Chapter 66 66: Corruption Beneath the Surface...

— — — — — — A short while later... Veyron stood holding a black lotus in his hand, crafted in three separate layers—top, middle, and bottom. Each layer had nine petals, with nine lotus seeds embedded in the very center. (IMAGE) "This... is art," Veyron said with a satisfied nod. Each petal of the black lotus could be plucked and transformed into a towering wall of black flame—larger, longer-lasting, and more intense than the previous one. As for the nine lotus seeds, each one could unleash a magic cannon blast equivalent to Veyron pouring out all his spiritual power and haki—essentially, a guaranteed one-shot kill. Good thing the sun in this world was still working fine. Thanks to the passive effect of the skill trait Photosynthesis (Orange), just standing in the sunlight lets him constantly absorb solar energy and convert it into his own power. Otherwise, this level of energy expenditure would've been seriously pushing it. After putting away the lotus with its 9 seeds and 27 petals, Veyron was just about to keep the momentum going and start making matching lotuses for the other six fortresses, when the little Merlin on his shoulder tugged on his hair. "..." "What is it now?" "Veyron, I just stumbled on something pretty funny," Merlin replied, a mischievous grin on her face that made Veyron really want to flick her forehead. Her voice was teasing, sly, and full of that I'm-about-to-enjoy-this-show vibe. "Don't resist—I'm dragging your consciousness into the dreamscape." With a soft snort, Veyron didn't fight the sensation of being pulled. His vision blurred slightly—and the next moment, he found himself standing in a world that felt like a mix between dream and reality. The fortress walls that had previously been packed with knights, archers, and mages were now empty, replaced by floating lights of varying brightness and color. "Over here," Merlin called, now back to her full height, standing outside Claudia's tent and waving him over. "You randomly invaded her dream... why?" Veyron looked at her suspiciously. Merlin was a half-human, half-Succubus. She had completely inherited the traits of her Succubus lineage, making her the last remaining Dreamwalker back in her own world. And a Succubus could slip into people's dreams, manipulate or interact with them—sometimes even turn them into nightmares—to absorb dream energy. "I didn't invade! She invited me~" Merlin said, smiling sweetly. (Yeah, right. Keep spinning that tale.) Unless Merlin had shown herself to Claudia before this, Veyron would've seriously started questioning if Claudia maybe swung both ways—or if Merlin's charm had evolved to "all-genders-welcome" levels. But as it stood, Claudia hadn't even seen her in person—only in that image the priest from the Holy City brought with the divine message. "Hey! What's with that face? I'm being serious here," Merlin huffed, stomping her high-heeled boot against the ground with a sharp click. "You know me—I'm not in the habit of jumping into people's dreams for fun." "This world's rules are getting warped by the evil god's corruption. Any kind of desire can become fuel for Lust." "Right after she went into her tent, I sensed a pink dream forming nearby. I came in to take a look, just in case the evil god's power tried sneaking into the barrier and tainting the place while you were busy making that lotus." "...Pink dream?" Veyron raised an eyebrow. That basically meant a sexy dream, right? Wait. If Claudia was having that kind of dream... then why the hell did Merlin drag him in here too?! Realizing a possible reason, Veyron's face twitched. "Don't tell me... I'm in that dream too?" "Take a guess~" Merlin winked and motioned for him to find out himself. Ugh. This was going to be awkward either way. If he didn't go in, Merlin would just tease and make stuff up later—and he wouldn't even be able to argue, not knowing what actually happened. So in the end, Veyron pulled back the tent flap and stepped through the boundary between the dream dimension and Claudia's personal dream world. The moment he did, he heard Claudia murmuring something like a high-level spell—at least a tier ten chant. And when he saw the dream inside. Good news: Claudia wasn't doing that with him. Bad news: She was cuddled up with a life-sized body pillow... with his face on it—smiling, winking, and looking way too into it. "...What the hell is this supposed to mean?" Veyron tried to keep his voice calm and neutral. "Well, maybe it has something to do with a certain 'identity' you've got, Veyron~" Merlin said teasingly. She raised her staff, conjuring a life-sized replica of him—flawless down to the smallest detail. But before she could test anything out, the replica instantly collapsed into dream particles. "I've noticed it before," she continued, unfazed. "It's not just how fast you get stronger. What really gets me is your uniqueness." She spun the staff again, voice growing more curious than playful. "I mean, think about it. In the chat group? All girls—except you. The first world you dropped into? Out of nine survivors, not a single man. And now we're talking over seven million girls across the fortresses... and still, not one guy in sight." She gave him a look. "I've never seen you interact with a man. You never even mention men. Just a female doctor, your daughter... all women." Merlin tilted her head. "Are you, like... some kind of Man-Slayer God? Is your divine title secretly 'All Men Must Die' or something?" Veyron blinked, completely thrown. It's not like he planned any of that. Why was everyone suddenly obsessed with this!? With a few casual flicks, Merlin summoned more projections of him—each one slightly less accurate. And yet, one by one, they all crumbled just like the first. None could hold together inside the dream. Eventually, she gave up and changed tactics. Instead of solid recreations, she conjured illusions, paintings, even body pillows—like the one Claudia was hugging in her dream. Only those held their form. "That's not what I asked," Veyron cut in, pointing at Claudia. "I meant this dream of hers. What the hell is going on with that?" "That ties into something I just found out," Merlin said. "Up until now, we thought the 7 million survivors under the Seven Shields' protection were safe because of the barrier—they weren't affected by the evil god's corruption, right?" Veyron nodded. That's what everyone believed. "Well," Merlin said, "turns out the barrier does help, but not in the way we thought. It doesn't actually block the corruption." "It just uses their own purity to help them resist the worst of it. But deep down, they've already been... marinated by the corrupted rules of this world. Just like the cultists outside." "...Marinated?" Veyron blinked. "Yeah. Take Claudia, for example." Merlin gestured toward the blissfully unaware fortress commander. "Right now, she's the commander of the Seventh Fortress, front-liner of the Seven Shields, the woman who's protected millions of girls from the evil god's reach for seven years straight." She paused, then smirked. "But if someone touched her the right way—like you know how—I'd bet money she'd turn into a fully corrupted woman on the spot." She didn't spell it all out—but Veyron didn't need her to. It was obvious what kind of "touch". If all 7 million girls across the seven fortresses were in that kind of dangerous state... no wonder the goddess gave such a blunt divine message and placed all her hopes on them. "Let's shelve that for now." Veyron looked at the life-sized body pillow Claudia was currently manhandling. "Even if they're all pretty messed up... what the hell does this mean?" He couldn't recall saying or doing anything weird in his interactions with Claudia. "That goes back to something we discussed earlier," Merlin replied, and reached into the air to pull out a memory fragment from the dream. "I know you didn't do anything, but in their current state, it only takes the tiniest spark—especially in a dream, where the conscious mind isn't fully in control." Veyron fast-forwarded through the dream memory. The story was pretty simple: [It picked up right after he had just received the goddess's approval and used his black-and-white flames to burn every last cultist and corrupted being off the face of the planet.] [Then he returned to the Seventh Fortress—where the dream began—and married Claudia in front of Celestine.] Well... at least it wasn't some twisted 'Veyron goes dark and becomes the evil god's chosen' nightmare like the anime. "Wanna try it?" Merlin asked suddenly. "...Try what?" "What do you think?" She nodded toward Claudia. "In the real world, the rules are too corrupted for anything like that to happen." "But dreams? They've still got a barrier. She's able to go after you here because the corruption isn't as strong." Veyron squinted at her. "I feel like you're up to something." "That's slander! I'm innocent!" Merlin said with exaggerated offense. "What kind of person do you think I am? Someone who'd record the whole thing and livestream it to the group chat the moment you two start going at it?" Veyron was speechless, "...I clearly underestimated your shamelessness." "Okay, pretend I never said that." Three seconds later, both of them were once again staring at Claudia. "By the way..." Veyron muttered. "Even if it's a dream, there's no way anything could actually happen with a body pillow, right? I mean, it makes sense that she's hugging it, but couldn't she at least free up a hand to do something else?" "That's likely her perception at work," Merlin mused. "The dream engine is limited by whatever her subconscious can picture." "Are you serious?" Veyron looked skeptical. "Even if the monsters outside have shifted from lust to pure madness, seven years of war and fighting that... and you're telling me they haven't built up enough 'reference material'? You'd be better off saying it's the goddess's divine protection." "...You know what, yeah, that makes more sense. I'm gonna go with your theory." "..." . . .