Chapter 375: Breath of the Mind

The lady in the black court gown turned back with a languid grace, her deep gray eyes bright yet harboring a hidden sorrow that made one unable to resist wanting to cherish her, though her words carried no emotion as she said:

"Why hasn't Yalina caught up yet?"

"Enduring the will of the Original will cause her already poor condition to decline further, not to mention there was also the divine punishment descended by the storm at that time."

Katarina Pele, clad in a holy white robe, spoke with a tone devoid of any ripple.

"How truly miserable. I hope the next time we hear her name, it isn't to send us to reclaim her characteristics."

The lady in the black court gown's sighing words were laced with unconcealed schadenfreude, seeming to take great pleasure in that companion's miserable plight.

Katarina neither agreed nor disagreed with her words, only walking slowly forward through this dim, illusory, insufficiently real mirror world.

A moment later, they walked out of this illusory path and set foot in another region of the mirror world. The surroundings abruptly brightened, and layers of rich blocks of color replaced the deep gloom all around.

"... The Spirit World!... When?"

A trace of astonishment swept through Katarina's eyes, and as her gaze swept around, her eyes fell upon the place behind them, where they had just walked out.

There stood a bronze door, covered in mysterious patterns and permeated with an indescribable scent, rapidly fading and disappearing. Inside the door was the dim, illusory, insufficiently real mirror world.

As this bronze door vanished, the mirror world and the Spirit World were once again disconnected.

Katarina's loosely draped hair behind her twisted strand by strand, swelling and spreading outward. They entwined with each other, like tiny snakes dancing in the air.

Beside the beautiful woman in the black court gown, clusters of pitch-black illusory flames sprang up, gently floating with the hem of her dress, like an extension of the black court gown she wore.

The moment they moved, a wailing 'Woo~Woo!' sound exploded beside their ears, and an inexplicable, violent wind surged around them, seemingly from reality, yet also as if originating from illusion.

The wind carried all kinds of wills, some intense, some despondent, blowing in from all directions. Katarina and the lady in the black court gown trembled uncontrollably, as if something extremely terrifying had descended upon them. Their bodies, minds, and spirits were all in a state beyond their control.

An invisible, transparent breath suddenly pierced through the Spirit World and fell upon them, directly stimulating and damaging their mental bodies and spirit bodies.

Their bodies stiffened instantly as if struck by lightning, their spirits felt torn apart, their astral forms seemed pierced through, and they could not even let out a cry of agony.

As those clusters of black illusory flames flickered, they abruptly extinguished. The pitch-black snake-like forms dancing in the air also twisted, as if having spawned a consciousness not their own, beginning to entangle and attack each other. All sorts of thoughts arose in their minds—sometimes impulsive, sometimes retreating, sometimes brave, sometimes fearful. These chaotic thoughts made them unable to make correct judgments and actions, and simultaneously caused their spirits to be tainted by all kinds of thoughts that seemed to come from within, producing a powerful self-destructive inclination, as if they wished to tear apart or destroy themselves right now.

In the ocean of collective subconscious invisible to the naked eye, a terrifying storm carrying fear and panic took shape in an instant.

The nearby "sea surface" constantly surged with massive waves, rippling with layers of light and shadow, carrying chaotic and disordered consciousnesses of all kinds, pounding against the islands of consciousness of the two non-aging witches again and again, effectively destroying their mental barriers, and forcibly stuffing the emotions of fear and panic into their minds.

Katarina felt as if every organ in her body had spawned its own thoughts, each making different responses, even repelling and opposing one another.

"... Spectator." She parted her lips slightly and murmured, her eyes somewhat unfocused, as if layered phantoms had appeared before her.

It was a grand and bizarre complex of buildings, floating high in the sky, with gray-white stone pillars covered in strange patterns standing erect, like a temple, yet also like a palace, surrounded by white clouds and mist swirling all around.

Within the mist, from time to time a massive silhouette swept past. They had enormous wings shaped like those of bats, like the giant dragons of myth and legend.

"Is this... a dream?"

Katarina murmured aloud. Clusters of illusory pitch-black flames rapidly sprang up around her, continuously expanding outward along invisible transparent threads, forming an exaggerated "spider web" wreathed in black flames.

These "spider webs" were not stable, constantly swaying and trembling, just like her emotions—extremely unstable, ready to collapse at any moment.

Her island of consciousness and mental world were suffering violent erosion and infection. This was the plague that had been hidden within the mental storm beginning to spread.

The intense self-destructive inclination made her tremble uncontrollably. The transparent threads around her snapped one by one, and the pitch-black flames flickered, extinguishing and flaring up again, over and over. Katarina's emotions collapsed and she fell to the ground. She squeezed her head hard with both hands, as if only severe pain could make her feel a trace of reassurance.

In the instant her spirit was about to collapse, a vast, warm, indescribable consciousness descended.

The plague that had been ravaging her island of consciousness and mental world seemed to meet their true master, submitting in an instant and attempting to reverse-corrupt the ancient dragon that had created them.

"Plague and virus are both within my authority."

A voice, part seduction, part low chant, part mockery, echoed through this dream.

This voice allowed Katarina to regain a measure of calm. She finally saw clearly the environment she was in, and saw Clarice, who had been standing beside her all along.

She recalled her earlier self-struggle and attempts to break through the dream's restrictions—those were clearly attacks between the two of them.

What a terrifying Spectator. From the very beginning, without our awareness, even before we had set foot in the Spirit World, we had already entered His trap. This must be an angel—an angel of the Spectator pathway! As various thoughts swirled, she saw the surrounding clouds and mist disperse, and a grand silhouette entered her field of vision.

It was a gray-white giant dragon. His eyes were pale gold, his pupils vertical, exuding immense majesty. The moment He appeared, it was as if the entire sky prostrated itself at His feet.

The Dragon King who once ruled the skies, a myth from an ancient era—"Dragon of Imagination" Angelweid.

This thought surfaced uncontrollably in the minds of Katarina and Clarice. They subconsciously wanted to gaze upon this silhouette that existed only in myth and legend.

His surface was covered in a layer of thick gray-white scales, upon which were engraved one complex, three-dimensional mysterious symbol after another. They extended inward into flesh and blood, and outward into the surrounding void, as if interweaving into something that did not belong to the real world.

Just by seeing them, their spirits became disordered, their thoughts twisted uncontrollably, and the various impulses that had just been suppressed sprouted once more in their hearts. A fierce impulse to destroy everything swept through their minds.

"Do not look. Do not listen."

"All of this is false. There is no need to believe."

A gentle voice echoed beside their ears, like the admonitions of a loving mother to her child.

The various impulses ceaselessly growing in their hearts were suppressed by a will of incomparable vastness, beyond description.

This consciousness seemed to originate from within themselves, yet was above themselves, expertly and forcefully crushing and pulverizing those consciousnesses and emotions born of contamination.

"Ancient dragon... why interfere?"

The consciousness that had descended seemed to want to negotiate, but what answered Him was the appearance of another silhouette.

This was another giant dragon, unlike the gray-white of the Spectator pathway. He had brass-colored scales with many intricate, strange patterns upon them, like solidified mercury.

Compared to the mind dragon, His silhouette was more slender, more lithe. His pupils were wreathed in a pale blue radiance, appearing cold and rational, brimming with wisdom.

As this giant dragon's silhouette appeared, specks of brass-colored glimmer emerged around them, darting swiftly, tracing out one mysterious symbol after another.

"Dragon of Wisdom?"

The consciousness that had descended upon this dream, upon Katarina and Clarice, hesitated. His voice carried a trace of doubt and questioning.

A moment later, that brass-colored giant dragon's gaze shifted slightly, seeming to become a bit more animated. Auras of madness, destruction, ominousness, and disaster spread along His body, instantly filling the entire dream, as if wanting to draw the entire dream world into Himself.

(End of this chapter)