Time lost its meaning as I sat upon the drifting asteroid, my awareness immersed in the intricate weave of laws surrounding Abor.
The illusion field created by Hollow Star was far more than a simple concealment technique. It was layered and elegant in a way that revealed a level of mastery I had not yet encountered. The more I studied it, the clearer it became that the so-called illusion was not merely hiding reality, it was rewriting how reality was perceived.
I let my Right to Insight expand fully.
Sealing laws formed the foundation, anchoring the structure across the asteroid belt. Space laws bent perception paths, redirecting any form of detection away from the planet. But the third component, the one that held everything together was something far more subtle.
Dream.
It did not impose itself like other laws. It flowed.
It blurred the boundary between what was real and what was believed to be real, not by force, but by suggestion so complete that resistance never formed in the first place. It was not illusion in the conventional sense. It was acceptance.
I meditated on it for hours.
Gradually, the patterns began to settle into something I could grasp. The structure revealed itself piece by piece, each layer unfolding into comprehension as my awareness aligned with it. Where before there had been uncertainty, now there was clarity.
When I finally opened my eyes, the system responded immediately.
My status window appeared before me.
[Major Law of Dream – Level 4]
Just as I was about to continue—
The world shifted.
There was no warning.
No transition.
One moment I was seated on the asteroid, the next I found myself standing on the surface of a calm, endless ocean. The water beneath my feet remained perfectly still, reflecting a sky that stretched infinitely in all directions, soft light diffused across it without a visible source.
I did not move immediately. My senses sharpened as I could judge this was not reality.
But it also was.
A presence stood before me.
A woman.
She was dressed in flowing white robes that moved gently as though crowned by wind. Her long black hair fell freely behind her, contrasting sharply against the pale light surrounding her. Her expression was calm, almost serene.
I remained still, watching her.
She spoke first.
"So you have finally reached this layer."
Her voice was soft, yet it carried clearly across the endless space.
I narrowed my eyes slightly.
"...Who are you?"
She regarded me quietly for a moment before answering.
"I am known as Defender Aurora," she said.
My gaze sharpened.
Defender Aurora.
The name from my quest.
For a brief moment, I did not speak.
Instead, I focused.
’How?’
’How had I been pulled here?’
There had been no activation, no trigger I could identify. My comprehension of Dream law had deepened—but this...
This was something else.
She seemed to notice the shift in my thoughts.
"I have been watching you," she continued calmly.
"I don’t know you," I replied, my voice steady.
A faint smile appeared on her lips.
"No," she said. "You don’t. Not yet. But if you continue growing at this pace... you will."
I remained silent for a moment before speaking again.
"You’re the one tied to my quest."
"I am."
"And I’m supposed to defeat you."
"Yes."
Her answer carried no hesitation, no emotion attached to it.
"You don’t seem concerned," I asked.
"That depends," she said, her gaze steady on mine. "Should I be?"
I did not answer it directly.
Instead, I asked, "What exactly are you?"
Her eyes held mine for a moment longer than before.
"What kind of question is that?"she smiled. "I am a person just like you. I just carry a title which you do not have access to yet."
"That doesn’t explain much Defender Aurora." I said.
"It is not meant to."
Silence stretched briefly between us.
Then she spoke again.
"Tell me," she said, her tone shifting slightly, "what do you intend to do with your strength?"
I did not respond immediately.
She continued.
"You have taken control of worlds. You have devoured their cores, reshaped their essence, and connected them under your will. That is not something done out of necessity alone."
Her gaze did not waver.
"So I will ask again," she said. "What kind of person are you becoming?"
I looked at her calmly.
"I’m becoming someone who can protect what is mine," I said.
"And everything else?" she asked.
"If it stands in my way, I remove it."
She turned slightly, her gaze shifting across the endless ocean around us.
"The war you are stepping into is not one of simple opposition," she said. "It is not just about strength, or control, or even survival."
Her voice remained calm.
"It is about direction. And individuals like you... determine where that direction leads."
I held her gaze and exhaled slowly.
"When do we fight?"
A faint smile returned to her expression.
"Soon," she said. "When the time is right."
Her form began to fade slightly.
"This was not the battle," she continued. "This was simply... a conversation."
I narrowed my eyes.
"You pulled me here just to talk?"
"I needed to see you," she replied.
Her presence began dissolving into the light around her.
"Prepare yourself," she said, her voice growing distant. "Because when we meet again... it will not be like this."
The world shifted.
And just as suddenly as I had left—
I was back, seated on the asteroid. The illusion field still stretched around me, unchanged.
I remained seated on the asteroid for a while after returning, my gaze fixed on the layered formation of laws surrounding Abor, though my thoughts were no longer on the illusion field itself.
Aurora.
The encounter replayed in my mind again and again. It had not felt like a forced illusion or a defensive reaction from the structure I was studying. It had been deliberate. Controlled. She had pulled me into that space with such ease, I did not even realise.
That alone was enough to raise the stakes. She had not been threatened. Not even slightly.
And that meant one thing.
I was not ready and she was far too powerful then I expected.
I exhaled slowly. Yes there was a gap in our strength. There was no frustration in it. If the gap existed, then I would close it.
I rose from the asteroid and looked once more at the intricate weave of laws before me. The Dream law I had just comprehended flowed naturally now within my awareness, its patterns no longer foreign. It did not resist me anymore. It responded.
But even with that...
It was not enough.
"Then I’ll go further," I muttered quietly.