Frein’s Meiyal System

While Frein emphasized his Siffera, echoing his killing intent towards both Sphinxes to keep them from spontaneously attacking him, he simultaneously tried to calm Elizzel down.

“You do know we have a contingency plan right?” the faunel reasoned out. “I can pull you out of here and we can come back again.”

“What’s our guarantee that those two will do nothing while we’re gone? For all we know we just activated Kristel’s death sentence, not to mention Evanclad’s in danger.”

Elizzel hesitated.

“Come on, Eli. I need you here,” Frein whispered.

“Alright, but we have no time to be idle. This time we’re on the offensive. And you need to be prepared for that Negating Roar.” Elizzel tugged at their Tether, delivering a set of instructions that confused Frein.

He almost lost focus.

“Are you sure this will work?” he asked.

“It’ll strain your meiyal system since you’re not used to it, but I’ll guide you, so you don’t have to worry,” she sighed. “At least this method’s safer compared to meddling with Destiny.”

“Alright. Let’s do it.”

“Wait, you’re not objecting?”

“You trust me, I trust you. That’s how it works.”

Frein could see the second Sphinx Without Questions finally breaking free from the intimidating constraint caused by his Siffera. But rather than let the Nightmare tear through his oppressive presence, he relented instead, and focused everything to an offensive.

Within a blink, he leapt right next to the injured Sphinx, creating distance from the new Nightmare and sending a four-meiyal empowered fist straight to his target’s massive, yet majestic face. He felt a hint of regret when he realized it’ll leave a blemish on such a beautiful figure, but Elizzel pulled him back to reality—the Dream’s reality.

He’d disfigure this piece of treasure over and over again if it belonged to a Nightmare.

The impact threw the Sphinx straight to the ground. Frein shot straight towards its face again and slammed both his feet on its skull. He felt it shatter underneath. Before he could unleash a devastating combo, however, his awareness sent him alarms.

The Visitor flipped away just in time as lightning struck at the Sphinx’s face. The second one had reached them and didn’t care if it hurt its ally.

Playing shield’s out of the option, I guess.

But he could utilize this instead to his advantage.

In a severe state of panic, the injured Sphinx bellowed a Negating Roar. Frein saw it coming and distanced himself just in time. He switched his focus towards the second Nightmare, dashing from side to side to avoid the onslaught of projectiles.

The moment he was within striking range, the Sphinx sliced towards him with both longswords. Frein leapt past them, but was met by a spear. He responded with a kick, swatting away the pointed blade that was almost as large as he was.

He was then met by the second spear swinging towards him. Frein spun out of the way, catching the shaft just in time so he could take advantage of the strike’s trajectory. He let go at the zenith of the attack’s follow through and the momentum sent him higher than the Sphinx.

Frein began to fall, aiming towards the Nightmare’s skull once again. But the creature had just recovered its longswords and thrusted them towards him, intent on skewering him as he fell.

These Nightmares were smart, but they were absurdly slow.

With Mesiffera, Frein predicted the swords’ path and managed to slip through in between. He fell straight towards the Sphinxes face and slammed a fully emphasized four-meiyal Siffera punch.

The gigantic Nightmare’s form twisted and recoiled, flipping back straight to the ground as the impact of his punch caused a massive impact. Just like with the first Sphinx, Frein followed up by smashing its skull. And as expected, it reacted in desperation. It sent its own Negating Roar.

At the same time, the first Sphinx had caught up on them and sent its own flurry of attacks, opting to use its weapons after realizing that projectiles were not effective at all.

The combination caught Frein in an awkward spot. He had nowhere to dash off to and his opponents didn’t allow him enough time to make a decision. He was forced to meet the first Sphinx’s attacks while withstanding the second’s Negating Roar.

“This is it, Frein! You have to be quick.”

As Frein swatted away a jabbing spear, the second Sphinx bellowed. He poured as much as he could into focusing his awareness towards himself.

Time slowed down.

Frein briefly recalled when he achieved such a feat back during Frill’s maelstrom. It was such a challenge back then. He admitted it happened out of the blue and was totally a fluke. But now it seemed so easy.

The Negating Roar slowly brushed from his right ankle, spreading slowly upwards. The moment Siffera was erased from a certain part of his body, Frein re-Drew it with precision, rendering it as if the erasing wave simply moved through him.

He managed to do it perfectly, but it was mostly because Elizzel helped him out. The faunel had focused everything she could to make sure they didn’t go too fast, causing the new Siffera to be negated, or too slow and fail to protect him just in time from the impact.

The entire sequence, however, caused a massive strain on Frein’s system. As if he pulled a muscle the wrong way or tore a part of his tendon. The pain surged from within his chest and caused a shortness of breath. It took all of his willpower to refuse to relent.

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This was his only chance. He gritted his teeth and moved.

Time, then, resumed.

The oncoming wave that followed the erasure did little to throw him off balance, let alone hurt him in any capacity. But it was enough to make the first Sphinx to flinch out of its reckless attacks.

His instantaneous recovery caught the two Sphinxes off-guard, but most importantly, it placed him in prime position while the second Nightmare still recovered. He pried away its longsword and lunged at the first, more injured, Sphinx.

It was weak, driven solely by its fury and nature, and couldn’t defend itself anymore. So it was slow to react when Frein stabbed its neck and sliced, parting a portion of its head off its shoulders.

The Sphinx’s movements stopped. At first, Frein thought it might recover, but when it fell lifeless on the ground, it confirmed for him that Nightmares operated differently inside the Dream.

Their influences were more apparent here but in exchange for their vulnerability.

The second Sphinx had recovered from its Negating Roar and realized its companion was gone. It didn’t care in the slightest and continued to focus on attacking Frein rather than spare any remorse.

It circled around him at blinding speed, sending a storm of attacks from its spears and remaining sword while it closed in its serpentine coil.

Frein had seen this once already.

He took his time to recover his breath while he maneuvered around the Nightmare’s attacks. And with one, heavy stroke of the stolen longsword, he dispatched the second Sphinx with relative ease.

The Visitor could finally breathe as the second Sphinx fell lifeless on the ground. He assessed himself and his resources while maintaining Siffera-empowered awareness spread around him.

His meiyal reserves were still plenty. The entire fight didn’t even cost him half of what he had Milled. He found it a little odd to consciously stop himself from Gathering and Milling, but thankfully, it wasn’t too much of a bother to distract him from the fight.

On the other hand, he had almost run out of four-meiyal after they used a big chunk of it for re-Drawing Siffera.

He specifically stored this new experience into his own Mind Palace. Something to train and improve for the future.

Frein didn’t know exactly how it would help him, but if he could efficiently Draw and re-Draw his Meiyal Arts without effort or cost, he was sure it’ll give him confidence to face more dangerous Nightmares. Even with a Purifying Stone protecting him from the effects of a Negating Roar, there was no absolute proof that it would defend him from stronger Nightmares using the same attack.

His injuries were a mystery to him. In fact, he noticed all his wounds had closed, clotted as if days had passed since he got them. It only clicked to him a second later that Siffera even enhanced his natural physical healing as opposed to the instantaneous recovery brought by Samesia.

What the hell is with this Meiyal Art? It just improves everything!

A dangerous thought entered his mind as he realized something.

“If Siffera can enhance an observation Meiyal Art, what’s stopping it from enhancing other Arts?” he mused within himself, but prompted Elizzel with the question as well.

The faunel simply smiled from within his Exhibit. “That’s where other meiyal-charged materials help. Among other effects, some of them also serve as mediums for you to combine Arts together. Emerald Guidance doesn’t function the same way, but you’ll notice it from others who open their Displays. Still, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.”

“Yeah, we should look for Evanclad.”

Frein moved to return to the Mind Palace when a massive tear in the Dream opened to a cosmic portal. He stopped and stared past the whirling stars and solar systems until a gigantic, furry creature crossed the threshold, promptly closing the portal right after.

His heart almost skipped a beat when he thought he had to fight another, more sinister Nightmare. But relief quickly embraced him when he realized Norazzel’s wolf form.

Elizzel appeared out of the Tether in an instant. “Norazzel!” she called out.

“Elizzel, Frein. It’s good to see you, but where are we?” the faunel of Dreams asked. She lifted her snout, sniffing the air with the curiosity of any normal sized canine. The size difference melted the Visitor’s heart.

“We’re in the Irista Mind Palace,” Frein answered after gathering his composure. “You don’t get around here?”

“I’m afraid not. This place is too isolated and sinister.”

“Are you saying there are more Nightmares?”

The giant wolf shook its head. “Far from it. This particular Dream is filled with painful memories, suffering dreams. It’s oozing with self-pity and lack of self-confidence from the Iristas that came before the current heir. Whatever it was that made Evanclad Irista great and powerful is also the one hindering his bloodline from ever surpassing him.”

Frein could read that Norazzel wasn’t eager to discuss it any further. So he moved the topic along while he stretched. He was itching to Gather and Mill. The feeling of an empty space within his reserves didn’t sit too well with him.

“So how come you’re here now?” he asked.

“I asked her to come,” Evanclad’s voice echoed as his presence slowly approached. “Glad you could make it, Nora.”

“Without your guidance, I never would’ve reached this place. Thank you, First Monarch. I’ve taken the liberty of memorizing the path, if you don’t mind.”

The faunel bowed with such magnificence that her immense size gave Frein a sense of secondhand gratification. His lips parted at the sight of strength and beauty lowering herself to such a small—and quite frankly nonexistent—creature.

“Please, Nora. There’s no need for formalities. And by all means, visit as much as you wish. But I did call you right now for a favor.”

“As long as it is within my power to fulfill.”

“My heir’s fallen to a Void Sleep.”

“Void Sleep?” Frein asked, immediately magnetized by the new term.

“It’s the origin of why the Void Region eventually became the Nightmare Lands,” Evanclad explained. “The influence of the Nightmare—the Void, back then—turned people into…well, Nightmares. But some individuals are resistant to it. Instead, they fall into a deep sleep while the Void tears away at their resistance and turns them from inside the Dream first.”

“So Kristel’s about to turn?”

“If we don’t do anything about it, yes.”

“Are you for certain, Evanclad?” Norazzel asked. It seemed that she could also sense where the First Monarch currently stood. Frein wondered if it was due to her sense of smell. He didn’t ask.

“No, not exactly,” Evanclad replied. “But I would like an expert’s opinion.”

“Then lead the way.”

“Ah, but first, I have to ask, Frein.” Evanclad made an invisible gesture. Frein could feel him pointing towards the Sphinxes Without Questions. “Are you going to eat those?”

Frein blinked twice. “Excuse me?”

“Eat. Eat the Nightmares. Nom, nom, and all that.” For a voice as gruff and deep as Evanclad’s, he sure didn’t speak like one as far as Frein was concerned.

“Sorry, but I don’t think I’m supposed to eat those, right?”

Evanclad frowned. “You’re telling me, you, the Visitor, became this strong without eating Nightmares? Are you telling me, you don’t even know why you have such a special meiyal system?”

Frein calmed himself down. He met Evanclad eye to invisible eye. This was something he had to pay his utmost attention to. “Please explain.”

The First Monarch realized the change in his demeanor and settled on a rock. By now, Frein was accustomed to simply feeling what Evanclad was doing by reading his presence.

“Now it makes sense why you didn’t react so much when I told you about the Fragment of Zerax’thum’s Core.” He sighed and went silent for a while. “Your meiyal system didn’t come from this Schrodie, the Gatekeeper fellow. I assume when I was gone someone made her the caretaker of that system and bound her in oath to continue our Visitor project.

“That meiyal system you have there, is from none other than Zerax’thum, the Fallen Dragon, the one who caused the Divine Severing. Also known to a few as the Eater of Nightmares.” Evanclad returned a sincere stare. “So eat, Visitor.”

“Why do I have to eat those?” Frein retorted, not liking the concept at all. Never mind that the source of his strength came from such a powerful, yet problematic—too generous a term—entity. “I can get stronger on my own.”

“Do you honestly believe that you can face the Nightmare just by training everyday? Well, you can, if you have more than a year. Do you?”

He stood and turned to Norazzel. “Follow me, Nora. Eli, I’m sure you don’t remember how it works, but since you’re helping Frein out, make sure he doesn’t succumb to the influence and throw up.”

While Frein struggled to digest what he just heard, the First Monarch turned to him once again.

“Find their cores, and eat them. You do know how to eat, right?”

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