1.
Black Curtain.
The hidden background that governs the entire story without showing itself.
The leader of ‘Black Wolf’ who appears in this story, <Babylonia>, was the person who best fit this word ‘Black Curtain.’
A man whose name alone was enough to shake the world, whose subordinates were nightmares, and when he himself appeared, he would paralyze the surrounding area with fear.
Let me repeat, ‘Black Wolf’ was the one who best suited the word ‘Black Curtain.’
But Nahan possessed him.
Nahan, a twenty-five-year-old ordinary youth from the planet Earth, took over the body of this mysterious man who shared his name.
Thus, Nahan was confused.
“Who am I?”
“Is my Black Wolf a complete Black Wolf?”
Could the Nahan from Earth become an overwhelming Black Curtain like the Nahan in Babylonia?
The answer to these questions was,
“No. Absolutely not.”
It was impossible.
“I’m just pretending to be Black Wolf; my emotions and Black Wolf’s emotions are separate.”
I could mimic, but couldn’t express them as ‘Black Wolf.’
However, I was curious.
“…What if.”
What if.
If I, possessed by ‘Black Wolf,’ undergo an intense emotional change in this state,
“Could I summon Black Wolf’s full power like a furious Black Wolf?”
The answer to this question is…
.
.
.
<Target: Black Wolf>
“You share Black Wolf’s emotions.”
“Due to temporary assimilation, Stage 3 – <Method> activates temporarily.”
“You are now Black Wolf.”
And it can be summoned.
<Black Curtain (Ex) activated.>
<Through the Necklace of the Demon Slayer, a portion of the Compulsion (Ex-) of this space is absorbed.>
<Black Curtain (Ex) manifests at maximum capacity.>
From the center of the swirling black killing intent, the awakened Black Wolf warned.
“Stay away from Luna.”
Before you’re torn apart.
Let me repeat, Black Wolf was the one who fit the word ‘Black Curtain’ the most.
But Nahan had taken over.
2.
The Wanderers — Vanished.
Now, only the torn remnants of the tent remained. Three shadows moved beneath the tattered canvas.
“…Ah, damn…”
A massive figure flailed in the air as if trying to grab someone.
“…Why… Why did we do something wrong?!”
Ruby, curled up in the corner amidst flesh-like puppets, trembled.
“…Rose.”
Dalan stood upright, bowing his head as if praying toward a tombstone.
Was it because they fell afoul of Luna’s… no, <Mother>‘s ‘something’?
“…Ah, damn…”
“…What did we do wrong…”
“…Rose.”
The three of them repeated the same words over and over, wandering like skull skeletons with lost heads in the dust-covered Wanderers’ tent.
Then.
Click.
Unveiling her mask, Luna approached the three with a face hidden in shadow.
The steps,
The breath intervals,
The presence she exuded.
All of it had shifted away from Luna’s to something closer to Mother’s.
Carefully stepping, Mother gathered the three lost souls and stood them one by one under the streaming moonlight.
“Smile brightly, that’s how you survive.”
“Yeah, try smiling a bit more.”
“Even brighter, like your mouth is tearing.”
“That’s how you survive.”
The more she repeated these words, the stronger the mask’s compulsion grew.
Just like a suffocating drowsiness you can sense but can’t fight, and ultimately succumbing to sleep.
“Don’t tremble, that’s how you survive.”
“When it’s too hard, cry behind a mask.”
“Keep trying and trying.”
“Somewhere along the way, you’ll be able to smile even behind a mask.”
As her muttering continued, the fading consciousness of the troupe members faded even more.
A completely defenseless state.
“…”
Staring at the fallen trio, Mother took a step toward the moonlight when her face, hitherto obscured, was revealed.
The corners of her mouth, frozen.
The corners of her mouth twisted grotesquely.
As if bound at the edges and pulled upward by a string.
Her eerie, artificial smile caused even the floating dust to retreat from her.
Yet Mother whispered.
“Smile.”
Seizing the corners of the three fallen figures’ mouths, she pulled them upward.
“Otherwise, you’ll die soon. …No. I’ll kill you.”
At times, distorting her brow in anger.
She continued muttering, stroking the cheeks of the collapsed trio, but they couldn’t possibly smile, having already fallen.
“…”
When Mother finally inserted her fingers into their mouths to tear them open,
<Black Curtain (Ex) activates.>
<Through the Necklace of the Demon Slayer, a portion of the Compulsion (Ex-) of this space is absorbed.>
<Black Curtain (Ex) manifests at maximum capacity.>
Gulp!
“…!!!?”
Paralyzed with no ability to even scream, the grotesquely twisted body collapsed.
“Uwah, Uweeeek!!”
Kerplunk.
A jet of crimson blood and some unidentifiable black, sinister energy surged forth.
“…”
After writhing for a moment, Mother realized there was an issue with her ‘mind’s domain’ and quickly created a rift within reality.
Crack!
Like a spiderweb spreading cracks, the reality world, layered above, shattered and revealed the underlying ‘mind’s domain.’
Vanished Mind’s Domain.
The then-and-there fully reconstructed as Mother’s unique realm.
[Alert.]
[Counter – <Mother S-> is reclaiming some of the influence extracted into the real world!]
[Progress rate: …50% (35%↓)]
The moment the influence dragged into reality was retracted back into this place.
“Stay away from Luna.”
A terrifying animosity like flesh being carved seeped through and surrounded Mother’s body.
“…!!”
Attempting to quickly retreat but unable to move, as if trapped in quicksand.
Mother evaluated the situation.
In her left hand, a money bag.
In her right, Luna’s soul.
One was an illusion from repeated memories, the other the reality hidden beneath that illusion.
The man before her was enraged not at the illusion, but at the treatment of the reality.
Luna.
Danger.
Man.
Words appropriate to the situation came to her mind as Mother drew a single conclusion.
‘Death.’
She would die soon if she held onto Luna.
Influence.
Reclaimed further.
…Still, death.
No amount of struggle she considered would serve against what felt like a natural disaster.
…Gaaak.
Clutching the money bag and Luna tightly, Mother raised her head to question,
“What do you—”
“Shut up.”
Kwa-chk!
The murderous intent that had until now only tormented her spirit took on physical form, heavily pressing down on her body.
Step, step, step.
Unfazed, Black Wolf approached and thought about Mother.
‘I have to kill her.’
Because this woman had caused the deaths of countless children and now aimed to kill Luna.
Step, step, step.
…Halt.
Staring down as he stopped, Nahan knelt on one knee and thought.
‘Whose emotions are these?’
It was true anger welled up upon seeing trash dealers causing harm.
It was true he had become attached to Luna, making him even angrier.
But was he the kind of man who’d directly punish people himself, not being Black Wolf?
Perhaps he was being swallowed by the Method.
‘…Am I Black Wolf now?’
Or was I still Nahan?
In contrast to the boiling mind, outwardly his actions were very simple.
He reached at eye level with Mother and instinctively grabbed her neck.
“Chaa…!!”
Just like the children earlier, Mother hovered in the air with her neck squeezed but still maintaining her smile.
Kuh-grk!
As he attempted to crush her even harder, she simply dropped the money bag but continued clutching Luna’s wrist.
“Chuuuuuhh…!!!”
The red, bloodshot eyes of Mother turned to fallen Luna.
Golden hair,
A face covered in scars,
Her peaceful expression after collapsing.
What thoughts ran through her mind as she looked at these?
“…!!!”
Gleaming with an increasingly furious gaze, Mother’s eyes turned back to Black Wolf.
[Warning!]
[Counter – <Mother (S-)> is reclaiming all influence extracted into reality!]
[Progress rate: …0% (50%↓]
[Counter – <Mother (S-)> has elevated to rank <SS+> within its unique domain – <Vanished>!]
Attempting to escape in several ways with a strength that had risen by several levels, but,
“Daylight Slash.”
[<Yellow Dragon (Ex)>‘s 1st Skill – <Daylight Slash (Ex)> has been activated!]
[Bliiiiiiiiiiiiiink!!]
CREEEEEEEK!!
“!!”
Vanishing itself in the dazzling golden blow, it failed.
“…!”
At the same time, as a slash ran straight from the right waist to the left shoulder, and following the aftereffects, the mask Mother wore shattered.
Ker-plunk.
The lower half of Mother, melting like thick tar, dissolved and fell apart.
“…!”
Her trembling mouth seemed to want to say something, but as it didn’t make a sound, Black Wolf dropped her upper body which he had been holding.
Glide.
Just then, Black Wolf who had finally scooped up the fallen and young Luna whispered in her ear.
“Wake up, Luna.”
At that moment,
“…?”
Luna opened her eyes through the Black Curtain’s influence and looked at Black Wolf dumbly.
“…The brother who held my hand?”
Black Wolf nodded.
Reassured by his solemn mutter, Luna slowly glanced around.
The tent,
The stage,
The audience.
Still on the stage.
“A…!!”
Trying to get up, startled, Black Wolf stopped her and added,
“It’s all over, Luna.”
“Umm…? It’s over?”
“All over. The auction and the trash too.”
“Aha… So I’m still dreaming…?”
Still groggy, perhaps?
Click.
Perceiving it as a dream, Luna smiled innocently. Black Wolf handed her something he had picked up.
“It’s all over.”
What he handed over was Mother’s mask.
The item that made Luna this way, but also the mask worn by the woman who had suppressed her.
The moment the emerald eyes, now as clear as a sky after the haze cleared, caught sight of the mask,
“…Mom?”
Luna’s face warped instantly.
“Where are you?”
“…? Where?”
“Where’s mom?!?”
Desperately struggling like a cornered beast.
A momentarily baffled Nahan pointed in the direction of Mother’s corpse and pondered.
“…What is it?”
He killed Mother and woke Luna.
“Sub Quest #2: Fully understand Luna. Sub Quest #3: Rest for Mother. Surely, these were all fulfilled?”
Why didn’t the quest completion pop up?
Just as he was lost in thought, a red system pop-up appeared.
[Notice.]
[Sub Quest – <What Lies Behind the Mask> has failed.]
[Shortly, <Luna (S)> will go berserk.]
“Huh?”
Baffled by this proclamation, Nahan turned to Luna in a hurry, when
“It’s too much.”
She turned to him while cradling Mother’s torso.
“…I trusted you.”
The one who yearned for others’ warmth, the grubby, dirty hands,
“It was warm…”
“Thank goodness…”
“Even trusting you.”
“…”
“I really did trust you.”
“….”
“Because this is a nightmare. This can’t possibly be real…”
Eventually, wiping away her smile, the moment Luna placed Mother’s mask on her own face,
[4th Member – <Luna (S)>‘s 1st Skill – <Masked Ball (SS+)> has been activated.]
Realizing what had appeared right before him as he recalled watching it from the Gardner’s rooftop,
‘Something has definitely gone wrong.’
Realizing it though,
“Would you like to wake up from this dream?”
[Warning.]
[Unique Domain – <Vanished> merges with a portion of the real world.]
[Counter – <Hanlyang (A+)> rises to <Hanlyang (S-)>, overwhelmed by the mask.]
[Counter – <Luna (A+)> rises to <Luna (S)>, overwhelmed by the mask.]
[Counter – <Dalan (A+)> rises to <Dalan (A++)>, overwhelmed by the mask.]
Nothing changed.
Letting out a sigh, Nahan gazed upon the troupe members,
“…Are these masks trendy these days?”
The instant he muttered that,
“…Ah, damn!!”
“…No, please, stop!!”
“…”
The three troupe members, now possessed by the mask, ran full speed toward Nahan.
3.
Meanwhile in the rear of the battle.
“…Cough!”
Exhausted by extreme mana drain and having consumed most of her vitality, Luna spat out blood.
Still, Luna casually wiped it away and bowed her head slightly.
“…Mom.”
In her arms was the torso that Naham left behind from <Mother>.
Though Naham only saw a black lump, to Luna it was a critically wounded <Mother>.
“…Lu, na.”
“No. Don’t talk, okay?”
Trembling hands tightly held by small ones, Luna.
Luna endured the agony of her insides twisting, squeezing out vitality to stem the wound.
Cough!
Cough, Cough!!
Blood gushed upward and spilled.
The terrible agony coursing through her body and the slow death of <Mother>.
“Please…. please…”
Luna’s murky green eyes, now pale, pleaded with <Mother> who seemed to die.
“Please don’t die alone, mom.”
If she had to die like this,
“Rather, kill me first and then die…”
…Please, mom.
—
