Black Swan adjusted her expression and put on a friendly smile as she watched March return to her room.
Once March had entered, Black Swan followed after her without hesitation. If they were going to have a private conversation, then the room would certainly be a better place for it, away from the prying eyes and ears of everyone else aboard the train.
'Flawless memories, here I come.'
Black Swan eagerly crossed into the Passenger Cabin and passed straight through the doorway of March's room, already imagining the conversation that was about to take place and the memories she might be able to glimpse in the process.
However, the moment she stepped inside, she found herself facing an unexpected sight.
"Miss March 7th, would you like to dance with me—"
Black Swan had barely finished half the sentence when the remaining words caught in her throat.
Her eyes widened slightly as she realized there was another March in the room. Not only that, this other March was holding an umbrella despite being indoors, as though such a strange sight were perfectly natural.
Both girls looked exactly alike at first glance, almost as though they had been copied from the same mold, but their temperaments could not have been more different. One looked rather silly and carefree, carrying her usual bright and lively air, while the other possessed an eerie, almost sinister presence that immediately made Black Swan feel uncomfortable.
Both Marches turned their eyes toward her at the same time.
"Whoa? Ms. Black Swan, don't just pop up like that! You scared the hell outta me!"
March let out a long breath, apparently relieved that Black Swan's sudden appearance had not been anything more serious.
Beside her, Evernight merely smiled.
It was a peculiar smile, and the gentle warmth that had been present in her eyes only moments earlier vanished without a trace.
Her gaze became cold and empty, while a dark-red jellyfish quietly appeared beside Black Swan and floated up and down in the air, its strange presence seeming completely at odds with its harmless appearance.
It was merely a small jellyfish, yet the pressure it gave off was enough to make Black Swan's entire body tense.
An instinctive sense of danger spread through her consciousness, accompanied by an overwhelming fear that she could not easily suppress. Every instinct she possessed was warning her that the seemingly harmless creature floating beside her was anything but harmless.
"!!!"
Black Swan's expression stiffened as she finally realized that something was seriously wrong.
In her perception, the sinister March standing before her possessed a terrifying level of power, one that made even a Memokeeper like herself instinctively wary. Judging from the aura alone, killing her would probably be as easy as crushing an insect.
'I kicked a hornet's nest... again...'
Black Swan had always possessed a fairly accurate understanding of her own limits, and that understanding was precisely what made the situation so frightening.
She knew exactly how dangerous an existence had to be before she could no longer afford to act recklessly in front of them.
It was obvious that the mysterious girl holding the umbrella was also an extremely powerful Emanator, the kind of existence who could probably crush her with nothing more than a casual gesture.
'I was wrong. I was really wrong.'
'I shouldn't have gotten curious.'
'I shouldn't have come here to mess with March 7th.'
Looking at the situation now, Black Swan had a very bad feeling that she was about to screw up again.
As a result, her earlier excitement had completely disappeared, replaced by the growing realization that she might have walked straight into a situation she had absolutely no way of controlling.
For a moment, she even considered taking out a red nose and putting it on herself, as though that might somehow make the situation less embarrassing.
'I just wanted to improve my achievement a little. What's wrong with that? Why did I have to run into someone like this?'
Even though Black Swan was already panicking internally, she was still an experienced Memokeeper, so she forcibly suppressed her fear and maintained an expression of composure, refusing to let the turmoil inside her show on her face.
Her smile remained in place, and from the outside, she still appeared as graceful and unhurried as ever.
"You know, there are only a handful of Memokeepers who can remain calm in front of me. I'm rather curious. Have you really encountered something more terrifying than me?"
Evernight suddenly spoke with a voice that carried a hint of amusement as she looked at Black Swan.
Her tone was gentle, almost conversational, yet the pressure radiating from her made it impossible for Black Swan to mistake those words for idle small talk.
One should know that Evernight had killed countless Memokeepers in the past, and the aura of power surrounding her was enough to make most Memokeepers instinctively recoil the moment they sensed it.
For creatures that lived by observing and manipulating memories, encountering something capable of directly destroying their very existence was practically the equivalent of a natural disaster.
As for why, there was a simple reason for that.
Evernight was the natural enemy of Memokeepers.
Memetic entities were capable of ignoring the laws of physics, and although the universe possessed countless methods of inflicting harm, very few of them could actually affect memetic entities since their peculiar nature allowed them to exist beyond many conventional restrictions, making them exceptionally difficult to destroy through ordinary means.
For that reason, certain factions within the Garden of Recollection had become so fearless. They traveled throughout the cosmos without restraint, acting arrogantly and committing all manner of misdeeds wherever they went.
With their unusual existence and the protection afforded by their memetic nature, there were very few beings capable of truly threatening them.
Evernight, however, possessed the ability to completely destroy memetic entities, which was why she had become the natural enemy of Memokeepers.
Yet now, Evernight found herself looking at a Memokeeper who was somehow capable of remaining calm even when standing directly before her. Despite the fear hidden beneath that composed exterior, Black Swan had not fled, nor had she lost control of herself.
For her, that fact was rather interesting.
"I just encountered one... recently..."
Black Swan muttered her answer under her breath.
Honestly, the mere thought of it made her feel irritated.
She had already encountered an existence that had given her a genuine sense of danger, and now she had somehow stumbled upon another one.
Being deliberately thrown into Lucian's Memory Zone so that she could witness his memories had already nearly gotten her killed, and now that she had discovered another incredible treasure, there just happened to be a natural enemy standing guard over it.
It was almost as though the universe itself was conspiring against her.
"Ahh... you met Lucian? Looks like he scared you pretty badly."
Evernight casually read Black Swan's memories, causing Black Swan's brows to immediately furrow. Her expression remained composed, but a trace of vigilance appeared in her eyes.
"You're... reading my memories?"
"Is that not allowed? Unfortunately, the moment you stepped into this room, you crossed my bottom line. You haven't actually done anything bad, but... you shouldn't have taken an interest in her."
As soon as Evernight finished speaking, a low hum suddenly filled the room, and the scenery surrounding Black Swan changed in an instant.
"No! Wait! I didn't mean to—"
Black Swan's expression changed completely as she immediately struggled with all her strength, but her resistance accomplished nothing. No matter how desperately she tried to pull herself free, the power surrounding her remained completely unmoved.
Her body and consciousness felt like a leaf caught in the center of a massive whirlpool, helplessly dragged along by an irresistible force.
In the blink of an eye, she was pulled into the tide of Evernight's Memory Zone, which was nothing like the beautiful sea of memories Black Swan had imagined.
Instead, she found herself standing in the middle of a blood-red battlefield filled with slaughter.
Countless corpses of Memokeepers were piled into hills as far as the eye could see, while countless miserable screams and desperate cries tore through the surrounding space and slammed directly into her consciousness.
To make matters worse, the overwhelming impressions contained within those memories were so vivid that Black Swan could almost smell the blood permeating the battlefield.
Black Swan saw Evernight walking leisurely through the corpses.
Wherever Evernight passed, the consciousness of Memokeepers was swallowed without mercy, while their memories were violently torn apart and dissolved as though they were nothing more than fragile pieces of paper.
There was no hesitation, no mercy, and not even the slightest trace of pity in her movements.
"AHH!"
Black Swan let out a painful scream as the savage memories surged into her consciousness—the sheer brutality contained within those memories assaulted her mind again and again, battering her consciousness until she felt as though it might shatter completely beneath the weight.
At this moment, she finally understood.
Evernight was basically an ancient beast of slaughter wearing human skin.
And she, Black Swan, had just made another fatal mistake, one that was even more serious than provoking Lucian.
At least Lucian was willing to reason with her. Even when he frightened her, he would still sit down and talk things over.
However, this beast had no intention of talking and simply wanted to pluck her feathers clean.
Black Swan struggled desperately, fleeing in every direction through the tide of memories, but no matter how far she ran, there was nowhere for her to escape.
No matter how hard she tried, the vast Memory Zone seemed to stretch endlessly in every direction, leaving her with no path of escape, no matter which direction she fled.
Evernight, meanwhile, did not even need to chase her.
With nothing more than a casual movement of her finger, Black Swan's clothes began disappearing one after another, as though the very concept of her attire was being stripped away by an invisible force.
"Lucian is such a lecher. He'd definitely enjoy seeing this, but too bad, he's not here."
Hearing Evernight's remark, Black Swan was scared out of her wits.
"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to offend you—"
Evernight interrupted Black Swan's plea as her finger gently lifted her chin.
In that instant, the cold touch against her skin made Black Swan feel as though she had fallen into an icy abyss. Her entire body froze, and even her desperate words became stuck in her throat.
"As soon as you became interested in her, you had to die. Even Fuli can't save you."
Before Evernight's final word had even faded, a terrifying force suddenly enveloped Black Swan's mind.
In an instant, she felt her consciousness being violently torn apart, as though her very existence were being pulled into countless pieces. Her consciousness seemed to be on the verge of being completely erased, and she knew exactly what that meant.
If her consciousness were destroyed, it would mean the complete annihilation of a memetic entity.
In the midst of that overwhelming terror, she saw her clothes being plucked out one by one. Her body was gradually devoured until nothing remained except bones, while unbearable pain, despair, and fear completely consumed her.
She was going to die.
She was really going to die.
Despair overwhelmed her, followed by an almost unbearable regret.
'Why didn't I just listen to his warning?'
'Why did I have to repeat the same mistake?'
'Is this... the end?'
Black Swan's consciousness was already beginning to fade, and just as she was about to disappear completely, a familiar voice suddenly rang out.
"...Tch, I've only been gone for a little while, and things are already this lively?"
It was Lucian's voice.
Black Swan had never imagined that his voice could sound so reassuring.
At this moment, hearing him was like seeing a light in the darkness, giving her a faint but precious hope that she might actually survive. If it were his overwhelming power, then he would surely be able to stand against Evernight.
In fact, there was no need for him to fight her at all.
As soon as his voice resounded, the terrifying force surrounding Black Swan disappeared almost instantly, and the cluster of dark-red jellyfish floating nearby also drifted away, their oppressive presence vanishing along with them.
"Hahh... Hahh..."
Black Swan collapsed onto the ground, gasping desperately for air as cold sweat covered her body, clearly almost completely drained of strength. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she struggled to calm her breathing, while the lingering terror continued to course through her consciousness.
'I'm still alive... I'm saved...'
Her consciousness had become so hazy that she could barely focus her eyes as she looked toward the figure standing ahead.
Lucian had come at some point.
He stood not far away, one hand resting casually on Evernight's head as though the terrifying scene from moments ago had never happened.
"I still got a use for this swan, so don't kill her."
Hearing his words, the terrifying aura surrounding Evernight immediately vanished before a smile appeared on her face.
However, the smile this time was no longer eerie or sinister, but a genuine smile.
"Fine. I'll spare her life for your sake."
Evernight obediently nodded, looking completely harmless, as though she had not been the one slaughtering Memokeepers moments earlier.
Seeing the scene, Black Swan was utterly stunned.
How could she not be when the one who had just declared that even 'Fuli couldn't save her' was now obediently listening to Lucian without the slightest resistance?
What did that mean?
It meant that Lucian had actually subdued her.
'Thank goodness he is protecting me. Otherwise, I'd have become a dead swan today...'
As Black Swan thought in relief, Lucian lowered his gaze toward her, who was still trembling on the floor.
A faint glimmer of appreciation immediately appeared in his eyes.
At this moment, Black Swan's clothes were in complete disarray, and a large portion of them had been plucked away, leaving them unable to properly conceal her delicate figure. Especially the brilliance of those two white mounds—they were particularly dazzling, drawing the eye almost immediately.
In Lucian's opinion, however, the sight possessed a certain artistic quality that surpassed even complete nudity.
If it were to be scored, he could give her current appearance an 8.6 out of 10.
===
[A bonus chapter for reaching 400 Power Stones]
[Support and get early access to upcoming chapters at: patreon.com/VALRRR]