Disoriented, Liohime Kitagami coughed and sputtered, blinking rapidly as he quickly sat up.

His confused face spoke volumes without saying a word, and his eyes wavered with anxiety as he wound himself in a new setting.

--He found himself in a massive library, filled with columns and rows of various books. With a glorious presence, rays of lights from the ceiling above littered across the room as his eyes darted around in surprise and shock.

What the….what is this!?

Just a few seconds ago, he was walking further and further into the mysterious mist that led to the third layer of the Paradisus Legion with Jolene Aurora, but all of a sudden…

Shit, that's right, he thought in a panic while he turned to his left and right, looking for someone.

Jolene! Where is she!?

Somehow, they had both been separated and he found himself in a completely new scene.

Why had he been suddenly transported? How had been whisked away here? Why was this happening?

Questions filled his head and overwhelmed him, contributing to more of his already deep-rooted fears that were now present.

This isn't good. This isn't good at all. What the fuck do I even-

"Welcome, young man."

Hearing an unfamiliar voice behind him, he spun around instantly, and his eyes widened as he spotted something.

A middle-aged man wearing glasses sat on a glamorous chair a few feet away from him, and on his lap lay an opened book with a leather cover as he held a pen down on its pages.

His eyes pierced at him, but his lips trembled beads of sweat formed at his forehead, and his voice was unconvincing.

"U-Um, you must be one of the two visitors, then. R-Right, um…welcome t-to the Immortal L-Library."

"The Immortal…Library?"

"Yes….um…I am the Recordkeeper, who manages all of the names and details of…u-um, all who attempt to e-enter the third layer…all of whom a-are recorded in my books a-as soon as the magic takes note of…all who are d-detected…by the Mist of Concentrated Mana?"

Liohime paused, speechless.

The Mist of Concentrated Mana…so that's what that was!?

That mysterious haze was mana itself, so concentrated in the air that it materialized. Still he had no clue how the hell he had ended up here because of it, and he was still bombarded with other questions that needed to be answered, but he decided to put all of them on hold for now.

All except for one question.

"I have….no idea what is going on, but I have a question for you," Liohime declared, and the Recordkeeper shifted his eyes upwards every now and then as he had continued writing in his book.

"U-Uhuh…p-please ask whatever is on your mind….i-it is part of my policy…to give answers t-t-to only…three questions…about the third layer….from the residents….of the Paradisus Legion before I let them through….a-although, you don't r-really look like a resident who is…from here…"

"Where is the Magical Beast egg known as Kinen?"

"-hk."

The Recordkeeper's eyes shot up, stunning Liohime, but the man's eyes relaxed as his left eyebrow raised.

"I….have a bad…feeling about y-you….but….a policy is a policy….it is located in the H-Heart…which is the deepest region in the third layer…I won't tell you h-how, though…it will require another question o-out of your own three questions…"

So he said, but the following statement made Liohime freeze in place completely.

"....So choose carefully, Mitagi Hansen."

"......Huh?"

Liohime Kitagami heard a name that he had not heard before.

Or at least, he was absolutely sure that he had recalled never hearing that name before.

He stared at the Recordkeeper, puzzled, and the man anxiously flipped through the pages of his book, double checking something before he replied.

"W-What? Did I say something wrong, Mitagi? S-Shit, please tell me that I at least got the pronunciation of your birth name correctly."

"....What….did you…just say?"

***

Jolene Aurora could not believe her eyes. She was convinced that what she was experiencing had to be a dream.

A dream for sure, or at least a sinister, horrifying prank.

There was absolutely no way that what she was seeing in front of her was real.

After all, she had never expected to see this specific person again, after so many years. He was the main reason why she had struggled mentally, why she had been abused along with her mother, and why she had run away from home, searching for a better life.

On the floating platform that hung upon nothing in the middle of a black void, Jolene had come face to face with her father, Hitaju Aurora, who held the bloodied head of her mother in his right hand.

She immediately took a few steps back, with her entire body shivering in a cold, wet feeling of absolute dread that morphed into fury mixed with anxiety.

She wanted to throw up, and the gruesome sight in his hands did not help at all.

Goosebumps rose on her skin, and the hairs raised while she motioned for him to stay back, as her trembling mouth desperately searched for the words deeply entrenched in her throat to be vomited out in front of her.

"S-S-Stay….b-back. Stay…..THE FUCK!!! Away! From! M-Me!"

The man scornfully laughed at her as he continued to circle around her from the edges of the massive platform, and gave her a cheerful sneer.

"Aw, what's wrong, my baby girl?" he mocked. "Why won't you come and give your father a hug? Don't be rude and show some love!"

Jolee swallowed hard as her body lowered. He kept her eyes on him no matter what, and her left arm naturally held onto her lower abdomen, touching the scar hidden by her clothing.

"Y-You….and all of t-this…isn't fucking real…" she sputtered, motioning to him and then her surroundings. "You're just a fuckass nightmare, something conceived by my trauma that has been elevated by that mist."

"Oh? Well, you weren't far off, so I'll give you your props for that," Hitaju Aurora mumbled back at her. "However…"

He grinned and flung the head of his wife behind him, sending it flying down into the bottomless pit before he stretched his body and raised his sword up high before continuing:

"Will the pain that you will receive also not be real, honey? I guess there's only one way to find out."

With that, he kicked off of the ground and sped forward to attack, and Jolene's eyes widened with horror.

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