They secretly climbed up from another exit in the basement. It led to a slanted sunroom.
Occultist, who had been muttering to herself in her own little world, was now bound by a strange individual and being taken away.
As for what made that person strange—just moments ago, when Vill-V and the others had been below, they had seen a man dressed in red. But after climbing up, that same figure had turned into a voluptuous woman.
"See that?" Vill-V said. "That woman has the ability to distort people's perception of gender. And in The Ninth Mausoleum, there are many others with equally bizarre abilities."
Vill-V's The Deep End had been designed specifically to target people like them. Of course, there was no longer any need to construct it for an organization that had already perished.
Planck studied the anger burning in Vill-V's eyes and asked curiously, "Your hatred toward The Ninth Mausoleum doesn't seem fake."
Vill-V came back to herself, her emotions gradually settling. "Oh, well... you could say it's something like a lingering resentment. Because The Ninth Mausoleum existed for far too long, I've come into contact with too many experiences filled with hatred toward that organization."
"How long?"
"At least five thousand years."
Planck's eyes widened. "Five thousand years?!"
The woman from The Ninth Mausoleum seemed to sense something. She looked in Vill-V's direction and shouted, "Come out. I see you!"
This is bad!
Planck watched as the woman released Occultist and began walking toward them with a rifle in hand.
They've been discovered!
"Don't worry. As long as I remain aware that I'm merely an observer, the dream won't affect us."
Although she said that, Vill-V could not help swallowing nervously, her left hand sliding toward the fruit knife at her thigh.
This dream, located at the root of Imaginary Space, was far too realistic. Earlier, Vill-V had tried cutting herself to wake up through pain. The pain had been real. The blood had flowed. But she still hadn't awakened.
Back then, she had managed to kill this woman. But she had to admit, every single member of The Ninth Mausoleum was formidable. If she had to do it again, she couldn't guarantee victory—especially now, when she had no equipment on her.
Even if this woman's ability was ineffective against her.
Only when the woman drew close did Vill-V realize that her focus wasn't on her at all, but on the flowerpot behind her.
Bang!
The rifle fired, and the flowerpot shattered. Behind it was a little girl crying her eyes out.
The pink-haired girl collapsed onto the ground as the woman approached, crying out, "Don't take my sister away!"
The woman frowned, then after a moment of thought, her expression softened. "It's all right. Your sister just has depressive hallucinations. We're taking her to a psychiatric hospital for treatment."
"My sister isn't crazy! Mom and Dad are the crazy ones! My sister did it for me, for Mom and Dad, she—"
Thud. The sound cut off abruptly as the little girl's eyes lost focus and she collapsed.
A man had appeared behind her and knocked her unconscious.
"Why waste so many words, Grave Restorer?" the man said coldly. "Just take this witness back and hand her over to them. The rest isn't our concern."
After speaking, the man cast a frigid glance toward Vill-V's direction. "Besides, there's a little rat sneaking around here."
He saw me!
The moment Vill-V realized his gaze had locked onto her, alarm bells rang in her mind. She didn't have time to wonder why and turned to run.
But how could a frail girl outrun the range of a rifle bullet?
Bang!
With a single gunshot, Vill-V felt her right leg go numb. The next instant, she crashed onto the hardened glass floor.
How is this possible? Did that moment of panic and guilt just now cause me to immerse myself in the dream?
That was it. She had wanted to change this scene so badly that she had unconsciously tried to step into it herself.
There was no time to think further. A large hand seized her by the neck and lifted her up.
The burly man whistled and laughed. "Oh? And who are you? Where did you crawl in from?"
Before he could finish speaking, a flash of blade-light streaked past. He felt a sharp pain in his forearm and reflexively loosened his grip.
Vill-V was already raising the fruit knife toward the back of her own neck.
"Hmph, you little brat!" The burly man didn't even need to fire. Furious, he kicked out, striking Vill-V squarely in the soft abdomen and sending her flying.
"Ugh..." Vill-V curled up like a shrimp from the pain, struggling even to breathe.
The man raised his arm. Astonishingly, the wound on his forearm had already healed and scabbed over.
"Just a rookie. Can't even use a knife properly. Makes sense—not everyone is the Vill-V who killed Gravekeeper No. 26 and Gravekeeper No. 27. Guess I was overthinking it."
"Still... how did she know my weak point is the back of my neck? Normally people would aim for the heart or slit the throat."
"Good thing she was so slow. Otherwise I really would've capsized in a gutter."
With lingering fear, he touched the back of his neck, then sneered and raised his gun, aiming the barrel at Vill-V's head.
Just as he was about to pull the trigger, the woman he had called "Grave Restorer" stopped him.
"Do you remember the rules?"
"Tch. Lately the cleanup work's gotten so complicated. Back then, we could just kill them—much more convenient... This so-called Sea of Human Consciousness is pure nonsense... Might as well believe in God."
Seeing that Vill-V no longer had any strength to resist and was trembling from pain, the burly man lifted his rifle, intending to knock her unconscious and take her away.
At that moment, a golden scythe materialized out of thin air behind his neck. Vill-V grabbed the chain, gritted her teeth, and pulled with all her strength—decapitating the unprepared man in a single motion.
"Ugh." Vill-V clutched her abdomen as she slowly stood up.
Her physical strength truly couldn't keep up with her mind. Otherwise, she wouldn't have had to take that kick just now.
The woman known as Grave Restorer immediately raised her gun to fire. But before she could, a Honkai Beast pounced on her without warning, howling as it tore her apart.
Golden light and the markings of a Herrscher bloomed within Vill-V's pupils. She had already obtained the power of the Herrscher of Reason... and within a dream she herself had constructed, summoning a few Honkai Beasts was hardly difficult.
The reason she hadn't used this earlier was that one or two Honkai Beasts would have been ineffective against the Gravekeeper brute. Only by striking when he was careless could she kill him.
While directing the Honkai Beasts to attack the other black-clad men, Vill-V endured the pain and limped toward the little girl. She lifted her into her arms.
"Don't be afraid, Elysia. Big sister will protect you. Let's go!"
Wait...
Why Elysia?
And... I have a little sister?