Cherreads

Chapter 42 - Apex of Arrogance

[Main Dream World – Vast Horizons]

And with four words, calm yet thunderous, he declared:

"I've got a plan…"

His eyes flared a deep, blazing yellow, a slow, dangerous smile creeping across his face—confident, alive, and hungry.

A bright red yet perfectly controlled aura enveloped Tokkun, coiling around him like living fire, crackling softly as it settled. "That's… the most efficient thing you could have ever said…" He drew his Reibone in one smooth motion, the blade igniting with a sharp crimson hum. "Let's… deal with this guy."

The Rune-Masked Figure's light-blue aura spiked violently, sigils flaring across its wooden mask like cold fire. "This… is gonna be really… really exciting…"

The Void-Masked Figure's pitch-black aura rose slowly, like smoke from a dying star, devouring the light around its feet until the grass beneath it withered and crumbled. "Well… we should be rather quick too… I guess…"

Right before the clash, Mexus leaned in close, his breath hot against Tokkun's ear as he whispered something low and urgent, words too quiet for even the wind to steal. Tokkun's masked eyes widened for a fraction of a second, then narrowed with understanding. "Oh… yes… I see… let's begin this then…"

Mexus smirked, the corner of his mouth curling sharp and lethal.

Then—BOOM.

Both Drenors exploded forward, boots carving glowing trenches in the neon grass, auras leaving blazing trails of yellow and red fire that scorched the air behind them. They attacked from opposite sides, Reibones screaming through the air in perfect, synchronized arcs aimed straight for the Void-Masked Figure's head.

CLANG.

The blades struck an invisible wall and bounced off with a teeth-rattling shriek, sparks exploding outward in a shower of gold and crimson that lit up the horizon. The impact reverberated up their arms, bones singing with the force, the recoil sending ripples through the ground.

Again.

Again.

Again.

They became blurs of motion, switching positions at speeds that tore the very fabric of the air, each swing louder than the last, each spark bigger and brighter, the sound escalating into a metallic storm that echoed for miles. The ground beneath the Void-Masked Figure cracked and spider-webbed outward in glowing fissures, but the barrier held firm.

And yet… Mexus and Tokkun weren't frowning. They weren't disappointed.

They were smiling—slow, knowing grins that didn't belong on men facing annihilation.

"Yeah… it's exactly as I expected…" Mexus said, voice steady, eyes gleaming with cold certainty.

"Indeed… that part was efficient…" Tokkun replied, still circling like a predator, his red aura flaring brighter with every step. "So I assume… it's then time for…?"

"Yeah…" Mexus answered, his tone firm, final.

"Just what… are they up to…?" the Rune-Masked Figure muttered to itself, its sigils flickering with growing unease, the blue light pulsing faster.

The Void-Masked Figure's voice dropped to a cold, hollow growl. "I don't know what you two are doing… but I assure you… it's not going to… work…" Black aura surged around its hands and feet, thick enough to swallow sound itself, the ground beneath it beginning to rot and flake away into perfect nothingness, leaving only a void where earth had been.

It moved.

The Void blurred forward, faster than sight, faster than thought, foot lashing out in a kick that shattered the earth on contact. The strike didn't just break stone—it erased it, leaving a perfect, circular void where ground had once existed, the edges of the hole glowing faintly with residual darkness. Mexus and Tokkun ducked sideways in perfect sync, the attack passing between them with a soundless scream of annihilation that made the air itself feel colder.

"Hmph…" Mexus backflipped through the air, landing in a low crouch, yellow aura coiling around him like a serpent ready to strike, his kasa tilting slightly as he steadied himself.

Tokkun slid across the grass on one knee, carving a long trench with his boot, sparks flying as he stopped on a dime, red aura flaring brighter.

They charged again—this time together.

Mexus straight, Tokkun airborne.

Mexus swung horizontally, a massive yellow crescent of energy howling through the air toward the Void's head, the blade of light so bright it cast long shadows across the horizon. The Void ducked under it with inhuman grace.

Tokkun dropped from above like a meteor, heel aimed to crush the mask into dust. The Void raised its own foot to meet him—black aura devouring the space where the kick would land, ready to erase flesh and bone alike. But Tokkun was no fool. Mid-descent, he twisted violently, slamming his Reibone into the only spot not covered by the void aura—the back of the hand. CLANG. The invisible wall rang like a cathedral bell. He used the rebound to somersault away, flipping through the air and landing cat-light on the cracked earth. "Inefficient try…" he muttered, voice dripping with mockery.

Still airborne, Tokkun locked eyes with Mexus across the battlefield and gave a single, sharp nod.

Mexus returned it without hesitation.

He raised his Reibone high above his head. The yellow aura condensed, compressed, until it became a solid blade of light twice the length of his body, humming with barely contained power. With a roar that shook the very horizon, he swung in a perfect horizontal arc.

A massive yellow crescent of pure, annihilating energy tore across the battlefield, carving a trench fifty meters long and twenty deep, uprooting crystalline trees in explosions of shimmering shards, and slamming into the Void-Masked Figure with a detonation that lit the sky like a second sun.

BOOM.

Dust and debris exploded outward in a shockwave that flattened everything in a hundred-meter radius. When it cleared, the Void-Masked Figure stood exactly where it had been—unscathed, not a single scratch, only dragged backward across the ground, its boots carving twin furrows through solid crystal.

"You guys talk about efficiency…" it said, voice dripping with contempt, the black aura around it pulsing mockingly, "…and this is the method you're using to try and defeat us?"

The Rune-Masked Figure laughed, cocky as ever, its sigils flaring with arrogant blue light. "I told you there was nothing to worry about… they were just wasting time… nobody could really beat us."

The Void-Masked Figure sighed, the sound like wind scraping through a graveyard. "It seems you were right… We should wrap this up."

"Oh no…" Mexus said, his voice dripping with theatrical distress, eyes wide in mock horror as he clutched his kasa. "Our plan… how could it… I was sure… an energy blast would work…"

"Tsk…" Tokkun hissed through his teeth, shoulders slumping as if defeat had already sunk its claws in, his red aura flickering faintly.

The Rune-Masked Figure pulled a glowing pen from its cloak and inscribed a massive rune in the air—ᛞ—Dagaz. "Dagaz: Rune of Transformative Energy… power up my Void's energy… tenfold." The symbol flared blinding blue, then sank into the Void-Masked Figure like ink into water, vanishing with a pulse that made the ground tremble.

The black aura detonated.

It wasn't an aura anymore. It was a living abyss—a hole in the fabric of the Dream World itself, swallowing light, sound, hope. The ground beneath the Void's feet simply ceased to exist, falling into perfect nothingness. The temperature plummeted so fast breath turned to frost on their lips. The sky above darkened, as if the Cascade had already begun.

"This is the end of the line for you two…" the Void intoned, its voice now layered with a thousand hollow echoes, each one colder than the last. "Hope you'll rest well in the Afterlife… wait, no… you'll be erased, so that's not happening."

"I thought this was gonna work… Mexus…" Tokkun muttered, the words tasting like ash, his red aura dimming as the void's pressure crushed the air around them.

"This can't be happening right now…" Mexus whispered, his voice hollow, his kasa tilting as he stared at the walking apocalypse in front of them, the yellow in his eyes flickering like a dying flame.

The Void brought its hands together, fingers interlacing with a sound like cracking ice that echoed across the silent battlefield.

And spoke three words that made the Dream World itself flinch.

"Tabula… Rasa… Cascade."

A black wave exploded outward—not fast, but inevitable. It didn't travel; it **consumed**. Everything it touched—grass, stone, air, light—simply stopped existing. The wave expanded in perfect, absolute silence, a horizon-wide wall of nothing, growing larger, taller, swallowing the sky itself. It was beautiful in the way only total annihilation can be.

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**[Main Dream World – Tomaka Squad]**

The Rooftop Watcher had just risen from the crater, blood still dripping from his split lip, cloak hanging in tatters, when the world turned black.

He froze mid-step. His cloak stopped flapping. Even the smoke from Taro's last attack hung motionless in the air.

He looked up slowly. The sky was gone. A perfect, soundless wall of void was racing toward them, eating the horizon bite by bite, erasing clouds, stars, everything.

The Watcher bent his neck back and laughed—first a low chuckle, then a full, unhinged cackle that shook dust from the rubble around him.

"Sorry, kid…" he said, turning to Taro with a grin soaked in blood and madness, amber eyes glowing like dying coals. "But if he just used the Rasa Cascade…?" He wiped blood from his chin with the back of his hand, smile widening until it threatened to split his face in two.

"Then no doubt about it… your friends? The ones fighting my partners right now?"

He leaned in, voice dropping to a whisper that somehow carried over the silence.

"They're already erased."

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