I opened my eyes. Where.. am I? I sat up and noticed I was in an empty room. Someone opened the door and Rose peeked in. Only her head was visible and her fingers gripping the door.

“Onii-chan, are you okay?” she asked.

“Y.. yea, I’m fine,” I replied.

I looked at her and she kept staring at me. It started getting weird when I noticed she was not blinking and maintaining her pose for such a long time.

“Rose? Are you okay?” I asked her with concern.

As soon as I asked her, her head and fingers fell to the ground. I screamed a little as the parts where I could see her was the parts that fell off. Where are the rest of her body?!

I thought of going closer to the door but I heard loud footsteps walking closer. I got myself ready for whoever that was coming but strangely even after a couple of minutes, the sound level remained the same and no one showed up at the door.

I decided to brave myself and walk towards the door to see what’s on the other side. I opened it and what I saw was an empty grassy field for miles. I know this place. This is where Kirin and Byakko usually resides in when they appear before me in my dream when they wishes to talk to me. But where are they?

I looked everywhere and no one was around. Hm, what’s going on here? I turned around to see what was behind me and the scenery changed drastically. I was standing on a cliff facing towards the City Of Pines which was burning in its entirety. Rose was strung up with ropes on her wrist in between two wooden poles where I had a clear view of. The dark entity appeared before her and began chocking her from behind. It would seemed that Rose was helpless against this entity as she was struggling to free herself from its grip. The entity pierced its dark looking claws through her stomach, ripped her in half and tossed her aside.

“You’re next!” said the entity.

I just stared at the entity and chuckled. It thinks that by showing me this would cause me to panic or feel hopeless.

“You’re going to need to do better than that, Baku. You think Rose is that weak? Oh please, she is stronger than me, dumbass,” I told it.

“Bah,” said Baku as he changed the scenery with a swipe of his hands.

It changed to somewhere unfamiliar to me. There were humans fighting all around me. Wait, not just humans but elves too. Someone knocked onto me in the midst of all the commotion. It was a reptilian and he was bleeding badly along with bruises and a disfigured face.

“Help me!!!” shouted the lizardman as he gripped my clothes.

“What are you trying to pull here, Baku? Trying to pull on my heartstrings? Where is Rose?!” I shouted out loud while shoving the lizardman away.

There was no reply from him. I decided to summon both Inazuma and Tengu-kaze along with Hands of Lightning God. Alright, I can summon all of them. Whether I can use them to their full potential is something I can only hope for.

I gathered power to my left hand and slammed Tengu-kaze onto the ground, causing all the beings surrounding me to be blown away. All of them stared at me as they were knocked from the ground wondering what was happening.

All of a sudden, someone came out to attack me. I managed to block it just in time before the blade reaches me. The flash of red hair flowed smoothly as this being attacked me. I instantly knew who this person was.

“You again? Enough already. Stop disguising as my mother,” I told her.

“Foul demon, you shall pay for what you’ve done!” shouted Jane.

“Demon? I’m human, you moron,” I replied to her.

“Your trickery will not work on me, demon,” she said as she pointed her blade that glowed with dark purple towards me.

Hang on, isn’t that.. Tengu-kaze? But.. I’m holding Tengu-kaze right now. This is travesty! An impostor pretending to be my mother AND using my legendary weapon?! This shall not stand.

“Oi Baku, there is a limit to how much you can insult me. You are going to pay for that,” I warned him.

“I am not Baku. My name is…,” she stopped attacking as she held her head. It seems like she is in pain.

“J.. Jane, my name is Jane!” she shouted as she rushed in to attack me.

I used Tengu-kaze to block her attacks to prove that I am using the original one. Her attacks were relentless but.. surprisingly light. Strangely though, she had not used any wind attacks so far. Tengu-kaze’s attacks should be heavy and strong in the first place. Hmm.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Jane continued her attacks against me aiming for my vital points. Why does.. this feels so familiar? I’ve.. fought with this person before. I know how she is going to attack me.

She aimed for my neck which I blocked it. Then she aimed for the back of my knee which I moved it out of the way. It was then that I knew that she will be going for my heart next. I pushed the sword aside with my gauntlets and aimed for her shoulder. I gripped her wrist and pushed against her shoulder locking her right arm.

“Rose, wake up!! Stop attacking me!” I shouted to her.

“I’m.. not Rose. My name is… J… Jane!” she tried to break free from my grip.

“Ah, dammit. Rose…. Wake up!” I continued to push against her shoulder which she moved around constantly trying to break free.

She gave me a back kick with her right leg which I grabbed and pulled her to the ground locking her in place.

“Dammit, Rose! It’s me! Your husband and brother!” I realised what an odd sentence I just said.

“I won’t be fooled by your trickery, demon!” shouted Jane as she put more strength into freeing herself.

We began struggling on the ground trying to overpower the other. It was so difficult to lock her in place as she kept wriggling like a damn fish. It took a lot of effort but I managed to overpowered her by locking all of her limbs down. But in doing so, I am now face to face directly in front of my mother’s face. Damn it, what do I do now to wake her up? Kiss my own mother? No, don’t think of it like that. This is Rose that is brainwashed to act as my mother. I am 99% certain that it is her. Now just need to close my eyes and kiss my mom.

Fuck! Don’t think of it that way and.. just do it!

I awkwardly lowered my head and kissed her which caused her to finally stop squirming around. But.. something feels off. Why does it feels different but sort of familiar?

“Zen?” asked a voice.

“Ro.. L.. Lily?” I muttered as I realised who I just kissed a moment ago.

“Y.. you kissed me. Does this mean you are choosing me as your wife?” She asked.

“H.. huh? N.. no. I had already married Rose and have Daisy together. I can’t choose you, Lily,” I explained to her while releasing her grip.

“What are you talking about? Daisy is our child. We had a steamy night together and you somehow got me pregnant despite my lineage having difficulty in conceiving. I gave birth to our child. How can you forget that?” she asked me as she sat up.

“What? No, Daisy is my child with Rose. Not with you,” I gave her a firm answer.

“Zen.. you loved me. And you are well aware of my feelings for you. But I will not forgive you if say that Daisy is not my child one last time!” shouted Lily.

“What are you even talking about?! Daisy is.. our child? You’re right. What am I even saying? She’s our child,” I smacked my head as it started to hurt now.

“That’s right, Zen. You were drunk and we had a night together. I carried your child for you. Please don’t abandon our child and make her fatherless. Come home, Zen. Come home,” said Lily as she extended both of her arms towards me.

I walked closer to her and accepted her hug. What was I doing? Lily is my childhood friend and I made her pregnant after I foolishly got drunk that night. But why is my head hurting again? The horrible pain seems to be coming back now. But Lily’s hug was comforting and warm which made me ignore the pain. Not only that, my little buddy was reacting to her as well. Between her pleasant body odour, her soft breasts pushing against me and her hair smell, it is certainly getting a rise out of me.

Something pierced through Lily’s head from behind me while I was hugging her. She fell to the ground and there was a clank of metal as a dagger fell from her right hand. I slowly turned my head behind to see who it was that killed my wife. It was Rose and she glared at me while looking all pissed off.

“I told you it was only a matter of time,” said Rose as sheathed her rapier and walked closer to me.

“W.. what did you do? Why did you kill Lily? Why did you kill my wife? Now Daisy is going to be motherless because of you,” I muttered to her.

Her facial expression turned sour as she approached closer to me. I tried to defend myself by lifting Tengu-kaze towards her in an attempt to stop her. She kicked the sword aside, gave me a light slap and kissed me deeply. My head was starting to feel lighter and the headache was going away. She can cast Mind Fortification while kissing me?

“You are my husband and Daisy is MY child. Until you marry Lily, I am your wife. But Daisy will always be my child. Not even Lily can take her away from me, or a fake Lily for that matter,” said Rose as she held my face in front of hers.

“I’m.. sorry, Baku’s powers is strong and it affected me. I am sorry about what I said earlier,” I whispered to her.

“I am not angry at you, onii-chan. I am angry at the fact that this dream mastermind is trying to make it as though Daisy is not my child. I will never forgive it for that fact,” she said as she turned her head towards Lily’s corpse.

Um, corpse? It suddenly stood up inhumanly with a gaping hole where the right eye was. Rose certainly had no mercy on this Lily imposter alright.

“Rose Starr, possibly the strongest human in this realm. You are certainly a pain to deal with,” said the Lily imposter.

“It would seemed that you had heard of me. Then you know full well what I am capable of, you fiend. Stop trying to tear my family apart. Your illusions will not work on me,” spat Rose.

Yikes. She is angry indeed. What did Baku showed her that pissed her off this much? Don’t you know that angering her might incite a world war? Rose is certainly capable of doing so if she so wishes to. I can vouch on her powers if she ever goes batshit crazy.

“Illusions might not work on you any longer, but what about physical?” questioned Baku.

I quickly turned my head and noticed a dark figure on all fours creeping up on Rose from behind her. I rushed to her side to protect her, blocking a giant blade that was swung directly at her. Rose did not moved at all and trusted that I will make it in time to protect her while she focused her attention on Baku.

“Onii-chan, I’ll leave that thing to you while I handle this “Baku”, can you do that for me?” whispered Rose.

“Knock yourself out, Rose. He’s all yours,” I chuckled.

“Haha, let’s get a little light here to clear all these darkness,” said Rose as she did a quick chant and casted Holy Light.

Both Baku and this dark figure roared in pain at the sudden appearance of Rose’s Holy Light. It is just a spell to summon a strong light source but it would seemed that Baku is somehow susceptible to lights. I faced this dark figure and noticed that it looked familiar. I felt like I had seen this figure before.

It charged at me with it’s giant blade once again but I dodged it out of the way. Ah, now I recognise you. You’re that captain who once served the Demon Queen. Why are you here though? You’re already dead in the real world.

I sheathed Tengu-kaze and slotted it at my hip along with Inazuma. I decided to fight the captain with my gauntlets using unarmed style. I taunted the captain to come with my fingers and it roared with anger and charged at me. I was able to recognised the captain due to the familiar two-handed blade and the heavy armour that it was wearing despite the entire body was dark like a shadow. To fight a being that was capable of fighting two guild masters at the same time, certainly not an easy task for me.

I glanced behind to look at Rose and she was fighting with the Lily impostor. Rose is certainly not holding back against Baku. She must be angry that he is using Lily as an object to trick all of us.

“How dare you sully Lily’s name and actions. You will pay for that for treating my sister this way!” shouted Rose as she continued attacking.

“Ah, Rose Starr. You know deep down that you always felt inferior to her. You were lucky that Zen chose you as his wife but deep down, you were always afraid that Lily will take him away. She was never really your sister but your enemy,” said Baku as he defended himself against Rose’s attack.

“Lies! I had always looked up to Lily and I am willing to share Zen with her! Stop spewing lies and using her face!” shouted Rose as she used triple stab on Baku but he expertly blocked it.

I should steer clear of their fight. When two females fight, men would just be in the way. Is Baku technically a female? But his voice sounded deep like a male. Damn, he is ruining Lily’s image with that hole on his face and that voice. I decided to focus my attention on the captain. He had yet to show even a fraction of his true power. Perhaps this captain is just a fake and cannot use any of the original’s power.

I activated Concentration and got myself ready. The captain, on the other hand, rested his two-handed sword on his shoulder and started to have glowing red eyes and releasing steams from his helmet. Oh boy, guess I was mistaken huh. The captain does have his powers. I wonder is Rose faring better than me since she is just fighting a fake Lily.

“Persistent human, allow me to show you what true power is!” shouted Baku as his body started morphing into something else.

Hang on, why is it starting to look familiar? Oh no, not her again. It’s the Demon Queen?! Argh, why are they recycling bosses again? Don’t Baku have any better ideas than to reuse someone I had defeated before?

Rose on the other hand swung her rapier to the side, took a deep breath and started smiling. Uh, what is my lovely wife planning to do with that smile of hers?