Derpy looked as though Lewd's question had struck him harder than any weapon could have.
His red eyes remained fixed on her. The enormous white tail behind him flicked from one side to the other, then back again, betraying the confusion he was trying to hide.
"How did you see that?"
Lewd wiped at the tears floating around her face.
"I'm not sure."
The countless spheres of the Soul Seam drifted around them, carrying soft lights through the darkness.
"I don't know why that memory came to me. I only know that what I saw afterward made me angry."
Derpy's tail stopped.
Lewd's hands curled into fists.
"I saw that thing growing from the skin you threw away. I saw it wearing your face and walking toward Whisperfen."
Her dark ears lowered.
"It upset me. Seeing someone I like think of himself that way…"
Lewd paused.
Her heart pounded even though she no longer possessed a living body.
"No."
Derpy tilted his head.
Lewd forced herself to look directly into his eyes.
"Not someone I like."
The Soul Seam became strangely quiet.
"Someone I love."
Derpy's white cheeks immediately turned red.
"Lewd…"
He looked away, suddenly finding the distant spheres much easier to face than the mouse girl floating directly in front of him.
"What about Lenora?"
Lewd blinked.
"What about her?"
Derpy slowly looked back at her.
Lewd folded her arms.
Inside her mind, however, an entirely different conversation was taking place.
This is my chance.
Lenora was not here.
There was no rabbit goddess standing between them. No teacher correcting Lewd's posture. No rival wearing Derpy's clothes while pretending she had not taken them from his bag.
I can finally get ahead of her.
Lewd's eyes narrowed with determination.
I am not wasting this chance—even if I'm dead. I'm pulling out every last stop.
Derpy released a tired sigh.
"I can't have you dying on me, Lewd."
Her thoughts stopped.
"Not before I see you again in the living world."
Lewd's ears lifted.
"You want to see me again?"
"Yes, but…"
Derpy hesitated.
His red-and-purple musical horns flickered weakly beside his head. The edges of his white-wolf body were already becoming translucent.
"I hate to do this without giving you more time."
"Do what?"
Derpy leaned forward.
His lips touched Lewd's cheek.
The kiss was brief.
Soft.
Warm enough that Lewd forgot she was dead.
Her entire face turned crimson. Her ears shot straight up as her thoughts scattered in every possible direction.
Deep beneath the surface of her soul, something answered the kiss.
A thin red chain formed around an unseen part of her spirit.
It tightened once.
The link was made.
Lewd did not notice.
Derpy pulled away, his own face still burning.
"Lewd…"
She remained frozen, one hand slowly rising toward the cheek he had kissed.
"My other selves can send you back, but only under one condition."
Lewd's eyes filled with hearts.
"You kissed me."
"Lewd, please listen."
"You actually kissed me."
"Lewd."
Her tail began curling happily behind her.
Derpy tried again.
"If you return, any children you have may be born with dragon traits. They could inherit scales, horns, wings—or carry some part of my power inside them."
Lewd's mouth fell open.
"We're going to have children together?"
Derpy nearly choked.
"In a way—yes, but not in the way you're thinking!"
Lewd floated closer.
"How many?"
"That isn't what I meant."
"Would they have your eyes?"
"Lewd."
"Maybe your horns? Oh! What if one of them has my ears and your tail?"
Derpy's body flickered again.
The lights around them dimmed.
"You're not listening to the important part."
Lewd clasped her hands against her chest.
"I don't care what the conditions are. You already have me."
The red chain around her soul tightened.
The contract heard her.
The Soul Seam accepted her answer.
A crest began forming somewhere within Lewd's returning body.
"If accepting it means I get to see you again, then send me back."
Derpy tried to continue explaining.
Lewd was already imagining children.
Small mouse ears.
Tiny dragon horns.
One with Derpy's tail.
Another with musical wings.
Perhaps five.
No—Lenora might have more than five.
Lewd would need at least—
"LEWD, FOCUS!"
Derpy's shout shook the entire Soul Seam.
Every sphere trembled.
Distant chains snapped tight, and a wave of pressure rolled through the darkness with enough force to send Lewd spinning backward.
She stopped herself and stared at him.
Derpy was fading.
His legs had already disappeared. Light passed through his chest, and the musical horns beside his head were becoming transparent.
"Derpy?"
"I don't have much time."
His voice had weakened.
"If you accept the crest, my other selves can return you to your body."
Lewd's excitement finally gave way to concern.
"And if I don't?"
Derpy's expression darkened.
"Then you remain here."
Four distant silhouettes appeared behind him.
Rabbit.
Harpy.
Wolf.
Dragon.
Their eyes glowed inside the darkness.
"And those four will eat your soul."
Lewd turned pale.
"They'll what?"
"They came from me, but they are not me. They are fragments created from my broken dragon horns."
The four silhouettes leaned forward.
Their smiles became visible.
"They only showed you mercy because you travelled with me. If you remain here without accepting the crest, that mercy will not last."
Lewd slowly looked back at Derpy.
His face was nearly gone.
"Accept the crest."
His voice became little more than a fading echo.
"Return to the living world."
Lewd reached toward him.
"Derpy, wait!"
"Come find me."
Her fingers passed through his disappearing hand.
Derpy vanished.
The Soul Seam stopped.
Every sphere froze.
Lewd remained alone at its center, staring at the place where he had been.
Then the Seam restarted.
Chains groaned throughout the darkness. The floating lights resumed their endless paths, and four different presences appeared around Lewd.
Harpy Derpy descended first.
Rabbit Derpy appeared beneath her.
Wolf Derpy stepped from the darkness to her left.
Dragon Derpy emerged to her right.
This time, their expressions were different.
Hungry.
Playful.
Expectant.
The four began circling Lewd as though performing a ritual.
Rabbit Derpy spoke first:
"Your bargain is sealed, so off you go."
Harpy Derpy continued:
"You accepted the crest—this much we know."
Wolf Derpy's grin widened:
"But returning to life is never free."
Dragon Derpy lowered his enormous head until one glowing eye filled Lewd's vision.
"Your body will change—just wait and see."
The four raised their hands at once.
Lewd's contract ignited.
Red chains wrapped around her arms, legs, and waist. Light erupted beneath her, swallowing the darkness and drowning out her scream.
She felt herself falling.
Not deeper into the Seam.
Back toward life.
Lupin slid across the forest floor.
Her clawed feet tore two trenches through the earth before she caught herself against the trunk of a half-broken tree.
Little Devil was already coming after her.
Lupin barely moved aside.
A claw passed close enough to cut several strands from her hair.
She ducked beneath the next strike, blocked a third with Frost Burn, and twisted away from the fourth. Each attack came faster than the last.
"Geez!"
She launched a chain toward the canopy and pulled herself upward.
"The struggle is becoming a little too real!"
Little Devil jumped after her.
Its fingers caught the chain.
Lupin's eyes widened.
The creature pulled.
The chain went taut, ripping Lupin out of the air and dragging her directly toward it.
She released the chain a heartbeat before Little Devil's claws closed around her throat.
Lupin flipped backward and landed on a branch, panting.
"It's adapting."
Little Devil landed on another tree across from her.
Its cracked mask tilted.
"It shouldn't be adapting this quickly."
Lupin wiped blood from the corner of her mouth.
"How long has this devil been active?"
The Chaos Book floated beside her.
Number One answered inside her mind.
It's learning from you.
Lupin's smile weakened.
Everything you show it, it keeps. Consider that carefully before you show it anything else.
Little Devil crouched.
The distorted piano accompanying it changed.
One broken note became two.
Two became four.
The meaningless pounding began arranging itself into rhythm.
The mask cracked again.
The piano became less distorted.
Its notes began falling into place, forming the earliest pieces of a melody.
Lupin glanced toward the surrounding darkness.
"You hear that too, don't you?"
Yes.
Little Devil moved.
The piano moved with it.
One note.
One step.
A second note.
A second step.
Every sound matched a motion.
Every motion became more precise.
The melody accelerated.
Little Devil disappeared from its branch.
Lupin raised her arms.
Too late.
A fist struck her stomach.
The melody reached its first complete measure as Lupin shot backward.
She crashed through one tree.
Then another.
Then another.
Each trunk exploded around her until she finally struck the earth, bounced twice, and carved a crater through the forest floor.
For several seconds, Lupin did not move.
Then one trembling hand emerged from the crater.
She dragged herself upward, coughing as dirt fell from her fur-lined battle dress.
"Number One…"
I'm here.
"I don't think I can do this without going all out."
Little Devil approached through the dust.
The piano continued playing.
Clearer now.
Faster.
More confident.
Number One's response came immediately.
Do you want me to take control?
"No."
Lupin answered almost too quickly.
Little Devil attacked.
Lupin threw herself aside as its claws shattered the ground where her head had been.
She rolled, planted one foot beneath herself, and raised the Chaos Book.
"Chaos Series, hear my call!"
The book opened.
Red-and-black light burst from its pages.
"Wolf-Dragon Derpy—"
Little Devil rushed toward her.
"Weapon Number Two!"
Frost Burn melted from Lupin's hands, turning back into black liquid before being pulled into the Chaos Book.
Two new weapons emerged from its pages.
Twin red bats dropped into Lupin's waiting hands. Each one was covered in vicious pink spikes that glowed with condensed power.
Lupin caught them.
She turned one over.
The name was already there, cut into the grip where her palm would sit, in the same unasked-for script that had been waiting inside the gauntlets.
"Velara."
Lupin's ears lowered slightly.
"Number One. That's two."
Yes.
"Two weapons. Two women." She rolled the bat once in her hand. "How many are there?"
Fight.
"How many."
Roae. His voice did not rise. There is a thing behind you that eats people, and you are standing in a forest asking me about my accounting.
Lupin looked at the name a moment longer.
Then her grin came back, wider than before, because now she had two mysteries instead of one and both of them belonged to him.
"Velara—the Spiked Bats!"
She spun.
Once.
Twice.
The bats transformed her movement into a violent spiral of red-and-pink energy.
Little Devil raised an arm to block.
Lupin swung.
The resulting blast tore through the forest.
Trees bent away from the pressure. Leaves disintegrated, and the ground split beneath the path of the attack.
Little Devil was thrown backward.
One of its arms separated from its body and vanished into the mist.
Lupin stopped spinning and rested one bat against her shoulder.
"You call yourself the real one, but you couldn't even evade that?"
Don't encourage it, Number One warned.
Little Devil stared at the place where its arm had been.
Then the stump moved.
Threads of purple cloth and pale flesh unwound from the wound and began reaching for one another, stitching across the gap in uneven loops. It did not grow a new arm. It sewed one — shorter than the first, wrong at the elbow, fingers arriving out of order.
The hand flexed.
It worked.
The longer this continues, the more dangerous it becomes.
Lupin laughed.
"But I'm having so much fun!"
I told you to stall it.
"I am stalling it."
You are teaching it.
Little Devil's remaining hand dug into the earth.
For the first time since the battle began, it turned away from Lupin.
It ran.
Lupin blinked.
Then her ears snapped forward, because it was not running away from her.
It was running west.
Past the split trees. Past the crater. Toward a clearing where a red chain held a dead mouse girl and a screaming book against the grass.
"Uh-oh."
Red chains erupted from her back.
They struck three trees at once and launched her over Little Devil's head.
She landed directly in its path.
"Does someone need a time-out?"
Little Devil stopped.
Behind it, the piano kept playing. It had not lost its place once during the run.
Lupin tossed one of the Spiked Bats high into the air.
The creature looked up.
That moment of distraction was all she needed.
Lupin twisted her entire body and swung the remaining bat directly into Little Devil's face.
The impact broke its mask.
Fragments exploded through the air as Little Devil was launched across the forest, vanishing into the darkness like a ball struck beyond the edge of a stadium.
Lupin spun in three delighted circles.
"It's out of here!"
The bat she had thrown fell back toward her.
She reached up and caught it without looking.
"Look at it go!"
Both weapons began dissolving into red sparks.
"I guess you could call that…"
Lupin turned toward an audience that did not exist.
"A home run!"
She bowed.
"Thank you! Thank you!"
She waved at the empty trees.
"You're all far too kind!"
This is a bad time to celebrate.
Lupin stopped bowing.
You were asked to hold it in place for a quarter of an hour. In that quarter of an hour it has learned your rhythm, your chains, your footwork, and the fact that pain does not stop it.
Number One's voice became colder.
It also learned that you will always take the flourish over the finish. It let you hit it, Roae.
Lupin's mouth opened.
Keep your guard raised. We're only getting started.
Lupin lowered her imaginary microphone.
"What?"
The forest answered.
A piano key sounded from somewhere beyond the shattered trees.
It was not distorted.
A second note followed.
Then a third.
The melody returned with perfect clarity.
Lupin's playful smile disappeared.
Far within the mist, Little Devil's voice rose with the music.
It was no longer screaming.
It was singing.
"Yeeeeeeaaaaahhhhhhh…"
The sound rolled through Whisperfen.
Every surviving branch trembled.
The broken pieces of its mask lay scattered across the forest floor — and one by one, they began to twitch, dragging themselves through the dirt in the direction their owner had gone.
Little Devil had learned rhythm.
It had learned strategy.
Now it was learning how to sing.
Far from the ruined battlefield, the story shifted one final time.
The campfire burned low between Lenora and Crysha.
The scented vapor from Crysha's bottle still hung around them, carrying the memories Lenora had spent years trying to bury.
The distant, almost musical cry passed between the trees.
Lenora's ears twitched.
Crysha's hand moved toward her sword.
Neither of them knew what had made the sound.
Neither knew that Lewd had died.
Neither knew she was already being sent back.
For several moments, they listened.
Then the forest became quiet again.
Crysha slowly turned toward her niece.
"You said the peaceful part lasted two weeks."
Lenora looked into the fire.
Images of Garrett and Lola passed through her mind.
The locked room.
The vegetables left outside her door.
The first morning in years when she had awakened and briefly felt safe.
Crysha's voice softened.
"What happened after that?"
Lenora's hands tightened around the fabric of her dress.
She drew one slow breath.
"That…"
Her crimson eyes reflected the flames.
"…is when everything began to fall apart."