The white dimension I ended up in left no room for excuses. Obviously, only one person was behind this.
Person? I was probably too kind in my wording. Witches don't count as "people" by definition.
Is this game going to end without even starting?
I didn't know what was worse, the absurdity or the premonition that the absurdity was just beginning. And, as luck would have it, right when thoughts were just starting to swarm in my head, she appeared.
"And welcome back to my abode!"
Fifth-rate theatricality. A voice like from some madness festival.
"So, what did you think of my show? No need to say, it's all written on your face! Agh-ha-ha-hah!"
That laugh where even a mirror would be ashamed to reflect it. As if she really enjoyed what was happening.
But can you rejoice in murders? Animals kill without awareness, people with it. And witches?
The feeling after such an act is pain. And if there's no pain, then what?
"This guy froze just from my presence. Are you really that afraid of me... hee-hee. What an interesting spectacle awaits me! I have high hopes for you in our confrontation."
As if she's casting me for a role in a play where the main prop is corpses.
"Enough pointless reasoning! I am the witch of this blessed island Ryujima, and my name is Mariana! On this wonderful show, I declare our first game open."
First? After everything she's already done? This wasn't even the game yet?
"The game... open? What are you talking about! You just killed all the other participants and even the servants, spared no one, and you're talking about opening some game? So for you, these recent events weren't even the game?" Aragi started erupting with words.
"You're wrong, Aragi... This is just the beginning of my great game! The beginning doesn't have such interesting moments, unlike those in the middle or end!"
"Just the thought of it brings me pleasure, yes... Right now, I'm excited about our game!"
So that's what a woman looks like who's lost everything except the desire to pretend she hasn't lost anything. A game, you say? Beginning, you say?
Disgusting.
"Why are you doing all this? What do you want to achieve? I'll never believe someone who so indifferently scatters all this cruelty under the pretext that it's just interesting and brings pleasure!"
"Khh... What a boring guy..."
If I ever become that annoying, please shoot me on the second day. At least out of respect.
"I, a witch, need no other reason! If someone else were in my place, your question might make sense, but not in this case. Think with your dumb head what an almighty witch sealed forever on this damn island could want!"
Sealed. Not dead, not gone. Just sealed, like a doll in a box.
"For ones like me, boredom is the worst enemy I've fought all my life. Standing above life and death, I can't even die," she continued with the same madness she started this show with. "And so I decided to create this game, where several people will be chosen as participants in the fight for the fulfillment of any cherished wish or answer!"
Game.
Wish.
"But only the one who remains alive last by the end of the sixth night can achieve this reward."
Alive.
Meaning everything else is victim statistics.
"Even so, that's no reason to scatter the lives of those who were already doomed. Why did you choose them for your game?"
"I don't have an exact answer, but let's say it depends on my blessing."
"Blessing?" I asked in surprise.
"It's like playing cards, the card you draw as trump becomes it."
So randomness? Merciless, like everything about her.
Meaning they just became trumps in her game, draw and play. Lucky? Death. Unlucky? Still death.
"Why did I survive? Shouldn't I have become just another corpse in the library, like all the other players?"
"Maybe consider it your luck."
Oh yes. Great luck, being the last one on a horror set.
"What is this place? That world looked like it had just shattered into countless pieces and dissolved into the void."
"You're right, that world no longer exists. It was nothing more than a fragment among all these endless similar ones."
Floating fragments were shards of worlds? Meaning we're literally in the archives of an abandoned reality?
"Why did you destroy that world? Isn't the game supposed to last 6 nights? Not even two days have passed."
"Correct, but it has already passed!" the witch said.
At that moment, everything fell into place. The killer managed to eliminate everyone... in two nights. Even less.
Results of the second night:
•Yahweh
[Second to arrive on the island.
Status: Killed on the second day in the library.
Cause of death: Head and chest shot.]
•Hov
[Third to arrive on the island.
Status: Killed on the second day in the library.
Cause of death: Head and chest shot.]
•Tiamut
[Fourth to arrive on the island.
Status: Killed on the second day in the library.
Cause of death: Head shot.]
•Kamiki
[Sixth additional participant.
Status: Killed on the second day in the library.
Cause of death: Head and chest shot.]
"Only left...!"
"Now you understand? This is the beginning of the true game! So your downfall begins, Araaagi!!"
The witch's counterattack starts. But what about Aragi's counterattack? Can I at least try to reflect it?