Rain - Night.

A rainy night.

A common word, a common weather, a word that could almost be called a synonym for Nostramo.

Khalil opened his eyes.

No, he was not asleep.

In fact, the peace and quiet of sleep had been far from him for a long time, and unlike normal people, the sight he saw when he closed his eyes wasn't that of peaceful, brooding blackness.

He would see many things, but not peace.

Sitting up, Kalil's expression was slightly dazed, the soreness of his muscles and the aching of his bones far from his mind, but he still took a few deep breaths to calm his mind.

It had almost become a habit for him, and besides, he needed to be calm enough to deal with whatever might happen next.

The nobles wouldn't take kindly to that, and Kalil knew that better than anyone.

"It's noisy out there."

Said the ghost in the corner.

He crouched down on the ground and gently poked at a plank he'd picked up from the trash with the index finger of his right hand; his nails could be less sharp when he wasn't exerting himself.

But after that, it's hard to say.

At that moment, a neon sign happened to come in through the window, beating its noisy light into the room.

Khalil could clearly see the Spectre's dirty, stuck-together black hair strewn across his pale forehead, looking awful.

He frowned.

"Yes?"

"Yes......It's been a strange night, Khalil."

The Spectre looked up and blinked, "I went to Seventeen to observe, and Scarlet Finale's quarters have been taken over by another group....They didn't fight for it for many days like they used to, it's so strange.".

"Seventeen?" asked Kalil.

He didn't bother to focus on the crucial information the ghost had provided for the moment, but instead turned his head and asked about another small, seemingly unimportant matter.

"The seventeenth gargoyle......"The ghost lowered his head and replied in a low voice, "I like it."

"Ah, so you named it again......Which bit?"

"Huh?"

"What do you like about it?"

Hesitantly, the Spectre raised his head again, grabbing the board and shaking it twice in his hands before answering Karil's question.

"It has a flat surface?"

"Answer in the affirmative, Spectre."Karil smiled slightly."One should be firm when expressing one's likes or dislikes."

"It has a flat surface."The Spectre straightened his back, so to speak.Even his voice was louder.

"And?"

"...it's new...it's new, Khalil."

Spectre smiled; he wasn't quite used to the expression yet, so it was stiff.But it was already an improvement.

"It's new," the Spectre repeated."I like it."

"So you like the new Gargoyles better?"

"No, not really."The Spectre shook his head, still not putting down the board in his hand."I found numbers eighteen and nineteen, but I still like number seventeen the best."

"Why?"

"Because......"

The Spectre's voice ended there, and he looked at Kalil blankly, not knowing how to proceed.

What an impoverished power of expression.

You rattled off twenty-three different ways to cook rats on the way back from bringing me here, no matter how much I wished you'd shut up, and now you couldn't think of a third reason why you liked the seventeenth gargoyle.

Looking at the ghost, two thoughts flashed through Karil's mind.

'Crippled mind' and -

"Do you have any memory of the past, Spectre?" asked Kalil.

"Huh?"

"The past, your past."

The apparition answered Karil's question with an expression of confusion within confusion.

Sighing softly, Karil had to repeat his question and add descriptions.

He'd come to the realization that when talking to a Spectre, it was better not to use metaphors or to deliberately limit your words to only half of what you were saying.

"Where were you before you met me-or rather, before you went into that rat-filled, very warm, mud-filled pit?"

"......"

The ghost didn't answer right away.He frowned and began to think.Khalil didn't rush him; he could see the effort in the ghost's face.

......Of course, it would be best if the ghost could tell a thing or two.

Khalil could figure out one thing even with his toes - there was absolutely no way that the ghost could be a naturally born human or creature.

"I......"

"Hmm?"

"Fire....And I'm landing."

The Spectre whispered, looking nothing like the naive monster Karil knew him to be now.

His body was trembling, as was his face, and the muscles under his skin were trembling incessantly, like an epileptic seizure, and the Spectre himself didn't notice it.

Or rather, he noticed it but couldn't stop it.

Kahlil furrowed his brow and clenched his teeth; he had realized something and was ready for it, and frankly, he already regretted asking the question.

In fact, it was very regrettable.

"Twenty......"The apparition continued in agony, his voice trembling.

At that moment, something began to stir in his dark eyes, as if a rotting corpse swallowed by a swamp was reluctantly trying to see the light of day.

Khalil clenched his fists as a sense of foreboding began to rise within him.

He tensed his muscles and spoke in a low voice, "Stop, Spectre.

"......Destiny!Destiny!"

The Spectre growled shrilly, and there were bruises on its neck.

Then he screamed and fell backwards.

"No! No! I don't belong there! I don't want to go back to the darkness!"

Screaming, the Spectre fell heavily to the ground, its dark eyes still staring up at the ceiling of the shelter, its limbs convulsing in agony.

Karil's preparations had worked, and he was approaching the Spectre the moment it hit the ground, his right hand had even grabbed one of the Spectre's hands, and he was about to spring into action to pull it up - and yet, at that very moment, Karil was struck by lightning.

There was a sound in his ears.

Wait, was that really a sound?

Or was it just his own imagination?In the midst of the shrill noise and horrible whispers that pierced through the curtain, Karil let go of his hand in agony, and there was an endless numbness and agony that came from the skin where he was in contact with the ghost.

The wraith was still screaming, and he......

Nope.

Shuddering, Khalil exhaled a puff of icy air, a senile blue light flashing in his eyes - and then, in a chill of pitiless indifference and icy coldness, he perceived.

Them.

Something from another world, another dimension.

They hammered at his insides with superhuman imaginations, with the force of a crumbling building, trying to unearth the truths hidden deep within the heart of Karyl Lohal, son of a lost noble of Nostramo.

Filled with malice, they whistled shrilly and pierced Karyl's heart with tiny, poisoned blades.

They want his past, his stories, his desires......They made promises before they knew everything, from worldly wealth to endless power, and even showed him Nostramo in a new light.

But......There were no Karyl Lohals here.

"Get out," the ghost said shakily but firmly. "I have nothing to give you, I have no desire to drive you......".

The ghost reached out his right hand and quickly grabbed the apparition.

"Roll! Roll!" he growled the command, the blue light in his eyes shining so brightly for the first time. "Get away from him!"

-----------------

"Karyl? Karyl? Wake up!"

The phantom's panicked scream made Karyl's eyes open tiredly, he tried to speak, but his dry, glued lips prevented him from doing so.

......I don't even have the strength for that? he thought tearfully.

"Karyl?!"

Trembling, trembling, trembling - and then, trembling, the Spectre picked him up and set him down on the battered chair that had been retrieved, moving gently and carefully.

Khalil saw the Spectre fanning the rotten plank, his lips parted, his eyes wide and his face paler than any on Nostramo.

"Don't," Khalil said reluctantly.

"You're alive!"

Yes, I'm alive, but if you scream a few more times, I might die....I really will die.

Karil looked weakly at the Spectre, who had unexpectedly evolved like never before.

He understood Karil's meaning with his eyes alone, and then the Spectre immediately calmed down, gripping the legs of his chair and not speaking.

Of course, that couldn't have lasted long.

After a moment of silence, the Spectre spoke cautiously.

"Are you... are you all right, Karil?"

Karil said with difficulty.

The Spectre jumped to his feet, kicked open the door with a speed that would have been impossible for a normal human to match, and ran out - Karil knew what he was after; there was a small rainwater filter at the top of the shelter.

Three seconds later, the Spectre came scurrying back, pulled a tin cup with a missing mouth out of the corner of his robe, and put it in Karil's mouth in slow motion.

Apparently, he hadn't forgotten that it was raining outside.

......

......

"Are you okay?" asked Spectre carefully.

"Better - and thanks for getting me water, Spectre," Kalil said. "And I'm sorry I asked you that question."

The ghost pursed his lips in silence and lowered his head.

"Raise your head," Khalil said softly."Don't act like you've made a mistake....You've done well enough."

The Spectre looked up at him blankly, not understanding what the hell he was talking about.

Karil just smiled slightly.

You're doing well enough if you keep hearing things like that...

He sighed, "But I still have something to tell you - keep your head up."

"Oh."

"In the future, if you're on a solo mission and you get the same feeling as you just did....................................................................""Whatever you're doing, come to me immediately," Kalil said slowly, "Whatever you're doing.

The Spectre froze slightly, and then his expression became happy at a speed visible to the naked eye."Your countdown isn't going to zero?!"

"....Is it raining outside?"

Kahlil turned his head to the open door and asked the question, even though he could clearly see the truth of the question with his own eyes, even without closing them.

"Huh?"

"Is it raining outside, Spectre?"

"It's raining, Khalil - won't your countdown go to zero?"

"......Is it raining hard out there?"

"Not too bad, but is your countdown going to zero?"

"......"

It's also raining in Nostramo tonight, but not too much.