'So that means... you're the Night Demon?'
The thought had struck Geno all at once. If Cili had history with Lucia going back so far, then she had to be one of the powerful Ethereals who'd crossed paths with the Night Watcher clan — the Night Demon herself.
'The Night Demon? I still prefer the name Cili.'
The corners of Cili's mouth dipped ever so slightly. It was plain to see she didn't much care for that title.
The confirmation hit Geno completely off guard. He hadn't actually expected to be standing in front of the legendary Night Demon.
'...I honestly didn't think it was real. Well, since you are the Night Demon, there's something I've been wanting to ask you.'
Geno's expression turned uncharacteristically solemn, which seemed to pique Cili's curiosity.
'Go ahead.'
'How old are you, exactly?'
THWACK.
A massive lump sprang up on Geno's head instantly. Cili had not held back even a fraction.
'Asking a lady something like that — how terribly rude. Mm, I've always wanted to say that line. That's how it goes in little lamb's memories.'
Cili rubbed her wrist idly, her expression utterly unchanged — if anything, she looked faintly excited, clearly savoring yet another piece of human behavior she'd picked up.
Geno rubbed the growing bump on his head. He felt the punishment was a bit unjust, but then again, he'd brought it on himself, so he kept his mouth shut.
'Ahem. Back to the matter at hand — you said you know something about that thing. So what exactly is it?'
He pointed at the writhing black shadow of Filth still twisting across the floor. In all his experience, he'd never once heard of ordinary Filth possessing anything like a will of its own.
And Cili gave him exactly the answer he was looking for.
'By your human reckoning, this thing is Filth. It's the power released by an entity known as the Progenitor — a force capable of manipulating the soul energy of living beings.'
'Soul energy?'
'That's right. Every living thing in this world is composed of Ether. Ether is the fundamental substance from which this world is made.'
'However, the human body is far too fragile to hold more Ether than a certain amount. The moment a human absorbs an excess of Ether energy, their body collapses — their soul dissolves back into its most basic Ether components and returns to the Ether Sea. The shell that remains, along with the soul fragments — that's us. That's the Ethereals.'
Cili laid it out for Geno piece by piece, slow and clear.
'And the Progenitor's power is the ability to draw upon this dispersed Ether energy, turning it to his own use — and through it, to access and read the memories of other living beings. The energy of the soul.'
As she spoke, her gaze drifted back down to the Filth on the floor.
'And Filth is one of the ways that power manifests.'
'That's terrifying.'
Geno couldn't help letting out a startled exclamation as Cili finished her explanation.
Going by what she'd said, the Progenitor could use this power to puppeteer any living creature that had been touched by the Filth's Corruption — turning them into his own personal marionettes.
That was absolutely horrifying.
'Don't get carried away. That thing's power barely reaches humans and whatever weak-minded Ethereals don't have two brain cells to rub together — and even those are nothing more than soul fragments, at the end of the day.'
The way Cili spoke of the Progenitor left no room for doubt: she held him in complete contempt, with a healthy dose of outright disdain.
'Besides, the fool got himself sealed away. Could there be anything more embarrassing?'
'Sealed away?'
The mention of it brought something back to Geno — a record he and Twiggy had once looked over together, documenting the Silver forces' investigation of the Laudation Society.
The Laudation Society's goal was to usher in an age of coexistence between humanity and the Hollow. And to achieve that, their primary objective was to release their lord — the Progenitor.
'That's right — sealed away. And that seal is right here inside this Hollow, which is exactly why Filth residue is absolutely everywhere in this place. It's utterly filthy.'
Cili wrinkled her nose as she said it. Her distaste was clearly sincere.
'So if we just leave all of this alone, doesn't that mean the Progenitor's seal will eventually...'
'Don't worry about it too much. After being sealed, his power is severely limited. The Filth drifting through this Hollow is nothing but residual overflow — it can't amount to anything. However...'
Cili turned to look at Geno, her gaze locking onto his face with an intensity that suggested she was searching for something.
'However, the lump inside you? That's in a completely different league from the scattered Filth out there. That particular chunk carries a fragment of the Progenitor's consciousness — which is precisely why it's been able to affect you so severely.'
It was only now that Geno finally understood what that revolting mass of Filth inside him actually was.
He'd been wondering about it. Back at Silver Base, the Filth he'd absorbed had affected him too — but never anything this serious.
And this time, that mysterious voice hadn't surfaced even once. It must have been suppressed by the Progenitor's power.
'So what do I have to do to get rid of this thing for good?'
Having some lunatic whispering in your ear inside your own head — that was genuinely maddening.
But he couldn't keep suppressing the Filth forever. A person only had so much energy; it wasn't as though he could spend every waking moment doing nothing but staring down this thing.
If things kept going like this, he was going to lose his mind.
'Hmm, well... it's complicated and it isn't...'
Cili rubbed her chin, seemingly weighing whether or not to say it outright. Her gaze kept drifting back to Geno, and behind her, that little tail swayed once more.
Geno took the hint immediately and reached out, giving Cili another pat on the head. Only then did a satisfied expression finally settle onto her face.
'Mm~ you catch on fast.'
Cili looked thoroughly pleased. Nobody could quite explain why she loved being petted so much, but even her little sheep ears had started to twitch happily.
'There are exactly two ways to deal with this thing.'
Cili held up two fingers and, in a fit of mischief, threw up a peace sign.
'Option one: from this day forward, you never enter a Hollow again. As long as you stay out of the Hollow, even the Progenitor's power can't reach you through both the seal and the Hollow's barrier.'
'That's... a bit difficult. I'm an Ethereal, when all's said and done. I can't exactly avoid the Hollow for the rest of my existence.'
Geno shook his head. As an Ethereal, he needed to return to the Hollow periodically to replenish his Ether energy.
Sure, you could buy Ether energy canisters out in the city, but that would be a staggering ongoing expense.
And in this day and age, no matter what you did, the Hollow was impossible to avoid. Telling him to stay out of Hollows for the rest of his life was basically telling him to lie down and rot.
'Then there's only one option left.'
Cili dropped her hand from her chin, then extended one finger and pointed it squarely at Geno's forehead.
'You go and take the Progenitor out. That solves everything!'
A parade of enormous question marks rose above Geno's head.
He slowly extended his own finger, pointing at his own face.
'Me. Fight the Progenitor. You're serious?'
____
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