Pharos stepped into the restaurant.
He looked around once—
And immediately saw the damage.
Bodies lay scattered across the floor.
Every single person in the room was unconscious.
River.
Celestia.
Alexander.
Alicia.
Hana.
Rose.
Even Arthur and the others outside had already fallen to the bell's curse.
For the first time in a long time—
Pure rage filled Pharos's eyes.
Not amusement.
Not fascination.
Not that playful curiosity he so often wore.
Just hatred.
Cold.
Violent.
Focused.
He turned toward Elric's unconscious body.
Slowly.
Then—
THUD.
His foot slammed into Elric's stomach.
"Elric…"
His voice was low.
Shaking with restrained fury.
"The moment you wake up…"
He crouched slightly, glaring down at him.
"…I am going to torture you so thoroughly that you will beg for the mercy of death."
Another kick.
Harder.
"You have no idea…"
Pharos's lip curled.
"…how badly you've ruined my plans."
He struck him again.
"I needed tonight to go perfectly."
His voice rose.
"That date between those two needed to go smoothly."
Another kick.
"You ruined that."
Pharos began pacing.
His breathing was uneven now, his calm thoroughly broken.
"Then…"
He stopped and turned sharply back toward Elric.
"…you did the one thing you absolutely should not have done."
His eyes burned.
"Damn it."
His hands clenched.
"I should never have given you Miserable September."
He kicked Elric again, almost like he wanted to wake him up just so he could hear this properly.
"This…"
His voice dropped into something dangerous.
"…was the one place I needed River to never go."
He stared down at Elric with murderous fury.
"He cannot meet Francesca yet."
The words were sharp.
Precise.
Terrified in a way only Pharos could be.
"You've ruined everything, you bastard."
For a long moment, the room was silent except for Pharos's breathing.
Then he forced himself to inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Piece by piece, he dragged his rage back under control.
Not fully.
But enough.
He turned and began walking away.
Still fuming.
Still trembling with anger.
"You'd better pray…"
His voice echoed through the ruined restaurant.
"…that you never wake up, Elric."
He glanced back only once.
Because if you do…"
A thin, terrifying smile crossed his face.
"I'll make sure you experience pain beyond anything you can imagine."
Then Pharos left—
Still furious.
And already thinking about how to salvage a disaster he had never intended to happen.
Meanwhile—
River wandered through the strange kingdom of glass.
Everywhere he looked, towering buildings of reflective crystal stretched into the sky. Strange lights burned without flame, and metal carriages raced along black roads like beasts of steel.
Then—
A carriage screeched to a halt right in front of him.
It nearly hit him.
"Get out of the road, asshole!" the driver shouted through the open window.
River jumped back.
"S-sorry!"
The man rolled his eyes.
"Fucking superheroes…"
He slammed his hand on the wheel.
"Thinking they can do whatever they want."
The carriage roared off before River could say anything else.
River stared after it.
"…Superheroes?"
He looked down at the Bible in his hands.
Or rather—
Where the Bible should have been.
Nothing.
No Buer.
No familiar voice.
No smug commentary.
Just silence.
"…Buer?"
River looked around again, more uneasy now.
Nothing.
He swallowed.
Then muttered to himself, trying to force logic into the madness.
"Miserable September…"
His brow furrowed.
"There was a rumor…"
He thought back carefully.
"…that Pharos once gambled with an eldritch horror."
His voice lowered.
"The Tyrant of the Inverted Sea."
A chill ran through him.
"And when he won…"
River's eyes narrowed.
"…he stole part of its brain and used it to create the Miserable September."
He looked around at the glowing roads and impossible city.
"They say that thing could drag anyone who fell asleep at sea into a dream world…"
A pause.
"…So is this one?"
River bit at his fingernails anxiously as he tried to understand where he was.
A dream.
A fake city.
A memory.
A trap.
He turned a corner—
And froze.
Ahead of him—
He saw Arthur.
River's face lit up instantly.
Arthur was walking down the street laughing with two other people.
One was a man with messy black hair, a recently trimmed beard, green eyes hidden behind glasses, and dark bags beneath them like he hadn't slept in days.
The other was a cheerful-looking woman with long blonde hair, bright yellow eyes, and a red hood draped over her head.
They looked comfortable together.
Familiar.
Close.
"Arthur!"
River hurried toward him, relief rushing into his chest.
"Arthur, it's good to see you!"
Arthur stopped and turned.
Then blinked.
"…Have we met before?"
River's smile faltered.
The blonde woman tilted her head.
"Do you think he's a fan?"
The tired man snorted.
"Doubt it."
He adjusted his glasses.
"If he wanted an autograph, he'd probably ask for yours."
River stared at them.
"…What are you talking about?"
He looked back at Arthur.
"You really don't recognize me?"
Arthur looked genuinely apologetic.
"I'm sorry, my dear friend."
His tone was polite.
"But I have a pretty good memory."
A faint smile.
"And I don't recognize you in the slightest."
River felt his stomach sink.
Arthur awkwardly reached into his coat.
"Well…"
He pulled out a piece of paper.
"I can at least give you an autograph."
With a flourish, he wrote a single name on it.
Cheshire.
Then he handed it to River.
"There."
Arthur gave him a friendly little wave.
"See you around, fan."
Then he turned and walked off with the other two, laughing as if nothing was strange at all.
River stood there in the glowing city, holding the paper in stunned silence.
More confused than ever.
As River kept walking through the strange city, he suddenly heard the sound of a massive explosion.
A second later—
People came running.
Screaming.
Panicked.
Even if this world was fake—
Even if it was only some twisted dream—
River couldn't ignore it.
He ran toward the chaos.
What he found was absurd.
A woman stood in the middle of the street, dressed in something so flamboyant it was hard to even process at first glance. Her long crimson hair was braided, her red eyes burned with madness, and her dress looked as if it had been woven from living fire. Lastly a black masquerade mask, hid her face.
It was literally burning.
Yet she acted as if that were perfectly normal.
"Where is she?!" the woman screamed.
"Bring out Queen!"
With monstrous strength, she grabbed one of the metal carriages beside her and lifted it overhead.
Then she hurled it.
The thing exploded midair and burst into flames as it spun toward a crowd of fleeing civilians.
River reacted instantly.
"Barrier!"
A wall of light formed in front of the terrified people.
The burning carriage crashed against it, exploding into shattered metal and fire.
The civilians behind the barrier screamed and ducked—
But they survived.
The woman clicked her tongue dramatically.
"Seriously?"
She tossed her hair over one shoulder.
"A nobody?"
She pointed at River with a manic grin.
"You're not the one I wanted!"
Her smile widened.
"Fine then! I'll just blow you to smithereens!"
She spread her arms theatrically.
"Remember my name!"
Her eyes gleamed with delighted madness.
"I am the Bomb Baroness!"
Then she laughed.
Loud.
Shrill.
Completely insane.
River stared at her for half a second.
Then sighed.
"…I hate this world."
He moved immediately.
"Slip and Slide!"
Water spread beneath his feet, launching him forward in a fast, low glide across the street.
The Bomb Baroness spotted the water and grinned even wider.
"Oh?"
She snapped her fingers.
"Water creation? How nostalgic."
A pulse of heat surged through the air.
"Then let's play."
Boom.
The air around River ignited.
Flames rushed toward him from every direction.
River twisted away.
"Geyser!"
A heavy burst of water erupted beneath him, blasting him upward and out of the line of fire.
The flames roared beneath him as he narrowly escaped.
The Bomb Baroness pointed at him accusingly.
"Blonde hair."
"Red eyes."
"And that obnoxious water trick."
Her grin turned vicious.
"You remind me way too much of my arch-enemy."
She licked her lips.
"I'm going to enjoy killing you."
She thrust both hands forward.
"Be blown to bits!"
Dozens of fireballs formed around her at once.
Then launched.
The air itself ignited as the street turned into a storm of fire hurtling straight toward River.
Suddenly—
A spinning vortex of water wrapped around River.
The rushing fireballs slammed into it one after another, hissing and bursting apart harmlessly against the swirling barrier.
River looked up.
So did the Bomb Baroness.
And the moment B.B. saw her—
She smiled.
Not with surprise.
With delight.
Her true target had finally arrived.
The woman walked through the air itself.
Water supported every step beneath her feet, forming a staircase of flowing blue that carried her gracefully downward. Long blonde hair, elegantly braided, swayed behind her. Her crimson eyes glowed beneath the night sky, and a black face mask concealed the lower half of her face.
She wore a beautiful azure dress, the sort a noblewoman might wear to a grand ball rather than a battlefield. White lace gloves covered her hands, and black heels clicked softly against each watery step as she descended.
She looked utterly composed.
Utterly elegant.
Utterly out of place.
"I heard someone was looking for me," the woman said with a faint smile.
"Queen!" B.B. cried, grinning wickedly.
The woman ignored her for the moment and let her gaze settle on River.
Her expression sharpened just slightly.
"Has Miserable September dragged in new victims again?"
She tilted her head.
"There hasn't been anyone new since I arrived."
River stared at her.
Hope flared in his chest.
"You're from the real world?"
"Indeed."
She nodded once.
"I've been trapped here since I was a young girl."
A pause.
"Eleven years, if I remember correctly."
Her eyes turned briefly toward the glowing city around them.
"I've adapted to this world's bizarre customs."
A small, wistful smile crossed her face.
"Though I do miss home."
Then she looked back at him fully.
"What is your name?"
River swallowed.
"My name is River."
He straightened a little.
"I'm a cleric."
The woman went still for half a second.
Then inhaled quietly.
"I've never told anyone here my real name."
Her voice softened.
"I only go by the absurd title of Queen."
She placed a gloved hand lightly over her chest.
"But…"
Her crimson eyes met his.
"As a fellow survivor from the real world…"
A pause.
"And a fellow red-eyes…"
She smiled.
"I'll tell you."
The air felt still.
Like the whole city had paused just to let River hear what came next.
"My name…"
She took a slow breath.
"…is Francesca Oceania."
River froze.
"…Oceania?"
His eyes widened so fast it almost hurt.
That name.
The same last name he had been told was his own.
The same name tied to his father.
The same name that had haunted his thoughts ever since that strange white room.
River stared at her, heart pounding.
Could it be—
Could this woman—
Actually be his sister?