The moment the box exploded, everything seemed to stop at once.
It was as if the very air had been drained from the place. This time was different... instead of them looking at it, the pig was looking at them, its blood-red eye glowing in the vast room, ensuring they never left its sight.
Neither Osvald nor the Team Leader made a single move as they stared at the pig before them. The silence felt suffocating, and as Osvald kept his gaze fixed on it, his expression shifted again and again.
’Why? Why would he do this...!?’
He was completely out of his mind!
Looking at the pig and seeing the power emanating from its body, Osvald was certain there was simply no way for Seth to reverse the situation! The knife had most likely taken over his mind completely, and his body was shattered from the inside.
’...If he’s betting on the body swap scenario that he did before, then there’s absolutely no way!’
Switching bodies would only grant him another physical body, not a physical mind. And as Osvald stared at the pig... no, the Butcher, he knew there was no trace of consciousness left within that mind. The knife had stripped away all sense of reason, eroding whatever little rationality remained.
As things stood, unless he reversed time, there was absolutely no way for him to regain his sanity.
To put it bluntly...
He was dead!
"Crazy... He’s totally crazy."
One did not fear a rational person.
One feared the irrational, for the irrational could not be predicted.
This became painfully clear to Osvald, who suddenly directed his voice to Johnattan.
"As things stand, there’s no way that I can contain this! We’ve got no choice but to leave this place! No, shit..."
Osvald suddenly realized something else as he looked around.
They... were inside a Gate. Not just some abandoned factory, but a Gate. The only way out was to leave it.
"No..."
Osvald stared at the butcher before him, his throat tightening. There was another way...
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
The surroundings trembled, everything rattling as Osvald barely managed to keep his footing. He scarcely had time to process what was happening before an overwhelming surge of bloodlust washed over him, and without hesitation, he reached into his pocket and hurled out an item that looked like a teddy bear.
Swoosh!
The moment he tossed the item, the bear enlarged, growing five to eight times its size as the butcher moved and slashed toward it. The butcher’s movements were extremely quick, and the instant the bear expanded, it was torn in half within a second.
BANG!
"Huek!"
Osvald’s eyes widened as he felt a terrifying pain reflect back to him. Almost as if he was being torn in half himself. However, he had barely managed to keep himself from screaming as he tossed another similar bear while turning around and moving away.
Step!
The butcher didn’t give chase.
Rather...
It continued to move at its slow, steady pace, almost as if it found it beneath itself to chase him, the sound of its steps echoing across the entire room.
This was good.
The moment the Butcher had started moving, Osvald was already moving. He didn’t turn his back against the Butcher, but moved sideways, creating distance while keeping the butcher directly in his line of sight.
’For just a moment, it took its eyes away from me and focused on the bear.’
Without thinking, he retrieved another bear and tossed it out. This time, he didn’t toss it directly in front of him but tossed it to the right side. Just like in the past, the bear expanded and grew larger.
Osvald didn’t tear his gaze away from the butcher. Instead, he calmly analyzed the next sequence of events as the Butcher’s attention shifted away from him and onto the bear before slashing down.
SWOOOSH!
Its movements were incredibly fast. So fast that Osvald had barely any time to react before the bear was torn in half, and he experienced the same type of pain as his entire face paled, and he barely managed to suppress his groan.
"⎯!"
He drew in a cold breath, trying to keep his mind steady. But not long after he just barely managed to keep it together, he felt a pair of bloodthirsty eyes locked in his direction.
His very breath stopped.
But at the same time... just faintly, the corner of his lips curled.
’...His attention is back towards me. As expected, he’s lost all sense of rationality.’
Had the Butcher kept its rationality, it would’ve ignored the bear. And yet... It seemed to go straight for it. Almost as if the only thing it could think of was to cut what was ahead of it.
’No, that’s exactly what it’s thinking.’
Osvald was certain of it as his thoughts pressed on and he thought of all sorts of ways to handle the current situation.
Step! Step⎯
The calm, yet heavy echo of the steps continued to reverberate across the surroundings.
The steps were slow, slow enough for anyone to outrun, and yet... despite their pace, it felt as though he couldn’t escape them at all. As if, no matter what anyone did, no one could ever outrun them. And that feeling...
It built a growing pressure within the room.
One that made anyone feel choked up just being in.
Step!
Osvald drew another deep breath as he finally took a moment to cast a small eye and shift his attention towards the Team Leader, who seemed to have gained control of another anomaly. A darker anomaly.
’Alright. Let’s think.’
Osvald’s mind raced. Options... he didn’t have many.
The Gate had one exit. He wasn’t sure where it was, and while there was certainly one, he had a feeling that by the time they found it, it’d be a little too late.
His nodes were burning, and they could hardly contain that pig-like creature.
His mind wasn’t in a state where he could use the Reflection Buddies as he had, for it would make him unable to focus on his thoughts. The flags were broken, so he couldn’t restrain the pig. What remained? The only thing he had in consideration was the Butcher’s mindless actions. It had no real thoughts. No objectives beyond the knife’s hunger.
That was something.
’Irrational things,’ he reminded himself, ’can still be redirected.’
But... one couldn’t be too careless. The Butcher was moving slowly, but that was because its prey was in its sight. The moment one of them ran, it would run for them too. Even if he could use another Reflection Buddy, the Butcher would get rid of it in an instant, not giving them enough time to run.
His mind kept turning as he heard the sound of another step, its quiet echo bouncing across the entire room as the sense of suffocation coming from the Butcher only increased.
’It’s growing even stronger.’
Osvald’s chest grew even heavier as he silently cursed to himself. He understood that what Seth had done before was merely for show. Just before the entire ’scenario’ had started, he had likely killed off most of the anomalies created by Johnattan, the Team Leader.
This made him want to curse because he understood that the knife was still absorbing all of the blood, and the Butcher would only grow stronger.
But this... wasn’t bad in itself.
Staring at the Butcher, Osvald’s shallow breathing paused for a moment as he took notice of something important.
That faint, almost muffled crack coming from deep within its body.
’Yes, of course.’
Osvald had a sudden epiphany.
His eyes lit up as he turned his attention to the Team Leader.
"You..."
He called out quietly without making too large a movement.
"His body is breaking down. However..." Osvald glanced at the approaching Butcher and pursed his lips. "By the time we wait for the body to fully break down, it’ll be too late."
Instead, he looked upward. Though faint, he saw them... fine, miniature cracks stretching beyond the room and into the space itself.
The Gate...
It was starting to be unable to hold the power coming out of its body.
In that case⎯
"We survive until then."
He drew a cold breath, his nodes, which were already exhausted, churning even faster as he faced the Butcher.
"...Wait until the Gate shatters."