Malin felt the quiver in the smile of the girl before him, and ultimately, he agreed to Faye’s request to share the Spell Formation. When she gained his vision, Malin patted the armrest, "Follow me, and let’s visit this old friend."
Having said that, Malin continued forward, ascending the steps.
What has happened to the world, Malin? Everything has changed.
With each step upward, a whisper rose again, and Malin didn’t know how to explain.
I should tell her that you have already died and that I’ve arrived in another world. Now, you are nothing more than a distorted illusion stolen from my mind by a Magic Carpet scroll, a vestige with no past, a piece of time from the past that doesn’t move.
It will eventually become blurred by time, it will be... forgotten.
You have already given me the answer. So that’s how it is; I am just a piece of memory in your heart.
This host possessed Spiritual Energy that was beyond Malin’s expectations. Her sigh eventually turned into a real voice, just as the Malin climbing to the second floor saw her.
She had fully taken the form of an Alien, standard in appearance, standard in limbs, standard in tail—what Malin had imagined before was all just in his mind.
There was no meeting under the setting sun, no girl standing at the window gazing at me, nor the last smile in memory.
All that remained was a monster possessing her memories.
"You’ve come." The Alien’s voice sounded strange; perhaps because its throat was not made for such sounds. After a word or two, it gave up. This Alien mother crouched down, its back to the sunlight.
I feel as though I had a long dream, and when I awoke, I found myself turned into a monster... It’s the painting in the basement that gave me this new life, isn’t it.
"Yes, if I’m not mistaken, it stole the memories about you and your shell from my mind, then combined you both... You are just a pathetic Frankenstein’s creation, a past without a future. I don’t even want to mention your name because you are not her," Malin said in one breath, looking at the monster, "Let me Purify you. Your existence is a desecration of life."
Why? I have all her memories! I am her! Don’t you love her? Then try to love me!
The mother screeched as she stood up.
Malin shook his head. "Everything you know is just a fantasy I created for you; you don’t even realize you’re already dead." With that, Malin extended his hand, and an Alien came to his side, trying to nuzzle Malin’s hand with its head.
Malin smiled as he caressed its head, then his hand slid from the middle of its head, eventually grabbing its neck... and crushed it.
The Aliens screeched and charged at Malin.
The first one barely leaped before it was blown apart by a Shotgun wrapped in branches by Fio, a Hollow Point Bullet puncturing its body, tearing apart the twisted, inhuman shell.
The second one skirted the blind spot behind the desk to approach Malin from behind. As it reached a position to attack, protruding its head, a double-barreled Shotgun was already pressed against its head. A gunshot rang out, the back of its head shattered into fragments, and as it fell to the floor, the shooter reloaded the shells with supple branches, while another Shotgun in the branches fired at an Alien leaping into the air. It whipped away one of the shells with its tail, but the other burrowed into its eye socket, avoiding the hard forehead, the bullet piercing its eye and following the track through its brain.
Ultimately, it fell beside its companion, who was bound by Lorrin, holding the Shotgun upside down, trying forcefully and determinedly to smash its postcranial shell.
Malin wielded the Psychic Sword in his hand, the energy blade slicing the Alien that rushed towards him neatly into two like cutting through butter.
"Your children are no match for me, and you, you’re protecting your eggs. You don’t want to leave because they’ve already started hatching." Malin pulled the Psychic Sword out of the head of the Alien in front of him, looked at the mandibles on the ground, turned to the last offspring Alien bound in midair by Lorrin, while Fio was reloading. Its dozen supple branches ejected the spent cartridges and stuffed Hollow Point Bullets into the gun barrels. The Shotgun, since its invention, had never experienced such high reloading efficiency as it did today.
Malin didn’t watch the offspring Alien’s demise but instead turned to the mother that had stood up, "A fake will always be a fake. You are not her. Haven’t you understood the meaning in my words yet?"
This mother finally broke its silence, seemingly smiling as it opened its mouth. It took a skull from behind a bookshelf and threw it to Malin’s feet.
She was tough, but I ultimately won. These bugs, as offspring of her and other prey, possess enough strength. It’s just a pity... why can’t I deceive you? Humans are so fragile. I used your most vulnerable aspect as bait; you shouldn’t have found out anything.
"You see, whether it’s you or her, to me, you are all just echoes of the past, all just existences that I must personally eradicate," Malin said as he lifted his foot and crushed the skull under it.
"Why would you think so? You even pity that little creature called Mira." The mother readied to pounce.