Chapter 286: The Nightmare From Elsewhere (4)

RUMBLEEEEE!!!!!!!!

As Akasha emerged across each significant fragment of this small existence within the Smiling Court’s Star System, things were far from good.

As mentioned before, the mere presence of his true form was enough to make worlds and stretches of the universe begin to crumble, all because of the form he chose to take.

That form had only one purpose—to give every being in this cosmology one final nightmare before he moved on, stepping beyond into the true existence of power.

And in the imperial garden of the Smiling Court, Melvin felt the very reality coming apart around his kneeling body.

The stone under his knees split, and the tidy flower beds broke apart as rifts in space tore through the soil, fountain, and marble path.

Water from the basins wasn’t falling so much as being dragged into those rifts, disappearing entirely.

As the columns and pillars tilted, high above the garden, the nine world-orbs trembled in their places, their colored light flickering as if the empire’s crown were nothing more than fragile glass.

’This... star system is being destroyed?’ the Empress thought as she stood, taking in the sudden chaos.

In that moment, she didn’t panic—the fate of this place meant nothing to her.

But she might have felt very differently if she’d known it wasn’t just this star system, but the entire universe that was at stake.

Even so, she found herself drawn to the power itself.

She had encountered the strength of countless beings before, but never in her long life had she felt anything quite like this.

It didn’t strike her as devastating, as it might have to others—it was simply... strange.

Too strange, almost as if letting her guard slip for even a fraction of a second would strip away her calm entirely.

While she was caught up in the mystery of the power, Melvin stayed right behind her, still kneeling.

In that moment, he was a lot like her—calm and collected, not panicking at all.

Even with the fate of the Star System collapsing around him, he felt no sense of danger whatsoever.

His thoughts were elsewhere, lingering on the subject of Death and the woman before him, the one who claimed she wanted his friendship.

’I couldn’t care less about being friends...’ he thought, watching as more and more rifts bloomed, his resolve hardening with each one.

’But... I need her,’ he realized, and the moment that thought crystallized, he sprang into action.

Melvin, though running on the last scraps of his vitality, had never been the type to simply accept being caught off guard by this woman.

He had only been waiting, patient and calculating, for the right opening to make his move.

Much like efficiency, as Akasha had reminded him more than a few times...

If you can’t win, then run.

And that was exactly what he intended to do—though not without taking what he needed.

HUMMMM!!!!!

With a single thought, he summoned the purple and white Dreamer’s Token from his diving ring.

The instant it touched his hands, Melvin crushed it, and at that very moment, the Empress turned with an arched brow.

"What are you—" she started to say, but never got the chance to finish.

A portal bloomed open at her back, so close that the warm breath of Dream Land brushed against the nape of her neck.

[Winter Affinity]

HUMMMMM!!!!!

Summoning the remnants of his strength, Melvin invoked his winter affinity and propelled himself forward, his shoulder driving into her as his arms encircled the Empress’s illusory form.

The moment he touched the Empress, he didn’t completely freeze her—just enough to make her solid.

In the blink of an eye, Melvin and the Empress were tumbling through the portal to Dream Land.

But they weren’t alone.

The Death Siren, still chained to the altar, was suddenly yanked with incredible force, dragged right into the portal after them as it slammed shut. And the instant it did...

CLAAAAAPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!

In the very moment that they all left, almost like the destruction itself was waiting on their departure, Akasha’s hands closed in around the Smiling Court’s Star System.

The clap did not travel like thunder across a world.

For a brief moment, the frozen empire Melvin had sunk into eternal winter remained intact—palace roofs sealed beneath glaciers, streets lined with ice sculptures stretching to the suspended world-orbs.

Then, in an instant, all sound disappeared.

Right before the end, the entire star system burst outward and inward at the same time, the frozen empire unraveling into fireless dust, light-years collapsing into pure ruin.

The last banners and all traces of the Smiling Court didn’t burn—they just vanished.

Where once a civilization had been frozen to death, there was now nothing but pure, empty void.

Yet even that void didn’t last, because it wasn’t just this form of Akasha that had surged forward with his clap of destruction—every single one of them had.

----

All across the universe, worlds disappeared one after another, too quickly for sorrow to sink in.

Star systems burst into brilliance, only to vanish in an instant.

Then went the star clusters, and soon even galaxies were unraveling along their graceful arms.

What lingered after each collapse wasn’t wreckage, but pure absence—an emptiness that had grown into a tide, sweeping relentlessly through every corner of the cosmos.

A starship hung frozen in space, its journey stalled, perhaps bound for conquest, destruction, or even revenge.

Yet whatever their reasons, they were just one among countless starships and beings swept up in the wrath of a certain nightmare.

Upon this starship, Izanami stood at the viewing glass with the other leaders of the Accord of Assimilation.

Before them, a tide of pure destruction came on, world after world folding, star system after star system going dark in a line aimed at their hull.

HUMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!

BOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!

Izanami’s lips parted around a name she never spoke.

None of them even had the opportunity for words.

The tide swept through the glass, the cabin, their legions, and all four of them, erasing every trace until no vessel remained, no witnesses stood—only the same vast emptiness that had already devoured everything in their wake.

When the last of that universe finished failing, the most massive form of Akasha floated in a void that was much more mythical than the one he just created.

Colored threads wove through it with such density that even his massive silhouette seemed like an ordinary human tangled in a loom.

In his hands rested the literal universe, a dark, complete sphere of everything that had been.

From the threads surrounding him emerged vast cosmological structures, far surpassing universes, stacking and branching until the very idea of scale felt almost insulting.

He glanced upward, following the threads as they wound their way into a colossal structure that encompassed countless small existences....

All channeling toward an infinity symbol so vast it appeared to form the loom’s mouth, its colors shifting in constant motion.

"Pantheos, huh?" Akasha finally spoke as he smiled. "I guess I’ll be there shortly."

BOOOOM!!!!!!

The moment his words landed, he clasped the universe in his hands and crushed it like it was nothing.

Then he brushed off his palms, just as a man would after finishing a small, effortless chore.

In the next instant, two structures appeared before him: the entire Orin Star System, intact in its arrangement around the mountain, and a small bubble that previously sat atop the universe.

He allowed himself to return to his normal height of six feet four, with his long strands of purple-and-white hair cascading down his back.

His luminous brown skin seemed to radiate from within, while his deep black eyes rested above the purple infinity mark beneath his left eye.

As he eased back into his usual self, the smile slipped away, replaced by a steady gaze fixed on the bubble.

"I’m guessing... this is where you are."

HUMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!

At his words, a white light shot from the bubble and covered him fully, and then he was gone.