Beyond the Eternity

After all, I had a purpose here. I needed to uncover every detail of the tragedy that had unfolded within these walls.

Even though I already had a clear sense of what happened, a thorough sweep might reveal something I\'d overlooked. It was unlikely, but not impossible, that this could be a murder case.

It was time to play mystery detective once again.

Pulling a flashlight from my coat, I switched it on and examined the scene, the corpses, one by one.

The survivors perished during the night, but it was clear that their deaths were not of natural causes.

To be completely honest, It was almost as if I was looking at a gore show.

Their entire faces were utterly disfigured. To be precise, portions of their faces had been blown apart, with fragments of bone and flesh scattered across the ground. Some victims even had their eyeballs protruding grotesquely from their eye sockets.

There were no signs of a struggle, no indication that they tried to defend themselves. It was as if something had struck them from within, shattering them from the inside out.

More importantly,

"They died in such a brutal manner, yet their faces bear an unsettling expression of peace, as if they found solace in their final moments."

It was impossible to understand despite knowing the answer. Indeed, this was truly the work of the supernatural.

[The constellations are intrigued by this unexpected turn of events.]

[The constellation, Architect of Destruction, is captivated by the enigma surrounding this tragedy.]

I turned and pointed my flashlight at the main door.

The warehouse had only a single entrance, meaning that if an intruder was responsible, they would have had to come through there. But there were no signs of forced entry, which only made the scenario even more strange and mysterious.

If there were no signs of forced entry, wouldn\'t that suggest this tragedy wasn\'t the work of an outsider? .net

Nor could it have been the work of someone using the Phantom skill, as they wouldn\'t have been able to interact with the physical world.

In other words, It wasn\'t the work of an outsider—it had to be someone from within. But was that really the case?

Let\'s use \'Stage Reevaluation\'.

It was a reasoning tool commonly employed by the Constellations. If the current scenario—the crime scene—was treated as a "stage," then it could be re-evaluated from an entirely different angle, as though seen from a 180° shift in perspective.

Shifting one\'s perspective to uncover a hidden truth within a story\'s mystery, that was Stage Reevaluation.

The term was created by the author of Song of Nightmares, Unknown.

[Personal skill, Black Box has activated.]

[You have used \'Stage Reevaluation\'.]

[Your thought processing speed and senses has drastically increased due to immense immersion.]

Crack!

The crime scene itself distorted, seeming to adjust rapidly as I examined each piece of evidence one by one.

I had already concluded that the crime scene wasn\'t the result of an external party or an intruder, leaving only the possibility that someone among us had committed the murders.

However, that conclusion was also flawed.

This scenario couldn\'t have been the work of someone inside the group. I had thoroughly reviewed all the survivors\' information prior to the tragedy, and none of them had the capabilities necessary to carry out such an act of violence.

In fact, it was entirely possible that the victims hadn\'t been killed by anyone at all.

My reasoning?

Skills and Divine Authorities leaves behind traces of mana when used, and none of those traces could be felt or found on the scene.

If someone had genuinely taken these lives using a skill or divine authority to fulfill some dark urge for murder and chaos, then surely, traces would be left behind.

But what exactly does that mean?

If the people weren\'t killed by an intruder or someone from within, what could have caused their deaths?

Obviously, that would mean it was something else altogether.

[Personal skill, Black Box has been deactivated.]

[You have stopped the \'Stage Reevaluation\'.]

Crack! Crack!

As the Stage Reevaluation concluded and the surrounding space returned to normal, I stepped outside the warehouse and noticed the survivors lingering nearby.

I spotted Angelica shouting something at some of the survivors, while the twins were sitting on the ground in the distance.

As I moved closer, Angelica\'s furious voice became increasingly clear, and it was evident that she was seething with anger.

"What do you mean you didn\'t see what happened? You were all in the same place! How could someone be killed without any of you noticing? Just explain how that\'s even possible!"

"We—we were all together! We didn\'t hear anything!" one of them stammered.

"Do you really expect me to believe that? People don\'t just drop dead without a sound! Someone must have seen something!"

The survivors squirmed uncomfortably under Angelica\'s intense glare, each one reluctant to speak, but none of them had any answers. Their silence only seemed to fuel her frustration further.

"You idiots! How have you even managed to survive like this?"

"We\'re sorry… but we really didn\'t hear anything!"

"Oh, so you\'re sticking to that story, are you? Maybe I should start taking you out one by one until someone decides to talk! One of you has to be the culprit, right?"

"T-That..."

The survivors stumbled back in fear as Angelica summoned a sword, leveling its blade at them.

I stepped forward and stopped her from doing anything unnecessary.

"Calm down. Using physical violence is not going to solve anything."

"How can I just let this go? You must be suspicious too, right?"

"Yes. I can roughly guess what happened. That\'s why I need you to calm down."

I glanced at the twins before turning to Angelica.

"I\'ll handle things from here. Go check on them for now—they just lost the only parental figure they had. You know what to do, right?"

"That..." She let out a resigned breath. "I understand."

Angelica gave the frightened survivors one last look, loosened her grip on the sword, and walked over to the twins.

When she fully entered the personal space of the twins, she crouched down to their eye level and begun saying words that I could not hear. Even so, It was obvious she was trying to comfort.

Now then.

I returned my attention back to the frightened survivors and spoke the following words.

"Listen up. I know you\'re scared, but I need you to focus. We\'re going to figure this out together. But before that, I need to ask you people a few questions, and please answer truthfully. Or else."

I gestured toward the revolver tucked in my coat, and the survivors\' eyes widened with fear as they glanced nervously at me.

"Someone is going to get it."

* * *

Needless to say, the survivors began to sing like canaries, eagerly spilling every detail they had witnessed leading up to the victims\' deaths as if recounting their own life stories.

Some even began sharing irrelevant details, like what they had eaten or other trivial matters.

I briefly entertained the idea of food poisoning, but I dismissed the thought altogether after using Zero One on the survivors without them knowing.

In the end, they all echoed the same statement.

All of them were fast asleep in the warehouse.

None of them heard anything

And

none of them saw anything.

After conducting my interrogation along with completing my analysis, while using information from Song of Nightmares, I finally pieced together the missing puzzles of the story.

As Angelica saw me approaching, she stood up and came my way instead. She asked, "Were you able to find out anything?"

"Yes. I did, but you won\'t like the answer."

"Just tell me, what did you find out about the murder?"

"Actually, that\'s the point—those people weren\'t murdered; they just died."

"W-what?"

Angelica\'s face showed clear shock, as if she had just heard something unbelievable. She paused for a moment, but then her surprise turned to anger, and her voice began to rise.

"What do you mean they just died? There had to be some kind of reason! They didn\'t just drop dead for no reason!"

"Shhhh! Lower your voice."

I gestured for her to lower her voice, glancing around to ensure the survivors were still too shaken to overhear us. "Listen, I know it sounds impossible, but the evidence suggests that there was no external force involved, and no skills or divine authorities were used."

"Then how do you explain the state of their bodies? Surely, that indicates something supernatural was at play."

"I believe the answer lies in the previous story they were part of."

"Previous story? Are you talking about the Fifth Fable?"

"That\'s right," I replied, nodding. "Not everyone was involved in the same story. The Fifth Fable is unique in the sense that the participants were placed in different parts or stages of the narrative. That\'s why we didn\'t see all the survivors at the sacrificial ritual. I\'m sure you noticed people from various countries there, not just Asians."

"T-That..."

Her eyes widened as if she had finally realised something. Although her surprise only lasted for a split second.

"Even if that\'s the case, how is the Fifth Fable linked to their deaths?"

"I don\'t know the exact details, but based on what the survivors said, it appears they were assigned to eliminate some monsters and were then ambushed by an unidentified creature."

"What kind of monster was it?"

In response to Angelica\'s question, I could only shake my head.

"I don\'t know. The survivors couldn\'t provide an exact description of the creature. But I don\'t think they are lying since I used a lie detection skill on them, and their words came out as the truth."

"That\'s absurd. How could they forget something like that? It doesn\'t make any sense!"

"I know. It seems that the ambusher may have manipulated their memories somehow, and erased its existence altogether."

Angelica crossed her arms with a frustrated look. "So you\'re saying we\'re dealing with some sort of intelligent mind-altering monster? What are we supposed to do with that information? If we can\'t trust the survivors\' memories, how can we trust anything they say?"

"We need to consider the possibility that whatever happened in the Fifth Fable might have left psychological scars on the survivors. If they were involved in a story where trust was a luxury and betrayal was commonplace, their ability to recall the truth could have been compromised."

"But how were they still impacted, even after having completed that story?"

"Sigh... If someone shoots you with a gun, the bullet will hit you, and without treatment, you\'re likely to die from blood loss or a stroke. The same logic applies to those people, even if their demise was supernatural. Something must have affected them during the Fifth Fable, leading to their deaths without anyone realizing it. It\'s really sad and truly unfortunate that such a tragedy occurred at this time."

From the information I gathered from the survivors, I had already identified the entity responsible for their deaths. However, I chose not to share this with Angelica. I couldn\'t share it with her. Revealing it could put her in danger.

The more one knows about its existence, the more they were

likely

to fall under its influence.

A creature that was more terrifying than the Faceless One which could create parasites and invade the body of others.

If I came across that creature, I wasn\'t sure I would survive.

That was the kind of existence \'It\' was.

I sighed once more. Thinking about it, those people were truly unfortunate to encounter that creature. Maybe all our troubles would be solved if we kill the Goddess of Misfortune.

"Tck!"

An unpleasant noise emerged as Angell gritted the back of her teeth.

"I don\'t get it. I really don\'t understand at all. What\'s the point of completing the Fables if we\'re all just going to die anyway? What am I supposed to tell those two who just lost their mother? That she died because she didn\'t survive well? Please, Jakga, tell me, because I just don\'t know anymore."

I remained silent, unsure of how to respond to that question.

After all, how could I possibly answer it?

Even in the old world, death came in inexplicable forms, defying logic and common sense.

Some passed away peacefully in their sleep with no signs of illness, while others died suddenly for reasons shrouded in mystery.

Ultimately, there were countless ways to die, and reason alone couldn\'t capture the complexity of it all.

Perhaps the twins would have understood if their mother were killed by some serial killer or sorts.

But what happens when the supernatural was suddenly thrown into the equation?

"I don\'t know."

That was all I could mutter.

For the first time, I faced a scenario that eluded any possible solution. Information from Song of Nightmares could not deal with trauma. It felt as if everything I had accomplished up to this point had been utterly meaningless.

"I don\'t know anything at all."

I knew everything yet nothing.