"..."
"..."
Both of us were silent, sitting on the chairs.
I looked at Sariel, while Sariel looked down.
I had heard everything he told me, even in quite a bit of detail.
Like... Dude, I thought it was just about monsters, but who knew there'd be names of angels and stuff?
Also... In some way, he unintentionally dragged Uncle Ben, Aunt May, and Harry into this.
But there was one question that puzzled me:
Why them?
According to him, the students, teachers, and staff at the school all showed up here.
That means they were targeting people from the school, including me and Harry.
But why Uncle Ben and Aunt May?
"Do you have any more questions?" Sariel, who currently looked exactly like me, asked.
"Why did it have to be Uncle Ben and Aunt May?"
"That's... easy to explain. To draw power from Gwen Stacy, there had to be sacrifices of people she knew."
"...Then why not take me?"
"Maybe... Maybe when I copied your appearance, Gabriel learned about your power through our connection, so they didn't risk taking you."
"...If they knew I was that strong, why not use me instead of Gwen?"
"Peter, I don't sense any hidden power from you at all. Not even a trace."
Huh? What do you mean? I've got an outer god right in my head!
[It means you should get some therapy, Peter. I'm not reeeaal~ pfft, Gahahaha!]
I hate you.
"So what do I do to save them?" I looked at the notebooks.
"I don't know... But the most likely way is to kill the entity that created everything in here," Sariel said, standing up.
"...You mean Gwen?"
"...Yeah, everything in here was created from her imagination. The holy books unintentionally fulfilled her thoughts and brought everything into existence. This was unexpected because..."
"Because?"
"...Only my kind can use them, unless you're a god."
"So you're saying Gwen has powers like an angel or something?"
"Not sure, it's just a theory."
Both of us put our hands on our chins, thinking.
So many mysteries still unsolved...
Each notebook contained the souls of people, including those I knew.
[Just kill Gwen already.]
"No."
"Huh?"
"Oh, no, I wasn't talking to you."
[What do you want then? If your girlfriend dies, just find a new one. Like me, for example... Wink wink?]
"Gross."
"Huh???"
"Sorry, there's a voice in my head, like... Moon Knight? You know him?"
"Ohhh... How's he doing?"
What do you mean? I haven't met him, I only know about him through the memories the outer god gave me.
[Absorbing your tragic memories must've made him think they were real. We need to fix this glitch!]
"How do we fix it?"
[This room can't hold both of us.]
"Huh?"
[Don't get it? Kill him.]
"You're the worst person I could ever listen to."
Slap slap
"Oh no, we got so caught up talking that we didn't notice Baldi's coming!" Sariel said, worried.
"Wait... How many minutes did it take you to tell me all that?"
"Um... 5 minutes?" (Dude, 5 minutes and Baldi still hasn't shown up?)
"...Ohhh shit."
[Only 4 minutes left before Tony levels this school.]
"Sar- ahh! Your name's too hard to remember, I'm calling you Ben!" Peter, sweating, turned to ask.
"Huh? Ben?" Sariel, now called Ben, looked confused.
"Yeah! Do you know where the last notebook is?!"
"Here." He pulled out a notebook from nowhere and held it in front of me.
"...Dude, if you had it, why didn't you say so?"
"You didn't ask."
Speechless, I grabbed the seventh notebook.
The moment I took it, everything started shaking slightly.
A nearby speaker blared Baldi's voice:
"CONGRATULATIONS! You found all 7 notebooks! Now all you need to do is..."
"GET OUT OF HERE WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!!!!!!!!"
Ouch, my ears.
Laughter echoed, and both of us panicked.
"Alright! Let's get out of here and figure out how to save everyone later!"
Both of us opened the door and saw Baldi approaching, slapping his ruler with terrifying speed.
"Quick! Use the BSoda!" Ben shouted.
"BSoda??" I asked, confused, pulling out the BSoda.
"Open it!"
As soon as I opened the BSoda, a stream of liquid shot out, pushing Baldi back, leaving me stunned.
"I've been in here long enough to know how some things work," Ben said, leading me forward.
We reached the Exit door, but it warped and vanished.
"Oh, great."
Slap slap
"Do you have anything in your pockets?!" Ben asked.
"I've got this chocolate bar."
"Wow..."
Baldi was coming again, forcing Ben to act. He raised his hand, and I recognized the move.
Ben shot webbing, sealing Baldi's path.
"I can only use it a few times. I'm almost out of energy to maintain your form," Ben said, wiping sweat from his brow.
"Why not revert to your original form to save strength?"
"No way... Gwen altered my original form. If I revert, I'll lose my sanity instantly."
I understood and followed Ben to another area.
"I wanna play with someone!" While running, we saw Playtime approaching.
"Careful, Peter, that one's annoying—"
"GET OUT!"
I kicked Playtime hard, sending it crashing into the wall, shattering like glass.
"...Pretty efficient."
"No bullying in the halls."
Hearing that familiar voice, I turned to see the Principal charging at us.
"I'll handle this!"
Ben stepped forward, shooting webs to bind the Principal, stopping him in his tracks.
We kept running, spotting a new Exit door, only for it to vanish again.
"What kind of messed-up game did Gwen come up with?!"
We ran on, the sound of Baldi's ruler slapping getting closer.
"That fast?!"
We saw Baldi chasing us, and he was catching up quick!
"Give me half the chocolate!" Ben said. I broke it in two.
Ben ate his piece, and his legs suddenly moved at high speed.
"What?!"
"Eat it, Peter! Or he'll catch us!"
I ate mine, and instantly, my fatigue vanished. I felt better than ever!
"Woo!" I sprinted, even overtaking Ben.
We reached the cafeteria and saw another Exit door, which, of course, disappeared.
Ben grabbed a BSoda and sprayed Baldi, pushing him back.
"A bit safer now!" Ben grinned at me.
But then, a wall blocked our path.
We looked up and saw who it was.
"Give me something g r e e e e e e a t..."
It was that damn Bully.
"Got anything left?" I asked.
"Nope, we're out."
"Seriously?! So this guy's just gonna block us until we give him something?!"
"What else?"
Baldi was closing in, making us panic.
We punched and kicked the Bully, but he wouldn't budge.
"GODDAMNIT!" I collapsed, my hands aching.
Time was running out... We were about to die...
I had to do something...
Sigh
'Ughhh, Nyarlathotep, help... Help me.'
[What's that? I didn't hear you~]
'Help me...'
[Louder, I'm old, I can't hear a thing!]
'HELP ME!!'
[Nah, not like that. You've gotta say... Nya-chan, daisuki desu~]
"..."
I didn't want to say it. It's so cringe it hurts!
But... I was out of options!
'N-Nya... Nya-chan, dai... daisuki desu.'
[Say it out loud, not just to me. It's boring otherwise!]
I hate this jerk.
"Peter! Baldi's almost here! We've gotta run another way!" Ben shouted as Baldi charged at us.
[Say it, say it, say it, say it!]
"Grrr...!" I gritted my teeth, my face burning with embarrassment.
Just as Baldi was about to reach us, I screamed at the top of my lungs:
"NYA-CHAN, DAISUKI DESU!!!"
At that moment, a cloud of dark smoke erupted from beneath my feet, enveloping me and spreading everywhere.
The Bully was blasted back, smashing into the wall and shattering like glass.
Baldi was the same, flying off like a rock kicked away.
Ben's eyes widened at what just happened.
"H-How did you do that?!" Ben looked at me.
Only to see me lying on the ground, hands covering my face.
"I want to die..."
[HE SAID IT! PETER SAID IT! WOOOOOHOOOOO! PETER SAID THE LINE!! GAHAHAHAHA!!]
"DAMN YOU, OUTER GOD! SHUT UP!!!!"