'What the hell is going on? His Regret is manifesting itself?'
Auclair took a step back meanwhile Norman covered his mouth to stop himself from throwing up. Blood from the very dead contestant had spattered onto Norman's body, especially his face.
Norman couldn't stop staring at the body as his hands trembled over his clasped mouth.
"Bro-ther…?" The Regret, Connie, stumbled on her words, as if she wasn't quite used to speaking.
Connie tilted her head at Norman's horrified reaction. Norman however, refused to acknowledge the child.
"Brother…"
Connie's words started getting clearer.
"Don't ignore her." Auclair whispered in Norman's direction. Earlier Auclair had speculated that Norman's Regret might be able to kill him, but now that it had manifested, it was a certainty.
That little girl could erase Auclair from the realm of the living, or anyone else here, if she chose to.
After Auclair's whisper, the little girl glared at him.
"Don't… interrupt us." Connie said coldly.
Auclair just shut his mouth. It was Norman's turn now, but Auclair was fairly confident in escaping the Regret if need be.
Norman was still staring at the body on the floor as blood slowly trickled past Norman's shoes. He slowly moved his trembling hands away from his mouth.
"C-Connie?"
"Yes?"
"Make amends." Auclair mouthed.
"I'm- I'm sorry!"
Connie looked at Norman and blinked slowly. Then she hugged him.
"Sorry… about what?" She smiled.
"What?" Norman stuttered.
"I just missed you!" She hugged him tighter.
"What about that night?"
"What night?" She pulled herself back and smiled.
"No… no, it doesn't matter." Norman mumbled with uncertainty.
She laughed and hugged him again.
'What?! What is happening?!' Auclair gripped his forehead as he felt a migraine coming on.
'That's not even how Regrets work! Nothing is the same! What the hell happened while I was gone! And what the hell am I forgetting?!'
"Agh!"
Auclair yelled suddenly before grabbing the nearest contestant, who was the leader of the group and smashing their head into the marble staircase.
"I-" He slammed his fist into their head causing it to explode.
"Am-" He stomped on their chest causing it to cave in.
"So-" He ripped his way into the chest and started digging around.
"Done!" He yanked out a heart and opened his jaw, swallowing it whole.
His mouth opened far wider than normal since it had long modified his body to eat hearts in one swallow. It was modeled after some snakes he saw eating large rodents. He preferred to savor his meals, but he didn't care at the moment.
Now it was everyone's turn to be petrified of another creature.
"The whole world flipped upside down it seems. It really is so annoying…" Ignoring everyone's stares, Auclair swept his hair back with his bloody hands before sighing.
"That man is scary." Connie said as she hid behind her brother.
"Oh yeah? Well you're supposed to be a manifestation of regret! Yeah sure, seeing Norman, that makes sense, but you forgiving him in two seconds goes against all logic!" Auclair snapped. "That's not even how that's supposed to happen!"
He felt like ranting much, much more, but he quickly shut his mouth.
'Calm down. Calm down. No more repeat incidents.'
The stairway went silent for a moment. He had another moment to think before he opened his mouth again.
"Fuck it. Everyone is dead, except you two." Auclair said looking towards Norman and Connie with a beyond annoyed expression.
Norman didn't even notice what Auclair had said. He was too preoccupied with remembering Auclair eating an entire human heart in little over a second and all the ramifications going along with that train of thought.
"Alright you little shits."
Auclair glared at the marksmen in the back and slightly bent his knees. He felt his muscles tighten and he sprinted forward at a remarkable speed.
"S-shoot!" Dale said with renewed vigor.
"Yeah!" Amber wholeheartedly agreed.
The wall and stairwell blew apart and launched itself at Auclair, but it only resulted in slowing him down. While Amber was charging an arrow, she shot it towards Auclair who jumped off a slab that had lifted him.
Auclair tilted his head and felt the lightning touch his cheek. It gave him a large jolt but he ignored the pain.
He sprinted the last bit on the staircase and launched himself forward. He stretched his arm out and flattened his hand, using it to pierce Amber's chest.
She coughed up a mouthful of blood as Auclair ripped out her heart. He grabbed her by the neck and threw her down the stairwell.
He ate the heart in a single gulp and turned towards the sweating Dale who was trying to rip apart the wall.
In the cathedral, Erus was watching the scene through his system.
"No, no, no!" He yelled in frustration, although Auclair couldn't hear him, "Calm down you lunatic! Wait just a little longer!"
He quickly continued inking his arm with the needle under the dim candles.
"Perhaps we should've just let the lion sleep soundly." Remis said with a chuckle outside the cathedral.
"No. If Yohr escaped without us, Auclair would have even less of a reason to keep us alive. At least now he'll hesitate before crushing our cores." Iyseuss responded calmly while sipping on some tea.
"I doubt it." Remis laughed.
"Yeah, so do I, but let's be confident in our decision."
Auclair swallowed Dale's heart and lazily wiped his bloody hands on his clothes. They were drenched in blood anyway.
"Alright… You're all good now, take a deep breath. Innnnn… Outtttt…" Auclair calmed himself down slowly with his eyes closed.
'It still works Yohr, how about that.' Auclair chuckled quietly to himself as he thought to a long past memory.
Auclair looked around to take measure of the carnage. He scratched his brow in slight embarrassment when he noticed all the torn apart bodies. Especially Dale's body, it barely even resembled a corpse.
"That's a bit…" Auclair frowned and eventually saw Norman as well as Connie who hid behind her brother.
The two were standing in the same place as before, their feet firmly rooted.
Auclair coughed a bit.
"Sorry, I lost my cool for a moment there."
The two didn't respond. In fact, they weren't doing anything; Norman didn't even blink.
'I almost feel bad for them.'
Auclair watched them for a few more seconds before making his way further upstairs. He had no obligation to keep Norman alive anymore, that Regret of his could do it now.
Just thinking about the world which had its rules warped and twisted almost made him break the railing in frustration. Instead he gritted his teeth with a smile while doing more breathing techniques.
"Brother, you should follow him." Connie mumbled with an uncomfortable expression.
"…"
"Brother?"
"Ah. I-I don't we should follow him Connie. He must be a bad man." He bent over with trembling hands and lifted his sister.
Not that long ago, he was trying to run away from her as desperately as possible, but his mind was too concerned with the much more recent events to even remember that.
"He's not bad! But I don't think he's good either." Connie said with confidence.
"That doesn't matter, lets just find somewhere to wait while the trial ends." Norman replied.
"Follow him!" Connie shrieked causing Norman to jump in fright. He looked at Connie who now had tears threatening to fall down her pale cheeks.
"Okay, okay." He quickly consoled her and agreed. Regardless of his agreement, he was going to stay as far away from Auclair as humanly possible while still following him.
"The guards said the vault was on this floor."
"Okay, break the window then."
Gwen and Vincent were hanging from the outside of the tower using Gwen's fire chain ability. They had tortured some guards to find some treasure for points.
Vincent leaned over and kicked the window, shattering it instantly. He gently kicked some of the small pieces away from the edge so they wouldn't stab themselves upon entry.
"Done?"
"Just about."
Gwen lowered the two of them and Vincent climbed into the room. He quickly helped Gwen in while looking around.
They were currently in a hallway and the guards said they'd know the room when they saw it. As for getting into the vault, they said the guard protecting it would have the key.
When Gwen landed, she helped Vincent scout the place. They slowly moved trying to avoid any guards scurrying about.
"Knowing the king, he'll be just as concerned about his other treasures getting stolen as much as his life being ended. A lot of guards will probably be sent here if there is a major disturbance."
She and Vincent had determined that before entering the tower. There was the chance it wasn't the case, but Gwen was injured so they were going to be smart instead of fast.
"Uh, sis?"
"Yeah."
"That ain't a regular guard."
Vincent pointed in a certain direction and Gwen's gaze naturally followed it. Upon seeing who her brother was referring to, she cursed.
It was a pseudo-giant, but unlike the previous giant guards, it was a giant soldier. Not only that, his armor wasn't even like the regular golden soldiers, it was instead crimson.
"You think we'll beat him?" Vincent whispered.
"I'm pretty confident that if Mr. Legs didn't surprise me I'd be able to take him and this soldier is probably weaker than him."
"Yeah? Well that's a lame excuse for getting kicked into another building considering you were trying to surprise him."
"…" Gwen's face slightly contorted.
"Your silence is deafening, yeah know?"
"Shut up and lets just go."