Chapter 337: Penacony Arc 『 Part Thirty-two』,The Indestructible Ledger of the Penacony
「 The two quickly gathered the fragments, and once the painting was restored, the heavy gates leading forward slowly groaned open.
Passing through a pitch-black corridor, they arrived at a vast, empty hall. The room was shrouded in darkness, save for a single shaft of light descending from the vaulted ceiling onto an ornate treasure chest. It looked profoundly suspicious.
Stelle slowly pried the chest open. A sharp click echoed—and suddenly, the entire room ignited. Countless lamps beamed from every direction, exposing every corner of the formerly ink-black space with clinical precision.
The sudden glare forced Stelle to instinctively squint. Once her vision adjusted, she realized the room was piled high with countless discarded television sets, and six doors led off in different directions.
"…What's going on?! Why did all the lights just turn on? So creepy..." Hotaru took a deep breath, subconsciously leaning closer to Stelle. "But, since there are so many doors here... we should be able to leave through one of them..."
Stelle pushed one open, only to find herself in a room nearly identical to the last. However, the televisions here were all flickering with static, and a young boy's panicked voice manifested upon the walls:
"██Help█ ███ █ help ██..."
"Help me…" 」
「 ..... 」
〜JoJo's Bizarre Adventure World, Golden Wind Timeline〜
"Something is very wrong."
Giorno spoke suddenly, his fingers lightly tapping the armrest of his chair. The rhythmic thud-thud mirrored the frantic heartbeats of the two girls on the celestial screen, growing so dense that Trish felt a surge of panic.
"T-This is exactly like a horror movie…"
Trish's nails dug deep into the leather of her seat.
"I don't want to watch anymore… what if a… a ghost or something suddenly crawls out from behind one of those doors…"
On the screen, Stelle and Hotaru had already pushed through the third door. The scenery behind it was indistinguishable from the first: piles of televisions, the boy's voice, and the white text continuously manifesting on the walls…
"…"
"Could that twin-tailed girl be behind this?"
Fugo pondered for a moment before offering his guess.
"No. She was likely only responsible for bringing Stelle and Hotaru to this godforsaken place."
Giorno frowned slightly.
"They can never reach the 'truth' of an exit… In other words, someone intends to keep them trapped here."
"The Family?"
"Unclear, but I suspect they've crossed someone's interests."
Giorno looked up at the two young women on the screen, a hint of pity in his eyes.
"In Aventurine's words, Stelle is someone powerful enough to flip the entire gambling table—but I don't see it that way. Penacony is a den of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Many are lying in wait, watching for others to play their hand before they counter-strike. With the 『 Harmony 』 in front and the 『 Preservation 』 behind, trapped in the crevice between these two powers, the strength of a Stellaron may be unique, but it isn't enough to shake the overall board. Unless—"
"—Unless there is someone behind the scenes who wants her to shake it,"
Fugo finished for him.
—
「 Stelle and Hotaru pushed through another door, and as expected, the room featured the exact same layout.
A sense of foreboding rose in Hotaru's heart. "This again... No wait, could it be..."
Jarring music suddenly blared through the room. The upbeat tempo, filled with the exaggerated sound effects characteristic of cartoons, sounded as though someone had deliberately pressed play on an old-fashioned children's program. This sudden cacophony, mingled with the boy's terrified, raspy voice, sent a wave of goosebumps down Stelle's neck.
The voice in the walls cried out in terror: "█said███do█not█ ██ █open the box██..."
By the time they pushed through the next door, the two could no longer tell which had been the original entrance. In this room, the air was thick with the sounds of weeping and sobbing, enough to make one's skin crawl.
"██ beg ██ you ███ ██ I ██████ ████ ██ scared ██…"
They pressed on to the next door. This time, the voices had become completely unintelligible, and the flickering of the television screens grew more intense.
"The TVs are so bright, it's hurting my eyes... Careful, something's up..." Hotaru instinctively grabbed the hem of Stelle's coat.
Accompanied by a flash of searing light, a massive purple eye abruptly manifested!
The pupil dilated and blinked like a living creature. More horrifyingly, its image began to spread across the other televisions in the room with viral speed—in the blink of an eye, the entire room was covered in purple eyes. Their collective gaze formed an invisible web, pinning the two girls in place.
A shroud of purple clouds had gathered on the ceiling at some unknown point, and an unsettling red light poured down. To the sound of metal grinding against metal that set their teeth on edge, a distorted monstrosity slowly slithered out from the purple mist—
It was a creature seemingly constructed from countless eyeballs, its serpentine body ending in sharp bone blades. Most striking of all was its head, which resembled the jagged talons of some predatory beast. 」
「 ..... 」
〜Type-Moon World, Carnival Phantasm Worldline〜
In the Emiya household's living room, the crimson glow from the monster's eyes on the screen reflected across the four occupants' varied expressions.
Clatter—
Rin Tohsaka accidentally knocked over her teacup. The tea spread across the table and dripped onto her skirt, but she didn't even notice. She could only stare, eyes wide with horror, at the twisted creature made of eyes.
"T-This is supposed to be a beautiful dream?! Why is there… something like that…"
Rin found herself at a loss for words. Her fingers gestured frantically in the air. She felt the monster looked like nothing recognizable; it was indescribable, as if it were the physical manifestation of the very concept of a 'nightmare.'
"Master, from the moment they stepped into this dreamscape, you should have been prepared to be frightened."
Red A sighed softly.
"The sweet dream of Penacony… I knew it wouldn't be simple, but I didn't expect the Family to be keeping a monster like this in their closet. Interesting… what would happen if someone caught that thing and dropped it right into the middle of a Penacony street? That would be quite the show, wouldn't it?"
Red A said with a hint of intrigue.
"I wonder how those Bloodhounds would handle it? They'd probably run away with their tails between their legs…"
"That would only result in needless casualties."
Saber's brow was furrowed.
"But death is supposed to be impossible in the dream of Penacony. Why would they keep such a monster?"
"Perhaps it's a blade the Family has been sharpening for a long time."
A sharp glint flashed in Red A's eyes.
"Whoever stands in the Family's way gets thrown into this dream to be slaughtered by that beast. The 『 Harmony 』… if you kill everyone making discordant noises, doesn't that make the remaining voices 'harmonious'? Perhaps that is the core philosophy of the Family after all."
—