The world tore open with a soundless scream.

One moment, Luna stood in the bright room; the next, she was ripped from reality, hurled through a white veil of essence.

When her feet struck solid ground again, it wasn't earth that welcomed her. It was flesh-like mud, warm and pulsing, oozing with veins of glowing red ichor—the air stank of iron, thick enough to choke.

Luna instantly heaved when the smell of rot hit her nose, making her stomach churn. Everything she had eaten returned. This place was disgusting enough to ruin her appetite.

What kind of creature died here to create such a stench?

She stumbled forward, her boots sinking ankle-deep into viscous, blood-dark waters. The surface was swirling with clots and twitching tendrils that looked to be the body parts of an unknown creature.

'Helmet!'

The Nanomites quickly formed around her face to provide head protection. This did not clear the air, but it filtered out most of what entered her suit.

Gasp!

She pressed her stomach as she tried to keep the rest of what she had eaten.

After a minute, her mind calmed from the rush, and her vision quickly cleared. She started receiving a clear feed of the world around her through the HUD.

The trees here were skeletal, blackened, and warped. Their barks were split open like wounds, dripping scarlet sap. And she was standing in the middle of a warm, bloody liquid, almost reaching her knees.

Sensing a strange sensation, Luna immediately summoned the Sun Ember. Its presence was so powerful that the trees seemed to look away as if they were afraid of getting burned by the sun god's weapon.

Luna took note of that detail.

Above, a crimson mist hung low, casting an eternal dusk over the land. There was no sun, only a sky covered in thousands of beautiful stars, and strange floating structures that she could not make out. When she tried to use her binocular vision, the suits' vision glitched and returned to normal, proving that some things were too powerful for technology to just gaze at.

Luna was warned about looking at some things directly, so she did not try a second time.

"Of course, it's a flesh swamp. Why wouldn't it be?" She sighed. "A swamp made of blood and flesh. What a bad first impression, Dream World."

She started to navigate the bloody swamp. The ground was sticky. The smell of blood and rot did not stop, but she eventually got used to a much more watered-down version of it thanks to the armor.

She had no direction due to the lagging navigation system. So she followed her gut in hopes that she would land into Anna fighting something.

She stayed vigilant, and each step she made was after confirming she was safe through her Qi sense radar.

Her forced steps came to a halt when she felt something on her radar. Her eyes shifted to a twisted tree, and the suit scanned.

It detected nothing, but Luna's senses told her otherwise. This is why it wasn't good to always rely on technology.

She displayed the Sun Ember, and its blade started to cackle with golden energy as soon as she willed a little into it.

"I know you're there." Luna didn't take her eyes off the single tree.

Krt Krt Krit….

She heard chirping noises. And then, something crept into the trees. It was as black as a shadow, coiled around the tree she was looking at.

It was staring at her with two open yellow-gold catlike eyes. There was no hostility coming from them. Or any bloodlust.

"Krit krit krit." It chirped again as it silently watched Luna for a few minutes.

When she made the first step, the creature quickly dived back into the blood pond after realizing she wasn't worth the risk.

'What the fuck was that?!' Luna swallowed. She needed to find Anna quickly and complete this trial right away.

She could have done this alone if it wasn't for the damn fact that the Castle can only be found with the help of a Noctis Dial. A compass that can only work if they were two people.

"That means Anna needs to be alive for me to stay alive. Luckily, she's not someone I need to be worried about."

Luna did not underestimate zenshi users. They were immune to corruption and advanced much faster than someone who uses the true path.

Anna was chosen because she could survive a place like this one.

A few hours passed, and Luna was still running through the swamps while keeping her eyes open for Anna.

The twisted trees flashed past her in a blink as the suit enhanced her speed by 20%. She was moving fast, her feet barely spending a microsecond on the ground.

She tried pinging Anna's armor many times, but something messed with the signal, and it kept displaying the "Out of Range" notification in bold red words.

She was distracted by the notification that she didn't notice one of the blood pools she was ignoring suddenly struck her.

Wham!

Something jumped out of the pool and launched itself at her. Luna reacted instantly. She swung the jian in a beautiful arc that split the being in two before it exploded into a blood that splashed onto her.

"Blood?"

The pool next started to boil, and more things started crawling out of it. They weren't similar to anything on earth or what she had seen in the divine realm so far. They were crimson colored creatures with small, long, scaly bodies. They resembled a pile of gathered rotting flesh and only grew up to the torso and walked on their arms, but at a slow pace.

"Mortal…Mortal…Mortal Blood."

The pool cried and boiled even more. The first creature jumped off the ground and opened its mouth to reveal a row of multiple teeth.

Luna ignited the sun ember and burned the first creature. Three more attacked, and Luna took care of them with her perfect swordsmanship. The blood coming from them evaporated as soon as the heat touched their bodies.

Immediately, she started retreating away from the sentient pool.

Its blood boiled even more when it noticed she was running and created more and more creatures to chase after Luna.

Its human-like cries and moans made her ears hurt. But she continued running past the dark trees while fighting off the blood creatures that were chasing after her.

They were fast, fast enough to keep up with her speed. Some jumped off trees, attacking from up. Luna sidestepped, and they struck the ground and exploded into blood pools that dried up immediately.

"…Mortal Blood!"

Luna held her breath and channeled more energy into the sword. She increased her overall speed and made some distance between her and the blood abominations.

Once she was at a safe distance, she stopped, her boots skidding on the sticky earth, and turned her face to the approaching creatures.

Luna swung her sword in a wide arc, commanding the lingering flames to spread outward. Though she was only a First Gate user, and the fire lacked the divine purity of higher realms, it was still dangerous, fueled by raw Qi and sharpened intent.

The flames responded.

They siphoned from her inner reserves and surged forward like a growing tide, expanding into a sea of molten light that swept across the clearing. The fire devoured the abominations in its path, igniting grotesque trees and torching the flesh-horrors that dared charge her.

The battlefield lit up in a blaze of searing orange.

Dozens of shrieking beasts collapsed into burning husks.

She thought it was over.

Until the trees—mangled and twisted, already ablaze—began to scream. These were not ordinary screams. They were soul-shattering howls that tore through the flame itself, and within seconds, Luna's fire was vanquished—as if snuffed out by a divine wind.

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"Urgh…"

A wave of pain crashed into her. Her soul gate trembled violently, vibrating like a struck gong. Her body seized, a flash of agony running through her nerves as the psychic shock of the screams invaded her mind.

Her knees buckled.

Cracks formed along her display and armor, flickering with static. Blood beaded from her ears. Her vision blurred, and the pressure behind her eyes grew unbearable, like they might burst from her skull.

She couldn't take another scream.

She turned and fled, pushing herself deeper into the uncharted reaches of the realm.

The deeper she went, the worse it became. More pools of blood appeared—thick, breathing, writhing puddles. Each one whispered in sync, a chorus of haunting, rhythmic words:

"Mortal blood."

"Mortal blood."

"Mortal blood."

She bit down hard, drawing blood from her lip, and forced herself forward.

More abominations emerged—grotesque creatures dragged from nightmares. Some were barely larger than dogs, malformed and twitching. Others loomed overhead like malformed giants of flesh and fang.

Thankfully, they lacked coordination. No techniques. No higher thought. They were driven by hunger and instinct.

And Luna—scarred, breathless, bloody—cut them down.

Sword arcs. Kicks and taps made from utilizing the world around. Her movements were efficient, brutal, and cold. For each monster she struck down, another followed. But none could match her in skill.

Eventually, she made it to a part where almost all the pools were living entities.

"Where are you, Anna?" Luna mouthed, her breath fogging faintly in the air as she shoved back a six-foot blood creature. It snarled, its gaping mouth stretching far past what should be anatomically possible, and let out a guttural roar before lunging again.

Luna stood her ground.

With a single, swift diagonal slash, her blade cut through its torso, vanishing the creature in a burst of crimson mist. Blood splattered across the broken ground and trees. She didn't even flinch.

A normal mess, she thought grimly. Just another byproduct of this cursed realm and its blood-born horrors.

She dismissed the Sun Ember with a flick of her will. The golden flames flickered out. Then she powered down her suit, hoping to conserve energy. There hadn't been an attack in a while, and she needed to preserve her strength for whatever lay ahead.

Big mistake.

Her skin was exposed for less than a second.

But in that second, a coldness unlike anything she had felt before sank into her bones. It was like the warmth had been sucked from her body in an instant. Her lips turned pale. Her fingertips stiffened. Her skin was tinted blue.

She gasped and acted fast.

With a thought, she summoned her enchanted cloak. It wrapped around her shoulders just as her teeth began to chatter, flooding her with a small wave of warmth.

"Why is it so cold?" she whispered, shivering beneath the cloak's protective weave. Her breath came out in visible wisps. "I should've done an environment scan."

She glanced upward, but the sky—or whatever passed for it in this place—still looked like space with floating structures.

The cold wasn't natural. It wasn't just a drop in temperature—it felt like something was draining the life out of the land itself.

Clearly, this world wasn't meant for humans of any kind. But then again, humans are known for going to places they're not supposed to be in. Take Mars for example. or the Divine realm.

She walked to a twisted tree and placed her hand on its bark. The surface was warm and sticky, like actual flesh. Touching it without the armor on made her skin crawl.

She then injected some of her essence into it to establish a connection with it.

The tree quickly fought back with its primal will. Though that didn't stop her because she unleashed her battle aura, and it instantly lost its will to fight back.

Essence communication was a refined, dangerous art—far more advanced than the basic qi sense she often used. But even so, as a mortal, there were limits to how much her body and mind could handle when communicating with essence like this.

If she took in too much… it could scar her brain. Or worse, rupture her soul gate and kill her outright.

So she filtered.

Carefully, deliberately, she sorted through the information. It was like untangling threads in a knotted yarn and picking only what she needed. The rest, she pushed away.

Each strand of essence she chose gave her a more defined sense of this realm. It was clearer than qi sense: she could distinguish cursed creatures from humans, feel their residual emotions, and trace their spiritual footprints.

Drip. Drip.

Blood ran from her nose as her body trembled, tethered loosely to her spirit.

She was exposed, defenseless in the physical world—but it paid off.

Someone had passed through this place recently. The essence was familiar.

Anna.

She was heading north (a version she had made up). It seems she was following her instincts just like Luna.

"Northwards it is," she muttered, disconnecting from the tree.

She wiped the blood from her nose and rose. Her body ached slightly from the feedback, but she didn't hesitate. Not for a second.

She moved fast along the northern path, careful not to lose the residual trail.

Signs of battle became clear as she progressed. Broken trees. Crushed roots. Blood ponds dried to nothing. The air itself felt fractured—thin and hollow, as if something had drained it of life. Even the qi here was weaker, rattled by whatever chaos had unfolded.

Sun Ember.

The relic appeared in her hand with a whisper and erupted into flame.

Something wasn't right. No corpse. No blood spray. The creature Anna fought wasn't dead.

Luna narrowed her eyes and moved carefully, blade at the ready.

The further north she walked, the less sticky the ground became. The trees here were taller, darker, and more grotesquely human—each one leaking blood as if freshly wounded. The swamp dried out around her, but the smell of rot and old magic still clung to the cold air.

Then she stopped.

Her instincts screamed.

The air thickened.

She could feel it. Something was watching her.

"Mortal blood! Pure mortal blood!" a voice screeched, and a vicious gale tore through the trees, shaking them until their limbs groaned in agony.

The flames of the Sun Ember flared up in response, casting radiant beams through the choking darkness like the focused light of a lighthouse at sea.

Luna braced herself, expecting a blood-born creature to lunge at her—but nothing came. Instead, the voice returned, eerily human this time:

"A sword from Heaven?… I thought the gods died long ago. What is a mortal doing with that blade?"

Another gust hit. Stronger. Colder. This time, it wasn't just wind. It wormed its way into her lungs. Then deeper, straight through her soul gate.

Her knees buckled.

All her strength vanished in a single breath, like it had been stolen by an unseen hand. The flames of the Sun Ember flickered once—and then were extinguished entirely, snuffed out like a candle.

Then came the impossible. The relic sword, the god-forged weapon she relied on, acted against her will and disappeared, returning to her soul as if rejecting her presence.

Luna gasped and tried to summon it again. Pain struck instantly when backlash surged through her, frying her nerves from the inside. Blood ran from her nose and ears—clear signs of soul damage.

"The air…" she whispered.

It all made sense now. Why the trees twisted like nightmares. Why did the air feel unstable? Why was the enemy nowhere to be seen?

Anna wasn't fighting a creature. She was fighting the wind itself.

Luna acted fast.

She called for her armor, and it formed around her in a silver shimmer.

She clenched her jaw, held her breath, and conjured a blade using her nanomites. Then, she drew from the surrounding essence.

Here, in this Dream World, it wasn't gold like in the divine or mortal worlds.

It was electric blue—volatile, unstable. And when she infused the blade, it glowed with a purplish-blue hue and crackled with unstable power. She had created an improvised enchanted weapon, born from survival.

Then came the wind again. Stronger.

It roared like a god's fury and tore her off her feet. Her small yet hardened body slammed into a nearby flesh tree.

Even with her armor, the impact rattled her bones. She coughed up blood the moment she hit.

The tree reacted to her blood, and dozens of jagged, rotting teeth burst from its surface and sank into her armor, then into her.

She screamed as they pierced through nanomites like paper.

"Why fight?" the wind whispered. "You've already lost everything. Aren't you tired? Fighting for people who don't even remember you? Lunaris, we know your pain."

It hit her again. A brutal gust slammed her back into the tree, pressing her with hurricane strength. Her armor responded—superheating. Burning away the sticky flesh-glue that held her.

Gritting her teeth, she turned and swung.

The sword carved through the trunk, slicing the tree in half.

Then she turned her malice on the wind. Life essence exploded from her blade, forming a spectral arc as it cleaved the air in front of her.

Boom!

The wind broke apart.

And Luna launched forward like a missile. She clenched her fist and drove it into another nearby tree with divine power.

It shattered with another boom—but not before it let out a scream. A real, terrible scream that echoed in her ears like a siren. Her knees buckled. The pain rippled through her soul like fire across dry grass.

Still, she listened. Focused.

She waited for it. Another scream. A real one.

Then she heard it—off to the right.

Her eyes sharpened.

'There!'

She willed the nanomites into the shape of a lance. Crackling with energy, she hurled it into the shadows with all the force she could muster.

It tore through the darkness, straight toward the hidden enemy.

Then came the impact.

Thunk.

Followed by a guttural cry.

She'd hit something.

She didn't know what yet.

By the time the tree's scream came to an end, Luna was still standing and covered in blood from her eyes, nose, and ears.

When she moved, her whole body screamed in pain, similar to having many hot razor blades under your skin.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps…

Slowly, she approached her target with a blaze in her dark eyes.

"What?"

She was both stunned and disappointed after she saw what her spear had hit. It was not what she had expected. It hit a target. Sure. But the person it had hit was none other than her partner, Anna.

There was a hole in her gut. The tree she was attached to was destroyed completely from the bark. And her eyes were wide and empty without life.

Luna remained unfazed and watched the illusion hold for a few more minutes before it exploded into a pool of blood.

Luna stared at the sight, then pursed her lips. Part of her was annoyed that the enemy was gone. Another was glad that she hadn't killed her only chance at making it to the Astral Vigil castle.

And if by any chance she did make it to the Astral Vigil, Luna was afraid they would figure out that she had killed her partner.

That would be bad. Terrible, in fact.

"Now there is a creature that can create blood copies and also speak like a human. It can also control the wind and is a native of this flesh swamp. It could be a Devil."

There weren't many creatures in her catalog that had blood-related powers. Even in the notes left behind by the fire keepers, blood powers were extremely rare in the divine realm.

Creatures with blood type abilities needed special conditions to continue existing. Most of them were vampiric and needed a lot of blood for sustenance. While others could not exist under the sun. That's probably why this forest thrived in this nightmare-like world.

During the Age of Heroes, they were hunted down because of a special elixir capable of healing black ether infection. Apparently, their blood was the key ingredient to making this elixir.

If the notes were specific on which creatures, Luna would've made millions because this place was filled with blood type creatures.

Luna called back her nanomites. They connected with her armor instantly. The suit stopped the bleeding

She was attacked a few times, but she fought off anything that came to attack her. As she regained her strength from the wind-based soul attack, Luna fought viciously, leaving only death. She withheld from using the Sun Ember and used a katana she had created using her nanomites.

With each decisive swing, essence exploded from her body. Creatures fell, one after the other, as she tore a path through the flesh swamp.

She eventually made it to a place where the creatures were much less, and the smell of rotten flesh could be slightly ignored. Her stamina had fallen greatly after fighting for hours. And her arm hurt from swinging her sword too hard.

Her muscles were still made of flesh. Therefore, they tore when she strained them. Her bones weren't steel, and healing a broken bone was much slower than healing a torn muscle.

She found a drier part under a tree and took the initiative to rest a bit after realizing her body was at wits' end.

'Welcome to the Dream World, Lunaris Feng.'

She sighed and leaned against a large root.

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