Chapter 46

Chapter 46

A divine battle can see millions of changes in an instant. But the projection of the Silver Moon Maiden truly did not expect that within the time it took for a mere raindrop to fall from the sky, She would lose Her dominion over dreams and find Herself at a disadvantage.

After all, Her opponent was just a seed.

A seed is a young god, or rather, because all gods can be described as great trees, seeds are used to describe young gods.

Young gods have yet to sprout; they have not grasped their true power and cannot be called complete deities. If one finds the opportunity and weakness, even mortals can kill them.

Indeed, before the New Era, during those ancient times when the gods were embroiled in chaos, there were two or three young gods who were killed by mortals in their naivety.

Once a young god died, pollution spread widely, even forming demonic tides, giving birth to countless monsters.

The humans who thought they could gain treasures by killing a young god were thus shocked and regretful, a sight the Silver Moon Maiden never tired of. There was even one young god whose death She participated in, luring the humans around the young god.

Not to mention later when the Six Pillar Gods devised a method to kill young gods without causing pollution, but by then it was already the late stage of the chaos, and no more young gods appeared.

The projection of the Silver Moon Maiden felt that Her underestimation of the seed was justified, wasn't it?

Isn't this just a delicious treat delivered right to Her doorstep?

How could a treat grow a mouth and devour Her dominion over dreams first?

Kill Her.

Take back the power of dreams.

Making such a decision required no thought; the Silver Moon Maiden was a completely obedient evil deity to Her own desires.

She no longer stirred the seawater, only casting moonlight upon the seabed.

The rain continued, and today's ocean lacked its usual depth, allowing the moonlight to easily reach the shells.

Some shells were mere hollows shaped by dreams, but others contained ongoing dreams.

These shells, which held dreams and nurtured pearls, came from the judges still within the Great Sealing Ritual, who had yet to be awakened.

The projection of the Silver Moon Maiden still possessed some power over dreams. If She wished, She could plant madness and insatiable desires into these dreams, or turn certain dream creatures into nightmares and project them into the material world.

But that was useless against the seed who now held the dominion over dreams.

The projection of the Silver Moon Maiden could not use the power of dreams to fight Him; She needed to use a realm entirely Her own.

Thus, the moonlight cast upon the sandy seabed, and in an instant, clusters of seaweed swayed and grew.

They extended their soft, long leaves towards the surrounding shells, aiming to envelop the slightly opened shells and conceal the pearl's glow.

At that moment—

"Bang!"

A Holy Blood bullet shot out unexpectedly.

The projection of the Silver Moon Maiden was not unwilling to dodge, after all, She could no longer continuously draw on the residual power of the Dream God, nor could She fearlessly replenish Herself, unafraid of death. However, Hui Cui Dover, without hesitation, attached the limited "Certain Hit" ability to this shot.

The crimson impact nearly dyed half of the silver moon red, and the clusters of seaweed, sustained solely by Her power, instantly lost their strength, wilting and releasing the surrounding shells.

The Silver Moon looked at the contradictory apostle.

The snow-white Dover Birdman stood on the undulating sea surface.

Blessed with divine favor, he could walk on water, but whether it was the underground rivers, underground lakes, or the vast, hard-to-explore areas named oceans by the gods, none of these places had ever seen such massive waves.

Hui Cui, drenched, was unusually disheveled at this moment.

He casually discarded the cumbersome white coat and then removed his white suit jacket, revealing the white shirt underneath and the bullet belts wrapped around his waist and crossed over his chest.

The soaked white shirt, paired with this setup, exuded a deadly aura, much like Hui Cui's ice-cold pink eyes through the scope, gazing at the Silver Moon.

Just as She didn't take the seed seriously, the projection of the Silver Moon Maiden originally didn't take this contradictory apostle seriously either, though She didn't understand how he managed to enter the dream... Ah, was it the work of that silver-eyed seed?

Truly unexpected, to infiltrate at such a time. The silver-eyed seed must be at the Spire City Court Headquarters now. Even Her own body was blocked outside by the Great Sealing Ritual; this seed couldn't possibly interfere from beyond the seal, could it?

No, not necessarily.

Mirrors can symbolize passages to other realms, and the projection of the Silver Moon Maiden could see that at least for this seed, mirrors were already pathways to the mind and dreams.

In this way, in mysticism, it could be considered a door.

Perhaps She could pass through the seal if She acted subtly enough; the old man Tinkerer might not be able to stop Her.

What a wonderful mirror for dealing with seals and bindings, the projection of the Silver Moon Maiden felt even hungrier.

So eager to devour, so eager to devour, so eager to devour—

If She couldn't devour, at least She wanted Her body to know that the newly born Lord of Dreams possessed such power!

The projection of the Silver Moon Maiden suddenly dimmed, and the silver moon hanging on the pale red dome completely vanished.

She wanted to retain the last bit of the Dream God's power to return to Her body with the intelligence.

It was at this moment that Hui Cui fired the second shot.

This time, he didn't even attach the "Certain Hit," but the Holy Blood bullet still hit accurately!

The moonlight, which had flashed in the turmoil, suddenly turned red, facing extinction. The projection of the Silver Moon Maiden let out a final, resentful roar:

"Why only me! Do you favor that evil seed more!"

After speaking, the moonlight died in the waves.

Together with the withered seaweed covering the seabed.

"Wow, that's terrifying," Lin said.

Before his words had even faded, a fiery red bullet shot towards him. Jingzhong Tong had just appeared on a wave wall not far from Hui Cui and was splattered with water in the next second.

He reappeared on another wave wall, shouting, "Wait—"

"Bang!"

"Listen to me—"

"Bang!"

"Speak—"

"Bang!"

"Can you just answer one question?!"

Perched on a speck of flying water, Lin, now very small, shouted loudly.

Hui Cui finally stopped shooting.

Seizing the moment, Lin asked, "How do you remove the pollution from magic?"

"Purify you, and it will be gone," Hui Cui replied indifferently. He hadn't fired just then because he was reloading a new bullet into the crimson revolver.

A black bullet tip, a white casing, a bullet capable of hitting intangible things.

Lin nervously thought that the world inside and outside the mirror should be different, so it shouldn't hit...

"Bang!"

This time, Lin didn't dare to bet his life and dodged in advance.

How could the Chief Judge see him on a sesame-sized water droplet?!

Lin realized he might have underestimated a high-level professional, no, he underestimated the ability of an apostle. After dodging again, he chose a distant raindrop and used his telepathic communication ability to earnestly convey goodwill to the Chief Judge:

"No matter what, becoming the Lord of Dreams is better for me than for the Silver Moon Maiden, right?"

After he finished speaking, what greeted him was Hui Cui's gun following him.

Lin had never seen such a stern expression on the Chief Judge's face.

He said to Lin, or rather, to Jingzhong Tong:

"There is no difference."

"Bang!"

The gunshot echoed, and the environment around Hui Cui suddenly changed.

After the familiar darkness, he returned to the sealing chamber, which was now only a shape.

Hui Cui: "..."

Even-tempered as he was, a vein throbbed at his temple, though it was understandable that a demon who didn't want to die would be cast out.

The Chief Judge of Spire City took a deep breath and first checked his gun and bullets.

As before, he had entered the dream consciously, so the overcoat and suit jacket he had discarded were still neatly worn on his body, and his clothes and hair were not soaked.

But five Holy Blood bullets and two Absolute Break bullets were missing.

From this, it seemed that the material world of dreams and reality remained both overlapping and non-overlapping.

Hui Cui looked around and found that Moses Guppy had not come out with him.

Indeed, he had misjudged. The prayer Moses Guppy used before entering... the apostle of the former Dream God might have already been in league with the new Dream God.

Hui Cui lowered his head, bent down, and picked up the "conch shell."

The amber encasing the "conch shell" had cracked, and the "conch shell," which had been relatively well-preserved in resin for over nine hundred years, had now turned into grayish-white dust, flowing out from the cracks in the amber.

When Hui Cui picked up the amber, the dust scattered into the air, dissipating like a dream.

"..."

While staring at the rust-red dome, Hui Cui did not feel dizzy, but now, he felt dizzy.

Although many judges in Spire City regarded him as omnipotent, even Hui Cui couldn't kill every enemy he encountered.

But this newly emerged silver-eyed demon had indeed escaped from his hands, an enemy who would influence the entire world and the survival of humanity.

And it had escaped twice.

From now on, every time people entered their dreams, they would face fatal threats from the demon.

The foreseeable spread of pollution, the surge in monsters, and the deaths of those who should not have died...

What should be done then?

And Lin, with the appearance of the new Dream God, would the curse on his left eye, inflicted by the Conch Blower, dissipate or continue?

"Contradictory twins..."

In the sealing chamber that resembled ruins, Hui Cui closed his eyes and whispered a prayer.

"Let me protect all those I cherish."

After murmuring these words, Hui Cui slowly opened his eyes.

Despite the turmoil in his heart, he managed to wear a serious yet peaceful expression that wouldn't frighten his subordinates, and stepped out.

***

In the dream.

The bones of the Conch Blower were being eroded by seawater, turning from fragments into powder. Even the island-sized conch at the center of the dream was cracking under the relentless pounding of the waves.

This dream, supported by the skeleton, gradually lost its former shape; the sky and the earth were collapsing, and an enveloping darkness began to cover everything.

Coral, sea anemones, and withered seaweed—these illusions of the dream—burst like soap bubbles as the darkness approached them, disappearing without a trace.

Pearls rolled out of their shells, causing the shells to vanish.

Large and small pearls rolled through the darkness, their faint light illuminating this tiny corner.

Lin appeared on the surface of a pearl beside Moses, still in the form of Mirror Pupil, except his originally silver left eye had now turned the pink of a conch pearl.

Moses glanced at him and said, "Why aren't you saying how cool it is?"

When the Conch Blower's bones shattered completely, the merman stopped singing.

Before Lin approached, he had been sitting cross-legged, his eyes vacant, seemingly oblivious to the fierce battle between Lin, Hui Cui, and the projection of the Silver Moon Maiden nearby.

Lin thought he was in a trance, but from Moses' sarcastic greeting, it seemed the merman hadn't really ignored the commotion around him.

"Mr. Moses," Lin felt helpless, "after using me, you don't need to show me respect anymore, do you?"

"You've obtained the power of dreams, so I'm no longer useful to you, right?" Moses waved his hand, checking if Lin was injured before withdrawing his gaze. "Move away, why bother a dying man here?"

Lin fell silent for a moment before repeating Moses' words.

"A dying man... huh?"

"What? Am I not?" Moses countered.

Lin didn't continue the discussion on this topic but said, "In my last conversation with the Conch Blower, He mentioned you."

Moses didn't turn around; Lin only heard him sigh and say a name.

"Maridis..."

Is this the true name of the Conch Blower? Lin pondered, then continued, "So, Mr. Moses, would you be willing to become my priest?"

Moses, with a face full of reminiscence, paused, then laughed.

He suddenly jumped up, walked angrily to the pearl where Lin was, and made a move as if to flick the pearl and the small Mirror Pupil away.

Of course, the merman still had some respect for the deity, so he didn't actually flick it.

"Hey," the crouching Moses said, "you've already obtained the power of dreams, so you should be able to see.

"You can see that I am not the real Moses Guppy, but a Moses Guppy created by the Lord in this dream, right?"