Fantasy Clock～Dream Ruler～

The azure blue shards of light are like a prairie fire, and the faint light starts from the dark green pupil as the origin and radiates to the surroundings. In just a few seconds, the power of light engulfing the field of vision has spread to all mechanical arms.

In the blink of an eye, the world in front of me was extremely empty, only the swaying blue crystal flakes rose to the sky on a scale I had never seen before, dotted sporadically on the crimson night and turned into stars.

There was a emptiness in my heart that squeezed the air. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the army of thousands of people who had just been overwhelmed by darkness occupied the field of vision, and now the field of vision is exceptionally clear, which made it difficult for me to adapt for a while.

However, it may also be because I realized a certain fact——

This once bustling fantasy world will turn into emptiness at a faster and faster rate.

The mask I was holding on to cracked and cracked, and my raised left hand took off the material of the Chinese tunic suit with dark green eyes, and gradually changed back to the original Lin Yu. The moment the connection was severed, the pain of tearing limbs also slightly improved.

The place where the dark green pupil was originally was now empty, only the three-headed crutch stood alone.

Surprisingly dead silence filled my ears, causing tinnitus in the depths of my mind——

"You bastard, what did you do!!!" Finally, it was the mirror master's roar that broke the silence. He stared fixedly into my eyes with annoyed eyes that hadn't turned back from his daze.

"I only did what I should do. You don't need to ask such stupid questions to your enemies, do you?"

"asshole--!!"

The Mirror Master stomped on his feet, leaped over the tea cat while making a loud noise, and made a throwing motion towards me with the clenched stick in his hand, but unexpectedly, the tea cat raised the sword and slid towards the Mirror Master at a speed that was hard to catch with the naked eye. In front of you, block the impact.

When the stick hits the blade directly, and there is a stalemate, the crisp sound of collision is used as the background sound effect. The tea cat held the hilt of the sword in both hands and faced outwards, like a baseball player hitting a ball, and bounced off the stick with great force at an oblique angle.

The mirror master clicked his tongue in displeasure, and habitually extended his left hand, ready to easily catch the swing stick as usual, but unexpectedly, a slender silver sword light came up from the side below, making the swing stick Off track--

The stick brushed against his index finger, and he instinctively moved forward but still didn't catch it. His eyes instantly turned to astonishment, and he turned a slightly vicious look to Alket who was holding a rapier, and immediately grabbed it from his coat. Several broken lenses.

The Mirror Master raised his chin, but kept his eyes on the enemy, and shouted with strong thoughts.

"Infinite Mirror Image——!!!"

Just when the mirror master made a gesture to let go and throw the fragments at us, a flat and mechanical voice came out suddenly with an oppressive momentum, even though it contained no tone, it seemed to contain incredible strength.

"Okay. The farce must come to an end. There is no need to spend more time on failed missions."

This strange voice made me look towards the source of the sound, but I didn't see anyone. Only a faint sense of existence lingers around here, which makes me feel a sense of "someone is there".

In fact, although there was no one there, there was nothing there—the three-headed scepter in sight stood on the spot without any support, and the part of the skull that seemed to be the "eye hole" was emitting a faint purple light.

As if taking this as an order, the strong light that robbed the vision suddenly attacked the surroundings of the lantern. Chalter, who closed his eyes, immediately opened his eyes and announced where the attack would come from. The black cat covered her front with blue vines.

The disturbed vines blocked the incoming "water arrows". Immediately near the messenger, a sudden water curtain obscured the visible field of vision.

The head maid had been threatening with the muzzle of the gun on her forehead, so she noticed the abnormality and fired without hesitation, but the bullet was washed down by the falling water curtain like a waterfall .

Reina took the opportunity to pull her hands to the right, drawing a stream of water from the messenger's side. The water pressure pushed him several meters away. Although he was a little embarrassed, he was still out of the control of the head maid.

"Hey~ I'm going to leave now, didn't you say you'll make me pay the price?"

"Hmph. Why don't you care about yourself." Reina stopped for a while, her cheeks were still red, but her momentum had recovered, "What I said, I will definitely do."

"It's not ashamed to say...then I'll wait and see~" The black cat responded with the same tone of indifference.

Seeing his companions all retreating one after another, the Mirror Master's fingers trembled from using all his strength, and the fragments caught between his fingers also trembled. Is he trying to accumulate strength for a blow, or is he suppressing the thought of fighting us?

The answer is obviously the former.

"How is it possible... to stop at such a time!!"

After saying that, his wrist stopped trembling and began to swing forward, and the shattered lens was about to fall from his fingers and fly towards him.

"Okay. Stop it."

There was still no change in tone, but this time it was clearly an order. And now I am more and more convinced that the person who is speaking is the scepter stuck in the air without support.

After it finished speaking its order, it unquestionably turned its staff and set off at a low altitude.

Doubt made me try to search the memory of the dark green pupil, wanting to find the origin of the scepter in his memory.

However, before I found the clue, I was the first to think of other doubts.

For example, when the dark green pupils disappeared. The Legion of Thousands and everything about him were scattered into shards of light, except for this crutch that did not disappear.

At first, I thought it was something that the dark green pupils put their strong thoughts on, so it was the only one left in this world, but looking at it now, it is obvious that the three-headed scepter does not belong to him.

At the same time, the fast-running "One Person, Thousand Faces" found clues and turned his thoughts to his eyes.

"When I was invited to participate in the domination war, I found that the person who invited me was a spiritual stick?"

The mirror master, who had been holding his hand tightly all the time, snorted unwillingly, the broken mirror between his fingers dissipated in an instant, and in a blink of an eye the broken mirror in his hand had turned into a stick. He shouted loudly at me:

"Give it to me, wait!! The next time we meet again, that's when I decide to kill you!"

After finishing speaking, he swung the swing stick back with his right hand, turned the back of his neck for half a circle, hooked the swing stick with his left arm, and quickly followed the staff that floated away.

"Is that so... the person who stood at the leader's position every time he appeared from the beginning to the end was Molutong. But the real leader of clock number one is actually the magic staff under the palm of Molutong, isn't it? "

I stared at the scepter that disappeared from sight, and muttered to myself.

Lantern rested his hands behind his head, walked carelessly ahead and chattered endlessly.

"Hey, make up for it with your head down. Failure is a common thing in military affairs~ Everyone performed very well today, don't be sad about the result, it will be much easier to be a processist."

"I'm not upset. Can you stop chattering in my ear, you idiot."

The general pushed the wheelchair with a look of disgust, and passed by me, and his eyes began to follow me all the time.

For some reason, the scene in front of me entered slow motion. His footsteps gradually slowed down, and the eyes of the general and I met inadvertently. As a result, shocking emotions appeared in his empty, emotionless pupils for no reason.

The flame hidden in the depths of his eyes jumped to the surface without permission, and the hand pushing the wheelchair also stopped.

"No...it's unreasonable." The general suddenly muttered to himself.

After saying that, he turned the chair wheel to move towards me, and the speed of the forward hand became faster and faster.

"To sum up, although consequentialism makes life easier, it is still 100% fun for processists... Are you listening to me? Wait, hey... what are you doing?"

Lantern, who kept talking, finally realized that the general hadn't followed him, turned around in confusion and looked this way, and couldn't help mobilizing his legs and walked over. Confusion turned to anxiety.

"It's not my problem!" The general's tone was uncommonly fluctuating, and the brighter flames gradually occupied all of his pupils. He narrowed his eyes and said, "Damn...I don't want to go! Why are my hands out of control? ?”

The development without any warning made it difficult for me to resist. Seeing the general coming straight towards me, I instinctively took a step back. Immediately afterwards, a sudden line of inspiration flashed through the back of my head.

[Evil spirits who tear apart the quiet night, I order you to destroy the master of clock No. 2 at the cost of your life! 】

Could it be that this is the backlash of the "Devil King's Order"? I stopped, and the general's current actions were surprisingly consistent with his instructions. It seemed that only "ability backlash" could explain the weird development in front of me.

As if treating the wheelchair as a modified motorcycle with a full engine, the irrational general with a ferocious smile pulled the wheels like crazy and drove towards me, only the color in his eyes was separated from the whole.

"Kill you!! As the ruler of the opposing faction, it is right to risk your life to do so, right?! Nah!!"

The force with which he opened his mouth was too great, and several blood clots were torn on his lips. The blood was mixed with saliva, and Xingzi passionately expressed his strange excitement, but the flustered eyes and facial expressions were completely different.

"Hey... the ruler of clock number two, die!! Just let me die!!"

The general's back-stretched hands were in the shape of claws, with obvious blue veins bursting out, and two pale hands that were so sickly aimed at my neck and pinched. His manic look became more and more frenzied, but suddenly lost his blood when he was very close to me.

The figure that appeared in front of me without warning obstructed my vision and separated me from the general. My gaze straddled the tea cat's shoulders: the huge sword pierced through the general's chest, and he stared at me with round eyes.

A weak cough is about to move in the throat. Suddenly, bright blood sprayed from the general's mouth. The corner of Tea Mao's mouth curled slightly downwards, and she pulled her elbow back and pulled out the sword, splashing a rain of blood.

The wound across his chest dyed the general's blue and white striped sportswear bright red, and the light blue shards started from the wound, and then his whole body was scattered into shimmering dust, flying unsteadily into the sky. go.

"Just kidding, right?"

Lantern took unusually slow steps, approaching step by step like a walking dead. The general turned his gaze sideways with difficulty, opened his twitching eye sockets hard, and locked the focus with difficulty.

"It's okay... Hey, don't look at me with the eyes of a dying person. I, I'm here to save you!"

The distraught Lantern spoke nonsense in fragments and staggered over at a faster pace.

The general raised his eyebrows with a sinister look, and said viciously:

"Don't come here. Bastard—"

The voice just fell. It was as if the burning blue light spread to the whole body, leaving only scattered light fragments in the air. Lantern's chaotic pace stopped because of this, and a sound of extreme disgust came out of his throat.

Lantern tightly clenched his white-gloved hand, and the eyes of the pumpkin hood exuded a deep light, as if announcing his hostility without saying a word. Then Lantern took a few steps back, turned around and quickly chased after the leaving companion.

In the empty crimson sky, we are the only ones left. Even the evil spirits that usually caused trouble were gone. This made me more and more sure of the fact that the world would become empty.

"Alkate, have you contacted Xiao Lulu yet?"

Arquette shook his head at me and scabbard the rapier when I noticed several scratches on his glove.

Suddenly, everything in the field of vision shook as if immersed in water. Vision is the first to surrender to consciousness.

"No. Anyway, I couldn't make contact."

"Is that so...it seems like we need to walk back by ourselves."

I shifted my blurred vision down and stared at my trembling palm, the pain that was tearing indistinctly became clear due to the sudden emptiness of my thoughts. So I found that there were several bloodstains on my palm.

"Ah, this is it?"

The intertwined wounds arranged like a spider web widened, and blood seeped out from the wounds, covering the wounds and dyeing the palms with blood red all over.

Suddenly, it was as if someone was stirring the pain deep in my brain with a vise, depriving me of consciousness.

"Hello!! Lin Yu?"

The sound dissipated to free up the auditory sense, and together with the visual illusion, it turned into colorless blackness.

...

It seems to be the sound of a huge object being moved, mixed with the subtle sound of burning wood. This strange noise consumed my once-deaf ears, penetrated into the depths of my brain and awakened my unconscious consciousness.

The dark field of vision was first occupied by the dazzling firelight. I opened my eyes in a daze, and then I found that there were firewood piles piled up in the valley all around. The abandoned steel bars that can be described as "ruins" were built around the periphery to build a simple stronghold.

"What the hell is this place?"

I turned my palms down, trying to push myself up, only to realize that my palms touched the ground only a few layers of bandages away, other than that, the only feedback from my palms was a heart-piercing tingling pain.

"Stronghold." The cold female voice answered me briefly. "Xue Xueer brought you here."

I looked in the direction where the sound came from, and saw Tong Xiyu sitting on a tree stump lying on the ground with his arms around her.

"This joke is not funny...how could it be a stronghold..."

The nearby pitted ground was full of gravel. Maybe it's just because it's a little flatter here, so I'm placed here. This scene can't make me compare with the weeping cherry noodle restaurant.

I propped my elbows against the mud and sat up reluctantly. While my sight was much wider, I suddenly noticed that my right hand was wrapped with a bandage, which made me stretch out my left hand and found that both hands were tightly wrapped.

"You just make it a little bit."

Probably noticing my reaction, Tong Xiyu talked to me while looking away from other places.

"Healing can't be used unlimitedly, there is a limit on the number of times in the time limit. Before you, there were people who were more seriously injured than you. As for most of your injuries, I just dealt with them briefly."

"Okay...but then again, who is the one who is more seriously injured than me?"

"In order from heavy to light. Xiao Lulu, Su Ruoyang, Yingzi, Arquette, Xia Yinci, Xiao Luoluo, Su Huilin, Wang Yahui, Tong Xiyu, you are the last one." Tong Xiyu said lightly Replied.

When I heard her say that Xiao Lulu was the most seriously injured, I couldn't help but shuddered in my heart, but thinking that Tong Xiyu would definitely treat her injury first, I felt a little relieved.

"Um...it sounds a bit awkward to call myself by my first name other than self-introduction."

"It's out of your control."

"By the way, who is this Wang Yahui?"

"The Ruler of Clock Number Three."

"Oh...so it's the name of the "Steel Boy"..." I silently wrote down the boy's name, and then thought of a question that I was concerned about, "No... your clock's companion fought with the Devourer, injured It's not light, is it?"

I'm done. Tong Xiyu's expression, as if she would not change in the face of the end of the world, changed. Her right eyebrow twitched slightly, and a trace of elusive sadness flashed across her moist pupils.

She probably already knows about Jiangcheng, right?

"Sorry, I said something wrong..."

"Hmm. You shouldn't bring up such things at this time."

Tong Xiyu played cards out of common sense again, which made my mind go blank for a moment, and I didn't know how to answer her words.

"Hey, you... you're a little outrageous to be frank... don't you even bother to say polite words?"

To be honest, this kind of lazy girl is really the most difficult type for me to deal with. So in the past, tea cats alone could fill up my Tucao points in an instant.

However. Seeing my slightly maddened reaction, Tong Xiyu smiled with unknown meaning.

"No, what are you laughing at?"

I don't understand it at all. Why am I surrounded by unpredictable guys?

"My companion is waiting for you." Tong Xiyu suddenly answered an irrelevant question. She took a deep breath and said calmly, "If the body can move, it's better not to make them wait too long."

"What... where are they?"

"I didn't come in from outside. Maybe I didn't want to disturb your rest." Tong Xiyu pointed to the right direction, thought for a while and added, "...you are right about one thing. My companion's injury is no worse than Others are lighter."

...

After passing the steel bars and timber on the ground, I approached the periphery of this so-called "stronghold". Not far away, I saw a familiar "young man" walking over a grain pile about three meters high.

This kind of indescribably strange walking posture, if you insist on describing it, it is like a big-breasted girl whose soul has penetrated a boy with poor breasts. Unmistakable, it must be Xue Xueer.

I remember that Tong Xiyu told me just now that Xue Xueer brought me to her for treatment. No matter how much you usually like to hurt her and make fun of her, you still have to thank her well at this time.

But for some reason, she was a little out of her mind, and didn't even notice my existence at such a close distance. Her eyes often stayed outside the grain pile, muttering to herself.

Until she bumped her head on my chest.

"Ah...Lin Yu, are you awake?"

"Obviously I'm awake." I put my bandaged hands on my waist and asked her, leaning slightly, "But you, why don't you look awake?"

"We were already in a dream. There is no way we can sleep or not wake up." Xue Xueer staggered my gaze, turned his face to the right side, slightly puffed up his cheeks, and muttered in a low voice.

This made it difficult for me to answer for a while, and I almost forgot that it was she who asked the question "Are you awake?" first.

"Wait... You don't look like you're angry, do you?"

"No, yes." Xue Xueer didn't look at me, and kept that pouted posture.

"Should I be happy for you?"

"What are you happy about!!" Xue Xueer looked over displeasedly, but she seemed to look away from me embarrassedly because she saw me looking at her with a smile on her face.

"Well, this is a good question, but the answer is surprisingly simple. Because I didn't expect you to be angry in addition to the relentless pursuit of the reporter mode and the shyness and reserve of the normal mode."

"What do you mean...do you think I'm a robot with only two modes?"

"That's a good metaphor. It seems that you are unexpected, and you know yourself quite well."

I took a step closer to her, controlled my strength and gently dropped a hand knife on her forehead. The bandaged hand didn't feel any real feeling, only the wound was a little wrinkled.

"It's good like this. To be honest, learning to be angry will make you look a lot more real. However, if you don't use this face, but show this expression in reality, it will be cuter in my opinion."

Xue Xueer's chin lowered lower and lower, she lowered her gaze, and only let me see her bright red cheeks.

"Hey, be honest with me. There are only two modes and the reaction is always mechanical. It will be very boring. Instead of rejecting the fact that you are a woman, why don't you make good use of your image as a beautiful girl to do something real."

As soon as the words fell, I couldn't help but take a step back because of what happened in front of me.

The "young man" standing in front of him who was always dressed in a white shirt with short blue hair in the dream world actually had long sky blue hair when he raised his head, and the mid-length trousers he wore in summer changed into red plaid shorts. skirt.

This is undoubtedly what I saw in reality, Xue Xueer.

"Did you forget to say something?"

"Uh, thank you." I couldn't react for a while, and I actually forgot to talk to her again. I have been with Xue Xueer as a man for quite a long time, but now it is a bit difficult to adapt to her real appearance.

"Oh. Isn't it too late to say thank you now?"

Xue Xueer took a step closer, with her hands behind her back and her head held high, she stared at me.

"Late but not absent..."

The situation was suddenly uncharacteristic, and this time I was stared at by her a little unnaturally. Although I knew she was a girl very early on, to be honest, I could only realize this fact when she faced me with her true self.

Xue Xueer confined me with her staring eyes, and her body got closer and closer to me. I hurriedly put my hands on her shoulders, blocking her out of the safe range.

"By the way... why were you so preoccupied just now?"

Originally, I just wanted to find a topic to distract each other's attention, but unexpectedly, the effect was immediate. She not only stopped in place, but also staggered my sight.

"You look suspicious, don't you?"

The situation with her reversed again, and I returned to the active position and leaned in front of her suspiciously. When she stared so hard that she could no longer retreat, Xue Xueer finally stretched out her hand to block my chest, and said in a hasty tone:

"It was at the entrance of the alley that I saw Watanabe..."

For some reason, she didn't continue talking, and she retracted the hand that touched my chest.

"Watanabe? Do you mean Watanabe Kaede?"

However, Xue Xue'er didn't answer my question, but turned her attention back to me.

She tilted her head in a charming manner, and asked tentatively:

"Hey... Lin Yu, have you considered quitting the domination war?"

...

Leaving the simple stronghold made of piles of firewood, I stepped on the lower pile of firewood and walked out of the ruins while observing my bandaged right hand (perhaps the low position is a door for people to enter and exit).

"Yu, Brother Yu, you're awake."

Ren Shengcai, who was wandering back and forth outside, saw Lin Yu, turned to him and walked over quickly.

"I said, why does everyone have to ask him "Are you awake" when he sees someone who is awake?" I pulled out my left hand in my pocket and joked, "Which era is this custom handed down from? ah?"

"Well... I don't know. I think it might be similar to "hello" and "good morning". They are both ways of greeting, right? So "you're awake" is also a kind of..."

I quickly stretched out my hand to stop him from continuing his long speech.

"Stop stop... I'm just kidding, you're seriously analyzing it with me..."

Ren Shengcai shut his mouth obediently, as if he hesitated to speak for a while.

After thinking about it, I glanced at him slightly, pretending to mention it casually, and asked:

"Are you seriously injured? Why didn't you go for treatment?"

"Yes, Brother Yu, I just want to tell you about this."

"But until now, you haven't said anything other than calmly analyzing the effect of 'you're awake'..."

"Aren't I... talking words?" Ren Shengcai said intermittently, rubbing his palms.

The atmosphere calmed down briefly, I breathed a sigh of relief, and simply decided to let me speak first. If I guessed correctly what he was going to say, there was no need to wait for him to dawdle. Even if he guesses wrong, it can be used as an impetus to make him speak faster.

"Let me guess. Are you planning to withdraw from the war of domination? So, there is no need to heal the wounds. Anyway, they can be fully healed after returning to reality. How about...I didn't, am I wrong?"

Ren Shengcai didn't expect that I would speak suddenly, and looked at me in surprise.

"Masters, can you not be coy? If you are worthy of your big and thick image, then give me a little quickness, and say what you want to say quickly. After all, is that what I said?"

"Yes." The one who answered me was not Ren Shengcai but a young man I hadn't seen much. He raised his hand and stroked his ear with his thumb, and said, "We have actually thought about it for a long time, thinking about how to live up to Jiang Cheng's death. .”

"Then what's the answer you got?"

"Quit the war of domination." The young man spread his hands and shrugged his shoulders pretending to be relaxed.

The young man's words reminded me of the question Xue Xueer had just asked me, and a small stone thrown into the lake caused a strange ripple in my heart.

"I'm sorry, Brother Yu... If you give me a useful ability, it will come in handy."

"There's nothing embarrassing about it." I let out a long breath, relieved for no reason. "Actually, "Imprisoned Colosseum" is not bad, but it just doesn't apply to the rules governing war at this stage."

I lightly patted Ren Shengcai on the shoulder, and the young man continued as if feeling emotional:

"After the sacrifice of our first leader, our choice is to continue even if we are the only one left. But compared to Jiangcheng, compared to other clock rulers, compared to you...we are always too weak."

"Jiangcheng can last as long as he says, and this is our domination war. In the end, he is the only one among us who has completed this domination war that belongs to us. Because he is the only one who has survived to the limit that he can bear."

"I think, we actually want to live. Many negative things have paralyzed our desire to survive. We chose to go on the road of no return after suffering a lot of pain, but we still dare not cut off the back road."

"We have been paralyzed for so long that we can't remember our instinct to live."

When the young man said this, he stopped talking and continued to confess. He also didn't hide the sadness in his eyes at all, as if he was thinking about their temporary leader all the time - and now, Jiang Cheng was their permanent leader.

It is impossible not to be sad, but it is impossible to be sad all the time.

"So... Jiangcheng's death gave you the meaning of awakening your long-sleeping desire to survive, right?"

I'm using a soliloquy volume so I won't get a response from them.

However, the answer is so clear that it will forever be etched in my memory.

"When are you leaving?"

"At any time." The young man shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile, "call Tong Xiyu and you can go."

"Then Ren Shengcai, go call Xi Yu, let's go." I patted Ren Shengcai on the shoulder, and the atmosphere drove Ren Shengcai to take a few steps forward, but then he turned around in confusion.

"Let's go, where are we going?"

"Where else can you go, don't you want to go home?"

I couldn't help smiling, and pointed my thumb at my chest.

"Let me be your driver for this train back home."

——Destination, Xinghai Tavern.

When I was here last time, there were evil spirits all over the place scrambling to leave the cracks in the dream, but now it was so empty that it was unbelievable. Even the endless sea of ​​stars will touch the inconceivable mood in my heart, and I am already used to it.

"Xinghai Tavern is the common place of multiple world layers. It connects both sides of reality and dreams. The madmen of dreams stipulate that they cannot return to reality, which means that they have not blocked the entrance to return to reality."

It's just that once they return to reality, they will be deprived of the right to dominate the war.

"During this time, thank you and Clock No. 3 for taking care of me..." The young man bowed deeply to me, and earnestly begged, "If you can, please help us say hello to them."

"It's a trivial matter. Let's go now. I don't want to meet someone with clock number one at this time."

Watching Ren Shengcai and others leave, Tong Xiyu was at the end of the line. She never said goodbye to me, nor did she say goodbye to anyone else. There is no sign when it comes, and it leaves no trace when it goes.

But just as she was about to cross the threshold, her steps stopped for a moment, her eyes turned sideways and squinted at me.

"Thank you."

I don't even know if she stopped, let alone say goodbye to her. She disappeared from my vision in a bubble that seemed to be a hallucination.

In this way, the ruler of Clock No. 8 withdrew from this domination war.