August felt shivers down his spine that instantly alerted him to their presence.
It wasn't unfamiliar to him. He had been in the presence of these beings many times before.
"Don't look into their eyes!"
August shouted before he could fully turn around.
Valerie was startled and turned to look at him, but it was too late for Melania.
She saw them first. The first thing she saw was their eyes.
In front of the other two, her body slowly changed, becoming statuesque.
No, rather, she was actually turned into a statue.
"Tch!" August clicked his tongue.
"What are those things?!" Valerie asked, panic in her voice.
"Furies," August replied.
They were ghostly beings with the power to manipulate minds.
"Melania was caught in their spell. She'll be stuck in that stone state until she finds a way to break it from the inside."
"We can't help?"
"We can't. As far as I know, if we try to break her out of the stone, she'll be left unconscious forever."
It was an assumption, really. August didn't know much about the Furies outside what he'd experienced himself.
But, if there was one thing Damien warned him about, it was trying to interfere in a Fury's trial.
"What about the Furies? Can we get rid of them?" Valerie asked, looking at the rest of the situation.
August nodded.
"That's not difficult at all. They're undead. Just splash them with some vitality."
Valerie nodded and immediately moved towards the five ghostly beings that were slowly making their way through the cavern.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})None of them actively attacked. They seemed docile unless one happened to meet their eyes.
Still, Valerie did more than just splash them. She barraged them with as much vitality as she possibly could and made sure they were destroyed.
Meanwhile, August approached Melania with a sigh.
'I'm not really worried, since I've been through this before.'
If anything, the Furies were more of a boon for Melania than anything else. The problem was more in the fact that she'd been caught without knowing anything.
'It's going to be hard for her to find a way out, but…I guess I have to believe in her.'
"Has she really turned into stone?"
Valerie had joined him next to Melania while he was in his thoughts. She, who now had assurance of her safety, curiously circled her frozen new acquaintance.
"I don't know either. I've never been on the outside watching this happen. But, usually when I escape, it feels like coming out of a cocoon," August answered.
He was somewhat curious as well, but he was a bit confused about what they were supposed to do.
"What if I–"
Valerie suddenly reached out to touch Melania's statue.
And, the second she made contact…
'There's no way, right?'
As it turned out, touching someone who had been affected by a Fury would cause one to fall under the same spell.
August had never faced Furies with other people before. Now that he had, he was left as the only one unaffected.
'Hmm…'
The problem was that he couldn't do anything to help them. The Furies were unique beings with unique powers. They forced people to face themselves, and only if they could personally find success could they ever dream of escape.
'With this situation, the strangeness of today's game has become more understandable.'
With August's personality, he never would've touched Melania directly unless he had some sort of assurance.
Valerie, on the other hand, was recklessly curious. She was pretty much guaranteed to do something foolish once she felt safer in the situation.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})'These tests were designed for the two of them.'
August was used to the game. He didn't need to face the kinds of trials that Furies could present.
Plus, in the current situation, unless he consciously decided to join them under the Furies' spell, there was no way for him to be involved in it.
'Then, there must be someone else for me.'
While Valerie and Melania were being tested by Damien, August was meant to focus on the game.
They weren't just taking trials, after all.
Everything they experienced was a clue. All of those clues, if properly combined, could give August the answer he was looking for.
There was definitely another trial waiting somewhere. The clues leading to it could likely be found in the worlds that had been created in the two girls' minds.
However…
'I'm supposed to be using my brain.'
He never forgot the original purpose of the game. It was his job to read Damien and determine his location without overusing the clues he was provided.
'I have to know his mind.'
He had to remove the lens of their father-son relationship and look at him as a Supreme named Damien Void, an opponent that he needed to dissect.
'He's arrogant on purpose. He is the type to prepare for any situation while leaving holes intentionally for his enemies to exploit.'
In this situation, those holes were just for the fun of the game, but August was properly reading the character within Damien's actions to discern his thought process.
'He is intentionally confusing us, but maybe there's a simple solution hidden within the madness.'
There was a big chance that Damien wasn't as deeply hidden as they expected.
There was a possibility that he was, figuratively, right around the corner all along.
'It's my job to figure out which corner.'
Before the girls returned to reality, he was going to find his father.
August suddenly thought of something Damien occasionally said.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})'I heard him say it before. I don't really get it, but it sounds nice.'
A grin spread across his lips as his eyes scanned the cavern walls.
'Let's speedrun this thing.'
His grin matched the one Damien had while watching him.
This competition between father and son…
…was it going to come to an end soon?
Was August going to exceed Damien's expectations? Or would he fail and be forced to try again?
Whether it be father or son, both were more than happy to play until they found out.
However long it took, however arduous it was, they would embark on the path together until they achieved the results they desired.
And eventually, their efforts would pay off.
In August's case…
Well, that was a story for another time.
***
There were different things that Damien wanted to test in Valerie and Melania.
With Melania's circumstances, Damien's curiosity leaned more towards her desire for personal growth. If she could impress him with her performance, then she would definitely be rewarded.
Valerie was a different story.
She came from the Revell Clan on Alcharist's orders. Damien could sense that she had a good soul, but her reckless curiosity was a danger to both her and her friends.
Obviously, as she continued to live her life, she would learn to fix these habits.
Obviously, right?
One would believe so, but depending on the kind of person Valerie was, a different outcome could present itself.
If she didn't learn from her mistakes and kept repeating them, she would end up killing everyone and everything around her.
She was young, so reckless curiosity wasn't a sin.
But, if she couldn't show the character to learn, to adapt, and to mature…
Then she didn't deserve a place anywhere near someone like August.
