Chapter 1397: 155. Heart Nightmare

That pretty face that should have been incomparably familiar now had no facial features visible at all, leaving only a horrifying hollow void.

And within that hollow void, something indescribable was constantly writhing and twisting.

Chaotic whispers echoed through Muen's mind the instant he looked over, while a terrifying gaze filled with malice peered at him from the darkness. Before Muen even had time to react, he immediately felt a sharp pain in his face.

Touching his face, he was shocked to discover that part of the flesh on his own face had actually separated from his body within this short span of time and begun to twist and mutate.

Muen took out a mirror and saw the flesh on nearly half of his face blooming like flower petals, only to turn in the blink of an eye into disgusting, wildly flailing tentacles. Eyes opened on the tentacles, which bent slightly and actually grinned viciously as they stared back at him.

"Pollution? When?"

Muen tore that piece of flesh off in one motion. Black flames immediately surged up, burning his own body and completely cleansing away the Pollution that had attached itself to him at some unknown point.

But even though he had long since become somewhat immune to such a sight, even though mere Pollution could no longer cause him any substantial harm, at this moment, fear still surged like spring water gushing upward from the ground, frantically filling his heart.

This indescribable twisting and mutation was undoubtedly a sign of Evil God Pollution.

He had absolutely no memory of when he had come into contact with an Evil God.

Hadn't he just been fighting that black-robed figure? There hadn't been any Evil God aura on that black-robed figure at the time.

And moreover...

Muen took two steps back, putting distance between himself and the current "Ariel."

This "Ariel's" entire face had already disappeared, devoured completely by something, yet she still seemed able to see and hear, slightly tilting her head toward Muen.

"What's wrong?"

Muen seemed able to hear her asking such a question.

"You're not Ariel? Ariel was swapped out?"

Muen assumed a guarded stance, gripping Elizabeth in both hands. The cold sensation brought by the twin blades calmed him considerably: "Where is the real Ariel? And what kind of monster are you? An Evil God believer?"

"?"

"Ariel" tilted her head, seemingly unable to understand what Muen was saying.

She even took the initiative to approach Muen, stretching out her small hand and very familiarly trying to grab onto him... just like she often did in ordinary times.

"Speak!"

Muen shouted in a low voice: "Even though you don't have a mouth, I think you should still be able to answer my questions some other way!"

"..."

"Ariel" still said nothing.

Of course she said nothing, because she had no facial features, and at this moment, the hollow void on her face was still visibly expanding, while the outline of that mass of twisted something inside it was becoming clearer and clearer.

Yet this kind of "Ariel" clearly expressed anger...

Not the furious embarrassment of a monster whose true form had been exposed.

But rather... the anger filled with grievance that an ordinary girl would feel after being falsely accused by her lover!

"No way..."

Cold sweat immediately seeped from Muen's forehead.

Compared with being suddenly attacked by an Evil God believer, another terrifying thought uncontrollably surfaced in his mind.

What if... Ariel hadn't been swapped out?

What if the one in front of him... really was Ariel?

What if her current appearance... was because she had already been Polluted, yet remained completely unaware of it?

What if... some Evil God had already completely taken possession of her?

"No... impossible!"

Muen suddenly roared.

How could something like that be possible?

Ariel wasn't some insignificant small fry!

She was the heaven-defying heroine, the destined protagonist, the child of fortune favored by this world!

She possessed several Divine Favors, and she certainly did not lack experience fighting Evil God believers. Naturally, her resistance to Evil God Pollution was also extremely high.

Up until now, only the Love God had managed to take advantage of a weakness in her heart and slip in for a short time.

But even then, the Love God had failed to truly invade her soul!

...But what about her current state?

The mutation of her body already looked irreversible, and the hollow void in her soul was even more horrifying to behold.

There was no doubt that this was already the appearance of someone completely Polluted and corroded by an Evil God!

"No... this isn't right... this definitely isn't right!"

Even at this point, Muen still could not believe it.

Because Ariel had clearly been perfectly fine just moments ago. How could she possibly have turned into this in the blink of an eye?

And what Evil God in this world could possibly do such a thing, could act this unreasonably...

"There is one."

Muen heard someone's answer.

It was himself in the mirror.

As though it had broken free from his restraints and come alive.

In a humble and terrified voice, it said:

"There is such an Evil God."

"..."

A chill erupted from the soles of Muen's feet, from the deepest part of his soul, and spread throughout his entire body in the blink of an eye.

Leaving him completely unable to move.

The strength with which he had only just managed to ascend to the upper levels of this continent was utterly useless at this moment. Some terrifying aura spread outward and instantly stripped him of all control over his body.

"%*&%......*&*"

Some kind of shrill, indescribable whisper that violently tore at the mind echoed inside his head. Almost instantly, his consciousness began to scatter, becoming stained with twisted thoughts he could not control.

Familiar.

This kind of whispering was extremely familiar to Muen.

He had heard it before.

Not the Withering King, not the Silent Moon, not the Mother of Abundance, the Fallen Evil Sacred Tree, or even the Lord of the Stars.

But...

Muen's gaze uncontrollably turned once again toward the hollow void on "Ariel's" face.

Within that deep darkness, something ominous finally stopped writhing and twisting, condensing into a form within that viscous pool of blood resembling rotten amniotic fluid.

Hazy.

Ancient.

That figure no longer twisted, but the instant It appeared, everything in the world centered around It began twisting and mutating chaotically.

Living or dead, large or small, regardless of species, debris, rocks, islands... even this starry sky began collapsing amid endless mutation into forms that could not be understood, comprehended, or described.

"You are..."

Muen felt as though he had fallen into an ice cellar.

The scene before him made him feel as though he had returned to a very long time ago.

Back to that fleeting glimpse within that phantom of the past.

So much time had clearly passed, and his strength had clearly undergone unimaginable improvement.

Yet at this moment, he discovered that before It, his weakness and insignificance had not changed in the slightest.

Simply drawing near was enough to make him lose all ability to resist.

"【▌▌▌▌......】"

Against that bizarre background where even darkness itself was twisting and mutating, that figure slowly turned Its head... and looked at Muen.

The Demon God.

Across endless years and time... It had actually cast Its gaze upon him once again!

......

......

"What happened?"

The sea of stars.

The dim starlight was like an old lantern on the verge of going out on a rainy night, swaying unsteadily.

Several islands, riding the aftershocks of the great battle from just now, fled rapidly into the distance. The magical constructs on them trembled in fear, desperately wishing they could grow a few more mechanical legs.

Other than that, nothing had changed.

...No, it couldn't exactly be said that nothing had changed.

At the very least, the battle had already ended, and the road leading to that sole doorway had been completely cleared.

Only, the one currently walking along that road was...

"It's over."

A voice whose gender could not be distinguished echoed through the desolate starry sky. The black-robed figure, who should have been hacked into pieces, was still holding that strange long mace high at this moment, floating toward the colorful bubble, completely unharmed from head to toe.

Everything that had happened before seemed to have been nothing more than a dream.

"Ariel, Muen, what exactly are you two doing?"

From within the bronze ring, Peles called out anxiously.

From her perspective, just now Muen had exchanged a couple of sentences with someone unknown, then suddenly charged out and wildly slashed at empty space. After that, it was as though he had crashed, simply standing there blankly without making another movement.

Ariel, meanwhile, had directly frozen in place, showing no reaction whatsoever to the outside world.

No matter how Peles tried to touch her through soul power, she received no response at all. And without the permission of Ariel, the owner of the ring, her soul power could not seep outward very far in the first place, making it impossible for her to truly affect the two of them.

"They..."

Peles suddenly realized something. The small amount of soul power she could barely extend outward quietly turned toward the black-robed figure.

Only then did she finally discover...

The third level of the long mace in the black-robed figure's hand had, at some unknown point, already begun rotating leisurely.

This was the cause of everything.

"Illusion Magic!" Peles gritted her teeth, filled with regret over her own carelessness.

"...When did you develop the misconception that I wouldn't have enough time to use a third type of magic?"

The black-robed figure passed Muen, then Ariel. Although the voice was stiff and unpleasant, it could not conceal that small trace of smugness.

Illusion School.

Heart Nightmare.

Unlike ordinary illusions that constructed false images and confused the mind, the core principle of this magic lay in drawing out the most genuine and inescapable fear buried deep within the target's heart.

For enemies at this level, ordinary illusions could easily have flaws discovered within them.

But fear drawn from deep within one's own heart was different.

That was real.

To the target, it was a nightmare buried deep within their own heart that they could not escape from. The effect of this magic was merely to draw it out.

Yet it was precisely because of such a simple effect that this spell became one of the most infamous magics of the Illusion School.

The Illusion School had such a terrible reputation not only because its members always liked disguising themselves as people from other schools and causing trouble, but also because spells like this, which did little actual damage yet were extremely humiliating, were another reason.

In any case, the effect was excellent.

Now there should be no one...

"Damn it... you people, how could you be so despicable..."

The black-robed figure was suddenly startled, tightening his grip on the long mace and abruptly turning around.

Could it be that woman had actually managed to break free from Heart Nightmare...

"To... to actually use such shameless methods to steal Miss Muse away..."

Ariel's eyes were closed, her expression twisted in pain.

"No... Miss Muse, my Miss Muse... are you even going to steal her away from me too?"

"No—Miss Muse!!"

As though some inexplicably tragic bgm had begun playing, she suddenly threw herself onto the ground and pounded it as she shouted:

"No... don't steal Miss Muse away... no... at least don't do that kind of thing right in front of me... damn it, that place, even I haven't touched it yet!"

"Miss Muse!!!"

"No——"

"..."

Looking at Ariel in this state, the black-robed figure could not help sinking into thought.

What exactly was this girl's greatest fear?

He really wanted to see.

...No, now was not the time to care about something like that.

The black-robed figure abruptly came back to his senses, realizing that he himself had nearly been affected as well.

He quickly steadied his mind, left Ariel behind him, and arrived before the colorful bubble.

The bubble shimmered, dreamlike and fragile.

But the doorway behind it was so real.

Right within reach.

"At last... I can help you."

The black-robed figure slowly extended that deathly pale hand:

"It was not in vain that I... took such an enormous risk to return here."