The two waited until nighttime to make their move.
Each step they took was an attempt to be quiet, an attempt betrayed by the creaks that followed their movements, echoing through the long, empty hallways.
Luckily, they managed not to wake anyone and eventually made it to the door. Unlike every other room, this one was hidden. Not hidden like a secret, but hidden like a room you wouldn't find unless you were searching for it.
"I've seen this door many times, but I never even bothered to enter it."
"You know how to get in?" Pablo whispered, standing behind her.
"Yeah. All the siblings have a key to every lock in the house, except me. But I stole Bulla's key after she went to sleep." She inserted the key into the lock and turned it. "We have to be quick and quiet." She entered, and Pablo followed her inside.
Suddenly, the cold wind hit his neck once more. The room was dark and nothing could be seen, but he sensed a source of overwhelming mana inside. He found the room's lights, and once he switched them on, the sight shocked him.
The two stood on a long staircase that led down to a giant library.
The room was almost as big as the castle itself. But it wasn't what he expected. No corpses, and definitely no Magiborns. So where was the mana coming from?
"This is… just a library." He let out a quiet gasp.
"It's still better than nothing." She shrugged, and the two walked down the stairs.
Pablo grabbed one of the books and wiped the dust off it. He opened it, his heart skipping a beat.
"No fucking way…"
He stared at the pages like a deer caught in headlights. "…I can't read anything."
"Give me that." She snatched it from his hands and looked at the cover. "There is no title." She flipped through the pages. "No way…"
"…I can't read anything either." She placed the book back where it belonged.
"You're illiterate too?" This caught him off guard.
"No, dumbass, it's a language I don't know." She gave him an angry look and continued looking for more books.
No matter which book she grabbed, each was written in a strange language she had never encountered before.
"It's futile. There is nothing–" As she turned back to face him, she gasped. Her eyes widened. "Pablo!" She tackled him to the ground.
"Agh!" Surprised and confused, he yelled back. "Why did you do that–"
As he looked up, this time his heart truly froze. The phantom pain in his skin flared, the feeling of the needles returning.
The man from his dreams had his machete stuck in the bookshelf, the same sadistic grin on his face. "Bad girl," he said.
Pablo immediately got up and yanked Caitlyn away, putting distance between the man and themselves.
"Imito…" she called out, shocked. "…How are you standing?" Her voice shook.
"Imito?!" Pablo noticed the name immediately. "So I wasn't dreaming. This guy was real?!" He took a step back in fear.
Imito pulled his machete free, giggling to himself. He refused to blink, refused to break eye contact with Pablo. "Bad girl. You need to listen to your parents…" With his free hand, he started scratching his face violently.
"Caitlyn, run!" Pablo raised his fists and tried to overcome his paralyzing fear.
"I'm not going anywhere!" She stood her ground.
"And you." He raised his machete and pointed it at Pablo. "I looked for you in your bed, but you weren't there. I searched for you everywhere…" He continued giggling. "…The nights we spent together were the best time I've ever had."
"You slept with him?!" She turned towards Pablo and yelled.
"Huh?! What?! No! I was having strange dreams each night of this guy torturing me. Now I know why… he abducted me every night to experiment on me." He ran out of breath just talking about it.
"Little piggies… do not bicker while uncle is here." He took a step forward.
"Stop! You only need to kill one of us," said Pablo. The fear was somewhat replaced by resolve, though it disappeared the moment Imito took another step, making Pablo hide behind Caitlyn. "And that's her. I'm a VIP. She planned this whole thing."
"You asshole!" She protested in anger.
"I'm not going to kill you two…" The grin on his face grew bigger as he dashed forward at blinding speed and swung his machete. "…I'll just have a little bit of fun!"
"Just want to say, you're going to deserve this." She looked at Pablo. "D-Deserve what?" Before he could get his answer verbally, he got it physically.
She disappeared into a dark smoke. But not like Ayato; it was dark, charred soot. The blade went right through it and hit Pablo instead. "Ah!" He yelled out in pain as the blade struck his chest, slamming him into the shelf behind him.
"LITTLE PIGGIE! LITTLE PIGGIE! TAKE IT, LITTLE PIGGIE!" Imito continued his barrage of malicious attacks.
Pablo regenerated through it, as physical damage was something he could simply heal from. "If you want to fight, let's go!" A tendril sprouted out of his chest and pierced Imito's, sending him flying.
Thinking this attack would be fatal, Pablo exhaled in relief. "He can't survive that, right? Unless–" And the sight confirmed what he had been about to say. The hole in Imito's chest closed, and he shook violently, letting out terrifying giggles. He could sense how Imito was doing it… it all made sense now. "You're a Magiborn! You're the presence I felt when I entered!" Pablo yelled.
"Shit. The overwhelming mana I felt was comparable to Nasaki's. I can't say if it was more powerful, but… it was way scarier!" he thought to himself.
"You've hurt me… you tried to kill me!" Imito laughed. "I won't forgive you!" He dashed once more.
Suddenly, Caitlyn materialized above him, the cloud of soot merging together to form her once more.
"I thought you were just a crippled guy!" She kicked him in the head, slamming him to the ground.
"Uh-oh," Imito muttered. Even with his face buried in the concrete floor, he managed to grab her by the ankles. "Only bad girls hurt their uncles."
Meters away, Pablo grabbed her with his tendril and saved her from Imito's counterattack.
"He is a Magiborn. We'll have to break his Mana Structure!" said Pablo.
"His mana is overwhelming, mine isn't. Can you cover the room in soot so neither of us can see each other? I'll still be able to see him because of his mana," he proposed as Imito slowly approached the two.
"It'll be dirty, but sure. You got it!" She raised her hands and let out a giant cloud of soot, covering the entire room. It tired her out and left her gasping for air, but it still worked.
"I can't breathe in here properly. If I knew biology, I'd make a filter system in my throat!" He held his breath and formed a Zweihander made out of bone. He amplified his feet with mana and leaped to close the distance.
"I can't see… How dare you blind uncle!" Imito yelled in anger. He was then hit by a slash on his back, making him cry out in pain.
"I'll do whatever I want!" Caitlyn, however, was able to breathe freely and started punching and kicking Imito alongside Pablo.
Suddenly, a tendril made out of flesh struck Caitlyn, barely missing her chest, and sent her flying out of the smoke.
Right after that, Pablo was launched away as well. His back hit the wall, and he fell right next to Caitlyn.
"Why did you hit me with those tendrils? Aim more carefully! You almost killed me!"
"Huh?" He groaned in pain and looked at her in confusion. "What? I didn't use my Sorcery in there!"
Caitlyn absorbed the soot back and yelled. She was very confused too. "I saw what hit me, dumbass! I can see in there!"
"Little piggies…" Imito grinned. As the two looked up, they once again found themselves in disbelief, faced with unimaginable horror. "…Nice tricks you have there." The tendril was pulled back into Imito's chest.
"That's– no– no, that's impossible!" Pablo tried to make sense of what he was seeing, but he couldn't wrap his head around it. "He… he copied it." He breathed out in defeat and exhaustion, then got up.
"C-Copied?" She wouldn't believe it, even with the proof right in front of her.
Two bone blades appeared on each of Imito's forearms. "It just looks better on me, don't you think?"