[The two quickly gathered the fragments. After restoring the painting, the door leading forward slowly opened.]
[Passing through the pitch-black corridor, the two arrived at an empty room. The room was completely dark, with only a single beam of light shining from the dome onto a gorgeous treasure chest, which looked extremely suspicious.]
[Stelle slowly opened the treasure chest. With a "click" sound—the entire room suddenly lit up. Countless lamps from all directions cast their beams, illuminating every corner that was originally pitch black in full detail.]
[The light came too suddenly. Stelle instinctively narrowed her eyes. After her vision adjusted, she discovered that the entire room was piled with countless discarded televisions, along with six large doors leading in different directions.]
["…What's going on?! Why did all the lights suddenly turn on? It's so scary…" Firefly took a deep breath and subconsciously moved closer to Stelle. "But there are so many doors here… We should be able to leave through one of them…"]
[Stelle pushed open one of the doors and soon arrived at an almost identical room. However, all the televisions here were flickering with static, and a young boy's terrified voice emerged on the wall:]
["Help… help…!"]
["Save me…"]
——
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind.
"This is very wrong."
Giorno suddenly spoke. His fingers lightly tapped the armrest of the chair. The rhythmic "tap tap" sound matched the tense heartbeats of the two girls in the sky screen, so tight that it made Trish feel somewhat panicked.
"This, this is completely the atmosphere of a horror movie…" Trish's nails dug deep into the leather of the armrest. "I don't want to watch anymore… What if something like a ghost suddenly jumps out from behind the door…"
In the sky screen, Stelle and Firefly had already pushed open the third door. The scene behind it was no different from the first—piles of televisions, the boy's voice, and white text constantly appearing on the walls…
"…"
"Could it be that twin-tailed girl's doing?"
Fugo lowered his head to think for a moment before making his guess.
"No. She should only be responsible for bringing Stelle and Firefly to this haunted place." Giorno lightly furrowed his brows. "They will never be able to reach the 'reality' of getting out of here… In other words, someone wants to trap them here."
"Is it the Family's people?"
"Not sure, but I guess they probably touched someone's interests?" Giorno looked up at the two girls in the sky screen, his eyes carrying a hint of pity. "In Aventurine's words, Stelle is powerful enough to flip the entire table—but I don't think so."
"Penacony is too full of hidden talents. Many people are lurking, waiting for others to play their cards before countering—[Harmony] in front, [Preservation] behind. In the gap between these two forces, the power of the Stellaron may be special, but it's not enough to shake the overall situation. Unless—"
"—Unless someone behind the scenes wants her to shake the overall situation." Fugo finished the young man's words.
——
[Stelle and Firefly pushed open another door. Sure enough—the room had the same arrangement again.]
[A sense of foreboding rose in Firefly's heart: "It's the same again… No, could it be…"]
[Harsh music suddenly sounded in the room. The cheerful beat carried the exaggerated sound effects typical of cartoons, as if someone had deliberately pressed the play button on an old children's program. This sudden noise mixed with the boy's terrified and hoarse voice made goosebumps rise on the back of Stelle's neck.]
[The voice from the wall said in terror: "██ said ████ not ██ to ██ ███ ██ open the box ███…"]
[Pushing open the next door, the two could no longer tell which was the original door. In this door, the room was filled with crying and sobbing sounds, making one's scalp tingle.]
["██ please ██ you ███ ██ I ██████ ████ ██ scared ██…"]
[The two continued to the next door. This time the voices had become completely blurred, and the television static grew even stronger.]
["The television glare is so blinding… Careful, it feels like something's there…" Firefly subconsciously tugged at Stelle's coat.]
[Accompanied by a blinding flash of strong light, a huge purple eye suddenly emerged!]
[The pupil rotated and blinked like a living thing. Even more terrifying was that its image was spreading at viral speed to the other televisions in the room—in the blink of an eye, the entire room was covered with purple eyes. The focal points of their gazes formed an invisible net, firmly trapping the two inside.]
[A purple cloud had somehow condensed on the ceiling. An unsettling red light poured down, accompanied by a teeth-grinding metallic scraping sound. A twisted behemoth slowly emerged from the purple cloud—]
[It looked like a monster made of countless eyeballs. Its snake-like winding body ended in sharp bone blades, while its most eye-catching head resembled the sharp claws and fangs of some creature.]
——
Fate.
In the Emiya family living room, the scarlet light from the monster's eyes in the sky screen reflected on the four people's faces with varying expressions.
"Crash—"
Rin Tohsaka accidentally knocked over the teacup on the dining table. Tea spilled and dripped onto her skirt, but she was completely unaware, only staring in terror with wide eyes at the twisted monster composed of countless eyeballs.
"This, isn't this supposed to be a beautiful dream?! Why is there this kind of… this kind of…"
Rin couldn't find the right words for a moment, her fingers gesturing frantically in the air. She felt this monster resembled nothing, indescribable and unnameable, as if it was simply the concrete embodiment of the concept of "nightmare."
"Master, from the moment they stepped into this dream, you should have been prepared to be scared." Lancer sighed softly. "Penacony's beautiful dream… Although I thought it wouldn't be that simple, I didn't expect the Family to secretly keep such a big guy."
"Interesting… What if we catch this monster and throw it onto the streets of Penacony? It should be quite fun, right?" Lancer said with interest. "How would those hounds handle it? They'd probably run away with their tails between their legs…"
"That would only increase casualties." Saber frowned tightly. "But there shouldn't be death in Penacony's dream. So why raise such a monster?"
"Maybe it's a blade the Family has been sharpening for a long time?" A sharp glint flashed in Lancer's eyes. "Whoever stands in the Family's way gets thrown into this dream to be slaughtered by the monster. [Harmony]… Kill all those who make disharmonious sounds, and the remaining voices will be harmonious. Perhaps this is the core philosophy of the [Harmony] Family."