To use magic, one had to fill their body with ether. And this ether—or the energy called Merlin's flesh—often granted human bodies a new sense.
In other words, a sixth sense. A new sense closer to intuition and instinct, transcending the five senses.
It wasn't to the extent of the common trope in games or novels where "a mage's intuition is close to prophecy," but it was still at the level of animalistic instinct. And that intuition was now ringing alarm bells like mad.
[Enemy detected. Enemy detected. Sky. Sky. Enemy detec—]
Fshhhhhh.
The reverse rangefinder attached to his coat sent a warning into Ian's head before rapidly breaking down. The bird-shaped brooch melted away, and the engraved spell scattered into the air and vanished.
Ian swore internally as he put distance between himself and the group. Their gazes naturally turned to follow him. Eyes resembling moonlight poured down like lunar rays.
'The moon.'
Thanks to having stepped back, he could observe the sky in greater detail. Ian summoned the Cycler to his vicinity, looked up at the blue sky, and sharpened his eyes. The blue full moon was reflected clearly in his black, obsidian-like pupils.
Its form was not much different. A round, sphere-like appearance. But the fact that such a full moon was floating in broad daylight was strange in itself, and its size was enormous compared to the sun. It was large enough that he could barely cover it by holding both hands up side by side.
An obvious anomaly. And one occurring beyond the sky, in space at that. Various moon-related horror stories flashed through his mind.
There were quite a few conspiracy theories and horror stories where the moon was the main subject. Since ancient times, the moon opposing the sun was the afterlife, an unknown entity, a rock threatening Earth. It was also something's egg, and a bizarre mass that devoured minds.
The horror story applied to the moon now was probably one of those, the type that attacked the mind. Or perhaps all of them.
'I'm going insane.'
Since the moon was the source of the mental attack, it was impossible for Ian to step in and destroy the source. The scale was far too different from the Monkey's Paw incident. The gap in rank between a mere primate's hand and a satellite orbiting Earth was far too extreme to be placed on the same level.
It meant handling it in a similar way to the Monkey's Paw incident was impossible. Ian let out a long breath and drew his pistol to prepare for any eventuality.
Not to shoot at the moon, but to neutralize his companions who were entranced by it.
They weren't showing any reaction other than staring yet, but they might suddenly grin and rush at him. And when that happened, Ian would pull the trigger without hesitation. It would be a lie to say he hadn't grown attached to them, but survival was more important.
'The source of the brainwashing is a nursery rhyme. Little Star.'
He observed the situation slowly. Guarding against the possibility that the Cycler might also be entranced, he gripped his grimoire tightly.
'When did the group start acting strange?'
When they heard the nursery rhyme.
'When did the headaches start?'
That too started when they heard the nursery rhyme. No, perhaps a worldwide mental derangement had been slowly applied even before that.
Ian had already observed the moon in daylight several weeks prior. If the attack had been ongoing since then, and if they had been exposed. The song might not be the source of the brainwashing. But analyzing the current situation, nothing but "song" came up as the result.
Whatever the case, there was no way they were completely unrelated.
'The moon rose when I summoned the Cycler. And the moment the moon appeared, they also lost their reason.'
Using magic couldn't have been the trigger for the brainwashing. If that were really the case, things would have gone wrong back when he used magic in the tunnel. There was something more higher-dimensional than that.
The moment he thought that, one fact flashed through Ian's mind.
Under the tunnel, moonlight obviously couldn't reach, and the song wasn't loud enough to permeate inside. However, the instant those two constraints disappeared completely, the mental attack on the group began. And in the process of the mental attack continuing, he used magic.
Not just magic, but magic of an outer god—magic that was practically a symbol.
"...You son of a bitch."
Once his thoughts reached that point, Ian couldn't help but look up at the moon and twist the corner of his mouth.
"Are you after my grimoire?"
[Weeeeeeeeee!!!]
At the same time as his utterance, an alarm erupted from the village speakers that had been playing nothing but the nursery rhyme.
A powerful noise that assaulted the ears sharply. Ian instinctively took out his lighter and suppressed the sound. But the group outside the range of the lighter was fully exposed to the alarm.
Grin.
Their faces transformed.
From expressionlessness to smiles.
From smiles to sorrow.
From sorrow to joy.
From joy to despair.
And from despair to depression.
Facial muscles, unable to endure the rapidly changing expressions, tore and bled. Bloody tears mixed with falling tears ran down their cheeks, pooled at their chins, and dripped away.
And the moment the blood drops splattered onto the asphalt road—
Thud!
They each gripped their weapons and rushed at Ian. Ian pulled the trigger without hesitation.
A bullet fired in silence shattered the shoulder of the Bureau agent standing at the front. Unable to overcome the bullet's kinetic energy, he fell backward, and Cecilia, standing right behind him, couldn't bear Bak Hoseok's weight and collapsed to the ground.
Crunch!
The back of her head was smashed. Albert trampled her mouth and charged forward with a dagger.
"Kkeueuk!"
Ian barely pulled the trigger and shattered his knee, stowed the lighter, and leaped backward.
At the same time, a siren sound piercing his ears.
And a foreign sound that interjected between them reached Ian's ears precisely.
"Ugh... what the..."
Fluent Italian. Between the siren sounds that directly assaulted the brain, Cecilia's distinct voice seeped through. Ian's head turned toward her of its own accord as she lay fallen.
"...Kkeueuk... what is this sound... ah."
But soon her face was dyed in depression again. As if her having come to her senses just now had been a lie, Cecilia drew her pistol and aimed it at Ian. Ian tried to roll aside to dodge, but confirmed that pooled rainwater grabbed his ankle, and furrowed his face.
'Gim Yul...!'
Her magic that controlled water. Just before Cecilia fired, Ian turned to the Cycler and commanded.
"Devour all water in the vicinity!"
[Pop!]
The Cycler moved. It stood right behind Ian and burst its own head with a bang.
Black seawater poured out like blood. The headless body staggered and soon collapsed with a thud.
At a glance, it looked dead. However, Ian quickly snatched the Cycler's corpse and held it up like a shield. At the same time, Cecilia pulled the trigger.
Boom!
With a loud roar, her wrist was shattered. As if unable to withstand the recoil, the pistol shot upward and struck her between the eyebrows, slightly cracking her skull. But the bullet had been properly fired.
A bullet tearing through the air. A lead mass that would obviously leave a large hole in whatever part it hit was fired precisely at the Cycler's slumped corpse.
Just before it reached it.
Crunch!
The Cycler's head sprouted anew and chewed up the flying bullet, swallowing it. A head far larger than its body swallowed the round down its throat and let out a short growl.
[Grurrr...]
A growl vibrating far lower than before. The Cycler drooled heavily between its teeth as it slowly squeezed out from inside its own corpse.
A colossus reaching 7 meters. The Cycler, with a body far larger than an ordinary crocodile, let out a low growl and stood before Ian as if to protect him. Black seawater trickled from the Cycler's abdomen.
[Grurrrrruk...!]
It let out a short roar. At that moment, all water nearby transformed into black seawater of the outer sea.
A creature whose size grew and abilities transformed each time it experienced death. If its most basic form could control and manipulate the size of prey, its current ability was to control and transform the flow of water. As a being that competed in survival through abilities rather than weight class, its power was truly overwhelming.
"......."
Water transformed into the seawater of outer space no longer obeyed Gim Yul's control. She became an ordinary civilian in an instant.
It was the intended result. Ian put a bullet in Gim Yul's knee as well, then commanded the Cycler.
"Protect me from now on. We're breaking through."
[Kruk!]
The Cycler nodded. Though it had no eyes, it sensed presence; though it had no ears, it read intent. Feeling as though it moved like a well-trained hound, Ian ran toward the fallen Cecilia. Bureau agents rushed at his side, but the Cycler harvested their heads.
Fshaaa!
Blood gushed from the severed stumps where heads had vanished. Hot blood drenched Ian thoroughly; after roughly wiping away the blood obstructing his vision, he snatched up Cecilia and hurled himself into the forest.
Crack...!
He collided with a tree in his path. The throbbing pain starting from his back made his breath catch, but Ian gritted his teeth and switched grimoires. He placed his hand on the tree and used magic.
"Kkeueuk...! Be born anew!"
Creak!
The tree's material changed. Its rough, bumpy surface transformed into something smooth, and roots wrapped around Ian, stretching straight toward the depths of the forest. His fixed body moved along with the tree.
At the considerable speed, Ian gritted his teeth and strengthened his grip on Cecilia. It was hard to hold on, but thanks to the speed, he could easily shake off pursuit. Ian waited until those chasing him despite being shot were no longer visible, stopped the tree's transformation, and carefully descended.
His legs trembled, but he suppressed them by striking his thigh with his fist. He ignored the intense pain flooding from his back. Now was not the time to complain about pain.
"Huu...."
Ian exhaled a breath mixed with pain and looked up at the sky.
A forest where the leaves had not yet grown dense. Yet even with the slowly spreading foliage, it was enough to cover the sky. Ian gazed for a moment at the surface of the moon peeking through, then turned his head at Cecilia's groan of "Ugh."
"Haak... heuu...."
She, whose forehead had been cracked and bleeding profusely, opened her eyes in a perfectly clean state without a single wound. Then she looked around as if confused before fixing her gaze on Ian.
"I... an... what... is happening—"
"Do you trust me, Cecilia?"
"...What?"
Cecilia furrowed her brow at the completely unexpected answer. But Ian gave her no opening.
"There's no time to argue. No time to explain either. So just answer. Do you trust me?"
"......."
Cecilia held her throbbing head and stared intently at Ian.
Shortly after, she nodded briefly.
That was enough. Ian took out the 'Dying Hearing' he had kept in his pocket and brought it close to her ear hole.
"Cecilia Capone."
Click.
At the same time he spoke the name, he heard something click into place in his mind. He looked straight at Cecilia and tore her ear without hesitation.
Squelch!
At the same time, Cecilia's ear was torn from her head.
"...!"
Cecilia's face twisted in terrible pain.
Hearing vanished in an instant. Not just her ears, but all organs for hearing were lost; her pupils trembled at the sensation.
But Ian gave her no time to recover from the pain. He immediately covered Cecilia's eyes with his hand and carved letters into her palm with his other hand.
[Permanent loss. Impossible to regenerate.]
Her shoulder flinched as she understood the meaning.
[It was necessary. Trust me.]
"...Heuu, heuu...."
Cecilia groaned briefly and wrapped her hand around his covering her eyes. Then she slowly opened her mouth.
"What is the situation?"
[A fucked-up situation.]
Ian answered thus and looked up at the sky.
[The moon has become a monster.]