Inside the reception hall.
A giant tree towered and shadowed the entire Blackthorn Security Company. Obscuring the sky with immense foliage.
But underneath the tree. There was only rubble. No battle was ongoing, no personnel of the Nighthawk squad was fighting.
Only the tree, the ruins and one single portrait was present—a portrait with Megose's figure looming over against four people in a meadow, tinged with dark sky.
...
Inside of an unknown space.
Klein saw a minute of wind, he felt a grass beneath his palm and a meadow far beyond what he could see.
He suddenly thought he's in the dreamworld. That the White Maiden had descended to aid and protect "Her" vessel.
However, when he turned. There's only one giant towering and sinister tree. The sky suddenly turned dark and red, the sky was bleeding and titan chains erupted very far.
Megose is still there, however, her body seemingly in an inactive state, being shredded by mutations while it held a holy bone sword.
Klein gritted his teeth. He seized the opening when the spawn in asleep and muttered an ancient Hermes word in a deep voice.
"Light!"
I want light, and there will be light!
The thin gold slice on his hand grew warm, as if it's boiling. It suddenly emits a blinding light, as though it had become a miniature sun.
Klein didn't think. He uncapped the Well-Spring he had from Selina and drink it.
A rush of vigor moved down his throat, relieving him of fatigue and giving him an amount of energy.
He quickly injected another more of his spirituality into the gold slip and threw the Flaring Sun Charm towards the sleeping Megose!
The sky above that had dark clouds and red replacing its blue color instantly turned transparent as the illusory sun grew brighter.
The headless Megose twitched. The sinister clouds around her paled to golden color. Selina, Klein, Dunn and the recently recovered Leonard saw what seemed to be terrifying storms and white breath emanating from her!
Leonard is awake!
He was thrown by Megose, it led to a collapsed wall, bones crack, he lose blood and he fainted!
Yet he's awake! Able to participate in the fight!
He looked up, he saw the clouds bent around a perfect circle that seemed to pierced the heavens of crimson to reveal a bright blue sky.
The bright blue sky and glaring sunlight shined through simultaneously.
The thin gold slice combined with the sunlight above Megose's body immediately expanded in size. It went from a spherical light to a sphere with countless flames spiraling around it.
Rumble!
The 'Sun' had descended! The beam of light struck the painted world!
The tree shook violently, and its dark-tipped leaves decayed rapidly.
However, the power of the spherical light concentrated its might at its core, without dissipating much.
It enveloped Megose, and the light was so glaring that Selina, Klein, Dunn, and Leonard couldn't open their eyes.
Klein held back and looked through with squinted eyes. He saw that the light had dispersed, but the flames were still soaring. Among them, there were many black ashes dancing in the air.
He finally saw a dark circle where Megose stood. It left a dent on the ground and a bloody placenta on the grassy floor.
The sky above them also opened up. But the redness was attempting to patch it!
Is it done? Klein was at the rope of his strength. However, they're still in some unknown space, accompanied by a horrifying tree with scream bark.
The scream bark around its trunk opened their eyes. They used their tongue to draw something in the air! Blood seeped to the tip and it remained suspended!
The bloody placenta on the ground glowed again! The flesh was abundant and it reformed to a headless Megose holding a white bone sword, revealing an infant inside her torn abdomen!
She was reformed! Resurrected!
Dunn's heart sank but he didn't had the luxury to question. Hence, he continued to use the urn against this newly formed Megose!
Damn it! How is this possible! Klein screamed at the unfairness inside. But he felt something is strange, now something is different.
Klein saw the infant, but his intuition was not chaotic.
He's allowed to look at the baby!
Woosh!
...
Selina looked onto her body, the tattoo chains stayed permanent! Thankfully, the world is both familiar and foreign, she seemed to able to draw strength but at the same time couldn't.
Is this the dreamworld? No! It isn't! If it were, I could easily banish everyone and confront Megose and this strange Tree alone! Selina gripped the fabric of her dress around her chest.
This is a manufactured mimicry of the dreamworld!
Selina felt she could manipulate the fabricated environment just to an extent. Thus, she made roots protrude out of the ground!
Ziip!
It was so fast, it almost broke in a sonic! The rejuvenated Megose was stabbed again, extending to the infant, with a thick overgrown root!
At that moment. Selina felt something was off the second she saw the infant.
It suddenly wasn't harmful!
At least that's what she thought a split-second ago...
Look away! You'll die! Selina felt an irrational need to bent, move or turn. At the same time, she felt like the tree was nourishing Megose.
Everyone else, Klein, Dunn and Leonard heeded their spiritual intuition!
"Waaa!"
The baby in Megose's stomach cried. It squirmed, wanting to come into this world in a bid to help its mother escape from her predicament.
The black, cold, and smooth threads appeared to suffer a shock as they seemed to be suppressed by an invisible power which led to their retreat backward.
"Waaa!"
Dunn, Klein, Selina and Leonard became dizzy at the same time. They felt their throats contract involuntarily as their contracting air passages instantly stifled them.
Crimson liquid flowed from their nostrils, their eyes, and their ears. All of their capillaries seemed to have ruptured.
If it wasn't for the fact that Selina had undergone the torture of hearing the mutterings and ravings every time she visits the dreamworld, Klein headed to the world above the gray fog, as well as Dunn holding onto the ashes of Saint Selena, they would've fainted.
As for Leonard. The seed in his vial stored in his pocket was glowing.
Megose's headless body turned over and looked at Klein who saw her charred skin and flesh peeling to the ground, and the holy, yet evil white bone blade.
Having escaped its influence thanks to his rich experience, Klein immediately felt his scalp tingle and forgot about the pain in his right chest. He seemed to witness his enemy charge towards him maniacally, not giving him any time to pull out another Flaring Sun Charm.
Just as he was about to dodge the attack, Klein saw Megose suddenly pause. He saw Dunn Smith's black windbreaker fluttering, and the Captain diagonally across him had buried his head. There were multiple thick twitching objects on his back as if they were venomous snakes or tentacles—or monsters!
Dunn was using his abilities as a Nightmare to forcefully impede Megose's movements.
And during that. Another series of thick roots erupted from the soil again. It coiled around, adding restraint to the monster!
Klein was perplexed. It seemed as though the environment was also aiding them. But during that moment, he also noticed Selina, her red hair was growing visibly again!
Mrs. White's influence... This isn't Mrs. White's divine kingdom. Selina is able to control the roots because this is a copy of it! He turned for the giant Tree.
The Tree is fabricating this world! Megose already died but she got reformed thanks to environment!
Klein finally felt he understood the situation. They should retract their target and instead deployed everything in their arsenal to destroy the tree!
Bam! Bam! Bam! With a mere struggle from Megose, the thick tentacle-like objects that protruded from Dunn's back exploded at the same time and the thick roots cracked!
A large amount of blood splattered out, covering a large area of the grassy field like rain.
Dunn wasn't disappointed at the result, for the blood had been absorbed by the black threads created by Saint Selena's ashes.
They had been absorbed!
The countless cold, smooth, tentacle-like threads entered a frenzy. They swarmed forward and bound Megose tightly, wrapping themselves around her bulging, squirming stomach.
An opportunity!
Klein didn't second-guess again. He pulled out the last thin gold slip and prepared to shout the ancient Hermes word for "Light."
"Waaa! Waaa! Waaa!"
The cries of a baby could be heard once again, more frequent, and more incessant this time around!
The countless black threads suddenly came to a pause, retreating and trembling again as if they had all been struck by lightning.
At the same time. The face barks on the Tree screamed.
"AHHHH!"
Selina's vision blurred, she's collapsing! Klein tried to fight with all his might but he lost grip of the Flaring Sun Charm nonetheless!
Meanwhile, Dunn, his expression changed when he realized that Megose was about to free herself and his two members are in trouble.
Even though he's deeply perplexed by the symbols around Selina. He didn't urged her to withdraw. Without hesitation, he retracted his right palm, formed a claw, and was about to stab it into his own chest—his left chest!
"Captain!" Leonard suddenly called, putting a stop to whatever Dunn was doing.
...
Seeing everyone but himself and Dunn about to pass out and weakened. Leonard saw claws of darkness appeared onto his Captain's fingers.
It seems he's about to stab himself!
Leonard gritted his teeth, felt for the vial in his pocket and saw the seed glowing inside of it, protecting him.
Thanks to Dunn, he found a place.
Thanks to the Nighthawks, he found growth.
Everything he'd been done however, came from the thought that he's special. That with his uniqueness, he could simply laxed.
But it also isolated him a bit.
He couldn't simply project his thoughts openly. He couldn't reconnect with anyone deeply.
But then, Selina came. Klein came. He wasn't that special.
They all are. They're trios.
Klein sitting through their bickering. Selina reminding him of everyone's presence, the seed to remain by his side as a backup, the chance to prove he could belong.
He wasn't too afraid to challenge the unknown.
Now.
Suddenly, Leonard loosened his hold of the vial, he smiled, completely certain and crazy.
He leaned in and as if talking to himself, he muttered,
"Old Man, I'm willing to compromise."
...
On Leonard's hand was a frail looking turquois seed he took out of the vial. It was glowing brightly, as if signaling that it's near its mother.
When Dunn turned in shock to see that Leonard was okay. He saw the seed on his palm grew transparent tendrils.
They have ringed interior, they're insects. No—they're worms! Illusory worms!
The seed got turned into a ball of writhing worms that suddenly haloed a corporeal clock!
I won't let anyone die... Leonard muttered to himself.
Then suddenly, the Sealed Artifact 2-105 wrapped around his wrist turned into a crimson "intestine" again! That looked like it was about to burst!
But something is different. On one of the veins, it obviously shaped like a worm!
"Submit!"
With the aid of the Blood Vessel Thief, Leonard had reused Megose's Blaspheme Curse once more and was attempting to use her power to seize control of her!
The headless Megose winced in pain and trembled in the curse!
Leonard spat out a breath. "Klein! Get up!
"Take that golden charm again and finish her!"
Klein's deteriorating senses suddenly vanished. As if the hammering experience was stolen. He heard what called him and quickly picked up the Flaring Sun Charm on a patch of grass.
"Megose is dead!" He retorted before anyone could make another mistake.
Dunn and Leonard fell into a daze and echoed the same shock.
Selina also recovered again and heard Klein say, "The Tree is just going to keep on reanimating, reforming Megose!
"Aim for the Tree!"