Horror Game Developer: My games aren't that scary! Chapter 577: Identity [3]

"Hahaha... Ha!"

Laughter overtook me completely. It was the sole reaction I could muster.

Madness hadn't claimed me, nor had insanity gripped my thoughts.

Quite the contrary.

Clarity filled my mind like never before. It sharpened as I fixed my gaze on the man standing right there.

"HaHaha!"

My laughter erupted with even greater intensity.

I kept laughing while gazing at that face I couldn't commit to memory. For the very first time since encountering him, the smile had vanished from his features.

Yet I pressed on.

Completion was nowhere in sight.

"It’s all... clear to me."

This location...

It robbed individuals of their sense of self.

Every conceivable delight and satisfaction was supplied to them, causing them to lose sight of their true selves, gradually eroding their appearances, their monikers, and their core essence. It shattered a person down to the basics, transforming them into empty shells that merely consumed food, drink, and rest.

I'd grasped this truth ages back.

Right from the instant I'd torn out my eye, I'd comprehended its nature.

What it sought to accomplish.

For that reason, I offered up sacrifices.

I gave up all I had to safeguard what it aimed to steal away. I yielded to witness. I surrendered... to comprehend.

"H-haha. With my eye clear, I can see... through the illusions. I can see through the fakery of this place. B-but despite that, I can’t see you."

My eyes settled on the man directly ahead.

Despite gazing directly at him, his countenance stubbornly refused to lodge in my memory.

"I... can see everything but you."

He robbed others of their sense of self, yet what of his own?

His sense of self endured.

He alone retained a sense of self.

Therefore—

"Your name."

I lifted my gaze, the eye aching from prolonged exposure.

"I... know your name."

Your sense of self.

"HahahaHa....!"

Laughter seized me anew.

This rang especially true upon noticing the grave expression on the face opposite mine.

Through all that had transpired, I discerned my required course of action.

To the one who erased identities, it fell to me to restore his.

"You are... Ukh!"

My hand clutched at my throat, eyes flaring wide as the words snagged deep within my thoughts. Like a dense blockage had materialized, halting all notions from emerging, speech utterly escaped me.

"I think you’ve said enough."

An icy tone resonated next.

"You’ve overstepped your boundaries."

Had I...?

"H-hak... Haha."

A fragile, raspy chuckle escaped my mouth as I clamped down on my lips, the eye reddening with blood vessels from the agony while I compelled my voice to return.

"P—!"

Rattle! Rattle—!

Tremors gripped the environment, wall hangings clattering in their mounts while entrances banged closed simultaneously. My neck scorched once more, and my skull gradually descended involuntarily, compelled by an unseen burden to bow before the silhouette nearby.

"Know your place."

"P...!"

RATTLE!

My skull now rested firmly on the icy ground, coldness infiltrating my flesh. Despite my utmost efforts, lifting it proved impossible.

Nevertheless...

"Pa—!"

"Silence!!"

BOOOOOM—!

Entrances crashed, and the ground quivered more intensely.

A chilly sensation infiltrated my thoughts as my neck constricted, the blaze intensifying. The torment rendered parting my jaws difficult, as though my utterance was being locked shut. Yet it mattered not to me. All had been relinquished already. For this instant, I'd yield everything once more.

For the instant of defying a King.

It troubled me not one bit!

"Pai—!"

BOOOOOM!

An explosive push hurled me rearward, my spine colliding with a solid barrier, expelling the air from my lungs. Still, awareness persisted, my view fixed on the silhouette forward with a subtle grin.

His escalating reactions only fueled my urge to grin wider.

My mouth parted once more.

However—

"Pai■■■."

Abruptly, the environment shifted. Opulence enveloped the area as gentle horn notes filled the atmosphere, the formerly rundown chamber gradually evolving into a majestic and lavish expanse.

My mouth parted, and words emerged again.

"■■■■■■."

"...Ah."

Instantly, the clattering halted, tranquility resuming as ■■■■■■ regarded me intently.

His grin reemerged.

"Time is up."

"....."

"Your mind can no longer keep up. There’s nothing else that you can sacrifice. This is your absolute limit. Now, it is time for you to finally embrace what has been provided to you by me."

A stride brought him closer, his composed stare locked upon me.

Yet upon that stride, he halted.

Laughter bubbled from me.

Concurrently, distant footfalls resounded as a pair of shapes neared my position.

Though visibility eluded me from my spot, I recognized their forms as severely mangled. My actions had wrought that damage upon them. And I was certain ■■■■■■ comprehended my deeds toward them.

"I’m lost."

■■■■■■ shifted his focus between the remnants of Esteban and Drake.

"I knew you were doing something to them, and I let it go because I was curious to see what you would do. But I’m at a loss. What exactly are you planning? Perhaps you want them to buy some time for you? But it’s too late. You’ve..."

Abruptly, he paused. As realization dawned at last, his visage altered. I glanced at Esteban and Drake, discovering their stares fixed upon me, crimson-veined eyes holding a trace of dread.

Laughter was my only reply.

...I'd anticipated this. Preparations were in place.

"D-do it."

Without delay, the pair drew blades using their sole surviving limb, plunging them into my lower limbs.

SPURT!

Crimson liquid sprayed wildly as torment flooded my consciousness.

Instead of cries, mirth overtook me.

"Stop!"

■■■■■■’s command thundered across the area, the lavish setting dissolving anew.

No need arose to part my mouth.

Verbalization wasn't required, as my inner musings reached him clearly.

"I SAID STOP IT!"

RATTLE! RATTLE—!

Shudders wracked the space again, his tone warping into infernal fury.

Esteban and Drake ignored it entirely. They severed my lower limbs, vital fluid gushing over the surface.

Completion eluded them still. Drake pivoted toward my last limb shortly after, his grip quivering faintly under my watch. Yet upon meeting my eyes, he compelled his hand forward regardless.

Amid the anguish assaulting my psyche, my stare remained on the form ahead.

That instant evoked a recollection of the Conductor's prior words to me.

’Hell rejects the living.’

In retrospect, the truth shone evident.

Not even a monarch could lay hands on the alive within hell. Hence, all present needed to end their own lives before his intervention. Authority over the living evaded him, explaining his futile physical attempts to halt me.

Its sole recourse lay in orchestrating deceptions to lure self-destruction.

For ages, death seemed my fate.

Yet reality differed.

Vitality coursed through me yet.

Though that wouldn't endure—

"You do not understand what you are doing. Stop this at once!"

BOOOM!

Fissures raced through the vicinity as the fortress quaked ferociously, yet indifference held me. My eyes locked on Drake and Esteban alone. Their ravaged countenances met mine, dread in their veined orbs now blatant. Yet that dread targeted not ■■■■■■.

It aimed squarely at me.

A warped smile twisted my lips.

Proceed! PROCEED!

"STOP!"

Drake’s orb quivered briefly, yet soon he drew the blade across my neck, severing my skull neatly.

Swooosh!

***

Silence engulfed everything then.

Clatters ceased. Vibrations concluded. An eerie, absolute quiet descended.

Drake then stooped and grasped the cranium.

Toward the form he advanced.

Drip.

Crimson droplets pattered down, gradually pooling on the rock in an expanding, shadowy blotch. The detached head persisted in eyeing the form's way.

Post-severance awareness in humans lasts mere seconds.

Within that span—

Seth retained awareness.

No auditory input. No utterances. Periphery faded.

Still, comprehension flooded him fully.

Drake advanced haltingly before the form, which remained utterly motionless, visage rigid as Drake genuflected, elevating the cranium in dual grasp like a tribute.

Drip. Drip.

The flow of blood persisted.

No vocal exchange occurred.

Yet Seth perceived the phrases distinctly in his psyche.

My eyes. My arms. My legs. My heart. My body.

And ultimately—

My head.

To you, who is King Paimon.