Chapter 182: What The Hell… Another one

The false city of Hildgard cracked.

Not metaphorically.

The streets split apart beneath Noah’s boots, buildings folding inward like paper caught in an invisible flame. The three moons above the city flickered between crimson, gold, and black before collapsing into a single point of darkness.

Noah tightened his grip around Shadowfang.

The sword trembled.

Not from fear.

Recognition.

[WARNING.]

[ENVIRONMENTAL STRUCTURE COLLAPSING.]

[MEMORY CONSTRUCT DESTABILIZATION: 63%]

Noah stared at the system window.

"Memory construct?"

Dead Zone’s voice surfaced inside his mind.

It’s not just a memory.

Noah’s eyes narrowed.

Then what is it?

An imitation.

The ground exploded.

A massive crimson hand erupted from beneath the street and slammed toward Noah.

He crossed Shadowfang in front of himself.

BOOM!

The impact sent him sliding backward.

Roana barely avoided the collapsing pavement, rolling behind a broken carriage.

"NOAH!"

"I’m fine!"

He pushed himself upright.

The Watcher stood at the end of the ruined avenue.

Its body was different now.

The crimson flesh covering its humanoid frame had peeled away, revealing something beneath it.

Not armor.

Not bone.

A network of glowing memories.

Fragments of faces, rooms, forests, and countless unfamiliar figures moved beneath its translucent body.

Three crimson eyes remained fixed on Noah.

But the middle eye slowly turned toward Roana.

Roana froze.

"No..."

The Watcher spoke.

Its voice sounded like several recordings playing simultaneously.

"YOU."

Roana’s face lost color.

The Watcher raised one hand.

"YOU OPENED THE DOOR."

"I didn’t know what it was."

"YOU OPENED IT."

The city trembled.

Noah stepped between them.

"You’re blaming her?"

The Watcher tilted its head.

"SHE WAS THE HAND."

Noah’s expression hardened.

Roana looked at him.

"I was a child."

"Doesn’t matter."

She stared.

Noah lifted Shadowfang.

"Whatever happened back then, she isn’t that person anymore."

For the first time, the Watcher became completely still.

Dead Zone laughed quietly inside Noah.

Interesting.

What?

It doesn’t understand that.

The crimson eyes narrowed.

It only understands records.

Noah’s grip tightened.

"Then let’s give it a new one."

He vanished.

The street beneath his feet detonated.

Shadowfang tore through the Watcher’s shoulder.

Crimson fragments scattered into the air.

The Watcher didn’t bleed.

Instead, every fragment became another image.

A classroom.

A white room.

A younger Roana.

A younger Noah.

A black silhouette.

A white-eyed figure.

Noah’s sword stopped.

The Watcher immediately struck.

CRACK!

Noah was thrown through three buildings.

"NOAH!"

He crashed into a stone wall.

Dust poured around him.

His ribs screamed.

Dead Zone’s voice became sharper.

Get up.

Noah coughed.

"Already doing it."

He stood.

Across the ruined city, Roana stared at the floating memories.

One image remained above everything else.

A door.

But this time, there was something written above it.

Not Noah’s name.

A single word.

ORIGIN.

Roana whispered:

"I’ve never seen that."

Noah looked at her.

"You sure?"

"I would remember."

The Watcher moved closer.

"MEMORY IS NOT TRUTH."

Its fingers curled.

"MEMORY IS WHAT REMAINS AFTER TRUTH IS REMOVED."

The words echoed through the false city.

Noah felt something cold move through his chest.

Dead Zone went silent.

That alone frightened him.

You okay?

No answer.

"Dead Zone?"

A heartbeat.

Then another.

THUMP.

Noah’s golden eye flickered.

THUMP.

His crimson eye followed.

I remember something.

Noah froze.

"What?"

Not a memory.

The Watcher suddenly screamed.

Its entire body distorted.

The crimson eyes expanded.

"NO."

The city stopped collapsing.

Every broken building froze in midair.

Every fragment of memory suspended around Noah.

Roana looked upward.

"What happened?"

Noah slowly raised Shadowfang.

The sword was glowing.

Not crimson.

Not golden.

Black.

Dead Zone’s voice became barely audible.

It doesn’t want us to see what’s behind that door.

Noah stared at the word above it.

ORIGIN.

Then he smiled faintly.

"Good."

The door appeared at the end of the street.

No hinges.

No handle.

Just a black surface standing where the city should have been.

Noah began walking toward it.

The Watcher screamed again.

This time, it attacked with everything.

Six crimson bodies emerged from its back.

Then twelve.

Then twenty-four.

Noah stopped.

Dead Zone spoke.

Don’t fight them.

"Why?"

Because they’re not the enemy.

Noah’s eyes narrowed.

The copies charged.

Dead Zone finished:

They’re the lock.

Noah understood.

He lowered Shadowfang.

And allowed Dead Zone to take control.

His crimson eye brightened.

The copies reached him.

Dead Zone smiled through Noah’s face.

"Let’s break the lock."

The false Hildgard erupted in crimson light.

And somewhere behind the door marked ORIGIN, something opened its eyes.

The copies reached Noah.

Dead Zone moved first.

Shadowfang swept upward.

SHING!

The nearest crimson body split apart.

But instead of blood, thousands of tiny memories burst from the wound.

A child’s laughter.

A white room.

A forest covered in snow.

A hand gripping Noah’s wrist.

A voice whispering his name.

Noah’s body continued forward.

Another copy attacked from the left.

Shadowfang turned.

CLANG!

The blade intercepted a crimson claw.

A third copy appeared behind him.

Dead Zone twisted Noah’s body unnaturally, avoiding the strike by less than an inch.

Three.

Another came.

Four.

Then six.

Dead Zone’s crimson eye sharpened.

"Too slow."

Shadowfang carved through them.

The copies dissolved.

But more appeared.

Twelve.

Twenty-four.

Forty-eight.

The entire street became a sea of crimson figures.

Roana backed away.

"Noah!"

Dead Zone didn’t answer.

He simply walked forward.

Every copy attacked simultaneously.

The collision shook the false city.

BOOM!

For several seconds, Noah disappeared beneath the swarm.

Roana’s heart tightened.

"NOAH!"

A crimson flash erupted.

The copies were thrown into the air.

Noah stood at the center.

Blood ran from his cheek.

His expression remained calm.

Dead Zone had stopped fighting them individually.

Instead, Shadowfang was pointed toward the ground.

The sword’s black glow spread through the street.

One crack.

Then another.

Then hundreds.

The crimson copies suddenly froze.

Roana stared.

"What did you do?"

Dead Zone answered.

"Found the lock."

The entire city fell silent.

Every crimson copy turned toward the same location.

The black door.

The Watcher suddenly screamed.

"DO NOT OPEN IT."

Noah’s consciousness pushed against Dead Zone’s control.

You heard it.

Of course.

It is afraid.

Very.

Noah smiled internally.

Then open it.

Dead Zone’s grin appeared across Noah’s face.

"Gladly."

He raised Shadowfang.

The crimson copies rushed toward him.

Not to attack.

To stop him.

They crashed into Noah from every direction, forming a massive living wall between him and the door.

The Watcher floated above them.

Its three eyes burned brighter than ever.

"THE MEMORY MUST REMAIN CLOSED."

Roana suddenly understood.

"They aren’t protecting the Watcher."

Noah glanced toward her.

"What?"

"They’re protecting the door."

The Watcher turned toward Roana.

For the first time, its expression almost resembled fear.

Roana stepped forward.

"That’s why you kept showing us those memories."

She looked at the younger Noah.

At herself.

At the white room.

"You weren’t trying to tell us what happened."

Her voice trembled.

"You were distracting us from what happened afterward."

Silence.

The Watcher’s eyes contracted.

Roana’s realization landed like a stone.

"The memories aren’t the lock."

She looked at the crimson copies surrounding Noah.

"They are the distraction."

Dead Zone laughed.

"Now you’re learning."

Noah felt something shift inside his consciousness.

A tiny pulse.

THUMP.

His golden eye flickered.

The black door responded.

A thin line appeared down its center.

The Watcher lunged.

"Noah!"

Its massive crimson hand shot forward.

Noah moved.

Shadowfang collided with it.

BOOOOM!

The force shattered the street beneath him.

Noah’s knees buckled.

The Watcher pushed harder.

Its three eyes stared directly into his.

"YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW."

Noah gritted his teeth.

"Maybe."

The Watcher pressed harder.

Noah’s arms shook.

"But that’s not your decision."

His golden eye brightened.

Dead Zone’s crimson eye ignited beside it.

For a moment, both consciousnesses moved as one.

Noah whispered:

"Together."

Dead Zone answered:

"Together."

Shadowfang changed.

The black blade developed a thin golden fracture along its edge.

Noah swung.

CRAAAAACK!

The Watcher’s arm was severed.

The crimson limb dissolved into thousands of memories.

But the Watcher didn’t regenerate.

Instead, it staggered backward.

For the first time...

It was wounded.

Roana stared.

"It can bleed."

"No," Noah said.

He looked at the fragments floating around them.

"It can remember."

The memories began falling like rain.

And among them was one image Noah had never seen before.

A laboratory.

Six chairs.

Six empty restraints.

One occupied.

A young Noah sat inside it.

Standing beside him were two figures.

One with white eyes.

One with black eyes.

But there was a third presence behind them.

Something Noah couldn’t see.

Only its shadow was visible.

A voice echoed through the memory.

"Begin the inheritance separation."

Noah stopped breathing.

Dead Zone went completely silent.

The Watcher whispered:

"No."

The black door opened another inch.

Something breathed from the other side.

Roana took a step backward.

"Noah..."

The Watcher suddenly abandoned its attack.

It turned toward the door.

Its three crimson eyes widened.

"IT REMEMBERS."

The door opened.

Just enough for darkness to spill through.

And from within that darkness came a voice.

Not the White-Eyed Figure.

Not the Black-Eyed Figure.

Not Dead Zone.

Something else.

Something that sounded impossibly young.

"You came back."

Noah stared into the darkness.

The voice spoke again.

"This time... don’t let them separate us."