The commotion outside continued. Occasional explosions and tremors informed the group of the fierce battle raging beyond.
The Key of Remembrance in Sirin's hand emitted a faint white glow, becoming a beacon in the darkness.
The two of them, with Shu, moved quickly through the dim basement, seemingly searching for something.
"Lady Sirin, where are we going?" Bella asked, puzzled after muttering to herself all along the way. "If we wanted to escape, wasn't that the exit just now?"
Sirin's steps faltered for a moment. Without turning back or answering Bella's question, she continued forward.
Sirin knew what was outside... the evil dragon, and the impending arrival of the Demon Lord...
Identities had vanished, the dreamscape was collapsing. When the dragon destroyed everything, that would be when the dream completely disappeared.
But people wouldn't just wake up in reality. Death in the dream would affect their physical bodies in reality, and their real-world state would also influence their state in the dream.
Although this was a dream, it wasn't a game to be trifled with. Dead meant truly dead; there would be no second chances...
Except for Shu.
Sirin glanced back at Shu on Bella's back, staring blankly for a moment before looking away again, dejected.
She understood how precious Shu's ability was. And Shu hated her... How could he possibly choose to use it to help her...
So, she had to find that die, bestow identities upon everyone again, choose a Knight capable of defeating the evil dragon and the Demon Lord, and re-stabilize this dreamscape...
As long as she found a Knight... the nightmare would be driven away and vanquished. This place would still be a sweet dream!!
Sirin steeled her resolve and quickened her pace. Bella could only follow, dragging Shu along. She had only asked; she would never oppose a decision made by Lady Sirin!
At this moment, Shu's head felt groggy. Sleepiness washed over him in relentless waves, threatening to drag him into dreamland.
He forcefully maintained consciousness. He saw Sirin's state and didn't know what she truly wanted, but he knew he couldn't sleep now. Sleeping would be tantamount to relinquishing all initiative, leaving everything to fate.
He could feel the anesthetic in his system rapidly dissipating. It wouldn't be long before he could break free from its restraints and regain his mobility.
It's just that this "not long"... might actually be quite a while.
---||---
Arahato couldn't hold out for that much longer.
The massive black mech crashed to the ground, battered and broken. It struggled to lift the fractured blade in its hand, but this flimsy remnant was like a tiny thorn against the evil dragon's enormous foot, incapable of even piercing its hide. The dragon stomped it into the ground.
Arahato's powerful frame withstood the blow, but Joyce, in the cockpit, still let out a muffled grunt. She felt some problems arising in this body of hers as well.
Pain was the most efficient damage sensor, so Joyce could feel pain. However, she had no real pain threshold; even intense agony wouldn't affect her thought processes.
But she knew she was powerless to fight anymore. At most, after a few more rounds, Arahato would fall apart due to overload.
However, her objective had been achieved. Rushing under the evil dragon's feet was to force it to leave the ground, creating space and an escape route for Schrodinger and the others.
It seemed like almost the entire royal city had been turned into a sea of fire by the dragon's breath, but a closer look revealed that Joyce had avoided all evacuation routes.
After all this turmoil, everyone on the ground—toys and Homus alike—had followed the evacuation routes back to the underground town, hiding in a place even Sirin didn't know about.
After confirming everyone had safely evacuated, the stone in Joyce's heart lifted, and she began to indulge in her own fantasies.
If she were still Joyce (male), he would definitely use a Celestial Father mech, even larger than this dragon, to scrape off this dragon's scales piece by piece and make the famous Shenzhou dish, West Lake Vinegar Dragon! [A famous Hangzhou dish made with fish, humorously applied to a dragon]
Truly fallen on hard times! To think that after only two terms not being the Demon Lord, she could be trampled underfoot by a dragon that was originally under her command!
Thinking of this, Joyce suddenly remembered the Homu Holy Sword she had seen earlier. The Homu Hero back then had wielded that sword and effortlessly pummeled this dragon into submission. Her own full firepower couldn't even withstand a single strike from that sword...
So where did the Homu Hero go? Could its identity have vanished too?
The dragon, having crashed clumsily to the ground, snorted resentfully. Two plumes of fire shot from its nostrils, raising the scorching air temperature by several more degrees.
Unlike when it first arrived, the dragon was now missing an eye. One of its two menacing horns was severed at the base, and the other dangled precariously.
Among the dozen or so wounds on its body, a broken blade was still embedded in the gash on its neck. Blood flowed from these wounds, almost dyeing the evil dragon into a blood dragon.
After forcefully rubbing this biting "ant," the dragon lifted its foot, only to find nothing but a pit beneath it.
Joyce had already disengaged Arahato and burrowed into the ground.
The sky was now mostly covered by dark clouds. Joyce didn't know what would happen when the clouds completely filled the sky, but the ever-intensifying sense of crisis still made her decide to leave the scene as quickly as possible.
Now, she needed to prepare for a long-term struggle. Joyce was already planning to go back underground and spend seven or eight, perhaps even ten or twenty years, frantically advancing technology until she could replenish her nano-robots.
When that time came, she would definitely let everyone taste this dragon!
The dragon searched for two rounds but couldn't find Arahato or Joyce. After spitting a mouthful of scorching dragon fire into the giant pit in frustration, the dragon turned its head towards the ruins of the royal palace.
Since there were no more insects to obstruct it, it was time to get down to business.
To completely destroy this dreamscape, one had to destroy its core—Sirin.
The evil dragon had come precisely for this. And the aftershocks of the dreamscape's destruction would shred everyone within it. Before everyone could leave, they would be buried here along with this dream.
In the end, only Sirin would awaken with a start in reality, while the others would fall into an eternal, dreamless sleep.
Just like those who were cryogenically frozen...
To escape the dreamscape, the only way was for Sirin to awaken, satisfied.
And at this moment, as the evil dragon advanced towards the palace, Sirin, leading Bella and Shu, arrived before a tightly shut door.
Behind the door was the die that bestowed professions upon everyone. As long as she tossed it, everyone would regain their professions, and then...
The Knight would surely defeat the evil dragon!