Blazing fire raged through the narrow passageways, surging wildly from one end to the other. Emergency lights flickered overhead, guiding the way through the chaos, yet now those beacons of hope seemed so utterly powerless. To these people, such directions meant nothing.
They were already in hell. No matter which way they ran, they would only be running in circles through the same inferno, like beasts trapped in a cage, howling and roaring in helpless desperation until, at last, exhaustion claimed them.
But Eve had no intention of dying like that.
She reached beneath the garter around her thigh, drew out the scalpel she had secretly hidden there, and slipped it beneath her wrist.
She was currently inside a safe room that was only safe in name. The already cramped chamber was packed with patients. Most had been injected with sedatives by the medical staff and had fallen asleep. When the drugs ran out, however, the medical personnel had resorted to more violent measures. Some patients had been physically subdued into unconsciousness, while others had their mouths gagged, leaving them capable of nothing more than muffled whimpers.
The dim light overhead made it impossible for Eve to see the expressions on the others' faces, but she could feel the atmosphere growing increasingly oppressive. Fear and tension hung thick in the cramped room.
Slow, heavy breathing echoed faintly through the chamber. Then, after that long stretch of silence, another sound emerged—one far more terrifying. Something sharp was scraping against the floor, producing a shrill, grating shriek. In the silence, the sound was impossibly clear. Firelight cast the shadow of that grotesque thing across the walls, twisting it into something monstrous, like a creature that had crawled straight out of a nightmare.
Eve pressed her back against the wall and suppressed her breathing as much as she could. She could feel that viscous, unnatural presence outside, as though someone were dragging a massive, tumorous mass of flesh behind them, leaving a bright red trail of blood in their wake.
A demon.
She and the demon were separated by nothing more than a single wall.
The nightmare had begun ten minutes ago, when the alarm first sounded and everyone retreated into the safe room. Explosions had shaken the earth, while the sounds of fierce combat erupted all around them, only to gradually fade into silence. It had not lasted long, yet to everyone inside, those minutes had felt like an eternity trapped within a nightmare.
Eve knew what had happened. So did the medical staff.
And everyone understood what the gradual disappearance of those battle cries meant.
That strange pressure weighing upon their hearts had not lifted. The demons were still prowling around the safe room, hungry for fresh blood and flesh.
No one knew whether the soldiers who had fought them had been killed or had managed to withdraw. Now this place was an isolated island, with only a handful of soldiers remaining inside the safe room. Judging by their expressions, even their resolve was being swept away by the storm.
That was what made demons so terrifying.
Steel and divine armor could not protect everyone. Before such horrifying corruption, even these seemingly impenetrable walls were as fragile as paperboard... No, not even paper could be that fragile.
The safe room had become a cage.
Remaining here would only allow the demons' corruption to seep into them, but leaving meant facing the demons outside. With the firepower they currently possessed, that would be nothing more than suicide.
It was a miserable choice, and the constant struggle of weighing one impossible option against another only deepened the effects of the corruption.
Eve's breathing grew slightly quicker. The temperature inside the room seemed to rise with every passing moment. Sweat had already covered her forehead, and her long crimson hair clung damply to her skin. She looked like some small animal that had been drenched by a torrential downpour, struggling helplessly to pull itself out of the water.
"Yo! General Eve! You're looking pretty good!"
That damned voice suddenly sounded beside her.
A somewhat foul-smelling fellow shuffled closer through the darkness. Old Cole's face was slick with sweat, yet he flashed Eve a broad grin, revealing a row of startlingly white teeth.
"You? What's going on?"
Eve looked past him and saw Gawain and Deren crouched together in the corner. Gawain still looked as wooden as ever, one hand occasionally brushing lightly against the metal floor.
Was this idiot seriously thinking about digging a trench even now?
Deren, meanwhile, was still doing his best to maintain his dignity, delicately wiping the sweat from his brow with the corner of his clothes. Under the circumstances, however, his elegance looked utterly ridiculous.
For a moment, Eve felt as though she might lose her mind.
This was the last thing they needed.
And weren't these three lunatics supposed to be tied up?
Old Cole seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. He pointed behind him. The metal beds, stretchers, and other equipment had all been piled together, forming a makeshift miniature fortress. Armed soldiers were crouched behind it.
If the demons broke through the door, then perhaps this crude defensive position could buy them... a few more seconds.
Maybe.
At this point, Eve could no longer decide whether she should lament dying so young or simply go completely insane and escape the torment of reality.
She looked at Old Cole as he approached, and for some reason she found herself envying these three lunatics. To them, perhaps the despair before them was nothing more than some strange game. Sometimes Eve wished she could be like them, treating all of this as some ridiculous game, believing that when the game ended, she would simply wake up again in a clean white bed.
Unfortunately, Eve could not do that.
She was too rational—so rational that she could not even lie to herself.
"We need to think of something."
A voice emerged from the darkness.
Robin stepped forward. He had been responsible for evacuating these patients, but the alarm had sounded almost immediately after they entered the safe room. According to orders, he had stayed behind to protect them.
Clearly, however, everything had already spiraled beyond his control.
"What happened?" Eve asked.
"What else could it be? A demon invasion. But this time, something is different. Worse—it's terrifying. On the surface, the defense line was established by Gawain's forces, while Percival was rapidly returning to defend the research district. And yet the demons still managed to reach this place. So quickly..." Robin's expression darkened. "We deployed a massive number of Old World divine armors. Even if the New Church had launched an assault, there is no way the research district should have fallen this quickly."
Whether from tension or the oppressive heat, even more sweat rolled down Robin's face.
The corruption had reduced the communicator to nothing but static. Their only connection with the outside world had been severed.
They were on their own.
"How... is that possible...?"
Eve was stunned.
If that was truly the situation, then there was no hope at all.
She nervously glanced around the room. Beneath the dim yellow lights, pairs of terrified eyes stared out from behind transparent goggles. Perhaps before the demons even breached the door, bloodshed would erupt from within.
"You can feel it too, can't you?" Robin said to Eve. "You should be more sensitive to demons than the rest of us. You and I may be the only ones here who can resist their corruption."
"Me? More sensitive?"
Robin's words immediately reminded Eve of all the strange abnormalities she had experienced in her own body.
That damned Captain of the Inlwig female squad...
She wanted to ask him more. She wanted to know whether Robin understood what was happening to her.
But clearly, this was not the time for such questions.
"Fine. Forget about that for now. Do you have a plan?"
As she spoke, Eve raised the scalpel in her hand. It was a tiny weapon, but in her wild, almost feral presence, even something so small looked extraordinarily dangerous.
Robin froze for a moment, clearly unable to understand what exactly was going on with this girl.
But there was no time to think about it.
"If we stay here, the demons' corruption will eventually drive these patients insane. And these people are already a group of lunatics to begin with. Most of them have suffered the effects of corruption before. They may be even more susceptible than ordinary people to mutating into demons."
"So if we stay here, these people will be the first to turn into demons and kill us?"
Eve glanced at the patients nearby.
They seemed completely unaware of the fear surrounding them. Yet several of the patients had already begun growing increasingly agitated.
The influence was real.
And it was getting stronger.
"We don't know what happened outside, but the demons have definitely reached the research district," Robin said. "If we assume the worst, the ground forces have either been completely wiped out or are barely surviving themselves."
"Then how do you intend to save yourself?" Eve asked.
"We can't fight our way out with just the few of us. This is Safe Room No. 2. At the end of the corridor is Safe Room No. 3. From the sounds we heard earlier, its doors haven't been opened. If possible, we need to join up with the people inside. If I remember correctly, Red Kite is in charge there."
Robin laid out the plan.
"And what about these patients?" Eve asked. "Leave them here?"
The patients would certainly refuse to cooperate. But if they were left behind while demons continued prowling outside, there was a very real possibility that they would eventually mutate into demons themselves.
"If possible, I'd kill them all," Robin said without hesitation. "Leaving them here will only turn them into demons."
Eve was visibly shocked by the answer.
But what came next was even more astonishing.
"Though this time, we'll forget about it. If we slaughter them all in here, there are only a few of us. We'd waste our strength and ammunition, and they might even fight back..." Robin's gaze fell upon the nervous medical staff. "Those people in white coats may dissect creatures on a regular basis, but they've never seen a real slaughterhouse. In a space this small... killing them all would only place even greater psychological pressure on them."
"Then what are you going to do?"
Eve suddenly felt uneasy.
"Let them out."
"Let them out?"
"Yes. Let them out. We don't know what the situation outside looks like, nor do we know how many demons are nearby. When it comes down to it, we High Knights—and you, Eve—we're only a little stronger than ordinary people. We're a little braver, a little harder to kill."
Robin raised the weapon in his hand: a thermite rifle that had yet to be ignited. It was an effective weapon against demons, but no one knew how many of the creatures were waiting outside.
"One person alone can't fight a demon. Only by joining together, gathering into a river of steel, can we stand against despair. And with the weapons we have right now, simply escaping alive would be a miracle."
He looked toward the patients.
"We let them all out. They draw the demons' attention while we use the opportunity to escape."
Eve went completely still.
She stared at the three cheerful lunatics, then turned toward Robin's grim expression. She was about to speak, but Robin cut her off with a stern voice.
"Don't talk to me about cruelty or morality. We're fighting demons. We're fighting despair. But unfortunately, we're not demon hunters, and we don't possess those powerful Old World divine armors. All we can do is sacrifice something so that we can cross that wafer-thin sheet of ice without falling through."
As he spoke, Robin waved to the soldiers behind him.
He had already made his decision.
He was merely informing Eve.
"Eve, I've often heard Arthur talk about you. He said you were always trying to figure out what was wrong with your body, and he was deeply troubled by it..." Robin paused. "The truth is, he cares about you too much. He's afraid you'll suffer some kind of shock, so he keeps every possible storm and every drop of rain away from you."
In the darkness, several thermite rifles ignited.
The weapons radiated blistering heat, their glow illuminating faces filled with fear and grim determination.
"Do you really think you understand demons? Do you really think they're nothing more than terrifying monsters?"
Robin's voice was calm.
"The truth is, Lloyd did you no favors. That lunatic was simply too strong. As long as you were with him, even if an entire horde of demons came rushing in, the moment he unleashed his Secret Blood, the situation would be firmly under control."
"But Lloyd isn't here anymore."
"Now you're facing a real battlefield. The battlefield between the Purification Bureau and the demons. It's cruel. It's merciless. And anyone can die."
"..."
Eve fell silent.
It was a suffocating silence.
She desperately wanted to come up with a better plan, something that could pull them out of this predicament without sacrificing anyone.
But she couldn't.
Perhaps this cruel plan really was their only hope.
Countless emotions weighed down upon Eve's heart. She looked at the three cheerful lunatics, who were still grinning and talking amongst themselves.
She wanted to tell them, You're going to die.
But if she said it, would they even understand what the word "death" meant?
It was a terrible feeling.
Life at Black Mountain Hospital had certainly never been easy, but singing, laughing, and fooling around with these lunatics had been strangely joyful.
And now that joy was about to disappear.
The burning firelight illuminated Robin's face. There was not the slightest tremor in his expression, as though making such decisions had long since become ordinary to him.
If even a High Knight could make a choice like this without hesitation, then what about Arthur?
Had he made decisions even more difficult than this?
For the first time, Eve thought she understood Arthur.
She only didn't know whether she would still have the chance to tell him.
"Give me a few minutes. Please?"
Robin didn't know what Eve intended to do, but after a moment, he nodded and agreed.
Eve turned around.
Then she suddenly grabbed Old Cole by the arm and dragged the three cheerful lunatics toward her.
"Hey! We're going to play a game... No. A military operation!"
The moment he heard the words "military operation," Old Cole's eyes lit up.
As a Five-Star General, he had been longing to return to the front lines.
"What is it, Commander Eve?!"
The ridiculous titles were multiplying by the minute.
And yet, in this damned situation, Eve almost found herself laughing.
Almost.
But the laughter was immediately swallowed by a greater sadness.
"What happened? Has the battle gotten worse?"
The weak firelight illuminated Eve's sorrowful face. Sweat poured down her skin, making her look as though she had fallen into a deep puddle and somehow dragged herself back out.
"No... Yes. That's right. We've been surrounded by the enemy. If we stay here, we'll all be wiped out. But there's a new escape plan. I've named it 'Ghost Hunt.'"
She forced herself to sound serious.
"When the doors open, everyone runs. Run as hard as you can. Run anywhere, just get as far away as possible, then find somewhere with no one around and hide. And be careful not to get caught by the ghosts. Understand?"
"Ghost Hunt? That's childish. It's not elegant at all—"
Deren hadn't even finished speaking before Eve drowned him out.
"Deren is a spy! A war criminal! Take him with you when you run and find a way to send him back to Old Dunling so the military tribunal can put him on trial!"
At Eve's command, Gawain immediately seized Deren.
No matter how much Deren protested, Gawain refused to let go.
"So that's the plan. When the doors open, everyone runs. Run as hard as you can, and don't let the ghosts catch you."
The lunatics nodded.
They were still smiling.
Still cheerful.
As though this really were nothing more than a game.
An imaginary military operation.
"Are you doing this just to make yourself feel better?" Robin asked after hearing her childish explanation. "They won't survive."
"There has to be some hope, doesn't there?" Eve said. "If even one lunatic survives, then that's a great victory for humanity, isn't it?"
Eve seemed to have steadied her emotions. She looked directly at him.
"And aren't you doing the same thing? Trying to make yourself feel better by praying to some god?"
Robin froze.
Then his clenched hand slowly relaxed, allowing the silver cross around his neck to fall free.
"Are all of you in the Purification Bureau this cold?"
"We're simply rational enough, and prepared enough to face death."
Robin and Eve walked side by side toward the sealed door.
As they walked, Robin couldn't help glancing back at the patients.
"According to the evacuation regulations, everyone who was given priority and brought here was once a soldier or knight of the Purification Bureau. They lost their sanity because of demonic corruption and became patients of Black Mountain Hospital."
"In other words, most of them were once your comrades?"
"Yes."
"And now you're going to sacrifice them."
"They'll understand."
Robin's voice was quiet.
"Everyone knows their duty. Fighting demons means lighting a flame in the darkness. To keep that flame from being extinguished, we throw ourselves into the fire one after another. Every one of us has already prepared ourselves for death."
A faint pain stirred in Robin's chest.
His gaze finally settled upon one of the patients.
An old man who had been shouting endlessly about war criminals and military ranks.
Robin couldn't make out his features clearly, yet somehow, beneath the haze, he felt a strange sense of familiarity.
As though he had seen the old man somewhere before.
But perhaps it didn't matter anymore.
Robin attributed the strange sensation to the effects of the demonic corruption.
Under its influence, everyone's breathing inside the safe room had grown heavier.
Standing before the door, Robin gave Eve one final glance.
"Are you ready?"
His voice was solemn.
"To step through the gates of hell."
Eve didn't answer.
She simply tightened her grip around the scalpel in her hand.
This time, there would be no demon hunter coming to save her.
What awaited her was the most real battlefield imaginable—the battlefield against the demons.
The steel doors slowly began to rise.
The stench of blood rushed toward them, so thick it seemed almost tangible.
Beyond those doors lay hell.