The Regressor Can Make Them All

Chapter 234

A faint ringing echoed in Zayed’s ears and his eyes glazed over.

Trying to figure out what that irritating thin sound, which sounded like countless noises compressed into one, seemingly coming from within his head, Zayed felt something begin to stir in his chest.

Crunch- Crack-

Something was burrowing into his heart, changing it into a grotesque shape. And when it finished, it started slithering toward his brain like something alive.

Then, the moment that foreign object reached his mind, he felt like something he had never known before was about to emerge. Feeling an instinctive dread washing over him, Zayed stared blankly down at his own body.

Swish!

He saw a brilliant light—a white blade of light had suddenly severed his head and sent it up into the air.

Not relenting, the attacker, Se-Hoon, gazed up at the disembodied head and summoned Golden Origin through the Celestial Infinity Blade.

Woong!

Se-Hoon lunged at Zayed. His hands were tightly gripping the two created swords, his muscles bursting with power. Entwined with golden sword aura, his bright white sword aura slashed powerfully through the air.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

Neverending slashes relentlessly shredded Zayed's body, spraying blood in all directions. It was as if Se-Hoon intended to eliminate Zayed completely and thoroughly.

Why...?

Unable to comprehend Se-Hoon’s actions, Amir stood frozen by the side.

“Zayed was already dead the moment he came out of the dream!” Se-Hoon shouted, noticing Amir’s state. He was still duel-wielding sword auras and continuing the assault.

He had already confirmed that Zayed’s body had changed into a dream-like form due to his decades spent inside the dream realm while cutting him apart. He only appeared normal on the outside; his body had begun collapsing the moment the Dream Castle started to crumble.

“What you’re seeing is just something wearing Zayed’s skin! We have to kill it now!”

Amir was utterly bewildered by Se-Hoon’s desperate cry. Something was wearing his cousin’s skin? He didn’t understand that at all, but Se-Hoon’s next line was even more baffling.

Kill him? What more is there to kill?

Perplexed, Amir’s gaze dropped to the disfigured bunch of strands on the ground, the origin unrecognizable due to the brutal slashes. What more could he do to such a mangled body?

Should I use the Winter Sky Eyes?

It dawned on him. If the mutilated body was still alive, he could confirm it with his Winter Sky Eyes. Activating the skill as soon as the thought crossed his mind, Amir stared at the pile, his eyes turning a silvery hue.

“...Ah.”

What he saw was a sky, a fractured sky that formed countless shards.

Drip.

Amir fell to his knees, blood tears trickling down his face. Just the mere act of peering into the corpse's essence had overloaded his mind.

Ugh... did I overestimate myself?

Was Winter Sky Eyes too immature compared to his other skills?

Glancing behind him, Se-Hoon quickly assessed the situation and realized the dangerous state Amir was in. He jumped to action.

Splurt!

Slicing his own arm without hesitation, Se-Hoon let his blood spray over Zayed’s corpse. Then, he promptly lifted Amir onto his back and moved away. He was well aware that the current situation was beyond his ability and that he had to retreat before the entity he feared fully awakened.

Now some distance away, he quickly applied first aid to his arm with Soul Honing before glancing back.

Squish-

Zayed's blood and flesh, which had been scattered all over, gathered into a single cluster. And from the center, a new form began to rise. The figure had a red, sinewy body, looking as though its skin had been stripped away to reveal its muscles.

It was a grotesque sight, but that wasn’t the worst part.

Crunch- Crack-

Along with the rising body, dozens of monstrous hands that were identical to the emerging figure’s reached up from the blood and flesh beneath it, pulling and clinging to it.

“No... Please... No...”

“That’s supposed to be my place...”

“I was the one who came up with this.... Give it back...”

Countless identities of Zayed, each who trained and struggled for decades in their own dreams, were clawing at the newly emerging body, trying to drag it back down. Their desperate cursing and wailing continued endlessly.

One version had fallen as an A-rank hero, another while ascending the Tower of Heroes, and another as a member of the Ten Evils. There were hundreds, thousands even, versions of “Zayed,” each more wretched than the last, all swimming in the figure’s shadow.

“Hahaha...”

Despite all those pitiful versions of itself, the first emotion that came to its heart wasn’t disgust, oddly enough—it was overwhelming exhilaration.

“You all can’t compare to who I really am.”

Instead of succumbing to the cries and curses, he twisted them all into fuel for his own growth. Zayed—no, the demon that had shed Zayed’s skin trampled over all of them to climb even higher.

Here, the endless dream would finally become real; here, reality would dissolve and become a futile dream. With that profound revelation searing into its mind, the demon’s eyes glowed crimson.

“I am the Destroyer of Fragmentation.”

Rumble!

The City of Nightmares shook violently, enough to where it might collapse. The eerie violet buildings twisted and turned crimson, reshaping into something resembling colossal trees. From them, branches then extended outward, blooming with blood-red flowers.

Flutter-

Red petals slowly drifted down toward the ground.

The scene formed by it all was so surreal that it mesmerized the panicking residents of the Pleasure District, making them momentarily forget their precarious situation.

Crunch!

But then, when the petals touched the spectators below, they quickly remembered. People around them were compressed in an instant, exploding into fountains of blood.

“Aaagh...!”

“Run! The petals can kill you on contact!”

Snapping out of it, the surviving residents scrambled to escape, firing off spells and swinging their weapons. Nothing worked. The petals simply passed through their efforts like illusions, crushing their bodies upon contact.

Splatter!

The landscape had been soaked with blood in the blink of an eye, and the compacted corpses started taking root like seeds in the ground. Like that, tens of thousands of lives vanished into the ground.

No longer interested, the Destroyer of Fragmentation looked away from the carnage.

Whoosh-

It then focused on the violet mist that had filled the air, which had begun to disperse, and waved its hand just before it vanished completely.

Flutter~

Red petals merged with the mist, compressing it into a single mass. The petals then opened and revealed the Dream Demon inside.

“...”

The Dream Demon landed softly on the ground, surveying her surroundings. Then, as though realizing something, she smiled brightly.

“Did it work?”

Watching the Dream Demon, who seemed to remember nothing, the Destroyer of Fragmentation calmly replied, “Not yet. But first, is your memory intact?”

“My memory’s fine, but... this entire situation just feels surreal,” she muttered, brushing her eyes and catching one of the falling petals in her hand.

Swish-

Unlike the other residents, the Dream Demon didn’t compress or explode upon contact with the petal. She gazed at the red petal in her palm with wonder.

“Amazing. I can’t believe the dream realm I painstakingly crafted over the years has been recreated within this small flower petal...”

The moment the petals made contact with the living, it would pull them into a dream and transform them into a new being that resided within. And while that was astonishing enough, just a few petals had resurrected her. Considering she had been as good as dead, it was a power bordering a god’s.

Well, it’s technically a transformation rather than a resurrection.

Strictly speaking, her original self had already died, but the Dream Demon didn’t mind. After all, the entire world was a dream to her. No matter how many times she died and came back, as long as she woke up, the result was the same.

“It’s just a difference in knowledge. Do not try to understand it hastily, as it’s beyond the likes of you.”

At the Destroyer of Fragmentation’s calm words, the Dream Demon looked at it with interest.

“Are you not upset with me?”

The Destroyer of Fragmentation indifferently glanced at her.

“Why would I hold hatred for something as trivial as a dream?”

Feeling its hollow, emotionless gaze on her, the Dream Demon was filled with joy. It was indeed a perfect being, one inheriting both the traits of herself and Se-Hoon.

Staring at it, the Dream Demon felt a renewed conviction.

Judging by how strong it is... this one will definitely be able to awaken me from this dream.

The Destroyer of Fragmentation was a being who surpassed the limits of demons, reaching the realm of gods. Her excitement grew. This power was what she had longed for, as the Elder Lord had said it would be.

“But...”

The Destroyer of Fragmentation’s eyes shifted elsewhere.

“Who are they?”

The Dream Demon turned her head.

“Oh my...”

Despite the shower of petals, Se-Hoon and Amir stood unharmed, neither showed any signs of being affected.

How are they unscathed? the Dream Demon questioned internally, tilting her head in confusion.

Though the Dream Demon appeared unharmed, in truth, her body had also been slowly transforming into a dream-like state with every petal that touched her. However, since she already had ample experience with such a situation, nothing was essentially happening to her.

Swish.

But Se-Hoon and Amir didn’t have such experience. Their bodies should’ve changed.

The Destroyer of Fragmentation narrowed its eyes at them.

“What did they do?”

Woong-

All it had done was ask a simple question, yet the surrounding demonic aura stirred with irritation. It stressed the minds of those nearby, making them feel as if a blade was stabbing their minds. However, Se-Hoon was all too familiar with its immense presence which could drive low-ranking heroes mad just by facing it.

He took a deep breath.

“We didn’t do anything. You’re just incomplete.”

The Destroyer of Fragmentation’s expression twisted in displeasure, its irritation escalating to murderous intent.

“Incomplete, you say?”

Rumble!

As if unable to tolerate that insult, the Destroyer of Fragmentation’s mana began to surge, pressing down on the two. But Se-Hoon, with his experience from before the regression, only slightly furrowed his brow. On the other hand, Amir found it tough to hold out due to being already wounded.

“Cough!”

The mana inside his body that had just barely stabilized ran wild again, causing black blood to spill from Amir’s mouth and stain the ground.

Finding Amir’s pale face laughable, the Destroyer of Fragmentation sneered.

“Pathetic.”

It had intended to observe them briefly, but that no longer seemed necessary. Done with them, it prepared to finish them off.

Grip-

However, at that moment, something grabbed onto its ankle. Feeling the unpleasant sensation, the Destroyer of Fragmentation glanced down.

Among the still, lifeless versions of Zayed, there was still one that retained some strength—the Zayed Se-Hoon had met just before the Pleasure District collapsed. With burning eyes, Zayed clutched the Destroyer of Fragmentation’s ankle tightly.

“That’s enough.”

Whoosh!

Pulled back by Zayed’s yank, the Destroyer of Fragmentation staggered back into the cluster of blood and flesh. The unexpected resistance made its eyes widen in shock.

“You...!”

Calmly watching as it struggled to resist the pull dragging it knee-deep, Se-Hoon took the chance and spoke. “I actually have a proposal for you.”

“A proposal?”

Responding instead, the Dream Demon asked for clarification. And once Se-Hoon stabilized Amir, he continued his offer. “You might not believe me, but I have a way to kill you both right now. I’ve already prepared for things to come this far.”

Intuitively realizing that the weight of his words was undeniable, the Dream Demon and the Destroyer of Fragmentation both stiffened. Se-Hoon wasn’t displaying mere bravado; he was currently a seasoned hunter who had done it many times before.

“You arrogant fool...”

Annoyed that he was being considered prey, the Destroyer of Fragmentation's voice was full of malice.

But Se-Hoon continued anyway. “To be honest, I don’t want to do that. It would put me in danger... and Amir would definitely die along the way.”

Se-Hoon glanced at Amir, who was leaning on him for support.

Now intrigued, the Dream Demon stared at Se-Hoon with growing interest.

“So, what’s this proposal you want to make?”

“One hour.”

Meeting the eyes of the Destroyer of Fragmentation and the Dream Demon, Se-Hoon remained resolute.

“For this one hour, we’ll prepare and then fight properly. What do you think?”

Se-Hoon’s tone was light, seemingly regarding the upcoming match as a mere spar.

It was so unexpected that the Dream Demon blanked out momentarily before bursting into laughter.

“Are you serious?”

“I’m always serious.”

At that declaration, the still-smiling Dream Demon looked at the Destroyer of Fragmentation.

“Tsk...”

Zayed was still clinging onto its ankle with a desperate grip. His grip appeared to have become even tighter, perhaps due to hearing that Amir might die.

It really is incomplete for now.

Though the Destroyer of Fragmentation was powerful enough in its current state to handle most threats, she knew that it would be a sure loss if a Perfect One were to involve themself.

As long as I get it to regain its full strength, the Perfect Ones won’t stand a chance.

And if things went south, they could always escape. In fact, their victory was almost assured the moment the Destroyer of Fragmentation awakened. Confident, the Dream Demon deemed they had nothing they could possibly lose in their position.

“Alright. But how are you going to ensure we keep up the promise?”

“You won’t need to worry about that. I’ll just kill you immediately if you try to escape.”

“...You’re awfully confident.”

Fascinated by Se-Hoon’s unwavering confidence, the Dream Demon gazed intently at him.

With the deal established, Se-Hoon helped Amir to his feet before bidding the Dream Demon goodbye without a hint of hesitation.

“See you in an hour.”

He then turned and walked away, his steps slow and casual. For a brief moment, the Dream Demon found his unprotected back extremely suspicious,

Woong-

But before she could observe more, Amir and Se-Hoon were eclipsed by the darkness of the Netherworld, disappearing into thin air.