What exactly is going on here?
How is he doing this?
The "Dream world" Lucius Drogo had pulled me into seemed to act similar to a Soul Eclipse. But, unlike Charlotte's Soul Eclipse, there was no heavy feeling of oppression and I seemed to be able to move freely.
My eyes darted around, looking for any information I could use to escape.
Indeed, if this were a Soul Eclipse, I'd already be dead.
But just because it wasn't a Soul Eclipse, didn't mean it couldn't have characteristics similar to one. Lucius was able to freely control the surroundings in a way similar to how a Soul Eclipse might overwrite the laws of Gaia to project whatever environment the caster wanted.
No, perhaps it's too hasty to say that he has complete control over this world. There must be heavy restrictions on what he can do because otherwise he could have buried me several miles underground, instantly suffocating me.
For the moment, there was no way to guess at what exactly was within Lucius's capabilities in the dream world, but it was clear that he had some degree of influence over my soul. Just a moment prior, he'd heavily injured me just by creating psychological stress.
In a Soul Eclipse, the caster would have the ability to instantly kill any living thing inside their domain by simply crushing their soul. The attack would be instantaneous and completely unblockable if the target weren't using any countermeasures, just like how that hole had appeared in my chest without me even realizing it.
Therefore, even though this clearly isn't a Soul Eclipse, it's necessary that I cast Soul Eclipse countermeasures.
Adam: [I am Pax. I am Adam. The dead who walks unwilling. The sinner pursued by Fate] --Soul Shell
Strengthen the outline of your soul. Solidify who and what you are. This is the only way to stave off the corruption that a Soul Eclipse will subject you to --That is, unless you find an Eclipse for yourself.
The words Charlotte had hammered into my head years ago returned to me as if she were still behind me, telling me everything wrong with my fighting techniques. The sting of her betrayal had dulled over time, leaving only an understanding of the position she was in, and the unfortunate circumstances that had forced her hand back then.
One day I'll return to you, Charlotte. Once I'm strong enough we might be able to talk honestly with one another.
But if Charlotte had been with me at this time, she would've scolded me for being so late to put up my Eclipse countermeasures. Had I realized the nature of this dream earlier, I might not have suffered from Lucius's opening attack.
Most likely, Lucius's Dream World had the ability to convert emotional or psychological pain into soul damage. The hole that had appeared in my chest was merely an indicator that the attack had landed. Even after healing it, the hole would reappear if I didn't constantly expend mana to seal it.
Shit, I have no methods to heal soul damage except for waiting for my soul to naturally heal itself with time.
Any future attacks that Lucius might land would increase the size of the hole until my soul simply fell apart.
So did he make himself bigger and surround me with mysterious enemies to scare me and cause psychological damage to me? Is just acting scary enough to damage me?
I planted my foot backwards and placed my right hand over my left wrist in a sword drawing stance.
Casting spells becomes more difficult when inside a Soul Eclipse. More so when you use your own countermeasures, which create a boundary between yourself and the world around you. The 'self' that the defender reinforces with their countermeasures must be adjusted every time they Augment themselves. The 'other' that was already under the control of the attacker becomes even harder to mess with. You can think about it this way: If spells are things that break the rules of the world, then it becomes harder to cast them when the enforcer of the new world you're in is staring right at you with a club in hand.
More of Charlotte's teachings came to me as the samurai in the tall grass drew towards me. I had first counted twenty but every few seconds more seemed to join their numbers.
Lucius seems to be goading me to attack, but I still don't know the rules to this world.
I knew that a situation this bizarre must have come about by a relic. There probably wasn't any other way for dream magic to be this threatening.
According to Raya, house Drogo originally had 3 relics in their possession. She never found out what the other two were because they were closely guarded secrets, but she told be that it should've be one from each Familia of Magic.
Because Ryuzu's Fang represents Creation, the other two must be Manipulation and Augmentation. I'm guessing that this is some advanced form of Dream Manipulation.
The samurai kept inching closer towards me, not allowing me nearly enough time to figure out the possible weaknesses of Lucius's relic.
Adam: [Cycles of dawn and dusk eternal] –Blood Crystallization
I drew a sword of blood from my left wrist and decapitated the closest samurai.
The rest of the horde jumped at me in unison.
Blood erupted from both their bodies and mine as we tore one another apart. But each strike of theirs that landed would be healed instantly --No psychological damage dealt.
With each swing of my blade, several bodies would drop. But instead of their numbers decreasing, more and more kept attacking me. They used their bodies to slow down my blade and stepped on top of one another to throw themselves at me.
I'd thought that I could whittle down Lucius's mana by killing these guys, but one look at the giant staring at me silently from the distance told me that he wasn't struggling in the slightest. Perhaps his relic had its own source of mana, similar to Ryuzu's Fang.
One of samurai bit down on my blade even as it pierced through the back of his head. His eyes showed madness and desperation as they looked into mine. Like Samuel, these were real humans I was slaughtering.
I wanted to believe that they were his soldiers, simply brainwashed from birth and too far gone for me to do anything other than put them out of their misery, but another, more sinister, thought wormed its way into my head:
What if these are the townspeople I saw earlier, turned mad by Lucius's dream world, dressed up in armor, and told to swing their swords at me?
The thought itself made me flinch. It made too much sense. The newer 'samurai' had no skill to speak of with a blade and simply threw their bodies at me like a crazed mob.
I ignored my instincts screaming at me to keep my feet on the ground and decisively leapt into the air to escape the bloodbath. I didn't need to look down at my chest to know that psychological damage had been dealt to me.
As I rose higher and higher in the air, I leveled a finger gun at Lucius's giant face.
Adam: --piercing
An exaggerated hole appeared between his eyes, but, seemingly completely unaffected, the giant Lucius smiled smugly down at me.
The fog stirred as the giant vanished and the ground below me retreated further and further away.
An evil laughter came from all around me as I begin plummeting downwards. But the ground wasn't coming any closer.
So this was all part of his plan?
But falling from heights doesn't scare me in the slightest anymore…
The laughter kept getting louder and louder until it began hurting my ears and disorienting me. Suddenly, I couldn't remember which direction was originally below me.
Then I was submerged deep in an ocean of water. I saw a light far in the distance but knew I could never reach it by swimming.
I'll drown eventually if nothing changes here. Is this water just an illusion or can I truly die here just like that? No, the rule is that only psychological damage is lasting. As long as I'm fine with drowning, Lucius can't hurt me this way.
As I pondered how to get out of this situation, and how I would familiarize myself with drowning, an unavoidable voice came deep from the darkness below me.
Lucius: [Sleep deeply and endlessly] – Dream Bind
- - - - - - -
Grass more vibrant than my eyes could fully process
Made so by the goggles of nostalgia
A face beautiful even with its features blurred
Her presence would dictate it so
I laugh with a mouth no longer my own
But it rings hollow to the older me
Because this is…
This is something that could never exist again
This isn't something I can't go back to
This is a dream
- - - - - - -
I woke with a hole bigger than the last gouged out of parts of my left arm and torso. The original hole through my chest also reappeared larger than it was before.
How do I stop him?
How do I stop this!?
Lucius: [Deeper and deeper, till even the smoke no longer stirs] –Heart Bind
- - - - - - -
Her face centimeters from mine
Her eyes reflecting only my love and warmth
My sorrow thrown far and away where it can't be seen
I don't ever want to leave this place
Don't leave me either, okay?
She nods
She indulges my every desire
She is everything I need
She is everything
But I'd forgotten that comfort itself is uncomfortable
Just as it was in the waking world
Because even dreams have limits, right?
- - - - - - -
Lucius: [Another failure, eh? This time will be the last.]
I can escape the forced dreams, but I can't avoid his attacks.
What can I do?
At this rate, I'll die without getting to do anything for Raya.
Lucius: [hit bedrock, the land of sunken wishes] --Soul Bind
- - - - - - -
8 sinners yet One they would call Heretic
One would scorn her love
One would abandon all for her delusion
Her Wish
Stolen and hidden across worlds in the night
Where Wish would be hidden from Mother Sin's gaze
But hidden, Wish was not
Not vengeance nor scorn returned
Love, only Love
The Heretic would find One's fate painful
Her Wish 'corrupted'
Sin no more
Till the Apostate returns Mother's embrace
- - - - - - -
What is this? That is no memory of mine.
The fog is acting erratically–
- - - - - - -
???: [No, you don't have a choice. We have need of your Perspective, and so it shall be ours.]
???: [----! ---'- -- ----!]
- - - - - - -
Perspective 6:
I was born on August 12th, 382 of the New Dragon calendar...
[We don't care about any of that, so just skip to part we're missing.]
I dragged him deeper and deeper into his dreams. At this point, there was no possible way for him to escape, though I was unsure of how much more backlash from Ryuzu's Liver I could take.
Surely Pax couldn't survive a third binding.
"hit bedrock, the land of sunken wishes" --Soul Bind
But as I braced myself to experience more fragments of Pax's life, something stirred the deepest fogs of the Dream World.
This is bad, Lucius! Abort! This guy is part of stuff way above my pay grade!
Ryuzu's voice shouted in my head. The noble dragon hardly ever spoke, so I didn't immediately register what he'd said. Then I instinctively felt what he'd been so afraid of. I'd made a mistake, but it was too late to abandon the bindings I'd already placed.
I was dragged down into Pax's dream.
Instantly, my eyes burned from the things I saw.
The origin of life.
The rise and fall of Magic.
The will of the Natures.
What I could only describe as four parallel realities forever at war with one another.
I saw all of this in a fraction of a second.
My eyes were blinded, but all of my other senses still burned.
The likeness of a colossal figure would be forever branded upon me, the kind of being that dwarfed planets and solar systems.
???: [-----, --- ------'-- ----- ------.]
[What did She say?]
[----...]
[It seems Lucius's vessel is insufficient to proceed any further. EXTRAPOLATING...]
???: [Ryuzu, you should've known better.]
Ryuzu: [I didn't know you could reach this far. My master will stop whatever this is.]
???: [Whatever, shrimp. Just be glad that I still have use of the other parts of you. I'll let your host off with a verbal warning.]
THOU SHALL NOT GAZE UPON GOD
Ryuzu: [NO!]
DEATH IS LIFE
WAR IS STAGNATION
FOUR RINGS; CONNECTED BY THE LIMITS; SIN IS THE SINGULARITY
SYZGY OF THE FOUR CHOIRS; REMAIN UNBLEMISHED; SING YOUR ENCORE
...
The words etched themselves upon Lucius and his soul.
They completely broke his mind.
Lucius never again left his Dream World.
He spent the rest of his days awaiting his death without even the capacity to commit suicide.
As for Ryuzu's Liver...
It was tossed across the ocean like a piece of trash.
- - - - - - -
[Things will not end for you so easily, Apostate]
Flying?
I felt the wind assaulting my face before my eyes could adjust to the bright light. Though I was still confused, I didn't panic because I could recognize the hand that was holding mine.
I'm out of the dream world somehow, but the battle isn't over yet.
Breathing out, I consciously set aside making sense of what had just happened. I opened my eyes to face the next obstacle.
Adam: [What's the situation over here?]
Raya turned back to look at me, a relieved smile betraying the worry she'd been feeling. Over the sounds of gushing winds, I barely make out her response:
Raya: [Welcome back. The fog just cleared up, I'm guessing that was your doing? Kael Drogo is stalking us from somewhere, likely preparing to make some kind of entrance. He's an extremely cautious man, so he'll only attack when forced to or if he knows he'll win. Currently, his minions are doing their best to waste my mana and potentially give him an opportunity to stab us in the back.]
Adam: [Right, I'll take over for now. Sheathe your sword and regain some strength before the final encounter. Or do you think we have a chance of running?]
Letting go of my hand for a moment, Raya sheathed her sword as we fell through the air.
I reached to her and held her in a princess carry. Initially, she protested but my seriousness made her understand what I going to do and she complied. We didn't need words to communicate with one another. Then we hit the ground like a meteor without slowing down in the slightest.
Fissures appeared in the ground and dirt was flung several feet in the air. But there was no bruise nor broken bone in my legs this time. I immediately sprinted through the cloud of dirt and dust in the direction away from the town.
Only when we got to a large clearing in the forest did I set Raya down.
Raya: [There is no more running for us. Even if we tried the result would be the same.]
In just a moment, we were completely surrounded. Dozens of hooded figures wielding curved swords made a perfect circle around our position. Some had ragged clothing while others held broken blades. They seemed hesitant to make the first move, as if they knew that they would die if they get too close. Outside of the Dream World, they still had the ability to run away. In their minds, years of training to forget fear must have been clashing with their base instinct to run and survive another day.
They could tell now that we weren't just harmless smoke. Nor were we just kids who'd run away from home.
In their eyes I saw their resolve slowly harden enough to throw their lives away. I didn't understand why they could muster up that sort of resolve for a villainous bastard who was hunting down his own granddaughter, but I wouldn't show them a shred of mercy.