Nightmare Mythos

Chapter 70: Foreboding

The tattoo that stretched from his body up to his neck surged forward as it tried to coil out from his arm, extending out towards his hand before it enveloped it entirely to his arm.

That wasn't the end.

After the tattooed beast replaced his normal arm's skin, Cesar directed it towards the Nightmare on its front.

"Dismiss,"

Jeremiah motioned a very hard pull while directing his hand at the Nightmare as if he were stealing something mid-air. However, the amazingness of his first facet didn't end there as his coated hand started to wriggle on its own.

Then, it turned darker.

Purge

It could 'dismiss' an ability out of a Nightmare or Shaded temporarily. The ability that a Purge can dismiss might vary, however, it didn't end just there.

The ability that has been removed will be transferred to Jeremiah through his tattooed hands which were handling the power temporarily. It can be used by him as well.

With Jeremiah being able to snatch an ability from the Nightmare, adding the fact that he can temporarily stop the same creature from using its abilities, Jeremiah is forced to reckon.

That's why Cesar thought Jeremiah's abilities were busted.

And it appears just now.

Whoosh—!

"Nicotara!"

Trying to make the Nightmare as disoriented as possible by saying its name out loud for everyone to hear, Klaus also closed his distance to the Nightmare while getting a bit away from Jeremiah.

Only he was probably knowledgeable about how his first facet worked.

"Screech!"

Trying to stop Jeremiah who instantly appeared right in front of it, Nicotara let out a piercing shriek that produced zero effects from the person he was targeting.

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After all, it was already bleeding in the first place. Jeremiah barely could even hear from this point as his mind was muddled with nothing but the power he stole from the Nightmare.

"Here it comes…"

Just in case it goes haywire, Klaus safely connected his tether to Jeremiah, whose entire demeanor changed.

Right in the instant the Nightmare tried reaching out to him, Jeremiah vanished from his place. Not through running or evading it but submerging himself in the shadows around him that became much darker and fiercer.

The Nightmare, very familiar with its power, couldn't help but let out a surprised screech, and the last thing it knew, a spear had already plunged through its shadowy chest.

"Null…"

The Nightmare tried to get away by escaping through the same darkness that it marked from somewhere but Jeremiah was one step ahead by stopping it, pointing his finger to activate his second facet.

Then, the spear connected and went upward to slice the Nightmare in half.

With a visible cut in the middle of its body, the Nightmare merely healed itself by reconstructing it back as if it were sticking glue which happened almost instantaneously. But because it couldn't assess the situation fast, Jeremiah was much faster.

In quick succession, Jeremiah thrust and stabbed the Nightmare repeatedly, producing black holes that the Nightmare let out yet another piercing shriek once again.

'He's about to solo it…'

Cesar was witnessing something phenomenal at his front.

At this point, he was merely a bystander.

He couldn't put it into words but the domineering performance made him incapable of joining the fight since Klaus, who was with Jeremiah side by side most of the time, decided to back away and watch the man do his own thing.

"His Purge gets better if the level of Nightmare he was fighting is high. When you mentioned that the Nightmare is an Intermediate Grade, I wasn't losing hope because we have him. Yes, we're nervous but it's only natural to be."

Klaus explained why he was confident that Jeremiah would be able to handle himself. Cesar, who clearly wasn't interested in any of that, started to get more impatient as he asked.

"Isn't this the perfect time to escape? If not, helping him should be the right choice we have?"

What Cesar was trying to mention in a very respectful tone is that they should work themselves on escaping through the door. If that wasn't available, because of what Klaus knew about, then helping Jeremiah provide support should be sufficient.

But Klaus answered them with a shake of his head, "I've already checked the door while I was running with him and no, we couldn't escape due to the black, dim wall that covered the ancient door. Unless we kill that Nightmare, there's no chance of escaping here."

He paused, "As for why helping Jeremiah is bad news. Well… he actually couldn't tell the difference between a friend or a foe while he was in the Purge state, if that's what he called it. Asking him to calm down will do no good either. After all, he goes to the strongest he can sense from this place and will not stop until he is done with them,"

Klaus halted as he started stretching his arms and legs as if readying for the incoming fight even though Jeremiah was taking care of it.

"What are you doing?" Cesar asked, a frown forming on his face.

"Getting ready. Do you think Jeremiah will be able to handle that Nightmare?" Klaus asked in a disbelief tone, "You're more naïve than I thought. Didn't you tell us that it's tired from its travel all the way up here?"

Klaus looked ahead at the berserk Jeremiah and added, "What we're doing is keeping it tired. We will not let it rest and give each other a chance to eliminate the Nightmare. Until it is tired enough, we will find a way to deal it with a finishing blow."

The way Klaus explained it in a very soothing tone… feeling confident that a mere Intermediate Nightmare, was very easy to fight made Cesar feel something was off.

'This is very odd… Just a moment ago, everyone was nervous. Now, they look like they are very enthusiastic about the result… What is going on here…'

Their strange mixed emotions were making Cesar confused.

After all, he was also getting excited himself.

"Cesar…"

Cesar jolted awake as he turned his attention to Klaus, whose voice felt eerily ethereal for a moment.

"When it's our turn, we go ham. Got it?"

The heaviness he felt earlier became even more so, his started beating faster.

'Why am I like this? We're winning!'

Cesar gave him a nod as they patiently waited for their turn.

…

Facets Archive

Purge: The ability can 'dismiss' an ability out of a Nightmare or Shaded temporarily. The ability that a Purge can dismiss might vary and it will temporarily land on the user who was using it. Purge gets better the higher the ability that has been dismissed.