Miguel thought the Dream Realm would be similar to his first nightmare-seeing time move in reverse from above. But that didn't seem to be the case. As soon as he opened his eyes, he found himself in a completely dark place. He was on what seemed to be a small island, the air thick with the scent of seawater. The place was pitch black, like a void. but despite that he could see perfectly.
Feeling the cold of being naked, he summoned one of his memories.
Memory: [Aurora's Tear]
Memory Rank: Dormant
Memory Type: Tool
Memory Description: [A crystallized tear with the ability to transform into any clothing the user desires.]
"How convenient," Miguel muttered sarcastically as he glanced around the void-well, more like at the one writing all of this. With a casual gesture, he summoned the tear, which quickly transformed into a bluish tunic with silver lines running through it.
There wasn't much else to do, so Miguel summoned his next memory: Yamato. A sheathed odachi appeared in his left hand. He stared into the darkness and then shrugged. Might as well.
Miguel unsheathed his odachi and started slicing through the air in the dark. He wasn't used to this feeling, but hey, if you want to be a real prospect, you've got to get used to fighting blind. so he closed his eyes,
Time passed slowly as Miguel danced around with his odachi, his movements fluid but somewhat awkward as he tried to adjust to using the mirage ability. It's harder than I thought... he thought. The mirage made him move too fast, throwing off his usual rhythm. Still, after some practice, he got the hang of it-sort of.
When the sun rose, the dark sea that had surrounded the island receded, revealing a labyrinth made of crimson coral.
"Well, I'll be damned. Guess I'll explore this place," Miguel said, voice dripping with indifference.
He turned into a mirage, zipping across the muddy floor of the labyrinth. With his odachi sheathed, he walked through the twisting maze of coral and mud, but there was nothing of interest. Nothing alive. Just endless walls of crimson and bones. This is... so damn boring.
"It doesn't even look like I have an attribute called [Fated]. This suck." Miguel muttered, staring at the empty labyrinth.
Then, as if on cue, a Caparace Scavenger lunged at him from the mud.
Miguel's eyes widened. He wasn't expecting that. The beast had pincers sharp enough to slice through steel. Without thinking, he turned into a mirage and moved back just in time to dodge the beast's initial strike. The attack came so close it left a burning sensation on his skin. That was way too close, he thought, gritting his teeth.
The Caparace Scavenger screeched and lunged at him again, its pincers snapping. Miguel, still getting used to his speed, fumbled slightly. He tried to block the incoming attack, but missed, forcing him to dodge again, this time almost tripping over his own feet.
Okay, this is a problem. The mirage ability was fast-too fast-but he wasn't used to the disorienting speed. Still, he managed to regain his footing.
With the weapon in hand, Miguel was finally back on track.
The Caparace Scavenger lunged again, its pincers snapping with murderous intent. This time, Miguel didn't retreat.
Instead, he took a single, effortless step forward.
As the pincer shot toward him, he deflected it with the sheath of Yamato, the long black scabbard turning the creature's blow aside with a sharp clang. The motion was clean, precise — almost lazy.
The second pincer followed, crashing down from the side.
Miguel twisted his body slightly and, in the same movement, unsheathed Yamato in a silent flash of steel.
The odachi's edge cut through the Scavenger's exposed joint like silk, severing the limb completely. The creature screeched, stumbling backward — but Miguel didn't give it time to think.
A blur of dark blue and silver swept through the battlefield.
Before the beast could stabilize, Miguel was already behind it. A second slash came, horizontal — cutting through the carapace at the base of its legs. Two limbs dropped, twitching.
Then another step. Another draw. Another cut.
The Scavenger turned, but too slowly.
Yamato's edge danced across its midsection, carving deep into the chitin with such speed that the wound didn't bleed — not at first.
Miguel stood in front of it again, calm, unreadable.
The beast roared and reared back to charge.
Bad decision.
With a final step, Miguel blurred forward and unsheathed Yamato vertically, the blade flashing upward in a ghost-like arc that cleaved through the center of the Scavenger's head — from jaw to crown.
Time seemed to pause.
Then, with a low crack, the Scavenger's body split apart, collapsing into two halves before it even hit the ground.
Miguel exhaled and slowly resheathed his blade.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast: Caparace Scavenger]
[The demon within you merges with your human self.]
Miguel stood there for a second, breathing heavily. That... wasn't pretty.
But before he could enjoy the small victory, three more Caparace Scavengers emerged from behind a gigantic coral formation.
"Looks like I won't be bored for a while," Miguel said, grinning as he cracked his neck. "Let's do this."
'Crazy,' Sunny thought as he stalked Miguel through his shadow. 'How the hell can a Sleeper fight not one, but three Awakened beasts without getting a scratch?'
Sunny was perched on top of a decapitated statue, about 300 meters away from Miguel, who was slicing through the Caparace Scavengers like they were paper. With each strike, the azure blood of the beasts coated his blade, making it shimmer, sharpening it further.
"Show off," Sunny hissed to himself, shaking his head. Maybe one day I'll be able to do that...
[You have slain an Awakened Beast: Caparace Scavenger]
[The demon within you merges with your human self.]
[You have slain an Awakened Beast: Caparace Scavenger]
[The demon within you merges with your human self.]
[You have slain an Awakened Beast: Caparace Scavenger]
[The demon within you merges with your human self.]
Miguel paused to harvest the soul fragments from the fallen beasts, then turned to continue his journey through the labyrinth. He was getting restless.
The walk was boring, so Miguel decided to speed things up. He activated his mirage ability, moving faster than before. He could see the Caparace Scavengers, but they couldn't see him. Still, he didn't want to completely avoid them. Every time he encountered one, he killed it. The monsters were everywhere, though, and after killing a few, Miguel realized how monotonous it all was.
The day passed without anything exciting happening. Everything felt like a blur. He climbed to the top of a small hill, then, bored out of his mind, disappeared and reappeared at the peak in the blink of an eye.
"Ugh, being alone is even more boring than I remember," Miguel muttered, staring at the horizon.
He started cutting up the meat of the Caparace Scavenger he had slain earlier. The meat was tough, but after gnawing on it, he couldn't put his finger on it-it tasted like crab meat.
"Well, this isn't as bad as I thought. A little salt and some cooking, and it could make a decent dish," he said, still grinning, but it didn't hide the growing irritation in his voice.
He stared at the empty wasteland around him. "No memories either. Could really use one right now."
Miguel grew more and more bored as the time passed. The sun set, and the dark sea slowly began to flood the labyrinth again. The sounds of the waves provided a slight distraction from the silence.
"I would kill to hear someone's voice right now," he sighed.
But no one answered.
And so, he went to sleep.