༺ Nightmare (3) ༻
His thoughts went silent.
His awareness became hazy.
Vera struggled to regain his dazed consciousness as he glared at Renee, who was in front of him.
‘…She’s not doing anything.’
How strange.
According to the explanation, he should have looped to the next phase, but until this point, several days had passed, and the illusion showed no signs of moving anywhere.
It was only praying, begging, and doing things that made his stomach churn.
So, Vera’s suspicion grew stronger.
‘Is that the Dream Demon’s enmity…?’
That was all he could think of as he was too disoriented to make a sound judgment.
He wondered if she was real and if he really went back in time.
Those thoughts screwed up his mind.
‘What if’ this was reality? What if his mission here was to protect her undying light?
His sharp demeanor softened. His vision went blurry. He looked disoriented as he wallowed in a dreamlike state.
Vera quickly reached for his chest to feel his soul.
‘…The Oath is active.’
The Oath he made was still responding to her.
But was he able to say that it was false?
How could he say it was false when the most solid evidence in his heart said otherwise?
Vera, who had been mulling over it, grimaced while biting his lips, attempting to shake off his thoughts.
‘…No, this feeling could also be a hallucination.’
He was in a state where nothing was certain.
Vera knew better than anyone that his current state was different from usual.
Even if he wanted to release his divinity right now, it wasn’t even working.
This phenomenon likely occurred as he became immersed in the hallucination.
He remembered that, at this point, he didn’t have the energy to unleash divinity, so his body must have changed accordingly.
His confusion intensified. A wretched expression formed on his face in this situation where nothing could be trusted.
Meanwhile, Renee began to talk.
She turned to Vera after praying and said.
“Ah, right, brother. Is there anything you want?”
Scrunching up her burn marks, she smiled. She called him ‘brother’ out of nowhere.
Watching that, Vera found it difficult to keep a straight face, and snapped.
“…It’s none of your business.”
“Can you tell me? I’m praying for my brother… but if I’m going to pray, I think it’s better to pray for what you wish for.”
“There is nothing I want more than for you to disappear along with this sickening hallucination.”
“Hmh, did you have another nightmare?”
“Shut…”
Vera, who was about to curse her out, sighed deeply before turning away from her.
The more he spoke, the more he would be drawn into her pace.
It would be best to ignore her.
Vera tightly shut his eyes, blocking out all of his senses.
‘Let’s wait for the next phase.’
Yes, he had to. Eventually, the next phase would come. When that time came, he had to break it and break the phase that comes next in order to get out of here and meet the ‘real’ Renee.
With that in mind, Vera’s breathing slowed down. His eyelids dropped even lower.
He didn’t realize that his reason and awareness were beginning to deteriorate.
***
Renee ‘saw’ the scenery in front of her with tears streaming down her face.
What unfolded was a quiet village under the blue sky.
Small wooden houses built with lumber and a dirt road that ended in the large, infamous waterwheel which was located in the middle of the village.
It was Remeo, the place where she was born and raised, spread before her very eyes.
She was seeing it with her own eyes.
She was greeted with a miracle known as a scenery, which she didn’t expect to see again in her lifetime.
‘…Oh.’
It’s a dream.
She knew at one glance.
There was no reason for her to be here nor to look at the scenery she missed so dearly again unless it was a dream.
Moreover…
“Renee.”
It just didn’t make sense that the only thing she couldn’t see was Vera’s face.
Renee turned her head to the side.
The ‘faceless’ Vera was staring at her while clothed in poor attire that only farmers would wear.
‘…Whispers of the Dream Demon.’
That must be it.
The Grimoire, which was mentioned in such a lengthy explanation that she thought her ears were about to burst, must be the cause of the phenomenon.
Renee laughed dumbfoundedly before examining Vera’s face.
“I guess you can’t imitate what I haven’t seen.”
“It’s cold. Go inside and warm yourself by the fireplace.”
“Don’t you think a faceless Vera is a bit much?”
“I’m in so much trouble because the kids have been looking for you.”
“You did a good job of imitating him.”
She tried to make it sound insignificant by adding sarcasm to her speech, but her voice quivered.
It was very obvious what kind of illusion the Grimoire was trying to show her this time.
‘The future I longed for.’
Starting a family with him in my hometown, Remeo. That is what the Grimoire is trying to show me.
Renee bit her lips to get herself together, and said to the Dream Demon’s enmity.
“It’s been quite entertaining, but can you stop now?”
“Hm? Ah, so that’s what you meant.”
The Dream Demon’s enmity wrapped his hands on Renee’s cheeks, and pushed its ‘faceless’ visage closer.
Renee scowled at enmity’s antics, and as the ‘faceless’ figure approached close, she slapped his cheek.
Slap—!
“…Honey?”
“Honey, my ass. Why am I your honey?”
“That is…”
“You’re showing me such a half-hearted dream. If you’re going to do it, at least fill in the details. Why didn’t you create a face?”
It was anger.
An anger directed at herself for being shaken by something like this, and anger directed at the Dream Demon’s enmity that turned the future she longed for into a laughing stock.
Renee’s expression turned vicious.
“Get me out of here.”
The Dream Demon’s enmity paused as if puzzled and soon blurted out.
“…Stop joking around. The kids are waiting for you.”
“I’ve never had a baby.”
“What are you saying? We made love and have a daughter…”
Slap—!
Renee gave him another hard slap on the cheek.
“Stop saying unpleasant things. I have absolutely no intention of sleeping with you.”
You’re talking complete nonsense.
I’ve already decided who I want to sleep with. I even have a plan for when and how I’m going to do it.
“Cut the crap and get me out of here.”
Her wrath took on a firmer shape and cut through enmity’s bullshit.
The enmity crookedly tilted his head, asking in a voice that no longer sounded like Vera’s.
“Why do you want that so badly? If you stay here, you can enjoy a happy life forever.”
As he questioned her in a dumbfounded voice, Renee answered with a scoff.
“Happy, my ass. How can I be happy when the most important part isn’t here?”
Whether it was Remeo, starting a family, or watching the scenery in front of her, everything was useless without her greatest treasure.
She already had a pitch-black light that was more precious to her than this colorful darkness.
Renee’s face hardened into a stern expression.
“Vera isn’t here.”
In response to her anger-fueled remarks, the enmity began to change shape and spoke.
“…What a shame.”
The scenery that resembled Remeo became distorted.
[…..]
Her ears were ringing.
“I can’t let you out. There’s nothing I can do if you’re not satisfied. I have no choice but to push you into your subconscious state even without a dream.”
“You are good at running your mouth.”
Renee watched everything as if it were a laughing matter, and said.
“You know what? You guys made a mistake.”
She released the pure white divinity that had been chained inside her.
“You should have made me blind if you wanted to lock me up.”
She spread it over the entire space.
In a battered dark-red area that resembled clay, Renee began to cast a spell by weaving her divinity.
It was different from when she created the spell by using only her imagination.
She morphed the formation after giving the area a thorough inspection. This left an enormous number of traces in the air that were incomprehensible to the human brain.
The line formed by the white dots joined together into a plane, and the plane came together to create a cube.
And once again.
Hwaaah—!
She connected the cubes to each other, forming a spell of a higher dimension.
Renee, extended her arm out, with cane in hand.
Schwiiiing—
As she unsheathed her sword, Renee smiled crookedly.
“How convenient it is to be able to see.”
Without a doubt, casting spells was far easier than when she did it mentally.
As the spells were made and inscribed one after another, the high-level spell she was unable to cast before, was soon to be complete.
When the enmity was surprised by the unfolding sight in front of him, he broke his form and enlarged his body significantly as he raced toward Renee like he was going to devour her.
Renee raised the sword cane above her head with both hands and swung it towards the approaching enmity.
Unique Spell [Divine Retribution]
Although she had already conceived it, the spell that she couldn’t use due to physical limitations unfolded within the hallucination created by the enmity.
The pure white divinity that had spread throughout the area moved along the sword, flying towards the enmity in unison. It was a fierce energy that resembled beams of light or thunder formed a dark hole.
And it converged to a single spot.
The [Divine Retribution] forcefully thrust itself into the body of enmity.
Crack—
A sound reminiscent of something shattering. Cracks appeared on the body of the enmity. From the revealed cracks, a white energy flickered.
Renee pointed the tip of her sword at the enmity, and pierced it in the exact center of the ‘visible’ crack.
Crack—
The crack got even bigger.
Crash—!
The space quickly shattered.
The enmity fell apart. The dark red space was reduced to ashes.
The sound of the enmity’s dying cries briefly brushed against her ears.
Renee let out a sigh as she watched the world turn white.
According to Miller, the dream might come to an end when the Grimoire was unable to sustain the hallucination anymore.
I can wake up at this rate, but…
‘…Not yet.’
There was nothing she could do even when she got out.
‘My vision is blurry.’
If she escaped from this dream, she would become blind again. It meant that her body would become unable to move without the assistance of others.
She needed someone to wake up with her and stop the Grimoire.
‘Vera.’
Obviously, only Vera was capable of doing that for Renee.
Renee raised her sword upwards and swung down. Then, with a loud screech, a black hole emerged where the sword pierced.
Renee stared at the black hole through her blurry vision and thought to herself.
‘Vera is over there.’
She was certain. It was because she had wished to her power to lead her to Vera.
Perhaps Vera also fell into a dream just like herself.
‘…What could Vera be dreaming about?’
There was no way to know because she didn’t expect to have a dream like this either.
However, one thing was certain. Vera’s dream wouldn’t be that pleasant, either.
Renee racked her brain to figure out Vera’s dream.
Perhaps it was a traumatic memory, or a dream that he hoped for.
As she mulled over it, Renee suddenly came up with a thought.
‘…There may be another woman.’
Renee narrowed her eyes. She slung her sword over her shoulder in an awkward fashion.
‘Right, I’m sure there’s that woman Vera can’t forget.’
It pisses me off just thinking about it, but there‘s nothing I can do about…
‘…this bullshit.’
She was never able to understand. She would not be able to understand even in her grave. She had to be the one to appear in his dream.
Whether it was a traumatic experience or his ideal future, Vera should only think about her and nothing else.
Renee’s eyes grew dark.
She marched toward the hole.
‘Just try and flirt with another woman.’
At that time, you and I can die together.
With that thought, Renee crossed over the dark hole.
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