SHK CH 768 (Patreon)

Elysium

In a deserted street blanketed by snow, a young girl opened her golden eyes. She blinked at first, confusion filling her eyes as she tried to remember where she was. 

She scratched her glossy black hair####

No. How could she have glossy and well-groomed hair?

She scratched her frayed and greasy hair. 

Her clothes####. 

She wore nothing but rags that were clearly about to give out. 

Her face was covered in grim and dirt. Her nails were dirty. Her body was short and scrawny, her ribs showing briefly through the rags she called clothes.

She observed her surroundings. The cold was not a problem after all, she was protected by a spell ###.

For someone like her, the cold was deadly and dangerous.

Cool and chilly winter. It was the season she absolutely hated.

With snow and ice everywhere, it was so difficult to fall asleep on the ground. 

In the first place, she did not even dare to sleep out of fear of never waking up again.

How many vagrants died in their sleep during winter? The number was incalculable.

Finally, she remembered where she was. 

The slums. A place abandoned by all, where only the poor and criminals rallied.

She remembered who she was. 

She had no name. Unless, Bitch and stupid girl could be considered names. Her parents never bothered to give her another name.

Finally, she remembered the situation she was in.

“...I’m hungry.”

She unconsciously put her hand in her pocket. What she felt was a piece of bread that had hardened like stone. Looking closely, it had something blue growing on it. It was undoubtedly mold. 

Despite its condition, it was the girl's last bit of precious food. Even though hunger kept tempting her, she had to endure. Judging by today’s situation, it was clear that she wouldn’t earn a single coin.

If she ate this now, how would she get through the night?

Though she hated the cold, what she hated even more was sleeping hungry. The hunger felt when trying was truly hell itself. 

She needed to sleep well to work hard and earn money the next day. If she failed to do so, she would make a mistake and might even get her next pay docked. For someone like her, it might be a death sentence.

A doubt settled in her mind. Was this really what she should do? 

Of course. What else would someone like her do?

Shouldn’t be fighting? Wasn’t she facing a go####

What a silly dream! The highest rank in the mortal world is held by the Khan, and he is just a King. 

Then — It was nothing but a dream?

That is right. A beautiful dream.  One filled with adventure and wonder. 

But in reality, she was but a child. A poor child who was hated and beaten by her parent. One that could not even read, much less throw a spell.

Sighing, she approached one of the group huddled in front of the fire.

Memories of her past started flooding in, but —

Why care about the past? She should be content with her situation. Why think about unpleasant things? 

She gritted her teeth. Her golden eyes ### her brown eyes ### Her golden eyes flashed. 

This was a dream, and she needed to wake up. 

This was reality, and she needed to stop dreaming. 

“Fuck you.” Ambrosia cursed.

You wake up from a dream.

.

.

.

In a deserted street blanketed by snow, a young girl opened her BROWN eyes.

She scratched her frayed and greasy hair. 

She wore nothing but rags that were clearly on the verge of giving out. 

Her face was covered in grim and dirt. Her nails were dirty. Her body was short and scrawny, her ribs showing briefly through the rags she called clothes.

For someone like her, the cold was deadly and dangerous.

This was why she needed fire. 

Sighing, she approached one of the group huddled in front of the fire. It was a group of young vagrants she was familiar with. 

This was a day like any other. A day no different from usual. All she had to do was continue her everyday life.

***

You wake up from a dream.

***

You wake up from a dream.

In a cell where light could hardly enter, a young black haired was tending to his wounds. 

His golden eyes ###

His red eyes squinted as he examined his broken arms. The flesh was already squirming and healing. So all he had to do was to correctly align the bones; otherwise, he would have to break his arm himself. 

The air stank of sweat, rust, and dried blood. Chains rattled somewhere beyond the corridor, followed by groans, whispers, and the occasional scream.

He ignored it all.

The young man’s red eyes flicked toward the other cells across the narrow hall. In each, he could make out silhouettes—men and women crammed together, their faces gaunt, their bodies marked with bruises and lash scars. Some murmured prayers to invidia. Others sharpened scraps of metal against the stone in grim silence.

Most of them were demons. A few were beastmen. There were no humans here. Humans were too weak and were generally used to amuse the crowd before the true fight. They were on a different floor. 

His cell was larger, isolated from the rest by reinforced bars thicker than a man’s arm. There were no companions to share the darkness with him, no voices to trade despair. The guards called it the “Champion’s Cell.” A mockery.

“Here, your food, Prince Anubis.” A guard struck the door of the cell and pushed the ‘food’. Something too vile to deserve such a name, but he had long since learned that refusing to eat would bring only death.

Anubis frowned. He was prince no longer. He had long since discarded ###

Indeed. He was a prince. A discarded prince. A bastard born from royal blood and thrown into a sick game created by his detestable father.  

All the other demons on this floor were his siblings. A bastard like him forced into a deadly game.

They were all promised freedom and true princehood if they won 100 victories. But they all knew it was a place without hope.

In 500 years, only three bastards succeeded while thousands of others helplessly died.  

Anubis was at his 91 victory. Only nine more. The difficulty from here would increase tremendously, and most people lost their lives here. 

But he was not worried. After all, he had the Book of###

He was worried. He had nothing to rely on outside of his somewhat higher talent. 

Anubis stopped tending to his wounds and sighed, 

“I must say. This is truly a powerful illusion. Basing your attack on the past and trying to distort only minimal elements. Truly wonderful.”

“....”

“Nothing to say, huh. Well, I admit that I might not be able to escape myself. But, well, it doesn’t matter. You will realize soon that you made a mistake.”

Anubis's golden eyes shone with mockery. 

“You really shouldn’t have added that crazy woman.”

Anubis’s red eyes dimmed and closed. It was time to sleep.

Tomorrow, he would fight his 91st combat. If he won — He would have 91 victories and only nine more left for freedom.

***

You wake up from a dream.

“How could you even understand my dream?”

Echidna waved her hand away. The power, trying to gnaw at her mind, helplessly failed in pushing deeper into her psyche. 

Had she so wished, she could have even escaped already. But she judged that this was not the most optimal move.

 You wake up from Crack

Standing alone in a dark void, Echidna bristled as she watched the void try to coalesce in what should have been a dream.

Sadly —

“You failed again. This is the 7th time now, right?”

 You wake up ***

“Stupid, I was never asleep in the first place.”

She laughed. 

It was a Law, an absolute power of a god. One that could even put Ambrosia and Anubis in a dangerous situation. 

But for her, this means absolutely nothing. 

[I gather that you are the so-called crazy woman?]

“Speaking now, are we? From your words, I suppose Anubisis is also proving to be a tougher bone to chew than you expected.”

[The Supreme Witch and the Necromancer King are both impressive individuals. Trying to rewrite the story of such people is proving to be rather complicated. But you are on another level.]

Echidna shrugged. 

Hypnos had been trying to rewrite her memories or stories, as he said, but it was proving to be useless, and now she was consuming the power of the dream.

Anubis was right. Adding her had been a mistake. 

[If that's the case. Chimera Queen, let me propose a deal. ]

****

Meanwhile, outside

“You are not affected?” Euphoria gave an incredulous gaze at Lilith.

“Too long I have been living in the past. Dreams can affect me no more. I simply severed it.”

Lilith adjusted her sword. The blade did not gleam under the sunlight. Rather, it absorbed all light. 

It was a darker than black blade. 

A Blade that severed all. 

“You will curse the day you decided to affect this wedding.”

Lilith wanted to kill.