Reaching the Center of the abyss

In a battered state, Phillia continues to sweep down all the monsters that appear in the dark pathway. Though, she can still see a bit with her new ability night vision, She is still affected by Cthylla's ability known as Pure Darkness but in maximum degree. It's the highest order of dark magic that can even blind the heaven's miracle light. Nevertheless, she is able to slowly recover from the battle she had with Chui and Cthylla.

While marching, Phillia manages to arrive at the deepest part of the abyss, the chamber lair of the dark queen, Cthylla. Facing the large two doors, she immediately slices it as if it was a thin paper, decimating into pieces. Cthylla looks behind her and gazes upon Phillia as she slowly walks with her katana ready to strike.

"Phillia, it seems you arrived." Phillia slices Cthylla in a gruesome manner, but it won't be easy since she is called queen of the abyss for a reason. "You can kill me however you want but, I can sustain myself back to life with ease." She pokes her chest as ripping it half by half." Whenever you are ready to listen, I'll tell you..." Phillia slowly enrages as bit by bit she isn't able to kill her much like before. "If you keep killing me, I have no choice but to imprison you first. Withering chains."

Suddenly, Phillia's limbs gets chained and immediately throws her off guard as lifting her in the air by the chains. "Let's see, since you are here let me tell you something. Since why is it a good idea to primitively kill the other me? Without her, you can't travel back to your headquarters. Now you are lost in the darkness, with me." Cthylla's grin turns into a sneer as it slowly ruptures and splits into half, reproducing more sharp teeth and long tongue. Slowly, she turns into a monster.

"I smell fear in you, Phillia." Her voice suddenly changes as it appears to be stranger than normal, it's like all voices shifted into one sound. Phillia's face became paler and more afraid as Cthylla slowly creeps within the darkness, forcing her to slowly be devoured and tortured by Cthylla herself. It's like an eternity for her to be in hell, seeing all the frightening scenes she has not seen before. Now, all she can do is to experience it.

Waking up from a nightmare, it seems Phillia was only dreaming. For some reason, she kept on staring at the night blue light of the sky Knowing all the horrible things she did to her, she had no choice but to tremble in fear just by staring at Cthylla's image.

"So you are awake, you seem to be calmed down by now. Don't worry, I just put nightmare spell in your mind. Also, I erased your curse from my other version of me. Now if you could listen I would love to tell you the whereabouts of Claire." At first, Phillia thought that she might be lying to her or laying a trap but Cthylla already knows what she is thinking. "If I did those underhanded tactics, I would have chosen to eat you right now. But don't worry, my reasons are beneficial for the both of us."

"What's your take on this?" Phillia asks Cthylla to try to calm her senses.

"To put it simply, you want to kill Claire right? Then I'll show you the way, she is on her way towards the center of the abyss."

"Why do you suddenly want to help me?"

"Mr. Smiley would have helped you reach your goal, since he once partook the same goal as you do, but the world, a certain entity that has the soul of the world. Well, you can try all you want but there is no stopping on Claire's route."

"I see. Where's my Katana?"

"I forged this sword with my blood and teeth. So you can deal with Claire's allies. Also since your original katana is already sharp, why not use it as a weapon to kill Claire since it is imbued with your blood, now it seems nightmarish to imagine how many did you kill with this sword. It's a fair trade, also with my blood you can make darkness spells in order for you to blind them or something."

"I see. Then..." Upon almost taking the katana, Cthylla then holds her long hair and pulls it to her saying,

"Suffer like you've never been before, Phillia." Then, she lets go and gives the katana to her. Phillia then feels a lot of power and her status has skyrocketed.

"Why do I feel much more powerful?"

"It's the monsters you slain, my pets. They tend to be attracted by your sword but now, you can freely command them as you please."

"I'm sorry..." Phillia then bows and suddenly apologizes to her with her stupid abrupt choice of killing her version.

"Well, apology accepted." Cthylla gently chops her head. "Prepare yourself. You're about to fight against a goddess herself."

"May I ask something?"

"What is it?"

"Why do you keep on staring at the night blue light of the sky?"

"Do you believe in God?"

"I once had a family devoted to Jesus Christ."

"I see. Well, even if they made me stay in the abyss, I still believe that God may have a reason, so I kept on praying that he might put me in heaven soon."

"I see. Thanks for helping me." As then, she leaves the chambers of Cthylla.

---

Claire and her allies Felia and Olivia took a rest at the safe zone, where Merchant Joseph gives his hospitality for over 5 hours. Upon resting, she dreams about all the routes she possibly take but didn't appear, Disruptor route she dies as the world crumbles with the SK Foundation. Soldier route, the world is at near its end as she failed to stop the dark storm known as Abaddon. Researcher route, died by sacrifice of revival of Phillia. Puppet route, died by the hands of Chui. Killer route, died by the hands of King Gorr. And lastly, normal girl route, died by the hands of Mr. Shady.

Soon, she wakes up from a nightmare. She stares at the surroundings.

"It's just a dream..."

"What's wrong, Claire." Olivia asks.

"I just had a bad dream, that's all."

"I see, don't worry. I'll wake you when you had a nightmare again."

"Thank you."

After for 3 hours, almost time to embark on their journey. They say their farewells to Joseph as beginning to march back at the center of the abyss.

"Come back again if you want to." Joseph lastly says as they leave.

At the great entrance of the Trials of Pandora, they clearly see from ahead, a bright location where it forms a steampunk city dwelled by ghosts as they make a society for those who are lost. In their surroundings, outside their city, is the lost souls who slowly turns into a gentle ghost but was trapped by the darkness of shadows.

As Claire steps on that surface, the ground turns into a fertile soil as all flowers around it turns into golden flowers.

"Amazing." Olivia and Felia are impressed by Claire's ability to turn a barren soil into a fertile soil. And so they arrived at the center of the abyss known as Ghost City.