He Who Could Not Awaken

"Ha-ha~ Who told you to flirt with so many cute girls, Wang?"

"So this is all my fault?"

"Of course~?"

"Fine, fine, you're always right... What should we ride next?"

"I want to ride the roller coaster! And the drop tower!"

"Ling! The drop tower is too dangerous."

"Then the roller coaster!"

"Sakura, did Ling trick you again?"

"...This child only knows how to play little tricks."

"Hehe~"

Laughing together, everyone crowded around one another and entered the amusement park.

Since Eden had booked out the entire place, they naturally ate lunch and dinner at the park's restaurants. The food Sakura had prepared did not go to waste, though. Everyone shared it and enthusiastically praised Sakura's cooking.

Everyone happily played together. Since there was no need to queue, they went through every attraction in the entire park. The only regret was that, by evening, there were too many clouds in the sky to enjoy the beautiful sunset from the Ferris wheel.

That night, after riding the few attractions exclusive to nighttime and enjoying the unique light show and fireworks display, everyone planned to stay at the park hotel for the night—after all, Superstar Eden had booked it out, so why not stay?

On the way to the hotel, Griseo and Ling walked at the very front of the group, chasing each other around Hen and Blanca. Eden and Elysia strolled behind them. Perhaps because there were two children present, Eden had restrained herself and had not drunk any alcohol since entering the park. She only occasionally hummed along with the atmosphere. Meanwhile, Xi Wang and Sakura walked shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand, at the back of the group, smiling knowingly as they watched everyone ahead.

But...

Something was still missing.

Xi Wang frowned slightly, and his head began aching again without his control.

Was something missing?

Yes, what was missing?

Are you dissatisfied? With everything as it is now?

No, I'm very satisfied. I love this. I couldn't be more satisfied. It's just...

Then why do you still feel confused?

Because something is missing...

What's missing... Ah, I know.

"What's wrong, Wang?"

Elysia, who should have been walking ahead, had stopped at some point. She stood before him and asked with concern.

"Were you unhappy today?"

"No, I was very happy. It just feels like... something is missing."

Xi Wang shook his head, then voiced his confusion.

"It's like there's a flavor missing from my mouth... Ah, I'm not saying today's food wasn't delicious. It just feels like something is missing."

"Something... missing?"

Sakura pondered for a moment beside him, then seemed to naturally reach into her bag.

"Something's missing... I know!"

Elysia seemed to think of something as well and turned to rummage through her shoulder bag.

"This, right? / Is it this?" x2

The two of them simultaneously took a Candy box from their bags and held them out before Xi Wang.

Elysia spoke in her usual bright, certain tone.

Sakura, meanwhile, looked at the Candy box in her hand with slight confusion, and her tone became uncertain.

"..."

Xi Wang froze.

...Was it an illusion? It felt like the air around them had frozen, while the clouds overhead grew thicker and thicker, gradually obscuring the moonlight.

Xi Wang silently took the Candy boxes from their hands and removed a white star from each before putting them into his mouth one after the other.

They were both familiar flavors. Their sweetness filled in what had been missing.

Still, hadn't the air become more humid? Was it going to rain?

"...It really was this... Where did these Candy boxes come from?"

Xi Wang asked softly.

"Hehe~ I knew it. Wang used to love eating candy~ Yet you actually forgot today. But it's okay~ Sakura and I both brought some~?"

Elysia said.

"Ah... yes."

Sakura was a little dazed, but she still nodded in agreement.

"...No, that's not right."

Xi Wang shook his head in denial.

The clouds in the sky grew increasingly heavy, and faint thunder even began to rumble.

"I said I wouldn't let them touch this."

Xi Wang slowly raised his head and met Elysia's gaze. The golden glint in his pupils shone like stars in the night, so captivating, yet so terrifying.

Drip—

A light rain began falling from the night sky.

"Never!"

In an instant, the rain turned into a torrential downpour.

The Man Who Could Not Wake

"Mm..."

The pungent smell of disinfectant flooded her nostrils, seemingly mixed with other medicines. Sakura held her head as she sat up, then shook it slightly. The long, slender ears atop her head swayed with the motion. Thanks to a Fusion Warrior's physical abilities, her vision gradually cleared and her awareness of her surroundings slowly returned.

"This is..."

"Sakura? You're awake~"

Elysia's delighted voice came from beside her, and almost immediately afterward, Sakura sensed her approaching.

"How are you? Did you sleep well? Are you awake now~ Can you see adorable me clearly~"

"...I'm fine, Elysia... What is... going on now?"

"...The Herrscher of the Eighth attacked the base. Its special power caused too many people to fall into Dreamscapes. Although Dr. Mei and the others made medicine to resist mental attacks, many people still fell unconscious."

Elysia spoke softly.

"You were one of them earlier, Sakura. But fortunately, you've woken up now."

"Is that so... It was... a dream..."

As though she had not fully recovered yet, Sakura muttered in a daze.

So marrying Wang and everything before that... had all been my dream?

"...Right, where are Ling and Wang? How are they?"

Though she was still somewhat dazed, Sakura quickly came to her senses and hurriedly grabbed Elysia's arm.

"You don't need to worry about Ling. She's safe. It's just that Wang..."

Elysia opened her mouth, but in the end, she merely stepped aside, revealing Wang lying behind her, as well as Dottore farther away.

Unlike the others who had fallen asleep, almost all of whom had sunk into their own sweet dreams with peaceful expressions and smiles on their lips, occasionally uttering incomprehensible murmurs, Xi Wang was frowning tightly, his body twitching faintly. Clearly, he was not having a pleasant dream. Wounds even appeared on his body from time to time for no apparent reason, and their appearance was extremely bizarre, as though his body itself were creating them.

As for Dottore, her condition was even worse than Xi Wang's.

The terrible sight made Sakura instinctively move closer to Xi Wang. She gently took his hand, trying to comfort him while he remained trapped in his nightmare.

"He and Dottore were pushed into nightmares by the Herrscher of the Eighth together."

Mei's voice came from the side. She lightly pinched the furrow between her brows, which had deepened from working for too long. Mei led a group of researchers to Sakura's side, then briefly explained the situation.

When Moth to Fire discovered that the base had been invaded by a Herrscher, it immediately sounded the alarm and attempted to gather its combat forces. But the Herrscher of the Eighth's unique mental power was too difficult to guard against, especially when it deliberately targeted them with a surprise attack. Before long, more than half the people in the base had fallen into Dreamscapes. Had the specialized medicine not been distributed in time, the entire base might have been paralyzed.

Once no more people were falling unconscious, Dr. Mei and the others began researching how to wake them up. With that goal in mind, they urgently developed a batch of medicine for testing. The first three subjects were Sakura, Xi Wang, and Dottore. All three were Fusion Warriors, so even if the medicine caused problems, they could recover through their powerful physical constitutions.

Yet now, after receiving the medicine, Sakura was the only one who had truly awakened. Neither Xi Wang nor Dottore had woken up. Even their previously peaceful sleeping faces had become twisted with pain.

"Sakura, can you tell me how you woke up? It may help us research the medicine."

Mei asked Sakura. She urgently needed to learn what was happening inside the Dreamscapes and ensure that the two Fusion Warriors would not be targeted to death by the Herrscher... As valuable combat strength for Moth to Fire, they could not simply die like this.

"...I'm sorry, but I'm not entirely sure either."

Sakura recalled everything in the Dreamscape, but her memories of it had already grown hazy. She opened her mouth, but in the end could only shake her head dejectedly and answer with a hint of apology.

"I only realized that I was dreaming, and then I woke up."

"I see... Was it a pleasant dream? At least, the kind that seemed pleasant to you?"

"Yes."

"...That matches what the others said."

Mei frowned, though she did not doubt Sakura.

Although it was difficult to wake up on one's own after falling into a Herrscher's Dreamscape, it was only difficult, not impossible. There had been a very small number of people who woke up. Mei had naturally questioned them, and their answers were all the same: once they realized they were dreaming, they woke up naturally. Without exception, the dreams they had been having were all pleasant ones.

Combined with the blissful expressions on their faces while asleep, Mei inferred that everyone was having pleasant dreams. And when people completely sank into those dreams, they would naturally die... That was the Herrscher of the Eighth's killing move.

After all, reality was so cruel, while everything in the Dreamscape was so beautiful. Ordinary people would follow their instinct to pursue beauty and choose the Dreamscape, then fall into the Herrscher of the Eighth's trap. Furthermore, the dreams were so realistic that those within them found it difficult to realize they were dreaming. Once caught, it was almost impossible to wake up. It was practically a death sentence.

But now... looking at the pain on Wang and Dottore's faces, Mei felt that they had still underestimated the Herrscher of the Eighth.