"Oh no…" a long sigh of frustration escaped Idel's lips.
He had, with ease, put the nightmare to eternal slumber, but at the cost of been soaked in its opaque thick blood.
'Tsk…' If only he had taken the effort of taking a few steps backwards… only a few, but unfortunately effort was not something that aligned with the young demon's will.
The scent of the blood was malodorous, irritating his nostrils and brain with each breath. Any demon in this situation would instantly become nauseated at the sight and smell, but thankfully, this wasn't his first kill of a nightmare. He was used to how grotesque dead nightmares looked.
Even so, this was his first time being drenched in their blood, and it was an awful experience.
However, he was in his Labyrinth, and with a simple thought the thick blood ignited in form of raging green flames. The flames, burning away only the blood, lasted for a few seconds before eventually ceasing.
He was once again clean. In the next second, he took a deep breath and extended his hand towards the dead nightmare. Its eyes were still open, and streams of tears had cleared white paths on its body.
Idel stared a bit longer, then he slightly shook his head and focused. He was spreading the energy stored in his demon core to the palm of his hand.
He was about to consume the nightmare!
Consuming fear was one of two ways demons got stronger, and nightmares, being a manifestation of fear, made them his favorite hunters. Their desire to kill him had helped him grow stronger and stronger, and in turn his Labyrinth also increased in power.
The Labyrinth was a pocket universe located deep within Idel's demon core, and with a considerable amount of demonic energy he could, just as he did during his fall, summon it in the dream realm.
Seconds into his cogitation, his hand glowed green and at the same instance the nightmare began to disintegrate into fine lustrous specks of green dust. The dust swirled in the air before entering his palm.
"Ah…" He felt a great sensation befall his body.
It was akin to how he felt when he first "mistakenly" drank his father's red wine, but unlike how liquids once drunk end up in the stomach, the specks moved from his palm, through the chest cavity and up to the brain.
This was where his demon core was located. And soon the specks got absorbed by the crescent luminous green core.
His aura flared even more wildly, the crimson fog gyrated, and the redness of the Labyrinth deepened, giving it an eerie feeling.
After a while, the entire process was done, and Idel sat cross-legged on the hill. The Labyrinth in his eyes seemed to have increased a bit in size, indicating that the process was successful.
'The Lone Dreamer.' He recalled the weird name the nightmare spoke before it died.
Was it referring to him?
And if so, why, and who came up with the name? No, that didn't matter, because how in the hell was a grade 4 nightmare speaking?
Talking was only reserved for grade 1 nightmares.
'Wait—was it a grade 1 nightmare?' Idel pondered. He played the image of the nightmare in his head more than four times but found no evidence to prove his hypothesis.
Each grade did not only result in different abilities but also different appearances. Grade 4 nightmares had no proper structure, grade 3 nightmares had structure, and grade 2 nightmares could optimally utilize all human senses, but were incapable of speech: a feat only possible for grade 1 nightmares.
The realization baffled him even further. Worse still, the most pressing question entered his brain:
How did the nightmare enter the Labyrinth?
Initially, he was too focused on killing it; he had not paid much attention to this question. It should have been impossible for it to locate him, considering that the Labyrinth is invisible to those outside it.
He rubbed his temples as he failed to come up with the right answers. He had hoped this would at best involve him running from nightmares and other Emontarions, but the nonsensical aspect of mysteries had just begun embedding its way in the dream realm.
"Shit." He cursed under his breath.
Moments later he calmed himself and looked up. The crimson fog had slowly begun to recede, and soon the red light coming from the crescent moon dimmed.
The demonic energy used to summon the Labyrinth was slowly depleting!
'This is just great.' He rolled his eyes as he prepared to stand.
Before he could even do that, suddenly the Labyrinth, with a slight tremble, disappeared, consumed by bright light.
His eyes widened as he looked at the crimson fog that still clung to the air. He watched it until it was devoured by raging winds.
Around him, trees under the influence of the wind creaked about under the stormy clouds of Voldmoth Forest. He saw seven red birds fighting mid-flight, their chirping sometimes outshining the creaking trees.
His face, however, remained calm. The unblissful atmosphere was expected; this was Voldmoth Kingdom after all, and the dominant residents here were Anger Emontarions.
"Strong and smart like his father…" A manly voice pricked his ears.
He turned to see two Anger Emontarions a couple of meters away from him, sitting under a tree. Their red shapes resembled that of humans, and they held each other's hands as they seemed to be in deep focus. Soon a luminous swirling appeared above their held hands; it was drawing out energy from both Emontarions.
"Beautiful and demure like her mother. We activate you, dau—"
"Wait, did you just say her?"
"Yes."
"Ah." The male frowned, then after looking at the female with disdain he snapped, "Who are you to decide how my child looks?"
"Your child? How chauvinistic you are. This is our child," the female retorted. "If anything, it's my child: 60% of my core will go to her."
"It's a he!"
As the female prepared to say something, she snapped her gaze to Idel.
"A stalker!" She fell back and slowly clawed behind the tree.
Witnessing this sudden change in behavior, the male Anger Emontarion turned his head and looked over at Idel, then his red face contorted in a mixture of disgust and rage.
He stood and walked over. "What's your problem, freak? Huh. Why you spying on my girl? Did your mama not teach you any manners?" His saliva continuously landed on Idel's indifferent pale face. "Say something, pervert."
'Sigh, a vicious cycle, I guess.'