Chapter 575
<Phantasus Original – Lost in a Dream>
‘It has begun.’
Bermude, who knew better than anyone about Phantasus, was the first to soar into the sky.
Already the air was damp and heavy. His clothes and hair were soaked, and instead of wind, he felt the tactile sensation of slicing through currents of water.
‘I must stop Lost in a Dream from fully manifesting.’
Bermude waved his hand in the void.
As if the world itself answered, a hundred magic circles unfolded. He loaded black magic, fixed their direction, and calculated variables caused by obstacles.
Just as countless streams of radiant light were about to pour down—
Swaaaaaaah!
The world turned a chilling blue.
Blue Screen.
That was what necromancers who had faced this technique called it.
Bermude hastily covered his mouth. A few drops of water seeped through his fingers. The hundred circles he had painstakingly formed dissolved away like salt in water.
‘Unbelievable, even seeing it firsthand.’
A low sigh escaped his throat.
‘A curse that materializes one’s dream into reality…’
The world was submerged.
Casting a breathing spell on himself, Bermude fixed his gaze forward.
An ocean was born, and from it, life emerged. Horrific sea creatures revealed themselves in every corner of the sea.
Swarming black fish twisting in vortexes, stingrays the size of stadiums, jellyfish crackling with electricity, deep-sea fish with jagged fangs.
As if a child had scribbled carelessly with crayons on blank paper, these creatures bore no biological consistency. They were grotesque abominations.
[...]
They made no sound. They only stared at Bermude with ten thousand gleaming eyes in the darkness.
‘A grotesquerie that should not exist.’
The myriad demons surged toward Bermude, foaming the waters.
‘This is his world. In his world, the only way I can win…’
Bermude’s body burned red like molten metal in a forge.
‘…is to forge my own world inside his!’
Fwoooosh!
A crater opened across his body, spewing molten lava. In the middle of the black sea, a sun was born. The swarms of fish vanished the instant they touched the heat.
‘More painful…’
Bermude’s eyes glistened.
‘Pain is my source!’
Red energy spread across the blue ocean. Monstrous fish were annihilated one after another in molten heat.
Kwakwaaaaaaang!
Phantasus sought to drown his enemy in his dream. Bermude sought to forge his own realm within another’s dream.
It was a battle of monsters, beyond the domain of humans.
‘From the reports, the greatest weakness of Lost in a Dream is…’
Bermude lifted his only remaining arm, eyes fixed on Phantasus, who sat cross-legged at the center.
‘…that while dreaming, he cannot move.’
The largest magic circle Bermude had ever conjured flared to life.
<Bermude Original – Diabolos>
From it shot forth a long, crimson, slender arm.
The three-fingered demon’s arm reached toward Phantasus. Whales and sea beasts rushed to shield him, but Diabolos was no black magic that could be countered.
The arm destroyed them merely by touching. Simon and Serne swung their greatsword and scattered feathers, but to no avail.
Then—
Thud!
With a crushing impact, Phantasus was pinned beneath the demon’s arm.
‘Hmph.’
Bermude’s lips curved.
“Fuhahahahahahaha!”
The surrounding ocean dried, creatures turning to bone before vanishing.
But as Bermude laughed in ecstasy—
Shhhhk!
Pain shot through his body.
A blade pierced his skin, cut muscle, and spilled blood.
Even with molten lava coating his body, Bermude recognized the pain. His entire focus sharpened on it.
Chwaaaaaaah!
The world twisted. A great white sword, evocative of death itself, slid from his shoulder toward his throat.
Bermude barely twisted away.
The assailant was none other than Simon. On his shoulders spread artificial wings of feathers, crafted by Serne.
‘A bit shallow!’
Simon bit his lip.
Fwoooosh!
Bermude conjured a lava sword and swung. Simon countered with his Greatsword of Destruction.
Clang! Clang! Chaaaang!
White and red arcs collided violently, exploding in thunderous echoes.
‘Unbelievable.’
Bermude grimaced.
He realized: Lost in a Dream was still active. The demon’s arm struck only empty ground. Phantasus, still cross-legged, and Serne beside him stood far away.
The memory of crushing Phantasus had been nothing but a dream.
‘Did I… doze off?’
He was bathing in molten lava over 2,000 degrees.
How could a human still feel drowsy?
Kaaaaang!
Simon and Bermude locked blades and recoiled.
“Serne!”
At Simon’s cry, the feathered wings shone. Simon traced a glowing arc, circling swiftly to strike from the right.
Bermude focused sharply on the movement. He could not let down his guard—this was still a legion commander, albeit a young one. He dismissed the lava sword and conjured a massive circle before his palm, aiming at Simon.
Fsshk!
But pain lanced through his left arm instead.
‘A feint!’
Bermude once more exploited the pain to wrench free of the dream.
Simon was slashing from the left. Bermude predicted the trajectory and twisted aside, deflecting the blade.
‘This is human reaction speed?’
Simon was stunned.
Even rotting, the Master of the Ivory Tower was still the Master. He was not a leader for nothing.
Fwoooosh!
Simon raised his Greatsword of Destruction to block the surge of molten lava Bermude countered with.
“Khugh!”
The Greatsword of Destruction glowed a vivid green.
“Please, Kal!”
Simon swung the sword with all his might.
<Kal Original – Fiends and Specters>
Kuong! Kuong!
From his blade burst packs of venomous hounds, charging in all directions.
Bermude first deployed a frontal defense circle, then infused it with Darkness to shield his whole body.
Boom! Boom!
The poison corroded the shield as Simon rose high again.
“Haaaaah!”
He dove, sword raised overhead, to strike downward.
‘From above? Or…!’
Bermude charged a counterspell, forced to choose.
Then—pain stabbed his waist.
‘Behind!’
Fwoooosh!
Molten fire spewed from his left hand, incinerating his rear.
—Fool~
Serne’s voice chimed. The two-thousand-degree lava burned only a single feather clinging to his waist.
—How many times will you be tricked, Father?
‘Damn it!’
Serne had seen through his reliance on pain.
Bermude tried to dodge, but—
Chwaaaaaaah!
This time the strike landed true. Simon’s Greatsword of Destruction sliced off Bermude’s only remaining left arm.
“Gwaaaaaaaaah!”
Blood poured from his stumps as he ascended into the air, fleeing opposite Simon’s descent.
‘I must stall for time.’
Arms meant nothing—victory here was impossible.
Lost in a Dream’s duration was ending. So was the dungeon’s.
He had to fight outside.
“Khugh!”
Simon chased, but Bermude’s speed was greater.
‘Break this technique, and victory will be mine.’
As Bermude ascended, cracks split the dungeon.
Then—
Clap!
A hand clap echoed. The world inverted.
“Did you enjoy your dream?”
Phantasus’ voice.
‘!’
Bermude found himself plummeting toward the ground.
The direction had reversed.
Ahead stood Phantasus, waiting.
Bermude was being drawn straight toward him, unable to stop mid-descent.
“You cannot escape now!”
Phantasus lowered his stance, hand outstretched.
“Better this way!”
Bermude roared. A magic circle etched across his body. Again, a demon’s arm burst forth.
<Bermude Original – Diabolos>
He would finish it here.
But Phantasus’ hand swirled with Darkness.
Bermude laughed.
“Now that Lost in a Dream is dispelled, Sleep no longer works on me!”
“Even if not a curse, there are countless ways to put an opponent to sleep. And among them, the greatest is this!”
Phantasus clenched his massive hand into a fist, straightened his bent knees, and leapt.
“Sleeep—!”
The demon’s arm descended from above, aiming at Phantasus. But Phantasus twisted his waist and threw a mighty punch.
“Punch!”
Jjjeeeeeeong!
The demon’s arm snapped like a twig under Phantasus’ fist, and that fist carried straight into Bermude’s face.
Bermude’s face twisted grotesquely as his body was launched skyward at the speed of light.
The shockwave lifted the surrounding sand into the air as if sky and earth had flipped, leaving even the onlookers’ knees trembling.
“Hahahahaha!”
Phantasus gripped his boulder-sized fist, laughing loudly.
“Perfect!!”
A single punch, a Sleep that struck with one-hundred percent certainty. And of course, a sleep from which one would never awaken.
Simon, watching from above, let out a dumbfounded laugh.
‘Why… why is that senior’s main weapon Sleep of all things?’
* * *
With the end of the World of Sand’s duration, Simon’s group and Bermude returned to the outside.
Bermude lay sprawled on the ground, his face crushed, his arms and legs twisted. The black magic sustaining his body had vanished.
“Ivory Tower Master. Bermude Eindark.”
Phantasus stepped toward him. On either side stood Simon and Serne.
“Any last words you wish to leave in this world?”
“Heh… heheheh… hehhehh…”
Bermude turned his head to look at Serne.
“As I thought… taking you in… was… a mistake…”
“When you use others, you must also be prepared to be used yourself.”
Serne smiled faintly, waving her hand.
“Goodbye, Father.”
Her feathers fell upon Bermude’s dying body.
“Being your child was hell.”
The feathers became cloth, covering his face. Others bloomed into flowers, covering his broken body.
“Don’t ever show yourself again.”
It was a fitting end for Serne. She turned and walked away first.
Outside the dungeon, the sun had fully risen.
* * *
Bermude Eindark’s life ended there.
In truth, ever since Simon’s strike from the future pierced his abdomen, he had been as good as dead. He had merely prolonged his existence through power drawn from pain.
Perhaps it was to capture Simon and hand him to the Executioners, but with Phantasus’ intervention, everything crumbled.
Soon after, the barrier around the Ivory Tower headquarters dissolved. People rushed in. Seeing the fallen Tower of Time and the corpse of Bermude, they raged.
But fortunately, Daniella Villene, who had come to his senses, testified:
—It was all the Tower Master’s plan.
He activated a memorial crystal orb taken from the tenth floor’s prior center.
—Eliminate all related to this incident. Not only the guests, but the children from Keyzen, the Ivory Tower students, the guards and scholars of the Tower of Time—all of them.
The revelation that the Tower Master himself was a puppet to the Executioners filled the Ivory Tower’s people with fury.
Other necromancers and guests added their testimonies, dragging Bermude’s misdeeds fully into the light.
Soon, agents from Keyzen appeared, followed by investigators from the Dark Alliance, beginning their inquiry.
Simon and Serne spent the entire day cooperating with the investigation. Fortunately, Neftis and representatives from the Ivory Tower headquarters sent a student advocate, allowing the two to finally step outside.
“……”
They sat side by side on a park bench, gazing at the ruins of the collapsed tower.
After a moment of silence, Simon looked at her and spoke quietly.
“I saw it again.”
“…What do you mean?”
She smiled faintly.
“Us fighting Bermude to help Keyzen?”
“That too. But especially the matter of Maelyn.”
Serne only smiled wordlessly.
“I’m sorry for misunderstanding all this time. Truly.”
Serne’s promise to make Maelyn the next Tower Master had almost come true in the worst way.
Had Serne perished breaking the Absolute Seal, Maelyn would naturally have become the next Tower Master.
It was unexpected.
A woman who manipulated minds was a tyrant. Always lofty, proud, arrogant—believing nothing of free will, with emotional voids.
And yet—
She was still a person. Someone who could willingly sacrifice herself for another.
A perfect chance to topple Keyzen, yet she abandoned her greatest ambition to protect.
“When we return to school, I’ll take responsibility for clearing Maelyn’s misunderstanding.”
Simon said firmly.
“If she learns the truth, she’ll surely reconcile with you.”
“No.”
But Serne shook her head.
“Please don’t.”
“W-why not?”
She slowly raised her eyes to the sky.
“Because I never did it for reward. I did it simply because I wanted to.”
Simon’s expression hardened.
“You mean you’re fine with Maelyn continuing to hate you like this?”
Even if their relationship could not return to the past, at the very least it was unbearable for Simon that Maelyn’s hatred would remain.
“Then let me ask you.”
Serne crossed her legs, speaking calmly.
“What will happen if Maelyn learns everything?”
“…That is…”
“Of course, her mind will be shredded to pieces. She’ll remember every cruel word she spat at me, and writhe each night in shame. Will she ever be able to look me in the eye again? Will she curse me like before, treat me freely as she once did? No—things will only turn unbearably awkward.”
“……”
“More importantly, if Maelyn learns the truth, she’ll lose her one clear motivation in life—the drive to surpass me, the reason she joined Keyzen in the first place.”
She shrugged.
“I like it as it is. Maelyn who faces me proudly, burning with the resolve to defeat me. Maelyn who trembles with frustration when I beat her. Maelyn who curses me with her eyes, who barks at me, who blushes. And—”
Serne gently leaned her head against Simon’s arm. He stiffened in surprise.
“The Maelyn who rages whenever I act even a little close with you. That’s the Maelyn I like.”
“……”
Simon let out a long sigh.
Indeed, Serne’s sacrifice had been her own unilateral choice.
It was both a noble sacrifice and a twisted affection.
If anything, Maelyn’s nature was such that she would have wanted Serne to tell her the truth, and face it together.
Why didn’t you tell me? Did you think I’d like you better this way? Did you think I’d be happy if you died like that?
She might have been angry instead. For Serne’s words and actions had indeed scarred her deeply.
-I like things as they are.
Those words carried many layers.
“…Alright. I’ll do as you wish.”
“Thank you.”
“And… one more thing.”
Simon hesitated, lips trembling, before speaking earnestly.
“We’ll still… keep going to school together, right?”
Silence fell.
Simon looked at her nervously. Serne, still resting her head on his shoulder, gazed at him quietly, then lowered her eyes.
“…That may be… difficult.”
Bermude Eindark was dead.
And his successor—was Serne.
She was now the Master of the Ivory Tower.
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters