novelraw Chapter 756: Her
Chapter 756: Her
"Pop! Pop! Pop!"
Looking closely, the moonlight had already formed an "Infinity" rune around Renee, connecting head to tail in an eternal, infinitely expanding loop.
Although the entire dreamscape still existed and exerted some suppression over the Ranks of everyone present, Renee was a True God bearing the Authority of Infinity after all. Once the dreamscape tottered on the brink of collapse, this suppression seemed dispensable.
Suspended in the air, the cold-faced Renee raised her hand and aimed at the Helaire before her. As the moon-like halo behind her rotated, mighty power swelled to its absolute limit and arrived with a boom.
"Buzz, buzz, buzz!"
Just as Helaire smiled and was about to speak, that incomparably massive moon wheel had already struck her.
"Rumble!!"
Her entire physical form instantly turned to ash in mid-air, disappearing without a trace, leaving only some grayish-black fine powder scattering in mid-air, a picture of being reduced to ashes and smoke.
"..."
Renee, with her hand raised, furrowed her brows. Although she attacked with full force from the start, she didn't expect the Ocean's avatar to be struck and destroyed so easily.Her purple eyes looked ahead past her open palm, yet she only saw strands of paper bag fragments falling downward. That blonde beauty was already nowhere to be seen, and even her aura was completely annihilated in that heaven-destroying, earth-shattering attack.
Is she dead?
Renee confirmed repeatedly, yet still failed to sense any aura from within.
She was forced to divert some attention to check on the situation between Asuka and Fisher on the other side. Just as she saw Asuka, the Lord of the Dreamscape, relentlessly chasing Fisher, the sound of a paper bag being rustled by the breeze slowly transmitted from behind.
"Rustle, rustle..."
Her pupils contracted slightly, and she hurriedly regained her senses, once again gathering power and aiming it forward.
Yet she only saw the fragments of that paper bag being blown by the wind, landing chaotically on the rooftop of a tall building.
But as those paper bag fragments slowly landed, it was like drops of ink falling onto a blank sheet of paper, blooming into layers upon layers of impenetrable darkness.
"Whoosh..."
Like a darkness piercing through the great void, it continuously expanded, gradually spreading from the top of that building across dimensions toward all directions, until it occupied Renee's entire field of vision.
"Whoosh, whoosh..."
Within that boundless darkness, as if placed within an incomparably vast ocean, Renee felt as if she could see nothing at all, only able to hear the sound of ocean waves transmitting from an extremely distant place, as if from ancient times.
And from within that boundless darkness, pale arms of an unknown species slowly raised up one by one. In their hands, they each gripped the bodies of "Angels", haphazardly combining them in mid-air until they completely formed the headless body of a woman.
Finally, those countless withered arms—like deities, like terror—reverently lifted a blonde head with closed eyes, covered in blood yet wearing a smile, out of the darkness, suspending it high above the woman's headless body like wearing a crown...
"Are you very angry... silly child?"
That headless body and her head reconnected bit by bit. After that, as if possessing a soul, that body opened those playful, scattered blue-gold pupils.
Reflected upside down within those pupils was the frowning Renee amidst the boundless darkness not far away.
"Is this your other avatar?"
"To be precise, it isn't an avatar, because it doesn't possess any of my Authorities, nor does it possess my consciousness... It isn't under my control, but rather acts autonomously... It's merely a protective measure I left within the Sea of Souls. When I discovered the Sea of Souls was taken away, it activated together with my other three avatars."
In the darkness, Helaire touched her intact head, chuckled softly, and said,
"It possesses the power to effortlessly hunt down any deity within the Barrier aside from you. Moreover, as long as it exists, my three avatars will endlessly resurrect. Although it cannot simultaneously face that group of thieves, it counts as my trump card left in this world..."
"Aside from me?"
Renee froze slightly. Looking at the boundless darkness spreading behind Helaire, a drop of cold sweat slowly dripped from her forehead.
Of course, besides the vigilance of facing a formidable foe, doubts arose in her heart even more.
If the protective measure left by the Ocean inside the Sea of Souls was this powerful, why did She still lie dormant for so long?
Moreover, deities like Ramastia who possessed two Authorities were clearly much more powerful than herself. So why was it that it alone couldn't kill her?
Unless...
Looking at Renee's slightly changing complexion, Helaire smilingly tapped her red lips and told Renee,
"Yeah, because the unconscious Authority within your body was sent into this world by me. It belongs to me, so it is equally sheltered by this protective mechanism. Therefore, after your previous incarnation was killed, not only did your Authority not perish, but your consciousness also regrew..."
Renee consistently maintained her silence, silently staring at Helaire walking in the darkness before her, as well as the "boundless darkness" serving as the protective mechanism behind her.
For a long time, both Renee, Ramastia, and the others believed that the Infinity Authority could not be destroyed entirely because of the special nature of the Infinity Authority. However, only now did she discover that the reason the Infinity Authority was perpetual was actually a backhand left by the Ocean inside the Sea of Souls.
"..."
After a brief silence, the moonlight in Renee's hands shone ever brighter. She stared intently at the boundless darkness behind Helaire, then said,
"If the protective mechanism behind you cannot kill me yet possesses the power to kill other deities, conversely, aside from several deities joining forces, I am the entity most likely to kill it alone."
"...I told you these things wanting you to switch sides, silly child."
Helaire rubbed her head seemingly with a headache, subsequently returning to her usual smiling expression,
"You were brought to this world by me, and you have no connection to the belonging of this world. Honestly speaking, back then I just wanted to test the nature of the barrier set up by that coward Azanroth... But fundamentally speaking, there's no conflict between us, is there?"
Beneath Helaire's slender eyelashes, the reflection of Renee's figure in those blue-gold eyes grew increasingly blurred, while her words arrived in quick succession,
"I merely need to temporarily separate the property within Fisher's body from him, and everything will be over."
"..."
Renee pursed her lips, neither answering immediately nor refusing decisively.
Was she wavering?
Perhaps a little. Especially given that earlier, she had naively fantasized about abandoning everything in the world together with Fisher; even if it meant bringing along the group of people Fisher cared about, she wouldn't hesitate to do so.
The Ocean wanted the property in his body, while she only wanted Fisher...
Perhaps this was the reason Renee wavered. But Renee equally had Countless reasons to refuse.
Renee let out a long breath. Looking coldly at the Helaire before her, she refused in a heavy voice,
"You liar bastard... I'm afraid everything you said is false, aside from wanting the property within Fisher's body. I cannot, nor should I, make this decision myself. Fisher has already made a choice, and I choose to believe in him."
Helaire wasn't angered by the rejection. She merely shook her head with a sigh, telling Renee,
"Well then... actually, I didn't hold much hope anyway. Because Fisher and his property are, after all, inseparable..."
The final sentence was light. Before Renee could hear it clearly, she suddenly felt a chill at the back of her head.
So fast!
The moonlight on Renee's body flashed, blocking the menacing incoming attack from behind.
But very soon, the entire dark ocean surged tempestuously, more forcefully besieging Renee floating in mid-air.
Helaire smilingly watched Renee painstakingly handle the attacks. She herself stepped away with her hands behind her back, directly crossing this seemingly boundless darkness and arriving at the tall building outside from earlier.
Standing at the edge of the building, she casually swept a few glances over the city, spotting Fisher confronting Asuka.
"...It seems we need to speed up the time. The me inside the Dynasty won't be able to hold off that group of his frantic little girlfriends."
Helaire shook her head with a smile. She directly leaped down from the tall building, subsequently flying toward Fisher and Asuka's direction like an angel.
And right behind her, within the space wrapped by boundless darkness, thick moonlight constantly flashed past, yet was perpetually unable to break through that black barrier.
"Crack, crack, crack!"
The streets of Tokyo seemed to boil over.
The glass walls on the outside of the buildings suspended in mid-air reflected the blood-colored setting sun projected from the distant west one after another, baring fangs and brandishing claws as they chased the intoxicated people on the ground.
Nighttime Tokyo smelled of alcohol. It was as if the entire city, or even the entire country, was drunk. The endless dream circulated amidst the crisp sounds of money-counting machines time and time again and the dazzling lights of a life of luxury and debauchery.
Fisher ran all the way. Countless banknotes around him seemed to come alive, rolling into a tide in mid-air. The densely packed portraits of figures Fisher completely didn't recognize printed on the banknotes began to repeat the identical phrase,
"Teacher Fisher, where are you going?"
"Teacher Fisher, where are you going?"
Fisher's face was cold as he waved his hand casually. Those banknotes were like being rolled up by a gale and blown to the sides, turning into thick clumps of foam sticking to the walls, looking extremely disgusting.
Meanwhile, on the buildings on both sides, countless people with ferocious smiles on their faces acted like lemmings jumping into the sea. One after another, they all faced Fisher and leaped down from the skyscrapers, falling onto the road in front of Fisher like rain, splattering red.
"Smack!"
"Smack!"
"Smack!"
One after another, figures wearing suits and hollow smiles fell down, instantly piling into a massive barricade before Fisher. The heavy metallic scent made Fisher suddenly halt his steps.
It wasn't because he feared the human barricade ahead, but because something had already arrived behind him.
With a cold face, his head whipped back. The shadows on his face seemingly materialized, leaving only a pair of cold eyes trailing shadowy light as he sharply turned around.
"Teacher Fisher!"
Entering his vision was that black-haired Asuka Karasawa.
Bearing a chilling smile, she opened her arms to pounce on Fisher. Fisher reacted extremely quickly, equally reaching out his hands to block her shoulders. Yet he was still carried by the immense force of her impact, crashing into the barricade and smashing the fallen figures to pieces.
"Cough, cough!"
The fishy scent emitted suddenly assailed his nostrils. Fisher was grabbed by his face by Asuka Karasawa, sliding quite a distance over the pile of figures on the ground.
Before he could react, all the figures around him seemed to come alive, reaching their arms toward him.
As if trying to thoroughly drown a victim already sinking into water straight to the bottom, Fisher gritted his teeth. Looking at the black-haired, faceless Asuka Karasawa draped over his body, he only felt the entire dreamscape beginning to cave in behind him, intending to drag him into the depths.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Fisher gritted his teeth. The power within his body was instantly released. In a flash, layers of air waves erupted on the spot, directly sending Asuka Karasawa flying outward.
However, the Tokyo residents bearing smiling faces on the buildings on both sides pounced on Fisher as if they had gone mad. With a cold face, Fisher stood up, grabbed one person by the neck in each hand, and threw them all back like cannonballs.
"Bang, bang, bang!!"
The huge impact force caused the flight trajectory of the figures to erupt into mists of red along the way, temporarily blocking the path of the other advancing figures. However, on the rooftop, these figures seemed endless, unable to see the end at all.
This won't do. I have to quickly dispel this dreamscape, otherwise Helaire will arrive very soon.
He raised his eyes toward the sky, which had already quieted down for a good while. Most importantly, those steel cages Asuka used to restrict Renee and Helaire had all vanished.
He drew a breath, pulled out the Fluid Sword from his chest, and looked down at the seemingly continuously caving-in dream beneath him.
Then let's see if brute force can break this dreamscape from the inside first...
"Buzz, buzz, buzz!"
Along with the fluctuation of his will, the golden Fluid Sword above the hilt instantly vibrated and extended outward, transforming into the shape of an extremely sharp longspear.
The muscles on Fisher's body constantly shifted, charging up power as he aimed this longspear containing immense strength at the caving-in point of the dreamscape beneath him.
"Whoosh!"
Subsequently, he fiercely raised his hand, viciously piercing the Fluid Longspear into the ground.
But in the next instant, the entirety of Tokyo instantly turned pale white.
That tyrannical power harboring roughly Demigod levels directly formed a massive pillar of light in the center of Tokyo, causing all the scenery around Fisher to begin receding and turning to ash.
The surrounding temperature gradually became scorching, evaporating everything like the sun.
"Thud!"
Standing in the center, Fisher focused his gaze downward, only to suddenly hear an extremely ethereal, crisp sound. He realized this was his longspear reaching the edge of the dreamscape.
Yet a longspear containing such power unexpectedly vanished into nothingness before that dreamscape in an instant, as if it had never even appeared.
The attack disappeared?
Fisher's pupils contracted slightly, then he subsequently denied this idea.
It didn't disappear; the Fluid Sword felt the impact. It wasn't vanishing, but rather looked like this dreamscape was too hard, so hard that I'm afraid not even True God-level power could pierce through it...
No, using external force won't work either. If the power of a True God inside the dreamscape cannot pierce it, then let alone from the outside.
..."Teacher Fisher... it truly won't work, will it? Just like I said."
At this moment, Asuka's ghostly voice suddenly arrived from behind.
Fisher subconsciously turned his head, only to be climbed upon by an extremely cold and chilly body, tightly hugging his body.
That bone-piercing chill instantly seized all the heat within Fisher's body. Subsequently, Asuka's weight gradually heightened, starting to become as heavy as a mountain...
Initially, Fisher could barely support it, but as the magnitude of this weight became increasingly exaggerated, to the point where even the ground Fisher stood on began to crack, he couldn't endure it anymore. With a fierce shoulder throw, he slammed Asuka onto the ground.
"Boom!"
The surrounding buildings swayed slightly. Fisher wiped the cold sweat from his face, subsequently lowering his head to death-grip the Asuka on the ground who had scattered black hair yet still stared dead-set at him. He lowered his gaze, but upon seeing that pair of scarlet eyes, the force in his hands couldn't advance any further.
But as Fisher remained motionless, Asuka conversely reached out her hand, death-gripping Fisher's neck, making his breathing progressively difficult,
"Teacher Fisher... you... aren't going anywhere..."
"Cough..."
The setting sun gradually sank. Exactly beneath the light reflected by the outer glass walls of countless buildings in the sky, the stalemate between Fisher and Asuka on the ground was reflected onto the exterior of countless glass walls, also making the profile of Asuka within the black hair, bearing a crazed smile, appear so distinct.
There's going to be no time left...
"Whoosh..."
Behind him, as if a dangerous wind brushed past, Fisher didn't know when Helaire would arrive.
If she directly took away the property within his body, I'm afraid that would mean the end of everything for this world.
Should I kill Asuka?
Death inside the dreamscape probably means true death. If I kill the Lord of this dreamscape, would it be possible to...
But...
Did Asuka do anything wrong?
She waited for him for a full ten thousand years. The pain and solitude within, even from an outsider's narration, even from her few words full of agony, could be known...
"Asuka... dispel the dreamscape first, okay?"
"...Teacher Fisher... if this dream were so easy to dissipate, then during these ten thousand years, it should have reasonably vanished into the long river of history long ago, rather than still existing here today, making it difficult even for the gods to dispel... This isn't just a dream, it's also a retaliation..."
The expression on Fisher's face grew increasingly conflicted. He could feel the force of Asuka beneath him growing ever heavier, a power intent on dragging him to degenerate forever.
He wanted to take a deep breath to help himself make this resolution, but the palm compressing his throat yielded not a single bit...
Perhaps he wished to apologize to Asuka. Apologize to her for the such eternal wait she felt, for the such injustice she felt... otherwise it wouldn't have caused her to harbor such hatred for this world, for himself, making her so desire to retaliate for everything she had once experienced.
But whether he possessed the qualification to apologize to her on destiny's behalf was still unknown. Perhaps he could only apologize for himself?
"I'm sorry..."
Fisher lowered his head. The power that ought to have been added to the hand gripping Asuka's neck arrived late.
He merely looked at Asuka beneath him. However, along with the reflection of the setting sun, from the corner of his eye, he seemingly saw the reflection of the glass wall on the adjacent building.
Within that blurry-like-a-mirror reflection, he and Asuka were in the exact same posture, yet possessing a massive difference.
He saw that the Asuka in the mirror didn't have her hands pressed against his neck, but rather placed them at her own sides as if giving up. With a head full of black hair, she wore an archaic magic outfit; her face resembled Jasmine's, yet also like their first meeting ten thousand years ago...
She merely looked quietly at the Fisher before her, silently continuously shedding tears until her face was covered in them.
And the Fisher pressing down on her wasn't wearing his usual white shirt and black trousers, but a kasaya.
The Fisher in that mirror was completely Fisher's reflection. Everything, everything, was exactly identical, except the clothes worn on his body were different.
Following Fisher's motion of turning his head to look at the reflection, the Fisher in that mirror also looked at the Fisher outside the mirror with a stunned and dazed face.
But just looking at his mirror self wearing a kasaya, Fisher seemed to have thought everything through...
Why was there this piece of kasaya placed in the small room he lived in within the Kyoto of the dream...
Why everyone else would die, yet alone himself... Asuka said he would never die.
Dazedly, Fisher released the hands gripping the Asuka beneath him. In the mirror, that Fisher wearing the kasaya also released the hands of Asuka beneath him, who was shedding tears and giving up her struggle.
But unlike the Asuka in the mirror who was motionless as if she were a wooden puppet, the Asuka beneath Fisher at this moment directly reversed the roles, fiercely pressing Fisher onto the ground. She wanted to drag him beneath the ground, this deepest recess of the dreamscape, this hazy place of consciousness.
"Smack!"
It wasn't until he was fiercely pressed onto the ground, starting to slowly sink into the earth, that Fisher completely withdrew his gaze from the mirror surface beside him, as if he had just snapped back to reality.
He turned his head around. Looking at the Asuka before him with lowered head, emitting a scarlet glow from her eyes, he said softly,
"So... it's like this..."
The scarlet eyes of the Asuka before him froze slightly, yet she still relentlessly intended to drag him into the ground,
"It's fine... Teacher Fisher, we'll be together forever very soon... Just consider it the compensation for my ten-thousand-year wait, alright?"
"You aren't Asuka, right?"
Fisher looked at the "Asuka" whose movements suddenly paused before him. Following that, he lowered his gaze bit by bit, moving it away from her body, no longer looking at her, but more like looking at himself. Even his words seemed to be repeating to himself,
"Right, she is the Magic Lord, the President of the Creation Society, the navigator for all Transferred Persons throughout time... But right up until the end, the Chaos within her body was irresistibly unstoppable... But clearly, whether it's Asuka or Jasmine, she herself has been controlling this dreamscape... She reasonably should possess the ability to control this dream, and even control the Chaos within her body, so why couldn't she overcome the Chaos in the end?"
Fisher muttered to himself, but looking at the "Asuka" with scarlet eyes before him, he had finally comprehended everything,
"She always knew that the Chaos was interfering with her, but could never eliminate its influence. Because the Dream Illusion resided in her heart, always existing in my appearance... No matter how Asuka expelled the Chaos within her body, as long as one day her heart was still waiting for me, the Chaos could never be eliminated from her heart..."
That kasaya... that piece of kasaya worn on his own body had actually proven everything.
Would Asuka possibly not know that Fisher, a person from another world, wouldn't appear wearing clothing only found in their world?
She clearly should have long recognized that it was merely the Chaos' bewitchment, that everything was false. But the dream was memory, and that Dream Illusion appeared in Fisher's image. Severing and annihilating it meant severing and annihilating the memory of waiting for Fisher.
She was unwilling to do this, hence she tormented herself through difficulties with it.
She only fantasized—fantasized about one day, a day after she waited long enough, a day she could meet Fisher anew.
In that case, as long as she could create new memories with Fisher, even if she didn't remember him, then there would be no regrets.
But a thousand years passed, two thousand years passed, three thousand years passed...
She waited for nothing. Instead, fearing that human memory was too fragile to the point of forgetting the pact of waiting in the past over a long passage of time, she was forced to coerce herself to deepen that segment of memory, to the point where the Dream Illusion in her head took root increasingly deeply.
Over time, back and forth, until one day she truly could not make a choice within this dilemma.
Was she to possess the memories of Teacher Fisher at the cost of indulging the growth of the Chaos within her body? Or was she to thoroughly forget to forever sever its evil?
"Asuka chose a third option, which is why she attempted to bring that Chaos and depart this world. As long as she left here, the destruction brought by the growth of the Chaos would be utterly meaningless to this world. She could also preserve the memories in her brain, continuing to live on just like this... But she just didn't know that this world has an edge. Up until the very end, she couldn't step out, right?"
As Fisher spoke, he gently raised a hand to lock onto the hands of the "Asuka" death-gripping his neck before him. In his eyes was reflected that Asuka who was pinched and pressed to the ground by him, giving up her struggle. Then, he stared at the red-eyed "Asuka" before him and said softly,
"So, she died on the road attempting to preserve her memories and flee. Her soul dropped into the Sea of Souls and was pulled up by Ramastia. Yet despite this, that slice of memory preserved in her body continued to persist, to the point of turning into contamination, existing in the Spirit World for so long..."
The complexion of the "Asuka" before him subtly changed. She was just about to say something, only to see the Fluid Sword in Fisher's hand extend bit by bit, pressing against her neck.
His pupils contracted slightly, but invisibly synchronized completely with the figure of Fisher wearing the kasaya in that mirror. Following that, he said,
"The reason this dream is indestructible... is me, right? And you aren't any Asuka, you are merely the representation of her obsession, or rather, you are the [Dream Illusion]."
The moment these words fell, the expression of the red-eyed "Asuka" froze slightly. Following that, the expression on her face became increasingly malevolent. Her figure abruptly began to squirm, and her voice also started to turn illusionary and unclear,
"That bastard... she was perfectly willing to wait for ten thousand years without any resentment, leaving me with no place to start. That soft persimmon... whether bullied by her parents or let down by you, she didn't resent anything... On what grounds... Finally... finally I found an anchor point to fix myself... you... don't even think about it..."
"Don't even think about it!!"
Listening to the voice of the increasingly expanding scarlet mist before him, Fisher lowered his head, his heart aching increasingly like being twisted by a knife.
He subtly turned his head to the side, looking at that Asuka lying on the ground gazing at him. It was as if she had never resented anyone, even over a destiny so unjust.
Perhaps the contents of this dream truly were what she wanted.
A perfect family, a normal school life, a qualified lover...
Perhaps the world constructed by the Dream Illusion was simultaneously where she wanted to sink into...
But why, as she watched Fisher in the mirror about to raise his blade to finish himself and break the dreamscape, she remained so quiet, merely looking at him...
As if saying,
"Finally I've met the real you, Teacher Fisher."
Fisher's hands could no longer restrain their trembling. He gritted his teeth, piously reciting in a low voice,
"I'm sorry, Asuka."
In the next moment, that Fluid Sword easily severed Fisher's own connection to the dream.
"Crack, crack..."
There was no sound of red scattering...
There was only the loud boom of the entire dreamscape suddenly shattering to pieces, as well as the increasingly expanding, ferocious roaring sound of the Dream Illusion.