“The divide between man and monster was clear, it was separated by the forest and the night.”

Gift

V - Nightmare Crown Enemy clash power -2 On clash win, inflict 1 Fragile

Story Log

Log Type: Sinner Logs

Main Writer: Peril

[Lacking Data]

When we walked into the room he was inside, for the first time my blood ran cold. I knew abnormalities of his caliber were threatening, but this felt different. Normally we'd all be scared to our bones but steel ourselves and face the threat head on, but this fear I felt was something more primal. It's like we're all huddled around a fire that is slowly dying out, and we're watching those glaring eyes draw closer. It's something that wouldn't normally scare me, but that abnormality invoked such a deep dread that I nearly forgot to release my breath.

I couldn't even make out what he looked like, just a jumbled arrangement of red lines and black space. It had a face of a tiger, at least I think it did. It watched as we all readied ourselves and took out our respective weapons, watching us very carefully like a predator does to prey. After that some of those red lines separated from its “body” and formed into something solid, as if called they formed into other abnormalities. Some we faced before, some that Branch-A faced, and some we had no record on if they existed to begin with.

[Obvs. Level 1]

It's a mess fighting this thing, it's slow and lumbering like any large beast but we can't fight back. His attacks are ones that even at our weakest could beat, but that fear is making us falter. So we can't attack him directly, but we can attack the summons just fine. In fact killing the summons makes us a little bit braver, enough to face the abnormality on equal footing. So if we coordinated our defeats of the summons we can gain enough bravery to win, at least I hope so.

One thing I noticed whenever we defeat one of the summons is that the red lines return to him, and becomes less abstract. It's definitely linked to the boost in bravery I felt, it's our only way to effectively fight back.

His face, is the key.

If we ‘break’ his face it should put an end to this deep fear we've been suffering, this'll end things.

[Obvs. Level 2]

What is abstraction? To obscure information, to hide something.

Breaking the face did help as I thought, however it only enraged him. I can't help but still feel that fear from before, every attack I dodge I feel a cold gasp escape me. I feel myself despair ever so more with each direct clash, it's messing with our focus and more prone to corrosion and panic.

It doesn't make those copies as much anymore, or make ones as dangerous. However we still need to keep on our toes, abnormalities regardless of their risk are still threats.

The one thing scarier than something innately malicious is something with no malice, he acts because it is the law of nature. He is the monster in the dark, and we hold that fire that keeps things like him back.

But it doesn't stop him from staring back.