The battlefield kept grinding itself forward without pause, as if the land had stopped caring whether anything living remained on it.
Broken armor lay half-buried in soot-dark soil, banners that once meant order now dragging through puddles of blood and ash, while the Ancestors continued to push through every gap they found, their rust-black armor bashing against each other as they advanced in waves that never seemed to thin; Every weapon they held dragged that same corrupted energy through the air, leaving dark trails that clung to steel and stone alike, weakening anything it touched over time.
Behind the front line, the ritual platform had reached a point where the air itself no longer behaved normally, pressure bending around the circle as the remaining mages struggled to keep their chants together.
Blood soaked the runes carved into stone as fuel, each symbol lighting brighter as more sacrificed lives were spent feeding it. Bodies of fallen mages lay within the circle's boundary, some collapsed mid-gesture, others slumped backward against the edge of the stone, their contributions already absorbed into the spell.
"It's working!!!"
Those still standing spoke through broken breath and trembling voices, fully aware of what the magic was taking from them, yet continuing anyway for the kingdom they had sworn themselves to.
"For kingdom come… Lord Lancelot…" one of them forced out, knees giving way as the last of his strength left him, collapsing into the glowing runes below and dying.
"For kingdom come… Lord Lancelot…" another followed, voice breaking as his body fell forward, the ritual accepting him without hesitation. He died as well.
This had better be worth it.
One after another, they fell silent, until only Alpam remained steady within the circle, her scepter lifted, green crystal trembling under the weight of everything it was holding together. The wind that circled the platform began to twist harder, dragging loose cloth and hair into violent streams that wrapped around the stone like something alive.
The pressure above the circle changed, and it formed as if reality itself had been instructed to assemble something piece by piece, refusing to follow the usual order of existence in the world.
The first thing to appear was a heart, suspended above the stone, forming in isolation before anything else existed around it, beating without sound as muscle and structure began to build from it.
Bones followed, locking itself around that center, then veins and muscle layered themselves over it in stages that didn't feel natural at all. Skin formed after, covering everything in a complete structure, and finally clothing appeared last, locking into place as if it had always been worn.
A knight at the edge of the battlefield stumbled back as he saw it fully take shape, voice cracking as he shouted across the chaos.
"Your Majesty! The Heir… has been summoned!!"
Lancelot drove Bladegündr through the chest of an Ancestor at that exact moment, the three-sided blade twisting before he pulled it free. The body behind him began to dissolve into black ash, drifting up into the grey sky as if the world itself refused to keep it.
He turned at the call, blood streaked across his face and beard, his eyes widening slightly as they locked onto the ritual platform.
"Thank Asphodel.."
Sugred stopped too after killing an Ancestor by slashing its head off, both flame axes still burning in his grip, fire licking upward in restless waves as he looked toward the rear of the battlefield.
Yubel lowered his bow just enough for his next shot to hang unloosed, attention breaking away from the targets in front of him.
Aphrodite's summoned beasts paused in the midst of engagement, their shifting forms halting as her focus turned toward the platform.
Alpam remained where she stood, scepter raised, watching the final phase of the ritual settle into completion.
Lennox dropped onto one knee on the stone, one hand pressing against his chest as though confirming something real was still there, breathing ragged as his eyes scanned the battlefield.
"Ha… ha…" His voice came out broken between breaths, words dragging out like they barely belonged to him. "This is a dream… this is a shitty dream… I'm gonna wake up any moment now…"
His head lifted slowly, and the sight hit him without order; Mages lying dead inside the ritual circle, bodies drained into the spell—Ancestors dissolving into black ash that ascended into the sky like smoke.
But some Knights were still fighting across the field, steel and magic colliding without pause.
He stared at it all, voice slipping out before he could stop it.
"Ancestors… mages of Kalhan…" Lennox mumbled.
His eyes looked ahead again, and a translucent interface appeared in front of him, hovering where only he could see it.
[STATUS WINDOW]
[Name: Shitty Brat]
[Class: Unidentified]
[Kingdom Rank: Unranked]
[Blessing: None]
[Deity: None]
[HP: 100]
[MP: 100]
[Stamina: 100]
[Strength: 100]
[Endurance: 100]
[Agility: 100]
[Luck: 100]
[Skills 0/200 unlocked]
"A status window?! In my own dream?!"
'Everything…all my stats are at 100 in this dream. It's the same as Elslat; all players start off with 100 points in their attributes. I have no deity or blessing too? The game starts everyone off with a random blessing and deity, which is one of the reasons why the game got so popular, and why people make multiple characters just to see what kind of blessing they would get out of the 100 gods and goddesses that were present in the world of Elslat. Why don't I have one? I mean this is a dream, so nothing makes sense.'
Lennox blinked once, then scoffed as he finally looked closer at where his name was supposed to be, replaced with "Shitty Brat."
"Hey, change that or die," he muttered, voice still unsteady. "I know it's you from my PC. Damn stalker. Fix my name."
He recalled that glowing white hand from his PC, since he figured this crap was all a dream, he just started connecting the dots.
The name changed like it was annoyed already.
Shitty Brat → Lennox Hellslain
Lennox exhaled through his nose, staring at the change like it still didn't convince him.
A pause stretched between his words. "Yeah no way this is real."
'This is the greatest dream I've ever had..'