South Tivian, Bishop’s Square.
As winter deepens, the cold night wind cannot extinguish the enthusiasm of the audience in the square. On the stage, surrounded by a sea of people, Adèle and her dance partners are dancing together with the audience below.
This intimate interaction with the audience has sparked fervent cheers from the crowd. Those in the front row who were invited onto the stage are met with envious gazes, while the silver-haired girl who gets to dance with Adèle herself is not only envied but also admired.
Though the strikingly beautiful silver-haired girl is shorter than Adèle, their dance is surprisingly harmonious and fluid. Compared to the other awkward audience members who were called onto the stage, the coordination between the girl and Adèle is remarkably smooth. Their dance moves are elegant, and both seem to possess considerable skill, creating a visually pleasing and refreshing experience.
On the stage, the dance between Dorothy and Adèle continues. Just like the first time Dorothy used her corpse marionette, Maria, to dance with Adèle, Dorothy is once again leveraging her Scholar ability to quickly learn and follow Adèle’s lead, mastering her dance techniques. However, Adèle gradually increases the speed and complexity of the dance, pushing Dorothy to her limits.
" Huff... huff... Wait... slow down, Adèle. This time, I’m not a marionette... Don’t dance so fast..."
After several intense dance moves, Dorothy, feeling exhausted, gasps for breath as she speaks. Adèle, noticing the girl’s dwindling stamina, smiles even more brightly.
"Oh my~ I didn’t expect Miss Detective to have the same stamina as a normal girl. My apologies~"
Adèle says with a laugh, her eyes glinting with amusement.
Originally, Adèle had thought that Dorothy’s exceptional control over her marionette might indicate that she was a Chalice Beyonder, perhaps someone like herself who threaded the path of Chalice primary and Revelation auxiliary, but had ascended through a different ritual. That was why Dorothy had asked for information about Revelation. However, now it seems that Dorothy’s physical stamina is entirely that of a normal girl, ruling out the possibility of her being a Chalice Beyonder. This makes Dorothy’s path all the more intriguing."Adèle, I’ve already told you everything I needed to say, and the plan is set. There’s no need to keep using dancing as a cover. Let me go back..."
Facing Adèle, Dorothy, struggling to keep up with the rhythm, speaks breathlessly. But Adèle has no intention of letting her go so easily.
"No, no, no~ Dear Detective, the music hasn’t ended yet. As long as the music continues, so must the dance. I’ll handle the danger below the stage in a moment, but until then, let’s finish this dance together~"
Adèle continues to insist, leaving Dorothy speechless. Though she inwardly protests, Dorothy knows that on this stage, Adèle is in complete control, and there’s no way to resist her. She has no choice but to go along with Adèle’s whims and finish the dance.
For the next while, Dorothy is dragged along by Adèle, continuing to dance. Having witnessed Dorothy’s incredible ability to learn and adapt on the spot, Adèle can’t help but feel a playful urge, often deliberately guiding Dorothy into difficult or exaggerated moves, forcing her to keep up.
Though Dorothy is left gasping for breath, she has no choice but to comply, as she is no match for Adèle’s strength. Adèle dancing with Dorothy is like a little girl playing with her doll—except in this case, Dorothy is the doll.
Finally, to Dorothy’s immense relief, the music ends. The dancers on stage, along with the audience members who were pulled up, stop dancing. They bow to the audience and begin to leave the stage. Dorothy, still holding Adèle’s hand, bows to the crowd before hurriedly escaping back to her original spot.
" Huff... huff... That woman... she actually... started playing around... Huff... huff... Meeting her in person was definitely a risky move... Huff... "
Among the audience below the stage, Dorothy bends over, clutching her chest as she catches her breath. For Dorothy, being passively guided by Adèle, a Chalice Beyonder with irresistible strength, was not a particularly pleasant experience.
To Dorothy, it felt like she was a doll being manipulated by Adèle, and the movements weren’t exactly gentle. For someone used to controlling others, this experience was indeed uncomfortable.
"Hey... Dorothy, I never expected Adèle to invite you to dance with her! She’s a big star in Tivian! You actually got to dance with her... Maybe it’s because of your hair color, which you inherited from Mom."
With a mix of excitement and envy, Gregor says to Dorothy. When Adèle extended her hand, he was thrilled, but when he saw that it was his sister who was invited and not him, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed. In moments like these, he tells himself that Adèle invited Dorothy because of her unique silver hair, not because he lacked charm.
"Yeah... what a big star..."
Listening to Gregor’s words, Dorothy, still catching her breath, weakly responds while playing with her hair. At this moment, Gregor continues to ask.
"By the way, Dorothy, you danced really well up there. When did you learn to dance? At school?"
"I actually never learned... I was just following Adèle’s lead the whole time. She was guiding me, and I didn’t even know how well I was dancing."
Twirling her hair, Dorothy casually brushes off Gregor’s question. Since Gregor doesn’t know much about dancing, she can easily get away with it. Gregor, meanwhile, gazes at the stage where Adèle has temporarily left and sighs.
"Is that so... As expected of Tivian’s dance star. She can even guide someone to dance so well... Listen, Dorothy, getting to dance with Adèle is such a rare experience. With this kind of luck, I think you can brag about it to your classmates when you get back."
Gregor pats Dorothy on the shoulder, and Dorothy’s mouth twitches slightly as she mutters.
"Ah... what a lucky experience..."
As Dorothy watches the host return to the stage, she hears Nephthys’s prayer in her mind.
In this prayer, Nephthys asks Aka to relay a message to Dorothy, informing her that they have arrived outside Bishop’s Square and have pinpointed Sado’s location on the roof of a building. Kapak is ready to confront Sado, but Nephthys has stopped him for now, deciding to inform Dorothy first.
“Nephthys and the others are here already. That’s perfect. When the time comes to act, we’ll have more people. Nephthys is now a Black Earth Beyonder, which is a significant boost to our strength…” Dorothy thinks to herself. She then begins to pray in response.
"Great Aka, please inform Sister Nephthys that I appreciate her and Kapak’s timely arrival. However, now is not the time to act. Please ask them to wait. When Adèle returns to the stage, I will send the signal to begin."
Using the information channel, Dorothy relays her message to Nephthys. She then turns her attention back to the stage, where a new performance is underway, and begins to wait quietly.
"Now... we just wait for the big star to return to the stage."
…
Time passes, and the performances at Bishop’s Square continue. The stage hosts a variety of spectacular acts, and the audience’s cheers and applause rise and fall like waves. The atmosphere is lively and joyful, but amidst the laughter and excitement, there are a few silent figures.
One of them is a man dressed in a black trench coat, wearing a low-brimmed hat and gloves. His face is mostly covered by a scarf, with only his eyes slightly visible. The bit of skin that is exposed is noticeably darker than those around him.
While everyone else is immersed in the festive atmosphere, this man, wrapped tightly in his clothes, remains unmoved. He watches the performances on stage and the crowd around him, thinking to himself.
“Celebrate... celebrate your festival while you can. Only when joy is shattered does the pain become truly profound. This pain will be the price you pay.”
The man, named Kum, silently reflects amidst the crowd. His gaze, filled with both anger and unease, sweeps over the people around him. He is one of the suicide bombers planted by Sado among the audience. When the time comes, he and his two companions will detonate the bombs strapped to their bodies, delivering a shocking New Year’s surprise to these white people.
Like Sado, Kum’s tribe suffered heavy casualties in conflicts with white colonizers. His family and friends were either killed or severely injured in these clashes. Driven by a desire for revenge, he now finds himself here.
Filled with hatred for the white people around him, Kum finds their joy during the festival nauseating. On one hand, he longs to detonate the bomb immediately and blow everything to pieces. On the other hand, he feels a growing unease about the impending death that awaits him. After all, no one can remain completely unmoved in the face of death.
"There’s no need to be afraid... I will return to the Great Soul like a hero, reuniting with my tribe."
Amidst the mix of anger and anxiety, Kum mutters in his own language to calm himself. He presses his hand against his coat, feeling the cylindrical objects strapped to his waist. He suppresses his fear and steels his resolve.
Kum waits patiently among the crowd, biding his time until the appointed moment arrives. To avoid drawing suspicion, he occasionally glances at the performances on stage. To him, many of the white people’s acts are utterly boring, and in his current state of mind, he has no interest in watching them.
As Kum continues to watch the stage, the host reappears after several performances. He excitedly announces something in a language Kum doesn’t understand, and when he finishes, the crowd erupts into cheers louder than before. This unusual reaction puts Kum on alert, and he focuses his attention on the stage, observing the changes. Soon, he sees a familiar figure step onto the stage.
It is a stunningly beautiful woman. Kum recognizes her from an earlier performance, during which she had also elicited thunderous applause from the audience. Her beauty is so captivating that even Kum, a native of the New Continent with deep hatred for white people, finds himself momentarily enchanted. Her dance was the only act that had truly captured his attention earlier, and he had even hoped that she would not be caught in the explosion. When she left the stage, he had breathed a sigh of relief, but now she has returned.
In Kum’s eyes, the dancer has changed into a white dress, and this time, she dances alone. As the music begins, she starts to move.
This dance is entirely different from her previous one. While the last dance was filled with sensual movements, this one is slow and graceful, offering a fresh and captivating experience.
Dressed in a pure white gown, the dancer moves fluidly across the stage. Her dance starts slow and gradually builds in intensity, transitioning from delicate and restrained to vibrant and energetic, like a sprout growing into a mighty tree.
The dancer’s movements seem to embody the vitality of life itself. Kum is immediately drawn in, his gaze fixed on her performance. Her dance stirs something deep within him, triggering a flood of emotions and memories.
Watching Adèle’s dance, Kum recalls the lush forests of his homeland, where he once hunted and lived joyfully. He suddenly feels a deep longing for those days. If he dies here, will he never experience such happiness again?
Until now, Kum had been consumed by thoughts of his family members who had died at the hands of the colonizers. Their deaths had fueled his desire for revenge. But now, he finds himself thinking more about the family members who are still alive. If he dies here, how will they feel? Who will take care of them if he’s gone?
As he watches the dancer on stage, these thoughts grow stronger and more uncontrollable. His resolve to die for revenge begins to waver, and the instinct for survival, which had been suppressed by his thirst for vengeance, suddenly surges to the forefront. His unease turns into a frantic restlessness.
“No... I don’t want to die... I don’t want my life to end like this! There are so many things I still want to do! I don’t want to throw my life away for revenge!”
These thoughts dominate Kum’s mind. The primal instinct for survival, buried deep within every living being, rapidly takes over. His hand, which had been resting on the bomb, begins to tremble, and tears stream down his face.
"I’m sorry... Sado... I... I don’t think I can do it anymore..."
Choking back sobs, Kum mutters in Spirit Glyph as he wipes the tears from his eyes. He removes his hand from the bomb.
Driven by his newfound desire to live, Kum begins to push his way through the crowd, determined to leave. He has abandoned his mission and no longer wishes to sacrifice his life to take these strangers with him. He needs to get out of here now.
After squeezing through the crowd, Kum emerges at the edge of the square and begins to walk away quietly. His actions are observed by a crow perched on a nearby lamppost.
Among the audience in front of the stage, Dorothy, watching through the crow’s eyes, smiles faintly.
“All three suicide bombers have abandoned their mission under the influence of Adèle’s dance, which amplified their instinct for survival. The bomb threat has been neutralized.”
“Heh... As expected, those driven by hatred to become suicide bombers have fragile mental balances. A slight nudge is all it takes to tip the scales. After all, the desire to survive is the most fundamental and powerful instinct of all living beings. It cannot be erased.”
“Emotions like hatred may suppress the survival instinct temporarily, but they can never completely eliminate it. Manipulating such a powerful instinct must be second nature to Adèle.”
Watching Adèle perform her dance, which subtly guides the audience’s survival instincts, Dorothy reflects. For the average viewer, this dance has no effect, as they don’t feel their lives are in danger. But for those like Kum, who are struggling with the decision to end their own lives, the amplified survival instinct causes them to abandon their mission.
“Now that the bombers have been dealt with, it’s time to focus on the others... the spiders of the Eight-Spired Nest…”
Dorothy’s eyes scan the surroundings, and her smile grows wider.