Here I was, once again, in a blank space where there were only a myriad of mirrors before me.

Finally, I stood up from the stool, and approached the mirror housing another 'me'. It was just one of the mirrors of the many.

My hands reached out and touched the cool surface, and the other 'me' through the mirror did the same, our palms mirroring each other.

That was when I noticed.

This time, I was looking out from the mirror, and they were looking in.

.

.

.

[Sorrowful Heart of Silver is worriedly looking at you.]

[The constellation, Secretive Plotter, is finding your existence intriguing.]

"Gasp!" I woke up, breaking out in cold sweat, my head throbbing so intensely I thought it would explode.

"I see you are awake. Welcome." A woman coldly uttered two lines from the entrance.

Confusion flashed through my eyes as I listened to the familiar AI-generated voice speak those familiar words.

Deja vu?

My head tilted upward toward the entrance, limbs straining against the restraints.

Where was I this time?

Many messy images and dialogue revolved around my mind, leaving disorientation in its wake. The scenes, like the powdered wings of a moth creating afterimages to any discerning echolocation, made my memory appear to have no beginning and no end.

"You are..." My hoarse voice passed through chapped lips, extinguishing as I reached the end.

"Anna Croft."

I see. So this is the point of time I have come to. It appears that I gained enough probability last time...

...so how many times has it been?

I don't remember.

"I can tell you have a lot of-"

"Anna." I willed myself to speak even as my throat was suffocating from dryness, cutting Anna off.

In response, Anna Croft appeared momentarily taken aback from being interrupted, but soon carried on,

"It appears you recognize me."

I paused, and then slowly nodded my head.

"Then I shall make things quick." 

With a snap of her fingers, Anna Croft isolated the room from the outside.

"What 'round' did you come from? How much do you know about the future?" Anna Croft was asking this with a solemn expression.

If anyone heard of the only prophet to survive in [Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World] and [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint] ask about the future, they would find it laughable.

Well, ex-prophet.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help the corner of my lips quirking up.

"What is so funny?" Anna's voice grated my ears like ice, clearly spelling the owner's mood to my reaction.

I flattened my lips and attempted to clear my throat.

"Nothing. I just think we should skip this conversation. It'll be better for your interests if we spend our time preparing for the undead attack instead."

As I boldly faced Anna's gaze face-on, I watched her eye gradually light up with a blood red, indicating the activation of her <Great Demon's Eye>.

"You appear not to have grasped the situation."

An air of intimidation that came with the activation of the eye spread out into the room.

"I am the one to ask questions here, and you are to answer. You are our prisoner."

How do I go through this conversation quickly?

"Then you should know that what I have spoken is the truth."

[Anna Croft has activated her 'Great demon's eye' to see through truth, and 'Lie Detection' lv. 6.]

[Your words have been proven true.]

Anna Croft jerked her head in disbelief. However, she soon re-established her sense of calm.

"You haven't answered my questions yet."

"There isn't much time for that."

"..."

I eased off a little.

"Look, how about I just prove myself with my actions? If I can dissolve the threat, then will you trust me?"

With a sweep over my figure with Anna Croft's <Great Demon's Eye>, she fell silent in contemplation.

"...and how will you go about it?"

I didn't remember, but I felt like the time it took for this conversation was the same as the last attempt.

"It entails you giving me back my bag of items first. There's one inside that may help with the undead attack. Besides that, I would also need to not have restraints on me."

Anna Croft narrowed her eyes.

It sounded like an excuse to escape from another's perspective.

"You can even use familial subordination on me if you're not convinced." I sighed.

In response, Anna looked at me momentarily like I had a screw loose in my head.

"I mean, if you feed me your blood, I can recover more quickly as well."

Yes, it is the familial subordination which is triggered when someone of lower status drinks Anna Croft's blood. In the [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint], this is what Anna had used on Selena.

The person under familial subordination would be bound to Anna's absolute orders.

However, the [Avatar] skill was really OP. It would allow a loophole to occur if I ever wished to escape the contract by sacrificing the body that was bound to familial subordination while I slipped my main consciousness into another.

Of course, that was under the premise that Anna Croft never found out about my [Avatar] skill.

But I wasn't bothered about how I would escape from it, because...

"Strange...I don't find anything that extraordinary about you." Anna Croft mumbled, her <Great Demon's Eye> whirring away.

「*Due to your sponsor's authority, some of your information will be hidden from others.」

Anna redirected her gaze to my face, "But you have no name?"

"Yes, I don't have one. You can refer to me however you like." I replied.

With a mix between a scoff and a chuckle, Anna shook her head and finally said,

"Fine, I'll call you 'Apostle' for now."

A very familiar moniker was relayed to me.

I wonder, why do you always call me that? Is it because I relay 'future events' to you?

"Also, there is no need for familial subordination. You will just need to wear these suppressant handcuffs," Anna deactivated the ward and gestured toward outside the room.

Swiftly, Trevor appeared at the doorway with a familiar pair of black handcuffs, handing them over to Anna.

"Go get their bag." Anna addressed Trevor.

"Yes pro- er, Anna." Nodding, Trevor almost slipped in a "prophet" before soon disappearing from the door just as quickly as he had arrived.

-Clatter!-

The pair of black handcuffs were carelessly thrown onto the table, sliding until they reached my position, as if teasing my imaginary freedom of choices.

I looked from Anna to the quiet pair of handcuffs sitting on the table.

She was testing me, to see if I would take the initiative to handcuff myself.

Well, I expected as much. But, did she forget I am tied up?

Anna Croft was watching my every move carefully, her red eye invoking a subtle oppression and pressure.

"Hey, could you untie me first?" I shifted my shoulders, one of the only parts of my body I could move.

Unfortunately, Anna remained unsympathetic to my plight. Thankfully, it was at this moment that Trevor returned with a very familiar bag.

"Pro- Anna, I've got the bag you were looking through earlier. This is the one, right?"

"Yes. Thank you."

Trevor grinned, "If there is anything else you need, I'll be sure to get it for you!"

"Wait, Trevor." I interjected.

Trevor paused, one foot already out of the door already, surprised by my call for his name despite it not being introduced.

"Could you untie me? I need to put the handcuffs on."

With a confused look in his eyes, Trevor gave me a one-over before turning to Anna for an explanation and command.

Anna nodded her head as a green light, and although curious, Trevor did not question it, opting instead to untie the rope restraining my body.

With a little struggle, I clipped on the black handcuffs, and felt a sadly familiar weakness.

[Your stats have entered a sealed state. From now on, your stats are stacked at 5/5/5/5.]

[Warning. Your skills are being sealed. You won't be able to use them for a while.]

[Time until skills are released: 10 days.]

Standing up, I couldn't help but stumble a little from a sudden bout of vertigo. As I tried to ignore the world spinning before my eyes, I grabbed my bag and made my way to the entrance, bypassing Trevor and Anna Croft.

"Hey, you-" Trevor began, but soon fell silent from an unknown instruction.

Without speaking, Anna followed behind me, observing for what I would do next.

And thus resulted in the scene of Anna trailing me a few steps back, as others passing through the increasingly occupied hallways stopped to give Anna salutations whilst glancing at me with wariness or questioning.

Regardless, no one stepped in to stop us, resulting in a smooth route to the outside.

-tap-

When my feet touched the outside from passing through a set of doors, I couldn't help but squint my eyes reflexively, not used to the intensity of the sunlight hanging above my head. Physiological tears pricked the corner of my eyes, and the pounding of my head became worse.

However, at least the bout of vertigo had passed while I had walked.

"Anna, I thought we were going to meet in the office?" Selena, striding from the massive gates keeping their safe base isolated from the rest of Seoul, appeared surprised by Anna's unannounced presence.

"Push that back for now. In the meantime when we're gone, make sure everyone is put through level 7 alert for a potential undead attack."

"...'When we're'...?."

Anna didn't explain further, pointing two fingers at me before continuing on her way to the massive gate.

"Understood." Despite seeming to have more words to say, Selena swallowed her questions in her throat, curiously glancing at my handcuffs, before giving me a polite smile and departing.

-Kakalang-

One draw-down gate was being drawn up just enough for someone to duck through, but not for the stiff undead, by the operators by the side. The strain and heaviness of pulling on the gate by machinery showed the sturdy attribute of those them.

As we ducked underneath, we entered the world of the dead silent Washington DC, cut off from the safe base. Over the wind, I could hear the groans and growls of the undead, but they were not near the location yet.

"I've been receiving reports that the undead activity in the region were all normal." Anna suddenly spoke up as the gate behind us snapped shut.

It wasn't a denial toward my claims, but a fact being uttered.

"The final disaster is devious." I wryly smiled, before getting a move on.

While walking through the city, we encountered a few stray undead, but thankfully Anna settled them for me as I was not in any condition to fight. All in all, like Anna had said, there wasn't a sign of an undead horde forming.

"This should be far enough." I mumbled to myself, having put a fair distance from us and the base.

In fact, we had walked all the way to Hains Point, and a familiar glowing [Moon stone] greeted our eyes.

It was where Selena had first met Enti. Besides, I needed to warn them anyway.

"So what was your plan, exactly?" Anna Croft opened her lips and asked me.

In the meanwhile, I opened my bag and groped for that dusty item that hadn't seen the light for days on end. The one that I bought for the first time with the dokkaebi bag, and during the first time I used [Overwrite].

The one that summoned those who passed away.

Yep, this one.

Looking at it again after so long, it looked completely like a new item, but there was no such thing.

[Summoning Bell of the Dead]

Rating: C

Use: A powerful bell that can resound to all areas of the scenario/dungeon. All undead and ghost related entities will not be able to resist the call and appear. Be cautious however, as there is no telling if the ones summoned will wish to communicate.

*Can only be used once in every scenario/dungeon

+

The drawback was that it could only be used once through this whole scenario, but that didn't matter. This was the only chance to use it properly anyway.

After all, when the undead entered hibernation, despite the condition, 'All undead and ghost related entities will not be able to resist the call and appear',  some higher ranked undead just keep sleeping like they were dead. Besides, when the final disaster woke up, its command was able to supersede the effects of the item.

Alas, the effect of C-rated items were limited.

At this point, Anna caught onto what my next actions were.

"You, isn't that suicide?"

"Maybe." I shrugged my shoulders, slowly shaking the bell at the same time, the dull sound muted against the bell's walls, "But there shouldn't be a problem if you awaken that being sleeping in the [Moonstone]. However, the point of this is to eliminate as many undead as possible. The population of Washington DC is...around 700 000? Plus the people sleeping in graves..."

As I tried to mentally calculate how many undead there would be, Anna's calm eyes in the beginning had turned increasingly colder.

"This nonsense has gone on long enough. Hand over that item." With lightning quick reflexes, Anna snatched the bell from my hands.

"Ah."

Well, Anna's stats were a lot higher than mine at the moment.

"We're going back." Anna turned her back, muttering, "Did I put my faith in the wrong thing?"

However, it was at this moment-

The ground quivered, as if receiving the stampede of a multitude of creatures pounding their feet against the earth. In the distance, the cries and shrieks rose as a movement of bodies advanced toward our location.

With widened eyes, Anna Croft whipped around.

"You-!"

"I already activated it." I raised my handcuffed hands with carefree nonchalance as I lightly gave the incredulous Anna an answer for her unspoken question.

At my words, Anna finally exploded.

The crisp resounding 'crack!' of a foot against my ribs sent me tumbling backwards, pain and shock spreading from the impact.

As I shook my head to get my bearings, I held my wounded side, curling up to try and overcome it.

Anna sure likes to kick people.

[Skill, 'Mental Fortitude lv. 7' is being activated.]

My shaking from the shock soon stopped as my wound throbbed.

However, I wasn't allowed a moment of reprieve as Anna snatched my collar and roughly hauled me upwards close to her face. In an awkward position of not quite being on my knees and not on my feet caused by a height difference, I boldly smiled in Anna's presence.

"Do you know what you have done?" Anna growled through clenched teeth.

"Of course." I rasped out through the pain.

This caused Anna to raise her hand in preparation to strike, but the beginnings of the undead had already reached us.

 "D#mnit!" Anna spat out, and released her hand grasping my collar.

She bit her finger to draw blood, and rudely shoved it into my mouth, unclipping my handcuffs in the meantime.

I couldn't help but gag as my strength returned to me.

[You are now under 'familial subordination'.]

Haha, looks like Anna doesn't trust me.

"Your first order is to guard me and get rid of the undead." Anna hissed out as she rushed to the [Moon stone] behind us.

With an unfamiliar feeling overcoming my limbs, my hand reached into my bag to pull out the navy blue dagger I had received from the Five person dungeon – Dongui Bogam, I began to tear through the undead, keeping them from advancing further.

"'Secretive Plotter'!" I called out.

Even though there was no response, I continued to speak,

"I know you are watching this. If I can get through this crisis, will you consider sponsoring me?"

-Slash! tear-

There was still no response.

Darn, is it because he will only look at Kim Dokja? I jokingly thought despite the urgency of the situation. Well, I did ask for something out of the self-created situations without considering the other side.

He would probably think I'm ridiculous and not accept anyways-

[The constellation, 'Secretive Plotter', says that they will consider it.]

[10 000 coins have been sponsored.]

Huh.

Stunned, under the effects of familial subordination, my dagger did not let up. However, a smile bloomed on my face.

It was now onto the next part of the plan.

A/N: A consistent update schedule? What's that?

I wonder if I missed anything?