Chapter 167: A Hard-Earned Victory

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"GROOOOOHHHHH!"

The aberration made of pure dark thoughts, deep traumas, and collective nightmares attempted to force its way through the exit in order to attack them. Yet the exit rapidly sealed shut. A giant black claw emerged at the last second and was sliced cleanly in place as the gate closed completely. The severed giant black claw, formed entirely of dense dark clouds, began to rapidly rush toward the group. It moved like a massive spider with a long, writhing tail trailing behind it.

"A Memetic Manifestation born from the materialization of the dark thoughts of humanity’s shared consciousness...!" Ren muttered in fascination and alarm. "What a strange and terrifying being!"

"Merely staring at it scrambles our heads!" Hinata cried out while clutching her temples. "But... we cannot give up!" She unleashed her summoned familiars without hesitation, then rapidly formed a series of precise hand signs. "Summon Fusion!!!"

The Flood Frog King, her three-legged bird, and the spiritual fox all merged together in a display of incredible mastery. She held the Blood Moon Lantern tightly in one hand as the fusion took place.

From the swirling combination a giant cloud of pure spiritual energy surged upward. Blinding swords of light erupted from within and reached the giant claw of black psychic energy, piercing it deeply and blowing several of its massive fingers apart.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"Woah?!"

"Oh!"

"Nicely done, Hinata!"

Goki, Ren, and Kagehisa were all shocked to see Hinata unleash such a surprising trump card, especially while she was already exhausted and bleeding from her eyes, nose, and ears.

Amidst the swirling white mist a giant white dragon finally emerged. It was covered in radiant golden scales and resembled a long, heavenly serpentine dragon from ancient Chinese mythology.

"Yellow Dragon Prince...! I invoke your power...! Sword Light Rain!"

As she called out the technique and placed her hands forward in prayer, the dragon roared in powerful response. Its golden scales transformed into countless blinding swords of pure light that pierced the giant claw and rapidly began pushing the monstrosity backward.

However, the claw quickly recovered and leaped forward with terrifying speed. It punched the dragon spirit hard enough to send it crashing down, then wrapped its remaining fingers tightly around the dragon’s neck and began to asphyxiate it.

"Gaaaaack!"

"D-Damn it...!" Hinata coughed blood. "I cannot summon a complete form yet...!" She noticed with despair that the dragon’s lower half was still only mist. It had not even reached fifty percent of its true power. "Everyone, please...!"

"You got it!" Kagehisa nodded firmly and blurred forward alongside Ren and Goki. "Boys, let’s beat the crap out of that thing!"

"On it, boss!"

"Understood."

The three ninjas reached the monster in an instant. Its oppressive darkness spread in every direction as its mere gaze attempted to shatter their minds completely.

However, their Spiritual Arts proved capable of protecting them. After enduring multiple psychic attacks in recent battles, their own Spiritual Arts had rapidly adapted to the pain and allowed them to create sturdy barriers around their brains.

"You won’t be able to break through our heads so easily now!" Goki roared. He channeled large quantities of Mana and Spirit Energy into his burning fists and punched multiple holes straight through the phantasmal shadow claw.

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!

At the same time Ren blurred through the air with perfect precision. His nearly invisible shadow threads tightly bound the entire construct before contracting with crushing force, slicing through its ethereal matter and tearing the psychic construct apart. "Kagehisa-sama!"

Kagehisa then descended from above with his demonic spear firmly in hand. He unleashed a swirling vortex of black petals that struck the creature before diving directly into the darkness of its body. He tore through its interior and, for a single horrifying glimpse of a second, saw what truly lay inside.

"GYAAAAAHHHH!"

"AAAAGGGHH!"

"NOOOOOOO!"

"UUUAAAAHHH!"

To his absolute horror the thing was composed entirely of nightmares, dark thoughts, and the most traumatizing memories of thousands — no, perhaps millions — of human beings.

And this was merely a wandering creature inside the Noosphere. If this layered realm were ever to fuse with the material world, these abominations would be unleashed everywhere at once. It would likely mean the complete end of the world as they knew it.

BOOOMMM!!!

But Kagehisa broke through completely, blowing apart its interior from within and helping Hinata’s dragon summon free itself. The dragon roared with pure divine fury and unleashed a rain of thousands of explosive swords of light, followed by a blinding, concentrated breath of golden-yellow energy.

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!

"GYYAAAAARRGGGHHH...!"

The monster was pushed back relentlessly. Its body slowly began to shrink in size, yet it only grew angrier. It rapidly took on dozens of strange new forms — giant bugs, twisted imps, and other nightmarish shapes — scattering in every direction and rushing to attack the group from all angles.

"Damn it, this is getting ridiculous! When is this thing finally going to die?!" Kagehisa clicked his tongue in frustration while destroying the countless shadow fragments.

"I’ll... take care of it...!"

Suddenly a familiar voice echoed from behind the group. They turned and saw Riven standing upright once more. He looked exhausted but otherwise fine. He extended his hand forward with calm determination.

His Shadow Self appeared behind him and fused completely with his psychic power. Together they unleashed a massive tornado of dark psychic energies that washed over every remaining fragment of the monstrosity and completely devoured them.

FLUOSH!

Riven closed his hands tightly and crushed everything until nothing remained except a single huge black pearl that quietly leaked a thin black fog.

"Riven!" Kagehisa said with a wide, relieved smile. "Are you alright?"

"I’m fine..." Riven answered with a faint smile of his own. "We did it, guys... thanks for everything."

"Yeaaaahhh!" Goki roared in triumph. "Let’s fucking goooooo!!!"

"At long last... it’s finally over," Ren sighed in deep relief.

"Yaaaay..." Hinata groaned weakly from the ground, completely paralyzed by exhaustion. Her white dragon remained by her side for a few more moments, nursing her with gentle healing spells alongside the others, before it finally dissolved into particles of soft light and disappeared.

Label sighed heavily in relief now that the nightmare was truly finished. "Ugh... this was... the longest day of my entire life..."

Before she could celebrate any further, the girl simply collapsed onto the soft grass and smiled faintly up at the clear blue sky.

"Dad... I’ve finally avenged you..." she whispered quietly, before falling into a deep sleep from pure exhaustion.

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