"Boom!"
The wooden door was violently smashed open as the massive black knight stormed in.
His eyes flickered with mesmerizing red light.
With just a sweep, he locked onto Silas and Leomaster, who wore a linen robe.
The knight raised his enormous sword high and swung it down with crushing force.
Sharp wind pressure instantly filled the narrow room, and miscellaneous objects split in half like paper at the slightest touch.
"Ah!"
Leomaster cried out, staggering backward. He tripped over something heavy and fell to the ground, watching helplessly as the enormous sword rapidly grew larger before his eyes.
Silas reached out, grabbed his linen robe, and yanked him backward hard.
Deep black light flashed past. The floor in front of Leomaster was like soft tofu, deeply cleaved by the great sword.
On both sides of the sword mark, pitch-black radiance surged and flowed, instantly corroding and corrupting the surrounding floor tiles!
So sharp!
Silas's heart jumped in alarm.
The thought had barely formed when the black knight moved again, raising his sword with speed almost too fast for Silas to follow, sweeping upward from below in a deadly arc.
"Boom!"
Crimson flames erupted where the great sword passed, but Silas was no longer there.
Flaming Jump!
He had already flashed to Leomaster's side and grabbed his arm.
The man was so terrified by the battle that he'd shrunk into a corner, trembling in fear, unable even to flee.
"Get up!"
Silas still needed him to provide more intelligence. He couldn't abandon him yet.
"Thud!"
The burly black knight's stride was enormous.
In just one step, he crossed to them and brought down a slash that seemed capable of annihilating souls, aimed straight at their bodies.
"Boom!"
The pitch-black great sword didn't strike flesh.
It only stirred up a mass of crimson flames, the firelight blazing, suddenly brightening the dim interior.
The black knight jerked his head up sharply, turning toward the doorway.
He saw Silas dragging Leomaster, now appearing at the entrance.
"Find somewhere to hide."
He shoved the man away.
Leomaster hurriedly lowered his head and ran off, hiding somewhere unknown.
"So you're the Black Saint?"
Silas sneered coldly at the towering knight. "Come on, let's continue."
As he spoke, he spread both hands simultaneously.
From his right palm, lava gushed forth, rapidly solidifying to form a blazing greatsword burning with ghostly blue flames.
In his left palm appeared a section of rib bone, sharp at one end and blunt at the other, gleaming pure white.
Lava Sword and Agony!
"Thud, thud, thud!"
After relocating Silas, the "Black Saint" paused only briefly before once again gripping his dark, broad straight sword with both hands.
He charged across the hall toward Silas like a black mountain, pressing down with crushing weight!
Silas watched coldly as the figure rapidly approached.
When he was about ten to fifteen feet away, Silas suddenly raised the rib bone in his left hand in reverse grip.
"Pshh!"
Without the slightest hesitation, he viciously plunged the white bone spike deep into his own abdomen!
The sensitivity of his entire body's senses dramatically increased in that instant.
Intense pain flowed through overheated nerves into his brain, nearly boiling his gray matter.
At the same time, the compatibility between the Shepherd within him and his own spirituality surged to new heights!
"Ugh!"
Silas couldn't help but let out a low, mournful groan, his expression twisting to the extreme.
"Roar..."
Across from him, the "Black Saint" suddenly stopped. A deep, massive sound transmitted through his helmet.
Even those blood-red eyes flickered, clearly experiencing tremendous pain!
"Rumble..."
Everything around them began to shake.
The entire dream teetered on the brink of collapse, as if the dream's master, stimulated by this intense pain, could barely maintain his slumber!
How's that feel?
This was exactly the opportunity Silas had been waiting for. He now fully activated Kircheis's soul within him, letting the "Demon's" ability unleash completely.
The lava sword grew even more scorching, the blue flames burning on it blazing fiercely.
Gripping the sword with both hands, Silas thrust it with all his might toward the "Black Saint's" helmet!
"Boom!"
The lava greatsword struck its target without surprise, transmitting a difficult, heavy feedback, as if the attack had been absorbed by the armor without injuring the body inside.
That pitch-black helmet absorbed the damage!
"Clang..."
As the price, it shattered into pieces and fell to the floor, fully revealing its master's face.
It's him!
Gripping his greatsword, Silas caught a clear view of the face inside the helmet.
The tall knight's face was covered in wrinkles, his hair jet black. He looked weathered and profound.
He looked exactly like Leomaster, except his eyes flickered with deep crimson light.
They looked like two different sides of the same person!
In an instant, it was as if thunder exploded in Silas's mind.
He understood the Black Saint's current predicament and knew the cause of death for those Aurora Order members!
The world within the dream shook violently, as if experiencing an earthquake...
"Thump!"
Silas's eyes snapped open. He sat up abruptly from the bed.
He found his surroundings still pitch dark.
Night hadn't ended yet. The dream had been forcibly terminated.
It seemed the intense stimulation from Agony had affected the dream's master, causing him to wake up.
Need to fall asleep quickly...
Silas instinctively thought, rolling over in bed and closing his eyes.
Using meditation, he quickly returned to the dream realm once more.
Upon re-entering the dream, Silas was no longer in the prison. Instead, he'd returned to the plaza inside the monastery.
"Ah!"
He heard a startled cry from nearby. Looking over, he found it was Anderson.
The guy was no longer building his boat. The lumber and axe were thrown on the ground as he stood beside a mural.
"Oh, it's you. You scared me."
After seeing it was Silas, Anderson relaxed slightly. "Are you exploring this dream?"
"Yeah."
Silas responded casually, glancing at the mural beside Anderson.
The style was extremely similar to the temple The Sun had explored.
It was indeed Ouroboros's handiwork.
"Foolish snake."
He couldn't help but recall the School of Life leader's assessment of Him, shaking his head before turning to analyze what he'd just seen.
First, Leomaster had said he led the pilgrimage team. Theoretically, he should have been the strongest among them.
Second, the "Black Saint" had a face identical to Leomaster's.
Finally, those deceased members all displayed characteristics of splitting, and the information they left behind also said another persona had appeared inside them.
Combining all this, that island very likely caused people's personas to split, producing opposing personas!
That prison was the shared dream of the black knight guard and the ascetic prisoner.
The vicious main body and the relatively kind, pure good persona both belonged to the "Black Saint," Leomaster!