The man spoke again, "How long has it been?"
The king replied, "Too long…"
The orange-haired man chuckled softly. "You must be wondering, 'Why does this man have the Authority of Flame?'"
Wilhelm pointed his sword at the man.
"You… stole it from Father… after his death…"
"But I have no need for it now…"
Suddenly, Wilhelm raised both of their arms, and the icy castle that was slowly melting returned to its previous state.
"The Authority of Ice and Snow reigns supreme…" said Wilhelm.
"Yes, I can see that." The man nodded. "Eight centuries ago, this planet was… teeming with life, full of green, and… well, it didn't have an eternal blizzard."
The man chuckled again. "But your arrival changed it. Ever since you desecrated Mother's grave and stole that Authority, you've been too reckless— no, too greedy with it."
"But let me warn you, Brother…"
"There's always a bigger fish. Let the Visitors cooperate with you, give them what they want."
"Otherwise, they will send someone more powerful than you can ever imagine."
Suddenly, the King of Ice began to laugh.
"I am undefeatable… With this Authority, no one can ever think of touching me…"
The orange-haired man sighed. "This is why Mother was reluctant to give you the Authority…"
"Anyway, did you know that I arrived on the planet some time ago?"
"I was looking out for those Visitors, watching them from afar. I was constantly protecting them."
"Because if more of them keep on dying on this planet, they are bound to send someone stronger to deal with you."
"And I can't have my beloved brother dying," said the man with a chuckle.
He continued, "I used a device, which you'll never understand, to put you and the humans in a dream. I watched how you fought them from afar…"
"It's… a little gift from a human I met in the past. Every time I activate it, everyone that's about to be put in the dream would hear the sound of bells jingling… This also happens when I deactivate it, expelling everyone from the dream, making them wake up."
"And during that time, it gave me enough time to reach you so I could talk to you one on one…"
The King of Ice then asked, "Why did you… have to put me in a dream…? Can't you… talk to me in the real world?"
The man shook his head. "I did not want them to know of my presence here. But it seems that wretched angel was able to sense me before you did… Hehe, your senses are getting dull, Brother."
"And it's safer to talk to you in a dream."
Wilhelm asked once again, "What happened to those three humans from earlier…?"
Wilhelm's brother answered, "Oh, simple, I expelled them from the dream. I made everyone in the real world wake up, including the ones you killed…"
"Fortunately, you can't really 'die' in a dream. The ones who died in the dream were taken to a space I quickly created while coming to this planet."
"They're all safe. In the real world, you are still asleep…"
They both fell into silence for a while.
Wilhelm spoke again, "Did you come here… only to talk to me?"
The man spoke in a gentle voice, "No, I'm here to take back the Authority of Ice and Snow. Which means I'll have to fight you."
"Why are you only making the attempt now, and not a few centuries ago…?" asked Wilhelm.
"...Oh, Brother. You've been inside this castle for too long, and you've been on this godforsaken planet for longer."
"You haven't been paying attention to matters happening 'outside,' so you're completely out of the loop…"
Upon hearing their brother's words, Wilhelm didn't say anything. He was completely right, after all.
Wilhelm's brother continued, "The Mirrored Soul has arrived. The prophecy is now in motion…"
"The Annihiliths have begun their preparation. After they make their move, the universe will bear witness to an event more significant, bigger than the Big Bang…"
"I must take the Authority from you before the Annihiliths begin their move."
"I have my own planet to protect, my own people."
"You can say that I'm 'preparing' by taking the Authority from you."
The King of Ice hummed. Then, they said, "Good luck, then, Brother…"
"I thank you for reminding me of the prophecy…"
"Now, I must also take the Authority of Flame from you, so I can protect this planet…"
You just said you have no need for it… The orange-haired man unsheathed his sword.
Wilhelm prepared a stance.
Wilhelm's brother chuckled. He seemed to be very cheerful as he's about to face his brother.
"Mother really hated it every time we got into a fight with each other."
"But very well, then."
"I, William Seraphine, shall strike down my foolish brother…"
"Well then. Let us begin."
With that, a large wing made entirely of flames appeared on William's back.
Then, his sword was imbued with flames.
At that moment, the two brothers charged at each other.
The dream world seemed to shake with their clash.
It was a fight where they could go all out, because, after all, they were in a dream. They couldn't actually "die," and all the two brothers needed to do was take the "Authority" from each other.
In the real world, the realm of the conscious.
Everyone received a message from Tiero. The message stated that the mission was complete and they could all go home.
The message was delivered clearly to the King of Ice, and it was enough. In all honesty, the mission was a failure.
The king still wouldn't cooperate with Umbrellas. But all they needed to do was deliver the message to the king. Even if the king refused to "cooperate," Donovan and the others would still receive the mission rewards.
Michael and the Visitors who came with him hurriedly closed the gigantic door of ice.
After that, Johnny said to everyone, "We have to leave now. We cannot stay here."
"Agreed." Michael nodded.
With that, everyone started the teleportation sequence.
Donovan looked back at the icy castle. Just like that, huh…
Guess I should be happy that everyone's alive, everything that happened inside that castle was just a dream…
The extreme feelings of despair, exhaustion, sorrow, and dread that Donovan felt as he watched his teammates die were very real.
Now knowing that all of it was just a dream, it was as if his own feelings seemed so insignificant, as if it didn't matter at all. All that effort, pointless.
But Donovan quickly discarded these negative thoughts. He was just happy to be alive, and he's glad his teammates didn't actually die.
He quickly looked at the faces of those who had "died."
Clara's expression was full of exhaustion. Sasha and Ashley's eyes were red due to all the crying…
The others were silent.
And with that, they quickly disappeared with a bright flash of light.
***
Michael reported everything that happened to Tiero, and so did Johnny.
"We did fight the King of Ice. But in a dream. Eight from the group died, and the only survivors were Dean and Donovan."
"But they didn't actually die, more like, their bodies died but their consciousness was… hm, their consciousness woke up in this endless, dark space. That's what Clara and the others told me."
"When we were about to face off against the enemy, fog filled our visions and we… woke up in the real world."
"Turns out that we were asleep all along. Also, before we left Tosla, the king was still asleep… It could be possible that they're still in the dream."
Tiero listened to Johnny's words with a serious expression.
"Dream…"
"There might've been someone else on the planet watching over you and the group."
Suddenly, Tiero seemed to remember something.
"Hm, I vaguely recall that we had a highly technologically-advanced device that can put people in dreams…"
"But if memory serves me right, someone stole it… That was well over more than a hundred years ago…"
Tiero gestured with his right hand to Michael to come closer.
"Get me records dating back to 1738."
Michael sighed. "I'm a cleaner, not your errand boy. I deal with Annihilith corpses, not get files for you…"
"I'll double your pay," said Tiero.
Michael immediately replied, "Consider it done."
Tosla, inside Wilhelm Wraithson's castle.
Wilhelm slowly woke up. On the icy floor was water. Water was dripping everywhere. The entire castle was melting.
The King of Ice slowly fell on one knee. Even though the fight was inside a dream, Wilhelm was exhausted, both physically and mentally. The ice was melting because their powers were becoming unstable due to exhaustion.
And also because William was able to steal a tiny bit of Wilhelm's Authority of Ice and Snow, thus weakening Wilhelm further. That was all William needed before leaving the dream and making Wilhelm wake up.
Meanwhile, William, who was sitting on the surface of a moon that was orbiting around Tosla, smiled wearily. He looked much older than his appearance in the dream. His hair had become gray, and there were small lines on his face.
Now wielding two Authorities, with one being weaker than the other, William's safety and victory over his brother were now guaranteed.
Still smiling, he stood up and stretched his arms. The next second, it was as if a tiny star had appeared on the surface of one of Tosla's moons. A second after that, that "tiny star" disappeared.