"You can try."
Soren's face didn't twitch. A cold smirk tugged at his lips.
He kept the pistol in one hand and finally let the bottled-up power inside him loose. An ancient, savage demonic aura rolled out like a storm.
The air in the room turned to ice.
Dark Alessa stood in the shadows, watching him in silence.
Ever since this man had strolled into town uninvited, she had been observing him from the dark.
He was strong. Strange. Always spitting out words she didn't understand.
His style was even weirder—he'd smashed straight through every carefully planned puzzle and trap she'd set up, ignoring keys, fuses, and locked doors like they were suggestions.
And the demonic energy pouring off him… for the first time in forever, something in her frozen heart of hatred actually felt warm. Familiar. Like meeting one of her own.
She could also sense something even more terrifying lurking just outside the town, watching the whole show with amused interest.
If she tried to fight him right now…
She'd probably lose.
After weighing it for half a second, Dark Alessa flicked her hand.
Pyramid Head, already raising his sword, stepped back into the shadows without a sound.
"Deal," she said coldly. "But I have one condition."
"You take me to the church."
Flames of pure hatred danced in her empty eyes. "I want to kill every last one of those fake-ass believers myself. Not a single one left breathing."
"Happy to help."
Soren agreed like she'd asked for a ride to the store.
Why not? It was still following the script, he'd finish the trade, and he'd get front-row seats to a massacre. Win-win.
Dark Alessa saw he was serious and glanced toward a dark corner of the room.
Shadows rippled. A small figure stepped out, rubbing her eyes like she'd just woken up from a long nightmare.
"Mommy?!"
Sharon spotted her mother and ran straight into her arms.
Rose finally snapped out of the memory flood. She now understood everything—her daughter's real origin, the whole twisted history of Silent Hill.
The second she saw Sharon safe and whole, tears poured down her face. She dropped to her knees and crushed her little girl against her chest.
"Oh God! Sharon! Mommy finally found you!"
Watching the mother and daughter cling to each other, Dark Alessa's eyes flickered with something almost like envy.
Under all the rage and hatred, she was still just a little girl who had never been loved.
"Touching reunion."
Soren didn't interrupt. He simply tossed the bishop he'd been carrying the whole time at Pyramid Head's feet like a bag of garbage.
"Here. Your new toy."
At the same time, a crisp notification rang in his head.
[Ding!]
[Side Quest: Mother's Love]
[Objective: Help Rose find her daughter Sharon and keep Rose alive]
[Completed]
[Reward: 500 points credited]
Soren gave the system window a satisfied glance. Five hundred points wasn't huge, but free was free.
"AAAAAHHH!!!"
A blood-curdling scream tore through the room.
Christabella hit the floor and the explosion of pain snapped her out of her daze.
She looked up—and every drop of blood in her body froze solid.
The same witch she had personally tied to the stake all those years ago was lying right there on the burning bed. One charred eye stared straight at her, full of venomous hate that promised to peel her skin off while she was still breathing.
"N-no… NO!!!"
Christabella's mind shattered.
She dropped her head, refusing to meet that eye, babbling useless prayers while her one good hand clawed desperately at the floor, trying to drag herself toward the door.
"Sins are standing right in front of you. Why run, Christabella?"
Dark Alessa watched the woman writhing across the floor like a maggot, a cruel little smirk on her face.
How many years had she waited in hell for this moment? How many inhuman torments had she endured?
At least the long-overdue judgment had finally arrived.
And she had this intruder to thank for it.
Alessa's gaze slid back to Soren. Unlike the fake, self-righteous cultists who preached love while burning children, this man used pure, honest force to smash through everything in his way.
Strangely, that raw honesty actually made her feel… safe.
Just as Christabella's fingers reached the doorway, Pyramid Head moved.
Two huge steps and he grabbed her ankle, yanking her up by one leg like a caught rabbit.
"Let go! I'm God's chosen! I am—AAAAAHHH!!!"
Pyramid Head ignored every scream. His other hand slammed into her stomach, then he started dragging her slowly out of the room.
A moment later the hallway filled with the wet sound of fabric ripping and Christabella's soul-shredding shrieks—pure, endless despair and agony.
Soren listened for a second, suddenly remembered the exact metaphor Pyramid Head represented in the original lore, and actually shivered.
"Jesus. That's some heavy-duty taste in executions."
He shook his head and turned back to Dark Alessa. "Alright, loose ends handled. We should—"
Before he could finish, Dark Alessa dissolved into a swirling cloud of black mist and shot straight toward him.
Soren didn't dodge. He could feel she meant no harm.
The black fog poured into his body.
"Hm?"
Soren's eyebrow rose. In the original story she had chosen Rose as her vessel. This time she picked him instead?
Must be the demon blood pulling her in.
He didn't feel any pain. If anything, the dormant demonic power inside him suddenly felt more awake, more alive.
But no full awakening—just a strange new sense of control.
He could now feel the town itself. He could command some of the darkness creatures here, and they couldn't touch him.
In other words, he had partial ownership of Silent Hill as long as Alessa stayed inside him.
"Your body… is warm."
Alessa's voice echoed softly inside his head. No longer cold—almost gentle. "This same-source power… it feels nice."
"Using me as an Uber now?"
Soren felt the darkness settle inside him and just chuckled.
He looked at Rose, who was still hugging Sharon like she'd never let go, and pointed toward the door.
"Ms. Da Silva, there's gonna be one hell of a show at the church in a minute. You and the kid wanna come watch?"
"N-no… that's okay."
Rose's face had gone dead white. She shook her head hard and clutched Sharon even tighter, pure terror and refusal in her eyes. "I just want to take my daughter and get as far away from this place as possible."
"Smart choice."
Soren nodded once.
The next second, the dark power inside him surged. Before he could say another word, Rose and Sharon's bodies turned transparent and vanished from the room.