Chapter 116 – Pain

A week after the recruitment notice was sent out, the three class 4's and thousands of troops were prepared and sent out to retake the kingdom.

Meanwhile, Ciroc and Idona just sat back and waited for the news. They had plans to talk to the ones who fought in order to get their opinion. If all went well, they would have additional backers.

And so the battle took place. The army of 3 class 4's, 150 class 3's, and 15,000 class 2's marched to the kingdom and launched an attack. 

The battle was bloody, hard-fought, and although they went in strong and confident, all of that was tossed out the window in only the first few minutes. And by the end, the battle could hardly be considered a success.

Although the class 4 demons were successfully killed in a smooth and advantageous battle, it was the opposite for the other forces. Upon making contact with the demons, the humans were instantly pushed on the defensive and into a fight for their lives. 

The most crushing thing about the battle was that the demons on the class 2 and especially class 1 level severely outnumbered the human forces. Even on the class 3 level, the demons matched up. And so, with the demons whose specialty was teamwork, the humans were totally and ultimately, wiped out.

In the end though, every demon was also wiped out. This happened after when the class 4 demons had been killed. The class 4 humans had to go around and kill the remainder. So although the objective was completed, the mission was considered an absolute failure.

When this news was brought back, shockwaves were sent through the Empires. Nobody could believe the disparity and absolutely crushing result. But when a few thousand workers and soldiers were sent to the kingdom to assess the situation, they could only confirm every bad rumor. 

And the issue was, nobody had anyone else to blame. They couldn't blame Ciroc and Idona since the other class 4's had succeeded. Them being there wouldn't have made a difference. So they could only realize that the demons were a massive threat. And not just to the class 4's, but to the populations.

The power that the class 4's held was great and nobody could match it. But kings were nothing without their citizens. It didn't matter if the class 4's could win if everyone else was wiped out in the process. 

Both the class 4's and everyone else understood this. Especially the citizens and soldiers of the Empires. They were the ones who were most at risk. And so when this news came out, all of them flipped a switch and began demanding that the demons be destroyed. They were calling for war.

Not only were they calling for war, but they elevated the reputation of Ciroc and Idona, using them as examples as to why the Empires failed. They talked about how the Empires never listened to them and that led to an entire kingdom being wiped out. If they had listened, then something like this would've never happened. 

And while this may have been hypocritical and baseless, they didn't care. All the people wanted was for their most powerful to go out and do something. This included everyone up to class 3. Since everyone below class 4 was at risk, they all banded together to force them to move.

In addition, the three class 4's who had fought at the kingdom had changed their view exactly as Ciroc and Idona wanted. All three had described the demon threat in detail, saying the same things that Ciroc and Idona had. It was almost like it was planned out beforehand, but this time, they had no room to not believe them. And finally, they were taken seriously. 

But before anything could happen, certain intelligence needed to be established. If they were really going to fight the demons, then they needed to know about this enemy. For this, they went back and referenced the very first piece of intelligence that started this whole thing. They also brought out the man who this intelligence came from. Riddick.

But after Riddick had met with the higher-ups of all the Empires, it became clear that not only could he not collect this intelligence, but it didn't even come from him in the first place. It actually came from his supposed student, Dream. 

So everyone soon came to know Dream's name and wanted to meet with him. They wanted to get in contact with the source of the intelligence so they could either get more or send him out to gather more, seeing how he was already skilled in the craft. 

But this was obviously a problem since the person was not only unresponsive but could be considered dead. Idona and Riddick were both put in a bind and attempted to put off the issue for as long as they could. But this didn't last long. However, not all was lost.

At some point during the week, Riddick had the idea of going to Aegis for intelligence. Since Aegis had been with Dream the entire way, he should know what Dream did. So he asked, and the result was more than he expected. 

Not only did Aegis have all the intelligence Dream did, but he could even actively collect it with the remaining combat bots they had. He even had access to all the satellites and drones that had never ceased activity. 

So Riddick requested the intelligence and received an ultra-detailed report on everything about the demons. Things from their biology, combat patterns, habits, estimated populations, rate of growth, movement patterns, current settlements, power levels, and more. The only things Aegis didn't put in the report were things like skills and mana signatures, and that was because he didn't know about them. 

There were maps, diagrams, pages upon pages of text, and by the end, Riddick had a small book in his hands.

After going through the report, Idona and Riddick were stunned. They wouldn't be able to collect this information if given a decade. But Dream was able to give it to them all in minutes. 

Although it was good information, something like this wouldn't be able to be passed around the Empires. Not only could they barely understand that information, but it was a bit too extensive. So taking some time, Idona and Riddick went through it all and put it through a filter, cutting it down from a book to a couple dozen pages. 

When it was compiled, they released it under Dream's name. This was a month and two weeks after the expedition failure.

And after reading the report, the Empires were both shocked and excited. 

They were shocked because, although it had gone through a filter, the information was still extremely detailed and gave them basically everything they wanted to know about the demons. It was like having an open book about your enemies and everything they were doing. But although this gave them everything they wanted, they finally began to understand how dire the situation was. 

The info was detailed, but it basically told them how screwed they were. Just the population estimates of the demons were despair-inducing. And after reading their habits and combat patterns, the report painted a very grim picture. The mountain that was the demons seemed insurmountable, and it caused panic throughout the Empire's upper echelons. 

Though this was the best reaction, and it was finally enough to make everyone move. So they did, and every Empire along with all their kingdoms and cities went into a wartime state. They were finally preparing.

..........

......

In order to tackle this threat, every Empire needed to cooperate. So in order to establish a timeline and how they would cooperate, they set a date for a grand meeting between all the upper echelons and citizen representatives of the Empires.

A meeting of this scale hadn't been seen... well, ever. And since it was so massive, everyone was paying attention to it. The date was marked on everyone's calendars.

Not only was this meeting popular because of its scale, but also because of the absurd combat power of everyone attending. This meeting was going to have nearly every class 4 that the human race could produce. Even the neutral class 4's were asked to attend. Not only that, but every major political leader was also going to be there, and these people were almost entirely class 3's. 

In short, for the length of the meeting, that place would be both the safest and most dangerous place in the world.

And since the meeting was of such a scale, everyone needed time to prepare. So the date was set for a week from the time everyone received the report. This was two weeks after the defeat at the kingdom, and 2 months after Dream had been knocked out.

..........

"Magus Idona, I have news."

"Hm?"

After another day of meetings, Idona had returned to her chambers. Today was the day after the report was circulated through the Empires, and Idona had talked to many interested parties. Even Riddick was still in a meeting. 

So after coming home, she had gone through her habitual glance at Dream's body, seeing nothing different. She had stopped asking Aegis about any changes since it was the same every time, and they hadn't spoken much. But this time, Aegis actually spoke out. 

Her heart thumped nervously after hearing Aegis call her. She walked over to the body.

"What happened?"

"I've received a small signal from Dream."

"...What?!"

Idona couldn't help but shout. She smiled happily, but repressed her outbursting emotions for fear of being disappointed.

"I have received a small signal fro-"

"I-I get that. So is he okay? He's alive?"

"As of now, yes. Though the signal is weak, it is growing. I'm still not able to communicate directly, but this nonetheless lets us know that he is okay."

"...That's...That's great. It's wonderful."

"Are you alright, Magus Idona?"

As she processed the news, Idona felt some tears streaming from her eyes. All that worry, the stress, the frustration, the patience, it had taken a toll on her. And after all this time, she had finally received some good news. It was like she was finally able to take a full, deep breath of air. And she couldn't help but cry a bit.

"I'm fine. I'm just happy."

"...I am also...relieved."

When Aegis said that, Idona thought that she felt something, but didn't pay attention to it. She took some deep breaths and calmed herself.

"...So are you able to estimate when he will recover?"

"According to the strength of the signal, I estimate full recovery in a week and a half. Unless anything happens during this time, of course."

"Nothing will happen. I'll guarantee it."

Idona spoke with conviction. She had waited so long for this good news, she wasn't about to let something go wrong.

...........

.......

'Ugh. Oh god...That fucking hurt.'

In his mind, Dream groaned in pain. 

'So if there's anything I've learned, don't get blindsided by a class 4. Unless I want another world of hurt, of course. *sigh* Anyway. Sophia, you good?'

...

'Sophia?'

After calling out, Dream received no response. He suddenly had a bad feeling.

'Sophia? What happened? Give me something. A signal, a pulse, anything...'

After waiting for several minutes and pushing his senses to the limit, he felt nothing. He became increasingly panicked.

'No...Not her. Shit. Status!'

|Profile|

Name: Dream

Species: Human Male

Class: [Master Artificer]

Titles: [Origin Seeker]

Level: 199

Stats: Strength- -+      Agility- A-

Stamina- A-       Magic- --

Passive Skills: [S--h-a] Lvl. 9-, [-ag-c] Lvl. -7

Active Skills: [S--mo-s Fr-m An-th-r Wor--], [M-te--al M-gi-] Lvl. --

'...The hell? What's up with my status?'

Dream looked at all the distorted information. Although he knew which skills were what, he couldn't even tell the level properly. 

'...Huuhh...Alright. Let's figure this out.'

Dream looked back to when he almost died. He remembered it very clearly, but after he was hit, everything went dark. 

From then on, it was as if he were sleeping, just with no dreams. He didn't have any sense of time and he was just kind of in limbo. It actually reminded him of when he had first come to this new world. 

But after a while, things started to hurt. He didn't know what it was that was hurting him, he couldn't see nor sense anything, so he just sat there in limbo as the pain slowly grew. Over time, it got worse and worse, like someone was constantly carving him with a searing hot knife and cutting back layers. But he could still do nothing, so he was just 'there', and the only thing to think about was the ever growing pain.

What made it worse was that as he began acclimating to a certain level of pain, it would just get worse. And he couldn't avoid it no matter what he did. Usually when someone burned themselves, they reflexively pulled away. Even that split second of burning was very painful, and the body instinctively knew this. 

So for him, who could only feel this burning with every fiber of his being, the inability to cope with the pain was unbearable. Compared to it, the void around him seemed welcoming. 

So for who knows how long, Dream just suffered in silence. He tried to think of other things, but that weirdly only made the pain worse. Though this didn't stop him and he eventually chopped everything down to his soul trying to recover. Like a muscle, if it's injured, using it will hurt. 

Though there was one unexpected harvest during this time. Because he could sense nothing but the pain and his thoughts, he was able to closely identify where these things were coming from. Usually, there were other stimuli that streamed information to him like his senses and abstract thought. But when all those things were taken away and all he had was his soul and the pain, he was able to trace it. And this led to him being able to sense the soul.

This had been something that only Sophia was able to do, and even then it was using the mysterious skill known as Emulation. So for him to have been able to trace the pain and identify his soul could be considered a huge achievement. 

But at least in the moment, Dream wasn't sure if he considered it worth it. The pain was so bad that he would never voluntarily put himself through that for a skill he could develop over time and with much less pain. But he didn't have a choice, so he thought it was nice that he got something out of it other than another mental trauma.

So currently, as he tried to identify the problem with Sophia, he looked to his soul. After a bit of literal soul searching, he found the issue. 

His skill signatures were messed up. They were chaotic, unorganized, and destroyed in some places. And the biggest one of all, Sophia, had the most damage and largest weakness.