'Nick' looked at Teren with a terrified face.

"S-so it is true! You... you monster---!"

Even in the face of a terrifying screech that doesn't seem like it came from Nick, Teren stayed unperturbed.

Nick's eyes creepily rolled around in different directions. His throat was releasing the sound of gurgling saliva while his jaw just hung in there. Both of his hands formed claws and abruptly took Teren's collar.

"We died here for this!? We died here for this!? We died here for this!?"

'Nick' shouted in frantic. In one look, it is easy to guess that he had fallen into madness. But once his eyes stopped and concentrated on Teren's unwavering eyes, he stopped and in fear, he released him.

"Nick, you deaf. It's getting noisy here, can't you hurry and answer my question?"

"... you're a demon..."

"No," Teren smiled, "I'm a psychopath."

"Nonononono, you're a demon. A person who calls themselves a psychopath is not a psychopath, it's edgy, it's stupid!"

"Whatever you say. I think it suits me... maybe. No, actually, I'm not. I don't know..."

"You motherfucker! I met the others! What did we do to you!?" 'Nick' dropped on his knees as if pleading for an answer, "Is it worth my life!? Do I dese-"

"Anyway, if you can't answer that simple question, Nick." Teren emphasized the name, "I think you're not ready."

"Anyway? Anyway...?" 'Nick' shook as his head slowly turned humanly impossible but not enough to deal with massive self-harm but without warning, his eyes became alive again. Realizing how his body is positioned, he corrected his posture,"W-wait, Teren, what's happening?"

"Just answer the question? If you can't defeat the Spirit's desire to live with your own desire to continue living, you might as well give it to it, right?"

Nick gulped before his face twitched once again but he this time, he pinched his forearm and groaned.

"I hate this!" he shouted.

Teren knew that this is Nick who's shouting.

"Why am I useless?! I'm dumb too! I'm weak too even though my brother placed effort in teaching me! I hate thi-..."

Teren silently stared as the complexion of 'Nick' changed again.

"He can't do it."

'Nick' slowly shook his head.

"He can't."

"Let him finish and we'll decide."

"You... we are stronger than the others. You know that. Surely, you know that. You're the one who planted us! We are not great but we are better! Hahaha... you think you're going away with this? The more people venture here, the more we possess. You noticed it, right? We are slowly decreasing. We are special. I thank you for that. Even if the person is strong-willed, we can help one another and bring that person down! Sooner or later... no, soon, they will be ready and they will take revenge... yes.. revenge..."

'Nick' lightly laughed.

"Sure, okay." but Teren just picking up his ear while looking elsewhere as if he does not care.

"You can act while you can..."

"I'm not acting." Teren sighed, it seemed like Nick lost, "Listen here..."

He crouched down and took 'Nick' by the neck. He did not strangle him, just made him a little closer before he continued.

"Do you know how many people wants to kill me?"

"C-certainly... many..." 'Nick' was losing his composure in front of Teren's serious confrontation.

"Many is an understatement."

Teren paused and muttered as he looked down. He muttered "I wish I'm just boasting." before meeting the eyes of the Spirit again.

"But do you know why I'm still not dead?"

'Nick' shivered and shook his head.

"It's because I killed them first."

"..."

"I'm not a demon. Did I kill them because I like killing them?"

"I... I don't know the answer to that..."

"No, but that's what a demon would do. I killed them because I had to."

"Grr.. but what about us...? Did we try to kill you?"

"No"

"Then...!"

Teren's cold eyes stared directly at the Spirit, not just Nick himself. The Spirit felt it.

"I just need to. But I'm wrong. I thought Nick is going down the dark path so I thought he could succeed in this. I guess Evil Spirits are not his thing."

"... are you saying, you're playing the hero?"

Teren raised an eyebrow before chuckling.

"Pft- playing hero. In a certain perspective, yes, maybe that's what's happening. You say you don't deserve this but maybe you just forgot how you burned the house of the new family of your ex-wife with them along with it, huh?"

"Huh?"

"Yep, you definitely forgot. Anyway, I'm not a demon nor a hero but still, you're neither important nor strong enough to harm me. That's why, if you possessed Nick, you're just going to die a second time, understand?"

'Nick' was motionless for a moment before his face turned grim.

"Why would I take your word for it? Aren't you just trying to save yourself?"

"..." Teren's eyelids dropped.

Thinking that Teren was about to give up on persuading him, 'Nick' was about to mock him but before he could do so-

"Okay, how about this? How many are you in total?"

"Eh? We... I don't know but about twenty or more." 'Nick' became cautious to see the change in Teren's aura.

"As an apology, I'll save you."

"...??"

"I'll save you from your failure. I'll let you see your own fate if you possessed Nick."

'Nick' still didn't understand until Teren's cold-shivering voice entered his ears.

"... ready?"

'Nick' immediately realized what the man in front of him wanted to do. He instinctively kicked the ground and tried to get away with fear.

"So... what do you think?"

"Iek...!"

"Even if you all worked together, can you harm me?"

"H-how...? How do you have so many!? That should be impossible! Even one of us makes a person fall! You're not human! You're not human!"

At that moment, the Evil Spirit that tried to possess Nick found that the revenge - the revenge that fueled his desire to live - had lost its hope. It couldn't be done, it was impossible.

"The only one who can defeat me is someone who can remove them from me."

"A-a... ah....!"

Teren continued as if he's not seeing the tens of Spirits rampaging around him as if they had found a chance to escape.

"Somone who can enter my mind..."

"..."

"Someone who can let them free..."

"..."

"The arch-nemesis. You're not her."

'Nick' no longer responded. His eyes rolled upwards before falling onto the ground...

...

...

"You're not going anywhere."