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2. World of Nightmares

2. World of Nightmares

Right after eating his meal, Vektor dresses up in casual clothes then leaves his house to visit Sych, his best friend since childhood. All he decides to take with him is an old cell phone, used for emergencies or important calls that Vektor might receive while walking.

After about 20 minutes of walking, Vektor receives a call from his mother:

"Hello, Vektor?"

"Hello, mom, what's wrong?"

"You still haven't found Sych, right?"

"Yes, why the question?"

"If that's the case, make sure to get back here now."

"Hm? Did something happen?"

"Looks like there's been an incident in the building where he lives."

"An incident? What do you mean?"

"It's nothing to worry about. From what I've heard, everyone in the building is evacuating safely. So just turn around and come back home."

"If you say so... Okay, I'll be home soon."

Vektor ends the call and decides to return home, a little uneasy about the situation:

"(Damn, things must be complicated for Sych and his father... Hope they're okay. Well, Sych is tough, he must be safe. But still, I hope it all sorts out later...)"

On his way home, he passes around a commercial department, where televisions are broadcasting the local news. On the news, the building where Sych lives is shown on the brink of collapse. This catches Vektor's attention, and then he decides to stop and watch the news for a moment.

According to the news, there was an explosion in the building's power generator, which was located underground. As a result, the structure of the building became unstable and the entire building began to collapse. Fortunately, all the residents seem to have escaped the building in time, which makes Vektor feel relief, even though he feels bad at the reminder that everything inside Sych's apartment will be lost.

However, the exact moment Vektor is ready to continue walking home, local reporters show that there is a young man asking for help from inside one of the apartments. When looking at the screens, Vektor has his mind controlled by despair. The one in danger is, without any doubt...

"...Sych!!"

Instinctively, Vektor starts running towards the building. As the minutes pass, Vektor sinks into the confusion of his mind as his hope slightly fades out:

"Why is Sych the only one in there?! Couldn't he have used his power to get out of there?! No, it's not the time to think about this! I saw it with my own eyes! But what if he made it out in time after asking for help...? No, if that were the case, he would have told my mother. But didn't she said everything was okay? No, maybe she just watched the news like I did..."

Lost in his thoughts, Vektor despairs as he wonders why he's trying to do something while his legs are growing numb and aching:

"But still, even if I get there in time, what can I do?! I can't control my power well enough to use it...! I'm not able to do anything! Damn it... What should I do?!"

Without ceasing to move his legs, Vektor empties his mind the moment he finds himself a few meters away from the still-standing building. A spark of hope ignites in his soul which, fueled by the accumulated despair, causes his body to literally burst into flames, as a temporary awakening of his Etykiran power.

Vektor's body is covered in flames, and the pupils of his eyes disappear. Somehow, his body and clothes remain intact even though they are covered in flames. After seeing Sych from afar, Vektor flies to a window on the sixth floor of the building with a singular jump. Those who escaped in time contemplate something like a shining incandescent meteor flying towards the building, not knowing they are looking at a person.

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After destroying the window with his body, Vektor collides with a wall inside the building, and the pain of the impact makes him instinctively extinguish the flames from his own body. It seems that this time it wasn't necessary to be unconscious to regain self-control.

Still a little sore, he slowly stands up, taking care not to injure himself from the broken glass. The invasion was a success. But it's not the time to rest yet, Sych is somewhere in the building in need of rescue.

Recomposed, Vektor cautiously walks through the halls of the collapsing building, shouting as loudly as he can:

"Sych! Sych! Answer me, Sych!"

After less than a minute of walking, Vektor finds in a corridor the figure of his friend turned on his back, keeping silent and immobile. Something kind of strange, as the desperation before shown now seems nonexistent. But before such urgent situation, Vektor doesn't stop to think about this:

"Finally found you...! Hey, Sych! Let's get out of here!"

"..."

"What are you waiting for?! Follow me already! Before the two of us get buried alive!"

"...So you actually came."

"...!"

Before Vektor gets the time to react, Sych's body begins to shine brightly. By reflex, Vektor closes his eyes as he remembers something like this happening not long ago... That's it! A Disguise Crystal!

The moment Vektor completes his reasoning, he opens his eyes, and the person who was supposed to be Sych is revealed to be a young man with long clothes and hair.

This young man's straight strands of hair are pulled back in a ponytail. He wears a vest with its dorsal side elongated like a small cape, over a sweatshirt. It is not possible to say for sure the colors of the clothes, because of the darkness. After a few seconds of astonishment, Vektor decides to break the silence:

"Who are you...?"

"Seems like what I heard about you was true..."

"...?"

"Seeing your friend in trouble, you went straight to his rescue without thinking twice... Are you by any chance one of those who likes to play hero?"

"What you're talking about?! Who even are you?!"

"I have an idea. I'm going to do a little test. If you survive, you shall find out who I am."

"Huh?! What's this test you're talking about?! What do you want, bury me with you?!"

"The only one who shall die is you, apprentice Drenn."

"Shut up! Who do you think you are?!"

In a moment of fury, Vektor runs towards the mysterious young man, who just turns his face to stare at Vektor and says:

"Someone above you."

Vektor tries to punch him, but he easily dodges. After missing the first punch, Vektor tries to attack again and again, but doesn't land any hits. After dodging all the attacks, his opponent disappears from his field of vision.

"Even though you're as brave as they told me, it's still not what I was hoping for. I thought my target would be faster, or at least fast enough to keep track of me using his eyes."

After hearing this, Vektor finds his opponent behind him with one of his hands raised, saying:

"Please, in order for me to complete my mission, lend me some of your power… my lord…!"

As he says this, his raised hand begins to accumulate dark energy, glowing with a strong shade of purple. In a single instant, this hand hits Vektor's chest, who in turn feels intense pain in his heart and lungs. The winner walks away then bids farewell:

"Let's see if your resistance is worthy of my effort to come here. I won't be so kind next time, apprentice of flames, Vektor Drenn..."

The young man then disappears, leaving Vektor alone in the collapsing building feeling intense pain. This pain is so strong his own consciousness fades out steadly.

Vektor feels his breathing getting heavier, and his heartbeat quickening. His eyes change colors going from black to a bright purple, while emiting a thin and hot purple steam. The moment his pain reaches its limit, he lets out an agonized scream that soon becomes a roar:

"AAAAAAAAAHHH... RRAAAARRRGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Vektor's body bursts into purple flames, and then he's possessed by the dark power, which causes him to burn his entire body with red and purple flames while his mind loses all of its self-control. The uncontrolled Vektor proceeds to destroy the interior of the building using superhuman strength combined with powerful red flames, while the purple flames heal any wounds and intensify the red flames.

Meanwhile, Vektor's soul is trapped inside a dark dimension populated by hideous and savage monsters. This place is called the World of Nightmares.

There, he is attacked by the monsters, but manages to fight back using his combat skills. Despite being big and strong, monsters are too slow and disorganized to individually being threatening against fighters.

Every time a monster is defeated, its body explodes like a smoke bomb, but the smoke is much darker and quickly dissolves into air as it is just concentrated dark energy.

However, the greatest strength of these monsters resides in its numbers. The massive amount of monsters in the World of Nightmares makes a exhausting and complicated battle.

After defeating dozens of monsters, Vektor starts to run out of energy, which is not much, but the monsters' offensive continues with the same intensity. Gradually, Vektor becomes exhausted and vulnerable, and after a lot of struggle, he finally loses the battle and is knocked unconscious.

At the same time, Vektor's possessed body loses consciousness the moment the building gives in to the destruction caused by him and then collapses with Vektor inside. The flames on his body are extinguished and the possession is brutally interrupted.