Abyssal Awakening-Chapter 984: Sacrifice For A New Age

Miki’s eyes widened.

Her grip tightened around the shaft of her spear, instincts screaming as she prepared to lunge forward. But before she could move, a hand caught her shoulder.

Alice.

Alice’s expression was flat, her eyes cold and unimpressed. Without a word, she drew an arrow.

The arrow whistled through the air before colliding with an invisible wall.

"How lacking in confidence must you be to resort to something like this." Alice scoffed in disdain.

"Can’t blame a man for taking precautions." Erwen shrugged with a laugh, leaning against the battlement.

"Especially when it comes to such a powerful group. No matter how strong I may be, I still want a sense of comfort."

Miki’s fist clenched.

Her nails dug into her palm as she forced herself not to charge forward.

"What the hell are you doing here? Shouldn’t this be the eighth zone?"

Erwen tilted his head back, gazing lazily up at the sky, counting the clouds that drifted across his view.

"Indeed. The Eighth zone should’ve been here." He replied lazily.

"But I deemed it unnecessary. No matter what I throw at you lot, you’ll kill with ease anyways, right?"

Despite openly admitting that he couldn’t stop them, Erwen looked completely at ease.

There was no tension in his posture. No hint of caution in his voice.

Was it because of this invisible barrier? Or was it something else?

Why did he seem amused by everything that was happening instead of being worried? Or was this part of his plan?

For Erwen to be this relaxed against them, something was dreadfully wrong.

"So you decided to change your approach?" Alice asked, her gaze slowly sweeping across their surroundings.

The area was unnervingly empty.

Aside from the invisible wall blocking their path, there was nothing.

No beasts lurking in the shadows.

No creeping fog rolling across the ground.

No boss preparing to descend upon them.

Nothing.

It was just Erwen.

Standing alone atop the battlement as though he were hosting them rather than confronting them.

"Somewhat," Erwen replied with a casual shrug. "I simply decided the best way to use the remaining time is to stall you from reaching the heart of Grand Cathia."

"Does the rules even allow that? I believe this Nightmare is a rather ’fair’ place no? Denying us of progression should be impossible." Alice aimed another arrow high into the sky.

Yet no matter how high she fired it, the invisible wall was still there.

"Hou? And what makes you say that?" Erwen raised an eyebrow, folding his arms.

"Because I know the b*stard who made this whole thing." Alice rolled her eyes.

Based on her understanding of Nyer, as well as Cayla’s encounter with him before, he’s someone who welcomes the challenge.

In fact, it’s safe to say that he WANTS them to try and stop him.

To struggle, to resist.

All so that, in the end, he could prove that his path was the correct one.

That his choices were justified.

That what he was doing... was undeniable.

Alice clicked her tongue softly.

Or perhaps...

Perhaps it wasn’t just arrogance.

Maybe it was something else entirely.

The faint, stubborn fragment of humanity still lingering within him.

The part of Nyer that still understood one simple truth.

Velouria...

Would never have wanted this.

"I see..." Erwen hummed softly, tapping a finger against the stone railing.

"While you’re figuring out the exact conditions," he continued, "why don’t we talk? I believe that once you understand the goal behind the Nightmare... you’ll be far less reluctant to oppose it."

Alice glanced sideways at Miki.

Miki gritted her teeth before letting out a deep exhale.

"Fine." Alice clicked her tongue softly.

"Talk."

Erwen’s smile widened slightly, as though he had been waiting for that answer.

"Since you already know the one who created this place," he began, resting his elbows against the battlement, "I believe you should also understand his goals."

Alice gave a small nod.

"Naturally."

Her gaze sharpened.

"But I don’t believe I need to explain why the lengths he’s going to are complete insanity."

Her voice carried little emotion, yet the disdain was unmistakable.

At this point, after everything Nyer had done...

Calling it obsession no longer felt appropriate.

It’s beyond even insanity.

"Perhaps," Erwen admitted with a light shrug. "But since when has a shift in eras ever come without sacrifice?"

He tapped the stone railing beneath his fingers.

"Every turning point in history, every event that reshaped humanity, came at a cost."

His gaze drifted toward the distant horizon.

"Empires rise and fall."

"Wars erase entire generations."

"And yet those sacrifices become the foundation for the next era."

Erwen looked back at them.

"There is always a price to actions that shape the timeline of humanity."

Miki scowled but said nothing.

Erwen could understand their rejection.

To most people, Nyer’s actions looked monstrous.

Cruel.

Unforgivable.

But Erwen was not most people.

He was someone who could see the logic behind Nyer’s path.

"The result you’re focused on," Erwen continued calmly, "the revival of the one true goddess... is merely the final outcome."

His smile deepened slightly.

"You may find yourselves blinded by the sacrifices required to reach that point."

"But the journey itself, the transformation it brings to humanity, has already been taken into account."

Alice raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

She slowly stepped forward.

"Ohou~"

Her tone turned mocking.

"Then tell me."

Her fist slammed into the invisible wall separating them.

*BANG!!!

Ripples spread across the air like water disturbed by a stone.

"What exactly is this journey Nyer is planning?"

Her eyes burned with cold anger.

"To make everyone unafraid of death?"

"To trap them deeper and deeper inside this Nightmare?"

"To strip them of their souls until they become nothing more than hollow shells?"

She struck the barrier again.

Another ripple spread across the air.

"People dying again and again."

"Being broken and rebuilt until they forget what it means to live."

Alice’s voice dropped lower.

"And you call that a path toward salvation?"

Erwen let out a laugh.

Raw amusement.

"You misunderstand." He wiped the tears from his eyes.

"The Nightmare isn’t meant to destroy humanity. It’s to sow the seeds of those who stand above the rest. The ones who can adapt and rise to the challenge. You stand here where countless have fallen."

Raising his hand, he snapped his finger and the scene changed.

A bloody massacre that he orchestrated with his own hands.

"It’s a selection process that divides the weak and powerless to those who are truly strong. The seeds worth planting." Erwen smiled softly, unphased by the corpses that littered around them.

Miki’s eyes turned bloodshot.

"You see, dying in this Nightmare isn’t the end. All of your actions, all of your choices. Every death... it is compiled into information. Information that will be carried into the new world."

Inhaling the blood mist to remind himself of his actions that day, Erwen lifted his head towards the sky and gave the ground a side glance.

"Pigs who don’t deserve mercy. Insects who can’t work up the courage to move their own limbs even as death approach. B*stards who simply watch, pushing past other innocents to save their own hides. That day, I witnessed the ugliness of Grand Cathia.

"I understood that this was merely a fraction of what happens in the world. So I ask you, what is your solution to this sight? What about the nobles who live atop Grand Cathia, looking down as the city suffers yet give no help?" Erwen snapped his finger once more.

This time, they were in a golden banquet hall high above the city. While the siege was happening, they dined on food while laughing at the deaths occurring below.

None of the group could respond as that was indeed the case.

"So I ask you, what is your solution to all of this? Nyer is someone who showed me the possibility. He showed me the path forward. What can be achieved through this Nightmare.

"And he entrusted Grand Cathia to me. But here we stand..." Erwen sighed.

"Why must you make things so difficult?" He asked.

In that moment, Miki couldn’t hold back and lunged forward. Her spear ripped through the veil as Erwen grinned.

He quickly leaned back and parried her strike.

"!!!"

Miki realised she was allowed through and attacked!

Alice tried to support but her skills were blocked, so was everyone else’s skill. It was a barrier that only allows Miki to step through.

"Tell me. What do you think teacher would say if he saw the end result? Wasn’t he always bothered by the nobles who restricted his actions despite providing nothing for the city?

"Maybe their ancestors earned some merit. But them? The pigs who are drunk off of our suffering? They don’t deserve such benefit." Erwen struck the spear from below and aimed for a pale strike against Miki’s chest.

However, with her recent training, she was able to react.

Jumping up, she went into a handstand and kicked her heel toward Erwen’s head, forcing him to create a distance between them.

"Father would’ve never accepted this choice. This Nightmare that drags the innocent into everything."

*RUMBLE!!!

Igniting her spear, Miki unleashed a flurry of strikes that cut off Erwen’s path of retreat.

"Maybe so. Teacher was always soft hearted. Towards me, towards you. Towards the soldiers. But he was someone like me."

Miki creased her brows but there was no hesitation in her movements.

"He was willing to burn down the world if it meant keeping you safe." Erwen stomped the ground, shattering the floor as energy burst out and coiled around his fist.

"Shut up!" Miki slashed horizontally.

Yet before her strike could land, Erwen smiled.

"What if you could see him again? Alive. Reborn through this Nightmare."