The transformed nightmare origin inspected its body and was drowning in pleasure for the newfound power it had received from the abyss. It felt invincible and it could not help but grin widely at Phil, it was thinking of ways to torture Phil from the humiliation it had suffered. It opened its mouth and launched a large glob of acidic phlegm towards Phil.
Phil who was ready for the nightmare origins attack tried to dodge the acidic phlegm that the nightmare origin had launched. Phil sidestepped towards his right, he staggered because he was stunned at how fast the acidic projectile was traveling, Phil saw the projectiles hit the floor and created splashes of acidic phlegm, he rolled forward narrowly avoiding splash damage.
Seeing how Phil was hardly dodging its attack, the nightmare origin smiled even widely and shot 3 more projectiles towards Phil.
Phil narrowly dodged getting hit directly by the 3 shots but he was hit by splash damage, intense pain assaulted his brain as he looked at his left shoulder smoking. Phil suffered severe chemical burns, parts of his shirt burnt and melded with parts of his skin. Phil struggled not to scream due to the pain he was feeling, although he was once hit by the acidic web Vicky had shot before, the pain he felt compared to that and the nightmare origins attack are miles apart.
Phil commanded En to prioritize healing his burnt shoulder so that the pain will not impair him in his fight against nightmare origin, he stood back up clutching his shoulder which was slowly regenerating.
Seeing that Phil's injury was regenerating, the nightmare origin was not mad instead it was filled with joy seeing that its prey can survive a heavier beating. Contrary to its massive size, the nightmare origin blinked in front of Phil and smacked him with his mantis hands, it used the dull side of the blade to maximize the blunt force trauma Phil will need to endure.
Sensing the nightmare origin in front of him, Phil hurriedly crossed his arms as he saw the nightmare origin raising its arms and smacked him with its arm. Phil flew backward both his arms were broken due to how heavy the blow the nightmare origin dealt, but his suffering did not end there. The nightmare origin once again flashed towards Phil while he was flying backward, this time using the sharp side of its mantis arm, it cleanly sliced both of Phil's legs. Phil screamed in pain seeing both of his legs gone, enduring the pain from his broken arms, he reached towards his pocket trying to consume the remaining carcasses he had stored when he remembered that all of the spiders he had killed dissipated in black smoke and melded with the nightmare origin.
All hope was lost for Phil as his body flew to the large wall where Annie was staying still trying to concentrate.
'BOOM!'
Phil's back made contact with the wall, air escape his lungs as he slowly skids down and slumped his back on the wall. Battered and bruised, Phil glanced at Annie who was also staring at him both her hands covering her mouth shocked at what happened to Phil. Breathing heavily Phil watched as the nightmare origin stared at him an unconcealable glee painted on its sadistic face.
The nightmare origin laughed maniacally convinced on its victory, it proceeded to walk where Phil was slumped and prepared to beat the boy even more. It wanted to see Phil bleed, it wanted Phil to suffer greatly, even now it could still feel fear from the power within Phil and the nightmare origin wanted to break that source of power wanting that power for itself or if it could not have that power then at least the boy must perish, dying on the nightmare origin's own hands.
Raising its sickle hands once more, the nightmare origin wanted to directly sever Phil's head wanting to discover if the power within Phil will transfer to it once Phil dies. The nightmare origin swung his arms decisively smiling maniacally when suddenly Annie who was hiding dashed towards Phil shielding him from the incoming attack.
Annie knows that she will die if the attack connects and everything his big brother has done for her will be for naught, but Annie did not want to see Phil suffering anymore, she knows that Phil has the means to escape from her nightmare and that the only thing holding him back was herself. Tears poured down her face as she closed her eyes ready for her impending demise, she heard the nightmare origin's arm hit the walls resulting in dust and debris falling towards her, and moments later the nightmare origins scream of anguish.
Phil saw it all, he wanted to scream and scold Annie for her reckless behavior, he did not want her to sacrifice herself for him. He saw the arm of the nightmare origin swing slowly in slow motion. He did not want to accept the fact that he and Annie will die together, but to his disbelief, the nightmare origin used its immense strength to redirect its attack narrowly hitting both of them resulting in a deep gash on the wall above them. The nightmare origin stared at Annie and screamed in anguish.
"YOU BRAT! YOU DARE FIGHT AGAINST ME!"
The nightmare origin grabbed Annie and squeezed her tight.
"IF I DID NOT NEED YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS TO BE ALIVE FOR MY BIRTH, THEN I HAVE LONG CONSUMED YOU!"
It screamed at her, its multiple eyes squinted angrily at Annie, squeezing her even tighter. Annie's face become pale as she was having difficulty in breathing.
Phil watched helplessly as the girl slowly passed out her body limp due to being unconscious. Phil wanted to help Annie but he could not even move his broken body, his energy was now deep in the negatives as maddening whispers slowly whispered for him to give up and accept death. And at the moment nearing his death, Phil thought about his family, his grandfather, Sonja, and Eric who was still waiting for him to find a safe way to travel the miasma.
Phil closed his eyes his only regret was being unable to save Annie...When suddenly Phil could hear a heartbeat, a strong warmth could be felt from his pocket, he could feel his energy slowly recovering. Enduring the pain from multiple broken bones, he reached inside his pocket wanting to know where the warmth was coming from, he grabbed it and took it out from his pocket, slowly unveiling his hand he saw the marble he was using to try and bring the sextant from reality inside the plains of dreams.
The same marble he had for years that he found inside his nightstand. Phil could undeniably feel the warmth coming from it as a warm whisper whispered in his mind.
'Throw me...at the nightmare origin.'
Phil gripped the marble tighter, the feeling of warmth slowly changed into scalding heat. Without any other option and having no plans, Phil trusted the warm whisper since he had nothing to lose. And with all his might, with all the remaining energy inside his body, he threw it towards the nightmare origin.
Having thrown Annie's body after she had fallen unconscious, the nightmare origin turned towards Phil wanting to end him this time. Then suddenly it felt danger, and it was approaching fast, using its arms it shielded itself expecting an attack coming from Phil. But when it saw that Phil was still slumping on the wall and finally saw the marble that Phil threw at it everything was too late.
'BOOOOOOOMMMM!!!'
With a large explosion, the marble exploded. The large cavern started to shake due to the force of the explosion, dust, and debris muddled the whole space making visibility almost zero. Phil ruptured his eardrums due to the explosion and his eyes were partially blind due to the blinding flash but all he cared for was Annie, he did not expect that the marble would explode and he was scared if Annie was affected by collateral damage. With bated breath, he waited for the dust to settle searching for where Annie was thrown into.
After a few minutes, the dust finally settled and Phil sighed in relief he saw Annie lying unconscious on the ground undamaged, he then looked for the whereabouts of the nightmare origin and saw its various body parts scattered all over the cavern. He smiled and laughed quietly mocking at the nightmare origin's situation, sensing that everything was over, Phil passed out unable to endure the pain from his broken body.
The nightmare origin was hit with a devastating attack and it shredded its entire body, pieces of its body were strewn all over the cavern as the large body was lying dead opposite of where Phil was slumping unconscious. But thanks to its high tenacity and thanks to the metamorphosis as well, it had miraculously survived. The large abdomen of the nightmare origin suddenly squirmed as a figure with the face of Annie's father burst out from it, heavily injured, its body was not complete and only the upper torso was left, the strong aura it once displayed was nowhere to be found. It was reduced to a pitiful state as it slowly crawled towards Phil wanting to take the boy with it on its impending demise.
The nightmare origin hated Phil since the boy destroyed all its plans, it looked at Phil trying to kill him with its stares when suddenly someone stepped on its head pinning it towards the ground.
A beautiful woman in a white dress with long black hair looked at the nightmare origin beneath its feet. Seeing the woman the nightmare origin screamed in fear and started to shake, the woman then proceeded to stomp the nightmare origin destroying it completely.
The woman then walked towards Annie and carried her in her arms, she looked at the girl with deep sorrow and walked towards Phil, he looked at the boy with gratitude and carried him on her back.
Carrying both the unconscious children the woman slowly walked out of the large cavern.