VIP Chapter 474: The Ninth Failure
“Entak…”
“Eleventh Style.”
On the Coliseum of Zero Demon City, as the declaration of battle sounded, Treya closed the distance between herself and the Undead Swordsman.
Entak’s move was still effective.
But she was not limited to that.
Now that she had mastered many more skills, she possessed even more powerful killing moves.
“Entak – Twenty-third Style.”
Treya silently recited the move in her heart. She sidestepped through the dense, light-beam-like sword slashes and faced the giant phantom above her head…
Step back.
Sidestep.
Thrust.
Stab.
And then…
She stared intently at the expressionless young girl behind her, who bore countless blades, and sent the tip of the Shadow Nightmare Sword towards her face.
Pierce—!
In an instant, the black and white world was sucked into a black space.
“Hah… hah…”
Treya opened her eyes and woke up in her bed once more.
“Why?! Why is this happening?!”
The ninth time. She had failed for the ninth time!
“Where does it hurt now? Where…”
Her whole body ached.
She had tried countless times these past few days, fighting every night in her sleep.
Again and again, she entered Zero Demon City, again and again, she dueled that Undead Swordsman.
And then…
Again and again, she would wake up in her bed, treating all that had just happened as a mere dreamscape.
The second time, she was cut across the neck, and she could still hear the hoarseness in her throat when she spoke.
The third time, a cut was made from her forehead to the back of her skull, and she could still feel the tingling sensation on her brain cortex even now.
The fourth time, she was slashed across the waist, and different parts of her intestines bore the memory of that same pain.
…The ninth time.
Bang bang bang bang.
She listened to her heart beat, but with each rapid contraction and expansion, she could clearly feel a pain that dug into her heart, somewhere at its core.
“Is… is it my heart? So, in that sword style, my weakness was my heart?”
It was late at night, yet Treya was frantically replaying the events in her mind.
Indeed.
Entak’s twenty-third style was more than enough to deal with other enemies. In combat, she had already defended against attacks from all possible directions with the demon’s strange sword style.
It was the best sword style that integrated offense and defense through agility.
Only…
At the moment of the strike.
Not even a second, perhaps not even that much time, there was a momentary opening.
Through that opening, a thin sword pierced directly into her heart.
No matter how careful she was, no matter how much she reviewed it, no matter how much she honed her body’s agility to its limit, she still lost.
“…Damn it. How can this be? This is my own Dungeon’s Undead Swordsman…”
She was consumed by a sudden desire for victory.
She was also consumed by…
The desire to complete Will’s final mission, which was what kept her alive now.
Because once all the missions were completed, she would have no other desires.
She would not even be able to dream of Will again.
Her colors had faded.
Nothing was left.
— That’s right.
— That’s how it is, Treya.
— Pain is right, anguish is right, weeping is right.
— All of this was brought upon yourself.
— You should die in this colorless, dreamless, boundless world, carrying the regret of mistakes that can never be mended.
— This is what you deserve.
— Otherwise, why would you lose?
“Damn it… damn it… damn it, damn it, damn it…”
Treya clenched her fists, unable to suppress the thoughts flooding her mind.
— I must, I must, I must defeat that Undead Swordsman with 333 swords, no matter the cost. Only by defeating it… can I… can I…
“Speaking of which… I haven’t finished learning the demon’s… the demon’s sword style yet, there must be… there must be another chance…”
Treya vaguely raised her head.
If there had been a mirror in front of her, she might have noticed that her expression at this moment was quite “terrifying,” like a drowning person who had just grasped a lifeline.
In this world she hated the most, Will was her only color.
However, she only knew how to treat such color with the rules of the black and white world.
And finally, she made it disappear as well.
“One more time, again… one more time…”
Treya smoothed her emotions. She re-gripped the Shadow Nightmare Sword placed beside her pillow.
And then—
She collapsed onto the thick, soft, real velvet bed.
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“The tenth time! It’s the tenth time!” from 2.
“She’s been assimilated by us a lot, she can hear our voices more and more.” from 7.
“More importantly, she can’t distinguish anymore, she can’t distinguish!” from 9.
“Which sentence is her own thought, and which is mine?” from 1.
“No need to distinguish, no need to distinguish! It’s fine like this, it’s fine!” from 3.
“Thank you, Undead Swordsman, thank you, Undead Swordsman. She’s too strong, she can still hold on.” from 5.
“But… there seems to be a problem.” from 3.
“What problem? What problem? How can there be a problem, it’s already the tenth time.” from 10.
“Didn’t you notice? She doesn’t seem to have entered Zero Demon City.” from 4.
“She’s gone. She’s truly asleep.” from 8.
“Impossible! Under our influence, she wouldn’t enter dreams anymore, especially not dreaming of that person, how could it be?!” from 7.
“Someone… someone intercepted our dream.” from 6.
“Kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him.” from 12345678910.
“But…” from 12345678910.
“It’s Will.” from 12345678910.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Where is this?”
Closing her eyes in reality, and opening them in a dreamscape.
Treya covered one of her eyes. Her purple eye ached from the excessive use of Entak Style in Zero Demon City, making it somewhat blurry, even in the dreamscape.
However, even like this…
“The leaves are green.”
“Roses are red.”
“The sky is blue.”
“This path is brown…”
She could distinguish the “colors” in the dreamscape. For her, this was such a long-lost… colorful dream.
Could she dream of colors again?
Shouldn’t she have turned black and white long ago…
She lowered her head and found the clothes she was wearing somewhat familiar. These clothes were…
It was the black, light wedding dress that the maid had been wearing when she snatched Will away from her, at the “wedding” she had originally planned.
Although it was a black wedding dress, faint gold powder was sprinkled on the large skirt, adding a touch of brilliance to the black gauze.
This made it a “wedding dress,” not “mourning clothes.”
“This is the place where we parted. Why am I dreaming of this? It wasn’t even in Will’s mission…”
“Hmm, why so glum?”
Then, Treya heard a familiar voice.
It came from the misty environment before her. She raised her head and saw a shadow in the fog—
“My bride?”
