5/5
Unlike the darkened nun who had descended using “Maria’s” body back in the Holy Kingdom, the Suthia before them was her true body, manifest in the flesh. The only one who could have stopped her, Nova, who was powerless because of the blessing ritual,
It seemed that all the forces around Renji had been annihilated by Suthia. Well, not all, one remained.
Eileen summoned a blood-red greatsword. However, the once fierce and intimidating scarlet blade now seemed more like a toy in this setting, posing no threat to Suthia.
Previously, even the combined strength of many couldn’t leave a scratch on Suthia, let alone now when only she stood alone.
Eileen’s grip on her greatsword was indeed shaking. All she could do now was to continually call out to Suthia, trying to awaken her goddess. But Suthia’s only response was a swing of her scythe.
The girl desperately tried to defend, but her blood-red sword was no match for the scythe’s power. It shattered like tofu under Suthia’s blow, and Eileen, now weaponless, could only watch as the dark nun’s black scythe swung unrelentingly in her vision.
Bang!* .𝒎
Before Eileen could even react, a muffled sound rang out, and in the next moment, the massive black scythe stopped. To be precise, it was forced to stop.
What widened the girl’s eyes in disbelief was…
“Renji?!”
The black scythe, capable of slicing through Nova’s dragon scales, was now being held back by Renji’s single arm. Strangely, his arm was unharmed, not even a scratch.
“You’ve done well, Eileen. Leave the rest to me.”
In the girl’s stunned view, Renji shook his head at her, signaling her to step back. Then, turning to face Suthia, who also wore a look of shock, he exerted force on his arm. The nun felt an irresistible strength emanating from him, sending her and her scythe flying!
“This power…”
“My Lord, how did you regain your power… No, no, impossible!” Before she could even steady herself, Suthia’s gaze was fixed on Renji, her darkened heart feeling a flicker of retreat.
For Suthia had thought of an unsettling possibility.
Renji, on the other hand, seemed intrigued by the nun’s words.
After a moment of thought, a massive aura began swirling around Renji. His clothing transformed, and a dark brown cloak enveloped his entire figure, merging him with the shadows.
At first glance, the cloak seemed unremarkable, even tattered, as if it were the remnants of something burned. Yet, to Suthia, who was not far away, it sent shockwaves through her mind, causing her grip on her scythe to falter.
This seemingly “worn” cloak emitted an ancient, enduring sense of time. On a second look, it was no longer just a cloak but represented the many who tried to burn themselves to light up the dark nights. Each had eventually burned out, turning to dust, but there would always be another to take up the mantle, continue burning with that will, turning to ash – their fate and their glory.
“No, this can’t be!”
“My Lord, how can you… have you regained… no… it’s fake! It must be fake!”
Suthia kept retreating, fear evident on her face.
Renji’s whole body concealed in the cloak’s shadows while staring at her silently, this image was all too familiar to Suthia. It was this familiarity, these resurfacing memories, that instilled such unbearable fear in her.
Her desire to monopolize her lord, hinged on him not regaining his former power. Otherwise, her actions would be a mere joke, potentially making her despised and rejected by Renji.
With these thoughts, the nun lost all reason and charged at Renji, swinging her scythe, trying to “pierce” through him.
In response…
Renji just shook his head.
“Ugly… It’s just too ugly.”
“My real Thia would never do such ugly things.”
Watching the nun, who became even more grotesque after revealing his “Ashen” form, Renji seemed to lose any interest in testing her further. 𝘪𝘳.𝘤𝑜
‘Such an ugly dream’
‘It’s better to end it soon’
Renji didn’t even move, and the nun across from him discovered in horror that her body was… crumbling?
“What is this!?”
“No, don’t! My Lord… I don’t want…”
In the end, Suthia didn’t even reach Renji before her entire body dissolved into mist and dust, vanishing completely with the night breeze.
After all this, Renji, though fond of his true “Ashen” form, knew it was but a false illusion and soon withdrew from it, returning to his normal state.
“What the…”
“Am I dreaming?”
Eileen, who had witnessed everything, rubbed her eyes in confusion. Her mind was a complete mess, unable to comprehend what had just happened in the past few minutes.
To this, Renji spread his hands and said, “Congratulations, Eileen. You’re right, you are dreaming. Well, not exactly. You are a figment of my imagination based on the real you, so essentially, you’re the same as everyone else here, including Suthia.”
“What!?”
“Renji, snap out of it! You’ve already taken off the dream terminal! This is reality, not a dream!”
Looking at the girl’s anxious concern, Renji smiled.
“I did take off the terminal, but it seems that was only in the dream. The real me is probably still wearing it. Honestly, I was fooled at the beginning too, well until I heard you and 86 conversations…”
“But… because I’ve now come to my senses and realized this is still a dream, I’ve regained some control over the dream. Isn’t what just happened the best proof? Even you said it felt like a dream.”
Renji appeared to be talking with Eileen, but in reality, he was conversing with himself, much like how people internally question and answer themselves when thinking. However, in this dream, these internal dialogues took the form of “Eileen,” helping him analyze the situation.
“Old timer! If this is all a dream, we need to hurry and get out!”
Faced with the girl’s urging, Renji nodded thoughtfully. “Indeed. But the question now is, how do I wake myself up?”
“Do you want me to pinch you? Isn’t pain supposed to wake you up?”
“It’s not that simple, or I would have left when Suthia’s contract backfired on me. No use just thinking about it. It seems we need the person who tied the bell to untie it.”
As he spoke, Renji looked towards the corpse of the maid robot who was the first to be “killed” by Suthia, under Eileen’s puzzled gaze.
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