First chapter of the week...

 

...

 

Ley smiled joyfully. She threw herself into my arms and rubbed her face against my chest.

“Brother… I… I was afraid I could not see you anymore.”

I smiled wryly and rubbed her head.

“Silly girl. How is that possible? I will always be there for you.”

Ley hummed in answer and kept her face on my chest. Although she tried to hide it, I could hear her sobbing softly.

Poor girl. She must have been afraid.

I kept stroking her head and waited for her to calm down. Around five minutes later, she finally recovered her composure and moved away from me.

“Sorry… I showed you something unsightly.”

“I don’t mind.”

“But I do. I didn’t want to show this side of me to my brother again.”

I let out a bitter smile.

Thinking about it, it had been a long time since I saw Ley showing her vulnerable side.

I kind of missed it.

“Right, Ley, what is it, and how did it find me?” I asked while pointing to the Jane plushie that brought me here.

Ley’s face turned red in embarrassment.

“I’m not sure. They were already here when I appeared here. They listen to my orders and follow my instructions. I sent it to bring you here when I realized you had come.”

Ley then explained that she noticed the strange behavior of the seed and after investigating, found me wandering around the dreamscape, so she ordered all the plushies to bring me here as soon as they saw me.

As expected of Ley. It looks like the situation is not as bad as I thought.

To be honest, after seeing how much the seed had spread throughout the dreamscape, I feared the worst, but it seemed that Ley had managed to put up some kind of defense.

“You must have realized your situation, right?” I asked her.

Ley hesitated briefly and nodded.

“This is like my mental space, right? Something invaded my mind and now it’s trying to take control of me.”

I nodded.

“I call it ‘the seed’. It’s like an infection that spreads through mana and soul power. You must have come in contact with someone infected and got infected too.”

“Yeah, I remember something like that… I also remember that I was fighting you.”

“... It was a pretty tough fight.” I smiled wryly.

“Sorry.” Ley lowered her head with a downcast look.

“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault.” I smiled comfortingly and caressed her cheek.

“… Did I hurt you?”

“Silly girl, you didn’t.”

“I see. That is good.” She forced out a relieved smile. “I must be unconscious now, right?”

“You are. That is why I’m here. I will help you to defeat the seed.”

“Mm. What do I have to do?”

“First, tell me how you have been fighting the seed until now.”

Ley nodded and proceeded to explain her situation.

After she appeared, she immediately realized her situation and the danger she was facing.

She could feel the seed slowly eroding her mental space and trying to assimilate her, so she tried to fight it.

Ley was very talented when it came to the soul. After just a few minutes, she learned to manipulate her dreamscape and use it to face the seed.

But she quickly found that she had been too naïve.

The seed was much trickier to eliminate than she thought. It was very hard to destroy, and even when she managed to cleanse a part of the contamination, a bigger part of her dreamscape would be contaminated.

Most of the time, her attempts to destroy it would only make it grow.

Very soon, she realized that she was not its match. Thus, she decided to buy time while she thought of a way to fight it.

The method she used was to turn the dreamscape into a maze.

She isolated the contaminated parts as far as possible and created as many barriers and obstacles as she could to delay the seed as much as she could.

Despite that, the situation worsened quickly. The seed’s ability to spread was frightening, and by this point, it had assimilated most of the dreamscape.

“I have lost control over seventy percent of this place, and the rest won’t last much longer.” She said with a bitter smile. “Honestly, if brother did not appear, I would have despaired.”

I sighed and patted her head. “Luckily, I came in time.”

“What is the plan, brother?”

I put on a serious expression and stared straight into her eyes.

“You must devour it.”

 

…

 

The plan the demon came up with was simple.

The seed was like an infection that corroded the mind of the victim. Destroying it was possible, but it implied destroying the infected part too.

It was not only risky but also unsound. If even a very small part of the seed is left behind, it will spread again in just a few days, making the situation worse.

To avoid that, it was necessary to afront the situation from a different perspective.

The seed was, in essence, just a form of soul power. It amplified the negative emotions of its victims and used them to slowly assimilate their soul power.

But just like it could assimilate the soul power of its victims, it could be assimilated too.

Of course, it was not easy. But here is where the demon comes in.

The reason I waited three days to enter Ley’s dreamscape was that the demon was devising a method that would allow Ley to assimilate the seed into her soul power.

And now, I needed to pass the method to Ley.

I touched her forehead gently, sending the information of the technique to her mind. At the same time, I explained the plan to her.

Ley was surprised. She seemed curious about the origin of this technique, or why I knew so much about her situation, but when she noticed that I was uncomfortable with the topic, she did not ask.

I was grateful to her for it.

I did not want to reveal the demon’s existence.

Just at that moment, we felt the dreamscape shake.

Ley’s face immediately became pale.

“Another barrier has been breached. I lost another part of the dreamscape.”

Almost immediately, the dreamscape shook again.

“Another one? Wait, something is wrong!”

[The seed must have realized that you met your sister. You must hurry up.]

I put on a stern expression and looked at Ley.

“We can’t lose any more time. Ley, hurry up and learn the technique I gave you.”

Ley nodded. She sat down on the bed and closed her eyes to understand the intricacies of the technique as soon as possible.

Now, it depended on her. If she managed to master the method before the seed assimilated her mind completely, it was our victory.

Meanwhile, I could do only one thing.

I felt the dreamscape shaking and put on a determined expression.

I needed to buy time.