Nephis climbed out of the simulation pod — her face was polished and refined like carved marble. Not a trace of strain showed on her expression.
The room was quiet and dull, being sparsely furnished, it only contained a simple table, a chair and a fridge stacked with water and packaged food.
She twisted her head, loosening the stiffness in her neck.
For a few seconds, she remained standing beside the pod, replaying the sensation of combat. According to Cassie, the Dreamscape was a place where a multitude of different Awakened dueled each other.
Under Cassie's urging, she decided to give it a try.
But after the first few battles she slowly grew bored. Most of the Awakened she encountered fought the same way, a rather practical and simple art that relied on straightforward, efficient movements and attacks that were optimal in terms of lethality and energy expenditure, but for the same reason very predictable.
Once she recognized the rhythm, every fight began to blur together. They guarded the same openings. Attacked from the same angles. Retreated the same way when pressured.
By the third exchange, she could already see how the battle would end. It was not that they were weak. Many of them were skilled, disciplined, and experienced. But they fought like students using movements exactly as written in a textbook, not warriors adapting to the chaos of a real battle.
Nephis exhaled quietly.
Against such opponents, victory felt less like a battle and more like a chore.
Facing opponents like these would not help her improve. If this was the level of resistance she trained against, she would never close the gap with Sunny — let alone stand a chance against the Sovereigns.
Nephis frowned slightly.
That was not acceptable.
If the Dreamscape truly gathered Awakened from across the world, then there had to be stronger opponents somewhere within it. People who did not move like machines following the same manual.
People who fought to win.
She walked to the fridge and picked out a bottle of cool water, taking a slow sip while her mind sifted through the memory of the last few battles.
The Awakened she had faced fought as if defeat carried no real consequence. The Dreamscape would simply end the match and return them to their bodies. There was no terror of death pressing down on their minds, no desperate instinct forcing them to improvise.
Without that pressure, their blades moved to defeat… not to survive.
If ordinary opponents were useless, then she simply had to climb higher. Somewhere in the Dreamscape, there had to be someone worth fighting.
Her pale eyes drifted back to the Dreamscape pod.
Then she stepped toward it.
That was, until she was interrupted by her communicator's notification. What followed was a grating ring that signaled the battle cry of her most detestable enemy.
It seemed like the damned Spell did not want to grant her a moment of respite.
For a brief moment, the room fell completely still. Her expression did not change but her eyes hardened slightly.
Soon, another notification came by, providing the details of the gate.
GATE ACTIVITY DETECTED IN YOUR PROXIMITY
ETA: 5 MINUTES
EVACUATE AS SWIFTLY AS POSSIBLE AND FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE PROPER AUTHORITIES
She quickly tapped on the notification and once she found out where the gate would emerge, she moved immediately.
…
When Nephis arrived, the streets were almost empty — turning into a ghost-town. The few civilians that remained were already fleeing in a panic. She could feel it in the air, the distortion in the air was unmistakably there, in a matter of seconds the gate would emerge.
She took a step forward and brandished [Cruel Sight] — a memory gifted to her after slaying a strange creature. It had ambushed her and the Firekeepers on Reckoning Island.
Nephis still wasn't sure whether she could've defeated the strange beast without casualties if it hadn't copied her aspect — causing it immolating pain when using her abilities.
The interesting part of the creature was that it left a shard upon being defeated, a shard she would've destroyed if not for Cassie's intervention.
As [Cruel Sight] coalesced into her hand, Nephis held it steadily, her posture calm and composed. For a brief moment, her thoughts drifted to another sword and a quiet ache stirred in her chest.
The Dream Blade.
That was the weapon she would have preferred to wield. It had accompanied her through countless battles. Drawing it felt natural.
But it remained behind.
This was a Category 2 Gate.
The creatures that would emerge from it were not the sort of enemies a Dormant Memory could withstand. If she forced it into a battle like this, the outcome would be obvious.
The blade would shatter.
Losing it in a meaningless skirmish would be unacceptable. So she had left it where it was.
The Gate was open now, revealing a dark rift in the fabric of reality, as wide as the street itself and as tall as the buildings. It seemed to devour all light around it… and call to her.
Call for her to enter.
Soon, the first Nightmare Creature burst into the daylight.
...Good.
Had she not wanted to learn? Had she not wanted to fight against opponents who did not move like machines?
Nephis raised her sword slightly.
There were going to be hundreds of abominations coming through the rift today to satiate her wish…
The first creature to appear from the darkness resembled a terrifying serpent with blood-red bone scales. It landed on the road and opened its maw, then produced a guttural, hoarse hiss.
Nephis did not wait.
[Cruel Sight] flashed once.
The movement was so fast it was almost difficult to see — a single, precise arc of steel cutting through the air. The blade passed cleanly through the creature's neck.
For a brief second the serpent remained frozen. Then its head slid from its body and crashed onto the asphalt with a dull thud.
Black blood spilled across the cracked road.
[You have slain a Dormant Beast…]
Nephis did not even glance at the announcement.
More shadows were already spilling from the rift.
Another creature leapt forward.
Then another.
And another.
The street became a blur of movement and steel.
[Cruel Sight] rose and fell in smooth, efficient motions, each strike ending a life in a single breath. Limbs fell. Heads rolled. Bodies collapsed before they could even fully emerge from the Gate.
[You have slain a Dormant Beast…]
[You have slain a Dormant Beast…]
[You have slain a Dormant Monster…]
[You have slain a Dormant Beast…]
[You have slain an Awakened Beast…]
As more bone-scaled serpents fell into light. She lunged forward to meet them. Her menacing sword coated in the blood of the serpentine monsters.
Nephis advanced without slowing.
The creatures poured out in a constant stream, their guttural hisses filling the empty street as their long bodies crashed onto the asphalt. Some slithered forward immediately, others coiled to strike.
None survived long.
[Cruel Sight] moved like a silver flash through the chaos.
Nephis shifted his weight, slammed the pommel of the sword into the face of a lunging creature, then swiftly stepped forward and pierced the third one through the throat.
Before the drops of blood even fell to the ground, she tore the blade from the corpse of the abomination, slicing it almost in half, and brought her heel on the skull of the beast she had previously slammed to the ground.
With the overbearing power of an Awakened Devil, the creature's head simply exploded in a red mist.
All of it took no more than two seconds.
The street trembled as more creatures spilled from the Gate.
One serpent became five.
Five became dozens.
They slithered over the bodies of the dead, hissing and thrashing as they rushed toward the lone figure standing before the rift.
Nephis moved like a whirlwind.
Her blade carved bright arcs through the air, severing heads, splitting bodies, and shattering bone-like scales with ruthless precision. Each step she took left another corpse collapsing behind her.
Yet the stream did not slow.
More serpents surged from the darkness, their massive bodies coiling over each other as they forced their way into the light.
One lunged from the side.
She cut it down.
Another snapped at her shoulder.
Its jaw fell away in two pieces.
A third wrapped around her leg—
The blade pierced through its skull and pinned it to the asphalt.
But even as its body went limp, three more were already lunging.
The pressure began to mount.
Nephis stepped back for the first time since the battle began.
The serpents pressed forward relentlessly, their sheer numbers beginning to choke the narrow street. Black scales glistened as they climbed over the growing pile of corpses, driven by instinctive hunger.
A serpent reared above her, its maw wide enough to swallow her head whole.
Nephis cut it down — but more were already closing in.
Her eyes narrowed.
The pressure of the swarm continued to build as more serpents forced their way out of the rift, their bodies piling over one another as they surged toward her. If the swarm grew any thicker, she would have no choice other than to use her aspect.
Flames would devour the street, ending the lives of the infernal spawn of the Spell.
But Nephis hesitated.
Her gaze swept across the empty street.
At first glance, it looked completely abandoned. Broken PTV's, scattered belongings of fleeing civilians lay strewn across the road. The authorities had done their job well.
Most civilians had escaped.
But she didn't trust first glances.
A single missed detail could mean a life lost. There were always stragglers in situations like this — someone hiding in a building, someone frozen in fear, someone too slow to escape before the Gate appeared.
If she unleashed her flames now, the entire street would become a furnace.
The serpents would die.
But so would anyone unfortunate enough to still be nearby.
So Nephis restrained herself.
More serpents burst from the rift.
Their speed increased, as they fought over one another to enter the Waking World — sinister smiles spread across their maws.
Her blade struck, clean and ruthless. One died. Then another. A third was split nearly in half before it could even bare its fangs.
But the swarm had grown too thick.
A serpent lunged from the side, faster than the rest.
Nephis twisted to intercept it.
But it was too late.
Its fangs sank into her shoulder.
She let out a muffled scream, the pressure of her bones being crushed overwhelmed her will.
But Changing Star wasn't one to be tied down by mere pain.
Her sword punched through the creature's skull, the force of the strike sending cracks racing along the asphalt beneath her feet. She tore the blade free and kicked the dying serpent away.
Nephis barely noticed.
Another serpent slammed into her from the front before she could regain her footing.
The impact was immense.
Her body was thrown backward like a rag doll, crashing through the side of an abandoned PTV. Glass exploded outward as the metal frame buckled under the force.
Her body was engulfed in warm radiance. White light spilled from her skin, seeping into torn flesh and shattered muscle. The bite wound in her shoulder hissed softly as the crushed bone realigned and the torn tissue knitted itself back together.
Nephis' jaw clenched.
Although the snug flames rejuvenated her. The sharp pain brought by it, overshadowed the warmth.
To heal herself was to burn herself alive.
For a moment, her knees nearly buckled beneath the weight of it.
Changing Star endured.
The light faded.
And her shoulder was whole again.
Though the serpent's didn't wait.
One slammed into her side, sending her staggering. Another struck from behind, its body whipping across her back like a battering ram. Pain flared through her ribs as she was thrown forward, barely managing to keep her footing.
Before she could recover, a serpent coiled around her leg. Its scales ground against bone as the pressure increased.
Another snapped at her shoulder.
White light burst from her skin—
And agony followed.
Nephis sucked in a sharp breath as her Aspect burned through her body, sealing torn flesh while scorching her soul.
Three serpents lunged at once.
She moved to intercept but the pit of snakes surrounded her. One body slammed into her chest like a falling pillar.
The impact hurled her backward across the asphalt. Her back struck the ground hard enough to crack the pavement beneath her.
The serpents surged forward immediately.
A writhing mass of black scales descended toward her, dozens of open jaws with poisonous fangs bared straight at her.
For the first time, Nephis was about to be buried alive.
Then suddenly, a burst of light curved through the pit. It was a sharp crescent of pure radiance, thin as a blade and blazing like condensed sunlight. The projectile whistled through the air with terrifying speed, carving a glowing arc across the swarm.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the serpents split apart.
For the serpents that managed to survive the attack, the wounds they received were suddenly exacerbated — it wasn't that the wounds grew deep but the blood flowed more.
Nephis rolled to her feet.
Her eyes shifted towards the direction of the attack.
Three figures stood at the far end of the street — Awakened warriors.
They had arrived just as the swarm had begun to bury her.
The first stepped forward without hesitation — the one who had launched the attack. A lean man with short dark hair and a long, curved blade in his hand that shimmered faintly with the same radiance. Another crescent of light gathered along the edge of his weapon as he swung it casually.
A second luminous arc shot forward, scything through another line of serpents and splitting them apart like grass before a sickle.
"Sorry for arriving late… traffic you know?"
Another Awakened stepped forward beside the swordsman.
He was broad-shouldered, clad in thick armor plates, resting across his shoulders was a massive hammer, its head the size of a small anvil.
"Quit talking and lame joke," he muttered.
Then he swung, hacking off another ten monsters.
Behind them, the third Awakened raised both hands. Immediately, the ground around them turned into a small pond of crimson blood.
"I didn't expect a single Awakened to hold the lines for this long," she remarked in surprise.
…
With the aid of the other Awakened, the tides of the battle immediately shifted. What had moments ago been a desperate struggle turned into a slaughter. The swarm that had nearly buried Nephis was suddenly forced back, cut apart by coordinated attacks and overwhelming force
They rallied behind Nephis, their wounds knitting shut under her radiant flames as she received the burden of their injuries
With this combined effort, the four Awakened were able to overwhelm the Nightmare Creatures until finally causing the Gate Guardian to arrive.
But by the time the Gate Guardian finally emerged from the depths of the rift — it was already too late. The streets which were filled with frightening roars were now packed with sirens.
Awakened soldiers had finally arrived.
They poured into the street, pushing back the second wave and massacring the lot. The once-desolate road transformed into a warzone within seconds.
But the arrival of reinforcements did not bring relief.
The Gate pulsed once more, and something slipped through.
At first, it seemed as though nothing had appeared at all. The air warped slightly above the mound of serpent corpses.
Then the distortion moved.
A long, serpentine outline drifted through the air — pale and translucent. Its body resembled the bone-scaled serpents that had poured from the Gate, but it lacked substance. Its enormous form glided above the street like a shadow.
Weapons passed straight through it.
The first volley from the strike force cut through empty air. Blades, projectiles, even aspect abilities sliced across its body without leaving so much as a ripple.
The soldiers faltered.
"Wraith…?"
Panic rippled through the formation.
The ground trembled as the immense phantom serpent lunged forward, its incorporeal jaws passing through a barricade of Awakened soldiers. Several of them collapsed instantly.
The strike force had arrived.
But against something like this, numbers meant little.
Although only being an Awakened Tyrant — its ability to become intangible made it far more dangerous. To deal with such beasts, one needed special memories or aspects.
"Call Soul Reaper Jet!"
The commander called out.
But Nephis had already begun to move.
Amid the confusion of the strike force and the rising tension in the street, she stepped forward slowly, her eyes fixed on the drifting phantom. Around her, Awakened soldiers scrambled to reorganize their lines while medics rushed toward the fallen, but she paid none of it any attention.
The creature glided above the battlefield. Its enormous body twisted through the air, half-present and half-absent.
Her fingers tightened around [Cruel Sight].
The phantom serpent noticed the lone figure advancing toward it. Its immense body coiled lazily in the air, and the curve of its jaw lifted into a haughty, almost mocking smile.
Then it descended.
Its enormous body surged downward like a meteor, its jaws opened wide, ready to swallow her.
But Nephis did not waver.
At the last moment, she side-stepped and flicked the blade, tracing a small, smooth arc across the air.
Unlike the weapons of the strike force, it did not pass harmlessly through the phantom's body.
A line split across the serpent's translucent form where the blade had passed. For a brief moment, the massive creature seemed frozen in place, its body flickering.
Then the wound spread.
The phantom serpent convulsed violently as a thin line tore through its side. Its massive length twisted through the air, crashing into the side of a nearby building as its body flickered violently.
The creature tried to rise again.
Its long body coiled upward, retreating toward the Gate as though instinctively seeking refuge in the darkness that had birthed it.
Nephis did not allow it.
She ignited her flames, channeling them to [Cruel Sight]. Her flames clung to the blade, gathering around its edge.
She stepped forward and the familiar agony surged through her body.
The phantom serpent was already retreating, its massive translucent body writhing as it struggled to escape.
Nephis did not give it the chance.
She leapt.
The asphalt cracked beneath her feet as her body shot upward, propelled by the explosive strength of an Awakened Devil. In the blink of an eye she crossed the distance between them, rising to meet the enormous phantom as it twisted through the air.
For a brief moment, the battlefield fell silent.
The gazes of the Awakened drifted to her in awe.
They saw an angel from heaven, wreathed in white flame. Her pale figure rose against the dim sky, the burning blade in her hand shining like a star to deliver divine justice.
Justice did not descend gently.
Instead it came swift and merciless.
[Cruel Sight] plunged deep into the phantom serpent's body. For a moment, the tyrant froze.
Then the flames erupted.
Fire exploded from the wound, spreading across the creature's vast translucent form. It clung to the phantom scales and devoured them hungrily, racing along its immense length like a living tide of light.
The serpent convulsed.
But the flames did not relent.
They crawled across its body, swallowing coil after coil of its enormous form. The phantom serpent struggled desperately, trying to retreat. But the fire consumed it faster than it could escape.
Her body trembled under the unbearable agony of her own flames as they burned through her flesh and soul alike, yet her expression remained as still and distant.
Then the tyrant began to break apart.
The massive phantom split along the burning wound. Its colossal body fragmented into countless drifting shards of pale light, each piece dissolving beneath the relentless fire.
Within seconds — nothing remained.
[You have slain an Awakened Tyrant: The Blood Wyrm.]