Little Star fell asleep, her eyes red, dry tears marking her face. William quietly stroked her head tenderly before getting up. He was about to leave the room when a detail stopped him cold.
The decapitated bodies of the two humans were still there, motionless, but from their bodies, a dark, dense, viscous mist began to emerge. It was the same gray mist that rose from monsters when he defeated and absorbed them.
"Nightmare energy…?" he murmured, frowning.
He moved slowly forward. Something inside him told him not to get close, but curiosity pulsed strongly, overriding any caution.
He reached out… and just as his fingers were about to touch the mist, Angel's voice stopped him.
"William… be careful. If you take that energy, there will be no turning back."
The warning was like a bucket of ice water.
"What does that mean? What do you mean 'no turning back'?" he asked, but Angel didn't answer. Only a dense, unsettling silence.
