Loading User Commands:
[X] Think about Youmu.
[X] Think about your dreams.
[X] Think about your amnesia.

---

Vincent sits with his back to the wall and stares blankly at the cold steel door. No matter how he looks at it, this room looks like some kind of prison cell. The shackles on his wrist and ankles are quite heavy and uncomfortable. Every time he moves, the chains drag loudly along the floor. And without his weapons and tools, there is no way he can escape.

He sighs loudly to himself, and a few minutes later, his mind starts to wander.

~~~

"Who are you?" asks the young girl.

Her short silver hair sways in the morning breeze as she speaks. Dressed in strange green and white foreign clothes, she stares at him coldly. The questions rings loudly in his ears, and he immediately opens his mouth to answer. Then, he stands in shock as he comes to a sudden realization.

He doesn't know who he is.

The last thing he could remember was a mission: investigate the strange incidents at an abandoned graveyard. When he arrived, he was swarmed by the dead. Forced to retreat, he sought refuge within the crypts underneath an old church. He discovered... something in a locked room: a way to escape. But the rest was a blur, and he couldn't even remember how he came upon this strange land.

"Well? Do you not understand what I am saying?" says the girl, her voice stern and cold.

A strange wisp-like thing floats in view from behind the girl. It feels like a dead spirit of some sort. Is this girl possessed?

...

The girl named Youmu slowly puts down her cup. Then, without warning, she stands up and draws her sword. She points it directly at his forehead.

"Don't move," she whispers.

"W-what the -"

Several things happen in the next second. The half-ghost steps forward, thrusting her weapon straight at his head. He barely avoids the attack with a quick side-step, and by reflex, he draws his revolver and fires it as a counterattack. She dodges the shot with ease, but the bullet manages to hit the strange wisp. Then, the girl cries out in pain and crumples down on the ground.

Kill her.

...

"All I have to do is utter the command, and this skull and the soul sealed inside will be destroyed. If someone tries to unseal the core forcefully, the soul will also collapse along with it. And as an extra precaution, the seal must be maintained by a spell command every two days to maintain stability. If I die, then there will be no way to reset the seal, and the soul will be destroyed."

"You... horrible man!" cries Youmu.

He carefully pockets the small black book that contained the details of the ritual. With the skull as the container, he now has a means to ensure this girl's cooperation.

~~~

Vincent blinks as he comes to a new realization. Everything came into place after that fateful misunderstanding. His stay at Hakugyokurou as a guest... the first duel with Youmu... and all that follows afterward - without that first event, none of it would have happened. Was it just a coincidence? Or was this some kind of conspiracy? Because even now, the only reason he is probably being kept alive is because of that seal.

He also had several visions after he started staying here. A confession of love between a human swordsman and an immortal spirit. The strange meeting with the ghost princess. The hermit swordmaster and the warning. The search and destroy mission at the village. The swordsman's departure and the immortal's secret. The vampire hunt and the tragedy. The ghouls, the dance, and the last request.

Vincent closes his eyes as he ponders the events. But no epiphany comes to mind. Only more questions. Why does he keep seeing these things? What does it all mean? Are these memories or prophecies? Did any of it really happen to him? Are these truths or lies?

Ha ha ha. This is funny. Ha ha ha.

He opens his eyes with a start. Footsteps? They seem to be getting louder as he listens. A few seconds later, he hears the steel door unlock with a loud click.

Someone seems to be approaching from outside.
[ ] "...Youmu?"
[ ] "...Yuyuko?"
[ ] "...Komachi?"
[ ] "...Chen?"
[ ] "... Who?"
[ ] Stay silent.
[ ] Custom