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Silent Hill had completely overwritten the original town.
The black shadow hanging in the sky seemed to sense that the flow of emotions had stopped. It went still.
On the streets below, the blank, hollow-eyed residents slowly began to wake up. The unnatural numbness drained from their faces.
"What… what the hell just happened to me?"
Jim stared at his own hands, fear and confusion flooding back into his eyes. He couldn't understand how he'd felt that detached, almost enlightened calm—like even if his wife and children had died right in front of him, he wouldn't have cared. The memory of that emptiness terrified him now.
Before he could shake off the lingering dread, shouts of shock and confusion erupted all along the street as more people regained their senses.
Soren watched the scene for a moment, then turned to the little girl beside him.
Alessa didn't spare the waking townspeople a single glance. She walked lightly toward the church at the center of the Silent Hill domain. Soren followed close behind.
The church itself looked unchanged. The withered seed planted in the middle of the floor still hadn't sprouted.
Alessa gave a small wave of her hand.
BOOM!
The floor around the seed collapsed inward, revealing a roaring sea of flames beneath. Countless iron wires shot upward from the fire, tearing through the church ceiling and racing toward the motionless black shadow in the sky.
"She's pulling the emotions out to feed the seed?"
Soren looked up.
The wires passed straight through the shadow and began wrapping around it in thick, spiraling coils. Soon the entire shadow was cocooned in layers of iron wire. From below, the sky looked like a vast field of steel thorns.
Colored light streamed out of the shadow, flowing down the wires and feeding into the withered seed.
The shadow—born entirely from gathered emotions—didn't resist. It simply let itself be drained.
Madison burst into the church, breathing hard. Her clothes were torn to rags by monsters, barely clinging to the important parts of her body. When she saw Soren, her eyes widened in shock.
"Soren?! What the hell are you doing here?"
She hurried over, pushing sweaty blonde hair out of her face. "After I left that goddamn witch academy, I was walking and suddenly got dumped in this hellhole! What the fuck is going on here? Monsters everywhere!"
Soren's expression didn't change.
After throwing Madison into Silent Hill, he'd used the domain's fog to erase her memories of their conversation and the master-servant contract they'd signed. He'd also planted a strong suggestion in her mind: she had to master all Seven Wonders before she could leave. From her perspective, Soren had simply walked out the door after her and vanished, and she'd been dropped straight into this nightmare.
"I don't know either," Soren said flatly. "I was chasing some leads and ended up here the same way."
With Madison's fiery personality, telling her the truth upfront would've been pointless. She would've just lain down and refused to play along, betting he wouldn't actually let the monsters kill her.
Just then, another figure ran into the church.
Nico—back to her usual self—had followed the iron wires from the sky straight to the church. She looked at Soren standing in the center and grinned.
"Holy shit! You did all this? The entire world is your domain? That's fucking badass!"
Madison turned to Soren, suspicion flashing across her face.
Soren sighed. There was no point keeping up the act anymore. He let the hidden memories flood back into Madison's mind—the contract, the plan to make her Supreme Witch, everything.
Madison's face flushed deep red as she realized how thoroughly he'd played her. She stared at him, but to his surprise, she didn't explode.
After a long moment she straightened up, chest out, and said with defiant pride, "Hmph. So it was you all along. Still… your little training method actually worked."
"I've already mastered three of the Seven Wonders. Teleportation, pyrokinesis, and telekinesis."
She held out her hand. Flames flickered to life in her palm.
"Once I've got the rest, we'll see what you have left to hold over me."
She looked at Soren's handsome face, eyes gleaming with something hungry and dangerous. The restrictions of the master-servant contract didn't humiliate her. They lit a fire in her—the urge to conquer. She was already planning what she'd do to him once she became Supreme Witch.
Soren saw the open hunger on her face and said flatly, "You're still too weak."
"With what you've got right now, you couldn't take Fiona with one hand tied behind your back. And you think you can come at me?"
The words hit like a needle straight into her pride.
"You just wait!"
Madison spun around and stormed toward the exit. Halfway there she whirled back, yanked Soren's coat off him, wrapped it around herself, and stalked out without another word.
Soren watched her go, a small smile tugging at his lips. That kind of fire was perfect for a Supreme Witch.
Nico watched Madison vanish into the fog and asked curiously, "Who's the blonde? She's got some serious heat."
"A witch."
Nico's eyes went wide. "You're running into witches now too? When can I get her to help me build something?"
"Next time for sure."
Soren gave a noncommittal answer and looked back up at the sky. The shadow had shrunk considerably, but draining it completely would still take time. At least it seemed to have no will of its own—just running on old programming.
He looked down. Alastor appeared in his hand.
He held the lightning sword out to Nico. "Take a look. Can it be fixed?"
The blade looked pristine. It could probably still cut through a few more demons. Only Soren knew the truth—the overload from earlier had left it shattered on the inside. Like a martial artist who looked fine on the outside but whose meridians were torn to pieces. It couldn't handle real combat anymore.
Nico ran her hands along the blade, feeling it carefully. After a moment she shook her head, regret clear on her face.
"Can't fix it."
"Devil Arms aren't like regular weapons. Once the demon core inside is damaged, external repairs almost never work."
Nico explained, "Even if I found the right materials to patch it, these things used to be powerful demons. They've got too much pride to accept foreign matter inside them. They all have their own pride."
Soren nodded. He wasn't surprised. He didn't know much about how other Devil Arms behaved, but Alastor's temper was legendary. The first time they met, the damn thing had stabbed him straight through the chest. Expecting something that arrogant to accept patchwork repairs was about as likely as it committing suicide on the spot.
"However—"
Nico's tone shifted. "If you're willing to let it go, I can break it down completely, pull out the core, and fuse it into a new weapon for you."