(Flashback)
Chased through the tall grass, two celestial guards pursued Chun into the Pure Land. They stopped abruptly at the landmark, refusing to cross the invisible boundary.
One of the celestial guards looked at Chun, his voice stern. "No Man's Land is a forbidden place for mortals and immortals. Come back with us and accept your punishment."
Chun looked at the celestial guards, her body weary, her voice trembling with desperation. "Please let me go. I promised, after I hand over these five stones, I will return with you."
"Our duty is to take you back," the other celestial guard stated, unyielding. "We are under no obligation to negotiate with you."
Chun looked at the two celestial guards, noting their reluctance to cross the line into Pure Land. "No matter what the consequences are, I will take these stones to open the Gate of Reality." With those words, she turned and fled, leaving the celestial guards, who dared not cross the marking line, behind.
Chun rushed across the shimmering white desert at her fastest speed, heading directly towards the Gate of Reality. But the figure standing before her was not her lover; it was Avalokiteshvara.
Chun stopped instantly, falling to her knees as Avalokiteshvara stood guard before the Gate of Reality. "Father of kindness and mother of compassion," she begged, tears streaming down her face, "please let me enter No Man's Land."
Avalokiteshvara looked down at Chun, her voice filled with ancient sorrow. "Of all beings, you should know better. Why waste thousands of years of accumulation to achieve Nirvana for a fleeting moment of joy?"
"Happiness is short-lived, but it's worth it for me," Chun said, looking up at Avalokiteshvara, tears still blurring her vision. "The only thing worthy of happiness for me now is not to continue Nirvana, but to spend a short life with him."
Avalokiteshvara sighed, a sound heavy with regret. "Amitabha… entering Nirvana is the dream of many, yet you are willing to give up a lifetime's achievements in exchange for temporary happiness. Sentient being… oh, sentient being…"
"You are not me, and I am not you," Chun said sadly, her voice barely a whisper. "What makes you happy may not necessarily make me happy."
"The stones you are holding are not the true stones that can help you open the Gate of Reality," Avalokiteshvara revealed. She opened her right palm, and five luminous gems hovered there, radiating an ethereal glow. "Let's make a bet. I will open the Gate of Reality for you, but once you emerge, you will no longer be a goddess; you will return to your original form. If the person you love appears and accepts you, I lose the bet. You and he will then enter No Man's Land together."
Chun wiped her tears, her eyes wide with hope. "Is what you said true?"
"I speak the truth," Avalokiteshvara confirmed. "But if he sees you and his feelings for you change, then you've lost the bet. You will remain in your true form and accept your punishment."
Chun slowly rose, confidence radiating from her. She was certain the man she loved, who had cherished her for many years, would not change his view of her, regardless of her form. "I accept this test," she declared.
Avalokiteshvara turned to the Gate of Reality. The five luminous stones hovered in the air around her right hand, then flew into the five corresponding holes on the ancient stone wall. Slowly, with a deep grinding sound, the Gate of Reality began to open.
Avalokiteshvara looked at Chun, asking one last time, "Will you regret it?"
"No, I won't regret the decision," Chun affirmed, her voice resolute.
"Alright, step into No Man's Land," Avalokiteshvara instructed. She pointed to the door.
Chun pushed the door opened and saw only a lighted candle on the table inside a large empty room. She slowly approached the opening, she heard the joyful laughter of men, women, and children. She found herself walking into a village bustling with life. She looked back at Avalokiteshvara, a smile spreading across her face. "This place looks a lot like my village!" she exclaimed happily.
"This is No Man's Land," Avalokiteshvara explained, her voice calm. "Where the real and the illusory meet. Here, it will create the image that your heart desires most. Sometimes your inner desire is not reality."
Chun suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground. The joyful scene around her dissolved, fading into a horrifying tableau. She saw a man violently kicking and hitting a woman. The happy family she had just witnessed began screaming at each other, their faces contorted with rage. The laughter of children and people turned into wrenching sobs. Men began raping women, mothers mercilessly beat their children, fathers sold their own offspring, and people slaughtered each other without mercy. Chun shook her head in tears, a desperate cry escaping her lips.
"No," Chun sobbed in shock, "this is not what I want! I want a happy place! Where was the happy place just now? Where did that happy place disappear to? I want that happy place back!"
"This is the reality of the short-term happiness you pursue," Avalokiteshvara stated, her voice mournful. "It is not always as perfect as you imagine. Where there is life, there is death. Where there is love, there is hatred. And where there is good, there is evil."
Chun propped herself up from her belly, and when she turned, her eyes fell upon a long, six-foot-long tail, covered with scales, where her legs should have been. "No…!" she screamed, her voice cracking with horror. Her beautiful, fair legs and feet were gone, replaced by the long, snake-like tail she had always detested.
Chun slowly crawled out of the stone doorway, pulling herself with her hands. She had only taken a few steps into No Man's Land and dared not continue. Now, she finally understood why this place was called No Man's Land. She sat by the entrance as Yu and ten of his men walked towards her.
Chun looked at Yu, her voice strained. "I got the stones you asked for."
Yu kept his distance, his face cold. "Throw those stones over."
Chun reached out, opening her right palm. Five stones hovered there, glowing faintly. "Here, come and take the stones."
Yu looked at Chun with unconcealed disgust. "Throw them over," he repeated, his voice harsh.
"Are you afraid of me?" Chun asked sadly, her voice barely a whisper.
Yu looked at Chun's face, then his eyes flickered to her coiled tail beside her. He quickly averted his gaze from her lower body. "I'm in a hurry," he said, his tone dismissive.
"Are you afraid of me?!" Chun screamed, her voice breaking with anger and despair. "What about the promise to be with me forever? Were those all lies?"
Yu's face remained indifferent. "You lied first. You told me that you are a goddess. If I had known you were a demon, I would have killed you when we first met."
Yu's words pierced deeply into Chun's heart, inflicting a pain she had never known. For the first time, she truly hurt. She giggled, a broken, desperate sound, looking at her tail, then back at Yu, her eyes wide and frantic. "My love for you will always be pure until the day I die…" she whispered, staring at him wildly. "I promised to accompany you through this life and meet again in the next life. That's what you said to me."
Yu refused to look at Chun. "You can give me those stones, or remove your demon body from my sight," he said, his voice flat and devoid of emotion.
Chun listened to Yu's cruel words and laughed, a hollow, bitter sound. A few minutes later, she threw four of the stones at Yu, and simultaneously leaped forward, a short pike now clutched in her left hand. She aimed the weapon at Yu's stomach, but just as she was about to strike, an unseen force pulled her into a dense forest, away from the scene.
Avalokiteshvara appeared before Chun, her presence radiating calm. "Repent yourself," she urged. "Do not make the same mistake again."
Chun lay on the ground, not daring to raise her head to look at Avalokiteshvara. "I lost… I repent…" she whispered, defeat heavy in her voice.
"Do you know why you can never enter No Man's Land?" Avalokiteshvara asked.
Chun shook her head, tears still falling. "Please enlighten me," she sobbed.
"It is because your heart is full of desires," Avalokiteshvara explained. "Everyone has desires. Only those who are truly free of attachment can walk into No Man's Land and not be affected by its power. If you don't believe me, see for yourself."
Chun watched, horrified, as Yu used his powers to try and force open the Gate of Reality. But the force Yu sent to destroy the door reflected back, violently. The reflected energy tore apart Yu and all the men he had brought with him. Chun saw Yu's body ripped into many pieces.
"If you were a mortal," Avalokiteshvara said, her voice somber, "your body would have been no less broken than his."
(Flashback End)
Chun's massive tail wrapped around Yul, squeezing him with immense force. Yul grunted loudly, straining to strengthen his muscles, resisting the crushing power of her grip.
With her upper body transformed back into a beautiful female form, Chun laughed, a cruel, triumphant sound, at Yul's desperate struggle. She smiled, her eyes cold. "You can't escape me. No creature can escape my grasp. Ha… ha… ha…"
Yul's back was squeezed tighter by Chun's tail, and a loud scream of pain tore from his throat.
Hajime looked at the old woman, his mind racing. "You and I are in a dream," he stated, his voice firm despite his fear. "How can you take advantage of the situation?"
The old woman chuckled, a dry, rattling sound. "Because I am a dream catcher. If you enter my formation, you will be my prey."
"So, you feed on dreams?" Hajime asked, trying to understand her nature.
"That's right," the old woman affirmed. "Different dreams have different results."
"You are right," Hajime countered, a flicker of an idea forming. "Different dreams will have different results. You are a dream catcher, but not a dream controller."
The old woman looked at Hajime, her face darkening with anger. "Do you think there's a difference between capturing a dream and controlling it?"
"Maybe," Hajime said, pushing his idea further. "But I want this dream to be unusual. A boring dream." The old woman's face twisted in displeasure. "Did I guess right?"
"It doesn't matter to me what you dream," the old woman scoffed, her anger barely concealed. "Whether in reality or in a dream, everyone hopes to have a good dream. So, what happens when you are in a nightmare?"
Hajime's thoughts plunged inward, searching for what he truly feared most. After a moment of agonizing introspection, he knew. It was the night in the dark alley. The memory filled him with both terror and a burning anger. As he recalled that night, the graveyard around him began to distort and change, rapidly transforming into the grimy, shadowed alley.
Hajime's lips trembled, "No…" His heart hammered against his ribs. "I don't want to be here."
The old woman looked around, her eyes widening in genuine surprise. "What kind of place is this?" she whispered, taken aback.
Hajime saw a garbage can flying towards him, and he instinctively blocked it with both hands. In front of him, he saw June, Shi, Akako, and Kota smiling, walking towards him. Despite the visceral terror they invoked, he couldn't seem to force himself out of the dream.
The old woman, now standing next to the four bullies, laughed, a pitying sound. She looked at Hajime. "You think you can wake up from your dream by making yourself afraid? Let me tell you, this dream is not an ordinary dream. The only way to wake you up from this dream is for your heart to wake itself up, not you. No matter what your heart creates, you will never wake up. This is the difference between reality and illusion." Her red eyes fixed on him, burning with hunger. "Now, give me your soul."
Hajime's mind raced, desperately searching for anything that could make him wake up. He thought of everyone, but no one seemed to possess the power to shatter this nightmare. No one would make him want to wake up for it. Then, suddenly, Yul's scream of pain echoed from the top of the hill to his left. Hajime's head snapped to the side, his eyes wide with desperate worry. "Yul…!"