Volume 3—Chapter 59: Phantom
This is strange…
How long have we been descending?
It feels like at least ten minutes have passed since we started walking down the stairs. The sound of our footsteps echoes endlessly in this hollow, dimly lit stairwell. Onee-chan hasn’t said a word the entire time. She just walks like there's nothing unusual about this. And I follow quietly behind her, my hand grazing the cold metal railing as I go.
But it is unusual. We were on the seventh floor. That’s not that high. Even at a slow pace, we should have reached the ground floor by now. At most, this should’ve taken a couple of minutes… not ten.
My stomach tightens with unease, and I finally break the silence.
“Onee-chan… don’t you think it’s weird that we haven’t reached the bottom yet? I feel like we’ve been going down way more than seven floors by now.”
She doesn’t respond immediately. Just keeps walking, step after step, her pace never changing. I’m starting to wonder if she even heard me—until she finally speaks.
“It’s just your imagination. Don’t be lazy, Irana.”
Her voice is calm. Almost too calm. Like she’s dismissing a harmless complaint. But I know it’s not just my imagination. Something is wrong here. The air feels heavier the further we descend. The lights above us haven’t changed—still the same flickering bulbs, but the tension in my chest keeps growing.
And yet… a strange sensation tugs at the edge of my thoughts. Like a fog clouding my reasoning. A quiet whisper inside my mind trying to convince me that everything is fine. That this is normal. That I should just keep walking.
But it’s not fine. I know it’s not. And more than that—why is Onee-chan acting so indifferent?
Something’s not right.
“Onee-chan, can we stop for a bit?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. I wasn’t just tired—I needed to test something. A feeling had been gnawing at me, something off that I couldn’t ignore anymore.
“We need to keep moving, Irana,” she said without glancing back.
I narrowed my eyes, forming a shard of ice in the palm of my hand. The cold reassured me. I clenched the ice into a fist, staring at the back of her head.
“Then can you carry me?” I asked.
“Don’t be lazy, Irana,” she said, her tone the same as before. Too same. Word for word, too rehearsed. No sigh, no pause of irritation—just a flat.
“Please?”
“We need to hurry, Irana… don’t be—”
I didn’t let her finish. In a fluid motion, I dashed forward and slammed my ice-clad fist into her back.
The impact didn't land on flesh.
The figure shattered like mist struck by wind, dissolving into a swirling mass of smoke and vapour. It twisted, pulsed once, and then dispersed into the stale stairwell air, vanishing completely.
I let out a slow breath. “I can’t believe a phantom almost fooled me…”
The fog in my mind cleared instantly. A subtle manipulation—but not strong enough to override my instincts for long.
Now I could think clearly.
“Seems like I entered a dimensional crack without realising it,” I muttered to myself, scanning my surroundings. “I should’ve known something was wrong when Viola wasn’t with me during the teleport.”
Viola… and Onee-chan. I needed to find them—fast. If Onee-chan was caught up in this twisted space, there was a chance her power might awaken uncontrollably. And if that happened...
I tapped my smartwatch, trying to establish a connection—any signal, any emergency line.
Nothing.
Figures. Everything electronic was probably scrambled in here.
I exhaled sharply, steadying myself.
“Irana!!”
A familiar voice called out from behind me.
I froze.
“Viola?” I whispered.
But no… that couldn’t be right.
The timing was too convenient. I had just destroyed the phantom pretending to be Onee-chan, and now Viola suddenly appeared, calling my name like she’d just found me by chance? It didn’t add up.
No. This had to be another trick.
“You can’t fool me twice!!” I snapped, spinning around and striking forward with a sharp, ice-laced punch.
But just like before, the hit landed on nothing. My hand passed through her like slicing through mist.
A second phantom.
“Are you crazy?! Why did you attack me!?” came Viola’s voice, again from behind me.
I turned, startled.
There she was—Viola, standing only a few steps away, eyes wide, breathing hard.
I narrowed my eyes, confused. The fake Viola hadn't dispersed like the first phantom had.
Something wrong.
I prepared to strike again, but before I could make a move, I was suddenly tackled to the ground. The cold, hard floor pressed against my back as weight pinned me down.
“Geez, calm down, Irana,” Viola said, straddling me with a hand pressed against my shoulder. Her tone was exasperated, not hostile.
I blinked up at her, trying to focus. “Wait… you’re real?”
“Of course I’m real. What kind of question is that?” she said, frowning down at me.
I laughed nervously, rubbing the back of my head. “Sorry… I thought you were another phantom.”
“Phantom?” Viola tilted her head, clearly confused. “There’s a phantom in this dimensional crack?”
“You didn’t know?” I asked, sitting up as she got off me.
Viola shook her head. “Not really. When we got separated when we teleported away, I managed to teleport out right away and meet up with Elizabeth-sensei.”
I blinked. “Wait—you teleported out? You could do that?”
“Yeah,” Viola said, folding her arms. “But just recently, I felt something shift. I don’t know what it is, but now… I can’t teleport out anymore. Something’s interfering.”
I frowned, the weight of her words settling in. So the crack was shifting—growing more unstable.
“We need to find Onee-chan fast, before it’s too late,” I said.
This place was twisting and warping space, I didn’t know how long we had before things got worse.
Viola nodded, “Sure… but where do we even start? This building’s layout is already confusing as hell, and with the way this dimensional crack messes with everything…”
I didn’t let her finish.
“We’ll start by going upstairs,” I said. “Then we’ll check the hallway rooms one by one. She’s got to be somewhere above if she didn’t descend like I did.”
Viola sighed, brushing her hair back. “I guess that’s the obvious answer. Let’s hope this place doesn’t shift again while we’re looking, or we’ll end up chasing shadows.”
I didn’t respond, but my pace quickened. Every second mattered. If the phantom had been able to imitate Onee-chan so well… then I didn’t even want to imagine what might happen if she was left isolated in this warped dimension for too long.
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