The grip tightened.

  Ale felt the pressure become unbearable.

  His body froze.

  He couldn’t feel his arms anymore.

  Or his legs.

  Each heartbeat sent a wave of pain through him, turning into flashes of white light inside his mind.

  His vision blurred.

  He felt himself shrinking.

  Compressing.

  As if his entire existence was being crushed into a single point.

  A golden sphere.

  And it wasn’t just a sensation.

  ?

  In front of him, Nyxion was no longer human.

  His body had transformed into a colossal shadow phoenix.

  Its wings slowly unfolded, black as the abyss, swallowing the light around them.

  Its massive beak opened.

  A distorted, endless maw.

  Filled with something raw.

  Primitive.

  A desire to devour.

  To possess.

  To claim an entire world.

  ?

  “Don’t let him swallow your world!”

  The voice came from above—sharp, urgent.

  Something slammed violently between Ale and the phoenix.

  The impact shook the temple.

  The shadow phoenix was hurled backward with a furious roar.

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  Ale collapsed to the ground, gasping violently.

  He sucked in air as if returning from death itself.

  “Breathe…” a tired voice whispered.

  It was Lirden.

  ?

  He had intervened without thinking.

  His body had moved before his mind caught up.

  Only now did he realize where he was.

  He had entered Ale’s dream.

  A dream disturbingly real.

  An ancient cavern filled with oppressive magic.

  A sealed temple.

  Something monstrous at its heart.

  If a world like this exists… he had thought when stepping inside,

  what kind of creature could be locked away here?

  Now he had his answer.

  ?

  A chill ran down Lirden’s spine.

  “…That cursed aura…”

  His eyes fixed on the shadow phoenix slowly rising again.

  “So it’s you…” he muttered quietly. “The source of this corruption.”

  The creature’s presence crushed the air itself.

  It wasn’t just darkness.

  It was wrong.

  Doubt flickered in his mind.

  Was this real?

  Or merely a nightmare born from Ale’s exhaustion and fear?

  But that pressure…

  That density of mana…

  No ordinary dream could create something like this.

  This wasn’t imagination.

  This was something sealed.

  Something ancient.

  Something dangerous.

  And whatever it was—

  It wanted the boy.

  ?

  His first instinct was to retreat.

  Leave the dream.

  Warn the guild.

  Immediately.

  But the world began to tremble.

  Cracks tore through the air.

  The ground split apart.

  The dream sky fractured like shattered glass.

  The phoenix laughed.

  A hollow laugh.

  Devoid of joy.

  It dove once more.

  Its claws closed around the golden sphere.

  Ale’s Core.

  “This world will die,” the creature declared.

  “And another will rise.”

  Lirden understood instantly.

  If he left now…

  Ale would vanish.

  And this entire dream world with him.

  The creature was furious.

  It had been so close.

  So close to devouring its prey.

  Shadow flames surged around its massive form, warping the air.

  “Interrupting someone’s meal…” it growled, voice rumbling like distant thunder,

  “…is extremely rude.”

  Its blazing eyes locked onto Lirden.

  ?

  Without responding, Lirden knelt briefly beside Ale.

  He searched his pouch and pulled out two small vials.

  “Here. Drink. Recover.”

  He opened a healing potion and placed it near the boy. The glowing liquid shimmered softly in the dream air.

  Then Lirden stood.

  He stepped forward.

  Positioning himself between Ale…

  And the monster.

  ?

  His gaze hardened.

  Before him stood a being of pure corruption.

  There was no doubt.

  That form.

  That aura.

  A creature walking the path of darkness.

  A symbol of destruction.

  Anger rose in Lirden’s chest.

  “You who spread corruption…” he said firmly,

  “You have stained this world.”

  His fists tightened.

  His eyes did not waver.

  He met the phoenix’s burning gaze.

  “You deserve eradication.”

  ?

  The phoenix attacked first.

  Its colossal body launched into the air with a violent flap of wings. Shadow flames exploded outward as it gained height.

  Its wings folded forward.

  Black claws gleamed like blades.

  Then it plunged.

  Perfect arc.

  Flawless trajectory.

  A predator striking its prey.

  But Lirden did not retreat.

  He transformed.

  His body stretched and expanded with a deep rumble. In an instant, where the man once stood, a gigantic elk appeared.

  Massive. Towering.

  Its antlers spread nearly four meters wide, each beam over a meter long.

  The collision was brutal.

  The claws came down—

  And stopped.

  The elk absorbed the impact, hooves digging into the temple floor. Stone cracked beneath the force.

  With a powerful upward motion, the elk hooked the phoenix with its massive antlers, tearing it off its path and throwing it violently aside.

  The shadow phoenix rolled across the ground before rising again in an explosion of black flames.

  A deep chuckle echoed.

  “An elk, huh…Interesting.”

  He shook his wings. Black feathers fell to the ground, burst into dark flames, then vanished in a muffled breath.

  His gaze settled on Lirden—sharp, almost amused.

  “Kid…”

  “Here, the rules are flexible.”

  He stepped forward. The space around him rippled like disturbed water.

  “Form. Strength. Everything depends on what your mind accepts.”

  He slowly raised one claw. A shadow flame coiled around it like a serpent.

  “As long as your will holds, this world will answer you.”

  Lirden did not reply.

  Still in his elk form, he simply turned his head toward Ale.

  The young boy was still lying on the ground, his body covered in the glowing liquid from the healing potions.

  His eyes shifted from the shadow phoenix… to Lirden… then to the cracked floor, the living walls, the pulsing shadows.

  Something was wrong.

  This world…

  It obeyed too well.