Alessa?
Soren narrowed his eyes and locked stares with that freezing-cold gaze cutting through the fog.
Why the hell is she here?
She sense the demon blood in my veins? Figured I was a threat and sent that armless freak out to test me?
Years back, because she was born out of wedlock, the town treated her like trash. The religious fanatics called her a witch who spat in God's face.
The bishop whipped them into a frenzy, and they dragged her to the stake.
The execution screwed up. Left a little girl covered head-to-toe in third-degree burns, screaming on a hospital bed every single day and night.
That pain fermented into pure hatred, and Dark Alessa was born.
She used the town as her blueprint and built a brand-new Silent Hill. Trapped every last sinner who survived inside this nightmare world and made them suffer forever.
Soren and Rose were standing right in the middle of it—the so-called fog world.
A sealed prison. Nobody from outside could get in. Nobody inside could ever get out.
One thing worth noting: before she completely fell into the dark, Alessa took the last scrap of goodness left in her heart, shaped it into a baby girl, and sent her to an orphanage on the outside.
That baby eventually got adopted by the Da Silva couple and named Sharon.
"What's wrong?"
Rose noticed Soren had gone quiet. She followed his stare but saw nothing but rolling fog.
"There was something watching us from the mist a second ago."
Soren looked away again, keeping Alessa's name to himself.
"What?!"
Rose's breathing hitched hard.
"Stay calm. Stick close, don't run off, and I'll keep you safe till the job's done."
He kept his voice steady.
He remembered the movie beat for beat: Rose would have to hit the school for keys, solve puzzles at the hotel, dodge monsters and random bullshit the whole way… just to reach the church and find Sharon locked up.
One long, miserable chain of despair and scares.
Wait.
Soren blinked.
Why the hell am I even thinking about the movie script?
Monsters that would rip apart normal people? Laughable.
The cultists hiding in the church? Just a bunch of regular idiots with too much faith and zero firepower.
He felt the endless demonic power humming in his blood, fingers brushing the cold grip of the pistol at his hip.
The church was the one spot every single plot thread in this town eventually funneled into.
So why not just speedrun the whole damn thing?
Advantage: one hundred percent mine.
With that settled, Soren spoke up. "We're heading straight to the church in town. All the survivors left in this place are holed up there."
"The church…?"
Hope flickered in Rose's eyes for the first time.
She grabbed his coat. "You think Sharon's there? The church might keep her safe, right?"
Soren gave her a quick glance but didn't kill her innocent little fantasy.
…
The town was dead silent. The fog had thickened until you could barely see your own hand.
Buildings on both sides were rotting, windows smashed, abandoned cars sitting crooked along the street. Snow drifted down in lazy flakes.
Rose stared at the fog-choked ghost town. "What the hell even happened here?"
Soren brushed snow off his red coat. "Big fire decades ago. Lit the coal mines under the town on fire. Still burning underground."
"Toxic gas keeps leaking up. That's why everybody bailed."
His face suddenly went stone-cold. He clamped a hand on Rose's shoulder.
Up ahead, a little girl in a blue dress stood all alone in the middle of the road, blocking their path.
"Sharon?!"
Rose spotted her and lost it.
She thrashed hard. "Let me go! That's my daughter!"
"Pipe down, ma'am."
Soren frowned and lifted her clean off the ground with one arm.
"?!"
Rose's feet kicked empty air. She dangled like a cat grabbed by the scruff, face flushed with shock and rage.
"What the hell are you doing?! Put me down! I need to get to my daughter!"
"I took the job, so I'll bring her back safe. But until then, you don't get to mess with how I work."
Soren ignored the woman flailing in his grip and marched straight toward the girl.
This "Sharon" was nothing but an illusion Alessa had cooked up to guide Rose. Zero threat. No reason to waste time detouring around it.
Alessa's empty black eyes bored into Soren as he approached. The temperature dropped like a stone. Frost started crawling across the pavement.
Soren strolled past like it was a sunny Tuesday, didn't even break stride.
When they passed shoulder-to-shoulder, he flashed her a casual smile and a little nod.
"Excuse me, kiddo."
Alessa's permanently blank face actually twitched.
In this world soaked with sin and terror, why would anyone smile at her—the demon—like she was just some neighbor's kid? That lazy, everyday grin?
She tilted her head slowly, confused for the first time in forever.
Before she could process it, Soren had already carried Rose off into the fog without looking back.
"They… left?"
Soren felt the presence vanish behind them but didn't bother setting Rose down.
Honestly? Carrying her like this was pretty convenient. Kept the plot from throwing any surprise curveballs.
He ignored her kicking, punching, and colorful threats about lawsuits, hauling her through the empty streets.
A massive broken cliff suddenly sliced right across the road. The drop below was pure white fog—no bottom in sight. Completely cut off the main route to the church.
"Road's gone?"
Soren let go.
Rose's legs buckled the second she hit the ground. She dropped to her knees, rubbed the fresh bruise on her shoulder, and crawled to the edge. Staring into the endless white void, her face crumpled.
"We can't cross this. We'll have to find another way! Maybe that building over there has—"
Soren tuned her out. He picked up a rock and hurled it into the mist.
"No barrier. No invisible wall."
He stood right at the crumbling edge, eyes narrowing.
Demon blood let him see way farther through the fog. He spotted a solid landing spot on the other side.
Little over twenty meters.
His body could clear it easy.
But with a full-grown woman as dead weight? One wrong move and they'd both paint the bottom of the ravine.
"System."
He pulled up the panel in his head.
As a practical demon hunter, Soren lived by one rule: there wasn't a single problem that couldn't be fixed by spending points.
If there was, you just hadn't spent enough.
He scrolled the shop and found exactly what he needed in seconds.
[Demon · Double Jump]
[Price: 200 points]
[Basic demon-hunter skill. After learning, you can condense demonic energy mid-air for a second platform and jump again.]
Take the long way around and explore creepy side streets?
Screw that. Paying to skip the headache was the smart move.
Besides, this quest was paying out 500 points on completion. Round it up and the double-jump was basically free.
"Buy it."
No hesitation.
[Purchase successful.]
Points deducted. A rush of burning power exploded inside his body and flooded straight into his legs. Gravity suddenly felt optional.
"Mr. Soren? Hello? You even listening?"
Rose was still muttering beside him. "We should turn back right now. I saw a little alley back there that might—"
Soren gave her a weird look. Lady had a perfectly good open road and wanted to crawl into some dark creepy alley instead?
He cut in. "Ms. Da Silva, you sensing anything weird?"
"Huh?"
"Never mind. Just keep your mouth shut tight from here on. Don't bite your tongue."
He shook his head, then suddenly hooked an arm around her waist and tossed her over his shoulder like a duffel bag.
"Wait—you're not seriously—"
Rose's eyes went wide with panic. "No! You'll kill us both! That's impossible to jump!"
"Nothing's impossible."
Soren took a few steps back. Red light flickered deep in his eyes. His long red coat snapped and cracked in the wind like a battle flag.
"Only things cowards are too scared to try."
He didn't give her time to argue. Legs coiling.
Sprint.
Accelerate.
Launch.
BOOM—
The pavement cracked under his boots as Soren shot straight toward the abyss like a crimson rocket.