Dominating The Exile-Chapter 37: Nightmare Genesis - Part 2

He didn't stop.

He couldn't stop.

The system was evolving in real time—adapting to his instincts, feeding off the chaos.

[ New Skill Unlocked : Echo Step – Phantom ] Afterimage.

[ New Trait : Bloodlust Feedback ]

"Let's raise hell," he muttered.

He became a blur—dozens of enemies rushing, only to be sliced mid-roar. Walls exploded, corpses vaporized, and in the center of it all, Renji—spinning, striking, dodging—was like a storm with a soul.

His eyes glowed red.

The more he killed, the more the Exile System expanded. It was like the system had been holding back this whole time—and now it was learning to want more.

[ EXILE NOTE ]

( The system recognizes your dominance )

[ Personality sync: 38% ]

[ Nightmare Core Interface stabilizing... ]

Suddenly, a warning flashed across his vision.

[ Threat Incoming ]

[ Class Omega Aberration – "Ghorrak the Maw." ]

From the far end of the battlefield, a massive beast erupted—part dragon, part insect, part absolute nightmare. Ghorrak's mouth split open into six layered jaws, lined with human fingers and twitching tongues.

Renji raised his sabers, "Bring it."

The sky fractured.

Ghorrak the Maw slammed into the field like a meteor with legs—towering, howling, its gnarled limbs dragging pits into the ground. Its breath alone melted stone. Its gaze unmade courage.

[ Exile System Notice ]

[ Core Lockdown Imminent ]

[ WARNING: You are approaching Overload ]

Renji didn't care.

He stood firm, blades humming with chaotic power—Nox leaking black lightning, Lux pulsing with silver flames.

The beast roared, and the entire terrain bent like it was kneeling before a god.

Renji whispered, "...No gods here. Just vengeance."

He moved.

He didn't dash—he shredded through space, slicing into Ghorrak's leg in a blur, flipping up onto its back with an explosion of shadow.

[ SKILL UNLOCKED ]

[ New Passive ]

[ Void Drift— Mass negation during movement ]

Ghorrak screeched, spinning like a hellish storm, trying to throw Renji off. It opened its maws and spat a beam of decaying energy—bones and souls swirling inside.

Renji blocked it with both sabers crossed.

He screamed as he was launched backward—slamming into the wall hard enough to crack his ribs.

The Exile System blinked red:

[ Blood Integrity: 61% ]

[ You are being unmade ]

He coughed—blood streaming down his lip—but his smile curled.

"Yeah? Unmake this.", Renji said.

The mark on his chest—Seraphina's imprint—glowed.

[ Nightmare Core Override: 2% Access Achieved ]

( Temporal Memory Syncing... )

| Vision Incoming |

His mind split—and he saw her.

Seraphina—ten years old, bound in a chair made of lightless stone, dozens of robed figures around her.

One of them whispered, "We bind her soul to feed the Nightmare Core. Let her screams echo in eternity."

Renji's eyes snapped open.

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Rage became form. Shadows warped.

[ Exile System Notice ]

[ Nightmare Surge Unlocked ]

[ Skill: Wraith Reign – Temporarily assume the role of the Forsaken Monarch ]

He rose, now cloaked in a mantle of raw darkness. His sabers elongated—half spirit, half code.

Ghorrak charged.

Renji blurred forward, slicing clean through its left jaw, sparks and gore bursting like fireworks. The beast reeled, howled—and Renji landed, dragging Lux behind him like a blade drawn across the void.

> New System Function: Nightmare Echoes Initiated.

The battlefield fell silent.

Renji whispered, "Seraphina... I saw you. I swear—I'll unchain that scream from the roots of this world."

Ghorrak lunged, its final desperate charge.

Renji met it head on.

The next moment—

BOOM.

A shockwave leveled the hills.

As the dust settled, Zach appeared atop a broken spire nearby, arms folded, smirking, "He's finally waking up."

The cave trembled with fading aftershocks. Renji leaned against a jagged crystal, his breathing ragged, clothes torn, eyes burning violet from the residual nightmare surge.

Zach appeared before him like a phantom, boots crunching on glowing stones. No smirk now—just urgency.

"Renji," he said, sharp and low. "Listen. We don't have time. You're in the second layer of the Nightmare Trial."

Renji blinked, panting. "The what now...?"

Zach knelt beside him, placing a glowing seal over his wrist. "You fell into the trial when you touched the Mercury River. It's not just a place—it's a gate. One the Grand Order made to contain the Nightmare Core. Seraphina bound it. Your bloodline unlocked it."

Renji stared. "Why didn't anyone warn me about—oh, I dunno—falling into a god-eating dimension!?"

Zach gave a sardonic grunt. "Because no one's ever made it this deep and come back. You're literally rewriting what's possible."

Renji frowned, then narrowed his eyes. "And you? How the hell did you find me?"

"I dove in after you," Zach said, shrugging like he just said grabbed coffee. "I knew where the current was headed. Took a little shortcut through a Leviathan's spinal gate—don't ask."

Renji shook his head, grimacing as another pulse of nightmare energy flickered through his veins, "What's happening to me?" he asked. "This mode—this... power. I saw her. I saw Seraphina."

Zach's gaze hardened. "She left fragments of herself behind, locked into the Exile System. The Nightmare Mode is the final lock. It was never meant to be accessed... unless everything else failed."

Renji muttered, "And things are failing."

"Big time," Zach confirmed, tapping the side of Renji's head. "The dark mages—you felt their leash on Nightmare Mode. You're fighting for control over something that was once a person."

Renji froze. "You mean... Nightmare Mode isn't just code?"

"No. It's a cursed consciousness, born from what Seraphina couldn't destroy. A beast with her voice—and her pain. That's why you're the only one who can claim it."

Silence stretched.

Renji finally whispered, "So what now?"

Zach smiled—just a little. "Now? You survive the next layer. And maybe, just maybe... you become what the Exile System was always meant to awaken."

Renji sat up straighter, breathing slower.

"I'll survive it," he said.

Zach reached into his cloak, pulling out a vial glowing with a fractured galaxy.

"Good," he said, tossing it over. "Because you're about to meet the Guardian of the Hollow Dream. He's... less chatty than me."