Chapter 1199: Nightmare Demon
Chapter 1199: Nightmare Demon
A mysterious girl had appeared in front of us, looking different than any other Nightmare we've fought.
She resembled a human, mostly, a young human girl, small, wearing a black dress, with long, messy black hair, a single crimson horn in her forehead.
And unnatural pitch-black eyes.
Her presence? Easily exuding the power of something beyond SSS Rank.
She was in the middle of crushing this Fractured Nightmare Realm' Nightmare Lord, a giant Puppet.
CRASH!
She crushed it, making the puppet explode into black smoke, which she absorbed with her mouth, eating it as if it were a delicious meal, and then licking her lips afterwards.
Then, her pitch-black eyes glared at us, I felt a sudden pressure, but not something I couldn't withstand.
Her presence was immense, as she glared at me, Jonathan, and Partner.
Partner and Jonathan were fine too, but Sofia and the rest... they immediately fell to their knees.
"So you're here..." she muttered. "Looks like there's replacements again, huh?"
She seemed aloof, as if not even interested in us.
Yet...
What does she mean by replacements?
Maybe I'm overthinking, right?
It can't possibly be because...
...
Does she know we are taking over these characters?!
Just who is this child?
"So boring... I'm so tired..." she groaned, looking both tired and slightly sad.
She yawned, looking down at the floor and dropping her shoulders.
It seemed as if she didn't even want to fight against us.
"I wonder, will this be finally the last loop? Or will we be ever trapped in this endless hell?"
She suddenly sat over the floor, looking at the ground without even making eye contact with us anymore.
"I'm so tired..."
"W-What are you... who are you?!" Sofia asked, hiding behind her automata.
"Me?" the girl groaned, yawning. "I'm a Nightmare Demon... Nice to meet you for the 124th time, Sofia. You look as... cocky and stuck-up as ever."
The girl then glanced at Sofia, smiling slightly.
"It's nice seeing you again... Maybe I should try to kill you for real now... Last time I didn't even bother."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
This is getting out of hand!
She knows...
She knows everything?!
This Nightmare Demon talked about loops, and even said how many times it has been going, an endless loop of 7 days, a week that has been repeated...
For 124 times?
"Maria! This is a Nightmare Demon!" Emily cried. "W-We can't fight it! We have to esca-" FLASH!
Before Emily could finish her words, suddenly, the Nightmare Demon appeared in front of her.
"Right, I like you the most, Emily, you're the cutest... Die and become one with me."
The previously sad, innocent-looking girl smiled, showing sharp fangs, Emily gave a step back, before the Nightmare Demon's hair turned into black tentacles and attempted to attack her.
No, more like engulf her, and eat her, every tentacle made of her hair grew sharp fangs, and her entire body divided into two halves, showing even more fangs inside, and a long tongue.
Her appearance... was nothing but a façade, just like Mimics. To make us lower our guards. And unfortunately, it worked on me, dammit.
BOOOM!
"Hm?"
The Nightmare Demon groaned in slight annoyance, as I fired at her a beam of compressed Void Waves, she was pushed back a few dozen meters.
At the same time, Partner managed to grab Emily in time and jump way from her range!
"You..."
The Nightmare Demon glared at me, smiling.
"You're not like the others, aren't you? Heheh... HEHEHE!"
"...I don't want to kill you, if you've gone through a loop and know of the previous participants," I said. "Please surrender, let's talk."
Sofia, Alma, and Emily gasped as they saw me saying such words, but it wasn't like I wanted to kill this Nightmare Demon anyways.
Maybe if it didn't know about previous loops, I would have killed her but... That's not the case right now!
"Oh?" she smiled back at me, tilting her head. "You think I'll join you just because I recall memories of previous timelines? How foolish... So boring. Not even in 124 timelines, have I ever allied one of your kind. My existence alone is born from humanity's darkest emotions and nightmares. Your greatest fears, your hatred... Do you believe I would ever become an ally of your kindred?"
"I'm not a human though, and I'm fairly sure you can sense that," I said, her eyes squinted. She quickly sensed my composition, and indeed, she was even more surprised.
"A nightmare...? No..." she muttered. "You're different and strange... Heheh! Sorry, but I dislike making friends... I'm a loner after all~ I like eating other Nightmares. So let's fight to the death instead, shall we?! The strongest decides what to do with the loser!"
FLASH!
She appeared in front of Alma this time, her giant tentacles rushing towards her, aiming to pierce her entire body into pieces.
"Alma, let me eat that fatty meat of yours again! It was so good before- GUUH?!"
CRAAASH!
With a single swing of my sword, the Nightmare Demon was quickly pushed down, I swung with the power to split a mountain, the entire manor split apart too.
RUMBLE!
Her entire body was split into two halves, as she quickly splattered black blood into the ground of the split apart manor, which I quickly repaired.
How?
By using Alchemy and Shadow Sculping Arts. I merged my shadows into the entire manor's structure, strengthening it and recovering all its damage.
"G-Gugh...! Ugh...! YOU!"
With a furious roar, the Nightmare Demon screamed, her two halves quickly returned back into a single body and with her entire power, she jumped on me like a feral beast.
Her arms and legs transformed into those of some sort of bear or wolf, covered with black fur, while she grew wolf-like ears on top of her head.
"GRAARRR!"
Each of her attacks released a powerful shockwave of pure concentrated Nightmare Energy, enough to split the entire manor apart. The shockwaves, if let free, would tear to shreds Sofia,
Alma, and Emily with ease.
Without a doubt, this Nightmare Demon was L Rank!
I couldn't help but smile, honestly.
"I'm so happy you're resilient! Would you become my sandbag?"
I swung down my fist, as hundreds of more phantasmal fists followed behind, impacting her
entire body hundreds of times at once.
BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!