The Book of Macabre

Chris was still a virgin. That was pretty obvious at this point.

As such, when he was at the university, he had become interested in supernatural things and theories about the parallel world. He wasn't taking it seriously, of course, it was more like a way to escape from reality.

He used to imagine a world where the sense of beauty was reversed, and men with plain faces were considered handsome. Yes, he was stupid but most men are, mostly when they struggled to get a girlfriend.

However, one day he met a strange woman on campus, someone that he had never seen before. She brought an ominous-looking grimoire with her.

Deep down, Chris didn't really believe in supernatural things, although he was interested in them. But that changed when the woman said, "This grimoire can't be opened. Aren't you curious to see what's inside?"

That was when they developed a relationship centered around this grimoire. Chris had become fond of the woman, although he generally was dragged around by her most of the time.

And as a man, that was an opportunity that he couldn't let go of. For a few months after meeting her, he felt like he was having fun.

But in the end, he couldn't even declare his flame. The woman disappeared without a trace under mysterious circumstances. All he was left with was the grimoire.

But what was sure was that this grimoire had something to do with the phenomenon that erased every man from existence. It wasn't a coincidence, and Chris had an idea about what really happened.

"Aren't you guys supposed to be dealing with supernatural occurrences?" Chris said, still confined inside the cell. "Let me out of here. As you can see, I know things that would help us avoid what's coming next."

"Commander? Yeah, it must be some kind of extraterrestrial weapon. My guess would be an optical trick of some kind. It's pretty effective to induce fear," Frederica said, looking like she was conversing with the commander. "Anyway, it's dangerous to let it get out of here. I am starting to get swayed by its words."

Really, why were these women so cautious? Not seeing men for ten years affected their minds or what? Or, maybe because of the lack of sex, Chris thought.

He once read in an article that a lack of sex caused stress, irritation, and even depression. But to this point? It felt like these women were just taking their frustration on him. Or maybe, there was something that he missed.

"Why can't you see that I am a human? A man!" Chris protested. However, if they were this skeptical, there must be a reason. "Is there a particular reason that makes doubt me? I want to hear your version of the story and I will tell you what I know. But I want to have a civilized conversation, so let me out of here."

"…" Frederica stopped talking for a few seconds. "That was close… I fell into the trap. It's extremely convincing."

Chris sighed. As he expected, there was something strange about all this. From these women's reaction, it seemed like the 'enemy' we're supposedly capable of mimicry. He didn't know who were those 'enemy', but they might have been the ones that were after him.

He took a deep breath. There was no reason to get worked up about this. It wasn't as if the women hated him personally. That was a relief. It would be hard for him to stomach the thought that these sexy and beautiful women hated him. As a man, that would lead him to question his existence.

And when he thought about it logically, he was too focused on how to make his fantasies a reality and failed to consider various things. From the look of it, his sexual desires took the better of him and he began to feel scared when he realized that his fantasies might remains forever dreams. Well, who wouldn't? The promised land was so close, yet everything was about to fall apart.

In any case, it looked like he couldn't get out of this situation if he didn't do something about it himself. But he needed to remember that these women weren't his enemy.

Still, it wasn't as if he could invoke nightmares at will. There were a lot of factors that must be taken into account when using the grimoire. It was more than just a dangerous book. From the ability of the Woman in White alone, it could be said that what was inside this book could destroy the world.

The grimoire materialized Chris's nightmares in the real world, but there was a rule he needed to obey at any cost if he wanted to control their power.

He couldn't fear the nightmares. In other words, he needed to get other his trauma. If he couldn't it was better to leave the nightmares alone.

Moreover, invoking a nightmare affected directly the invoker. In other words, he also needed to prepare himself mentally.

Chris knew that he couldn't show any weakness in this situation. He needed to establish his position, as someone who didn't need the help of those women, but one who could help them.

"Well, let's how long you will last!" Frederica said, activating the Nerves Destroyer.

Chris felt intense pain, but that only lasted for a few seconds. After that, he didn't feel anything, didn't see anything, didn't hear anything, and didn't smell anything. He invoked a nightmare. The Devil's hands.

This nightmare came from the time when Chris felt like something ominous was choking him in his sleep. He couldn't move, he couldn't talk, he was paralyzed. Almost as if hands were pining him down on the bed.

At that moment, six hands, three left hands, and three right hands, of different sizes, different colors, and different characteristics appeared around Chris; red, black, purple, blue, green, and white.

In exchange for temporarily losing all of his senses, he could use the different abilities that each hand possessed.