Hra, hra, if you don't work harder, your senior Ais will...

Thor planted the seed of Endless Fury deep within Bell's consciousness. Once he confirmed it was stable, his consciousness withdrew, moving on to the next dream.

The scene before him was no longer a distorted cartoon world, nor the cold, damp corridors of the Dungeon.

Moonlight spilled through massive floor-to-ceiling windows, casting a glow across the polished marble floor.

Thor looked around, confirming his location.

This was the headquarters of the Loki Familia.

It seemed this was Lefiya's dream.

He understood the situation immediately.

But where was everyone?

The residential corridor was empty and quiet, with only his own footsteps echoing back at him.

He followed his intuition, eventually stopping before a door left slightly ajar.

Just as he prepared to push the door open, a faint, satisfied moan drifted through the gap.

"Mmm~"

The sound was soft and melodic, carrying an indescribable sense of comfort.

Thor frowned slightly and pushed the door open.

The scene inside instantly came into view.

Ais had removed her signature blue boots, wearing only the white stockings that encased her legs, and was kneeling on the edge of a soft bed.

Lefiya was resting her head on Ais's lap, completely relaxed, her face filled with satisfaction and enjoyment.

Ais bowed her head slightly, holding a thin ear pick, carefully probing the contours of Lefiya's ear.

"Is this... alright?" Ais asked in a soft, gentle voice.

"Mmm~" Lefiya kept her eyes closed, letting out an even longer, more satisfied hum, her body unconsciously snuggling into Ais's embrace, her face showing undisguised happiness and comfort.

Seeing this, Thor's expression darkened instantly.

"Lefiya." His voice was not loud, but it was like dropping a scoop of liquid nitrogen into warm water, instantly shattering the intimate, tranquil atmosphere of the room.

"Waaah--!"

Lefiya bolted upright from Ais's lap, moving so fast she stirred up a breeze.

She widened her emerald eyes, staring in disbelief at Thor standing in the doorway. The color drained from her face, only to flush a deep, burning red the next second, the heat spreading all the way to her ears.

The way she looked, no matter how you sliced it, was exactly like someone caught by their family while indulging in a secret reward.

"Th-Thor-sama?!" she stammered, panicking. "N-no, it's not what you think! I, I... I was just..."

She waved her hands frantically, incoherent, her eyes darting everywhere, refusing to meet Thor's gaze.

Thor's eyes swept calmly over her flushed cheeks before landing on Ais, who remained kneeling on the bed.

Unlike Ais, whose dream was distorted by her deep subconscious, both Lefiya and Bell were in a state of Lucid Dream.

They were fully aware they were dreaming and knew they were undergoing night training.

Yet, Lefiya was using the dream to satisfy desires she wouldn't dare act on in reality...

Thor was so annoyed he laughed.

He remembered clearly that it was Lefiya herself who had begged to participate in this night training.

And now, she was secretly using his ability to indulge herself?

"Heh..." Thor let out a low, cold chuckle.

Snap!

He gave a sharp snap of his fingers.

The cozy bedroom disintegrated instantly.

Lefiya felt her body lighten as a sudden sensation of weightlessness took hold.

"Waaah--!"

She cried out, her bottom hitting the cold, hard ground with a thud, making her wince in pain.

"Ow, ow, ow~"

She rubbed her sore backside, not yet fully recovered, when a familiar, foul stench of blood and sulfur filled her nostrils.

Immediately after, the heart-stopping roars of monsters echoed from all directions!

Lefiya looked up sharply, her heart nearly stopping—

Before her were the familiar rock walls of the Dungeon.

And what made her scalp crawl even more was the endless swarm of monsters stretching out before her!

Thor's figure appeared on a high rock platform not far away, looking down at her from above.

"I did promise you that I would train you very strictly. I have no intention of breaking my word."

Lefiya watched the tide of monsters surging toward her, and terror instantly gripped her heart.

Her mind went blank; the only thought remaining was to flee!

"Lord Thor! I'm sorry! I was wrong! I was truly wrong!" she screamed with a sobbing voice, scrambling to her feet and trying to run in the opposite direction, without a single thought of fighting back.

Thor remained expressionless, turning a deaf ear to her pleas.

Only five seconds had passed.

A nimble War Shadow lunged forward, its sharp claws slashing down viciously!

"Ah--!"

Lefiya felt the world spin, her vision instantly drowned in blood and searing pain.

She could clearly feel her body being torn apart and devoured... her consciousness sank into darkness amidst the extreme agony.

However, the eternal darkness she expected did not descend.

The next second, Lefiya snapped her eyes open, gasping for air.

She reappeared unscathed in the exact spot where she had stood before, as if that horrific death were merely a vivid hallucination.

She froze for a few seconds, then realization dawned on her—

This was a dream! She couldn't actually die!

This realization acted like an adrenaline shot, instantly dispelling most of her fear.

Lefiya watched the approaching swarm of monsters; although her scalp still tingled, that sense of impunity gave her enough leeway to continue shouting toward Thor while dodging and running in a panic:

"Lord Thor! I really know I was wrong! Please forgive me! I won't do it again!"

Her voice carried the panting of someone who had survived a disaster and a hint of imperceptible relief. Her demeanor was less like someone undergoing rigorous special training and more like someone playing an exciting game of tag...

Watching Lefiya "die" three or four times under the claws and fangs of the monsters, she still only cowered and fled, showing no intention of fighting back.

The initial fear in her eyes had even faded, replaced by a kind of numb resignation.

She even began to slow her pace, seemingly intending to just lie flat and let the monsters tear her apart; after all, she couldn't die in a dream, and the pain would pass after a while.

Thor frowned slightly.

He had underestimated Lefiya's "resilience," or rather, her determination to give up.

"Since even death cannot stir your fighting spirit," Thor's voice came through clearly amidst the monsters' roars, carrying a hint of coldness, "then let me see what you truly fear in the depths of your soul."

Before he finished speaking, his fingertips moved, and invisible Dream Dust spilled out like fine sand, seeping into the dream space surrounding Lefiya.

These Dream Dust particles could reflect the deepest fears of the heart and manifest them.

Thor waited intently.

In his expectations, perhaps a giant beast that devoured everything would appear, or an illusion representing failure and shame...

However, the moment the Dream Dust gathered, twisted, and took shape...

Thor's gaze suddenly froze.

Appearing beside him was not a hideous or terrifying monster.

It was Ais.

But it was certainly not the cold and dignified Sword Princess of ordinary days.

Ais's hands were hoisted high by cold iron chains, her toes barely touching the ground.

An exquisite black lace blindfold covered those golden eyes that were always calm.

She was still wearing that signature pure white combat suit, which outlined her slender waist and long legs.

The only difference was that her bare feet, wrapped in sheer white silk stockings, were now slightly tensed because they had nowhere to find purchase, her toes curling and stretching restlessly within the silk, revealing a sense of fragile, submissive helplessness.

Thor: "..."

He was uncharacteristically silent.

This... was fear?

He almost doubted whether he had miscast the spell, mistakenly drawing out some... unspeakable, secret desire from within Lefiya's heart.

This scene was less a manifestation of fear and more like some kind of... meticulously designed... image?

For the first time, Thor felt genuine doubt regarding his own abilities.

At this moment, the remaining Dream Dust actually gathered and condensed in his hand on its own.

Hm?

Thor looked down at the object that had appeared out of thin air in his palm.

A light, white feather.

He subconsciously raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the "Ais" illusion hanging by the chains, and finally landing on her completely exposed armpit.

Almost out of an instinct for investigation, Thor flicked his wrist, using the tip of the feather to lightly graze that delicate skin.

"Ngh--!"

The bound "Ais" shuddered violently, a stifled groan spilling from her throat. Her entire body went rigid, causing the chains to emit a faint, rattling clatter.

This reaction...

Thor felt his scalp tingle instantly, an indescribable sense of absurdity forcing him to instinctively take half a step back.

Even though he had traversed long ages and witnessed countless bizarre phenomena, he felt a surge of intense... shock at this moment.

The "fear" manifested by this dream was simply too... outrageous.

Just as he was about to wave his hand to dispel this eerie illusion, Lefiya, who was being chased in a sorry state by monsters below the high platform, suddenly let out a shrill, off-key cry.

"I-I'm sorry! I, I will train properly! Please don't bully Miss Ais!!"

Before the words had even faded, she actually stopped her aimless fleeing, spun around abruptly, raised her staff, and began chanting regardless of the consequences toward the nearest War Shadow!

Although her movements remained clumsy and her magical fluctuations appeared frantic, her stance was truly that of someone beginning to fight back.

Oh?

Thor's expression turned extremely peculiar.

This... was it actually effective?

He wasn't sure if this was Lefiya's genuine heart or some peculiar logic of the dream at work.

It wasn't until Lefiya exhausted her mana once more, panting heavily and on the verge of being overwhelmed by monsters, that she prepared to give up resistance.

Thor's gaze fell back onto the feather in his hand, then flicked toward the silk-clad feet of "Ais," wrapped in thin, translucent white stockings.

He hesitated for a moment before finally brushing the feather lightly across those sensitive soles.

"Mmm..."

The "Ais" illusion shuddered violently once again.

She pressed her legs tightly together, and the toes wrapped in white silk curled inward.

Her originally fair cheeks were stained with an unnatural flush, and her chest heaved rapidly.

"Don't—!!!"

Below, Lefiya's scream rang out almost simultaneously.

It was as if she had been injected with adrenaline; she erupted with astonishing willpower once more, brandishing her staff to force back the monsters closing in on her and resumed the battle.

Watching the immediate effect, the corners of Thor's mouth curled into a smirk.

"Ho-la, ho-la," he drawled, his voice tinged with playfulness, "Lefiya, if you don't work harder, your senior Ais is going to..."

As he spoke, the tip of the feather brushed lightly against the smooth calf of "Ais."

"Nn..."

The illusion let out a stifled moan, her body trembling slightly once more.

The effect was outstanding.

Watching Lefiya erupt into action again below, Thor had to admit that this method was indeed effective.

However, the feeling brought about by this "effectiveness" was extremely strange.

His consciousness was currently clearly divided across three distinct dreamscapes.

On one side, he was in that childlike, cartoonish world.

He was patiently guiding little Ais, practicing the basics of the Wind-Riding Sword Art move by move, playing the role of a gentle father.

Yet on the other side, he was here, using a bound, "tormented" illusion of Ais to stimulate Lefiya's fighting spirit.

Thor let out a soft sound of surprise; even he felt it was somewhat eerie...

What on earth was this intense sense of moral depravity?