Nightmare Mythos

Chapter 113: Final Showdown (7)

"…"

Burnt and incinerated to death, Cesar gazes at the lifeless and motionless Caster on the ground. His mouth was opened after the scream that almost lasted half a minute before it died down. The eyes of the heretic that were all telling how confused he was couldn't believe anything that had transpired right between his sight.

And it was too late to ponder everything at this point.

Caster has been defeated.

"Eat shit…"

Just to be sure that Caster would not just jerk up all of a sudden because of some twist that he prepared, Cesar battered his head with any mercy, scattering all of its blood juices away that made the heretic a headless burnt corpse.

After letting out a huge tired sigh from his mouth, Cesar relaxed before he knelt down and checked the corpse around to see if Caster had any other things he had stored aside from an item that he had taken interest which was the Librarian's Key.

There was nothing aside from a flimsy, chipped blade, a diamond ring, and of course, the Librarian's Key.

It was an old silver key with a circular bow and a very particular key ward. It appears to be emanating some kind of deadly aura but it isn't hazardous when a person isn't able to touch it just because they weren't qualified to hold them.

He seized all of them.

Then he moved to the other side where the corpse of Terry lifelessly lingered around before spotting a manifested artifact successfully formed in the middle of its chest. Walking close to it, he grasped it in his hand and observed.

It was a weird-looking cross.

Not going to experiment on them any time soon, Cesar tried to look back and get inside the same gap reality that Caster had formed earlier, only for it to disappear right in his sight.

"Of course…"

Cesar tightly grasped the key in his hand before trying to find out what he knew about its uses. He would be wasting a lot of time if he went back there on foot.

"Now then…"

Cesar inserted the key mid-air, trying to imagine the view of the City of Wheels outside before twisting it around.

Nothing opened up.

"I guess it makes sense,"

Letting out a sigh, Cesar brought down the key before doing the same action as earlier by inserting it in the air but he imagined differently this time. He created the view of the library shelf where the Keeper had once stood inside his head.

Then, the result shows that the gap in reality formed and Cesar could peer through inside, even enter it.

"It is the same place…"

Cesar lingered on the two corpses on the ground for a brief moment before hopping inside the gapped reality. The moment he landed, he grabbed onto the cube that didn't feel as heavy as before.

The maws had returned to their rightful place and the colossal form they had taken earlier now felt like a mere figment of imagination, if not for the fact that Cesar had witnessed it himself.

Glancing at the back, Cesar saw everyone's gaze fell on him.

After all, they couldn't believe it in their eyes.

Just a moment ago, they had seen a clustering amount of attack coming from the Keeper of the Void, and the second thing they knew, the same dreadful Nightmare standing was gone, the same as the abilities it threw at them.

Just as they were not following through with the situation, they saw Cesar hopping inside on what seemed to be a passage in the reality gap, his back against them.

The Nightmare was gone.

Cesar was the one standing there now.

"Cesar—"

Just as they were about to reach him, they saw Cesar suddenly collapsing to his knees, a raw, agonized wail escaping his lips.

"Ahhhhhh!"

Leah, Klaus, and Vin's steps halted when they realized that Cesar threw his tiara down on the ground before signing them to step back and stop their approach at him.

With Maine being treated on the side while still worried and Jeremiah, who somehow only received broken bones, and a leg, and was able to survive that impact, all worriedly stared at the kid that was coughing out blood from his place.

"I already told you. You will not be able to handle it,"

Cedeit paused as if a sigh escaped from his lips, "You are now on the borderline of the living and the death, Cesar. You used different powers, were exposed to different situations, and lastly, abused the capability that only you humans could achieve. You are treading that harsh path all by yourself and you somehow survived most of them but nothing will save you now,"

Cesar tried to cover his mouth, which kept spilling blood, leaving him isolated in the pool of red fluid he'd created. To the onlookers, the sight was horrifying; to him, feeling it was even more revolting.

That's what Cesar was feeling now.

Bleurgh—!

On the brink of losing too much blood, Cesar shouted in a warning tone, "Help them… defeat the Librarian! I have… I have something to do here! Trust… me! I'll get you all of here today!"

Painfully tearful, almost not containing themselves, Vin, Leah, and Klaus bit their lips in regret before agreeing to him and started darting towards the other side where the other half was fighting off the Librarian.

It wasn't ending anytime soon, as the Nightmare had fully regained its clarity after getting out Caster's ruses. It struggled to break free from their hold to block Cesar's path, but they kept it firmly contained.

Rumble—!

Having managed to temporarily halt the internal bleeding, Cesar clenched his fist so tightly that his nails dug into his skin, causing his hand to bleed.

Then he rose to his feet and began his solitary journey toward the center, determined to find the Elusive Door hiding in the shadows. With no one to aid him and a clear goal in mind, his search for the Elusive Door had begun.