One-Eyed Monster

Rhythm is a very important thing. In the heart of the Dark Force, rhythm and laws were equally important.

However, Igor’s erratic movements had shattered all conventions.

This made the Dark Force very uncomfortable. It couldn’t tell if this young man was attempting to flee or resist.

Fleeing wasn’t terrifying. It was willing to let the youth flee. After all, fleeing wouldn’t solve any problems. Indeed, fleeing could temporarily avert the immediate crisis, but in the end, it would only create an even greater one. Once everything settled, it would have plenty of opportunities to deal with him. So, he could flee all he wanted for now. If the young man chose to resist, it would be even easier. It could just treat him like the others. As long as he didn’t escape its control, it wouldn’t matter if he bent the rules a little; it could still completely control the situation. However, the youth’s behavior was extremely strange. He alternated between fleeing and resisting, never lingering in one spot for more than a moment. This was rather frustrating. It was like guerrilla warfare, constantly changing locations, which infuriated its conventional forces attempting a full-scale assault.

The Dark Force found it rather troublesome redirecting the Puppet Soldiers constantly. Its own ability to instantly change pursuit direction wasn’t an issue, but the Puppet Soldiers clearly struggled to adapt. Their coordination seemed poor, as they kept unintentionally bumping into each other.

Seeing such chaos, the Dark Force was a bit annoyed. However, it couldn’t just dispatch all its forces to deal with this youth. Besides, the more peculiar and special a Spirit Entity was, the more it desired to possess it.

It had come and gone from this world several times, controlling the souls and bodies of many types of people. But most of them eventually reacted the same way: either screaming for mercy in terror or frozen dumbstruck, utterly unresponsive. This was the first time it had encountered such widespread resistance. Moreover, the resistance was so formidable that it was forced to exert its full strength. If only everyone were like that Wizard from before, it wouldn’t have needed to waste so much time setting up so many Illusionary Realms here. It might even be sipping afternoon tea right now, watching stories unfold one by one. Yet, this youth, dashing all over the place, had caused it considerable trouble, stalling its entire plan. When it caught this youth, it would definitely tear open his head to see what on earth was inside.

Clearly, the Dark Force had become a little distracted because of Igor.

Igor knew he was in the Inner World. So he understood that no matter how he weaved through the various formations, he couldn’t affect the seniors who were resisting. This was because, within the Inner World, each flower held a world; each formation was its own self-contained world. Even if others could see it, they would find it very difficult to influence, because the controller had isolated them all. In other words, the Inner World Kuren had initially created was one large Soap Bubble, with everyone inside it. However, the Dark Force’s control was stronger than Kuren’s, so it had formed many smaller Soap Bubbles within the large one. Each small Soap Bubble enveloped an individual, and its Puppet Soldier formations brazenly entered these small Soap Bubbles to engage the resisters. Thus, Igor’s Soap Bubble could go anywhere but couldn’t merge with the other Soap Bubbles. When these Soap Bubbles touched, they simply bounced off each other, neither affecting the other. Within the large Soap Bubble, about ten smaller Soap Bubbles drifted continuously... Igor could only make his own Soap Bubble move more vigorously, but influencing the other Soap Bubbles was considerably more difficult. After all, these small Soap Bubbles were created by the Dark Force. For now, there seemed to be no way to break through...

However, Igor might have overestimated the Dark Force. His prolonged escape had already begun to annoy the Dark Force.

A well-laid plan could quickly sour if swayed by feelings of annoyance.

Moreover, this was an attack on the mental level. Emotions needed to be focused, but now feelings of vexation, weariness, and aversion surged up.

Controlling tens of thousands of Puppet Soldiers required energy, as did controlling the Illusionary Realm. Even a powerful being like the Dark Force couldn’t afford to lose focus.

It was already multitasking, and now it was assailed by this vexing emotion. It was inevitable that instabilities would arise...

Soap Bubbles were inherently unstable. This time, the collapse naturally began with the creator of the Inner World.

POP. A Soap Bubble burst. By then, Kuren, in his guise as the Slaughterer, had already repelled wave after wave of Puppet Soldier attacks. Even though his body was covered in wounds, he showed no sign of collapsing. On the contrary, the sight of his own blood flowing freely only stimulated him further. He wasn’t called the Slaughterer for nothing.

Single-handedly, he resisted an entire thousand-man phalanx and threw his head back, laughing heartily. In that instant of wild laughter, the Soap Bubble burst.

Of course, at that moment, nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary. Such changes in the underlying principles and rhythm weren’t observable by the naked eye.

Kuren merely felt the pressure on him lessen slightly. Then he glanced around and discovered that the phalanx, which had seemed invincibly powerful, had actually stalled.

Although the stall lasted only a few fleeting moments, for an expert like Kuren, this was a relatively long period.

During this extended period of observation, Kuren finally realized he could communicate with Yuga and the others again!

This was a hard-won opportunity, and Kuren naturally wouldn’t let it pass. Of course, his return to normal consciousness during this process of rediscovering himself was also due to the momentary lessening of the oppressive feeling.

The reason this oppressive feeling had lessened was that the Dark Force had been distracted by Igor...

It’s hard to concentrate when one is thoroughly disgusted and repulsed.

The Dark Force might have experienced only a brief moment of negative emotion, but the entire chain of events was affected...

This was all something Kadi had thought up. Without Kadi, none of this would have happened.

Though no one knew why Kadi had an endless supply of Spirit Power, or why Kadi was unaffected by the Dark Force.

But thank goodness, Kadi was on their side.

At this moment, Kadi was still maintaining his Fire Tree Silver Flower. The dimming lights troubled him greatly. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t reawaken these sparks...

But just when he was on the verge of collapse, one of the previously dim branches suddenly flared to life again. Kadi quickly roused his spirits. Upon closer inspection, he saw that this rekindled light was Kuren’s.

Then, Kadi was surprised to find that the parts of the Fire Tree Silver Flower that had dimmed were slowly but surely regaining their brilliance. The sparks that were on the verge of extinguishing flared up once more...