CHAPTER 324: I CAN’T REMEMBER

The being hissed with a surprised tone. "What is this power...? Impossible! A mortal cannot wield this in the dream plane!"

"Guess I missed the memo," Victor smirked, realizing that it made sense.

The Void Emperor Bloodline dealt with space and time after all. Even though this was a dream dimension, it was still tied to space so it made sense that he could activate it here.

He proceeded to activate Shadow Blink and reappeared before the altar.

"Neat trick but this is my domain! Every breath you take belongs to me!" The strange being stood several paces away with its crookedly masked face, hiding a mocking smile.

"Cool story," Victor exhaled slowly while rolling his shoulders. "Let’s see what you’re made of, Slenderman’s cousin."

A faint tremor passed through the space as the being tilted its head, clearly amused or perhaps offended. Then the world itself warped into a sprawling black plain under an impossible sky.

Victor didn’t waste a second, he flicked a hand, and invisible tendrils coiled through the air.

It wrapped around the being like ropes, and the moment Victor raised his hand, the being got lifted into the air.

With a swing, Victor sent the statue being crashing down onto the altar.

Bam!

However, the moment the statue being slammed onto the altar, it burst into a petal of flowers.

"Uh?" Victor eyes widened as he peered forward in confusion.

Before he could blink, a shadowy face appeared on his right.

"Shadow Blink," Victor whispered and vanished the moment the statue being reached out to grab him.

He reappeared a couple of feet away with his hand sweeping out; "Void Severing Threads!"

He called out and a bunch of thin invisible threads slashed forward like blades made of condensed space.

They sliced through the being’s torso.

But instead of being cut apart, the creature rippled, like its very form was made of smoke and mirage.

"You defy the rules of my domain," Its voice resonated from all directions as it hissed. "You shouldn’t be able to move, let alone fight here."

Victor smirked. "Yeah, people never stop telling me what I shouldn’t be able to do. I’m starting to think that’s my superpower."

He raised his palm and a black vortex spun open above it.

"Emperor’s Grip."

The being froze mid-motion. Its body strained against an invisible force as Victor clenched his fist. The very fabric of space folded around the creature, twisting and crushing as though the air itself had turned into an iron vice.

The ground beneath them cracked like glass, rippling outward in a thousand fault lines.

The being screamed, warping the surroundings with a layered shriek that vibrated in Victor’s skull.

Then, with a blast of black and crimson energy, it shattered free, sending Victor tumbling backward. The space around them bent and twisted, like the hierarchy of power here was being threatened.

Victor landed on one knee, panting.

Although, he couldn’t use qi here, he was much aware that his real body out there, was burning qi.

Void Emperor Bloodline activation was tethered to his true body which meant that the longer it was active, the more he expended qi in his true body.

"Alright," he muttered while getting up. "Gotta end this fast."

The creature reformed into a larger figure writhing with many-armed silhouette pulsing with violet fire.

The ground melted into a dark ocean beneath them, and a strange, pinkish mist began to rise.

The mist swirled around Victor, whispering faintly in voices he recognized.

"Father... mother—"

Victor froze. The mist carried memories... His memories.

His heartbeat quickened. "Stop!"

The statue being voiced with a gentle tone. "Let go of your pointless struggle and you will dream forever... happy dreams..."

"Yeah, dream on, freak."

Victor stomped the air, and the world bent around him. He vanished and reappeared above the creature, descending like a meteor.

Invisible threads of space whirled around his arm, glowing faintly violet.

"Let’s see how you like this—!"

He slammed his palm forward.

Void Severing Threads: Thousand Cut Storm!

The air screamed as countless invisible blades tore through the creature’s form, scattering it into a thousand glimmering shards of black light.

For a moment, there was silence.

Then the laughter started again.

"Did you think I would die so easily... inside my own domain?"

The world convulsed.

The shards reformed into something bigger, darker. The sky turned crimson; the altar of bone and stone rose beneath Victor’s feet, trapping him in place.

The being’s true form began to emerge as it transformed into a gargantuan phantom draped in shadow, with glowing lines etched into its face like cracked porcelain.

Its eyes burned with an eerie pink glow.

"Your power... it’s source is not of this world... is it?" It voiced while stepping forward with a tone that echoed like thunder. "I sense not mana... but the power of space... and time... is present... You are not bound by the mana of this plane."

Victor eyes widened in surprise; ’Did this thing figure out that I use qi?’

"Oh well... It matters not..." the being stated when it didn’t get a response from Victor.

Victor strained against invisible chains that had suddenly phased out of the altar and wrapped around his limbs.

He tried to Shadow Blink but space refused to move.

"Regardless of what power you wield... you can’t win," the being continued. "Here, I decide what is real."

A wave of force hit him. Suddenly he wasn’t fighting anymore , he was standing in a peaceful field. His father was there, smiling, alive. His friends were laughing nearby. The sun shone warm and gentle across his face.

"Stay," the being whispered through the illusion. "Forget pain. Forget loss."

Victor’s fists trembled. The laughter of his father was too real.

For a brief, dangerous moment... he wanted to stay.

But then, his markings blinked like faulty light bulbs.

The Void Emperor’s pulse resonated through his veins.

"Nice try." The illusion suddenly cracked as Victor’s voice rang out.

The field turned gray, and the laughter twisted into screams.

Victor’s power surged, breaking the altar’s bindings as black lightning cracked through the air.

His body glowed brighter as space bent around him as though refusing to contain him.

The being hissed. "Impossible! You should not—!"

"I’m getting tired of that sentence!" Victor shouted. "How about you stop telling me what I can’t do and start worrying about what I can!"

He slammed his hands together. Space folded. The being staggered as invisible pressure crushed down from all sides.

Victor’s markings blazed white-hot as his voice echoed across the collapsing dreamscape.

"Void Emperor Domain!"

The world trembled.

Every piece of false sky and ground imploded inward, dragged into a spiraling void that swallowed everything in sight.

The being roared in rage and pain as its body started tearing apart due to its own reality folding in on itself.

Victor unleashing the Emperor’s domain within its own domain triggered an immense instability in the dreamspace.

And now it struggled for control...

Victor knelt amid the ruins of the collapsing dream world, gasping for breath while pushing his Void Emperor domain further outwards.

The being’s voice echoed through the darkness.

"No one... has ever resisted my domain to this level. Not even... those Mana Defense Corps officers I feasted on last time..."

Victor froze. "What did you just say? How do you know about the mana defense corps?"

"They have been my major Victims... although they habor many painful memories, they possess happy ones as well. They have fed me plenty but unfortunately, it has been ages since any one of them last stumbled into this place... that is why I am yet to break free from here..." the statue being confessed gleefully.

"You bastard!" Victor realized that this being was definitely one of the dangers in the wild responsible for the disappearance of many Mana Defense officers.

"Kikiki! When I successfully feast on all your happy dreams and memories... I shall finally be free... unlike those Mana Defense officers who were only ever happy before our arrival in this new world, you possess plenty happy memories after our arrival... Now cease your pointless struggle," the being stated loudly as it pushed for supremacy, causing Victor to fall to his knees once more.

"What do you mean by ’before our arrival into this new world’? What are you?" Victor questioned in bafflement.

The being suddenly laughed louder in amusement and mockery.

"You think... only the Drakenars, Sylrith, and Umbryx fled the old world before it fell? Foolish child... the devourers of dreams... were the first to escape..."

The last word dissolved into static, and the world crumbled completely.

---

Victor’s eyes snapped open in his room, clad in a black t-shirt and grey jeans with headphones on his head.

He had a gaming pad in his grasp with a TV sized holographic projection before him which displayed what looked like a fantastical world.

"YOU DIED!"

These large letters in blood red color took up a large portion of the holographic screen and behind it, a game character seemed to be impaled on a stake.

Victor groaned while leaning back. "Great," he muttered. "Fell asleep in the middle of a game. My teammates are gonna kill me."

He rubbed his temples while staring at the screen. "I feel like I was dreaming of something... but I can’t remember..."