Analysis

"I just didn't expect..." The Lord of Incubus felt countless mocking gazes cast upon her as she listened to the God of Nightmares's question. The top three Dream God were actually trapped in a dream; these words were truly unpleasant to say!

The God of Nightmares, however, ignored her rebuttal and simply frowned, saying:

"This shouldn't be happening! It seems like only I can trap you with nightmares... Even if a new Dream God were to be born, such manipulation of nightmares should be detected by me!"

"So you admit it?" The Lord of Incubus looked at the God of Nightmares, who was emanating a mental fluctuation that seemed to say, "The murderer is actually myself?" His hands were bulging with veins, as if he was about to tear the nightmare apart.

God of Nightmares immediately shook his head and said:

"No, I just want to ask, are you sure you're trapped in a dream? And not some kind of illusion disguised as a dream?"

"Are you underestimating me?" The Lord of Incubus glared at the God of Nightmares. "I am a deity who wields the Dream Authority! How could I not distinguish between dreams and illusions? Even if I Think, my servants only have the ability to enter dreams through summoning rituals. Since she entered there by accepting a summons, it can only be a dream! Besides, I can even use the [Dream Interference] power. Do you think that's a dream or an illusion?"

"[Dream Interference]? You escaped using this authority?" The God of Nightmares's tone was somewhat complicated. If [Dream Interference] could be used effectively, it wouldn't have been considered trapping, and there wouldn't have been a need to come knocking on their door for that, right?

"No." The Lord of Incubus blushed and immediately straightened his face, saying:

"That dream has a very high priority; I can only activate my powers at specific times, and the effects after activation are limited to the rules of that dream."

"Then how did you get out?" God of Nightmares was even more surprised. With the power he possessed, trapping the Lord of Incubus was not easy, but if he succeeded, he could keep her trapped for ten days or half a month. However, to restrict all of her powers was much more difficult.

"How should I know? It's probably dawn." The Lord of Incubus shrugged, while the God of Nightmares said thoughtfully:

"Could it be that the Moon God has finally reached out to the power of the dream? Speaking of which, the Moon God also has a part of the symbol of [awn]..."

The God of Nightmares's speculation wasn't just a random attempt to shift blame. In this world, day and night are the powers of the Sun God and the Moon God (unrelated to planetary rotation and revolution, and therefore without time differences). The Moon God herself is associated with night. Although nightmares and beautiful dreams almost always accompany intelligent beings, preventing the Moon God from accessing the powers of dreams, if the other party wanted to...

"If it were the Moon God, there would be no reason for her to target nightmares. Instead, she should first take down beautiful dreams or Silver Dream before devouring your nightmares. And as you said, if any god were to attempt to touch the power of nightmares, you would definitely notice, but the result is that nothing has happened."

The Lord of Incubus' eyes gleamed, and the God of Nightmares immediately felt a surge of pressure, for according to this, he seemed to truly be the only possible culprit.

But he clearly didn't do anything!

A rapid thought raced through my mind, but the God of Nightmares steered the conversation back to its original point—

"So, the problem likely lies in how you left. Hmm, can you go back to that dream?"

"There's nothing I can do, there's not a trace at all." The Lord of Incubus shook her head. She had tried when she was ejected, but she couldn't find the dream entry passage at all.

The God of Nightmares analyzed this strange situation based on his countless years of experience, and finally spoke again after two minutes of silence:

"According to you, this might be a Native Dream."

"How could that be?!" The Lord of Incubus vehemently denied it, but the God of Nightmares shook his head and said:

"A dream created with power is a constant state. Even if the power is terminated, traces will remain. Even if a god with the power of [Dream Eater] were to devour a dream, it would still take time. But since you tracked it immediately after leaving, it's impossible for it to leave without any trace, unless the reason you left was simply because the dream's owner woke up."

"Um... that makes some sense." The Lord of Incubus took a deep breath to calm himself, then shook his head and said:

"But even the Native Dream realm of a god cannot resist the power of [Dream Interference]!"

"You may have fallen into a misconception," God of Nightmares shook his head and said.

"You, me, and Aniko are called Dream God, but besides controlling specific dreams, our main ability is actually creating specific dreams. In other words, our powers are divided into two parts: Create Dream and Dominate Dream."

The Lord of Incubus was no foolish god; upon hearing this, he realized what was happening and pondered:

"You mean to say that this dream is a Native Dream, but what's trapping me is actually a god who interferes with this dream by Dominate Dream?"

"This is the most likely outcome," God of Nightmares sighed.

"While only gods capable of creating dreams are qualified to be called the Dream God, if this new god lacks the power to create dreams but wields significant authority in dominating and modifying them, then it would indeed be a threat to you and me. More importantly..."

"Could this new god be Outsider?!"

The Lord of Incubus instantly understood the God of Nightmares's meaning, but at the same time said:

"If that's the case, then it's actually easier to handle. After all, the duration of the Native Dream is limited. Even if we're trapped, as long as they can't defeat us within a certain time, it will be released directly."

"But we must be wary of the ability to manipulate the time difference in dreams. If the opponent can dream for a thousand years, then time becomes meaningless." The God of Nightmares shook his head, but the Lord of Incubus said:

"Impossible. Adjusting the time difference in dreams either involves skipping the details and leaping directly, turning one second into a year, or it involves directly accelerating time with Mental Strength. The former is meaningless, and as for the latter... with the Mental Strength of a mortal, it's impossible to maintain a very high speed. As for a god's dream, if it's manipulated without his knowledge, then he can die."

"But we also need to consider the issue of him having an accomplice responsible for creating dreams." The God of Nightmares's thinking was very clear. He then added:

"You're an expert in dream manipulation. You previously said that your familiars were trapped after being summoned? Is it possible to reverse the locking mechanism?"

"No problem." The Lord of Incubus snapped her fingers, and a cloud of pink mist exploded. Liliana, still in poor mental condition, immediately appeared beside her. Before the Nightmare, not yet recovered from her mental torment, could even realize what was happening, the Lord of Incubus directly used her authority of [Dominate Incubus] to ask:

Do you remember the details of that order from last night? Who placed the order?