There was no one around.
Ludger had come alone to a place cut off from the rest.
He recalled the last moment before he fell into the sand mire.
Just before Nirva dragged everyone down, Ludger had activated the [Rip Van Winkle] he was wearing.
Since Nirva’s goal was to relocate them, Ludger instinctively responded, sensing that at the very least he would try to send them into the Depths.
By activating [Rip Van Winkle], he generated a protective barrier from dream energy, enveloping his companions as though to shield them.
But Ludger himself had not had enough time to unfold it completely, and so within the mire they had been separated from one another.
‘Still, since I used the Siesta, it shouldn’t be dangerous.’
And since Zantman was with them, that was at least a relief.
Now was the time to worry about his own situation.
‘I didn’t think I’d come here this way.’
He had expected to go step by step, preparing his heart at the final moment.
But Nirva was not so easy.
The man did not sit on a throne and wait for someone to come.
Perhaps because he was not the master of the house but the steward, he roamed tirelessly, seeking to remove anything that could pose a threat.
A diligence unbefitting of a demon.
‘No. Looking at Zero Order, perhaps that’s closer to their true nature.’
As Ludger thought this, he slowly turned around.
“Isn’t it magnificent?”
He did not know when he had ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ appeared, but Nirva was standing there as naturally as if he had always been.
Ludger gave no reply. Nor was he surprised.
He had already realized that Nirva intended to draw him in separately.
And that Nirva would approach him directly.
Nirva was cunning.
Of the hundreds of thousands who had entered Dreamland, he knew all too well who posed the greatest obstacle to his plans.
“This scenery has continued from the very ancient times.”
Hands clasped behind his back, Nirva gazed into the vast landscape in the distance.
Ludger slowly walked up to stand beside him and looked upon the same view.
It was familiar.
And yet unfamiliar.
He had seen something like this twice before; this was the third time.
And yet the endlessly shifting, mingling world always felt new.
One thing, however, was undeniable.
This scenery was beautiful.
Untouched by human hands, and impossible to be realized by natural law and physics alone.
A world woven of dreams, fantasies, ideals, and the unconscious—complex and yet simple.
“This place will become our paradise.”
“Your paradise, perhaps.”
“That is a very rude remark.”
“Then do you plan to pass judgment in the Goddess’s stead?”
“The Goddess would kindly embrace even a disobedient child.”
Ludger recalled the lump nailed into the obelisk-like Stake.
“...The Goddess of Dreams.”
“You know? No, you could hardly not know. After all, I can smell it from you as well.”
Nirva laughed, delighted.
He could hardly believe he had failed to notice it until now.
“Only by bringing you down to the depths where the Goddess’s touch reaches, have I realized—divine power dwells in you as well.”
“Uncontrollable strength is nothing but a curse.”
“Even if it cannot be controlled, it is still a blessing. Power itself is pure. Even if the one who holds it is not an Apostle but a human. I respect that.”
Nirva turned to Ludger.
“I will make one last proposal. Join hands with me. Let us overthrow Lumenis together. The god who whispers to you—surely he wishes for the same?”
Nirva read the divine force lingering around Ludger.
It was familiar.
When his mistress, the Goddess of Dreams, was dethroned and sealed by Lumenis, the other gods too had met similar or worse fates.
Then, they had not interacted, passing each other by like cows and chickens. But now the world had changed.
This was an era in which Lumenis reigned as sole deity.
To bring an end to that, it was necessary to join forces.
“You must know my lineage.”
“I know it well. Your suitability—it must surely be by Lumenis’s arrangement.”
Ludger remained silent, and Nirva went on.
“Lumenis turned this world into his fishbowl, his cage. He manipulated the world with his own servants. But his endless greed did not stop there. I can tell just by looking at you.”
Before Nirva could ramble further, Ludger cut in.
“So, what is your goal?”
“Did I not say? The downfall of Lumenis. The same as you.”
Nirva chuckled.
“Imagine the fun when the finely forged blade he made is not only lost but turned against his own throat. This is goodwill. The god you serve, and the Goddess I serve—hand in hand, we rise together.”
“In this hollow dream-world, you mean?”
“Do you know what kind of Goddess I serve?”
Of course not.
He had only learned of a god sleeping here that day in Clara Cowen’s chamber.
He had had no chance to investigate what kind of god it was.
“In the past, humans revered her noble name, calling her [Noxanna].”
The Goddess of Dreams, Noxanna.
Shepherd of Sleepers.
Ruler of Night and Death.
She had existed since the most ancient times. Though Lumenis had usurped her sovereignty, she had not died but remained sealed within Dreamland.
“In the old days, sleep and death were the same. To the Goddess of Dreams, death was no different from dreaming. That is why Lumenis sealed her rather than killing her—he had no right to bring death to one who bore death itself.”
“So you mean that death is about to awaken.”
“Do you find it ominous? It is only the false flow of the world returning to its rightful state.”
“At the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives as sacrifice.”
Nirva shook his head as if regretful.
“Don’t say that. What is a mere hundreds of thousands, when thinking of the future? The millions, the billions to be saved.”
Ludger also turned to look at him.
His sharp gaze brimmed with murderous hostility.
“This is my answer, after thought.”
“That is most unfortunate. To reject even my final ultimatum.”
“Is it truly unfortunate?”
Ludger sneered at him.
“Anyone can see you wanted me to answer like this. Wipe that blatant smile off your face before you talk.”
“Heh. So it was obvious? Truthfully, I disliked it from the start. Collaboration with another god? That should never exist.”
Golden flames blazed in Nirva’s eyes.
“This world belongs only to the Goddess Noxanna. How could it be stained by the hands of other fallen gods?”
“Bluntness suits you.”
From that, Ludger knew Nirva’s twisted nature—pretending to offer alliance though he never intended it, only to test him.
It was then that Ludger swung his hand.
The distance between them was close enough for an outstretched arm.
And within that range, the blade of Ludger’s swordstick flashed like lightning.
───!
A glint in a heartbeat.
The blade’s target: Nirva’s throat.
But Nirva did not lift his clasped hands.
Instead, prepared dream-sand moved on its own, seizing Ludger’s swordstick blade.
This dream-sand had easily blocked countless bombardments of the Librarian.
Simply swinging a swordstick could not break this shield.
At least, not if this were reality.
Dark aura flickered at the sword’s edge.
Ludger’s dream-energy wrapped the swordstick, drawing a single clear image.
The future of Nirva’s neck being severed.
The dream reacted, splitting the golden sand and slicing Nirva’s throat along with it.
“Sharp.”
Nirva muttered with his severed head.
This was the second time.
His body crumbled into sand and reformed elsewhere.
“So. In the library you, too, were restraining your power.”
“There were people who might have been caught up.”
“But here, there is no one.”
“No eyes watching, either.”
“Indeed.”
Nirva spread his arms wide.
“It was the right decision to remove you first.”
He had been disturbed by Ludger for some time.
How could a mere human so grate on his nerves? He had wondered.
But with Zero Order’s words and Ludger’s extraordinary abilities combined, his wariness had grown.
And now—
Nirva realized.
This was the blade Zero Order had spoken of.
This cunning man. To think he held such a sharp blade.
‘And yet he gave me such blatant warning. Did he want me to drop my guard? No—he hardly even tried to hide it.’
Which meant there was something else besides Ludger.
He did not yet know what, but first the knife at his throat had to be dealt with.
“You’ve never seen my full power, have you?”
“Nor you mine.”
Blue light flared from Ludger’s eyes.
This was Dreamland—a place where imagination became reality.
There were no onlookers, no one to be caught in the crossfire.
This place allowed Ludger to shed most of the restraints he had always held back.
Of course, the final restraint still had to be kept—but aside from that—
Here, he could run wild as he pleased.
“You’ll regret calling me here.”
Like unchaining the muzzle of a starving tiger.
To prove it, magical diagrams like constellations unfolded behind Ludger.
The complex, three-dimensional formations were realized instantly as magic.
In the mixed-colored sky, black clouds gathered.
At their center, something vast began to take shape.
A colossal white blade glowing softly.
It cut through the stormclouds, descending like a meteor, its sharp point aimed at Nirva’s crown.
A magic unlike any existing 6th-Circle spell—born of Ludger’s imagination.
[White Jade Sword of the Great Void]
Nirva countered without hesitation.
The strata heaved and the ground rose.
The earth beneath became dream-sand, surging upward.
What formed to meet the sword was another sword.
[Sword of Dream-Wandering Sandstone]
The colossal sand-blade clashed with the White Jade Sword.
Their collision did not create physical shock.
Instead, translucent resonance rippled through the Depths of Dreamland.
Twuooong───!!!
Like a drop of water on a still pond, the space rippled outward in concentric waves.
Where the translucent waves passed, trees powdered to dust, the ground split like parched earth.
Even amid the disastrous ripples, neither side yielded an inch.
At least, it seemed so for now.
But Ludger’s attack did not end there.
The black clouds still churned, and more of the White Jade Sword revealed itself.
“Hm?”
Nirva saw it.
A giant hand gripping the sword’s hilt.
“A hand? What in the world....”
It was not merely a sword falling.
No—
The sword was only a part.
With the hand holding it, the true body pierced through the clouds.
A terrifying face that could make even demons tremble.
The crimson flames draped around its body were no ordinary fire.
Flames that burned all evil and corruption.
The fire of Garuda.
A mythic being.
A miracle, perfectly manifested from imagination—the destroyer of evil, the Demon-Subduing King.
The same figure he had briefly shown against the Island-Swallower—now at full power.
[Immovable Wisdom King (Acalanātha)]
Achalantana’s grim visage twisted fiercer as he gripped the sword.
Along the jade blade surged Garuda’s red flames, whirling in a vortex and devouring the sand-sword.
Where the fire touched the sandy blade, it melted into glass.
That glass could not withstand the jade blade’s might, shattering into fragments.
Seeing it, Nirva at last realized.
Perhaps bringing Ludger into the Depths had been a great mistake.
