"Dreams reflect the soul, whether it's an ordinary person or a Heroic Spirit. And for Heroic Spirits, who are shaped by countless prayers and beliefs, this is especially evident."
"In the dream world, ordinary people will appear as they do in reality. But different Heroic Spirits will manifest unique forms shaped by their inner selves—manifestations that differ from their real-world selves. Machiri named these altered forms 'Dream Avatars.'"
"He first used the Holy Grail to summon several Heroic Spirits and used their Dream Avatars as test subjects for the core implantation experiment. We discovered that once the 'core' was implanted, the behavior patterns of these avatars changed drastically."
"They displayed increasingly extreme mutations deviating from both reality and their original dream forms, becoming more aggressive, emotionally unstable, and prone to falling into dark and depressive states. However, at the same time, they also gained new, unique powers and forms—some even undergoing a complete transformation of life itself."
Indeed.
Reading this part, Guinevere couldn't help but recall Mephisto.
That thing was no mere 'special ability'... His entire existence had fused with those explosive clockwork centipede familiars of his. He wasn't even human anymore—it was downright horrifying.
"These special powers are not Noble Phantasms, nor can they be categorized as innate skills. If anything, they appear to be instinctive traits granted by the alien organ known as the 'core.' These abilities consume no magical energy to use but instead draw on the user's mental strength."
"Paracelsus named these special Dream Avatars 'Nightmare Forms.'"
"Because using these powers drains mental strength, which in turn worsens the subject's emotions and makes them spiral deeper into instability, the 'core' places an increasing burden on their mind and body. A vicious cycle is quickly formed. The first few Nightmare Forms all self-destructed shortly after creation."
"After these initial failures, the corresponding Heroic Spirits in reality also perished. Following the deaths of three Heroic Spirits, the fourth subject, Mephistopheles, survived Paracelsus's experiment and successfully activated the 'core,' restoring it to full vitality."
"In other words, they had succeeded. And the summoning of the King in Yellow drew one step closer."
"At the same time, as Dr. Victor Frankenstein succeeded in transplanting the cores, Mr. S presented a new ritual for summoning the King in Yellow."
"I don't know how he did it, but he managed to merge the original The King in Yellow script into the dream world itself, making it the foundational structure of the dream. The entire dream world thus became a stage for the play, and those entering it with sufficiently 'fated roles' would be drawn into the script, forced to play their parts—especially those implanted with the 'core,' who would fill the cast."
"Once the play begins, the story will proceed according to the written script. And at the end of that script, the King in Yellow will inevitably descend."
"In fact, we don't even need to gather all the components of the summoning ritual. Once the stage was built, the descent of the King in Yellow became a foregone conclusion."
"Though we don't yet have enough Heroic Spirits implanted with cores, causality has already been locked in place. The ritual will complete itself. As long as the dream world persists, Heroic Spirits will continue to arrive, and more of them will merge with cores, becoming Byakhee."
"And since this is a dream—an inherently nebulous and distorted realm—the lines of causality are the most easily reversed. Those Heroic Spirits with fated roles and ties to the script will, without even realizing it, be implanted with the cores."
"As for the nine stones we placed, even if they are destroyed, they'll restore themselves. Because causality has been reversed—it's not that the ritual will be completed because the stones are there, but because the ritual must be completed, the stones will always be there. The ritual cannot be stopped."
"However, to sustain such a causality-inverting ritual, the dream world must consume a vast number of living souls. That is, a massive number of people must die within the dream as an offering to the King of the Dead. Mr. S said that in The King in Yellow, the city of Yhtill ultimately falls to the dead army of the King, and all remaining mortals become his subjects."
"To achieve this, Paracelsus added a new component to the fog—a sedative that would force all of London into slumber. Using my fog generator, the entire city was blanketed, dragging everyone into the dream. Then, countless monsters were seeded within the dream to serve as the King's dead army."
"As the plan progressed, any civilian killed by these monsters in the dream would have their soul harvested for the ritual. Moreover, once they died, their dream-selves would become monsters themselves and continue slaughtering the newly-dreaming."
"And with that, Machiri's envisioned singularity began to take form."
"However, for some reason, the summoning of the King in Yellow still failed."
"On May 16, the ritual, through the dream-based stageplay, had already locked in the King's descent. That being arrived in the dream realm as intended."
"I can barely describe the scene of his arrival... I didn't even see his form, but when the sky darkened and the stars were devoured, when the Black Star appeared overhead and began to consume everything—I knew, the unspeakable one had come."
"But then, nothing happened."
"The world inside the dream reset. We were returned to the morning of May 16, as if time itself had been rewound. And in the real world, that day passed quietly."
"It seemed someone had interfered—reset the timeline within the dream world. But that's only my guess."
"Paracelsus suspected it had something to do with the shadow that had attacked us earlier. Machiri believed the ritual still lacked the necessary components—that the cast was incomplete."
"That shadow, hostile to our efforts, appears at random across the dream. It continues slaughtering the monsters we've set up. But until now, it has shown no signs of intelligence—seemingly acting on instinct alone."
"After weighing our options, Machiri gave up on trying to eliminate the shadow."
Shadow?
At this point, Guinevere furrowed his brow in thought.
The shadow mentioned repeatedly in Babbage's journal—it could only be that bizarre shadow they encountered by the lake.
That thing was freakishly strong. But more unsettling than its power was the fact that even the system couldn't analyze it. The system outright crashed trying to access its data.
Which meant... this being existed at a higher level than the system itself—an entity capable of simulating the future of an entire world.
Previously, Guinevere had suspected that this shadow might be an incarnation of the King in Yellow. But that clearly wasn't the case. This thing had been present since the dream's very inception, and it had been actively sabotaging the summoning of the King in Yellow.
That made its identity all the more intriguing.
Guinevere continued reading.
"Since we couldn't make out its true appearance—only a mass of dark red—we temporarily named the shadow: the Crimson Butcher."
Crimson Butcher?
Guinevere tapped the table lightly. That name rang a bell.
He remembered asking a Londoner about strange creatures back when he and Mordred first entered the dream. The man had mentioned a monster called the Crimson Butcher that prowled the area, slaughtering all living things.
And back when Frankenstein was still trapped in her role as the Guard Captain Ella, hadn't she been chasing leads about the Crimson Butcher too? Artoria had even mistakenly assumed Will was the Butcher at one point.
Just who—or what—was this being? Friend or foe?
No answers would come. Guinevere shook his head and continued reading:
"May 16, again."
"I don't know how to record this second May 16... But anyway, Machiri decided to continue refining the ritual and gathering the full cast."
"On the other hand, whether due to the sheer number of souls consumed or the distortion caused by the causality-reversing ritual, Heroic Spirits entering this dream became increasingly unstable. As the story progressed, they would begin breaking down during the night—some even becoming Nightmare Forms before core implantation, due to overwhelming mental pressure."
"And when a Heroic Spirit's psyche neared the breaking point, the core would naturally be drawn to them."
"Of course, in order to complete the cast, the three of us implanted the cores into ourselves, becoming Byakhee—actors with designated roles on this dream stage."
"Machiri intended for the three of us to take the most important roles in the play: Queen Cassilda, Prince Adonis, and High Priest Naotalba. This would allow us to both control the narrative and prevent key roles from falling into the hands of Chaldea's meddlers."
"However, we couldn't play Queen Cassilda. The role is locked to 'female sovereigns.'"
"A shame, but Mr. S mentioned that there was a character even more vital than those three."
"That is—the one who, during the masquerade, declares he was never wearing a mask, and is slain by Queen Cassilda: the embodiment of 'Truth.'"
"And that identity... is not meant for any actor. No one plays the King in Yellow. And likewise, no one plays Truth."
"Mr. S claimed that to obtain this role, Machiri would have to descend into the deepest depths of the nightmare. He also said that the original King in Yellow script—the true one that underpins this entire dream—was also hidden there. Reclaiming it would grant supreme control over the dream."
"About five days after this conversation—during which time, each day at noon, the Black Star would descend and then everything would reset—we entered our fifth loop of May 16."
"After that, Machiri and Mr. S both disappeared. Paracelsus said they had ventured into the nightmare's depths to execute the most critical part of our plan."
"As for me, tormented by guilt over my unwilling complicity, Machiri offered to temporarily erase my memories. He allowed me to fully become my character, Prince Adonis—a blind fool blinded by his own false justice, a supposed ally of the people."
"Though this would hinder our plan, he did it anyway... perhaps out of pity. For that, I am truly grateful."
"And so, I became Prince Adonis. A man deluded by his idealism."
"That is the full account of everything that's happened since I was summoned to the moment I lost my memories and assumed the role of Adonis. This journal is meant only as a personal record—never meant to fall into the hands of Machiri's enemies."
"But if someone has found it... if someone truly wishes to stop him, then due to the nature of this dream, it will be unimaginably difficult. I do not know how one might undo the causality that ensures the King in Yellow's descent."
"Still, if they persist, then their only option is to destroy everything we've prepared: the nine stones, the seven Byakhee. To do that, they'll need to enter the depths of the nightmare themselves... and find Machiri and Mr. S."
"That is all."