Her companions had all fallen. She alone remained.
Flames poured from the heavens. One moment, they became an endless army of the Antimatter Legion. The next, they turned into a swarm of insects that covered the sky.
The scorched earth beneath her feet shifted from Penacony to the Xianzhou, then to Herta Space Station and Glamoth's imperial capital. Countless scenes flashed before Firefly's eyes, but every last one was drowning in the flames of Destruction. Nothing remained but shattered ruins.
"No. None of this is right. We're deep inside the Memory Zone... The bugs. Right, the bugs! You took my bracelet, didn't you?"
BOOM—!
Raging flames erupted without restraint. The sudden surge in output pushed the armor's systems straight to their limit, and SAM's blaring alarms brought a sliver of stability back to Firefly's mind.
"It has to be some kind of mental attack... I remember. I remember everything... That has to be it. So if I kill all of you, I'll get it back, right?"
Firefly could barely keep herself conscious. Even simple thought had become a struggle. The light vanished from her eyes, and her mind went still as stagnant water.
SAM moved.
Violent flames hurled the armor forward at blinding speed as firebombs filled the sky. Firefly raised her fist and charged straight into the endless swarm.
"I'll set the entire Memory Zone ablaze!"
The mechanical roar came with a burst of detonating fire that swallowed countless insects in an instant. Yet even more surged forward at once, eager to devour the intruder who'd entered their territory.
--+--
Sylvia raced deeper into the Memory Zone, her armored form gaining speed with every passing second. Since they were both inside the same Synesthesia Dreamscape, the mech's position had become clear and stable.
What worried her was Firefly's depth and the wild fluctuations in her mental state.
'Why did she go that far down? What's even there?'
If the only threats were Memory Zone Memes, they shouldn't have been enough to endanger SAM. Sylvia's reckless descent sent waves rolling through the Memoria around her and drew plenty of Memes to her path.
Memory Zone Memes looked terrifying, but they weren't mindless lunatics. After Sylvia shattered several of them through sheer speed, few dared come near her again.
Wild Memes were often less aggressive than the ones Constance or Black Swan made on purpose. Some weren't even as dangerous as Sleepie. They might've posed a threat to an ordinary Pathstrider, but Firefly was a pure fighter.
The real danger was losing consciousness in the depths of the Memory Zone. Once someone became trapped there, they'd have to face an endless stream of Memes without any way to escape. No matter how strong they were, exhaustion would kill them sooner or later.
That was why Sylvia had promised she'd find Firefly and bring her back.
She'd expected getting lost to be the greatest risk. What kind of monster could actually threaten Firefly's life down here?
"What the hell is hiding in this place?"
Sylvia couldn't stop herself from cursing. Just how many secrets had Penacony buried under its surface?
She soon found her answer.
"Ugh... That's disgusting."
Sylvia saw the swarm.
There were insects everywhere, packed together in dense layers. Somehow, they'd managed to survive inside the Memory Zone. There were creatures with countless legs, creatures with only a few, and creatures with none at all. Some had hard shells, while others were soft and wet.
There were too many to count, and Sylvia couldn't tell what they were doing in the deepest part of the Memory Zone.
Firefly—or rather, SAM—was attacking them in every direction with no sign of restraint. One glance was enough to tell Sylvia these things weren't the same as the twisted Memory Zone Memes. At the very least, they hadn't appeared here by chance.
Hiss—
Flames rolled across Sylvia's body as her armor withdrew. She assumed the form of the Herrscher of the Void and looked down upon the scene below.
The Fyrefly armor was powerful. Had she obtained it earlier, it would've become her main weapon without question. Now, though, it was little more than a pretty toy. Sylvia couldn't even use her full strength while wearing it.
She lifted her hand and formed the shape of a pistol with her thumb and index finger before her left eye. A Subspace Lance stretched out beside her, twisting with warped space until it became a long, narrow spiral.
Space itself became her bow, and the Subspace Lance became her arrow.
The raging powers of Permanence, Destruction, and Abundance flowed into the spear, dyeing it in brilliant colors.
"Pew."
Sylvia parted her lips and supplied her own sound effect.
The spear became a streak of light and shot toward the swarm.
At that exact moment—
Screech—!
The endless insects froze. As one, they abandoned Firefly and turned toward Sylvia, releasing a single, perfectly unified shriek.
The tuning power of Harmony surfaced inside the Memory Zone. Countless insects joined their wills together, and the vast, towering shape of a Swarm King emerged from the illusion. An aura as terrifying as an Emanator's erupted from it.
Its enormous, armored mouth opened. A scorching white beam burst forth and struck Sylvia's arrow head-on.
BOOOOOOM—!
The explosion churned through the Memory Zone with terrifying force.
Sylvia didn't have time to wonder why a swarm of insects had just produced power on the level of an Emanator. She crossed the distance to Firefly in an instant, ignored the raging flames, and seized SAM by the arm. Then she dragged her out of the heart of the storm.
The shattered Memoria became a violent vortex beneath the impact. Endless fantasies and garbled whispers burst free, striking the mind like a flash bomb.
Even Sylvia's powerful mental resistance couldn't keep her from reeling with dizziness. She didn't stay to fight and fled from the swarm while calling Firefly's name again and again.
"Firefly! Firefly, wake up! I'm here!"
"...Who?"
Firefly had no idea what was happening. Something had rushed toward her and subdued her in an instant.
She tried to resist, but the voice echoing in her ears was so familiar and gentle.
'Who is that?'
'I think... I really like that voice.'
Firefly forced her eyes open. Through SAM's cameras, she slowly made out the figure before her.
Her thoughts were still a muddled mess, but the moment she saw Sylvia, warmth spread across her left wrist. The bracelet that should've vanished appeared once more.
Firefly felt Sylvia's heartbeat and the bond between them.
'It isn't an illusion...'
The bracelet's return and the unbreakable connection it carried cleared much of the fog from her mind. Her eyes came back into focus and fixed on Sylvia's worried face.
SAM dissolved into scattering flames.
With her mind worn to its limit, Firefly threw herself into Sylvia's arms.
"Thank you... You found me."
A weary smile appeared on her face.
"Yeah. Don't be afraid. I'll take you back."
Sylvia stroked Firefly's head. Dragon horns emerged from her forehead, followed by a long tail behind her. A pair of broad, fleshy wings unfolded and wrapped protectively around Firefly.
The combined Swarm King before them carried an imposing presence, so Sylvia didn't dare hold back. A real fight here would probably turn the entire Dreamscape upside down, but she couldn't worry about that now.
The idea that a swarm devoted to Harmony had been hiding beneath Penacony's Dreamscape was absurd.
There were insects in this universe that worshiped someone other than the Propagation?
When had these things hidden themselves here? How long had they stayed? Why had they become restless recently, to the point of ravaging The Reverie inside the dream?
There was no point thinking about it now.
While maintaining her draconic form, Sylvia reached out to the powers of the Ambrosial Arbor and Phantylia. She planned to crush the swarm beneath overwhelming force before dealing with anything else.
Yet the moment Sylvia unleashed her aura without restraint, the presence of an Emanator touched by both Permanence and the Propagation sent the unified swarm into chaos.
"Screech...?"
Even the gathered Swarm King visibly froze.
Sylvia froze as well.
Through the Memory Zone, the swarm had sent her a thought filled with confusion.
She blinked.
'Wait. Do I look like a Swarm King to them?'
"Ahem. That's right. I'm the new Swarm King."
Sylvia shamelessly admitted it and deliberately revealed even more of the Propagation's power. Her overwhelming aura pushed back against the Swarm King formed by the insects.
Maybe she really could fool them.
Sylvia couldn't help feeling hopeful.
After receiving her answer, the swarm erupted into a fresh storm of confused whispers.
Their Swarm King had arrived?
But this one looked nothing like the Swarm Kings in their memories. Besides, the Swarm Emperor had been dead for ages. How could a new Swarm King have appeared in this era?
Questions filled their collective consciousness.
Their group had no Swarm King. Long ago, they'd witnessed that divine war for themselves. Their Swarm Emperor and every Swarm King with them had fallen.
To survive—whether from fear of Harmony, the pressure of Xipe, or some joke played by the Elation—a small group of survivors had turned to Xipe and embraced Harmony. That was the only reason they'd survived the end of the divine war.
They'd later been cast into the Asdana star system, a remote and dangerous frontier. They'd hidden there ever since, ignoring the outside world while awaiting the Swarm Emperor's return.
To protect themselves, they hunted every intruder who tried to enter the depths of the Memory Zone.
They'd never expected a suspicious Swarm King to appear this time.
But she didn't look right at all.
What kind of Swarm King looked like that?
Where were her limbs? Her shell? Her mandibles?
That aura wasn't even pure Propagation.
She wasn't one of their kind at all!
Sylvia hadn't expected the swarm to answer her. The corners of her mouth rose as she replied with an amused smile.
"How am I not one of you? At least I can walk around without everyone trying to kill me. What meaning is there in hiding here and barely clinging to life?"
"..."
That single sentence struck the swarm where it hurt.
Compared with the other insect descendants scattered across the universe, these creatures really had spent their lives hiding. Even their bodies had rotted away, leaving only their minds behind.
They'd only wanted to confirm her identity. Did she really have to attack them like that?
Roar—!
After a long silence, the swarm pulled itself together and assumed a battle formation.
They admitted Sylvia had a point. Even so, none of it mattered unless she was strong enough.
"So after all that talking, we're still going to fight. Seriously?"
Sylvia held Firefly against her with her right arm and flashed backward. At the same time, she raised her left hand in a ritual gesture.
A winged Yinglong took shape within the Memory Zone. Flames of Destruction curled around its body, threaded with golden light like the final toll of a bell.
(T/N: A chinese dragon.)
With a thunderous dragon cry, it charged straight at the Swarm King.
Sylvia swept her hand through the air. One enormous dragon after another took shape in every direction.
She already possessed the power to alter matter, and now that she understood the method, creating Memes had become far easier. She didn't even need to give them minds.
She poured a seemingly endless flood of the Propagation's power into them. Insect-like shells spread across their bodies, and they launched themselves at the swarm in fearless suicide attacks.
"Screech—!"
Beams of Destruction burst from the swarm. At the same time, countless Memes shook themselves loose from the Swarm King and rushed to meet Sylvia's dragons.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The clash threw the Memory Zone across the entire star system into chaos. Penacony's Synesthesia Dreamscape began to tremble on the brink of collapse.
Across the Twelve Hours of the Dreamscape, sudden earthquakes struck as insect shrieks echoed through the streets.
--+--
"What's happening?!"
March 7th had been shopping with Himeko when the shaking almost threw her from an elevated walkway. The sudden drop nearly scared the life out of her.
"What's going on?! Did the Antimatter Legion invade? Is the Dreamscape collapsing?"
March 7th panicked, unsure what to do.
"March, stay calm. Let's regroup with everyone first. I'll contact the Family."
Himeko frowned and decided that the Astral Express crew needed to gather at once.
The violent tremors swept across the whole star system without distinction. The sweet dream, the nightmares, and even Dreamflux Reef were all caught in the upheaval.
No one escaped it.
--+--
"Mr. Gopher Wood, can you locate the cause?"
Sunday's brows drew tight. As the head of the Oak Family, he needed to calm the tourists, but this sudden disaster had left him deeply uneasy.
"I can't. I can only sense that the power is coming from the deepest part of the Memory Zone."
"The depths of the Memory Zone..."
Sunday's expression stiffened.
That place was forbidden territory for Penacony. Dreamchasers who ventured there almost never returned. Even the rare survivors usually came back as broken fools or raving madmen.
"What's down there?"
"I don't know."
The Dreammaster shook his head. He'd needed to oversee the greater situation from the moment he arrived on Penacony, so he'd never had the chance to explore it himself.
Even had he been free to do so, he probably wouldn't have returned. His only chance would've been to summon Dominicus and descend with its protection.
The Family would never agree to such a mad plan. One mistake could bring disastrous casualties across the entire organization.
Then another violent shock rolled in from every direction.
Rumble—!
This one was even worse.
The raging tremors threatened to grind everything within the Dreamscape to pieces.
"We can't wait any longer. If the force keeps growing, the Dreamscape will collapse. Mr. Gopher Wood, we have to stabilize it first."
Sunday looked toward the Dreammaster. His meaning was clear.
"The Harmonious Choir, Dominicus."
By joining the songs of countless members of the Family, they could summon one of Xipe's many manifestations. Its power would be enough to quell this unknown disaster.
It might even reveal the cause behind it.
"Go. Tell the other family heads to prepare."
The Dreammaster let out a sigh.
Plans could never keep pace with change. There was no telling what this unknown threat would bring.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL