Chapter 4: Become a Part of 'Me'_1

"Who is this 'he' referring to? This is already the second mention. Why bring it up specifically? I always have the feeling it's hinting at me, that the breakthrough is within it, but every time I die before this ritual..."

Colin pondered whether he should try to make it to the ritual to figure out who this "he" really was.

And the difficulty in this...

Was how to get the simpleton Priest of the Holy Healing Church to give up on treating him.

So far, whether it's "Purification" or the so-called ultimate "Blood Therapy," the effects have been very stable, so stable it's beyond words...

Damn, if left alone, he probably wouldn't die that quickly.

After some thought, Colin roughly had an idea and decided to use up his last [Book of Fate: Fragment].

Although it was the only one left, he couldn't hesitate when it was time to use it. Otherwise, in a critical moment, he might not even get the chance to use it.

However, what Colin didn't expect was that this time the usage ended before it even began.

Having expended too much energy in the previous two attempts, he now felt dizzy and suffered from a searing pain in his brain.

"No good, I'm overdrawn... I need to recover for a few hours before I can use it a third time."

Colin broke out in a cold sweat on his back, leaned against the bars, and took several deep breaths before he barely managed to regain his senses.

He could foresee that, with his current mental status, forcefully using this ability in a short time.

Would likely lead to a complete loss of control.

He needed at least a few hours of rest and a short sleep before he could do so.

But before Colin could even close his eyes for a good rest, a scream suddenly erupted in the prison, followed by a low growling shout:

"My child! Let me out, I must go back to see my child! He's still so little, just a child... I want to eat him, I have to, let him.. be full, eat up, eat me, eat him, eat..."

The mania in her voice intensified, and Colin's eyelids twitched suddenly as he realized something—

This disheveled, thin-bodied mother seemed to be in the cell not far from him.

The [Book of Fate Fragment] had mentioned twice that someone would lose control tonight.

Could it be this woman?

Colin sighed, knowing that things probably wouldn't go wrong, that he couldn't stop or interfere...

Then, he suddenly heard an ethereal sound of dice rolling near his ear, as if someone had tossed a die beside him, yet he saw nothing on either side and dismissed it as an illusion.

The only noise at the scene came from the patients with Beast Transformation Syndrome.

And the loudest was that mother.

From her frenzy, Colin could feel her love and obsession for her child.

Understandable as it was, he was tired and found the noise disturbing. Yet thinking of her plight, he refrained from speaking harshly.

He couldn't help but shake his head, offering a word of comfort:

"The Warden seems to have a decent character. If he caught you, your child is probably being well cared for. Don't worry."

After saying that, Colin was ready to endure the noise and close his eyes to rest, but to his surprise, as soon as he finished speaking, the chaotic howling abruptly stopped.

All was quiet around his ears...

He turned his head in confusion, only to meet a pair of eyes filled with bloodshot madness.

Next second, Colin's scalp tightened as he saw the mother's mouth open slightly, her breathing becoming erratic, her chest heaving violently, and hot breath exploding from her nose and mouth. At the same time, hair on her exposed skin began to grow wildly, coarsening like a wolf's howl.

During this process, her face began to protrude outward, like that of a canine, with teeth sharping in her mouth...

Her once clear and defined eyes also changed, reflecting a green, crazed, and savage glow.

Second Order Beast Transformation Syndrome!

Colin instantly gasped and, feeling her gaze, felt a chill down his spine, his hair standing on end as if targeted by a top predator.

Moreover, contrary to what was described in the [Book of Fate Fragment], she wasn't charging at the cage; instead, she just stood there trembling without movement, gripping the iron bars with both hands, staring hard at him.

The eyes filled with a bloody and fierce aura seemed to still hold a trace of incomprehensible persistence.

The aura emanating from her was still deepening continuously.

Even though Colin had never seen the third stage of "Beast Transformation Syndrome," he could roughly sense that, after surpassing the second stage, she was rushing towards the third stage without any pauses.

The two attempts at foresight seemed to have triggered a change from destiny.

Making the original timeline no longer develop in an orderly fashion.

At that moment, she, who had made no other movements, suddenly released her grip on the iron bars and, in an unexpectedly sane manner, reached into the pocket of her tattered clothing and pulled out a flattened object.

Then, with her grotesquely elongated arm, she grasped the object and slowly, shakily extended it towards Colin, making an unintelligible, hoarse sound from her beast-transformed mouth...

Does she want to give that to me? What is she trying to say? With a dawning realization, Colin swallowed hard, and mustering his courage, reached out his hand...

Even though there was a possibility that she might grab his hand and snap his arm off instantly.

But Colin still reached out his hand.

Soon, he got hold of the object in her hand—it resembled a flattened piece of bread, very hard, with dirt clinging to it and emitting an unpleasantly sour stench.

"What is this?"

Colin held the bread in his hand, puzzled, wanting to ask, yet suddenly froze in shock.

Because after she had handed him the object, the body of the second-stage "Beast Transformation Syndrome" sufferer collapsed without warning, melting into a pool of thick blood and fluid like a candle heated to its melting point.

As Colin looked down at the blood pool, whispers of gnawing, chewing, and swallowing sounds seemed to arise from nowhere around his ears...

His stomach churned with a hungry gurgling cry.

Deeper still, his soul echoed with a thirst for consumption.

At the same time, other "Beast Transformation Syndrome" patients in the dungeon became restless, howling incessantly like crazed baboons...

Unfortunately, the sturdy iron bars trapped them firmly within their cells.

Colin was not affected by the noise they provoked. At this moment, he suddenly recalled the same sentence mentioned at the end of both uses of the [Book of Fate: Fragment] pages.

He had become a part of someone...

It seemed that the Holy Healing Church did not discard the liquid they turned into after losing control.

On the contrary, they were collecting it...

Now...

Thinking about it from another perspective.

If he could become a part of someone else,

Then...

Could someone else also become a part of him?

Colin swallowed hard, suddenly realizing that his path to survival might not be thinking about how to prevent those idiot priests from casting spells on him, nor how to meet that "him."

The path to survival...

Was right before his eyes.

The "ink" inside him boiled and churned incessantly.

If it weren't for the two premonitions, Colin would definitely choose to avoid contact with that pool of liquid, but now...

He hesitated slightly, then crouched next to the iron bars, reached his hand outside the bars, and touched the slowly spreading, seemingly still squirming red liquid on the ground...

In an instant, the blood converged towards his fingertips and, unaffected, passed through the skin, merging into his body.

Suddenly...