Prit main island east coast, Tivian.
In Tivian during the night, the incomplete waning moon hung high in the night sky. The remaining crescent seemed like it could disappear at any moment. As the World Expo was about to open, Tivian's moon phase in January had also reached the end of the waning crescent, and the dim dark moon was about to arrive.
The vast Tivian was slowly entering slumber under the endless dark night sky. Just as the entire city fell into silence, within a bloody mansion on the northeastern edge of Tivian, the lights were still shining.
Inside the mansion of the former Chief Court Physician, Sofox, Dorothy's Corpse Puppet Ed and Misha were here, asking the recently rescued Sofox for the information he knew. From Sofox's mouth, Dorothy learned quite a few secrets about the King of Prit, Charles IV, as well as the madness that appeared in the Despenser family three years ago.
After finishing the inquiries about the information, Ed silently walked to the edge of the room, watching the few remaining bits of the waning moon outside the window, seemingly pondering something in his mind. Just then, Misha walked over from the side, and after reaching Ed's side, quietly whispered.
"If everything Sofox said is true... then His Majesty, he is very likely the origin point of the corruption in the upper echelons of the Kingdom right now..."
Listening to Misha's words, Ed did not respond immediately. Instead, he slowly walked back to Sofox, who was still sitting on the sofa, and asked.
"Charles IV's abnormality... did it start when the madness appeared within the Royal Family three years ago?"
"Yes... I served His Majesty for many years. Before that madness appeared, I didn't see anything strange about him at all. Since that day, he completely changed, as if he had become a different person, and began to distance himself from me and others around him. Aside from a very few close retainers, he became extremely reclusive. I haven't seen His Majesty since reporting that day. What followed was only a secret order for me to destroy all information related to the madness and transfer me from my post... Before this, I never expected such a result."
With a still somewhat uneasy tone, Sofox spoke frankly. And Misha on the other side also added at this moment.
"According to the rumors I heard in the family before, His Majesty has indeed been very reclusive in recent years, rarely appearing unless it was a major event and seldom meeting outsiders. Apart from frequently inspecting the construction of the Crystal Palace, he even rarely left the palace."
"The construction of the Crystal Palace... Charles IV has put himself in a state of almost semi-seclusion, but he is still so concerned about the preparation of the Expo? If I remember correctly, this World Expo was also decided to be prepared and held by the Prit Kingdom government three years ago?" After hearing Misha's words, Ed's brows furrowed slightly, and then he continued to ask. At this moment, Sofox also spoke to answer.
"Yes, this is also a strange point. After the turmoil of that madness ended, His Majesty immediately announced that he would organize a grand event to display the Kingdom's national strength. After several rounds of discussion, the form of the grand event was determined to be the current World Expo. At that time, His Majesty himself also personally discussed it with the ministers, and it is said that the construction of the Crystal Palace was decided by His Majesty.
"For a period after that, His Majesty officially entered a semi-secluded life and no longer cared about many affairs, except for the progress of the Expo preparations and the construction progress of the Crystal Palace. This seems to be the first thing he has cared about in recent years."
Sofox confirmed this to Ed. After listening to Sofox's statement again, Ed paused slightly and continued to ask.
"Then, among the patients who developed madness in the Despenser Royal Family in the capital three years ago, did they exhibit symptoms of shouting about ancestors?"
"Uh... yes, yes! That's right, among the cases I handled at the time, there were indeed people shouting crazy things like'Storm and Ancestors,' 'Ancestors are returning.' How did you know?"
With a hint of surprise, Sofox said to Ed. And Dorothy in the distance, after hearing Sofox's confirmation through Ed, couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
...
After this, Dorothy controlled Ed to examine Sofox, using profiling to confirm that Sofox was not lying at all. Afterwards, Misha gave Sofox an address, telling him to leave the scene overnight and go to a shelter Misha had set up in Tivian for refuge.
Next, Dorothy controlled Ed and Misha to slightly tidy up the traces at the scene together, then left Sofox's house together and took the carriage they came in to return.
On the returning carriage, Misha, who was driving, spoke frankly to Ed inside the carriage.
"The investigation on Sofox's side is almost complete now. The situation is even worse than I previously expected. It seems that even His Majesty was deeply influenced by those guys early on.
"The current situation is very unfavorable. If even His Majesty has been corrupted like this, who knows how much power in the capital's Royal Family, the military, and the An Yin Bureau has already fallen into the hands of the Eight Pointed Nest. After His Majesty was corrupted, he began preparing this World Expo and attached great importance to it. If things go wrong, this might be exactly what the Eight Pointed Nest intended.
"In short... the current situation is urgent. To save Prit and save His Majesty, we must take action. Facing the entire Eight Pointed Nest plus the highly corrupted upper echelons of the Kingdom, the greatest help we can rely on is the Church. Fortunately... it is rumored that a significant figure from the Bureau of Secrets is currently in Tivian. If we can inform the Bureau of Secrets of the information we just obtained... perhaps we can get strong support!"
Misha drove the carriage while analyzing and speaking to Ed in the back. Ed, sitting inside the carriage, listened silently to Misha's words, but did not rush to give his own conclusion and remained silently sitting there.
Hearing that Ed was slow to respond to her words, Misha couldn't help but pause slightly, and then continued to speak.
"Do you... have any other opinions?" Misha asked Ed with some curiosity. On this matter, she was quite hopeful of getting Ed's advice. And Ed finally spoke silently after listening to Misha's words.
"There is a little bit. I always feel that there are quite a few suspicious points about Charles IV right now, not just the suspicion that he might have been corrupted." Ed said thoughtfully, and then continued to speak.
"According to Sofox's previous statement, Charles IV sent someone to assassinate Sofox today specifically to silence him. But the problem is that Sofox was transferred from the post of Court Physician three years ago. For three years, he has been living in Tivian in an idle position. If they wanted to silence him, there should have been plenty of time. Why wait until now, close to the Expo?"
Ed analyzed and said to Misha. After listening, the other party thought for a moment, and then answered.
"Hmm... This might be because the Eight Pointed Nest's corruption had not reached the required level before this. From the signs we observed earlier, the Eight Pointed Nest's corruption process towards the An Yin Bureau should be gradual. They couldn't completely control the entire bureau from the beginning. This might also be the case with His Majesty. The Eight Pointed Nest might have only recently succeeded in controlling His Majesty to the extent that he would order the killing of his former Court Physician."
Misha continued speaking like this. The fact that the Eight Pointed Nest's corruption process towards the upper echelons of Prit and the An Yin Bureau was gradual was something they had previously determined through analysis. Because before, the Eight Pointed Nest had sent extra spies to the An Yin Bureau and even avoided the An Yin Bureau's reconnaissance. This proves that in the past, the Eight Pointed Nest's control over the An Yin Bureau was definitely not too high. Otherwise, they would have done many things more audaciously. As of now, the Eight Pointed Nest has somehow directly elevated the corruption targeting the high-level officials of Prit to an unprecedented height.
"Indeed, the Eight Pointed Nest's corruption of the Kingdom government is much stronger now than before, but we also need to consider one point: which requires a higher degree of corruption, controlling Charles IV to issue the decree to hold such a large Expo and deeply participate in its design, or controlling Charles IV to assassinate one person?"
After listening to Misha's statement, Ed continued to speak directly. And after hearing Ed's words, Misha's expression also tightened slightly, feeling that it did seem that controlling the holding of an international expo should be more difficult than controlling Charles IV to kill one person. Holding such a large-scale event requires negotiations with the parliament and many ministers, as well as various procedures. The time and effort required for this are far beyond a simple order to kill someone.
Charles IV decided to hold the Expo three years ago. If he was highly controlled by corruption three years ago, why wait three years to silence someone? Even if the Eight Pointed Nest didn't use Charles IV, they could send their own assassins to silence him, which wouldn't require waiting three years. If Charles IV was highly controlled three years ago, the entire high-level of Prit would likely have fallen much faster, rather than experiencing the back-and-forth situation like last year.
"What you said... does make some sense. But it's possible that the Eight Pointed Nest didn't want to silence Sofox before. After all, such actions leave traces and attract unnecessary attention. Previously, they might have felt that given the current situation in Tivian, there was no need to silence him. But now the situation is different. People from the Bureau of Secrets have entered Tivian and started investigations, so the Eight Pointed Nest got anxious and temporarily carried out the silencing action."
Misha then said to Ed, stating her point of view. And after listening, Ed shook his finger and responded.
"Then... why did the Eight Pointed Nest choose a corrupted Tivian noble to carry out the silencing, instead of their own trained assassins or death warriors?
"Viscount Addy, who came to kill Sofox, although he is an Apprentice Extraordinary, he is not a professional killer. Using him for assassination, not to mention the success rate cannot be completely guaranteed, what if the Bureau of Secrets investigates him afterwards? Once his identity is exposed, wouldn't the Bureau of Secrets' suspicious gaze shift to the entire noble circle in Tivian with Royal Family blood? This would actually increase the probability of Charles IV being exposed.
"Also, Sofox said that several of his former colleagues went missing, and didn't leave such a bloody crime scene like tonight. A missing person case targeting just one person has a much smaller impact than a murder case where an entire family is killed... If the Eight Pointed Nest really wanted to get rid of Sofox under the nose of the Bureau of Secrets, they could have just found an opportunity for Sofox to go out and make him disappear, just like they did with Sofox's former colleagues. Why suddenly choose to create such a bloody crime scene tonight? Is it because they think there isn't enough attention?"
With a slightly meaningful expression, Ed analyzed and said to Misha. After listening to Ed's words, Misha's originally heavy expression couldn't help but become a bit more serious. After pondering for a while, she continued to speak in a serious tone.
"Yes... if the Eight Pointed Nest really wanted to silence Sofox, they could have just made him disappear directly. That wouldn't be difficult for the Eight Pointed Nest. Why choose to create such an obvious bloody case? The commotion from this kind of bloody case is much bigger than a missing person case... The Eight Pointed Nest doesn't care about making a big fuss under the nose of the Bureau of Secrets? Do they really want to expose the suspicious points about His Majesty the King to others like this? This isn't their style..."
With a hint of confusion in her tone, Misha said as she analyzed quite seriously. At this moment, Ed smiled slightly and continued to speak.
"Madam Devonshire, you can think about one more thing for a moment. According to what Sofox said earlier, Viscount Addy, who came to assassinate him, arrived at his house after ten o'clock tonight. He had a normal conversation with him for a while and then left. Only after leaving for a while did he return to Sofox's house again, red-eyed and began the massacre."
"Why did this happen? According to the Eight Pointed Nest's level of control over Viscount Addy, they could have just made him act when he arrived at ten o'clock? Why did he leave and then return again? That's so redundant. If he had started killing at ten o'clock, Dr. Sofox might not have been able to wait for us to come to the rescue..."
Ed said slowly with a smile. And after listening to Ed's words, Misha's eyes widened slightly, and she suddenly realized something and spoke frankly.
"The Eight Pointed Nest did it on purpose... They anticipated our arrival. They wanted to deliberately let us save Sofox, so that Sofox could guide our judgment!"
Misha said with sudden understanding. Then she immediately connected some details she had previously overlooked and continued to analyze.
"Although the process of my initial contact with Sofox was kept confidential, it wasn't entirely undetectable. After the Eight-Pointed Nest realized the existence of the Prit 'Vigilance Faction' within Tivian, they likely monitored individuals the Vigilance Faction might contact. As a former court physician, Sofox was naturally one of the potential targets for pre-emptive surveillance.
"If Sofox was under pre-emptive surveillance by the Eight-Pointed Nest, then my contact with him would have already been exposed to them. They likely knew I was coming tonight, and even the exact time... ten o'clock tonight..."
Misha analyzed and spoke with a rather serious expression, while at this moment, Ed continued to smile and speak.
"So you should be able to guess now why Viscount Ati left and then returned."
"Yes... The meeting time I agreed upon with Sofox was ten o'clock tonight, and Viscount Ati also arrived at ten o'clock tonight. The Eight-Pointed Nest might have controlled Viscount Ati to deliberately choose this time to come. The Eight-Pointed Nest's goal should be to arrive at Sofox's house slightly ahead of me and start a massacre, so that I, arriving shortly after, would witness all of this and save Sofox.
"But... my schedule tonight had an unexpected change. Detective, you suddenly wanted to go to Sofox's place with me to gather information. To pick you up, I was delayed for some time and couldn't arrive at Sofox's home punctually at ten o'clock. The Eight-Pointed Nest's people didn't detect my arrival, so the assassination targeting Sofox became meaningless, which is why Viscount Ati chose to temporarily leave.
"Later, when our carriage approached Sofox's house, it must have been detected by some kind of lookout the Eight-Pointed Nest had deployed on the nearby road, causing them to decide to control Viscount Ati to turn back and carry out the massacre they hadn't performed before, so that I could'save' Doctor Sofox at the critical moment."
With a hint of lingering fear, Misha analyzed and spoke seriously, and listening to her analysis, Ed also nodded and spoke.
"That's right... What Madam Devonshire just analyzed is also what I thought of. So, the current situation might be far more complex than we imagined, and the Eight-Pointed Nest's intentions are much more numerous than we anticipated. We almost fell into their trap and were led by the nose. It seems they not only want to use the Bureau of Secrets but also want to use you, this 'Vigilance Faction'."
Ed said this, and after listening to Ed's words, Misha also frowned and spoke calmly.
"Guiding Sofox, who only knows partial information, to contact you, and also arranging a grand assassination drama involving a noble connected to the Prit Royal Family, the purpose of the Eight-Pointed Nest's actions is nothing more than to make us shift our suspicion or even our target of action onto Charles IV..."
"Does that mean... His Majesty the King, is not being manipulated by the Eight-Pointed Nest?" Misha spoke with disbelief, and Ed immediately followed up.
"That probability is very high. If Charles IV were completely under the Eight-Pointed Nest's control, they wouldn't need to specifically guide your hostility towards Charles IV. Although Charles IV's actions are also very suspicious now, his intentions cannot be clearly determined.
"At this stage, the Prit Royal Family and nobles connected to the Royal Family in Tivian may have already been completely corrupted. The entire upper class of Prit is likely basically in the hands of the Eight-Pointed Nest, but Charles IV himself is not necessarily. There is a high probability that he is not on the same side as the Eight-Pointed Nest... In fact, in the eyes of the Eight-Pointed Nest, Charles IV is probably some kind of trouble."
Ed said this, and after listening to Ed's words, the confusion on Misha's face couldn't help but deepen even more.
"If that's the case, then what exactly is His Majesty the King doing? Since he hasn't been controlled by the Eight-Pointed Nest... then what are the actions he has taken over the past three years for? What is the purpose of his clearing the news of the madness... transferring the original court physician, and fully preparing for the exposition? Does he know about the existence of the Eight-Pointed Nest? Does he know that the Eight-Pointed Nest is corrupting the foundation of the Kingdom? If he knows... why doesn't he stop it?"
Frowning, Misha couldn't help but mutter a series of questions to herself, and Ed shrugged his shoulders and replied after hearing these.
"Who knows? What Charles IV is thinking, probably only he himself knows. However, since the Eight-Pointed Nest intends to guide you... to guide us to suspect or even oppose Charles IV, then let's not let them have their way... We can't be used as a gun..."
Ed analyzed and said this, and Misha was silent for a moment after hearing these words, then continued to speak in a deep voice.
"Although the risk is somewhat high, it seems I now also have the necessity to proactively contact His Majesty the King..."
After finishing her words, Misha couldn't help but fall into silence. Although she had grown up in the capital of this Prit Kingdom for more than twenty years and served the entire Kingdom as an elite, this was the first time she felt such a sense of unfamiliarity with this Kingdom. This country, which she originally thought was very familiar, hid too many secrets.
Just as Misha felt lost, Dorothy, who was in her carriage in the distance, was also contemplating at this moment. After obtaining new information, she began a new assessment of the situation in Tivian.
'Interesting... If Charles IV is not on the same side as the Eight-Pointed Nest, then what is Charles IV's purpose? If he knows that the Eight-Pointed Nest is corrupting Prit, he should have various ways to deal with it. At worst, he could contact the Church for help earlier. There's no need to drag it out to the current situation where almost the entire upper class of Prit has been corrupted... What exactly is he planning?
'But no matter what Charles IV wants to do, the Eight-Pointed Nest certainly doesn't want Charles IV to succeed. Since that's the case, it should be fine to temporarily help Charles IV.' Dorothy thought to herself, and then she turned her thoughts to another question.
'However... if the Eight-Pointed Nest is really guiding hatred towards Charles IV, it won't just be targeting the 'Vigilance Faction' represented by Misha, right? Currently in Tivian, the truly major visible force is that important figure from Holy Mountain... Since the Eight-Pointed Nest has arranged corresponding plans for the 'Vigilance Faction' side, it's impossible for them to be completely indifferent to that side...'
Dorothy thought this way, and then she began to wonder if she should contact that young saintess whom she had only met once.
...
Dream World, somewhere in the Woodland.
On the vibrant grassland, between endless giant trees, beneath deep canopies. The black-haired girl, who had entered the dream in her own form, was looking up at the humanoid creature with dazzling moth wings growing above her, meeting its eyes that were impossible to discern emotion and color, with a cold, serious expression.
"At first, I was wondering, how did the people of the Eight-Pointed Nest have such a fast and urgent ability to escape into the Dream World? So it turns out you were helping..." Looking at the target covered in grayish-white fluff, deformed and slender like an insect or human, Atcherly continued coldly.
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"The leader of the Black Dream Hunter Group, High Priest Pan Moth, 'Moth of Delusion' Gu Mian... Although I received intelligence before that the Black Dream Hunter Group might be involved in Prit's affairs, I didn't expect the level of involvement to be so high that you would personally take action. To be able to invite you... Did Pain Lady promise you some benefits?
"Since when do you need to bow and scrape to other evil gods?"
Looking at the non-human being called Gu Mian in the sky, Atcherly spoke frankly, and then, after a slight pause, it spoke in a fine, hoarse voice that was completely unlike a human's.
"Holy Mountain's lackey... Correct your attitude. This is the space between dreams, the domain of my God, not a place where you can be arrogant at will..." With a warning tone, Gu Mian said to Atcherly, while Atcherly still maintained a disdainful tone and spoke.
"Your domain? Heh... That's quite funny. Not long ago, weren't you torn apart by the Dream Dragon, losing a Scale Moth? This happened in your home field, and you didn't even take revenge in the end, but instead completely retreated for a period of time. You can still say that the dream is your domain? You've lost face..."
Atcherly said this to Gu Mian, with obvious sarcasm in her tone. Although there was not much expression on Gu Mian's non-human face after hearing this, its wings behind it couldn't help but vibrate slightly.
"That Dream Dragon... merely took advantage of my search for the God to attack a young one among the kin. Despicable and shameless. I have now returned. After today's matter, I will personally settle the score with it.
"As for you, Bureau of Secrets Cardinal, you came here alone, not worrying about your own safety, but instead have the mind to talk about other things. Aren't you worried about not being able to return?"
Looking at Atcherly below, Gu Mian said silently, and Atcherly then replied indifferently.
"It seems... the Eight-Pointed Nest wants you to deal with me here. You are full of confidence that you can handle me here..."
"Otherwise? This is our domain!"
Gu Mian responded to Atcherly's words in a high-pitched, sharp tone. As soon as his voice fell, from the deep shadows of the giant tree canopies, several huge figures swooped down and surrounded Atcherly.
Faceless heads, massive bodies, containing countless dream cocoons, obese and monstrously deformed bellies, countless illusory tentacles extending from their torsos, giant, mesmerizing moth wings...
These were two Pseudo-Moths! Two fully mature large Pseudo-Moths, who were now with Gu Mian, completely surrounding Atcherly in the center and immediately launching an attack.
With a slight tremor of their wings, Gu Mian and the Pseudo-Moths together emitted a strong hypnotic wave towards Atcherly. This hypnotic wave was primarily released by Gu Mian, reinforced and amplified by the other two Pseudo-Moths, and expanded the source of the release. This hypnotic wave could take effect in the Dream World, hypnotizing people who were already asleep into a state of second-degree sleep, making them sleep forever without waking.
"So... you can also feel tired in a dream?"
Surrounded by the powerful hypnotic wave, Atcherly stood still in exhaustion, slowly closed her eyes, and fell asleep directly while standing.
Seeing Atcherly controlled motionless like this, Gu Mian directly extended a long illusory tentacle and wrapped it around Atcherly. And just as the tentacle wrapped around Atcherly, her entire body directly turned into a ball of shadow, exploded and scattered, disappearing from the spot.
'What... This is... fake? It's an ability!'
Seeing this scene, Gu Mian couldn't help but think in surprise. Logically speaking, abilities from the real world should not be able to take effect in the Dream World! The Dream World has its own rules. No matter how powerful Extraordinary beings in the real world are, they should only be able to engage in physical combat in the Dream World in a mimetic form. Essentially, Pseudo-Moths and Gu Mian, as powerful Dream World creatures, have an absolute advantage because they can use abilities and also have large physiques.
However, Atcherly now indeed used an Extraordinary ability from the real world. What on earth was going on?
Just as Gu Mian was surprised by this, from the already blurred shadows of the large branches and leaves of the Woodland, dozens of Atcherly's figures emerged and appeared, looking coldly at the moths below.
These were... clones! The one who was just hypnotized was just Atcherly's clone. At some point, Atcherly had already turned her main body into a shadow and hidden it, leaving a clone to negotiate with Gu Mian.
After such a large number of Atcherly's clones appeared, they each drew a sharp sword from their bodies, leaped down from the branches and leaves of the giant trees, and slashed towards the Pseudo-Moths and Gu Mian below. In the face of this situation, the Pseudo-Moths waved their countless tentacles to meet the attack, scattering Atcherly's clones into bursts of shadow in mid-air.
Although the Pseudo-Moths were very efficient at clearing, their whips scattered Atcherly's clones one by one, but this still couldn't keep up with the speed at which Atcherly's clones reappeared and grew. From the shadows of the branches on each giant tree, Atcherly's clones poured out endlessly, falling like raindrops from the sky.
Soon, they exceeded the limit of the Pseudo-Moths' clearing speed. The Atcherly clones that crossed the Pseudo-Moths' defense line landed on the Pseudo-Moths' bodies and began to ruthlessly destroy the Pseudo-Moths' bodies with the swords in their hands, tearing countless small openings on the Pseudo-Moths' bodies. Both Pseudo-Moths couldn't help but fall to the ground and roll their bodies in pain, trying to shake off and crush Atcherly's clones, but with little effect. The Pseudo-Moths shook off some clones, and new clones landed on them. These falling clones, like raindrops, seemed endless.
The only one who could handle Atchery's massive number of clones with ease was Sleep. Its body was very small, and while extremely agile, the frequency of its tentacle attacks was also very high. It swiftly eliminated the clones charging towards it, while also seeing the predicament of its subordinates.
Seeing this situation, Sleep vibrated its wings, instantly shaking out large amounts of scale powder that rapidly spread outwards. These scale powders quickly filled the space between the giant trees. As soon as Atchery's falling clones touched the scale powder, they fell into a deep sleep, dropping motionless from the air directly onto the ground and dissipating into nothingness.
Under the widespread diffusion of the scale powder, Atchery's clones were quickly eliminated. Just as Sleep began searching for Atchery's true body, an anomaly occurred at the scene.
Shadows, countless bizarre shadows rushed out from the shaded areas on the giant trees, clinging to the surface of the trunks and shooting straight down towards the ground, quickly spreading across it. The Pseudo-Moth that had just been cut all over were rapidly recovering from their injuries, preparing to take flight again, when the shadows that had extended onto the ground, lacking a physical body to rely on, transformed into countless sharp spikes, stabbing towards the Pseudo-Moth's shadows.
In the Dream World, Pseudo-Moth are considered physical beings, and thus have shadows. Although the Light in the Dream World comes from the diffusion of multiple Light sources throughout the environment and is not obvious, it is still quite prominent when the Pseudo-Moth are lying on the ground.
The moment their shadows were pierced, the Pseudo-Moth's massive bodies instantly had countless large holes opened in them, as if they had been simultaneously impaled by dozens of long spears. They struggled in pain, collapsing onto the ground.
While some shadows attacked the Pseudo-Moth, more shadows targeted Sleep. However, since Sleep was flying in the air, and because the Dream World lacks a unified strong Light source, it did not cast a clear projection when not close to the ground, making it difficult for Atchery's shadows to attack it.
However, what Atchery attacked this time was not Sleep's shadow. The spiky shadows gathered on the ground beneath Sleep and on the surface of the surrounding giant trees directly rose up from the surfaces they were attached to. The shadows, which should have required a surface to be attached to, turned into pitch-black "Shadow Spikes," stabbing towards Sleep in mid-air.
Transforming from two dimensions to three, the shadow spikes, like small branches, rapidly grew and extended from the shadow ground of the plane they were attached to. These Shadow Spikes were extremely thin and not only grew in winding curves but also precisely passed through the extremely narrow gaps between the fine powder particles of the scale powder dispersed in mid-air, shooting towards Sleep. For a moment, Sleep faced attacks from countless high-speed Shadow Spikes from all directions. The attacks covered all blind spots, leaving it with almost nowhere to escape.
Seeing this situation, Sleep immediately wrapped its body with its wings to defend against the stabbing Shadow Spikes. After the sharp Shadow Spikes pierced Sleep, which had almost transformed into the chrysalis, they did not penetrate its wings but merely pinned it in place, making it immobile.
At this moment, Sleep also roughly understood the reason for Atchery's ability.
'This is... an ability of the Inner World invasion type? I see... so this is why you can use your ability in the Dream World...'
Protected by its wings, Sleep thought to itself while sensing Atchery's ability. In fact, the reason Atchery could use her ability in the Dream World was very simple: the essence of her Shadow ability originated from a certain other Inner World. When using her ability in the real world, Atchery could use shadows as a window to guide the power of this Inner World to interfere with and invade the real world, thereby achieving the release of her ability.
Although the release of Extraordinary abilities is more or less related to various Inner Worlds, few rely on an Inner World to the extent that Atchery does. Atchery's combat in the real world involved guiding the power of her Inner World to penetrate the real world, while combat in the Dream World involved guiding the power of her Inner World to penetrate the Dream World. Penetrating the real world is penetration, and penetrating other Inner Worlds is also penetration.
Atchery's type of ability could be countered by Anna's legalistic declaration ability, but it could work well in other Inner Worlds, such as in this Dream World. In the real world, Atchery still needed to use the ability and items of """Lamp""" to strengthen shadows and enhance the connection between her Inner World and the real world.
However, in the Dream World, which is also an Inner World, it wasn't so troublesome. The Dream World was "very close" to the Inner World associated with Atchery's ability, even closer than the real world. Atchery could more easily guide the power of shadows into the Dream World, and didn't even need a Light source much to strengthen the shadows. Operations like the three-dimensional transformation of shadows just now would actually be more troublesome for Atchery to achieve in the real world.
It was precisely because the Inner World Atchery relied on was very close to the Dream World that she dared to challenge Sleep in the Dream World.
'How troublesome... the Church's saint... It seems it's impossible to deal with her easily even in the Dream World. Even if I can defeat her by fighting with all my strength, the price I pay might be unacceptable...'
'Since that's the case, I can only settle for the next best thing... using the second plan...'
Protected by its wings, Sleep thought to itself. Then, from within the protection of its wings, it extended its hand. After a flicker of faint Light in its hand, two pieces of broken black jade appeared.
On the other hand, seeing that Sleep's wing defense was not so easily penetrated, the spiky shadows that had pierced Sleep's wings began to rapidly sink, spreading like a pool of ink on Sleep's wings. These shadows actually returned from a three-dimensional state to a two-dimensional one, but this time they directly attached themselves to Sleep's magnificent wings.
Subsequently, these shadows began to move on the surface of Sleep's wings, relying on the curves of the wings, and ignoring collisions, they swam towards the inner side of the wings. It seemed they wanted to attack from inside the wings in this manner, trapping Sleep completely within its own defense with nowhere to escape.
After realizing something was wrong, Sleep immediately spread its wings again and self-severed the moth wings that were already entangled with shadows. Sleep avoided being entangled by Atchery's shadows by abandoning its wings.
But even so, Atchery still did not intend to give up the pursuit of Sleep. The shadows on the abandoned wings gathered again, jumped out in a three-dimensional form, and transformed into a completely black Atchery silhouette in the air. This silhouette swung its sword towards Sleep, and at this moment, the faint Light emanating from the black jade fragments held in Sleep's hand suddenly dimmed.
Then, something unexpected happened to Atchery. The moment the black jade fragments in Sleep's hand dimmed, a large area of thick fog inexplicably surged up in the surrounding Woodland. The white thick fog instantly filled Atchery's vision entirely, leaving everything she could see in a white haze. And Sleep itself also disappeared into the thick fog.
Seeing this situation, Atchery in her Shadow form still swung her sword forward without stopping, but she struck empty air. The place where she should have struck Sleep was empty; there was nothing except the vast white thick fog.
Atchery, who had struck empty air with her sword, fell straight down from the air. After landing on the ground, she began observing her surroundings vigilantly to prevent surprise attacks from the fog. In her perception, Sleep... and even the two severely injured Pseudo-Moth had completely disappeared. She had no way to confirm their condition in the slightest.
'What is this mist...?'
Looking at the surrounding mist, Atchery thought to herself while remaining vigilant. Atchery was the leader of the Church's Bureau of Secrets, and her sense of direction was first-rate, but in this kind of fog, she felt a strong sense of chaos. She couldn't figure out any direction at all. This was the first time she had encountered such a situation.
This vast white thick fog, combined with the faintly visible illusory images of giant trees around, reminded Atchery of one of the images the Night Sky Empress had shown her a few days ago: the giant dream cocoon within the thick fog of the Woodland. The fog before her now felt very similar to the fog in that image.
'There's a problem... It's not advisable to stay here for long...'
After sensing that the fog before her was somewhat off, Atchery thought grimly to herself. She then abandoned her plan to kill or capture the leader of the Black Dream Hunter Group and retrieve Harold, deciding to leave the Dream World first.
Traveling between Inner Worlds was not difficult for Atchery.
Just like that, Atchery, while remaining vigilant of her surroundings, activated her ability and began her action to return to the real world. After her figure blurred for a moment, Atchery disappeared from her original spot.
However, when Atchery's body reappeared, she did not appear under the Light of reality but still appeared within a thick fog.
When Atchery opened her eyes again, before her, besides the faintly visible giant trees, was still the vast white thick fog.
"What..."
Looking at everything before her, Atchery couldn't help but mutter with her eyes slightly widened. She remembered that she should have returned to the real world, so why was she still here!
Seeing the situation before her, Atchery immediately felt something was wrong. She immediately activated her ability to return to the real world again, and she disappeared from her original spot again. However, when her figure reappeared, the scene she saw before her was still thick fog and faint giant trees.
She had moved to a different location, but it seemed she was still within this vast white fog, still in the Dream World.
Looking at this scene before her, Atchery couldn't help but her expression sink. She then made several more attempts, but the result was still the same. Every time she tried to return to the real world, she would arrive at another location within this thick fog. Afterwards, she chose a different path, attempting to go to the Inner World she was connected to, but the result was also the same; she still appeared in the fog in the end.
At this moment, Atchery discovered that as long as she performed some kind of "travel," she would get "lost" due to this white fog and end up back in the fog. It seemed that any form of "travel" was affected by this fog, even a method of travel like inter-realm traversal, which was almost like spatial movement...
At this moment, she confirmed that terrifying thought.
She was lost, trapped in this fog, trapped in the Dream World...
'This fog... was created by the power of a god...'
Standing still in the fog, Atchery looked at the vast white expanse before her and thought grimly to herself. At this moment, she was completely trapped here; she could no longer rely on her own strength to return to the real world.
Only the power of a god could create this kind of fog that causes everything to be lost, and create this kind of predicament where even inter-realm traversal can be disoriented.
'Is it the fog of the God of Dreams...? Precisely at this time... Is this one of their plans? Why is there suddenly such a dangerous area in the Dream World? I've never received any intelligence about the God of Dreams being active before...'
'And those people from Black Dream, how did they hide this area of fog before? And how did they manage to escape within this fog?'
Looking at the surrounding white fog, Atchery thought with some urgency in her heart. It was difficult for her now to find a way out of this Dream World fog completely on her own; she could only wait for assistance.
Fortunately, Atchery currently had subordinates waiting in the real world. If her subordinates did not see Atchery return after a long time, they would definitely report to Holy Mountain. Among the things left behind by the Holy See, there were items that could help her escape her predicament, as long as the other Cardinal helped.
Coincidentally, the current state of Prit being critically ill also needed to be reported to Holy Mountain. The other Cardinal could set out and rush over after receiving the report. Not only could they come to help her, but they could also directly take complete control of this highly corrupted Despenser Royal Family.
Since Prince Harold, the head of the secret police, was corrupted to this extent, who knows what other places would be like. When the other Cardinal arrive, from King Charles IV to ordinary lower-ranking members of the Royal Family, probably none of them will escape. This exhibition should be directly terminated, right?
Atchery thought this to herself. Then, after a slight sigh, she also began slowly continuing to actively explore for a way out while waiting for other colleagues to come to Tivian for support.