Clank.
Clank-clank.
Boom-
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!
William distanced himself from the door that seemed on the verge of breaking apart.
He patted his chest as if to calm his startled heart, and his face twisted in dread.
“If I don’t pull myself together, I’m in danger.”
William thought to himself, glancing around.
He was searching for something that could serve as a weapon.
But what could there possibly be for defense in a hotel room, especially against those nightmare entities presumed not to be human?
Then suddenly, something popped into William’s mind.
“Come to think of it, isn’t there a Bible?”
It’s something that’s always kept in the hotel drawer.
He quickly moved and began rummaging through the drawer, successfully finding a small Bible.
The black leather-bound Bible was quite small yet felt hefty in his hand, and William felt a sense of assurance as substantial as its weight.
Holding the Bible, he shouted at the presence beyond the door, which was banging madly.
“In the name of the Lord, I command you, return the unclean to where it belongs!”
Then, as if by magic, the banging stopped.
“Did I take care of it…?”
William was overjoyed at the silence returning, yet he was dazed, unable to believe that merely uttering those words had made the existence beyond the door vanish.
Boom-!
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!
But if nightmares could vanish so easily with just a word, would they even be called nightmares?
The door shook violently again, and even his heart, which had just settled down, started to tremble.
“Damn it!”
Realizing that the Bible he held in his hands was ineffective, he hurled it onto the floor.
Cursing himself for having even held onto such ridiculous hope, even for a moment.
Flutter.
The Bible that fell to the floor couldn’t withstand the impact and opened up.
Strangely enough, instead of dense small text, there was only a singular word written on the white paper.
『 Libera 』
The letters were so large it was hard to believe they were written in the Bible.
Upon seeing this, William picked the Bible back up, believing it might give him a clue on how to defeat that something.
『 te 』
And the Bible responded to William’s hope.
As he turned the page, another word appeared.
Flip.
William continued flipping through the pages, convinced that the answer lay within this Bible.
He was extra careful so that the pages wouldn’t tear.
『 me 』
“Liberate me? Wait a moment….”
When he turned three pages, the completed phrase struck William as something oddly familiar.
He strained his mind trying to recall which language it was, and soon he remembered that it was Latin, which he had learned from a tutor when he was a child.
“Right, I think it means to ask for help….”
Asking for help?
From whom?
From what?
William looked at the completed sentence, filled with questions, and felt a shiver run down his spine.
As the chill washed over him, he tossed the Bible aside as if he had touched an insect.
Thud-!
The thrown Bible struck a hard edge, and blood began to flow from it. The paper turned bright red with the blood, and the black ink that had been forming letters started to smudge and change into new ones.
『 m 』
『 tu 』
『 t 』
The paper, now stained red, and the spreading black ink finally formed a sentence.
『 tutemet 』
『 ex 』
『 inferis. 』
The Latin sentence.
Liberate Tutemet Ex Inferis.
Its meaning was.
“Save yourself from Hell?”
It was a phrase from a horror movie that William had watched as a child while trying to impress a girl.
“Ha. Look at this?”
At this point, even the dim-witted William could realize.
He needed to brace himself.
A resolution was necessary.
William kicked the bleeding Bible with all his strength.
“It’s useless! Trying to scare me this way is pointless! Huh? You think I’d be scared?!”
Yet, still not satisfied, he began smashing anything in sight. In the process, even an antique drawer and wardrobe that seemed to be made of fine wood were shattered, and the legs of the table broke, sending the glass top shattering into pieces.
The once beautiful room had become nothing short of a haunted wreck.
“To save yourself from Hell, what kind of nonsense is that….”
William glared at the Bible.
But in the midst of his shouting, he stopped speaking, feeling a ticklish sensation in his head.
“Hmm. Wait a moment. Save yourself… this.”
Saving oneself.
Then what could be the way to escape this nightmare, from those unrecognizable entities?
“Right. It’s just a dream, I can wake up from it….”
He didn’t quite know the nature of the hostility he felt in that space.
Whether it was some lunatic’s curse or a passing ghost that was drawn in by his looks, he had no way of knowing.
But if he just escaped this nightmare, wouldn’t the attack end?
“Ugh, that old geezer will probably start lecturing again, how annoying.”
William had a way to wake from the dream.
Not through folk remedies or magic, but through a sure means of physically waking up.
The Artua Clan valued the existence of Prophet William highly.
Naturally.
A capable person bursting from the family lineage deserved respect, but he was not just any capable person; he was a prophet and had the aptitude of a summoner as well. Even though his personality was filthy, he was just barely not crossing the line and was a dutiful son fulfilling the family demand of “spreading seeds everywhere.”
Moreover, even if his prophetic abilities weren’t that great, he could still see into the future, allowing the Artua Clan to amass great wealth.
Can’t foresee a major event?
What does that matter?
A major event isn’t a concern as long as it doesn’t involve the family.
What truly matters is increasing the family’s prosperity.
In that sense, William’s abilities were perfect for accumulating wealth.
Everything he saw in his prophecies – items he carried, clothes he wore, food he ate – was valuable investment information.
One notable example was the smartphone.
During his childhood, William had foreseen an unimportant device of the distant future, describing it as a thin, rectangular communication device. The family managed that information as a high priority, eagerly awaiting the emergence of something similar. The moment rumors circulated, they made aggressive investments.
Thanks to this, the Artua Clan came to hold significant stocks in smartphone companies and companies providing parts for smartphones, amassing huge amounts of money.
The same went for everything else.
Every detail seen in his prophecies was wonderful investment information and precious revelations that fattened the family’s coffers.
That’s why the family wanted William to live as long as possible.
In great health and without any issues whatsoever.
But the problem lay in the inevitable doom that awaited a prophet, where their sense of time gets twisted and their minds crumble away, alongside William’s mental state plagued by trauma, leading him into a daily cycle of nightmares.
The people of the clan didn’t want William to come to such a horrific end, nor did they want him to suffer deterioration in his mental state.
To be precise, they didn’t want him to break down to the point where he couldn’t provide accurate prophecies.
So the Artua Clan took special measures to ensure William maintained a ‘healthy mind.’ They embedded a microchip specially designed for forced awakening into his arm, pouring in massive sums of money and technological prowess.
It was meant to prevent him from going insane from an unbearable nightmare or vision.
The usage was simple.
Generating specific brainwaves for a certain amount of time.
Once the microchip recognized the brainwaves and activated, it would all proceed smoothly from there. The relentless microchip, crafted from crazed scientists, would wake William, and once its job was done, the chip would naturally break down and be expelled through his urine.
“Ugh, I’m irritated by nagging, and I’m annoyed at having to drill another hole into my arm. Damn.”
William sulked, thinking of the lectures he’d receive from old geezers admonishing him not to mess around after using the chip and the hole he had to make to insert it.
But what could he do?
It was far better to endure a little nagging and a hole in his arm than to be in dangerous nightmares where anything could happen.
William moved to the now chaotic state of the room and closed his eyes.
Following his training, he meditated to generate brainwaves and recalled an image.
A flickering light connected with a nonsensical sequence, showing animals transforming into human forms—a bizarre vision.
Usually, such chaos would be too complicated to vividly remember, but thanks to a near-inducing level of indoctrination, William could easily bring up the image.
He felt as though his mind was being sucked into the vision, and at the same time, he could feel the wall he was leaning against becoming soft and twisting in different directions.
“I guess the dream is collapsing.”
William felt the sensation on his back and realized, thanks to the chip, that the dream would collapse, and soon he was sure he’d awaken from this shitty nightmare.
Clank.
Creeeak.
But what if something didn’t want him to wake from the dream?
The sound of the door slowly opening filled the air.
Thud.
Squish.
Swoosh.
Squish.
Swoosh.
Something emerged from the room, dragging its body along, inching closer to William and wrapping itself around him.
H—ah.
What wrapped around William was a flaccid, leather-like body that coiled around him, and it exhaled a sigh into William’s ear before whispering.
[ You are lucky. ]
The whisper felt like ice.
A sharp chill spread as if an ice-pick was piercing his eardrum, and a paralyzing cold enveloped his brain and body.
[ We shall meet again. ]
It poked William in the chest with its long finger, speaking as if the Grim Reaper was pronouncing his death.
[ Next time, you won’t be able to escape like this. ]
