Axel watched everything play from start to finish, unable to even look away. No, he tried to, but it felt almost as if his neck was frozen stiff, unable to even tilt to the side.

Each passing second, each moan that echoed, he could feel something within him breaking. Something within him "dying."

After the playback ended, he just stood there, as if petrified.

Unable to take a step forward, or back.

As he stood there, floating in the emptiness, standing on top of nothing but a single, small floating piece of land... something began to change.

Darkness began to squirm from below. The same darkness that had swallowed the replica of his home earlier. It was slowly growing, trying to consume everything within its path. And, of course, that included Axel too.

After a few moments, the darkness was already at his feet, slowly climbing up his pants, swallowing his shoes into squirming, pitch-black shadow. Slowly crawling up his leg, and going even higher.

"..."

Axel didn’t move.

He could see what was going on, but his mind refused to make a decision—almost like his thinking had come to a halt. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

The earlier playback had been too much of a shock. Whatever "hope" that remained in his heart—however faint—had been dispersed away mercilessly. The faint hope he wasn’t even daring to admit to himself: that his past wife hadn’t really left him, that she’d had other circumstances.

However, after what he just watched, everything felt so foolish now.

She was his first love, his first wife, one that he could barely kiss. And now, learning that she had been laid by another man long before he ever knew—that his feelings had been one-sided—he felt so stupid.

’I...’

His eyes were empty, his thoughts barely connecting.

He just watched as the blob-like darkness slowly swallowed his body from the feet up. Now reaching his waist.

"Husband...!"

"Sir Axel...!"

"Duke Axel!"

While he was wallowing in "pain" and "self-loathe," three voices called out to him. Hearing them, a glint of light appeared in Axel’s eyes. An ember of will returned to his gaze.

Slowly, the "fog" in his mind began to clear.

However, it wasn’t enough for him to snap out of his trance just yet.

It was just barely enough for him to realize the danger he was in—causing him to quickly cast a Holy Arrow into the space between his feet.

BAM!

Instantly, the dark blob dispersed, splashing like black, used oil.

Axel looked around, remembering he was still in the middle of the dark space. Without delay, he dodged the strands of darkness that worked like tentacles, trying to bind him down once more.

"Ugh...!"

He couldn’t use his mana all too well in this space, so Overdrive was out of the question.

But he could still rely on his Mana Arrows.

Using overpowered Holy Arrows, he kept firing at the black blob chasing after him from behind and below—now looking truly alive, moving with clear will. However, no matter how many times he blew them apart, they just gathered again and continued chasing him as if nothing happened.

No damage dealt.

"Husband! Run towards the light!"

Ria’s voice echoed loudly, reaching Axel’s ears like a lifeline. As if guided by it, he raised his head to look ahead—and saw a small white dot in the distance.

A path, glowing as if leading somewhere bright.

"Kugh...!"

But the next moment, the darkness below caught up. No—it cut him off entirely. Tentacles made of pure darkness stretched forward, coiling around Axel’s legs, arms, and waist. As if refusing to let him go.

"Get... off...!"

He shrugged them off, struggled, but the sheer number of tentacles overwhelmed him shortly. Even his Mana Arrows could barely clear the constraints.

There was no way he could break free alone.

"Son, stay still!"

"...!"

Queen Wisteria’s voice rang out next, and Axel stiffened by reflex. He held still—watching as something like white needles appeared, striking the tentacles around him and the darkness blanketing the space.

KRAAAAGH!

A strange roar tore through the void as the hold over Axel loosened, and he wrenched himself free.

Without delay, he jumped to his feet and ran—heading in one direction. Toward the light, toward the voices. Toward Ria, Nina, and Queen Wisteria.

It was a short distance. Barely a few hundred meters. Yet no matter how fast Axel ran, he couldn’t close the gap in one go—as if some law in this place only permitted him to move a fixed distance every second, dragging him back.

Frustration piled up as he pushed harder, eyes cutting back toward the squirming darkness accelerating behind him. Wisteria’s attack had only surprised it. Now it was working to catch up again, and fast.

"...Fuck!"

By reflex, Axel reached for the system panel. Nothing appeared. Not even the shop responded.

[Damn it, Contractor. We’re on a vacation, and you’ve stuck your head in the wrong hole!] [You’re like a walking troublemaking machine. Always dragging trouble wherever you go... Well, I knew it beforehand, anyway.]

"Huh?!"

Two figures suddenly appeared before him—like warriors stepping up to hold the line.

A man with brown eyes and a fanged smile, wearing an expression more fitting on a boy than a grown man. About Axel’s height, dressed in a black tuxedo with a plain red necktie, white inner shirt, and a black top hat. Give him a staff, and he’d be the very image of a wily magician mid-performance.

Beside him stood a beauty with a catlike look—narrow, pointy bluish-black eyes, long lashes, a pointed nose, and a pale complexion. But what caught Axel’s eye most was her hair: long, wavy, waist-length, split cleanly down the middle—silvery white on the right, pitch black on the left.

The two floated quietly, their backs to Axel as he ran.

"You two..."

Even with his mind still half-buried in shadows, he recognized their voices. But there was no time to linger.

"GO!"

The man in the magician-like attire shouted, sweeping one hand sideways.

The catlike woman beside him raised both hands—flaming balls of fire blooming above her palms, burning white-hot.

Axel didn’t look back. He faced forward, and ran.

Each step, the light grew closer.

Voices clearer.

Then, finally...

"Husband...!"

A dainty hand—trembling anxiously—grabbed him, pulling him into safety.