A deafening ringing erupted from the portal above, sounding like a thousand church bells tolling the arrival of some celestial being. The clamor continued to grow and grow. Sam paled.

The serpents had fused into one ouroboros of illusory scales and flesh, rippling energy washing across its surface like waves on a stormy day. The portal was blindingly bright, a shade of pink that might as well have been white. A talon emerged from the center, so slow that it might as well have been a mortal's. However, the sheer, concentrated power that it radiated was far beyond that.

On the ground, every one of the surviving dreamer cultists exploded without warning. Tongues of rose colored flame cleansed their remains, before rising up to join the portal in the sky. Slowly but surely, the emergence speed of the talon increased.

Pressure mounted around the portal, crushing everyone in the vicinity. The sea receded, a hole forming all the way to the rocky floor miles below. It continued to part, a hole almost a dozen miles wide forming in the blink of an eye.

Sam felt the weight of a world descend upon him. If this was only a fragment of the Dreamer's strength, then its emergence would shatter the planet just from its aura alone. His System interface blazed with notifications. Scanning them as quickly as he could, he found that all of the remaining quests of the floor had merged into one, contingent on a single objective. Stopping the Dreamer from emerging.

Sam teleported towards the portal, but it was as if space had been elongated. He barely traveled a half mile, when he could have normally gone dozens. The portal seemed as far as a universe, and it might as well have been.

Strangely, the Veilguard had stopped, seemingly in rapture as it beheld the arrival of its god. Its body twitched as it laid eyes upon its maker. Then, as it seemed to understand what Sam was doing, it surged into motion. Thunder boomed across the sky as it forced its way through the air, collapsing vacuums following it in a trail of shattered air.

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Sam reached the portal before the monster could arrive, and he swung Terra's Will full force into the side of the serpent surrounding it. The conglomeration of ethereal beasts was beginning to fuse with the portal itself, using its own body as a conduit for the arrival of its master. For something as powerful as the Dreamer to force its way into an E Rank planet, great sacrifices had to be made to pave the way.

The monster's scales shimmered as the hammer slammed into them, acting as solid as if they were made of metal or diamond. Again, Sam wasn't able to tell how successful any of his actions were, given that his mind was open to influence by the Veilguard.

The portal flickered for a moment, and the claw retracted a few feet. The pressure lessened. Sam sighed in relief. Then the Veilguard hit him.

A spear-like appendage of compressed Dream energy impaled Sam through the center of his chest. Before he could move, the Veilguard flicked its wrist down, carving Sam apart from sternum to groin. Sam blinked, feeling a sudden coldness wash over him. Half of his remaining health points vanished in the blink of an eye.

Blood poured down, his regeneration ensuring that there was a near endless supply. He tried to strike back at the Veilguard, but his motions were off. His arms flopped around, tugged in odd directions. The only thing keeping him alive was the fact that he was an E Ranker. Any F Ranker or below who had suffered a similar wound would be dead, no matter how strong they were.

The Veilguard tried to reverse its slash, sending its claw back up through Sam's body. If it managed to cleave through his head, he was dead, what with how little health he had remaining. He desperately slammed his hand down, surrounding it in a gauntlet of his Dao. Interlocking plates of red and blue formed over his arm, and when they struck the Veilguard, its attack was pushed back.

Sam used the momentum to slide himself off of the energy sword. He flew up into the air, his strength propelling him like a rocket. The Veilguard's eyes followed him, but it was too late. Sam forced the two halves of his body back together, letting his regeneration do the rest. Torn strips of flesh knitted his body back together within his armor, before the bulk of his body came together. The flesh was still weak, and wouldn't hold up to much, but at least he wasn't nearly cut in half.

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