Darkness.

Pitch black darkness covered my entire field of view.

A familiar sense of powerlessness washed over my body, one that I’ve experienced only once in this life.

My skills and out-of-system abilities only get disabled when I’m in a dream.

I might’ve been a bit apprehensive about it last time, but I felt strangely calm and relaxed this time.

In fact, if it wasn’t for the obsessions and desires that dominate my soul, I feel like I might’ve given in to this tranquility forever.

You’d think my proficiency in soul related abilities and magic would prevent this, but my disguises and barriers didn’t do shit!

…It’s very frustrating, honestly… and terrifying at the same time.

A lot of fictional and mythological creatures came to mind like sirens, succubuses, and even mind benders, but I subconsciously rejected all of those possibilities.

This is something different, whoever or whatever is doing this is not actually trying to mentally control me, it’s more of a passive enticement.

A few seconds later, the darkness slowly fades, giving way to the scene of a vast pure white space.

Looking down, I realize that I came here in my mermaid body this time, and my body has become somewhat illusory… like a ghost, I guess?

This should be what they call lucid dreaming, right? I’m a bit confused though.

Why would I of all people encounter such a phenomenon? And why is there nothing but a white space in this dream?

Suddenly, the white space started growing brighter and brighter. This went on until I had no other option but to close my eyes.

Well, if this is meant to be an attack to blind my soul, then you’ve already succeeded, so you can stop already, would ya?!

It was so bright that I couldn’t see anything for a few minutes after it went back to normal.

After my eyes regained vision, I was astonished to see the familiar yet unfamiliar scene that unfolded in front of me.

It’s the exact same city I’ve been wandering around for the last few hours with a few… let’s say minor differences.

The seawater submerging the city is gone, and with it are the weathering on the buildings and the mourning silence.

And I finally saw some distinctive features this time.

More specifically, each of the houses I had thought to be identical had its own unique plaque hung atop its entryway.

Anvils for blacksmiths, herbs for pharmacies, beds for inns, a plate and a cup for taverns, what seems to be family names for dwellings, etc…

Yup, what I’m looking at isn’t a sunken ruin anymore, but a paradise filled with life and prosperity.

The atmosphere around me was filled with vitality and hope in a way I’ve never felt before.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any time to appreciate it because just as I wanted to take a closer look, a severe headache assaulted my brain as the world around me started going in reverse.

Under my astonished eyes, the prosperous city transformed into a construction site, then a laboratory-like facility, and soon there was nothing but a stretch of seafloor left.

I basically witnessed the entire history of this place called Kratinz in just a few seconds.

As I was contemplating what I recorded in my Memory Archives, I habitually blinked, but it was in that exact moment that this seafloor changed back to the familiar sunken ruin.

Out of nowhere, a petite hand landed on my back, and then I was pushed face down into the ground before I even had the time to process what had happened.

Startled, I instinctively crossed my arms in front of my face and closed my eyes.

A minute passed… then two … then five, but the expected impact never came.

It wasn’t until ten minutes later that something changed.

I felt a presence behind me, and a familiar female voice entered my ears.

“So, how do you feel after that hands-on history lesson? No wait, you might not even remember it with a fish’s memory?”

A strong sense of nostalgia welled up inside me as my body uncontrollably spun around with my eyes wide open to look at her.

Despite her forever expressionless face having an unnatural rigid smile and her obsidian black eyes now having red and golden streaks flickering through them, I would recognize this face anywhere.

And even though I figured out her true identity, I was unable to hold back my tears and my lips stretched into a joyful grin as I pulled her into a tight hug.

“What have you been up to, Ice Princess Wakaba? Or would you prefer it if I called you D?”

Immense relief washed over me as I finally confirmed the safety of one of my four real friends in this new world.

That stays true even if her true identity is actually D, the evil goddess who is responsible for our death and reincarnation in the first place.

“...” She replies with silence as she intently stares into my eyes.

After a few seconds of this one-sided staring contest, it was like a dam had burst somewhere and a flood of foreign emotions invaded my soul.

Confusion, bewilderment, stupefaction, and finally, a pinch of hope and hesitation.

However, just as I tried to grasp their source, everything went back to normal, as if nothing happened in the first place.

“You… You’re not mad at me?” Her voice was uncharacteristically trembling.

“Huh? Why would I be? Also, would you mind turning off that emotional telepathic ability? I’m not really a big fan of prying into someone else’s feelings.”

I’m not lying to her.

Despite this woman taking my first time, throwing me into these desolate waters, and probably doing many other things I don’t know about yet, I just couldn’t bring myself to be mad at her, especially after seeing that familiar face.

This is an example of my rare weaknesses, an extreme– almost pathological love for my close ones and the psychopathic obsession with achieving my desires at any acceptable cost.

Taking my eyes off of her face, I finally take the time to observe the rest of her figure.

She’s wearing the exact same school uniform she has always used. I wonder if she ever took it off.

Now that I think about it, I never actually saw her in any other outfit, huh?

“Hey, Wakaba-san… Did you miss me so much that you forgot to change your outfit? Hehe~”

“D. Call me D, that’s the name I was born with. Of course, I was too excited to see you! I even forgot my fish self-destruct button back at home.”

Wait what? Hold up right there! 

She forgot what again?! Imma just ignore that for the sake of sanity.

“Uhhh… I missed you too! So, why’d you suddenly decide to show up in front of me? I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be for some silly reason like wanting to watch my epic adventure upclose, is it?”

“Of course not. While that sounds very tempting, a movie theater’s front row seats are always empty for a reason.”

“Ouch. That’s an awfully creative way to tell someone that you enjoy their suffering. Why’d you come then?”

“I didn’t go anywhere, I’m still here in Japan, sitting on my gaming chair, enjoying my bag of chips while preparing for a raid in this newly released MMO. That one was released after you guys decided to permanently go offline, by the way.”

I’ll just ignore how she used permanently go offline to substitute in for died due to a dimensional magic explosion that was actually aimed at me.

Hey, I feel like I’ve been ignoring a lot more stuff than usual since we started this conversion.

Seemingly reading my thoughts, D gives me a teasing smile before continuing with her words.

“I was going about my day as usual, just watching my favorite fish and spider’s comedic antics before I saw the fish cluelessly stepping into a venus trap.”

I don’t like where this is going…

“It was quite amusing to watch you unsuspectedly entering a soul snatcher’s lair relying on nothing but intuition. Making such silly mistakes is so like you!”

“Yeah yeah, I always overlook the small details, I know. Why the heck is there a soul snatcher on a dying planet anyways? And which type did I encounter?”

Soul snatchers were briefly introduced in the Soul Grimoire I got from Alkreya.

A soul snatcher doesn’t refer to a specific race in itself, it’s more of a classification.

Any creature that consumes souls or uses souls in any way is considered a soul snatcher.

A few examples are devils from hell with their soul-selling contracts, undead liches from the underworld with their soul conjuration, and many others fall under this category.

As for their types, they are considered passive or active depending on their behavior.

Not gonna lie, the first time I read this section, I thought it was about soul alchemy because of words like passive and active.

What’s strange about this whole situation is that soul snatchers usually look for worlds that are filled with vitality, trick their high-caste denizens to start large-scale wars, and eventually harvest huge amounts of souls from it.

Why’d they come to this barren planet where souls are governed by a conjuration from gods?

Not only would they get nothing, they might even offend some bigshots by mistake.

“It’s a passive one, but you might as well think of it as an active one with the ridiculous strength disparity between you.”

“Hey! You have been saying a lot of mean and scary things since we met, can you be nice for a change?!” Pouting, I give her an accusing look.

There isn’t much blame in my voice though.

In fact, the way it came off sounds oddly similar to how the cute girl in the next class used to complain to her boyfriend.

I felt very embarrassed as soon as that thought came up, so I quickly shook my head and restored my expression back to my usual smile.

My eyes drift back to D’s face as I intently wait for her next words.

However, my smile faltered as I saw her teasing expression, but I held back and decided to speak first.

“What race is that soul snatcher? And why would there be any of those guys on this barren planet?”

The word curious could probably be seen written on my face with bold characters as I looked at her.

“You should’ve already figured it out when you saw the collection of souls above, you know? The soul snatcher is actually the unconscious will of a few Angels gathered in what was once called The Living Rose.”

So, it’s that thing those souls were talking about! I knew it couldn’t be anything good!

As expected of smart little me, hehe~

“Wipe that smug grin off your face, little fish. Even if you figured out that it’s not a good thing, you still dived head first into its lair like an idiot.”

Embarrassed, I try my best to hide my blush while giving her a nonchalant expression that says go on.

“Well, buckle in, ‘cause this is gonna be a long story…” 

Chuckling, her projection or whatever it is picks up an unopened bag of potato chips before she proceeds to tell me a long story about the history of Kratinz’s civilization.