Images flashed through Hannah’s awareness.
Images of everything she had been through these last seven years.
They were not chronological, but random bits of here and there. Some showed her when she was younger and some when she was older, yet all of them had one thing in common. In every flashing memory that passed through her awareness, she felt something enormous and all-encompassing narrow itself down to her level before it poured all of ITs attention over that flashing memory.
It was like that every single time because, every time it happened, Hannah became aware that, after that particular memory survey elapsed, that enormous and all-encompassing something took that very memory and left only to be recalled back when the next random memory flashed through Hannah’s awareness.
Nevertheless, this enormous and all-encompassing something never extracted something without leaving something behind, something that filled Hannah’s very core of existence, her Ego, her Spark of Life. Yet, there did come a point when her Spark of Life was filled to the brim, and when it did, that enormous and all-encompassing something ceased examining Hannah’s life.
Instead, it simply left and never returned.
Regardless, with its leave, a giant bowl of free space was left behind. Perfect for Hannah’s awareness to spread and occupy. Yet, the moment she had, she understood that the very space she had just spread into had, in fact, always been hers.
She had just not been aware of it being there before this very moment.
That very dichotomy of realization snapped Hannah’s awareness away from the flashing memories of the past to the present moment where every memory was made. And when it happened, Hannah snapped open her brown eyes, of her Dream Body to once more witness that bleak environment of a collapsed tunnel made by huge ants that were not truly ants but ant-shaped Nightmares.
“Wha…”
“Ah… You’re awake.” The voice said, causing Hannah to snap in its direction only to see a man wearing an ancient Easter-styled garment with a pretty face that should not be on a male's body. “How was it?”
“What?”
“How did it feel to finally sleep for the very first time ever since you began your Awakening?” Lee Ping asked, but he did not give Hannah the time to answer. “Must have been jarring and conflicting to experience and understand just what Everything Else desires. Right?”
“I… I…” Hannah stuttered before finally centering herself enough to down on her just what she'd just done unconsciously. “I… performed a Commune?”
“Huh?” As if not expecting her to know about it, Lee Ping failed to respond immediately, only for his mind to quickly extrapolate a possible answer. “Was that what you spoke with Cain about?”
“Hnn”
“I see.” Lee Ping nodded. “Since you know a bit about it, let me give you a warning. Memories and Emotions are what fuel the very you that is you in this moment. Whether painful or happy memories, they all make you who you are and to have those memories and emotions extracted means becoming a lesser version of yourself.
Similar to a seam being pulled from a dress. If too many are pulled, the whole dress falls apart.
You will be fine once you're back within your Shell, though, at that time, be prepared for a different experience. Anyway, the point is for you to acquire some kind of Meditation Skill. That way you can recover Focus without sleeping all while being able to actively direct your Commune to prevent yourself from being deprived of some vital memories.
It will take you some time to perfect the Meditation Skill, but it's one of those Basic Skills that are relatively easy to master.”
“I… Ok.” Hannah hesitantly answered because she was still processing what she'd just done. “How… How long have I been asleep?”
“All uncontrolled Communes take about two hours.” Lee Ping replied. “No idea why two, but that’s how it is. Besides, it is not like you missed that much. We have been debating our current approach, and so far, the only outcome is to continue what we have previously done. Unless…”
“Unless?”
“Unless we try and make use of your particular Ability.”
“Mine?”
“Yes… Yours.”
“Umm… How?”
“By having you capture one of those ants and make it lead us to where we need to go.”
Struck by the possibility, Hannah turned speechless as her head whipped around to check the faces of the other Party Members. Although, the moment she did, Hannah noted all of them staring at her with this or that look in their eyes.
Henry, the ginger-haired big man, simply nodded and smirked at her when their eyes connected. Sandy simply shrugged her shoulders, while Mira presented a curious facade. Cain, on the other hand, displayed focused red eyes beaming right at her.
Seeing and now sensing their attention on her, Hannah instantly turned nervous. “I… I can’t.”
“Why?” Lee Ping asked from the side. “I have mentioned the possible side effects to them, and the Party has agreed that a simple donation to wake your new… Dreamon. It presents a worthwhile investment compared to the regular scenario of us dredging through mountains of ants before actually finding that Sub-Boss.”
“That… It is…” Ceasing there for a moment, Hannah closed her eyes and centered herself. That done, she opened her brown eyes before giving her Party a simple answer. “I… Don't have a Template for it.”
“Template?” Once again Lee Ping prodded Hannah for answers.
“Hnn… Father had prepared two Templates for me.” Hearing the extravagance from her words, the Party Members became flabbergasted since Templates were hard to make and even harder to acquire as they require specialized knowledge and tools to make. “One was for my Dreamon Ball.” The same moment she said it, Hannah conjured it in her right hand since Behold had remained by her side all this time. “With it, and the Materials prepared for my Awakening, my Dream… my Ability reached A-Rank.”
A few nods and shakes later, everybody sensed the arrival of the true topic, hence why, in the same instant, Behold felt the attention settle on its floating body. This made it nervous since every single one could effortlessly kill it, bar its Master who could command it effortlessly.
“Using the Ball, I could capture the Nightmare plaguing my Dream Instance and possibly reach S-Rank.” Hannah told them. “However, since I hated it, not only because of what it had done to me for the last seven years…” Looks of astonishment passed through the party when hearing the number of years, but none of them interrupted to ask for details since asking for those was considered rude, among a plethora of more important reasons. “but also because it was ugly and monstrous, Father made me a second Template to use during the moment of capture. The Template helped me focus and transform Behold into what it is now.”
“Girl… As an Enchanter, I know a thing or two about Templates.” Henry interjected. “Now that your Awakening is done, and considering the achievement of a Grand Awakening, you should not need Templates for any new Nightmare captured. You should be able to do something about yourself. Is that not so?” Considering the question for a single moment, especially after taking into consideration her very recent epiphanies regarding Ability Points, Hannah nodded. “Good… Then let me ask you this. What is truly stopping you right now from repeating what you did already once before?”
“Umm…” Ceasing there and once again considering her situation, Hannah replied moments later. “Knowledge?… Experience?… Ability Points?”
“All valid reasons.” Henny added, yet it was clear in his deep tone that he fished for something else. “Aye…… Even though you just mentioned it, you are still denying yourself the true reason behind your reluctance.”
“I…”
“Girl… Be simple and just admit it.” Henry sternly said, yet a smirk emerged on his lips. “You just hate everything that is ugly.”
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Like a lightning bolt, the proposed remark rushed through Hannah’s mind.
“No…” The more she felt herself, the more she wanted to utter a denial at the accusations. Yet, the greater her denial the greater the Truth rang true in her mind. “That… That is…”
“I can smell the denial all the way here.. .HaHa…” Henry commented after laughing at Hannah’s expense. Or at least she assumed it was so because the man’s rough and deep voice grated at her mind as if in tandem with her inner denial. “Ha… Did you really think just high-grade Materials and Templates are all that's needed for somebody to achieve a Grand Awakening?
Aye… Just admit it, girl. You simply like things that please your sense of beauty. There is nothing wrong with that. No… In truth, it's one of the most common vices any Ego will manifest. Look at our resident Sanguine here.” Like a perfect distraction, everybody ignored Hannah for a moment to settle their gazes on the black man. “You think he's dressed like that because it's purely practical? Go on… Tell her how true my statement is.”
“Sigh… Can’t deny it, unfortunately.” Cain agreed. “If I try wearing something not pleasing looking, the urge to kill somebody gets very annoying. It's why all Sanguine are… suckers for trending fashion and similar ugh… material possessions, let us say.”
“Hear that?” Henry continued his rant. “Look to your left and our Party Leader. Do you think his pretty face will accept anything not suiting its preferences?”
“There is no need to go that far.” Lee Ping defended himself. Though, deep down he had admitted it after living long enough in his current life and its Instincts. “Still, Henry is right.” He said before staring at Hannah and her panicked face. “The sooner you accept that you dislike surrounding yourself with ugly things, the easier it will be for you in the long run, especially after your Ego grows further.”
“I…” Hannah stuttered before her sight swished around and settled on the only two other girls around.
“My kink is not so much beauty, but a rather strong desire for adventure and battle.” Sandy confided in her Party. “It's why I like jumping into combat and slashing things apart.” That said, she turned to her other companion, Mira. “How about you?”
Frowning for a second, Mira replied. “Not sure. Not exactly… I am kind of veering toward Magic, its complexity, and its mysteries to be unearthed. Something like that, I guess.”
“Dear… You could have just admitted something for the girl's sake?” Henry admonished slightly as if his plan did not achieve 100% completion. “Anyhow… The point is this.” He said before standing up and walking up to Hannah only to crouch just before her. “Will you admit to yourself that the only reason you even took… that… as your pet, is because your father promised you to make it cute? At least compared to what it had been prior. Or will you deny yourself of what you truly desire?”
Being gazed down at by the giant ginger-haired man, Hannah gulped once, or twice before actually saying in return. “I… I… Maybe?”
“Ha… I'll take the ‘maybe’ over a clear denial.” Henry said before extending a hand for Hannah to grab. When she did, he pulled her up and guided her right to the center of the group. “Now say it. Say with some conviction.”
“I… I like cute things!”
“Louder”
“I LIKE CUTE THINGS!”
“LOUDER”
“I LIKE CUTE THINGS!”
“Good enough for now.” Henry uttered, only for his right hand to twirl in a grabbing motion and for a weird contraption to appear in his right hand. A contraption that seemed to spew out light on one side. Specifically, above itself. “Take this and connect with it like you did with your gun.” Taking it and doing as told, Hannah parsed through the new information flooding her mind about MILP, an Item of Power that translated mental images, or impressions, into light projections through Focus utilization.
“Remember one of the smaller ants?” Henry proposed before Hannah did and a clear image appeared on the projection before her. “Make it bigger… Now make it smaller… Zoom in on the head… Now back to normal again… Zoom in on the legs and back out… That's it… Now tell me this. What is the first thing you dislike about the ant before you?”
“Umm… Everything.”
“Be more specific. Is it the shape itself or the chitin exoskeleton?”
“Umm… Both.”
“Ugh… This will be harder than I expected.” Henry murmured. “Let's start with something simpler like… color. What about its color? Why not try making it pink like your Summon over there.” With the proposal in the air, Hannah tried imagining a pink ant, and the color of the projection changed, only, just being pink was not enough to make it cuter. “Try some other colors.”
Like that, Hannah switched from pink to blue, to green, to red, to purple, to yellow, and so on. Soon enough, as if in a trance, she simply began going back and forth before ultimately adding multiple colors without even noticing that Henry no longer demanded anything of her.
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Instead, he and the rest of the Party glanced at each other and nodded in satisfaction at a job well done because they had indeed had a small discussion on how to help the young Summoner out in case problems arose from her newfound entry into the wider cosmos.
Still, one thing all of them silently agreed to was that none of them expected the problem to stem from the artistic side instead of the engineering side.
Once Hannah settled on a reasonable dual-color template of white and blue, specifically white at its main body with blue colors going down its extremities, she attempted to add some markings on the projected ant. Markings that were similar to Behold. However, it took her but a second to realize that, unlike her father, she was unable to make the markings be anything but a superficial external look instead of the Passives her Father had designed for Behold.
Still, now that she was staring at the projection, Hannah had to admit that she felt much less reluctance regarding the capturing.
On the other hand, the reluctance remained quite high due to its ant form.
That was when Hannah had this sudden urge to change the ant's original form.
First appeared an ant standing on its two hind legs before its torso was shaped vertically, almost perpendicular to its lower body, while its upper leg became arms. Only, that form was quickly erased since it creeped her out. Then, came making it more human-like, but that too was quickly set aside due to a similar creep factor.
In the end, after shaping this or that way, Hannah had to admit that the basic ant shape turned out to be much less heinous than the counterparts she could imagine at this moment.
However, despite indulging in it, the urge would not leave her.
No. It demanded some release, so Hannah tried changing the ant form from a chitin-based form to something much more primal, like earth or stone, water or fire, or something similar. But just like before, her inspiration failed to settle on any of those. So, in her bid to satisfy her inspiration her mind sought something more… modern, and that was when it clicked to her, and when her mind focused on imagining the ant as a plushie toy.
Yes… a plushie ant-shaped toy, which suddenly came alive only to realize it could not move due to its missing stuffed legs due to a child ripping them off for its own amusement. To cover that weakness, Hannah imagined herself patching up the flaw with metal protrusions mimicking its legs with robot parts, only haphazardly as if the flaw was fixed by the same child who ripped them off in the first place.
“An interesting… design you got there.” Henry finally spoke up after noticing no more changes emerging from the projector.
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“It is… Isn't it?” Hannah excitedly voiced out.
“Yea… Ugh… I must admit I did not think your imagination would go in that direction.” Henry slightly hesitantly replied before setting aside the design to consider the practical side with his experience as an Enchanter. Yes, he went the simple brute type way since he adored bulldozing and smashing his enemies, but just because he did, did not mean his Enchanter background suddenly vanished. “But… I do not imagine this working.”
Blinking out of her excited state, Hannah said only one word. “Why?”
“Well… I do not know nor desire to know the details of your Ability.” Henry reasoned out. “But one thing I can tell from that design of yours is that it looks more like a Dream-toy coming alive than an actual ant-like Nightmare becoming a toy with robo legs.” As if realizing herself, Hannah’s face projected a dejected and disappointed mind. “That aside… Even if your Conceptualization could bridge the gap between the two, it will require experience and far more Power Points than you could possibly have right now due to its complexity despite the apparent simplistic nature of toy and robot. More importantly, will your Ability manifest those robotic legs from Nothing or will it require additional Material to bridge the gap? I ask this because Terminid Worker Ants have no metal Aspects within them.
At least as far as I know.”
“Oh…” Hannah murmured before quickly reverting the changes back to the white-blue ant.
“You do not have to sound so disappointed, girl.” Henry remarked. “All we need is a temporary guide. So when that is done, you can just throw it away.”
“Throw?” Hannah repeated horrified before remembering that Lee Ping had used a similar analogy for Behold before it woke up.
Noticing the brief revulsion, Henry corrected his previous mistake. “You don't have to throw it away. But consider this. Ants are swarm-type creatures, therefore, unless you can capture a whole swarm, that one ant you capture will likely be useless to you.”
“Oh…”
“With that out of the way. Is that enough to sway you to capture an ant and make it guide us toward the Sub-Box or are we going to repeat our earlier tactic?” Henry inquired by pointing at the projector in Hannah’s hands.
After debating for a few moments, Hannah replied. “I… I’ll do it.”
Nonetheless, the moment she said that out loud, her reluctance for the admission settled inside her with a desire and a promise for the next Dreamon to be something more… normal.
Perhaps a dog? No… A rabbit.
“Good… Anything else you need? You mentioned Ability Points earlier?” Henry asked.
Reminded of the problem, Hannah nodded. “Ah… I need at least two more Ability Points. Umm… It should work even without them but with them, there should be much better chances for success.”
With a quick glance at his visual screen, Henry confirmed the number. “So Level 6 is what you need?”
“Hnn… I thought I would level up after our last fight, just like I had the previous breaks.”
“No true surprise there. Every Level needs more Experience than the previous one. That means you should be close to Level 5, with Level Six being not far behind.” Turning to Lee Ping, Henry inquired. “What do you think? Level up during the fighting before slowing down and letting her kill some of the bigger ones after I prepare them?”
“Early Forging is rather quick so that won’t be a problem.” Lee Ping replied. “No... The problem will be actually dealing damage to Juvenile Class Nightmares. The gun I gave her can't penetrate their chitin shell unless more shots hit the very same area.”
“I can just crack the shell for her.”
“That would just reduce the amount of Experience gained from the Kill even further.” Lee Ping quickly denied. “Which would lead to more kills needed. No… The solution for that problem would be to put the gun into Damage Mode.”
“Damage Mode?” Hannah voiced out, clearly not remembering something like that from the knowledge the gun had shared with her.
“The NTT COLT LM 10 is a Tool designed for maximum training capacity.” Lee Ping explained. “Meaning, it favors efficiency over power output. It's why you get ten shots for each PP spent on it. Damage Mode reverses that, where each shot is exactly 1 PP.”
Frowning for a moment, Hannah quickly stepped back to her resting place and picked up the gun-shaped Item of Power to peruse the instructions it shared with her. “I don't see anything like that.”
“It's a hidden feature, so it's not in the instructions.” Lee Ping said. “Besides. Henry, I don't think this approach will be good either way. No… The majority of her Experience comes from the smaller ones being effectively solo killed by her, so we can just repeat what we have done so far. After all, it's not like we will arrive at our destination that much sooner even with a guide.”
“Fine… Anything else you will need? Better think about it now than suddenly realizing in the middle of a battle.” Henry poised the question at Hannah, who in turn turned silent to think about it.
That was when she realized something obvious.
She needed Power Points to kill the ant-shaped Nightmares to earn Experience.
She needed Power Points to Conjure her second Dreamon Ball, and considering the hidden feature she had discovered after unlocking her Ability Uniqueness, she would need at the very least four Power Points for the Conjuring. However, if she wanted to guarantee any success during the capturing process, she needed another four Power Points to utilize her Dreamon Ball to its best current capabilities.
This meant she needed at least eight Power Points, with nine being the more likely case since she planned on enabling the Recovery feature of the second Dreamon Ball.
Indeed, had she not increased her Ego through the earlier gained SAPs, she would not have been able to even attempt Conjuring a second Dreamon Ball while planning to use it the very next second without a good long rest in between.
Nine Power Points left to do as I wish. But if the first attempt at capturing fails, that leaves me with four less, probably.
So… Fifty bullets is my maximum limit without a Potion of Power Recovery. Or another sleeping Commune. Hannah realized. When she did, she faced Lee Ping. “I will need another Potion… I think.”
“Pff… That one is a no-brainer.”
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With the plan, a plan that perfectly resembled Plan A for the moment, the Party ventured back into the maze of ant tunnels.
There they found more ants, as if they simply had no end.
They killed and killed until it was clear that a break was needed and they enacted another simple cave-in scenario.
That was when Hannah became Level 5 and spent her Stat Point and Ability Point.
The Stat Point went into Insight, increasing her Flow from 1.8 to 1.9 while the Ability Point went into Rapid Mutation - Cognition.
Similar to before, during its distribution her First Ability Slot trembled before resonating with her Dream Ball to unlock the feature she needed for guiding her Dreamon. Although, that was in theory since Hannah had yet to activate it in fear of wasting her recovering Power Points.
Regardless, after the break was over, there came the time for more ant killing, only it turned out that a small change was made in favor of providing Hannah with as much kill potential for this attempted round. All in the hopes of not needing another round. Naturally, since not much changed from the earlier Plan A, Lee Ping tried his best to guide his team in the right direction. But it seems that it was not meant to be, which only further demonstrated to the Party that they must have taken the wrong route early on.
Either way, after lots of shooting for Hannah, a break was issued.
Unfortunately, as it turned out, the latest excursion was not enough for Hannah to reach Level 6. Nevertheless, similar to Level 5, she had to be close to it. That being the case, the following excursion for ant killing did not last very long. In truth, the moment Hannah discovered the forge icon on her visual screen, she alerted Lee Ping who in turn alerted everybody else of the following actions, which was a tightening of their formation and therefore, the amount of wiggle room the ants had in reaching Hannah swiftly vanished.
During that moment, Hannah spent one Stat Point on Flow, upping it from 1.9 to 2. The major breakpoint became the latest Ability Point as it finally finished unlocking every basic feature of Rapid Mutation. When it did, there was a notable difference in how her First Ability Slot trembled and resonated with her Dreamon Ball. Nonetheless, just like with the previous unlocking, without an active infusion of a Power Point, the truth of the Rapid Mutation - Endurance feature would not show itself. Yet, before even that happened, it was time for Hannah to Conjure her second Dreamon Ball by focusing on the empty slot within her First Ability Slot.
Pouring Five Power Points into the empty slot, Hannah discovered the true depth of her First Ability Uniqueness. The depth that its unlocking failed to reveal. Yet, at the same time, these revelations had very little influence on what she needed to do right this very second. So, Hannah ignored those revelations and finally affirmed her choice, and when she did, in her outstretched left hand, a replica of her Dreamon Ball appeared, all pink with white and black clouds.
“I have it.” Hannah shouted the moment it appeared.
“Finally… Henry, grab and drag one.”
“Coming right up.” The large ginger-haired and armored man replied and not a moment later, a hip-sized ant was grabbed by its upper and lower torso segment, thus thereby totally neutralizing the ant.
Once he was about less than five meters near Hannah, a distance measured right before this last attempt to explore the ant tunnels, Hannah pointed her second Dreamon Ball and willed its jagged red lighting to encapsulate the ant-shaped Nightmare. When it did, however, there was no instant vanishing like it occurred with Behold.
No, the ant somehow resisted the effort so it took much longer than any of them formulated would.
Regardless, in the end, it was done and the ant vanished.
That very same instant, Hannah poured four Power Points into the second Dreamon Ball, all with the intention of activating every feature of the Rapid Mutation Aspect and Evocation of her First Ability.
Those features told Hannah what was happening inside and what she could possibly do while it was occurring because, not a moment sooner, Hannah felt her Dreamon ball wiggle once to indicate a successful capture of the ant-shaped Nightmare.
What actually occurred was that the captured ant-shaped Nightmare fidgeted around within a black void with its legs not being able to catch onto anything, and this sense of no attachment to anything sent it into an extreme panic mode.
It was at that point when the first wiggle occurred, thus declaring the success of the capture.
Nonetheless, what came next, was much more significant as Hannah sensed her Dreamon Ball activate its ultimate purpose as it attached and infused its ultimate purpose onto and into the ant in question.
When it did, she sensed the ant dissolving from its extremities before actually vanishing altogether. Only, this was no true vanishing because something had been left behind. Something that Hannah was extremely familiar with, as she had had access to loads of it during her Awakening. Namely, this something was Pure Potential, although, in the ant-shaped Nightmare’s case, not exactly Pure since it had been colored by its past existence which in turn generated restrictions in terms of its future Potential.
Though, now that Hannah was sensing this spectacle, she remembered similar impressions during the final moments of her Awakening, after capturing the Beholder Nightmare.
Shaking her head, and ignoring the lacking depth and breadth of the ant-shaped Nightmare’s existence, it was at this very moment that Hannah truly realized just how utterly low this Terminid Worker Ant was in terms of Existence inside the Cosmos.
At least, when compared to just how much Pure Potential she had had access to during her Awakening. Truthfully, it was like comparing a firefly to a glowing all-radiating Sun trekking a path across the skies.
It was that very realization, of the difference between it and her, that made Hannah pity it.
Thanks to Rapid Mutation - Cognition, a connection existed between Hannah and the Nightmare in question. That very connection, plus the instinctive pity she felt in this very important moment, reflected off of Hannah’s awareness to become an unconscious crushing force delivered right onto the Terminid Worker Ant’s Will. Unfortunately, when a firefly did a contested Will check against a Sun, it was the ant which got sunburned. Indeed, with the ant’s Will being so feeble, so faint and impotent, all it took was a tiny bit of pity to break it, due to Hannah’s radiating and Unyielding Will, and for ant-shaped Nightmare to puff out of existence when its embryonic Ego failed to sustain its continual existence.
Then, with its Will and Ego broken, the Tainted Potential which no longer possessed an anchor, attempted to dissipate itself. Yet, when it came across the inner walls of the Dreamball, that was where it ceased its journey before being absorbed.
Absorbed and stockpiled, if Hannah’s Scrying impressions were correct.
Still, since everything occurred so fast, barely half a minute, perhaps even less, it was as if Hannah had closed her eyes for a bit and opened them right after.
Yet when Lee Ping, who had paid the most attention to her, saw the shocked expression, he knew it was a failure.
“Henry… Prepare another one.” Lee Ping shouted before quickly addressing Hannah. “Quick… What was the problem? What happened?”
“I… I… I…”
“Yes?”
“I… I pitied it… I think.” Hannah finally voiced her flabbergasted experience. “Yes… I pitied its Potential and it broke it.”
“That… Honestly speaking. That makes a lot of sense. However, you will need to refrain from doing it this time. Understood?” Not a moment later, Henry carried the next victim. “Try it again.”
A quick gulp, a nod, and a jagged red lightning flashed out to capture the hip-sized Nightmare.
There was a bit of a struggle, but just like the first one, it vanished into the Dreamonball. However, just as Hannah wanted to infuse more Power Points into her Dreamon Ball, she sensed that her previous infusion still held in place since the features she had activated had barely been used at all.
With that as the center point, Hannah assured herself that she would have more chances at this than initially imagined. Only, Hannah could not be more happy because, similar to the first one, she could not refrain her instinctive reaction from occurring and breaking the second ant-shaped Nightmare at its most vulnerable moment.
“Pitied it again?”
“Hnn… Could not help myself.”
“Ha… Will take a while, it seems.”