The dungeon door slammed shut.
Satie was shoved forward, stumbling. His shoulder struck the stone wall, and all the strength left his body at once. He dropped heavily to the ground.
The guard pulled back his hand, locked the door, and his footsteps quickly faded away.
The dungeon fell silent again.
Only the dampness remained, the smell of mold, and the oil lamp in the corner that was nearly burned out, swaying with a dim yellow light.
Only at this moment did he truly feel despair.
In his previous life, he had spent more than ten years wasting away in a hospital bed, dreaming of nothing more than a body that could run, jump, and truly live.
But after finally transmigrating once, after finally landing in the body of a healthy young boy—
before he had even had time to catch his breath, before he had even had time to see what this world was really like, tomorrow he would be dragged to the stake and burned alive.
He could not think of any way to survive.
So he simply sat there in silence, staring blankly ahead.
After who knew how long, the shadow in the corner suddenly shifted.
A pair of long, reddish eyes lit up first. Then a palm-sized little demon slowly floated out of the darkness.
The thin wings on its back twitched twice in irritation. The tip of its tail lashed back and forth, and its entire face seemed written over with annoyance.
"Idiot."
The moment it opened its mouth, it was already full of anger.
"I told you long ago not to use it in a place like that. Not to expose yourself in front of those people. But no, you just had to show off. Well, satisfied now? Tomorrow at noon, the stake. Burned clean through, not even bone ash left behind."
"Finished cursing me yet?"
"Doesn't matter anyway. I die tomorrow."
The little demon became even more furious at once.
"What kind of attitude is that?"
It flew right up in front of Satie and stared at his pale face.
"Do you even know how much effort I spent waiting for someone like you? I finally found another one who could bear the Codex, and you went and got yourself killed—"
Only then did Satie raise his eyes and look at it.
There was only a cold sort of exhaustion in them.
"It's not like I asked you to find me."
The moment those words came out, the little demon paused instead.
It frowned and stared at Satie for two moments. The pure irritation in its eyes slowly faded, replaced by something harder to name.
According to its memory, at a time like this the original owner should either have been screaming for it to save him, cursing heaven and the world, or else, like before, simply ending himself outright.
"You…"
It drifted a little closer, narrowing its long eyes.
"Ever since you woke up this time, you've been strange."
Satie said nothing.
The little demon circled around him once, the tip of its tail lightly tapping its leg as though pondering something.
"I already felt something was wrong before."
It muttered in a low voice,
"When you used Withering on yourself earlier, your presence was completely gone. I really thought you'd killed yourself. But not long after that, you slowly came back to life."
It stopped in midair, staring at Satie. For the first time, there was a little less sharp malice in its tone and a little more unease.
"Even Withering didn't kill you… This body of yours is even stranger than I thought."
When Satie heard that, his heart sank slightly, though nothing showed on his face. He only tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"I'm about to die anyway. Strange or not, what difference does it make?"
The little demon did not answer.
It only kept staring at him, as though trying to read something from his face.
But after watching for a long while, it only clicked its tongue impatiently, folded its arms, and drifted a little farther back.
"Forget it."
"You humans are troublesome to begin with."
"First you're acting like life and death mean everything, and now you're putting on that I-don't-care face."
Satie lowered his head again, his voice hoarse.
"Done?"
"No," the little demon said coldly.
"I'm very angry right now."
"If you die, that's one thing. But the Codex will have to fall silent again with you. Who knows how long it will take before another suitable person appears?"
Leaning against the wall, Satie closed his eyes.
"Then your luck really isn't very good."
The little demon choked on that answer and could not reply for quite a while.
After a moment, it suddenly cursed under its breath.
"What a mess."
But this time, it did not continue raging. It simply drifted back into the shadows by the wall.
Its red eyes, however, remained open in the darkness, staring at Satie without blinking.
As though it were looking at someone it had never seen before.
The dungeon became quiet again.
The oil lamp in the corner was almost burned out. The flame had shrunk into a tiny point, making the shadows around them seem faint and unreal.
Cold air seeped through the cracks in the stone, slipping through his clothes and into his bones.
From far away came the occasional sound of guards walking. Heavy, straight, one step after another. The longer he listened, the more drowsy it should have made a person feel.
But Satie could not sleep at all.
He was going to die again tomorrow. Whether he slept or not hardly seemed to matter.
He did not know how much time had passed when footsteps suddenly sounded outside.
At first, Satie did not move.
But after only two steps, he realized something was wrong.
Too light.
Completely unlike the usual sound of guards changing shifts, with iron boots and armor plates knocking together.
These footsteps were deliberately softened, so light they felt almost tentative. After reaching the door, they stopped, and for a long while there was no further movement.
Satie slowly lifted his head.
In the corner, the little demon also raised its eyes. Its narrow pupils tightened slightly in the dim light.
It was very quiet outside.
After a moment, a faint light seeped in through the crack beneath the door. It was not the warm yellow of lampfire, but something more like a tiny cluster of holy light pressed deliberately low, so weak it seemed as though a breath could scatter it.
Then a figure in a dark cloak stopped outside the cell door.
The person stood there for a moment, as if listening for movement outside, or perhaps giving herself one last moment to make up her mind. Then, slowly, she raised her head.
The shadow of the hood slipped back just a little, revealing a pale and exhausted face.
It was still the same face.
Gentle features, fine lines. Even in a place this cold and grim, it still looked clean.
A few strands of golden hair that had fallen across her forehead were damp from the night air and clung to her cheeks. The ends curled slightly, and under the weak light their color was still as soft and bright as before.
It was Lina.
The priestess from the team.
Satie stared at her and did not speak at once, but wariness had already risen first in his eyes.
At a time like this, what was she here for?
He already had no good impression of those so-called companions of the original owner. After all, they had repaid him for saving their lives by sending him to the judgment seat. At this point, it was hard for him to feel even the slightest trust toward any of them.
Lina was obviously nervous as well. The hand holding the key trembled slightly.
She did not dare look at Satie for long. She only walked quickly to the door and said in a low voice,
"Don't make a sound."
Satie did not move. He stared at her, his own voice just as low.
"What are you doing here?"
Lina did not answer. She only lowered her head and searched for the keyhole.
The key hit the metal twice before it finally slid in.
The faint metallic click that followed made her shoulders go rigid at once, and she instinctively glanced back outside.
The lock opened.
But Satie still did not move. He only continued watching her, as if waiting for an explanation, or waiting for her to reveal her true intention.
"Why?"
At last Lina raised her eyes and looked at him.
The glance was brief, but there was too much in it to name clearly.
Fear. Exhaustion. Hesitation. And a trace of resolve.
Her lips moved as though she wanted to say something, but in the end she still did not explain.
She only pulled the door open a crack, turned sideways, looked at Satie, and said in a hoarse whisper,
"Run. "