"S-so… what do we do now?"
Looking at the monster before her, Mary's face turned pale as she took a step back. Although she had seen monsters several times while following Duanmu Huai, the one in front of her still terrified her—
Well, the reason was simple.
Girls generally hated insects, and a giant black fly bigger than a human was even more disgusting.
If it were a cockroach, Mary's reaction would probably be even more exaggerated.
"Same as usual—run."
As he spoke, Duanmu Huai took a few steps back.
"Lure it over. I'll deal with it."
"O-okay…"
Hearing his instructions, Mary nodded. Then she looked at the monster, took a deep breath, turned around—and ran toward the other end of the corridor.
"Tap tap tap tap tap!!!"
In the silent hallway, only Mary's hurried footsteps echoed. The classrooms beside her were pitch black, and through the windows, nothing inside could be seen—like they were filled with thick ink.
"Whooooosh——!!!"
A roaring wind suddenly surged through the narrow corridor, rushing toward Mary. Yet the crushing pressure that should have shredded any prey vanished silently just before reaching her. The monster let out an angry roar, moving its limbs as it charged after her from the other end of the corridor.
"Ha… haah…!!"
Mary dashed up the stairs in one swift motion. She didn't know where she was running, but she believed Duanmu Huai would help her.
All she had to do was run—keep running.
Until she lured the monster into the trap set for it!
Meanwhile, in the darkness, a shadow watched everything, gritting its teeth.
Why… why is it like this?
Clearly, the soul of the sacrifice had already been offered, those foolish mortals had been killed, and the evolution had succeeded! By controlling its other half, it could become a hurricane and tear everything apart. Those prey had been shredded by the raging wind without leaving even a trace behind.
Those previous attempts had all succeeded! So why—why did it fail against the Golden Pupil?
Could this be the reason Professor Čapek failed?
At that thought, a trace of confusion flashed in the shadow's eyes. Up until now, he still hadn't figured out what was so special about this girl with the Golden Pupil. Yes, his magic seemed ineffective against her—but so what? In the end, she was just a weak, ordinary girl.
As long as he caught up to her and devoured her Golden Pupil, the Gate of Tartarus would open for him!
However…
Watching Mary run through the corridor, the shadow looked speechless.
It wasn't like he hadn't seen prey try to escape before—but those victims usually ran around like headless flies, some even ending up in dead ends, waiting in despair.
But this girl was different. Her pace wasn't too fast or too slow, and she even had time to observe her surroundings. Clearly, this wasn't her first time in such a situation… which made sense. Without some capability, she wouldn't have survived this long.
But… was that all?
Watching the girl evade the pursuit of his clones, the shadow frowned. He hadn't made a move yet because his previous two failures had made him cautious. After all, if Professor Čapek had been capable of founding that research group, he was certainly no incompetent. And he knew full well how obsessed Čapek had been with the Gate of Tartarus.
Yet even he had fallen to this girl?
What exactly had she done to defeat him?
Because of that concern, he had remained hidden, trying to locate the threat. After all, if she could defeat Čapek, she must have had some special means.
But why, after watching for so long, did she seem capable of nothing but running?
If Mary knew what the shadow was thinking, she would probably cry injustice. It wasn't that she wanted to be like this—but as a humanities student in the history department, she simply wasn't very athletic. Even with Lorena's training, it wasn't some miraculous martial art that could transform someone overnight.
So aside from being slightly better at running now… she really didn't have much else.
And in fact, she was already being pushed to her limits.
"Ugh!!"
Seeing a fly monster appear in the left corridor, Mary's face turned pale. She quickly turned and ran in the opposite direction. These creatures could create clones—indeed, while chasing her, the monster had already split into several copies, attempting to surround her.
But Mary was very familiar with the academy. Even if she couldn't hide inside rooms, she could still sprint between corridors and staircases, drawing the monsters' attention.
However… her stamina was limited. She wasn't like Lorena.
"Huff… huff…"
Climbing another flight of stairs, Mary felt her legs grow as heavy as lead, aching terribly. She panted heavily and glanced back, only to see the massive fly monster peeking around the corner, its compound eyes—made up of countless crimson lenses—staring coldly at her.
Her scalp tingled.
Gritting her teeth, she continued upward.
Where did Mr. Duanmu go?
Normally, he would have appeared by now. But this time, he hadn't shown up at all, which surprised Mary. She had assumed that, like before, once she lured the monster in, he would appear and deal with it.
But where had he gone?
Surely he wasn't angry because she joked with him earlier…?
"——————!!!"
Just as Mary's thoughts ran wild, a sudden scream came from behind her. She turned in shock and saw that the monster chasing her was now writhing on the ground, wailing in pain.
And beside it—
There was no one.
What is going on?
Mary was completely stunned.
Meanwhile…
"AAAAAAHHHH!!!"
From the darkness, a man was suddenly flung out, crashing heavily onto the ground. Clutching his right arm, he screamed in agony.
Then, Duanmu Huai stepped out from the shadows and walked up to him.
"Finally caught you."
Looking at the man writhing on the ground, Duanmu Huai's gaze was icy. The opponent was cautious, and Duanmu Huai had learned his lesson from before. The previous two times, although he had easily killed the monsters, their hosts had died shortly after—likely due to some kind of contract between them.
That meant no information could be extracted.
So this time, Duanmu Huai changed his approach. Instead of directly attacking the monster, he let Mary stall for time while he searched for the host.
After all, in the previous cases, the hosts had been near the monsters, suggesting that long-distance control wasn't possible. It seemed his guess was correct.
However…
The person before him looked strangely familiar.
"I didn't expect it to be you, Mr. Churchill."
That's right—the man who emerged from the shadows was none other than Winston Churchill, who had just spoken with Mary earlier. But now, all of his previous elegance was gone. Clutching his broken right arm, he was drenched in sweat.
Duanmu Huai, of course, didn't care. He reached out, grabbed the man by the head, lifted him up, and glared at him viciously.
"Y-you… who are you? What do you want?!"
The man trembled all over. He had never expected that within the world he controlled, there would be someone he knew nothing about!
"Simple."
In response, Duanmu Huai grinned, revealing a savage smile.
"Answer my questions obediently, and I'll let you die with a little less pain…"
Then, he spoke.
(End of Chapter)