I Became A Ghost In A Horror Game-Chapter 115: The Little Mermaid – Angel of Sorrow

“I didn’t expect you to cooperate with us, Little Mermaid.”

Ariel was having a one-on-one meeting with a man in a priest’s robe and narrow eyes.

Priest Gray. As the leader of the cathedral, it was no small matter for him to cooperate with a demon.

“And yet it was you who made the offer in the first place.”

Ariel had first obtained information about the angel while rummaging through the archives of the cathedral and the Organization.

She had been able to find a vague location of the seal, but detecting divine power proved more difficult than tracking a demon’s energy—so she needed help to locate it.

That help, surprisingly, came from a priest who also used divine power.

Appearing with perfect timing, the clergy reached out to Ariel, stating that they too wanted to release the angel sleeping within the Organization—and thus, their goals aligned.

“I’m the one who killed a priest—won’t that be a problem?”

Ariel had killed a priest named Ginus when the Machine God appeared.

It couldn’t be helped. She would’ve died otherwise.

This was why priests were a problem. They never looked at the bigger picture, so situations always escalated to extremes.

“If you intend to hunt, you must also be ready to be hunted. I believe he’s gone on to a better place.”

Ariel almost blurted out a retort but barely held herself back.

Ugh, I really don’t want to deal with him.

“And besides... such things have no meaning anymore.”

“...?”

After exchanging several dry, procedural comments, their conversation neared its end.

Ariel spoke up once more, just to make one last thing clear.

“...In exchange for helping you. I will get what I was promised, right?”

“Of course. A demon growing stronger means nothing to us on its own.”

“Good. I don’t care about anything else—as long as I become stronger. If I can get strong enough to meet him.”

-----

We followed Ariel to a library, heading toward the place where the angel was said to be.

So the angel’s sealed in a library?

At a glance, it looked like a perfectly ordinary library, but apparently there was a secret path inside that led to the Organization.

“A library? Didn’t you say the angel was inside the Organization?”

“The security there is too tight—not even I can get in. But I know how the Organization seals the angel.”

“A seal, huh...”

“They’ve sliced up the angel and sealed the parts inside a maze-like space compressed hundreds of times over.”

Hoo... Sounds like a Backrooms-type dimension.

That was a trendy genre back in the day.

Though from the way Ariel describes it, this place seems smaller in scope than the Backrooms.

“So this place too...”

“Right. This place shows similar properties. It’s a new spot the Organization hasn’t discovered yet. Based on past experiments, spaces like this can resonate.

In other words, they can connect.”

A space with repeating patterns that resonates... Fascinating phenomenon.

Come to think of it, if the repetition is like facing mirrors, then maybe it really is possible.

“Got it.”

“Alright, then shall we go in?”

As I moved to enter, Ariel stopped me.

“Wait—we have to enter at the exact right time. I’ve been waiting for this specific day, count, and hour to line up. We’re almost there, so I’ll count us down.”

Oh, so that’s what all the waiting was for?

When she said preparation, I thought it was something complicated—but it was just about timing.

That means Ariel already knew about this place long ago.

“Hey, hey, Kyung-min. It’s been bugging me... You know Ariel’s fish lower half? What kind of fish do you think it is?”

“Hm. These days, you can just search this kind of thing with AI. Let’s see... Looks like a koi?”

“Ooooh...”

While we waited for the timing, the kids started chatting, and Ariel gave me a warning.

“...Are you really planning to take those kids with you? It’s dangerous. You might want to reconsider.”

“Even if it’s dangerous, as long as they choose to adventure, I intend to go with them.”

“...Well, if you say so.”

Ariel said it was time and gathered us into one spot, then began counting down.

“...One... Two... Now!”

We jumped into the entrance all at once.

And then, we entered a space filled with endless rows of bookshelves—a seemingly infinite space.

As befits the name ‘library,’ it was so deathly quiet that it felt like staying there alone might drive someone insane.

“Hm. How do we find our way?”

“Leave it to me.”

Ariel made a very small sound and spread it out.

Like how bats use echolocation, she located spots where the reflected sound gathered unnaturally.

“That way.”

We walked between the bookshelves in the direction Ariel pointed.

I couldn’t tell where anything was.

Even the walking path was long and dreadfully boring.

“This sucks. None of the books lying around have anything written in them. It’s so quiet too. I swear, there are few places as boring as this.”

[Silence.]

As we grumbled and complained, a neatly dressed monster jumped out from between the shelves.

Must be a monster that lives here.

A librarian monster that comes when it hears noise... Makes sense, I guess, for a library. The theme is spot-on.

It put me in a good mood. Feels like I’m at a theme park.

The monster immediately lunged at us.

Despite moving so quickly, its steps made no sound. Looks like it has anomaly-based abilities.

It would be interesting to study it further, but—

Crunch!

“You’re not exactly vital to this journey.”

I was curious what kind of hidden powers it might have, sure.

But I didn’t want to drag this out—so I smashed it instantly.

Judging by the way its shattered bones and mashed meat twitched, it probably still had some life left in it.

We quickly moved past the librarian and into the next room.

“Phew.”

This time, they came at us in numbers.

But I’m not someone who’d be overwhelmed by quantity.

I used monsters from inside the mirror to take them down one by one.

The last one—crack. I killed it like popping a balloon.

One of the librarians dropped a key that looked like it might open some kind of secret area, but I immediately threw it away.

Not interested. This place is just something to pass through.

Ha-rim picked up the key I tossed and put it in her bag, but didn’t press the issue.

“I think I’m starting to get what these librarians are supposed to be.”

“You realized pretty fast.”

“Alright, quiz time. What do you think these guys do?”

I decided to test the kids’ powers of observation by asking.

The first to raise her hand was Eun-jung.

“Answer: their job is to make us be quiet.”

“Five points.”

“Ugh.”

Next, Soo-ho spoke without raising his hand.

“Feels like they’re trying to eliminate intruders.”

“That’s 5 points too.”

Then Ha-rim and Kyung-min shared a glance and answered together.

Their answer was:

To maintain silence.

“10 points!”

The library’s librarians are sensitive to sound.

They react even to the sound of our footsteps and rush at us.

They’re trying to eliminate the source of noise.

However, in this library space, ‘sound’ isn’t a concept that simply disappears.

What I mean is, even after eliminating the thing that made the noise, some kind of residual sound remains.

After removing the source, the librarians also gather up that residual noise and send it... somewhere.

That’s how they maintain the silence of the library.

“Where do you think they’re sending it?”

“Well, garbage goes in the trash, right?”

If you can’t get rid of it, then push the noise toward the noisiest place—that kind of idea.

A pretty fresh concept.

Ariel listened to our idea and added something more:

“They hate crying the most.”

“Crying, huh. Who would be crying in here?”

“Who else but the angel?”

“Hoooh.”

From Ariel’s reaction, it seemed like our guess was correct.

The loud, sorrowful noise in another space and the collected noise here in the library may be linked together through some kind of sorcery.

The interaction of traits. Is this what Ariel meant by ‘resonance’?

...Why is the angel crying?

If the angel is still clearly alive, then why did Carol say there were no angels?

And what’s the relationship between us Story’s Demons and the angels?

Those questions kept spinning through my head.

What snapped me out of it was the librarian monster, collapsed and unable to move like a corpse.

“Huh. This one’s...”

The librarian’s wings had grown out in a malformed way, as if it couldn’t control its own body.

Corruption... judging by its structure, it probably couldn’t even fly... What a meaningless pair of wings.

“We’ve arrived.”

A boundary. A line drawn across the floor separated the library from the angel’s domain.

As we crossed over, a different kind of air and atmosphere could be felt.

But I couldn’t shake the sense of emptiness.

It was something I had already felt in the library.

Maybe it’s a trait of these repeating spaces, or maybe it’s the angel’s emptiness bleeding into us.

There’s no way to know.

“From here, we’ll have to split up.”

Ariel explained that the angel’s body had been physically divided, and we’d need to collect all the parts in order to meet the original body.

Then let’s begin the body search.

“There are seven pieces in total, so I’ll count on you.”

With those words, Ariel swam off into the air like it was the sea and disappeared.

“Let’s go too.”

We weren’t in a hurry, so we walked slowly, looking around.

This place, like the library, repeated the same scenery over and over—

but the scenery here consisted of crudely drawn depictions of heaven, apples, and human figures.

And sometimes—

Waaaah~

We’d hear a child crying sadly in the distance.

“...Hmph.”

“It’s peaceful, but it still makes me feel depressed. Like, how do I put it...”

“Feels like it’s hinting at memories that won’t come back.”

The kids shared similar impressions.

And me too.

It was nostalgic, sad, and strangely ominous all at once...

This place stirred up all kinds of complicated emotions.

“So this is the part managed by the Organization.”

Judging by the bloodstains and broken equipment, it looked like there had been a fight here.

At the same time, it was likely that part of the angel was located here.

“Hmm...”

Only one book could be seen in this area.

Yet the presence emanating from that book was... overwhelming!

Not touching it would basically be admitting I was a coward.

I reached for the book—and it opened on its own.

Shfffffft...

Something glowing and shining burst out from within.

But the glow was just for show—it didn’t give off any real feeling.

It just seemed symbolic.

I turned the page.

With that action as a trigger, the book projected an illusion into the air.

“Feels more like a projector than a book. It records what happened and even shows it.”

I grew curious and watched quietly as the book displayed its vision.

Two men appeared in the illusion.

“How’s it going?”

“Yes, sir. Everything’s proceeding smoothly.”

One of them, who seemed like the senior, was touching corpses that clearly weren’t human.

Wings like birds’—

The kind of wings commonly imagined as belonging to angels—had grown sparsely from the bodies.

This must be the corpse of an angel.

“I heard this from someone I trust, but... these corpses, are they really byproducts of the war between angels and demons?”

“The so-called war between angels and demons... that’s how it was publicized. But it’s a lie. Those guys never fought to begin with.”

“Didn’t the demons win?”

“Can’t you tell just by looking at this pile of corpses?”

“But still...”

From the junior’s hesitant tone, the senior man could tell who he’d heard this story from.

The man clicked his tongue.

“Mephistopheles, that bastard... He lies the moment he opens his mouth. I hate that he wormed his way into the upper ranks. Damn demon...”

Shhhhh...

The illusion ended.

The book had now transformed into a golden bracelet.

It appeared to be one of the angel’s parts Ariel mentioned.

“Angels and demons... really did fight?”

“Well, they’re not exactly known for getting along.”

“Try to get along.”

“Even if you say that, I’ve never met an angel. Besides, the guy said they didn’t fight.”

Then why were there angel corpses?

If they didn’t fight demons, then what had been hostile to them?

Demons, humans, angels—

If you group everything broadly, those are the three major factions.

But humans had no reason to fight angels. And angels had no reason to fight demons.

That only leaves the anomalous monsters sealed by the Organization.

Those things appeared without any origin or purpose, different from both angels and demons.

Maybe we’ve underestimated them too much just because this is all “containment fiction.”

Even the Dominators are part of that category of anomalous monsters, after all.

“I guess I’ll take this one too. Hm. Feels kind of like Maria’s cross. Doesn’t give off any unpleasant vibe.”

I took the piece of the angel and kept walking.

The piece seemed to react to the others, letting me use it like a compass to find the rest.

As I followed the path, getting sick of the repetitive scenery, I found another book.

Shfffffft...

“Another illusion...”

This time, the two men from before appeared again—

but now joined by another man with narrow eyes.

The man with the narrow eyes... I’ve seen him before...

“Then why did so many demons die? Paimon, Lucifer, Beelzebub—

The most feared names of all. Why were they found as corpses?”

“Would I know? I’ve never dreamed of what they were doing when they died.”

“Then where are the angels now, and what are they doing?”

“Ha! Those bastards left us behind and fled this world. Should I call it ascension? Only the demons remained here. Hey, Gray. You’re a priest, right?! Say something about this damn situation.”

“There must be a reason. To lose faith in them is no different from giving up hope, brother.”

“Don’t call me your brother, you slippery snake.”

“...There has to be a reason.”

The illusion ended again, and a gloomy atmosphere filled the space.

It seemed to be leaking from the book.

The book this time transformed into a golden apple-shaped ornament, and I took that one as well.

Woom—Woom—Woom—

I could feel the parts of the angel resonating with one another.

“What do they mean, ‘the angels left’?”

I posed the question to the kids.

Not expecting a correct answer—just wanting to hear their thoughts.

“Uh... the topic’s too big to say for sure, but... maybe they ran away?”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Soo-ho was speculating that the angel had run away from something.

There’s a deeply rooted assumption that angels are powerful beings. The very thought of such a being fleeing from something was terrifying.

“Or maybe... they just went to look for something?”

Eun-jung offered her guess.

Looking at it optimistically, it was hard to imagine an angel ignoring God’s command to protect people and running off on their own.

Maybe rather than abandoning people, they had just left temporarily to find something else.

“Actually, I’m more curious why the demons didn’t disappear. Like... maybe they wanted to harass people while the angels were gone?”

Kyung-min was more curious about something else.

I was also bothered by that part.

Doesn’t seem like there’d be a particularly special reason... maybe they just didn’t know how to leave?

“But they said tons of demons were killed, remember.”

“Alice is still fine though?”

“My origin’s kind of complicated, remember.”

Mixing up post-birth demons and original demons would only complicate the worldbuilding even more.

Still, the demons mentioned in the illusions definitely felt different from us Story’s Demons.

If you think about it, we’re probably the ones with no real origin.

But except for Mephistopheles, even the high-tier, original demons were ones neither I nor even Ariel had ever met.

“Alright then, guess I’ll go grab the next one.”

The angel’s piece resonated more strongly now. With two of them in hand, the third was found twice as quickly.

The faster this goes, the better for me.

I already dislike things that just loop around aimlessly.

They’re boring.

Even if it’s like reincarnation, wouldn’t something new be better for everyone?

“Another book, huh. Hmm... Ariel probably found a few too, right? No way she expected me to find all seven alone...”

Shrrrrrrrrrrk...

Another illusion unfolds.

This time, it’s the same two men from before, excluding the one named Gray.

“So what does the Organization want with this, anyway? It’s obviously a corpse.”

“If you process the meat fragments right and gather them up, it might become something useful... What was it... made from demon corpses... Oz, was it?”

“Oz? Like that Oz from The Wizard of Oz?”

“Names are always chosen randomly. You really don’t know anything, huh? Must be ‘cause they’ve got you on a tight leash. The longer you stay in the field, the better you get at digging up secrets. If you’re curious, try living longer.”

“Hmph. So you mean they want to make something like that Oz thing?”

“Yeah. The quantity’s damn low, so it probably won’t work. But hey, if we can make something even similar, that’d be huge. They say Oz can wipe out all those origin-less freaks. Just having a copy could be jackpot!”

“Sorry to interrupt your fantasy, but the corpse is starting to twitch. Looks like it reacted to some chemical...”

Startled, the senior man turned around—

and saw that some kind of caterpillar-like monster had already swallowed the junior whole.

The caterpillar was crying miserably, and as the man hurriedly called for a response team—

the illusion ended.

It was abridged, but based on the bloodstains we saw earlier, there must’ve been even more casualties.

We all watched the illusion and naturally came to the same thought.

“...We probably shouldn’t wake it up.”

“But it’s an angel! An angel!”

“Maybe it’s like how zombies aren’t really people anymore?”

We mustn’t wake the angel.

Honestly, I was only curious about what they might know about hell.

If they can’t even speak, we can’t exactly ask questions.

“Curiosity isn’t worth pushing things too far for. Alright, let’s end it here again.”

The kids agreed with me.

Ah, such good kids.

Right, knowing when to stop is what makes them mine.

Just as I was opening the mirror to return—

“You’re not going anywhere, Alice.”

“...”

Ariel blocked my path.

The mood... didn’t feel right.

She looked at the angel’s part in my hand and spoke.

“...So you really can touch it.”

“?”

“That thing’s divine power is incredibly strong. As a demon, I can’t even hold it.”

You can’t touch it?

It felt a bit strange to me, sure, but not to the point of being untouchable.

If anything, I’d say it even felt... comforting.

“You possess a power of a similar nature. Divine power. Even if it’s not the same kind, it’s strikingly close...”

“What are you even talking about? That makes zero sense.

Anyway, I’ve already decided to stop gathering angel parts.

I’ve got no intention of finding the rest, so what now?”

Ariel scowled at my attitude.

I’ll admit, I was being a little annoying on purpose.

But looking at the atmosphere, it felt like this was what everything had been building toward anyway.

So it’s okay to respond a bit aggressively now.

“No need to worry. There are only three pieces total. Saying there were seven? That was a lie from the start.”

“Didn’t see that coming...”

I’ve been had!

“By the way, the angel you’re reviving by combining those fragments—it’s not like it has no intelligence, you know. It’s just been driven mad by grief.”

“You sure know a lot. How do you know all this?”

“They told me.”

From behind Ariel, figures in priest robes appeared.

Judging by the water still on their bodies, Ariel must’ve transported them here.

“Traitor!”

The kids protested.

No wonder she knew so much about the angel.

“The cathedral, huh. If you can’t touch the parts yourself because you’re a demon, why not have them do it?”

“Divine power that strong would burn even a human to ash.”

“Aha.”

“That’s why you need to pick up the last part, Alice.”

I still didn’t understand why Ariel was so obsessed with the angel’s parts.

But from the way her gaze focused more on me than the pieces,

it seemed like making things difficult for me was what actually mattered to her.

If what Jack told me was true, then yeah, she’s definitely targeting me.

“...Go on.”

“What if I say no?”

Her gaze flicked briefly to the kids.

But she quickly turned °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° back to glare at me.

Bubble bubble... Bubbles gathered around her hand, and then a trident emerged.

She pointed it at me.

“...I’ll use force if I have to.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me... Whatever. Here.”

“...?”

As Ariel had asked, I picked up the final piece and gathered all three in one place.

Kugugugugung...!

The divine power surged, and the space around us trembled as some massive being began to inhale.

The separated parts stitched together like patchwork to form a body—

a body that resembled a giant caterpillar.

WaaAAAAaaaahhh—!

The angel cried out miserably.

Then, ignoring us entirely, it made its body translucent and began ascending toward the ceiling.

Don’t tell me it’s actually leaving this space like that?

It slipped out of this special dimension with ease—

almost like it was ascending.

“...I’ll let it go this time since you never actually threatened to use the kids as hostages. Feel better now?”

Ariel silently pulled out a crystal orb and tracked the angel’s location.

Thankfully, the angel had reappeared right in front of the library building where we’d first entered.

“It won’t stop crying, and it’ll start pouring down rain that melts people... it’ll devour them easily and grow stronger. Strong enough to kill you. Once it realizes that its existence is too distorted to ascend like other angels, whether you like it or not, you’ll have no choice but to face it.”

Just as the angel was about to begin its activity—

Something else appeared in the crystal orb.

“...That kid shouldn’t know about this place.”

“Pinocchio came with her. We coordinated things in advance.”

It was me who had contacted Red Riding Hood and Pinocchio beforehand.

Because I had known something like this might happen.

Ariel looked at me with a face full of disbelief.

“You knew this would happen?”

“Not about the angel part.”

I’d heard it from Jack.

That Ariel was planning something strange.

But I didn’t know the exact reason why.

Only the person involved would know that.

So I asked Ariel directly.

“The cathedral wants to kill me.

Well, I am a demon.

But why do you want to kill me? Care to explain with that oh-so-proud mouth of yours?”

You traitor.

If your reason is something pathetic—

If, like Jack said, it’s something as ridiculous as love—

I swear I’ll beat the hell out of you.

“The reason is love.”

Damn it. Why is it never outside my predictions?

I’m going to make sure you really feel it.

“I’m in love, Alice. With that man you all hate—Mephistopheles. I’ve fallen for him.”

Ariel sang of love with a blissful expression on her face.

It seemed like she was loving him with full rationality, but I couldn’t understand it in the slightest.

If it were just affection, maybe. But love?

“I can only say you’ve lost your mind. And what does that lunatic love have to do with me dying?”

“The first reason is jealousy. He dotes on you alone. Personally, I thought you had a good nature and that we could maintain a decent relationship... but I guess this was fate.

And the second reason is power. I learned that the Oz he created is drawn to the strongest demon. I also discovered that your power can evolve into the strongest kind.”

“Same with Peter Pan—why is everyone so obsessed with stealing my power!?”

Should I take that as a sign of popularity?

Not that I want it.

“That’s why I’m going to... take that power from you!”

Ariel lunged at me with her trident.

I pulled a knife from the mirror and blocked her attack.

When her first strike was stopped, droplets started forming around her, and then small blue marlins shot out like bullets toward me.

I immediately opened a mirror portal, inviting the marlins in—then returned them back through a reversed portal, hurling them right back at her.

“!”

While Ariel was shaken, I deflected her trident with my blade and kicked her in the abdomen.

Thunk! Ariel was thrown backward.

Trading blows made it clear.

As expected, Ariel was...

“Weak. So it wasn’t just a bluff when you said you couldn’t fight the Dominators.”

From behind, I heard the kids cheer joyfully, “Yes! Our demon is stronger!”

...This isn’t Pokémon, you know.

“Are you mocking me...?”

“I’m just glad it wasn’t a lie.”

Because otherwise, I’d like her even less.

Ariel couldn’t respond to my words.

She just glared at me with a bitter expression.

Then suddenly—

Splat!

She stabbed herself with her own trident.

Tears of pain welled up in her eyes and trickled down.

Her body quickly became covered in wounds, looking downright pitiful.

“They say love makes people go crazy, but I never thought I’d see it firsthand. You’re seriously insane, aren’t you?”

“...Who knows. Even I don’t understand why my power works this way.”

“What?”

Clang! Her trident came flying again—I knocked it aside.

But this time, I had no choice but to step back significantly.

It flew with much more force than expected.

Her physical strength and demonic energy had both increased several-fold.

So hurting herself makes her stronger?

What kind of cursed ability is that?

Splosh.

As I stood there momentarily stunned, Ariel encased the surrounding priests in air bubbles.

Then water began rising from the floor.

At that rate, it would soon submerge us completely.

Choosing favorable terrain in a fight is a basic strategy.

“Aaa~”

And it didn’t end there—Ariel began to hum rhythmically.

The sound spread across the endlessly repeating space and came back again!

Amplified sound.

Don’t tell me, this girl...

“Don’t you wonder why I chose this space?

It looks like the same room repeating, but it’s actually all one space.

And just like that, sound eventually returns and converges.

This will amplify the power of my song even more...

So, Alice—am I still weak?”

I didn’t answer.

Instead, I opened a mirror and summoned a creature.

It was a ship.

Objectively, it was closer in size to a large boat than a proper ship, but it was ship-shaped, so let’s just call it a ship.

The kids quickly caught on and climbed aboard.

Eun-jung proudly took the helm, Soo-ho and Kyung-min manned the cannons with shining eyes, and Ha-rim climbed up to a high point for a better view of the surroundings.

“Guys, use the artifact that blocks sound in advance. This feels similar to that siren-like creature from before.”

The water level kept rising, and Ariel gripped her trident tightly once again.

I could still win in a head-on fight for now.

But if I wanted to subdue her, I’d need to wear her down first.

“All right, kids—set sail! Think we can escape safely?”

“Turn the ship portside!”

“Portside is which one again? Left? It’s left, right?!”

“The rough winds, the high waves~”

As Ariel’s power grew stronger, so did the waves that filled the room.

Using that momentum, we fled in the opposite direction.

Sprays of churning water surrounded us in the torrent.

The salty scent of seawater tickled my nose.

“She’s a mermaid, but her lower half is a carp. Is it really okay for her to live in the ocean?”

“Shut up.”

Ariel and the cathedral’s forces pursued us.

The priests aimed divine arrows at me, created from pure holy energy.

That kind of attack should be especially harmful to demons, and after the Neverland incident, I no longer assumed that divine power couldn’t hurt me.

Even so, I still had to dodge those attacks.

They hurt less, but still more effective than bullets.

“Kelpies! Drag them into the deep sea!”

Kelpies—monsters that also existed within my mirror world.

Half-fish, half-horse creatures.

They began their long-range attack, now trying to leverage their mobility to target the ship.

Ha-rim spotted the kelpies and issued commands.

“Kyung-min! Use chains to make a net and set up a primary barrier! Soo-ho, fire the cannons! Eun-jung, stop spinning the helm so much, you’re slowing us down! If you’re not turning, just hold it still!”

Kyung-min unrolled a magical artifact book and created a net of chains connecting wall to wall.

But some of the kelpies leapt over the net and continued charging toward us.

“Ugh, wait, the cannonballs are way too heavy!”

Soo-ho, with his strength, barely managed to move the cannonball, and Kyung-min assisted to finally prepare the cannon for firing.

“Fire!”

Boom! One of the Kelpies was struck by the cannonball and collapsed.

Good, looks like there’s nothing to worry about!

I, too, joined the counterattack.

Ariel was inhaling, preparing a powerful attack.

It was obvious she was about to launch a voice-based attack.

“...!”

As expected, she opened her mouth wide and spat out a compressed lump of sound like a projectile.

I immediately opened a mirror.

What I summoned was a sound-replication yokai from Japan.

“Yamabiko.”

The creature, shaped like a large dog, appeared and mimicked the exact same sound back at her.

As the sound projectile was neutralized, Ariel bit her lip anxiously.

“More... I need more power!”

Ariel tried to stab herself with her trident once again.

I quickly opened a mirror right beside her.

A hand holding a knife shot out from the mirror and succeeded in stopping Ariel’s self-inflicted wound.

“Stop. Are you planning to walk the path of destruction?”

If she kept hurting herself beyond that point, it might become life-threatening.

And her power getting any stronger would be a problem.

Just then, as Ariel faltered—

Bang!

“Urgh...!”

One of the cathedral members shot Ariel with a bullet imbued with holy power.

“What the hell!... A betrayal on top of a betrayal?”

The priest who had fired the shot responded calmly.

“Our goal is the angel’s release. The demon is no longer needed.”

However, the priest next to him reacted completely differently.

“You acted without orders! What the hell are you doing!?”

“...”

This wasn’t a pre-planned situation.

Even the priest who fired the shot looked flustered, as if realizing what he’d done.

Clearly... something’s off.

I looked at Ariel’s wound.

Thankfully, it seemed the holy power embedded in the bullet was weak—shallower than the injury she inflicted on herself with the trident.

And yet, the power emanating from her...

“She’s gotten even stronger...”

Why?

The wound is shallow—shouldn’t the power correlate with the severity of the injury?

Then what triggered it?

Pain? Holy power might hurt even more.

Emotion?

The betrayal of the cathedral... But that shouldn’t have been such an emotionally shocking event, right?

That was when Ha-rim, who had been observing quietly, tilted her head and muttered.

“...Staging?”

“Care to explain?”

“Well... the demons of the story all have symbolism tied to fairy tales, right?”

I nodded for her to continue.

“What’s the story of The Little Mermaid like?”

“I know this one. She tries to achieve love but turns into sea foam—tragic ending.”

Eun-jung had clearly read a lot of fairy tales.

She even had a copy of Alice in Wonderland, after all.

I hadn’t read it, but I’d seen related content online at some point.

Right. The Little Mermaid ends in tragedy.

That’s the commonly known version...

“If it’s related to that...?”

“I can’t deny the possibility.”

Ariel’s self-harming appearance looked pitiful.

And being betrayed by her companions could easily be seen as a tragedy.

If the Little Mermaid had engineered the betrayal by the cathedral—then yes.

She draws power from tragedy.

The reason she has that kind of power is likely tied to her past.

With power like that, she’s pretty dangerous...

“If it’s a performance, then there must be a way to break it, right? While I hold her off, I’m counting on you to come up with a plan!”

I had to act before Ariel grew stronger.

Because of her power’s amplification, the waves had grown fiercer, and even the priests sealed in water bubbles couldn’t attack, busy just trying to stay afloat—perfect for a frontal assault.

“Bring it on!”

I immediately summoned more monsters and sent them toward Ariel.

Ariel also raised her trident to fight back.

Meanwhile, the murmurs of the children reached my ears.

“How do we break something tragic... what would work?”

“What about disrupting the mood?”

That’s a good idea.

If we can counteract her attempt to lock us into a narrative frame, we might be able to weaken Ariel’s power.

The kids, having caught on, each thought of a way to break the mood.

Ha-rim used a healing artifact’s effect on Ariel.

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In Ha-rim’s view, tragedy couldn’t exist if the subject wasn’t suffering.

A fundamental approach... not bad!

A little—just a little—Ariel’s power weakened!

“I want to see Kyung-min’s lame abs!”

“Shut uuup! Fools! This boring chase ends now! I declare that I shall cleanse this tedious pursuit and begin to sing!”

“♪ Easy do song~ easy do song~ ♪”

...It was incredibly absurd, but Soo-ho and Kyung-min’s approach worked surprisingly well.

By suddenly bursting into song, they were trying to turn the tragic mood into a comedy.

Because Ariel manipulated sound, the act of singing wasn’t very effective on its own.

But I could still feel that her power had weakened.

“Let’s go! That was great! So proud of you!”

Eun-jung, having nothing else to try, simply started cheering enthusiastically.

It seemed simple, but since tragedy often stems from sadness—

It might actually work by lifting spirits.

Thump.

“...!”

The most effective tactic, shockingly, was the cheering.

Her power didn’t just weaken—it froze entirely.

I seized the opening and struck Ariel’s vital point.

She thrashed in pain and fell into a stunned, groggy state.

“To think you’d be defeated so pathetically...”

Ariel had tried her best, in her own way.

She converted pain into power to close the gap between us and had chosen a location that suited her.

But ultimately, it just meant that my kids and I were stronger.

For all her dramatic entrance and big plans, this ended disappointingly fast.

Sensing her defeat, Ariel used foam to eject all the people she had brought and attempted to escape herself.

Crap. If I dove into a mirror right now, it’d be nearly impossible for her to catch me.

Likewise, if she turned into foam, it’d be nearly impossible for me to catch her.

But just then, Ariel’s body was caught in a tangle of vines.

Startled by the sudden vines, Ariel’s eyes quickly recognized who they belonged to.

“Don’t run away, Ariel.”

“Jack...?”

“Really now. You show up now?”

Jack walked up from behind Ariel.

He scratched his head awkwardly.

“Sorry! I couldn’t find the way... and honestly, I didn’t want to be the one to stop Ariel with my own hands.”

Well, I suppose he did something important.

And since foam is still liquid, it seems plants can absorb it.

Seeing how stuck she was, it must be true.

“Jack! Are you betraying me?!”

You betrayed us first, you wretched girl.

Absolutely outrageous. After this is settled, you’re in for some serious punishment.

Jack replied to Ariel’s reaction with a bitter expression.

“It’s for your own good, Ariel. I mean seriously—attacking Alice because of love? Why do you even love that guy? Try giving me one good reason!”

“Love is blind. You wouldn’t understand!”

That damned love talk again.

I’m dying to know what kind of sappy romance story awaits behind this nonsense.

Her wounds had already healed, and she no longer had a chance to activate her ability.

All that’s left now is the lame version of Ariel.

“Before going to find the angel, Jack came to me. He told me to take you down if you tried anything weird.”

“...”

“Jack told me you were in love with Mephistopheles.

And that you might try to kill me because of that.

He asked me to set you straight if you strayed from the right path.”

“So from the beginning... that was the true goal?”

“That’s right, Ariel. We didn’t come to find the angel—we came for you. Now, here’s a mirror. Take a good look at yourself and fix what’s wrong.”

I held out the mirror to Ariel, forcing her to confront her past.