begged a tux off one of the junior students… It’s a bit small, sure, but better than nothing, right? Best part? It’s internal to the studio—no cost! Aren’t you still saving for a better piano?”

Ode had been wondering how to broach the subject—”I’m in your soul and can hear your memories”—when he paused, lifting his head.

“Again with that dream,” “dreaming of legs that work fine, commanding the entire Vienna Golden Hall.”

To ordinary people like Ali, who knew nothing of the Phantasmal Dream Realm, it would just sound like envy: such a wonderful dream, how come I never have one?

But to Ode, with his specialized training, it clicked immediately. The boy named Jack must have been so purely obsessed with his dreams that the Phantasmal Dream Realm absorbed him into it. Every night, when Jack dreamed, he returned to his own domain there to perform.

As for the “big event” in Southampton… Could that be this conference?

Even as these thoughts raced through his mind, Ode suddenly heard a familiar voice—the stern captain’s:

“Hmph…” The captain’s tone carried scrutiny. “That outfit of yours… How old are you?”

“What are you struggling for? No proper pianist wears a tuxedo that tight! I’ve seen it all in my life—think I can’t see through your little scheme? You want to use this conference to latch onto some big shot… Fat chance. Come with me. After this conference, I’ll at least make rear admiral…”

“Wait—hey! Don’t go near that! The railing’s under repair—it’s unsteady! If it’s a no, just go back— No!!!”

Thud…

The body plummeted onto the upper deck, landing with a dull thump mingled with the crack of bone and the splatter of flesh.

…

Ode’s breath caught.

Death had come too abruptly, without warning, leaving no time for anyone to prepare.

Reality seemed especially fond of tormenting those who tried hardest, watching them claw their way out of the pit only to kick them straight back into the abyss.

“Aw, nuts.” The boy’s exasperated voice suddenly came from nearby. “How’d you end up seeing that? You were supposed to use this time to think of your most memorable place!”

The wind-whipped memories cut off abruptly. Ode turned, but he didn’t see the boy. “…The repairman on the ship—was that your brother? He came for revenge on your behalf?”

“…Yeah.” The boy’s voice—so consistently light and carefree, or at least faked that way to avoid worry—dropped low. “After I fell, I didn’t die right away. Probably because I had this Phantasmal Dream Realm power… But the captain didn’t know that. He thought I was done for, so… he hid me away.”

“My brother came looking for me but got nowhere. They locked him up as a troublemaker. By the time they let him out, the captain had already talked to my teacher. Called it an international incident—couldn’t let the scandal out. As compensation, the captain said he’d grant any request from my family…”

But Jack’s brother clearly hadn’t accepted.

“I… I could see it when my brother made his move.” A faint tremor crept into the boy’s voice. “I wanted to stop him! Why not take the deal? I was doing great in the Phantasmal Dream Realm—no more lame legs, the whole Vienna Golden Hall was mine! If he’d accepted, he could’ve lived rich in the real world! Why…”

He trailed off. Deep down, he knew better than anyone why his brother wouldn’t take it. There was no sense in baseless blame. All that was left was a choked sob. “But I was so useless back then… All I could do was play piano. My brother must’ve understood my farewell! He always did! And yet he still…”

He acted.

Without the slightest hesitation.

After killing the enemy, Jack’s brother turned the blade on himself. The sacrificial ritual wrapped up so quickly that when Faust reviewed it later, he muttered more than once about how lucky they were the kid hadn’t encountered other forbidden arts—otherwise, GORCC’s wanted list would have another prodigy dark sorcerer.

Only then did Jack consciously begin to wield and control his Phantasmal Dream Realm power. Not because losing his loved ones made him realize his own weakness, but because:

“This isn’t right. I don’t believe it! No matter how much hatred, how could my brother ignore the piece I was playing and just kill the captain?! Something’s wrong—I have to figure it out… I have to—”

Avenge my brother.

Jack didn’t voice it aloud. He realized in that moment how much like his brother he had become.

Maybe that’s what blood brothers were—personalities miles apart, but the flame burning in their souls always shared the same hue at its core.

…

Ode had no words for the tragedy without knowing every detail. After a moment’s silence, he simply asked, “Where did the captain hide your body?”

But Jack didn’t answer. “Don’t worry about me. I don’t really want anyone seeing what I look like now. Think about your most memorable place instead! We’re almost to my turf!”

If the Behemoth hadn’t been chasing them, Ode would’ve sat down with the kid for a real talk about death. But with survival hanging by a thread, he caught the urgency in Jack’s tone, swallowed his words, cleared his mind, and focused on the memory that fit—

The manor.

Of course, Douglas Manor.

It was where he was born, where he grew up. Where he laughed with family, where he said goodbye to each one in turn.

What other place could haunt his dreams more, had shattered and reshaped his life, faith, and soul more completely?

The endless freefall finally slowed. Carried by Jack’s soul, Ode landed lightly and steadily atop the Italian Renaissance-style building, leaping catlike to its edge.

After setting Ode down, Jack anxiously glanced back the way they’d come, his voice sharpening. “Forget my house! Hurry! It’s coming!!”

The massive worm, pulsing with mucous glow, plunged heedlessly toward the rooftop where the Apollo Statue and Muse Goddess Statues stood. The sheer air pressure blasted the slight figure of Jack right off the roof.

And just before the raging gusts shredded the dark-green copper roof…

The night wind carried the first whiff of cloying sweetness to the Behemoth. Then, in the blink of an eye, it swept across miles amid a chorus of a thousand wails!

Boom…

The violent tremors did not originate solely from the ancient building resembling the Vienna Musikverein Building. They shook nearly half the continent of the Phantasmal Dream Realm. Even at the continent’s edge, the Selerphis Seaport rumbled with low vibrations as the waves relentlessly battered the stone walls of the harbor.

In that instant, the residents of nearly half the Phantasmal Dream Realm turned in stunned horror, gazing back toward the east of Jaka. What had been vast barren plains moments before now rose sharply into the sky, its peak nearly piercing the sea of clouds. Beneath the moonlight, the corpses reflected a pale bony gleam mingled with a deep crimson hue reminiscent of spider lilies.

Caught off guard, the Behemoth crashed into the Corpse Mountain Bone Sea that had erupted into existence, savagely expanding outward like a predator claiming its territory. Before it could even lift its head, countless palms—rotting flesh clinging to jagged white bones—seized it tightly, dragging it down the steep slope by force.

It could only struggle to raise one corner of its massive body. Atop the corpse mountain, a lean and wiry figure slowly descended, dragging a heavy cannon behind him.

Those green eyes gleamed in the darkness like shards of broken glass, reflecting the shadows of countless people.

In those fragments of glass, they howled madly at it, their laughter filled with savage glee.

The human’s face remained expressionless as he lifted his right foot. The cold, hard sole of his leather shoe ground down onto it.

He opened his mouth.

And through that mouth, the myriad shadows spoke:

“God, learn to feel fear.”

“God, come kneel before your new king.”

Deep beneath the South Pacific in the real world, a pair of swamp-green eyes suddenly snapped open in the darkness.

At the same moment, aboard the old cruise ship.

In the sole intact cabin—the study where Cavendish sat—Nyarlathotep abruptly turned his gaze. “Hmm? Hmm… After all these years, the Phantasmal Dream Realm finally has a new lord. I really want to hurry over and see what kind of figure it is… I hope It isn’t too agreeable. Weak lords get their crowns stripped away and booted from their own domains.”

Cavendish slowly raised his eyes. “Do I look agreeable?”