"How tragic! Hounded by beasts, this dark forest has led me astray!"
Nero's voice rang out, belting a holy hymn as wolf-like demons breached the dolls' defenses, claws bared and jaws snapping. In that split second, she crouched low, driving her sword into the ground, then slammed her foot onto the hilt.
The phantom blade sank deep into the earth. A dense array of swords erupted in a fan-shaped wave, skewering the closest wolves in a forest of steel. Nero stretched both arms out, summoning two new phantom swords. She leaped forward, blades crossing in front of her, primed for carnage.
Then, mid-air, Nero unleashed hell.
"This forest, desolate and treacherous, boundless as the arrival of death itself!"
Her crisscrossing slashes tore through the air, split the earth, and carved the wolf pack apart, leaving glowing scars in their wake. She landed gracefully in the heart of the divided horde, spinning to deliver another devastating strike.
"The dawn barely breaks, the sun rising with radiant stars from the east—"
Her swords shattered mid-slash, raw demonic energy splintering into countless blades, raining down like stars or a storm, piercing demon flesh left and right.
The wolves behind surged over their fallen kin, hungry for blood. But Nero was ready to close this verse.
She clapped her hands together, summoning a massive sword of pure demonic energy, and sang, "A fearless hound shall rise, purging the beasts, slaying them one by one!"
The blade crashed down, striking the glowing scars from her earlier slashes. Light erupted from the intersecting marks, a radiant orb rising before slamming into the ground at the heart of the wolf pack.
A deafening explosion roared, a pillar of light shooting skyward from the orb's impact, then vanishing. The wolves caught in its radius collapsed, reeking of charred flesh, littering the streets.
But compared to the endless swarm, this was a drop in the bucket.
Nero glanced back. Shoko and Nanna were still locked in a long-distance duel, wrestling for control of the dream. Each move to dominate was countered, leaving them deadlocked.
That meant Nero's fight was the key. The infinite wolf pack was Nanna's invasion of Shoko's dream made manifest. Wipe them out, and Shoko could seize the upper hand.
Nero turned back to the horde, resuming her hymn.
"Those beasts hail from the underworld, dwelling where jealous devils reign!"
Gripping her greatsword, Nero spun with a twist of her hips, hurling the blade behind her. It sliced through the air like a thunderbolt, cleaving three demons in half.
"My guide banished the beasts, leading me through that terrifying abyss—"
She hoisted the greatsword overhead, gripping it with both hands, and brought it down in a vertical slash.
Infused with demonic energy, the strike unleashed a blinding wave of light, ripping through the enemy ranks and adding another stroke to the glowing scars on the ground.
One slash done, but Nero wasn't stopping. Dragging the sword's hilt, she stepped back with her left leg, spinning to rake the blade across the earth, then slashing upward.
"He'll guide me through the eternal realm, where despair's cries echo!"
A wave of burning demonic energy surged from the sword's tip, rolling forward like a tidal wave, engulfing five more wolves and snuffing out their lives.
Three verses down. Time to detonate. Instead of pulling back, Nero hurled her sword skyward, letting it spin wildly.
She leaped after it, snatching the blade mid-air, flipping it into a reverse grip, and plummeting like a meteor.
"He'll show me the ancient spirits in torment, each craving a second death!"
Like a comet crashing into the sea, azure waves of energy exploded outward from Nero's landing point. Half-kneeling, she drove the greatsword deep into the earth, channeling the surging demonic power to trigger a second explosion.
In a deafening roar, crown-shaped waves of energy erupted in a blaze of light, flooding the entire street.
But it still wasn't enough. The plaza had multiple roads, and Nero had only cleared one.
Beyond the streets, even more wolves lurked, eyes gleaming with hunger.
Nero yanked her sword free, charging forward like a whirlwind, reaching the street's end in a blink. She hurled the blade again, the spinning greatsword ricocheting through the pack, carving a literal blood-soaked path.
"I cast fear and dread aside, following him into the land of the dead—"
Nero darted into the bloody trail. When blood-drenched wolves blocked her path, she skidded to a halt, swinging a demonic gauntlet-clad fist, singing, "Here, sighs, complaints, and wails resound in starless air!"
Her fist smashed into a wolf's gut, guts spilling as it flew back. The shockwave fanned out in a cone, toppling the beast, which crashed into others, who then knocked down more—like dominoes collapsing in a chain.
Before Nero could retract her fist, wolves lunged from both sides. She swept her left arm in a "brush-off" motion, deflecting a claw with her forearm. Her left fist snapped back, then shot forward in a jab, cracking a wolf's jaw.
Her right arm, already pulling back, drove an elbow into the flank of another wolf, sending it sprawling.
"In a cacophony of tongues, clapping and shouting mix with weeping and stomping—"
The wolves on both sides collapsed in heaps. Nero stepped forward, spinning to a poised stance, finishing the verse with calm precision.
She clasped her hands in prayer, whispering the third verse's end.
"Painful cries and dreadful curses ensure this place never knows silence, like wind-whipped sand blotting out the sky!"
The earth quaked violently.
No illusion—Nero strode toward the plaza, demonic energy crackling around her hands and feet. Her aura surged, invisible wings unfurling behind her, tinged with emerald green. She'd tapped into the dormant Pride Stone within her.
By chanting in segments, Nero had bypassed her hymn's "ten-line limit," stacking power from each verse onto the next. The energy coursing through her now was immense—potentially dwarfing the blow that once felled the Savior.
Time to unleash it.
"These silent, spineless cowards, selfish fence-sitters—"
Her first step shook the ground. Nero raised her hands, fingers interlocking, a massive surge of demonic energy pooling into a searing white light between her palms.
With her second step, the earth groaned. The energy solidified into a blinding orb, enveloping her forearms.
"Rejected by heaven, unwanted by hell—"
The power in her hands pushed her control to the brink. The orb felt heavy, like it had physical weight, nearly impossible to lift.
But that only meant this strike would be cataclysmic.
Time slowed. Despite the crushing weight of the energy, Nero's movements were sluggish, yet not a single wolf dared approach. Instead, they retreated, abandoning their wounded, scrambling to escape.
Big mistake.
Nero knew her target wasn't some singular, god-tier foe requiring a pinpoint strike. It was a horde—countless as sand in the sea, leaves in a forest.
This wasn't about cracking mountains or splitting the earth.
It was about sweeping the skies and overturning oceans.
"Without hope of oblivion or vision of life, living days as if already dead!"
Nero took her final step, the world trembling as she slammed her clasped hands into the ground.
"And so, I name this—"
In that instant, all sound drowned in a blinding white light. From Nero's hands, the light expanded with a swelling shockwave, forming a massive hemisphere of pure white silence that swallowed the church, the streets, and half the city.
In the stillness, a single voice whispered.
"—Hell on Earth."
The voice faded with the wind, the all-consuming light dimming. Nero stood in the center of a wasteland, surrounded by rubble. No buildings remained—streets, church, plaza, all obliterated. Only at the shockwave's edge did fragments of walls hint at the city's former shape.
In the ruins, nothing lived but Nero.
Moments later, Shoko Toyokawa appeared beside her, unscathed, like a ripple in a stream.
"I didn't tell you to take out my dolls too," she said, her voice flat.
"Whoops, my bad," Nero replied, giving a mock bow, her tone dripping with indifference. "You didn't say not to, though."
Shoko thought for a second, realized she hadn't, and fell silent.
"Where's Nanna?" Nero asked, scanning the wreckage.
"She's trying to bolt," Shoko said, narrowing her eyes. "But she's not getting away."
The masked girl in the black dress reached out, snatching a shadowy tendril—Nanna's tail, or rather, the "Moonblood Princess's."
The tendril writhed, and Nanna's form materialized, forced into the open.
"You filthy insect!" Nanna roared, her borrowed Shoko-like visage twisted in fury. "Once I'm back at full strength, I'll make you beg for death!"
Her threats sounded pathetic now. With her invasion of Shoko's dream reset to zero, she'd lost all control. Shoko alone held godlike power in this dreamworld.
Nanna, by barging in, had walked into a trap.
"So, that's it? We're done here?" Nero asked Shoko, hesitating. "What about Little Ace? Got a plan for that?"
Before Shoko could answer, Nero remembered the others Nanna had devoured. Could Yamato still cut them free? She decided to ask after Shoko's response.
But Shoko didn't reply.
"Finally."
A voice echoed from the void, resonating under the blood-red moon. It was unfamiliar to Nero, but the instant she heard it, she knew who it belonged to.
Childlike yet seductive, the voice carried a pure, girlish charm laced with menace. As it spoke, a familiar presence flooded the ruins.
"Little Ace?!" Nero's blood ran cold, a chill creeping up her spine.
Of all the times for this bastard to show up, it picked the moment they'd just taken down Nanna.
The implications were crystal clear.
Nero whipped around to Shoko, who stood frozen like a puppet, still gripping Nanna's tendril, unmoving.
"Finally, I've waited for this moment."
The voice solidified, and a small, pink-white figure appeared atop the ruins where the church once stood. Nero got her first look at Little Ace and cursed under her breath—it looked way too much like that damn white devil.
Nanna was still struggling, but Little Ace extended a claw toward her. Nero hurled a phantom sword and charged, determined to stop whatever it was planning.
Too late.
Little Ace's appearance wasn't a bluff—it came with absolute confidence. The moment it raised its claw, Nanna merged with Shoko without resistance. Scarlet eyes flickered in Shoko's pupils, signaling Nanna was seizing control again.
Sure, Nanna didn't know Ace's full plan, but to her, this was a chance. Except it wasn't.
In Ace's cold laughter, the sleeping denizens of the city saw their dreams tinged with peach-hued hues. These countless dreams wove a vast net, letting Ace seize control of the entire dreamworld with a surge of demonic power.
If Nanna were at full strength, she'd crush this stunt with a flick of her wrist. But fresh off a defeat, still wrestling for dominance over Shoko's consciousness, she was vulnerable.
In that moment, Little Ace became the true master of the dreamworld.
For now.