Nightmare Mythos

Chapter 97: The Might Of The Keeper

"Die!"

Watching the oncoming abilities that were eventually going to come in slow motion, the Keeper of the Void's vertical eyes darted around, tracking every detail. Then, its eyes began to shift—replaced by a complex, indescribable array of numbers and letters, swirling and rolling within its gaze.

The Keeper of the Void stopped dancing through the air before the normal wand on his other hand, flickered. Its glitchy appearance quivered before transforming into something comprehensible to the naked eye.

All the Nightmare's actions happened in an instant due to how it perceived the normal to be so slow.

The wand, which had initially appeared glitchy, transformed into a sleek purplish staff. Suddenly, one of the Keeper's bracelets sent shards flying as the staff in its hand began to glow even brighter.

"Void—"

Whoosh—!

The attacks were all about to make contact with its body. Just a meter left and it might've suffered damage also insufferable for even a being like it.

Still, on its sight, everything felt so slow.

"—Erasure,"

Everything that went on its way vanished without a trace. Like erasing in writing, the void that momentarily appeared swallowed the entirety of that power and left a shocking image to the onlookers.

However, since any kind of powers from any facet were targeted by the purple stick, the void that slowly cascaded the whole area vanished in the same manner as well.

That didn't mean everyone was safe from the attack.

Half of the entirety of men who were near their abilities or only just starting to throw whatever they had to support the stacking barrage of attacks were a second late to realize that everything had been extinguished and they were only just a casualty for such effects.

Amidst the instant massacre that transpired in no more than a couple of seconds was the Nightmare staying afloat.

Cesar stood in shock, unable to move as everyone around him gasped in disbelief. He remained frozen in place, shivering, while the others watched the shocking outcome of their barrage of attacks transform into a complete failure.

"You need to focus,"

Cedeit woke up Cesar from his reverie, his voice slightly heavy.

"From what I observed, this Nightmare might be a spell caster but it didn't just rely on that. It had other strong points too such as battling in any type of surface or situation. That's why you need to be ready. Even I don't know any move it might make."

Swoosh—!

Just right after Cedeit had warned Cesar, a floor of the void appeared right underneath the Keeper.

In a blink of an eye, Cesar watched the Void disappear from its place as if it were unaffected by the Floating State and appeared right behind the two nearest military men.

Swoosh—!

Raising its left elaborate wand, the Keeper crushed them down with only a single strike.

Splash—!

Turning into blood remains in just a second, The Keeper manifested yet another void floor underneath him and teleported right behind another pair of corps and an army man that merely evaporated due to a single swing of its right wand.

There wasn't even a single bone or blood left in the aftermath of the one-sided massacre. The Keeper didn't care any about it.

"It's running too fast!"

Quentin shouted, informing the group that remained alive as the Void continued to hunt them one by one. His voice was shaking as he continued to relay a bit of help which was the only thing he could do at this point, wishing dearly they weren't next to the Nightmare's hunt.

"It is running in through the void floors twenty-fifths in a second and it does it very, very quickly! I-I-I don't know how this is possible at all! B-but I'm sure the key thing about its speed is the void it used to break through the Float Period!"

Splash—!

Every second they wasted, lives continued to accumulate. In just over fifteen seconds, twenty people had already disappeared.

"Avoid it, Cesar!"

Being warned three seconds earlier, Cesar removed Vin's hand from the hem of his clothes and forcefully repelled himself to him by kicking right in his chest.

Swoosh—!

After doing such action, the swinging wand came plunging in their direction where they were a couple of seconds earlier.

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Grumble—!

Surprised that its swift attack got countered, three of the Keeper's vertical eyes shifted towards Cesar, and another void floor appeared underneath its feet.

"Shit!"

The moment he propelled himself away from Vin, Cesar already activated Floor of Darkness and was ready to defend himself, his ears fully perked up to listen to whatever Cedeit threw at him.

"To your right!"

The Keeper disappeared in his sight.

Whoosh—!

However, having been warned in advance by Cedeit about the trajectory of the attack, Cesar summoned all his willpower to conjure a wall of darkness to his right, directly in the path of the swinging wand.

Crash—!

"Above you!"

The Nightmare, seeing that its attack failed once more, used its other wand to hit Cesar from the top.

Thud—!

The impact regardless wasn't met by flesh and bones but instead by yet another stacking wall of darkness that protected Cesar, who was fuming and struggling due to the force that weighed him down like ten huge whales mounting.

The Nightmare was only using raw strength and a bit of its power to play around with any of them. If not for Cesar buying a bit of time, it would've doomed them the moment the carnage continued.

"You need to find Jeremiah fast!" Cesar shouted in desperation before clicking his tongue, "I'll buy all of you time so go!"

Vin, Leah, Jacqueline, Maine, and anyone who was left in the scene are quietly looking at Cesar who slowly trapped him and the Nightmare in a black dome.

Slightly hesitant at what they were about to do, they all put on regretful faces before they entered through the crack glasses that Vin motioned with a flick of his hands once more.

Cesar judged that they knew Jeremiah either through because they had prior knowledge about him or through Leah. Whatever they needed to do, they had to get him fast because Cesar needed it.

But he had another reason for evicting them from the same area.

"I advise you against it. Your current essence will not be able to handle it," Cedeit directed calmly, "But if that's what you want, I can only abide since my words will not affect your actions anyway,"

"Shut up!"

Cesar picked up the intricately designed black book, the Book of Contents, and opened it, the pages inside emitting an unsettling aura that made the Keeper shriek in disgust.

"You know about this, Keeper?" Cesar smirked, "Heh, you better be prepared,"

Book of Contents

The power of the book depends on every piece of knowledge that Cesar has acquired throughout his whole life. This included Cedeit, who somehow is currently resting in his subconsciousness, meaning they are connected in some way.

Everything they had encountered or witnessed—even dreams—would be transferred to the book with just a thought, allowing them to access its contents effortlessly.

This is why Cedeit advised him to use the ability that appeared in the first line of the sentence in the book.

It was all fascinating stuff that Cesar began to prefer to be called the Book Of Imagination.

This time, Cesar was the one sending what he needed to 'imagine' in the book by remembering the entity that had managed to peer through his infiltration.

It was the Architect of the Mansion, Deceit.

'Its eyes…'

Everything happened so fast that the next thing that happened, Cesar's eyes, even the empty socket, were glowing as he continued to stare at the Nightmare.

Thud!

Cedeit, who was merely observing from a distance away, couldn't contain his astonishment as a shout escaped his lips.

"How?!"