Saruman slowly sat back down beside the stone wall, leaning against the cold rock as he looked up at the eternally dim, oppressive sky.
And yet, the corners of his mouth slowly curled up.
Tears finally streamed silently down the face of this old man, who had endured a thousand years of hardship and carried countless heavy memories and obsessions.
He knew now.
He was finally certain.
History had truly changed.
Lina had survived, and she had even taken in a new student.
Kag was alive, too.
And the source of all this hope, his lord, the mysterious Ian Prince, was now fighting the final, most dangerous battle to bring this nightmare to an end.
The future was no longer an endless darkness full of despair.
A faint but real ray of dawn seemed to have finally broken through R'lyeh's ancient gloom, shining into the heart Saruman had kept frozen for a thousand years.
They hurried to recover their strength while waiting for news of that distant battle, the battle that would decide their fate.
Meanwhile, in the Dream World...
Dark Tiga's crimson eyes burned like twin flames in the Abyss as he stared coldly at the churning darkness before him.
It was almost alive.
This was no ordinary darkness; it was a chaotic entity forged from Cthulhu's concentrated will and the power of the Dreamscape.
Just looking at it sent a tide of ancient madness and pure malice crashing against Ian's consciousness, threatening to freeze his soul and shatter his sanity.
Of course, Ian, in the form of Dark Tiga, remained completely unmoved.
The dark power surging through his body had been transformed from Lina's corruption and already bore a trace of Cthulhu's imprint. Far from being assimilated, it had grown even more concentrated and aggressive under Ian's absolute control and the balancing influence of Raven's power.
It even seemed to have developed a greedy instinct of its own, as if it wanted to devour the vast power facing it.
"ROAR... !!!"
Enraged by Dark Tiga's calm yet provocative stare, the chaotic figure unleashed a silent roar that shook the entire Dream Layer.
The vague outline of a humanoid head covered in countless tentacles suddenly lunged forward.
In an instant, massive tentacles erupted from the chaotic darkness like demonic dragons breaking their chains. They were far thicker and more solid than the Dream Incarnation's previous tentacles, their surfaces flowing with dark-purple blasphemous runes and sticky energy.
They lashed viciously toward Dark Tiga.
Every tentacle seemed to have a mind of its own, attacking from vicious and unpredictable angles. Some aimed for his head, others tried to bind his limbs, while several struck directly at the dark-red energy core in his chest.
And they carried far more than just terrifying physical force.
There was intense mental corruption, spatial suppression, and a bizarre power that seemed capable of corroding energy itself.
"Tsk, tsk. What a terrifying attack."
A crimson light flashed in Dark Tiga's eyes.
He had no intention of taking this first probing attack head-on, even if it was already devastating enough to wipe out most opponents.
"Ha!"
With a low shout, his massive body moved with astonishing agility, retreating like a phantom as his arms swept rapidly through the air.
Dark afterimages trailed in their wake.
"Dark Eight-Part Light Wheel! Just kidding, it's Palm Cut!"
Crescent-shaped blades of energy appeared.
Blades of dark energy wreathed in dark-red flames shot from the edges of Tiga's palms, precisely striking the tips of the incoming tentacles and the points where their energy flowed strongest.
Screech! Screech! Screech!
The dark blades collided with the tentacles, sending showers of purple-black and dark-red sparks flying.
Harsh tearing sounds rang out where they hit. Slime splattered everywhere, and the runes on their surfaces flickered erratically as their momentum slowed.
But the tentacles were far tougher than expected.
The energy blades usually only managed to cut halfway through before dispersing, failing to sever the tentacles completely.
"Do you even know who the real Lord of Darkness is?"
Not that Ian had ever intended to sever them.
He was just disrupting them, testing their strength, and searching for weaknesses.
The moment the assault faltered, Dark Tiga stepped forward and clenched his right fist.
Dense dark energy spiraled around it like a vortex.
"Dark Punch!"
He threw a punch.
There was no fancy technique here, just pure force and concentrated darkness.
BOOM... !!!
His fist slammed viciously into the side of the lead tentacle.
Terrifying dark energy erupted, sending visible rings of black shockwaves rippling through the air.
The tentacle shuddered violently, tiny cracks spreading across its surface as the blow knocked it aside, throwing the tentacles behind it off course.
At the same time, several more tentacles struck from his flanks and rear.
One wrapped around Dark Tiga's left calf, its cold, slimy surface constricting with tremendous force while paralyzing, corrosive energy tried to seep into his energy body.
Another shot toward his back like a venomous snake.
"Trying to play dirty?"
Dark Tiga reacted instantly.
His trapped leg tensed, and a sudden burst of dark energy forcibly blasted the tentacle off.
However, burn marks were left behind on his calf, leaving the energy in that leg unstable.
As for the attack from behind...
He didn't even turn around.
As if he had eyes in the back of his head, his left arm bent backward at an impossible angle, his dark-energy-infused elbow smashing viciously into the incoming tip.
Bang!
The tip twisted and burst apart, spraying purple-black fluid as the attack collapsed.
In just a few exchanges, both sides had gauged each other's strength.
Dark Tiga, brought forth by imagination, was clearly weaker in raw power than this chaotic manifestation of Cthulhu's will.
Yet his precise energy control, exceptional combat skills, and absolute calm in the face of madness made him a formidable opponent.
And Ian's immunity to corruption was just as maddening to deal with.
Of course, Cthulhu's dream entity was no push-over either.
Its tentacles packed overwhelming power laced with harmful status effects, and they seemed endless, possessing incredible resilience.
"ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!"
The chaotic figure seemed to lose its patience.
Two points of deep purple light flared where the eyes on its shadowy head should have been.
They were so dark they seemed capable of swallowing all light, and all hope.
Then, two massive beams of dark-purple psychic energy erupted.
Forged entirely from madness and blasphemous knowledge, they shot forward like death rays of pure destruction.
Crossing the distance in an instant, they blasted toward Dark Tiga.
This was no longer a physical attack.
It directly targeted the soul and the core of one's existence.
"Tsk, tsk!"
Facing two dark-purple death rays, attacks strong enough to instantly shatter the soul and dissolve the mind of an ordinary Legend, Dark Tiga showed no fear.
Instead, a cold, mocking glint flashed through his crimson eyes.
"Me, dodge your attack?"
A contest of mental strength? A battle of willpower?
If anything, this was exactly what Ian wanted!
He was Ian Prince, someone whose soul had been forged in the information age, who carried the cold, orderly nature of Raven, and who had just performed delicate mind surgery deep within another person's soul.
The strength of his mental defenses and the fortitude of his will were far beyond anything this world could fathom.
"Bring it on!"
Dark Tiga shouted in his mind. He didn't dodge or retreat; instead, he took a firm step forward.
His palms slammed together in front of his chest, then slowly pulled apart.
As his hands moved, the dark-red core in his chest flared with unprecedented brightness.
But the light did not spread outward.
It contracted inward, gathering between his hands to form a swirling vortex like a cosmic black hole.
It was made entirely of compressed, dark mental energy.
A Dark Psychic Barrier!
The barrier had no physical structure, yet it seemed capable of devouring any spiritual or mental attack.
Bzzzzzz... !
The two dark-purple psychic death rays slammed into the Dark Psychic Barrier!
There was no massive explosion.
No violent annihilation of energy.
The two beams, dripping with madness and destruction, vanished into the barrier the instant they hit, like rivers emptying into the sea.
Their wild energy and chaotic intent were rapidly absorbed, dismantled, and converted by the swirling darkness.
"I feel stronger! No... this was my power to begin with! I am Dark Tiga! I am the King of Darkness!"
Dark Tiga's body trembled slightly.
Ian was actively hypnotizing himself.
The flames in his dark-red eyes burned even fiercer.
He could feel the two massive streams of chaotic mental energy being forcibly sucked in and filtered by his barrier.
The most toxic impurities were neutralized and erased by the darkness within.
What remained, pure, highly concentrated psychic energy, was converted into his own dark power.
This was what made Dark Tiga so terrifying.
He didn't just use darkness for physical combat, he could harness its ability to devour and convert energy to counter spiritual attacks as well.
And when the enemy's power came from the same source as the darkness he had absorbed...
The conversion was even more efficient.
"Not bad. A bit too many impurities, though."
Ian mentally gave the attack a casual review before raising a hand and beckoning the chaotic entity with a finger.
The provocation was obvious.
"!!!"
The entity clearly hadn't expected its psychic attack to be swallowed so easily.
The swirling vortexes where its eyes should have been flickered violently.
Then, an even more furious wave of malice erupted from it.
It realized that the dark giant facing it wasn't just a powerful trespasser.
He was a dangerous predator capable of stealing its power.
No more probing attacks.
The entity's massive body began to writhe and expand uncontrollably.
The entire Dream Layer groaned under the strain. Large swathes of space collapsed and evaporated, exposing the chaotic Information Abyss beneath.
Thicker, more numerous tentacles poured from the darkness.
Glowing bony barbs sprouted along their lengths, lined with sucker-like mouths that opened and closed continuously.
At the same time, an unstable ball of dark-red energy began gathering where its mouth should be.
The aura of destruction around it was so intense that space itself began to warp.
And at the very center of that energy sphere was an almost imperceptible trace of something...
The Fire of the Old Ones.
It was a power far closer to Cthulhu's true origin, carrying the essence of a Great Old One.
Even as a mere fraction of a projection, its nature and destructive force were fundamentally different.
"Oh? Pulling out your trump card already?"
Dark Tiga felt unprecedented pressure.
The aura of the Old Ones in that sphere made the darkness inside him shudder with instinctual greed.
Yet at the same time, it triggered a sharp warning of danger.
He couldn't stay on the defensive, just blocking and absorbing attacks anymore.
He had to strike first.
He had to interrupt its charge...
Or better yet...
Find a way to snatch that fragment of higher power for himself.
"Dark Zeperion Ray - charge!"
Decision made, Ian began gathering all the dark energy in his body.
But just as he was about to unleash his strongest dark beam attack and clash head-on...
The Raven imprint deep in his soul, one of the quiet pillars of his power, suddenly thrummed.
A cold, cryptic fragment of knowledge, echoing across ancient ages, seeped into his mind alongside the cry of a raven.
"Pioneer of the Old Days?"
What did that mean?
Ian had no time to think.
With an even more violent, ancient silent roar, the massive sphere of destruction, over twenty meters wide and burning with the dark-red Fire of the Old Ones, shot toward Dark Tiga like the apocalyptic breath of a sleeping god.
It tore through space with unstoppable force.
Everything in its path was erased.
Even the base structure of the Dream Layer evaporated into nothingness, leaving a horrifying Void Trail that refused to close.
Faced with this world-destroying attack...
Ian shoved his questions aside.
Dark Tiga didn't retreat, nor did he try to block it with his barrier.
Instead, his stance shifted.
His arms spread wide, as if embracing the void itself.
"Dark Wings: Spacetime Deflection!"
Dark-silver Raven power blended with dark energy, instantly creating a rapidly spinning, complex field in front of him.
It was a silver-black vortex woven from what looked like countless tiny clock gears and raven feathers.
Rumble! Rumble!
The Old Ones' energy sphere slammed into the silver-black vortex!
Yet no earth-shattering explosion followed.
Time itself seemed to warp and stretch.
The overwhelming destruction flowed like a flood hitting a perfectly designed spillway network.
Most of the force was forcibly guided and deflected by the spinning field.
Redirected like streams by invisible hands, the energy roared past both sides of Dark Tiga's body.
It slammed into the empty ruins of the Dreamscape behind him, setting off a terrifying chain reaction of annihilation.
However...
Something extremely strange happened as that tiny fragment of dark-red Fire of the Old Ones at the core reached the center of the vortex.
It...
Was being seized by Ian.
(End Of This Chapter)
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