Chapter 283: The Nightmare From Elsewhere

[All-Key Aura]

HUUUMMMMMM!!!!

Akasha’s laugh had not even died down when he activated his Aura Domain, which he had built in seclusion.

The moment he activated the Domain, there was no gradual expansion—no, in one instant it was there. In the next, its influence had surged across every corner of Dream Land, brushing against the very existence of every invader.

Then before the eyes of every one deemed an enemy, Akasha ceased to be standing where he had been standing, even though he had not moved a muscle.

He stood there for only a moment, letting his previous words sink deeply into the minds of everyone present.

Fuck it... the instant those words left his mouth, the last thread of patience within him snapped.

It wasn’t that he was dismissing the matter of Amber or pretending it didn’t affect him, because, as mentioned before...

Beyond whatever they could have built together, a member of his pantheon had been killed—and that was like losing a family member.

Someone under his protection, under his banner, and that wasn’t something he could take lightly, nor did he intend to.

So, he wasn’t thinking about ending the invasion... well, of course he was, but his anger had hardened into a cold resolve to make this the last day he would ever spend in this Minor Existence.

He took a single step and suddenly stood right in front of the Smiling God.

In that moment, Akasha’s face carried neither warmth nor allure; instead, it was utterly blank, leaving the cold, black, pupil-less eyes staring deep into the Smiling God’s own.

Yet, because of the Domain, even though he stood right in front of the Smiling God, he couldn’t see anyone except his subordinates, who were now panicking throughout Dream Land.

Across the crowded sky, the strange, natural smiles worn by the Masked Humans began to falter.

In that moment, the second debuff of the All-Key domain took full effect, and each of them felt death as a man feels the cold edge of a blade against the nape before the cut...

An almost intimate, undeniable closeness, as if a scythe had been hung above each of their heads, waiting in silence.

"What is... this?"

"Why does it feel like..."

"Screw that... find that damn man. He’s the cause!"HUMMMMMMM!!!!!!!

In an instant, the heavy silence that had settled over Dream Land shattered as the Masked Humans reacted like anyone staring death in the face would—panicking and fighting desperately for their lives.

The chaos only grew stranger when, without warning, Jovian, Liliana, Harlan, and everyone else suddenly found themselves transported right next to Luna and Yume.

Bursts of wild, uncontrolled power ripped through the void where they had last been sure Akasha was, only to find it empty.

Spears tore holes in the vacant sky, sun-wheels scorched blazing rings around nothing, and eerie, smiling black wounds split open in the already abandoned air.

And... all that chaotic burst of power shattered and blossomed behind a presence the Smiling God could almost sense, yet not glimpse at all.

It all happened in a matter of moments, and the whole time Akasha was figuring out how he wanted to get rid of everyone.

While Akasha stood there with a tilted head, the Smiling God stood very still and felt his pulse try to leave his throat.

’What... did I walk into?

When he first appeared, just as Yume and Akasha’s eyes opened for the very first time, the Domain had struck them as a sort of heaven—lush, vibrant, and yet unsettling in its flawless perfection.

It was barely a heartbeat later when everything twisted into the darkest kind of nightmare, and the weight radiating from Akasha pressed down harder than anything he’d ever felt from Melvin—a thing that shouldn’t have been possible, yet was unfolding all the same.

As his thoughts spiraled further into confusion, he instinctively began to ease backward, heel seeking the portal’s cold rim, the old smile gone from his mouth.

Seeing this, Akasha didn’t say a word or even think to come out of his concealment.

No, he had nothing left to say for the creatures of this Minor Existence, so he just blinked.

HUMMMMMM!!!!!!!!

SHKKKKKKK!!!!

SHKKKKK!!!!

SHKKKK!!!!!

All at once, across Dream Land, it felt like a huge wave of death had swept through.

A masked man, mid-shout, never finished his word. His mouth hung open as the rest of his head slid sideways from a cut that seemed to come from nowhere.

Beside him, a woman with a spear already drawn felt the shaft drop from fingers that no longer belonged to her arms.

Before she could even process what had happened, her arms had been severed from her body... and the rest of her followed after a line opened across both shoulders at once.

A younger member of the Smiling Court, who had been shouting for the Smiling God, grabbed his throat with both hands, only to find a slick, gaping void.

And... his scream faded into a gurgle, then vanished into silence.

It wasn’t just them, and it didn’t happen one at a time.

No, it all happened in a single instant—necks opened along invisible scythe-lines, blood spilling in sheets instead of dripping in drops.

Chests collapsed around spear-points that seemed to arrive already lodged deep in their hearts.

Some were cleaved from their heads to hips as though a greatsword had been waiting inside their ribs all along.

In a single, fleeting instant, billions met an identical fate.

As their hands flailed in desperation, limbs were severed and heads displaced, yet they all shared one unifying detail.

This time, it was not their peculiar smiles that marked them, but rather their eyes—wide and unblinking, frozen open in perpetuity—denied even the briefest moment to close.

As the last of them fell, it was as if all the sound rushed in afterward.

A wet, layered roar of voices rising together, so immense it merged into a single, endless noise, and then the long-held rain over Dream Land finally came pouring down.

Well, it was more accurate to say blood... as it came down in a warm, heavy sheet.

"No..." The Smiling God muttered as he watched it die before he even had the time to move a single finger.

The color drained from his face so quickly that the mask of his usual scheming demeanor seemed almost painted on.

His mouth opened and closed, struggling to form words.

But before he could let himself spiral further into shock, he steadied his breathing and prepared to invoke a decree.

"By my authority—" he began, but the sentence never reached its end.

Akasha lifted a hand like one might brandish a toy gun, two fingers extended, thumb cocked, and with a playful smile, pretended to fire.

CRRRRACCCCCKLLLEEEEE

BOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!

Instantly, black lightning hammered the Smiling God out of his unfinished decree... but it did not kill him.

It seared him to his core, annihilating every vestige of what once rendered him a god.

His star, his divinity, and all else that defined his existence were consumed in the flames, leaving nothing but ruin.

Bound and lifted into the abyss by chains wrought from that same black lightning—one coil encircling each limb—he hung suspended, smoldering above the carnage of his own fallen Court.

Akasha remained silent, slipping his hands into his pockets as he stepped calmly through the portal.