Chapter 54: A Strange Dream
*RUMBLE!*
Rain fell heavily as thunder roared endlessly, and lightning crawled across the dark, empty sky. It was as if the God of Thunder itself was descending.
CLANG!
"This is your people’s end. Stop fighting what has already begun!"
A man with his face covered by a mask roared as he swung his sword upward.
*SLASH!*
The blade carved a deep wound into the dark red-haired man in front of him.
The man gritted his teeth.
"No matter how many wounds I sustain... even if I die... I will come back stronger and put a stop to you!"
He roared as he swung his sword again.
CLANG!
"What makes you so sure?"
the masked man said calmly.
Even with his face covered, the red-haired man could sense it clearly.
He was smiling.
’What has this bastard done?’
Suddenly, the sky tore open.
A horse stepped out from the rift.
It had eight legs and a dark halo like a crown above its head. Runic markings covered its body, and dark flames trailed behind its hooves.
The red-haired man’s mouth fell open.
"Impossible... you deified the gods. Why?!"
*STAB!*
The masked man struck without hesitation, catching him off guard.
He drove his blade into the man’s body.
"A god is beneath my feet. Power is everything in this accursed world."
He slowly withdrew his sword.
The red-haired man staggered and fell to his knees, coughing up blood.
"Now even a god bends to my will... do you know why?" He raised his other hand, showing a ring engraved with a horse symbol. "Because I have the power."
*Neigh!*
The horse stopped beside the masked man.
He stepped onto its back.
"If you ever come back... you must possess power beyond a god to face me. Otherwise..."
He tilted his head slightly.
"You’re just trash like our father."
"You traitor...!" the red-haired man yelled.
"Wrong word, brother. See you soon. And you better not disappoint me."
"Eyah!"
The horse rode off with the masked man on it.
"Laaa- *RUMBLE! RUMBLE!*"
***
"Ahhh!"
Reiji sat up straight in bed, drenched in sweat.
His breathing was heavy, and his expression was dark.
"What the hell was that dream?"
He muttered, running a hand through his hair.
That definitely felt too real to be called a dream.
He let out a long sigh.
"Maybe I’m just overthinking things."
Reiji said to himself as he stood up from the bed and went downstairs.
He grabbed a cup, filled it with water, and drank it in one go.
"Pwah!"
Reiji wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
He was feeling much better.
"But what the hell was that dream?"
Reiji muttered to himself.
The scene of the sky opening and that black horse coming out replayed in his head.
"And what is that horse?"
He remembered the red-haired man calling it a god or something.
Then the scene of the masked man showing the red-haired man the ring replayed in his head.
Reiji narrowed his eyes.
"But why do I feel like I’ve seen it before?"
Then an image from The Grand Hall Which Holds The Legend of Latum flashed through his mind.
"That’s where I saw it."
Reiji muttered, recollecting the ring with a horse carved onto it resting on the finger of one of the stone statues.
"I didn’t get a look at the statue’s face..."
Reiji sighed dejectedly.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remember which statue had been wearing the ring.
It was just blank in his head.
After thinking about it for a while, Reiji couldn’t grasp the reason behind his strange sense of familiarity.
Knowing that dwelling on it wouldn’t magically give him answers, he decided to set it aside for now.
He strolled over to the couch and plopped down beside Vel who was still fast asleep.
The moment he sat down, his eyes unconsciously drifted toward the coffee table.
Silence filled the house.
For some reason, the dream refused to leave his mind.
The black horse. The ring. The masked man.
Everything felt strangely familiar.
Like he had seen it somewhere before but at the same he had not.
Reiji rubbed his temples. "Maybe..."
A thought suddenly crossed his mind. Without hesitation, he opened his inventory.
The green screen appeared before him.
Several items floated within the inventory space.
Reiji’s gaze quickly landed on the mysterious journal he had gotten from the study.
He took it out and flipped through the blank pages before stopping at the page that held the faded text.
"After the Thousand Days and Nights War..."
’Could what I saw in my dream be the Thousand Days and Nights War?’ Reiji thought for a moment before quickly dismissing it. ’Nah, I don’t think so. The Undead King was a skeleton, unless...’
His gaze fell back onto the faded text.
After a brief hesitation, Reiji took out another book from his inventory.
It was one of the books he had found inside the study.
Unfortunately, just like before, he found nothing useful.
Only strange magic circles filled the pages.
"It seems to be some kind of magic skill."
Reiji frowned.
He didn’t know how he knew, but he felt certain it wasn’t an ordinary book.
Then his eyes drifted toward the title.
"Piercing Needles Swallowing Sun."
’This sounds like a pretty strong skill...’
Reiji thought to himself.
’But the name sounds like something straight out of a xianxia novel.’
He stared at the book for another moment before closing it.
’I’ll try it later.’
Reiji felt a little sleepy, so he returned both books to his inventory. Unconsciously gave Vel’s head a little rub before strolling upstairs. He opened the bedroom door, and plopped straight onto the bed.
But sleep didn’t come as expected.
Reiji grabbed his phone from the nightstand and started doomscrolling.
Most of the videos were still about women mourning the disappearance of men.
Some were crying.
Some were posting memorial videos.
Others were sharing old photos and memories.
Even the comment sections were filled with crying emojis and sad stickers.
"I wonder what would happen if the world learned that the last man alive was just chilling on his bed right now instead of being locked up inside some government facility."
Reiji muttered to himself as he continued scrolling.
Then a video about this year’s World Cup popped up.
Reiji’s expression immediately changed.
He understood that the World Cup was a long-standing tradition, but with no men left in the world, the world cup was rubbish.
He lost interest and turned off his phone, placing back on the nightstand.
The room suddenly became quiet.
Reiji stared up at the ceiling.
"I really did transmigrate, huh?" he muttered softly.
Turning his head toward the window, he stared outside in a daze.
The world beyond the glass looked peaceful and normal.
Yet nothing was normal.
In this entire world... he was the only man left.
A bitter smile appeared on his face.
What others would call a dream was actually the reason he couldn’t even step outside his own house.
