"What the actual fuck," Sunny screamed, moving hastily as the sand exploded behind them.
Six towering shapes tore through the desert with terrifying speed, sinking beneath the soft sand before surfing forward, their maws open and ready to swallow them.
Sunny ran harder, but still lagged behind Mahoraga.
"I thought that your little dragon was keeping the monsters away," he shouted, barely dodging as a massive jaw snapped shut where his leg had been a heartbeat ago.
"I was!" Dharma snapped, "I've been keeping every Nightmare Creature away from you for three months straight — do you have any idea how much that skews probability? It's been building and building, and now it's snapping back all at once. I'm not omnipotent, you know?"
Sunny stared at him with a stupified expression, "Probability? Building? What the hell are you saying?"
"It means, retard. That I've been bending reality so that we wouldn't encounter any monsters. Every Nightmare Creature that should've crossed your path — didn't. Every time you should've fought — didn't happen. Do you understand what happens when you keep manipulating reality like that?"
Another roar thundered across the dunes.
"It compensates!"
Three of the Tyrants surged forward at once, their massive bodies cutting off any straightforward path, forcing Sunny and Mahoraga to split and weave through the chaos.
"This is just correction. If I kept suppressing reality like that, something far worse than six Awakened Nightmare Creatures would've happened. And I figured, since you guys are trying to conquer the Second fucking Nightmare. I shouldn't continue distorting the natural order of things and sabotage you guys."
Mahoraga's gaze sharpened, "So the longer you suppress it, the worse it rebounds."
Dharma clicked his tongue. "Finally, someone with a functioning brain."
Mahoraga's face turned eerily dark as Sunny grew increasingly horrified, "Please don't say what I'm thinking."
"We need to kill them."
Sunny let out a tired sigh, "And you did exactly that… Fine. But do note, you are insane."
As the last word left his lips, his expression hardened, his fatigue burning away, and he turned toward the oncoming horde with a cold, furious glare.
Soon, Saint appeared from his shadow while Serpent slithered down from his back — taking the form of a giant snake about six meters in length.
Dharma quietly crawled down from Mahoraga's neck and landed on the ground, "I'll provide support, you guys do you."
Across them, the Tyrants slowed.
Six massive bodies circled, their movements no longer reckless. They spread out, cutting angles as if sensing their intent to fight.
Sunny exhaled slowly, rolling his shoulders as shadows coiled tighter around him. Saint moved to his side without a sound, her dark blade already raised, while Serpent reared behind him, its massive body swaying, ready to strike.
Mahoraga summoned [Ivory Shroud] and [Dying Breath] — his gladius.
For a moment, neither of the two sides moved — they watched each other calmly — then, growing impatient, one of the Tyrants shot towards Mahoraga.
The other Nightmare Creatures watched their brethren attack, using him to test the waters.
Mahoraga didn't move.
Not until the last possible instant.
He imbued his weapon with cursed energy and shifted his grip — pivoting, he brought down the pommel of his gladius crashing down against the creature's armour.
A deep, resonant crack rang out.
The Ivory Reaver shrieked as fractures spiderwebbed across its plated armor. Before the creature could recoil, his off-hand shot forward, curling into a tight fist as he drove it forward into the exposed flesh.
The impact was monstrous.
A sickening burst followed as his fist punched straight through weakened plating and into the soft flesh beneath, tearing through it with brutal force. Sand and blood exploded outward as a gaping hole was blown through the Tyrant's side.
At that moment, Dharma used his ability to add an unexpected surprise.
Mahoraga's fist, already buried deep in the Tyrant's side, found something it hadn't been aiming for — the heart.
The result was not subtle.
The Tyrant's body locked. Every muscle seized at once, a full-body spasm that traveled from its core outward in a single, violent wave. Blood exploded and encapsulated his body as his fist fist closed around something it had no business reaching and tore clean through it.
[You have slain an Awakened Tyrant: Ivory Reaver]
"You're welcome," Dharma chimed cheerfully from the side.
Mahoraga — soaked in yellowish-lime blood tilted his head and spoke disdainfully, "Shall we continue?"
"..."
The battlefield was silent for a second, then — chaos erupted.
The remaining Tyrants reared their heads and spat jets of viscous venom. The sand they touched melted instantly, turning into bubbling sludge that smoked and sizzled under the sun.
A stream struck him, splashing across his skin… but did absolutely nothing. It clung for a moment, seething, before sliding off uselessly.
The venom meant nothing to him — he had already adapted to it.
Serpent lashed out immediately, its massive body whipping through the air to intercept another Tyrant bursting from beneath the sand, while Saint stepped forward without hesitation, her blade carving a clean arc that forced one of the creatures to retreat.
But they weren't aiming to overwhelm him with numbers.
They were herding him.
The remaining two kept up relentless pressure on Mahoraga, preventing him from helping Sunny who was currently being hounded by three Reavers.
The sand beneath Sunny collapsed.
One Tyrant burst upward directly under him, its jaws opening wide enough to swallow him whole. Another surged from the side, cutting off his escape, while the third remained submerged.
"Tch!"
Sunny kicked off the collapsing sand, launching himself upward just as the ground beneath him split open. The Tyrant's maw surged up after him, its razor sharp teeth were inches away from clamping down on his leg —
Then, a massive shadow suddenly slammed into it from the side — Serpent crashed into the Tyrant like a battering ram, forcing the creature off course and sending it across the sand with a furious shriek.
Sunny twisted in the air and landed lightly, already moving.
"Good timing."
Serpent hissed in response, its body looping around the Tyrant before it could recover. Its armour cracked open, the scales weakening. Sunny's blade flashed, carving into the joints Serpent had forced open.
The Tyrant roared, struggling — but it was too late.
A clean kill was coming.
Elsewhere, Saint moved like a phantom.
The second Tyrant pressed her relentlessly, but she gave nothing in return — her blade met every strike with perfect timing.
She wasn't winning — she didn't need to.
She was stalling.
And that was enough.
The third, never made it.
Dharma yawned.
The Tyrant lurking beneath the sand was swallowed by one of its own, reduced to nothing more than a nourishing meal before its hunter withdrew from the battlefield.
[You have slain an Awakened Tyrant: Ivory Reaver]
"Nice," Sunny muttered with a relaxed grin before he sprinted to help Saint.
"..."
On the other side of the battlefield, a similar massacre was unfolding, only far less graceful:
With its greatest weapon being rendered useless, the [Ivory Reavers] that Mahoraga faced were nothing but sitting prey.
Mahoraga stepped forward as one of the remaining Tyrants lunged, its massive body tearing through the sand in a desperate charge. He didn't evade — he met it head-on.
He raised his gladius as if to strike, and the [Ivory Reaver], having witnessed the devastation of that blow, instinctively tried to retreat — but it was a feint. Mahoraga stepped in and drove a brutal kick into its body, shattering its armor and punching deep into the flesh.
The second Reaver tried to attack him, noticing his immobile position but Mahoraga twisted his body — narrowly avoiding its mouth and used the pommel of [Dying Breath] to execute the same trick he used against his brethren.
The Ivory Reaver screeched, its forward momentum collapsing into a stagger as jagged lines raced across its plated hide. Mahoraga didn't pause — his hand lashed out immediately, driving into the weakened section with ruthless precision.
His fist sank in.
The Tyrant's flesh tore apart under the overwhelming force, convulsing violently as the blow punched straight through its core, rupturing everything in its path. Blood erupted outward in a violent spray as its massive frame shuddered, then collapsed, lifeless, into the sand.
[You have slain an Awakened Tyrant: Ivory Reaver]
The last one tried to run.
It had seen enough — the pulverized armor, the effortless kills, the way its kin had been reduced to carcasses in mere breaths. Its massive form shifted, muscles coiling as it began to pull back, trying to sink beneath the sand.
Mahoraga stepped forward.
The Tyrant tried to dodge but he had exposed his back while trying to turn tail and run — once again it's armoured hide fragmented under the weight of his blow.
A grotesque tearing sound split the battlefield as the creature's head was wrenched inside. Before it could recover, [Dying Breath] plunged down.
[You have slain an Awakened Tyrant: Ivory Reaver]
"Well that was easy," he commented as Dharma crawled back up on him. Without another word, Mahoraga turned and began walking toward Sunny's side of the battlefield.
And just like what had begun his journey — Mahoraga's foot caught something and he fell face first into the sand.
Beneath his foot, half-buried in the dunes, was a clean, unnaturally smooth piece of black marble — untouched by the chaos around it, its surface pristine and cold against the blood-soaked desert.
Dharma arched forward, his eyes widening slightly.
"…Well," he muttered, a hint of amusement creeping into his voice, "would you look at that."
The black marble lay untouched amid ruin, its surface was impossibly smooth, as it drank in the harsh sunlight instead of reflecting it.
After almost a year and a half, Mahoraga had finally found what he was searching for — a Seed of Nightmare.
…
"So… this is it," Sunny murmured, his voice low.
"Yeah," Mahoraga replied, just as quietly.
"Well then, let's get on with it."
Mahoraga's gaze lingered on the black marble for a moment longer, then he stepped forward, stopping just short of it.
"Don't die in there," he said cordially, not looking at Sunny.
Sunny let out a quiet huff, a faint smirk tugging at his lips despite everything. "You too."
For a brief moment, neither of them moved.
Then, without another word, they reached down and placed their hand on the Nightmare Seed.
Slowly, the yellow desert with infernal heat disappeared, and all that remained was boundless darkness.
In that darkness, Mahoraga heard the voice of the Spell:
[Sleeper! Prepare for your Second Trial!]
[Two brave ones… welcome to the Nightmare!]
____
A/N - Well then, can we hit 200 or 230 powerstones by tomorrow? Cause we're lagging behind by a lot.
Also, I've got the basic overview of the Nightmare planned but not it's intricracies, so I'll be taking some time to plan everything. It'll take maybe a week or two.
So until then, cya guys