Chapter 225

Even Ahri in her "Spirit Blossom" state is nothing compared to this size...

[Eh...? Mr. Chen Ce...!] Sona finally realized that her actions had been a bit too direct.

Blushing, she crossed her arms and turned to the other side.

But Chen Ce had already seen everything, both what he should and shouldn't have seen.

This isn't some Sona, she's clearly the harp fairy!

"Cough cough... I didn't see anything... but..."

[But what...?] Sona blushed.

Chen Ce, being quite sensible, turned to look out the window—the bright moon peeked through the gaps in the dark clouds. He couldn't help but sigh, as if reciting a poem:

"Miss Sona truly has the world in her heart..."

It's already past midnight.

The world was pitch black.

There was no sound of human voices in the town, except for the occasional cawing of a raven in a withered tree.

Evil spirits lurking in the darkness begin to peer into human dreams.

Everyone was asleep... but they tossed and turned in their beds... their furrowed brows betraying the pain they were experiencing in their dreams...

So the Nightmare prepared to enjoy its creation.

It detected a hint of magic... This is quite rare.

A rare delicacy.

It split into countless versions of itself, while the most important [original body] rushed straight into the dreamscape from which the magical aura emanated.

It travels through countless dream worlds.

Finally, it found its sweetest dream—its food. It was starving and thirsty.

Two mortals with magical powers... their dreams, their fears, their pain... so delicious...

It merges their dreams into one.

To enjoy more delicious food at once.

"Being plagued by nightmares..."

A terrifying "creature," like a shadow, roams freely in the dreams of mortals, spreading its fear with abandon.

It began to alter the dreams of these two magical mortals.

The lush grass and soaring birds, the clear waters and verdant mountains, the pink sea of flowers... all beautiful things have turned into a terrifying wasteland, with only ghostly screams echoing.

Nocturne is about to devour these two delicious dreams.

However...

It suddenly saw a "fourth person" --

It is neither the owner of these two dreams, nor itself.

Instead, it's someone else from a dream who shouldn't be here.

A blind woman with her eyes covered.

Where she walked, beneath her feet, pristine ice replaced the repulsive wasteland.

She was like an ice queen, haughty and cold in demeanor.

"Are you the nightmare Chen Ce mentioned?"

Chapter 85 Nocturne: Bad, there's a competitor.

Sona prepared breakfast in the early morning.

Steaming hot noodles, stewed meat, and fried eggs. She almost used her superb culinary skills to plate them into a heart shape.

This will make Chen Ce's day more energetic... she thought, humming a little tune to herself as she brought all the freshly cooked breakfast to the dining table in the living room.

The young man who had saved her twice just walked out of the room, a smile on his face and sleepiness in his eyes. He yawned and fiddled with his slightly messy hair like a cute child.

He was still in his pajamas, a small clump of soap from washing his face still clinging to the corner of his mouth. He gently rubbed his sleepy eyes, then sat down at the dining table and continued to doze off.

So cute~

[If I keep getting sleepy, I'll be late again!]

Sona tapped the plate with her spoon, making a tinkling sound, and then personally wiped the foam from the corner of the other person's mouth with a handkerchief—like a gentle wife.

[Cheer up, Mr. Chen Ce!]

"Hmm..." Chen Ce mumbled in response, but his body didn't move at all—he was still leaning back in his chair with his head tilted back. How was he supposed to eat like that?

[Does a hug rouse me? Like always?] Sona removed her apron, revealing her graceful figure. With a gentle smile, she suddenly realized that she was no longer shy about hugging.

[I just can't do anything with you~]

She leaned down and embraced Chen Ce warmly, not minding at all that her full breasts would press against his chin.

This slightly astringent feeling... she actually kind of likes it now? It's hard to say... Anyway, if she could do it under a reasonable pretext and pretend not to know, she would be quite happy to do it.

Because every time this happens, Mr. Chen Ce's eyes dart away—that look of wanting to look but not daring to... it's so funny!

[Wake up!] Sona gently swayed her slender waist, her full breasts brushing against the other person's face. The alluring curves of her hips swayed before her eyes.

Why is Mr. Chen Ce so lazy today? Does he need a kiss to wake him up?

"Hmm..." The young man in her arms still looked like he hadn't woken up yet.

Sona shook her head affectionately, preparing to gently kiss the other person's cheek.

But just as she got closer, she suddenly realized... what was she doing?

Kiss...?

Huh...?

Such proactive, bold, and boundary-crossing behavior...?

What am I doing...?!

Sona blushed and left the other person.

Then she saw Chen Ce continue to sink deeper into the back of the chair.

A chill ran down Sona's spine as she watched him sink deeper and deeper, as if a deep pit had opened up beneath the chair back. Amidst Chen Ce's unconscious mutterings, the chair back tightly enveloped his body, then began to reflect light, becoming increasingly soft and slippery, until finally transforming into a bright red, filthy tongue.

Sona snapped out of her terrified daze. She reached out to Chen Ce, struggling to grab him and pull him out.

But the tongue wrapped around her more tightly and swallowed her deeper and deeper.

With a sharp crack, the wooden chair frame shattered. Jagged wood splinters rose up, gradually becoming sharp, yellowed, and eventually calcified into rows of long teeth. The entire chair transformed into a gaping maw, poised to swallow Chen Ce whole.

"Mr. Chen Ce!" Sona shouted, a wave of nausea nearly causing her to collapse. She hadn't even realized she could suddenly speak.

Wisps of black mist emerged from Chen Ce's mouth and nose, swirling above the deformed bed like a gradually forming storm.

The enormous mouth opened wide, emitting a scream that seemed to rupture eardrums and freeze blood, like a yawn. It wasn't the roar of a great predator, nor the howl of a wild beast summoning its kind. To Sona, it sounded more like the first cry of a newborn baby... almost like a cry of excruciating pain.

The gigantic jaws began to snap shut, and Chen Ce's body was about to plunge into the abyss of darkness.

Sona tried desperately to pull Chen Ce out, but the powerful attraction rendered all her efforts futile.

She tried to use the power of the magical harp music to save Chen Ce, but when she turned her head, she found the entire room was "collapsed," and there was no sign of Etwahl anywhere.

She was almost in despair.

And just then, she suddenly felt...

The hand she grabbed also grabbed her.

Then she heard Chen Ce's gentle voice. "Don't be afraid, it's just a dream."

Nocturne was created at the end of the Rune Wars.

A secret group of magical warriors who would stop at nothing to achieve their own victory; they were the first to abandon their flesh and blood and enter the realm of the soul; all people know of them is that they hunt each other.

Their hunting grounds are not only on the battlefield, but also in the realm shaped by their own subconscious thoughts and emotions. Freed from the constraints of the laws of material reality, their fighting methods are incomprehensible to most mortal minds; they can even create ethereal assassins to carry out orders.

People call them Shadow Mages.

Their secret technique is the "shadow magic" that was later mastered by the Order of the Shadow Cult.

The thoughts of ordinary people everywhere were tainted by this darkness. It drained their fighting spirit, disturbed their dreams, and allowed nameless fear to gnaw at them day and night, even leading some to commit heinous crimes against their own people.

The shadow mages created countless evils and sufferings in that ethereal "space." They even ruled over it for a time.

No one can say for sure whether these hardships created Nocturne from nothing, or whether a low-level assassin construct was corrupted by it and transformed into a more self-centered and deadly being. But either way, it gave this newborn shadow creature a non-material form and an unfathomable terror.

Nocturne understands no kindness, honor, or nobility—it is the embodiment of fear and has no need for such self-restraint and control.

This demonic creature howled in the realm of souls, lunging at those unorthodox and foolish mages, those who had once given it life, whipping them mercilessly in an attempt to end its suffering.

It endured constant pain, which made it cruel, but it soon came to enjoy the taste of mortal fear.

In its territory, time has almost no meaning, but Nocturne will prolong each chase as much as possible, savoring the prey's agony before swiftly severing their last thread of life. Soon, no one dared to enter Nocturne's territory anymore.

So it began hunting alone.

As mortal thoughts drift unknowingly through the void in their dreams, waves of magic demarcate the boundary between the two realms, where peaceful dreams can easily turn into nightmares. And with this flow of magic, Nocturne found a way to enter the mortal world after waking up.

From bustling cities to desolate plains, from the greatest kings to the humblest peasants, every flawed soul attracts this demon, which then twists it into earthly fear and eternal darkness.

It hunts as usual, seeking to fill its "belly" with fresher souls and fears.

It never misses a shot.

Until...

For the first time, it glimpsed in a mortal's dream an existence that shouldn't belong to the dream world—

An outsider. An outsider who, like it, intruded into the dream.

"Are you the nightmare Chen Ce mentioned?"

The strange stranger asked again.

Nocturne was momentarily at a loss for words, his hoarse voice emitting only meaningless metallic scraping sounds.

Its eyes burned with a cold light as it curiously gazed at the stranger—a female human. She seemed to possess magic as well.

"If you don't answer, we'll assume you are—anyway, there's no one else here."

The strange woman raised a hand, pale and bloodless, yet like a ray of holy light... the complete opposite of the darkness brought by the nightmare.

The next moment, a sharp ice spike shot out.

Crack! The ice spike split into several more pieces during its flight.

Nocturne was still a bit confused about the current situation.

So all those sharp icicles pierced its body.

Call...

Its ethereal body dispersed like mist, revealing several round holes pierced by icicles in the center.

The extreme cold magic erupted, and it felt pain from its body for the first time in a long time.

It let out a scream.

Then it pounced on the stranger like a madman.

The latter smiled dismissively and snapped his fingers with his other hand.

Click!

Countless icicles burst forth from the ground, surrounding the woman like a trap filled with spikes—and precisely piercing the onrushing monster.

The indestructible True Ice immobilized the monster.

The Lissandra shook her head. "Is this all the power a demon has?"