When Rine returned to the dormitory, she was deep in thought.
After meeting the woman named Catherine, the words she had spoken would not leave Rine’s mind and kept circling endlessly.
‘She said she could tell me what I want to know.’
If it had been just an idle remark, it would not have engraved itself so deeply into her memory.
Above all, the fact that her aching eyes had felt noticeably better after meeting Catherine had given Rine certainty.
Rine closed her eyes.
If she could just sleep, perhaps she could forget all this confusion.
Maybe because the day had been so exhausting, Rine quickly drifted into a dream.
And then—
“Huh?”
The moment she saw the scenery unfolding before her in the dream, Rine froze without realizing it.
“This is...”
A dark night.
What surrounded her was the wreckage of a ruined city.
Realizing that the landscape she had once glimpsed in passing was now spreading out before her in a dream, Rine lifted her head.
The night sky overflowed with colors, starlight, and the glow of a full moon.
At its center, a massive structure floated in the air.
Connecting that structure to the ground was a twisted, pure white thing that looked like a branch of a tree.
The ruins were overflowing with all kinds of plants—
scattering petals and enormous thorned vines.
“Wh–why...”
Explosions erupted here and there, and deafening roars resounded.
A gigantic dragon appeared in the sky, local tornadoes ravaged the ground, and the mournful cries of beasts spread far and wide.
If this wasn’t the end of the world, then what else could it be?
People lay collapsed everywhere; the air was filled with grief and screams.
It was a scene one ought to run away from—yet Rine found herself walking forward without realizing it.
At that moment, she felt a grip on her shoulder as someone pulled her back sharply.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Huh?”
Turning around, Rine saw a familiar face.
“Julia? How are you here...”
The person looking at her with a complicated expression was Julia Plumehart.
After the demon incident, Julia had left Seorn to attend to matters related to the Dream School and had been gone for quite some time.
Never in her dreams had Rine expected to meet her here again—literally.
“There was some kind of quake in the surface layer of Dreamland, so I came. Then this enormous dream suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I wondered whose dream it could be—and look what it turned out to be.”
Julia had seen her share of dreams, but she had never seen one like the one Rine was seeing now.
A vision that looked like the end of the world.
No, could this even be called a dream?
“What in the world happened to you?”
“I... don’t really know.”
“This isn’t just some dream. It’s almost real.”
Dreams usually reflect reality.
But even those reflective dreams tend to distort reality somehow—
sheep flying through the sky, dogs walking upright and talking, flower petals bursting from the exhaust of passing cars.
A dream is where the elements of reality blend out of alignment.
But Rine’s dream was nothing like that.
Though the scene itself was unreal, it didn’t feel distorted or inconsistent at all.
“I’ve heard bits of news from the outside, but what on earth happened?”
“I...”
While Rine hesitated to answer, a dazzling flash burst from the massive structure floating in the sky, and a pillar of light pierced the heavens.
Julia’s eyes reflected the suddenly brightened landscape as she murmured in a trembling voice,
“Wait... this is—the Theocracy of Bretus.”
“Bretus... Theocracy?”
“I’ve seen pictures of it in books. The pattern of those waterways, and those white ruins over there—those stones are called Holy Stones.”
Julia turned to Rine.
“From what I can tell, this isn’t just a dream. It’s a kind of future. Yes... it’s a prophetic dream.”
“A... prophetic dream?”
“Normally, prophetic dreams manifest by interpreting countless factors and accumulated data to show what is most likely to happen.”
“But this isn’t on that level, is it?”
“No. That’s the scientific theory behind why prophetic dreams occur. What you’re seeing now ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) is closer to the real kind of prophecy. Think about it—has a scene like this ever actually happened before?”
Julia looked at Rine’s conflicted face and patted her shoulder softly, almost comfortingly.
“Looks like you’ve got a lot on your mind. I wish we could talk longer, but it doesn’t seem like we have much time.”
“...Yeah. It seems that way.”
As Rine replied, she realized Julia had changed a great deal since before.
The girl who had always pushed others away with cynicism now felt warmer, more open, more human.
The ordeal she had gone through in Dreamland must have helped her grow.
Even though she could have been buried in sorrow, she stood tall instead.
Maybe because of that, Rine found herself able to steady her own wavering heart.
“Thank you, Julia.”
“Wh–what’s that all of a sudden?”
“Nothing. Thanks to you, my head’s clear now. Next time we meet, I’ll buy you something good.”
Smiling, Rine said goodbye.
“Wait, do you even know how to wake up from—”
Julia tried to offer to guide her out, but Rine simply waved her hand—and then vanished like a mirage.
As Rine disappeared, the world of her prophetic dream dissolved along with her.
Left alone, Julia let out a short, bewildered laugh.
“You’ve changed a lot while I wasn’t looking.”
After murmuring that, she turned her head, eyes narrowing.
“Is that enough now?”
“Yes. That’ll do.”
From the dreamscape—where there should have been no one else—someone answered Julia.
It was Franz.
“At first I didn’t understand why you suddenly wanted me to keep an eye on Rine, but after seeing this scene, I get it now.”
“Yeah. Thanks to you, she’s found her resolve. It’s all because of you.”
“Since the sealing’s done, I’ll be off.”
As Franz turned to leave, Julia called after him.
“You really don’t plan on coming back to the Dream School?”
Julia had been chosen as the next master of the Dream School, but she still felt she wasn’t ready.
She was still young and not yet as skilled or composed as Grandmother Clara.
In her eyes, Franz was far more suited to the position—at least for now.
“I still have something I must do. Tell everyone I’m doing fine.”
Franz gave a wry smile and disappeared.
“...Sigh. If I tell them that word for word, those old folks are going to blow their tops again.”
* * *
When Rine woke up, her mind felt clearer than ever.
Outside the dormitory, night had fallen—quiet and still.
Feeling the faint warmth of the paper in her hand, she followed the gentle glow leading her path without hesitation.
‘Huh? This place is...’
The place she arrived at, drawn by that light, was the garden Freuden had tended.
At its center stood Catherine, bathed in moonlight, her back turned.
“You’ve come.”
Even before Rine could speak, Catherine sensed her presence and turned around.
The cheerful woman Rine had seen in the daytime was gone.
The one standing before her now was the Saintess herself, as the world knew her.
“You knew I would come, so you waited here?”
“Of course.”
“How could you be so sure?”
“Because of the power you possess. Or rather—your eyes.”
Catherine’s sky-blue eyes curved like a crescent moon, glowing even in the dark.
“The eyes that I hold—the eyes that see the future. You carry their original prototype, the Judging Eyes.”
“Judging Eyes...?”
“You’ve never heard of them, have you? It’s not a well-known term—it’s practically a legend now. But the fact that you were truly born with them, and that power is now guiding you—that is no legend.”
“......”
“Aren’t you curious? About what you saw? About what this power inside you really is?”
Catherine extended her hand toward Rine.
“So come with me—to Bretus. Once we’re there, you’ll learn the entire truth of this world.”
Rine looked down at the paper she was holding in her hand.
The paper that had led Rine to Catherine’s location turned black and crumbled away like sand scattering in the wind.
Her hesitation was short, and her decision even shorter.
“Let’s go. To Bretus.”
Rine met Catherine’s eyes with a look of unshakable resolve.
* * *
Ludger had finished securing the inner citadel, but there was still much left to be done.
“Soon this place will become a battlefield. Salesin will throw everything he has at us to kill us.”
Ludger addressed his gathered comrades.
“We’ll be fighting against the entire world.”
“That’s what we came here prepared for, isn’t it?”
At Alex’s quip, everyone nodded in agreement.
“Good. Then I won’t bother trying to scare you with empty warnings. What matters now is handling the immediate problems first. Outside the outer citadel, the remaining forces of the Second Inspection City have gathered.”
“The elite troops of Galaharad Fortress’s inner walls were wiped out—how much difference could those stragglers make?”
“They’ll try to resolve it within their own means. But their problem isn’t the quality of their soldiers—it’s the numbers.”
“The numbers...?”
“The ordinary citizens of this nation. Every one of them could become our enemy.”
The citizens of the Theocracy of Bretus would all turn against them.
Most of the people living in this country were devoted followers of the Lumenis Church.
If they threw themselves into battle without fear of death, they would become a nightmare to face.
Killing enemies in a fight was one thing, but cutting down civilians who made themselves into human shields—that was another matter entirely.
“That’s why we have to act first, before the remaining zealots can incite the populace.”
“How do you plan to do that? Should I, the Great Demon himself, go out and give them a little scare?”
“On the contrary, that would only make them unite even more tightly in the name of the demon. And even if you went out like that, do you really think ordinary citizens would feel fear?”
At Ludger’s pointed remark, Suruna merely shrugged.
“We have to show them a more primal, simple kind of fear. Those who are armed with faith, believing there’s nothing in the world to fear—we’ll make them see that reality isn’t so merciful.”
“Does such a method exist?”
Hans asked.
The only thing that came to his mind was Helia summoning phantoms of ancient monsters to terrify people.
Ludger turned to Hans.
“You’ll do it, Hans.”
“Me?”
“It’s time you learned to truly control that beastly instinct within you.”
Hans hesitated.
Thanks to the Fang of the Wolf King Ludger had given him, he now possessed two beast forms he could use.
And since the Dreamland incident, his power had awakened even further—he could now manifest both forms at once.
So Hans had thought he no longer needed that power.
He could fight well enough without borrowing from that nightmare anymore.
But Ludger was now urging him to use it.
“I...”
There’s no need to go that far, brother.
I’m already strong enough. I can fight properly now.
“I...”
Why should I use that horrifying, uncontrollable power again?
Isn’t it time to stop? Aren’t there better ways?
Dark, bitter thoughts swirled violently through his mind.
The gazes fixed on him from every direction felt oppressive and heavy.
But even so—
“...I made a vow to fight.”
Hans steadied his breath and drew a dagger carved from the beast’s fang.
Yes. Thinking back, it had always been strange.
If he had truly hated this power, he could have simply thrown that cursed thing away.
Yet he had always kept it close, ready to use at any time.
He had pretended otherwise, but no one wanted to face his original sin more than he did himself.
Ludger had seen right through that—hence his words.
Hans pressed the dagger’s tip into his own palm.
The beast’s essence contained within the fang spread through his body, and Hans shuddered violently, eyes snapping open.
The scenery shifted.
The figures of his comrades and his brother vanished, leaving only endless darkness.
Just as he thought the place seemed familiar, a pair of red eyes glowed in the blackness.
The instant he met them, an overwhelming, primal terror surged through him.
Grrrrrr—
The monster was not hiding in the dark.
It didn’t need to. The darkness itself was the monster.
Facing the enormous black wolf, Hans wanted to turn and run immediately.
He remembered the nightmare he had tried to forget—
The countless black beasts that tore him to pieces in his dreams.
It wasn’t hard to imagine that nightmare becoming reality again.
Awooooo!
The black beast howled, and countless red eyes opened beneath it.
They were coming—death, despair, fear, and nightmare itself.
No good.
The fear was so overwhelming that his mind felt paralyzed.
Hans almost turned to flee—
—I believe in you.
Until he heard that voice.
“......”
Hans gave up on running.
Instead, with slow, unsteady steps, he walked straight toward the onrushing terror.
And when the distance finally closed, the torrent of black beasts parted to both sides with a roar.
Hans kept walking against the flow of darkness until he stood before the gigantic beast.
And then, at last, he saw it clearly—
The true form of the black monster he had so feared.
“I see. So this is what you really were.”
The massive beast vanished.
In its place stood a small, fragile girl, delicate like a doll.
Hans spoke in a trembling voice.
“I’m sorry. For running away all this time.”
The child he had killed with his own teeth long ago.
Even if it had been because of his uncontrollable instinct,
that sin was one he could never escape.
Hans knelt before the girl and wept.
“I’ll never run away again.”
The girl smiled softly and wrapped her arms around his head, holding him close.
* * *
Hans, who had stabbed his own hand with the dagger, now stood motionless, blank-eyed, as if his mind had gone empty.
And after an unknown span of time—
Hans suddenly dropped the dagger from his hand. Then his body began to change.
“This is...”
Everyone present stared in astonishment as Hans’s transformation began.