"What's wrong? Does this situation upset you?"
Leilin looked at Gabrielli, whose entire body was taut like a young leopard, and ruffled his hair.
"No! I only wish to gain more power! To protect my people!"
Gabrielli replied.
"A wise approach!" Leilin praised.
If this were his previous world, such extreme exploitation would have long since sparked revolts and uprisings. Ruling the many with so few, and so brazenly at that — the only verdict would be courting death.
But alas, this was an otherworld where supernatural power crushed all opposition!
Even when the few ruled the many, even when exploitation and oppression reached appalling levels — as long as they held the military force, they could suppress everything!
The supreme force held supreme authority. Might was truth!
"Make way! Make way!"
At that moment, two rows of warriors clad in black armor, gripping iron spears and round shields, surged onto the street, forcing the crowd to the roadside.
"Hm? Even citizens don't seem to wield this kind of authority, do they? Could it be one of the ruling magnates or a tribune?"
Leilin glanced at Gabrielli beside him, but the youth's body was trembling, his lips tinged bluish-purple with fear.
"Neither..." Gabrielli bit his lower lip, forcing out a few words through clenched teeth. "The ruling magnates derive their authority from the citizens — they couldn't possibly do something like this. The only possibility is the rumored Lord's Emissary! Within the territory, city-states like Marcy are numerous, but they must all bow before the Lord's Emissary, or face the punishment of destruction!"
"Lord's Emissary?"
Leilin turned the term over in his mind, especially as he sensed the instinctive terror radiating from the surrounding Dream Remnant inhabitants.
This fear transcended status and wealth. Even the Marcy citizens who had been lounging about moments ago wore the same expression.
"If anyone held lordly authority over this land, it would surely be that Dream Demon Disaster Lord herself... Could this be one of her direct legions?"
Leilin speculated inwardly.
A Disaster Lord was never alone — they commanded vast subordinates, forming enormous legions.
And when the Dream collided with the real world, any Disaster Lord and their subordinate legions were a nightmare for other worlds.
Aside from Wizards and those large-scale worlds, very few realms could withstand such an invasion.
However, due to the natural decay of Dream power, even if Evil
"They're coming! They're coming!"
The crowd ahead stirred in commotion. Leilin and Bodak caught sight of the "Lord's Emissary" being escorted through the throng.
"Hm? So that's it — no wonder the natives were terrified..."
What appeared before Leilin was a legion composed of giant moth-like high-energy creatures. These moths were enormous — nearly three meters long, over a meter tall — and had evolved forelimbs resembling human hands.
"This is the Disaster Lord Dream Demon's Phantom Moth army. Not much of a fighting force, but quite skilled in illusions and toxins..."
As someone more familiar with these parts, Bodak provided an explanation at Leilin's side.
Unfortunately, what was utterly insignificant strength in the One-Eyed Dragon's eyes could easily annihilate the entire city-state of Marcy.
However, these Phantom Moths were not the main attraction. Among them, they surrounded and escorted a single human!
That's right — a human, a native of the Dream world! With pale-yellow skin and slightly curly hair. The red tattoos on her body represented a lineage different from the Thorn Flower's.
But the moment Gabrielli laid eyes on her, he clapped a hand over his mouth.
Most of the other Marcy citizens did the same — the only way to keep themselves from screaming in terror.
The native surrounded by the Phantom Moths at the center was a young woman, with a slender, graceful waist and a beautiful, vibrant face.
Yet at this moment, her eyes were a murky void, filled with an aura of death.
And atop her head, amidst her thick dark hair, a white creature was prominently perched!
The creature had a fuzzy body, two pairs of colorful wings, and before its enormous compound eyes, a sharp proboscis pierced down from the crown of the girl's head, pulsing rhythmically as if drawing something out.
From this white moth creature, Leilin could even sense the unique majesty of a being of the Laws — though only the faintest trace, it spoke to a former essence!
"Backlash?"
Leilin sighed.
The Disaster Lord here was a Dream Demon of immense proportions. It had corrupted its own body into a vast territory to sustain so many natives — not out of the goodness of its heart, but for other purposes entirely.
Faced with the decay of Dream power, even the most powerful Dream Evil Gods had to choose self-sealing to endure.
And even then, they still endured the torment and weakening of the Snow of Destruction.
The Dream Demon had taken a different approach. It used its own body to nurture the last batch of Dream Remnants, and dispersed its true spirit — scattering it into the dreams of every living creature within the territory, evading the Snow of Destruction's punishment while waiting for the trough of the world's primal force cycle to pass.
By sustaining itself through the dreams of all living beings, the Dream Demon could preserve the majority of its full power even after sealing.
For the natives sheltering under its protection, they surrendered a portion of their soul power in exchange for survival — a mutually beneficial arrangement.
But within this arrangement, exceptions existed.
Even though the Dream Demon deliberately controlled its rate of absorption, it was still a being at the Disaster Lord level. If stimulated by the dreams of those natives and it unconsciously increased the rate, the result would be nothing short of catastrophic.
Even one hundred-millionth of the Dream Demon's true spirit power could drain a native completely dry.
When a native died, the Dream Demon's true spirit inhabiting their dreams lost its anchor and could only face the ever-decaying outside world alone — usually resulting in self-dissolution.
Within this irreversible process, there was an exception within the exception: the Dream Demon's true spirit awakened prematurely, increased its consumption, yet was perfectly controlled — forming a balance that preserved the original symbiotic relationship.
But by this point, the host native had already been more than half consumed — soul included — forming an "empty shell"!
For the Dream Demon's true spirit, such an empty shell was a treasure. At the very least, serving as its avatar posed no problem whatsoever.
With the added layer of the native's protection, it no longer needed to fear the decaying environment, while still retaining a portion of its abilities and control over the outside world.
And this controlled humanoid, in the outside world, was known as — the Lord's Emissary!
As hosts parasitized by the Dream Demon, whether it was Gabrielli, the other citizens, or even the ruling magnates themselves, they all harbored Dream Demon parasites within their souls. Upon seeing the Lord's Emissary, that instinctive dread of shared fate was unavoidable.
"Hm?"
Just as Leilin and the others were examining the Lord's Emissary, the moth-bearing girl spotted them in turn. A hint of clarity flickered in her eyes, and she let out a soft exclamation.
"I didn't expect to encounter two guests from another world here!"
A formidable will began to awaken upon the girl's form. In the hazy distance, Leilin could even glimpse a colossal Dream Demon whose body spanned the cosmos — its spread wings alone capable of covering an entire small world — greeting him.
"We're merely travelers wandering at random, and never intended to stumble into your territory..."
Leilin was entirely unsurprised by this.
Although Gabrielli and the other natives also harbored fragments of the Dream Demon's true spirit, those were in a state of deep slumber, only passively drawing dream energy as sustenance. The true spirit within this Lord's Emissary, however, was fully awake and even carried a portion of the main body's will — of course it could easily detect Leilin and Bodak, who weren't deliberately concealing themselves.
"I remember your soul signature — the one who once coveted my treasury..."
The Lord's Emissary's beautiful eyes turned toward the One-Eyed Dragon, and her next words made Leilin's face darken.
That damn greedy dragon had indeed set his sights on her treasures.
"Ah... heh heh... ha ha, the weather sure is fine today... ha ha..." Bodak scratched his head and let out a hollow laugh.
"I'm afraid my treasury left you disappointed..."
The Lord's Emissary was now entirely overtaken by a powerful will. Leilin estimated that all of her awakened consciousness had been concentrated here.
Yet her temperament seemed remarkably agreeable — she even offered an apology to Bodak in the manner of a well-mannered lady.
"Mm! No matter. I don't have much interest in those bubble-like dream constructs anyway..."
Bodak waved his hand dismissively, speaking with his characteristic bluntness.
"Apologize to her!"
Leilin pressed down on his head, then offered the Lord's Emissary an apologetic smile. "Sorry... his brain has a few screws loose..."
"If you don't mind, perhaps we could move somewhere else to talk..."
The Lord's Emissary gestured toward the surroundings. The natives and Marcy citizens had fallen into a daze, particularly a few wearing golden olive-leaf wreaths — the ruling magnates.
"Very well!" Leilin nodded, then pointed at Gabrielli. "His ancestor shares a certain connection with me..."
He didn't need to say more — the other party could surely handle the rest.
After all, resolving a trivial matter in exchange for the goodwill of a being of the Laws — by any calculation, that was pure profit.
Watching Leilin and his companions depart into the distance, Gabrielli stood with his mouth agape, at a complete loss for words. But seeing the mix of awe and fawning in the eyes of the surrounding citizens, he knew this matter would certainly be handled well.