Jacob sat on the back of the massive Baku-shaped AI Witch, lounging there arrogantly with a confident smile as he looked down at everyone below.
Mary shouted,
"Jacob, what are you doing up there? Hurry down and heal me!"
Jacob turned to look at Mary. He frowned, as if he found her words confusing.
"Why would I do that?"
Mary was surprised by his reply. She said,
"You… you're joking with me, aren't you? Come on. Hurry down, heal me, and order Bakky to use his magic to repair this world. Some parts were damaged during the battle…"
Jacob stared at Mary for a long while, then let out a long sigh.
"Haizz… you still don't get it, do you, you delusional little fool? I'm tired of playing this empress game of yours. You ragged, ugly little girl, so full of arrogance!"
He began stepping down from Bakky's back, treading on strange stairs made of light. Raising both hands high, he declared in a ringing voice,
"But thanks to you, the children trusted you and gathered together for this party. Not only that, you even dragged in so many more people. You did very well, Mary!"
Mary pressed her lips together. Her body trembled as she gripped her greatsword tightly.
"You… how dare you… I'll chop you into a hundred pieces for your insolence!"
With those words, Mary vanished. In the blink of an eye, she appeared behind Jacob and swung her greatsword, intending to cut him in half.
But—
Mary's attack was stopped.
Jacob had merely raised his index finger and blocked the edge of the greatsword in an instant, without taking the slightest injury. He cast Mary an icy glance.
"You idiot! I was the one who gave you this power, and you still dare point your blade at me? For the sake of the work you did in gathering them all here and preparing this party for me, I'll spare your life!"
Jacob then grabbed Mary's greatsword with his whole bare hand and hurled both Mary and her weapon far away, creating another pile of rubble as dust and debris exploded into the air.
He walked leisurely up the stairs of light. Suspended in midair, his eyes narrowed like those of a clown. He smiled in satisfaction, his grin stretching almost to his ears.
"Well then, what kind of Prompt command should I give my AI Witch Bakky today, after all the trouble you people went through to come here?"
Suddenly, he turned toward everyone and gave Bakky an order.
"Bakky, make everyone in this world sink into the most painful nightmares of their lives. The dreams must feel natural, as real as reality itself. If you need more EN, you may extract energy bubbles to replenish it. And most importantly…"
He gently stroked his AI Witch, Bakky, and continued reciting the Prompt command.
"Most importantly, do not leave a single one of them out. Paralyze them all until they lose the ability to resist!"
The Baku-shaped AI Witch's eyes immediately lit up. It created a ring of light around each person. An amber eye attached itself to everyone, and their eyes began to grow dull and vacant. They started screaming in agony. Someone cried out the name of a person who had died. A mother called for her child. Another person shrieked as if seeing a ghost. Someone else curled up in fear… Every sound of emotion rang out without any order, chilling anyone who heard it to the bone.
Mai's eyes also turned vacant. She saw illusions of her mother, Lan, and her father. She saw the Manualee people chasing and attacking AI Witches out of fear that they would replace their human labor. She screamed in terror when she saw Witchiecoop dragging people away to suppress the villagers.
From high above, Jacob laughed loudly, clutching his stomach as he laughed. His grin stretched all the way to his ears. He laughed until tears came out, occasionally wiping away the tears caused by his uncontrollable laughter.
He turned to look at Mary. Mary—the magical life-form he had created—was unaffected by Bakky's dream illusion magic. A ring of light wrapped around her body, lifted her into the air, and brought her toward Jacob. He stretched out his hand, and a gigantic bubble emerged from Mary's body, so large that it lit up an entire corner of the sky.
The bubble was about to leave Mary's body. The pain was unbearable, and she screamed.
Jacob comforted her.
"Come now, don't be so childish. I'm only taking back what I gave you!"
Suddenly—
A golden beam of light appeared. Jacob immediately had to release Mary and dodge away, while the gigantic bubble returned to her body.
Mai had used the last of her meager EN to create a thin stream of Heavenly Swords, saving Mary's life.
Jacob looked surprised. He studied Mai closely.
"Well now, the little rat from before has awakened the color of her power? Impressive."
Mai gritted her teeth.
"I've already experienced these feelings before, so your illusion magic has no effect on me. Release the villagers!"
It was true. This was nothing compared to what Mai had experienced in the mental world created by Dreamy. The pain of her childhood had made her grow stronger and more mature, allowing her to break free from Jacob's wicked magic.
Jacob's eyes turned cold as he looked at Mai, like a beast staring at its prey. Suddenly, the ground locked around Mai's legs. He summoned a gigantic rock from the Dream Realm and hurled it toward her.
A beam of deep black light shot toward the rock, dissolving it into particles in the blink of an eye. Mai escaped death by a hair's breadth. She stood frozen.
The force felt terrifying. Both Jacob and Mai snapped their heads around to see who it was. Mai was shocked to realize it was Long.
But his form was strange. A cloud of black aura surrounded him. His eyes were pitch-black, with no pupils at all.
Long's blood-soaked body struggled to rise. From time to time, he shook his head like a walking corpse.
Dreamy's eyes glowed as he tried to look deep into Long's heart and see who that being truly was. Inside Long's mind, everything was as dark as ink, without even the faintest trace of light. Suddenly, in that pitch-black space, a voice rang out.
"AI King Witch, long time no see. You should not enter someone else's home so rudely."
Dreamy was struck by the backlash and flung out of Long's mind, tumbling across the ground. The king rose to his feet and stared thoughtfully at Long, who had lost all awareness.
"After one thousand years, you are still here…"
But Long paid no attention to Dreamy. He stared fixedly at Jacob and muttered in a chilling voice,
"You bastard. You dared harm Mai and the villagers. I'll kill both your body and your soul!"
Long gripped the Staff of Ten Thousand Gods, now blackened by darkness, and suddenly charged straight at Jacob. Jacob immediately flipped backward to dodge the attack. He created a Prompt command for Bakky.
"Bakky, use your power to control the Dream Realm. Every form of matter in this world must submit to my manipulation. Most importantly, if you need more EN, drain the villagers' energy!"
The sky turned gray and oppressive. Bolts of earth-shaking lightning chased after Long. He slipped past them easily, like a streak of black lightning. Wherever he stopped, a tornado appeared out of nowhere, trying to sweep him up and tear him apart. Long spun his body in the opposite direction, creating a deep black tornado that swallowed every tornado in this world and sent everything around it flying in all directions.
A gigantic arm made of earth and stone suddenly burst up from the ground and grabbed both of his legs. Ancient trees used their vines to bind his arms and legs tightly.
Long gritted his teeth. The Staff of Ten Thousand Gods released ten thousand thin streams of deep black light. Though the streams looked fragile, any matter that touched them was instantly reduced to particles.
This time, Jacob felt true terror. He realized that no matter how many Prompt commands he used from Bakky's special magic Prompt book, he would not be able to suppress this terrifying power of destruction.
He ordered Bakky to assimilate with him. Only by merging man and AI Witch into one would he no longer need long-winded Prompt commands. He had to coordinate quickly enough to attack that terrifying entity.
After the assimilation, his body became more muscular, tearing apart the cloak he wore. He charged at Long like a mad beast. The sky, the earth, the grass, and the trees of the Dream Realm all joined him in suppressing Long.
Long easily dodged the attacks like a streak of black lightning, then unleashed a wild barrage of punches and blows against Jacob, giving him no chance to respond.
Long suddenly appeared high above Jacob and slammed the Staff of Ten Thousand Gods down onto him. Jacob's body crashed into the ground, leaving a hole behind as smoke and dust billowed everywhere.
Jacob coughed up blood. For the first time, he felt fear like this.
Long slowly advanced toward him. Long's dark power continued to rise without end, spreading like that of a demon god.
Jacob smiled faintly.
"You forced me to do this…"
With those words, Jacob flew into the air.
The villagers all stiffened slightly, their lifeless eyes turning toward him.
Hundreds of emotional bubbles escaped from their bodies and flew toward Jacob, who was still assimilated with Bakky.
Mai was horrified. She desperately tried to shake everyone awake. But it was already too late. They had all become hollow shells.
After absorbing all the villagers' emotional bubbles, Jacob said quietly,
"Ultimate dream magic—Dream Simulation!"
The entire Dream Realm began to tremble. In reality, Nguyen was shaken. He coughed up blood. The instability of the Dream Realm caused backlash against anyone maintaining the gate.
A cocoon of light wrapped around Jacob, and a majestic entity stepped out.
The entity's eyes were pitch-black. Its body was muscular, marked with strange symbols, and its hair had grown long. A black gemstone sat on its forehead. Behind its back were six pairs of eerie black feathered wings.
Dreamy looked surprised:
"Why are you here…? We destroyed you one thousand years ago!"
Long looked at the entity with excitement and burst into a crazed laugh.