Noxanna bestowed her blessing upon Franz.
It was not the authority of an Apostle, yet because it was power given directly by the Goddess of Dreams, its value could not be measured.
Franz felt a complicated weight as the strength surged inside him.
He wondered if, had he possessed this power from the beginning, the outcome might have been different.
He shook off that dangerous thought and spoke to Noxanna.
“Thank you.”
He still hated her, yet receiving this strength was something to be grateful for.
“I am glad to hear that.”
With a relieved smile, Noxanna’s eyes turned toward Ludger.
“I would also like to grant you a gift, but that won’t do, will it?”
She had seen straight through Ludger’s circumstances.
He was deliberately maintaining a sealing ritual to block the interference of other gods.
Others could not see it, but Noxanna could.
A threefold barrier, intricate and complex, hovered above Ludger’s head like a halo.
It looked like three interlocking rings of light, each one dense with lines like a luminous barcode.
Seeing how perfectly they meshed together, Noxanna found Ludger even more mysterious.
As long as that remained, the voices of the gods could not reach him.
And thanks to it, Lumenis had not been able to pinpoint Ludger until now.
If Noxanna gave him a blessing here, Lumenis might notice.
“To be honest, I am tempted. I know I shouldn’t, but I want to give you my blessing.”
Ludger was a peculiar case.
Noxanna loved all humans as her children, yet Ludger felt far more exceptional than that.
They say every finger hurts when bitten, but Ludger was outstanding even among them—truly one apart.
“But that is not what you want. So I will not do it.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
“Fufu. To thank me for this—how unusual you are. In the end, all I can do for you is to pray for good fortune in what lies ahead.”
“If it is the Goddess’s support, then nothing could be more reassuring.”
“Such sweet words. Yes, with all the fragments gathered, you no longer need my power. You have walked this path entirely by your own strength.”
Smiling softly, Noxanna waved to him.
“It is time for farewell. I will fall into slumber once more—a long dream without knowing if I will ever wake.”
She lifted ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) her gaze to the sky.
The entrance to the mortal realm was now closed, so only the sky of the Depths was visible, yet her sight reached beyond to the skies above reality.
She felt it.
The immense malice that lingered there.
Surely he had noticed her awakening.
Outwardly claiming justice and kindness, but in truth narrow and petty—that was Lumenis.
Soon the continent would be swept into chaos.
‘Just my awakening causes all this. I am truly sorry for the children of the surface.’
Her awakening had been forced by Nirva, twisted over countless ages, sacrificing innumerable human lives.
If she probed deeper, she could sense another’s cunning will at work.
For even her awakening had not been by her own will.
But she chose not to mention it.
She held no anger, no resentment.
Being so transcendent, Noxanna felt only detachment.
‘What lies ahead must be faced by those left behind. My interference will bring no good.’
And yet, she found she did not want to leave Lumenis free to act unchecked.
So she raised her energy and sent it soaring beyond the Depths’ sky.
She did not know when, where, or how it would manifest.
If fate existed, or if someone was meant to fulfill something inevitable,
then this seed she left behind would surely bloom into the most splendid flower.
With this small safeguard set in place, Noxanna slowly closed her eyes.
“Sleep well, everyone. May you dream sweet dreams.”
Her incarnated form scattered like heat haze.
At the same time, [Nursery Rhyme] vanished completely, and Noxanna’s true body curled in upon itself, returning to slumber.
Yet there was one difference now—her body slept in the shape of a beautiful woman at peace.
* * *
“It’s... over.”
“The leader succeeded.”
The members of Owens, who had been fighting [Nursery Rhyme], smiled brightly at the vanishing relic.
“Wait. The Goddess has gone back to sleep, it’s all finished—so how do we get out of here?”
Alex suddenly raised the question.
Hadn’t they said leaving Dreamland’s Depths was nearly impossible?
But before his words could linger, the very sky of Dreamland began to resound.
Not only resound—the Depths were engulfed in an immense light.
Just as people began to fear something else was happening, they felt an irresistible pull.
As if submerged deep underwater, suddenly yanked upward by a rope.
No one was spared.
Ludger, Franz, the members of Owens, those on the battleship, even the citizens and students cheering from afar.
When the light finally dimmed and the pull released—
they all opened their eyes at once.
And awoke from the dream.
“This is...”
Alex looked around at the underground waterways, belatedly realizing.
“This is an emergency exit. Don’t tell me... we’ve actually returned?”
Around him were Phantos, Violetta, Arfa, and Bellaruna.
The same phenomenon occurred across the entire city of Rederbelk.
Those who had been trapped in the sleeping sickness awoke one by one, realizing they had returned to reality.
“My goodness.”
In her classroom, Taishy pinched her cheek.
A faint pain pricked her, but it still felt unreal.
After all, pain in Dreamland had felt the same.
“This really is reality, right?”
“Then what, you think you woke from a dream into another dream?”
Even at Leo’s sarcasm, Taishy sat dazed.
Normally she would have flared up, bickering with him, but she was too drained to be angry.
“We’ve all returned to reality.”
“Yes. Strictly speaking, we merely dreamed.”
“To call that just a dream...”
It sounded absurd.
Dreams had always been dismissed as nothing but illusions.
But after what they had experienced in Dreamland, could it be brushed aside so lightly?
No—perhaps they had belittled dreams too much all along.
Dreams were another world.
Even if they awoke, the moments spent in those dreams were not without value.
Taishy’s eyes turned to Aidan.
“Aidan. Why are you so quiet? Aren’t you glad we came back?”
“It’s not that I’m not glad.”
He gave a bitter smile, gazing out the window.
“But there are people who didn’t make it back.”
“Ah.”
Only then did Taishy realize.
There were many who had not returned from the Dreamland incident.
What had occurred exceeded any natural disaster.
The number of dead would be beyond counting.
Taishy, Leo, and Iona’s faces all sank with the weight of it.
Just then, the back door of the classroom slid open, and someone rushed out.
Everyone turned toward the sudden sound.
They glimpsed ash-gray hair.
“Rine?”
Erendir called after her, but no answer came.
Rine sprinted through the academy.
All around, newly awakened students wandered in confusion, unsure if this was dream or reality.
They paid no attention to her desperate flight.
She ran until she reached the forest.
Why, she did not know.
Only that instinct told her he would be there.
And indeed—
At the forest’s entrance, a man was emerging. Their eyes met.
Rine stopped and stared.
A man beautiful as though carved from marble,
blue eyes like a tranquil lake, long black hair flowing.
Once, his sight had made her heart tremble.
But not now.
Now her heart was colder than anything.
“Is it true?”
Rine’s voice trembled as she asked Ludger.
“Was it really you, teacher? Did you kill her?”
The question was pointless.
She had already seen.
When Noxanna had awakened and [Nursery Rhyme] resounded, the waves of its power had swept through all, dragging them into nightmares.
In that dream, Rine had witnessed it.
The moonlit forest.
Ludger thrusting a dagger into her mother’s heart.
The memory was fragmented from the seal he had placed, but that scene stood out in cruel clarity.
Still she asked, only out of desperate denial.
She wanted it to be a lie.
That she had no family, only lost memories from some accident, and Ludger had always been a good teacher.
She clung to that wish.
But—
“Yes.”
The word that came from Ludger shattered her hope.
Not a sweet lie, but a brutal truth.
“I killed your mother. There is no falsehood in that.”
Rine’s body staggered.
As Ludger moved toward her, she screamed.
“Don’t come near me!”
He froze.
Her bowed face was hidden, but her grief, rage, and torment were clear.
The betrayal of one she trusted, and the sudden blow of cruel truth—
Even her strong spirit could not withstand it.
“Rine, I—”
“Enough! I don’t want to hear excuses!”
The more she heard his voice, the more it tore her apart.
The voice once sweet even when lecturing in dull classes—
now filled her with dread.
Ludger feared if he left her like this, she would break.
Not mere worry, but instinct.
“There is something I must tell you.”
He prepared to speak of what had happened that night.
But just then, someone came running toward them, breathless.
“Rine!”
Freuden Ulburk.
He too had awakened and sought her out.
“Sen...ior.”
Her hollow eyes turned to him.
And when he met them, his heart sank.
“Your eyes...”
“You knew, didn’t you?”
“......”
Freuden did not ask what she meant.
Her state, her gaze, Ludger’s heavy expression—it said everything.
“I wanted to tell you.”
The words slipped from him, and he instantly regretted them.
He had had countless chances to speak, and each time chose silence.
And now—saying he had wanted to tell her?
It was too late.
Betrayed by Ludger, now even by Freuden—who could she trust?
Shhhhk.
Magic roiled around Rine’s body.
Her seething rage sent her mana spiraling out of control.
Above her head, a shape appeared.
‘That’s—’
Ludger’s eyes widened.
Her magic beast—shaped like a polyhedron.
It resonated with her will, exuding violent mana.
Brilliant light poured from its body.
Something was about to happen.
Realizing it, Ludger sprang toward her.
Boom!
The wave of mana blasted against him, pushing him back.
He raised his own power to resist—and froze.
‘My mana... is losing ground?’
Not that the beast’s mana was greater.
Rather, it carried something that overcame raw disparity in strength.
“I hate this.”
Rrrrumble.
At Rine’s whispered words, the beast shook violently.
“I’d rather... just leave, anywhere.”
“Rine!”
[Ater Nocturnus]
Clad in shadow, Ludger reached through the resistance, stretching his arm toward her.
The next instant, a blinding flash engulfed the area.
When it faded, Freuden stared in shock.
“This is... what....”
Rine and Ludger were gone.
Even the ground they had stood on had been cleanly gouged away, as if sliced by a sharp blade.
“Where... where have they gone?”