Within the raging fires of the living room, many charred corpses lay hidden, their limbs twisted backward like spiders.
The Doctor's occult art, [Shield of Heart-Light]—developed from the core spiritual rune of [Light of the Soul]—worked in tandem with Shade's Moonlight Greatsword. The two walked side by side, remaining vigilant against monsters that might suddenly pounce from the sea of fire. As expected, the creatures were not strong; almost as soon as they were touched by the Moonlight Greatsword, they instantly turned to ash.
"Detective, have you noticed? The barely recognizable appearances of those corpses and the burning clothes they wear are all different, and they aren't randomly assembled. This suggests that these corpses are very likely people the Dream Master once saw in a real fire," the Doctor reminded him, before asking Shade
"Do you remember how many monsters we have encountered so far?"
By now, the two had reached the first-floor staircase. Holding his sword in his right hand, Shade recalled amidst the flames
"Seventeen."
"It seems there really was something wrong with that fire three years ago."
These corpses with twisted limbs existed only on the first floor. Once they ascended the stairs, which were entirely engulfed in flames, new dream monsters appeared.
With every step on the stairs, transparent hands wrapped in bandages might suddenly reach out from the side walls, attempting to push them downstairs. However, these hands were also weak and could be easily severed by moonlight slashes.
"The appearance of these monsters indicates that the Dream Master saw someone being pushed down the stairs during that fire. And judging by the fact that only hands appear rather than a specific figure, it is highly probable that those hands belonged to Luther Kinweiss himself," the Doctor continued to analyze. Having intruded into many people's dreams, he was skilled at using anomalies within a dream to deduce the Dream Master's thoughts.
"So, is Luther Kinweiss truly the arsonist and murderer?" Shade asked curiously.
"Detective, if you are truly curious, we can ask him in a moment."
The passage from the stairs to the second-floor corridor was blocked by collapsed stone slabs, but Shade and the Doctor had no need to enter that area, so they continued climbing toward the third floor.
However, on the second-floor landing, a new obstacle stood in their way.
This monster was a humanoid creature without a head, clad in a black overcoat. Eight arms grew from the sides of its body, holding a dinner knife, a pistol, a glass vial containing powder, a handkerchief, a rope, and a metal knitting needle. The last two hands were empty, but red liquid dripped from them, looking very much like blood.
"A typical image of a murderer. The lack of a head represents the Dream Master's unwillingness to let the murderer's face appear here," the Doctor continued his analysis while standing on the burning stairs.
"If the murderer were not the Dream Master, fear would not lead to forgetting, but rather to an even more grotesque form. Of course, deduction alone isn't enough to know what actually happened before that fire; I think it really will be necessary to ask him shortly."
Shade nodded. He noticed that although the flames were more ferocious on the higher floors, the surrounding light grew dimmer the further up they went. The raging fires surged around them, yet the light they emitted became increasingly faint.
"I'll handle it," Shade said, stepping past the Doctor, who stood to the side, and moving forward.
With a flick of his right hand, an arc of light flew upward. The headless monster in black swung its dinner knife; as Shade's moonlight was shattered, one of the monster's arms was completely severed.
*Still not strong,* Shade thought. He drew the Moonlight Greatsword with his right hand and leaped violently upward. He vanished into thin air, reappearing above the black-clad monster.
He performed a downward jumping strike with a single hand, expecting to shatter the monster in one blow. To his surprise, the headless, eight-armed monster raised a handkerchief
*Boom!*
"Hmm?"
A black fluid rapidly covered the handkerchief, which suddenly grew larger and harder, blocking Shade's sword like a shield. Silver moonlight sparks flew everywhere, and cracks appeared on the surface of the black handkerchief, but it quickly restored itself.
"Since it is a monster related to the Dream Master himself, it's normal for it to have some special abilities," the Doctor's voice came from behind. Shade nodded, pressing his sword against the handkerchief. As his feet hit the ground, he braced his right foot, twisted his waist, and kicked forward with his left leg, knocking the handkerchief shield aside. He swung his sword again; as the arc of moonlight fell, a slanted silver line appeared across the monster's body, and it subsequently scattered into black ash, merging with the black filaments in the air.
"Hmm?" Shade frowned again amidst the sea of fire.
"What is it?"
The Doctor caught up, and both saw that the handkerchief shield, stained dark by the black fluid, did not disappear immediately.
The thick fluid gradually receded from the handkerchief, and only then did the cloth turn to black ash in the fire. The fluid itself did not vanish; instead, it slowly seeped into the floor.
"What?"
A strong sense of familiarity made Shade quickly take two steps forward
"Silver Moon!"
He extended his finger, the light from his fingertip illuminating the black substance and evaporating it.
"Doctor, is this also something that appears in dreams?" After doing this, Shade turned to his companion and asked with great uncertainty. He suspected he had encountered something similar, but that it wasn't actually what he thought.
The blue-eyed Doctor pursed his lips and looked up
"Just materialized matter formed from negative emotions. I see it often; no need to worry about it."
But he immediately added
"However, it looks like it might be dangerous further up. For the rest of the way, I'll take the lead."
With that, he walked ahead toward the third-floor stairs.
Shade looked at the burning floor, then looked suspiciously at Doctor Schneider's back, his brow furrowing deeply.
*Materialization of negative emotions?*
He looked up at the ceiling.
*Is it an illusion? No, it's better to be cautious. I must be prepared.*
Thinking this, he quickly caught up with Doctor Schneider. However, until he confirmed his suspicion, Shade did not intend to tell the Doctor about Ivan Darkness.
He wanted to avoid a meeting between Doctor Schneider and the demon as much as possible.
The light in the third-floor stairwell was even dimmer, yet the flames were more ferocious. These two contradictory scenes made the eerie atmosphere of the third floor even more severe.
On the stairs connecting the second and third floors, new monsters appeared. This time, they were not hands pushing people down, but stacks of flying gold sovereigns with wings.
These monsters were a darker color than real banknotes. Their method of attack was to fire burning bills; those sharp pieces of paper could even embed themselves deeply into the burning walls.
The Doctor led the way, using a transparent shield summoned by occult arts to block the attacks. Shade followed behind him, using moonlight slashes to counter the attacks of these agile creatures.
"Detective, general common sense dictates that the closer one gets to the Dream Master, the more the images of the dream's guardians align with the Dream Master's thoughts. Therefore, the truth of this fire is likely because of this money."
The Doctor still had time to explain the current phenomena to Shade while advancing; in his view, this nightmare exploration was not the most dangerous thing.
However, the raging, dim flames had already begun to cause a stinging sensation of burns on the skin. Although the flying banknotes were easy to deal with, after these monsters died, they—like the headless eight-armed monster—left behind traces resembling the pus of a demon-human.
Although Shade maintained his moonlight, he could not stop those traces from falling to the lower floors through the cracks in the stairs and walls. Fortunately, the amount of black pus was extremely minute, and it seemed to deliberately avoid the two of them, making no attempt to contaminate them, so it caused no trouble for the time being.
*The appearance is so similar, yet it has no aggression. Could it really be a coincidence?*
By the time they defeated the last wave of gold sovereign monsters flying out of the flames and reached the third floor, the untouchable black filaments in the air had become as dense as falling snowflakes. Simultaneously, the light of the flames was completely eclipsed by the silver moonlight from Shade's fingertip, meaning that without maintaining that light, visibility on the third floor was far below normal levels.
Shade and Doctor Schneider had both prepared themselves to encounter stronger enemies on the third floor, but upon arriving, they found that aside from being on fire like the floors below, there were no guardian monsters here.
However, the structural integrity of the third floor was the worst of all. Fallen furniture, cracked floors, and collapsed ceilings blocked the corridors, making it nearly impossible to advance.
Shade had to use the Moonlight Greatsword to hack a path forward. Under the Doctor's direction, the two arrived at the door of the second room on the left side of the third floor. In the entire burning third floor, only the door to this room had not been completely blocked by the collapsed ceiling.
"Accounting Office?"
The doorplate was half-burned, but the full word could still be guessed. The burning door was tightly shut, and the black components within the flames almost entirely overwhelmed the bright yellow.
"Detective, the target is inside. We need to find Luther Kinweiss's image in the dream. Once we capture him and perform the ritual, we can extract the Soul Crystal," the Doctor said, his voice sounding somewhat low amidst the crackling sounds of the fire. He reached out to grasp the doorknob; as expected, the door was locked. But this time, the Doctor didn't let Shade step forward to open it. Instead, he spoke softly toward the interior of the room
"We have brought more gold sovereigns."
A *click* sounded, nearly drowned out by the fire, indicating that the door had been opened from the inside.
"You see, this is the correct way to pass through a locked door in a dream."
The Doctor turned to look at Shade, signaling him to be ready, then pushed the door open and walked inside. Shade followed.
Just as the two had completely entered the room, a thunderous crash suddenly sounded behind them.
Shade and the Doctor immediately turned around to see the ceiling of the corridor at the entrance collapsing in the flames. Along with the rising dust and the surge of heat, the path outside the room was completely blocked.
(End of Chapter)