"Captain, I think you might have the same illness as Elysia—the kind where you're adored wherever you go. And yours is already an incurable terminal case."
Ai looked at Elias with a strange expression.
"Mm, perhaps. After all, I saved them."
At that moment, Elias was happily enjoying the delicious meal Rosemary had meticulously prepared. In this dream world, people did not actually need to eat. Eating was merely a way to enjoy flavors rather than replenish the body's nutrients... and no matter how much they ate, they would never gain weight.
(Elysia: Heaven!!)
Although the dream could produce all manner of delicacies with a mere thought, Elias still ate only the food Rita Rosemary personally prepared.
In his words, although the food that mysteriously appeared out of nowhere was delicious, it lacked a soul. It did not contain the feelings a beautiful girl poured into the cooking process.
In the end, it was still missing something.
Rosemary never refused Elias whenever he asked for food. Rather, the mysterious and elegant young woman herself seemed to enjoy it.
However, Ai was not referring to Rosemary at the moment. Although Rosemary's affection for him was gradually increasing, Rita Rossweisse would never open her heart to someone so easily.
Ai was referring to the residents of this dream world.
"I went out for a brief stroll today and heard many people calling you a savior, an angel, a hero, and so on. I suppose I should say that's only to be expected of you. It's been just one day, yet you've already filled the people of this world with affection for you."
Ai sighed emotionally. She sat beside Elias and admired the smile he wore while enjoying his meal, all while picking up a lock of his snow-white hair and playing with it.
"Mm, because my puppets are highly efficient."
Elias shrugged, unsurprised.
His million-puppet legion had spread throughout the dream world on a frenzied hunt for the [Nightmares]. In only one day, they had already eliminated two-thirds of them.
The natives of this bubble world watched helplessly as the [Nightmares] they could do nothing against and could only flee from were utterly crushed by one exquisite, handsome puppet after another.
Every last one of them was so shocked that their jaws nearly hit the ground.
Moreover, because the puppets' appearances had been modeled after Elias, their golden right eyes, blue left eyes, and snow-white hair were far too distinctive to mistake.
As a result, Elias was recognized the moment he stepped outside, after which the dream's residents showered him with gratitude and practically worshiped the ground he walked on.
"Still, Captain, aren't you being far too calm about this?"
"What else should I do? Just as you said, Ai, I'm popular wherever I go, so I've long since gotten used to it~"
Elias waved dismissively, indicating that something of this level was nothing worth mentioning. Back in the Previous Era, the Flame-Chaser of [Deliverance] and [Eternity] had directly replaced God in the hearts of the people.
He had even become the faith of the entire Previous Era.
Leader of humanity, hero of salvation, nemesis of the Honkai, and countless others—Elias had as many such titles as anyone could imagine.
Besides, this was merely the salvation of a single world. To outsiders, it might be an earth-shaking, supremely glorious achievement, but for Elias, it could genuinely be called an everyday occurrence.
"..."
Ai Hyperion was rendered speechless.
At that moment, she once again clearly understood just what kind of extraordinary hero she had chosen to follow.
No one throughout all human history could stand shoulder to shoulder with this white-haired youth in terms of the magnificent achievements he had accomplished.
In a certain cup-snatching game unique to a region of the Far East—the Holy Grail War—if someone summoned this savior, everyone else might as well surrender immediately.
"By the way, Captain, the Hyperion's repairs are nearly complete. Once your puppets eliminate all the [Nightmares] in this dream world, we can resume our voyage."
"Hmm... it may not be that simple."
"What?"
Ai froze upon hearing that.
Elias held a chicken leg between his teeth and propped his chin on one hand, staring at the ceiling of the flower-shop cottage as he slowly spoke.
"I previously thought that eliminating every [Nightmare] would resolve this dream world's crisis, but now I realize I was being too optimistic... Those [Nightmares] can never be completely eradicated."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Ai's red eyes widened. She had not expected such a reversal.
"My puppets have eliminated quite a few [Nightmares], but I only noticed this morning that more of them seem to emerge endlessly. So I had the puppets conduct a brief investigation."
"They discovered that these [Nightmares] actually come from other bubble worlds in the Sea of Quanta... Or, more precisely, they are fragments of bubble worlds that have already been destroyed."
"Because their worlds collapsed, they were drawn to this utopian dream world. Once the fragments entered the dream, they transformed into [Nightmare] monsters."
Simply put, unless bubble worlds stopped being destroyed within the Sea of Quanta, the [Nightmare] monsters could never be exterminated. They were the lingering resentment of the destroyed, as well as a form of yearning for beauty.
The Sea of Quanta was incomprehensibly vast. Every day, as many bubble worlds were destroyed as there were stars in the night sky. Even the current Elias could not possibly save every bubble world.
After all, their number was practically infinite...
As long as bubble worlds continued to be destroyed, their fragments would be drawn to this dream world, transforming into [Nightmare] monsters that corroded this seemingly perfect utopia.
"W-Wait. In that case, couldn't you simply absorb this bubble world into your body, Captain? No bubble world within your body will ever face destruction."
Ai hurriedly spoke, sounding somewhat anxious.
A paradise where bubble worlds would never be destroyed?
Was that not right before her eyes?
The white-haired youth before her, known as the Ark of Civilization, was a sanctuary for every bubble world. More than three thousand bubble worlds now existed within Elias' body.
Countless among them had originally been on the brink of collapse, yet they all now existed safely within him.
Therefore, as long as Elias absorbed this bubble world into his body as well, it would no longer suffer invasions from the [Nightmares].
"...Ai, do you think I didn't consider that? Also, let go already. You're pulling my hair."
The corner of Elias' eye twitched as his scalp went numb. The AI girl beside him had accidentally lost control of her strength.
She had nearly yanked his hair straight out.
Ai looked down and hurriedly relaxed her grip, but she did not let go. The texture simply felt too pleasant. She then raised her hand and rubbed Elias' head.
"Why wouldn't it work? Is there another problem?"
"Well~ once some things have been stained, they can never regain their original purity. The same is true of this dream world. Even without any external invasion, it will now continuously produce [Nightmare] monsters on its own."
"How could that happen?!"
"It was only a matter of time. After all, nothing in this world is more fragile than perfection, and a supposedly eternal and flawless utopia will ultimately remain nothing more than a fantasy."
Elias shook his head. Although his expression was solemn and dignified, the chicken leg between his teeth ruined the image.
"As the Herrscher of Good and Evil, I understand this very clearly. Although this omnipotent dream is perfect, don't forget that it was constructed from human will. Human nature contains both good and evil, beauty and ugliness, but the one thing it does not contain is satisfaction."
"In a dream where every wish can be realized merely by thinking about it, human desire will expand without limit, and then... it will inevitably clash with the desires of others."
"Once the perfect dream ceases to be perfect, [Nightmares] will be born from within it. That is unavoidable unless the two of us are willing to remain in this world forever."
Elias smiled bitterly. If he and Ai, who possessed the strength to defeat the [Nightmares], lived here forever, then they truly could guarantee the dream world's eternal peace.
But that was absolutely impossible.
Elias was not noble enough to sacrifice his future for a single bubble world. Even for the sake of the other bubble worlds within the Sea of Quanta, he could not allow himself to stagnate.
Within this infinite sea, worlds yearning for a savior were as numerous as the stars. Although this dream world was truly beautiful, it possessed neither the value nor the right to monopolize Elias.
"Th-Then what should we do? Captain, is there truly no solution?"
"Of course there is~ If I couldn't overcome a predicament of this level, I wouldn't deserve to call myself the bearer of Deliverance. But sometimes... creation must be preceded by destruction."
Elias flexed both hands, and his bones cracked like a string of firecrackers. A fierce light gleamed within his magnificent mismatched eyes.
"...I suddenly have a terrible feeling."
Ai abruptly felt cold and shuddered instinctively.
Elias excitedly licked the corner of his lips before continuing.
"The dream world truly can't be saved. Once we leave, it won't last long before collapsing. But the people in this bubble world are different. As long as we wake them from the dream and return them to the real world, everything will be resolved."
"Return to... the real world?"
"Mm-hm~ No matter how troublesome the [Nightmares] are, they can't possibly escape from a dream into reality. We simply need to end this world's dream and wake everyone in the bubble world."
"Then how do you plan to do that, Captain? Waking everyone in the world won't be easy."
Ai had already relaxed.
Although she still did not know exactly what Elias intended to do, since he said he had a solution, there was surely no need to worry.
"It's simple. Kill everyone."
"...Wh-What did you say?"
"I said, kill everyone inside the dream!"
As Elias spoke, he raised his right arm and viciously chopped through the air. Despite its simplicity, the gesture was enough to make cold sweat break out across one's skin.
"There are two things that cannot happen within this dream. One is falling asleep, and the other is death. If I unleash a full-powered attack in this dream world, it will be enough to kill everyone instantly."
"..."
"But because death doesn't exist within the dream, everyone will awaken in the real world. The dream ends, the [Nightmares] vanish, the crisis is resolved, and everyone lives happily ever after. Hurry up and applaud~"
"Th-That really is an incredibly simple and brutal solution."
Ai's eyes turned into blank dots. He actually intended to resolve the problem that way? Yet after thinking it over carefully, she had to admit it would work.
Once every resident of the dream awakened simultaneously, the perfect utopia constantly sustained by the will of all living beings would also meet its end at that very moment.
The threat of the [Nightmares] would be eliminated completely.
Afterward, Elias could absorb the bubble world into his body.
Then everything would be resolved. A happy ending for everyone~
"When do you intend to act?"
"There's no rush, Ai. Before that, we need to ask what everyone else in this world thinks, especially Rosemary. Besides... she's still hiding a secret."
Elias looked out the window. His script had already been arranged, and now it was time to enjoy the show.
...
Elsewhere in the dream town at that moment.
The witch carrying a lantern hummed as she walked toward her flower-shop cottage. She held a basket filled with ingredients in her arms while wondering what she should prepare for dinner.
Rosemary's enthusiasm for cooking had soared over the past two days.
Normally, even when she personally prepared a meal, she could only enjoy it alone. Moreover, in the dream world, personally cooking was considered an incomprehensibly troublesome activity by everyone else.
However, Elias loved eating the food she personally prepared. Whenever Rosemary recalled the white-haired youth's eager expression as he begged her for food, the corners of her lips rose uncontrollably.
For the first time, she experienced the joy of cooking for someone else.
Moreover, whenever she saw the happy and satisfied expression Elias wore while eating her food, Rosemary found herself involuntarily sharing in his happiness and satisfaction.
Perhaps even though they were two independent people, Rosemary was still "Rita Rossweisse." She, too, possessed the desire to devote herself to serving others—the instincts of a maid.
Yet at that very moment...
Grrrgl... Grrrgl...
A lone [Nightmare] appeared along Rosemary's only route home, and the upward curve of the young woman's lips immediately vanished.
"You truly have terrible timing."
Grrrgl... Grrrgl!!
"My apologies, but Rita currently has an important guest whom she must entertain properly. I cannot afford to waste any unnecessary time on you. Therefore... please rest in peace."
Rita Rosemary raised the lantern in her hand, and a wisp of ghostly blue flame drifted from within. When that tiny spark, seemingly fragile enough to be extinguished by a single breath, landed upon the [Nightmare]...
Grrrgl—!!
The [Nightmare] immediately released an agonized shriek.
The monster's body seemed to become fuel for the spark. Ghostly blue flames spread across its entire form, reducing the [Nightmare]—a creature the dream's residents should have been incapable of defeating—to ashes in the blink of an eye.