EPISODE 10: THE SIXTH RULE: 'FOR THREE DARK HOURS, HE WILL FIGHT TO DEFEND THE GATE THAT LIES AT THE BORDER BETWEEN THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT' PART III: A SUDDEN CHANGE; THE SEAL OF ENDREGEN UNLOCKED!
In the World Of Reality, the Dream Knights had begun to make their move against the invading Nightmares. The girl from our school's News Committee was recording and transmitting scenes of battle occurring in Central Dream City. To avoid exposing the Dream World's realities to the public, the Dream Knights engaged in battle against the Nightmares were disguised as cops and various military personnel. As she continued to record the scene of the battle and report the events occurring, she suddenly noticed that a part of Bloody Cape's horizon appeared to be unusual. She pointed her camera in that direction and zoomed in but the images displayed in her recording showed nothing out of the ordinary. When she stared at the horizon with her own eyes though, she noticed that scenes of battle were displayed in the sky.
"What's this? An apparition? Special effects of some sort?" she wondered.
She called one of her crew members.
"Do you see that?" she pointed.
"The scenes of battle occurring in the sky? If I didn't believe in other worlds before now, I certainly have changed my opinion regarding that matter" a boy from the school's News Committee said.
The scene displayed over the horizon was of the battle occurring at the Eternal Mirror Gate.
"Wait a sec, isn't that the civilian superhero fanatic who downed the armoured tank? What's he doing in these scenes? Could that possibly be…the doorway to another dimension?!" the News Reporter girl said.
"Why doesn't it show up on our cameras? At this rate, we can't cover this event. No one will believe us without hard evidence" the News Reporter guy said.
When they turned to record the scene of battle occurring within the city itself, they noticed that instead of a battle occurring between cops and mobsters, one raging between what seemed to be brilliantly armoured knights and monsters was occurring instead.
"WH-WHAT IS THIS?!" they exclaimed in horror and attempted to record the scene however, the moment the cameras came into play, all the images recorded within them were of a battle occurring between cops and mobsters.
"Am I hallucinating?" the News Reporter girl wondered.
"If you're hallucinating, then we're both hallucinating about the same thing" the News Reporter guy said.
"I'll contact other News Agencies to find out whether or not they're experiencing the same phenomenon" the News Reporter girl said and began to make a few calls.
Moments later, she returned to her crew.
"It's amazing! They're all experiencing the same thing but somehow, their cameras can't capture the images as we see them. There's only one logical explanation. We may currently be witnessing the prelude to an alien invasion!" the News Reporter girl said excitedly.
"The Bloody Caped civilian superhero fanatic appears to be fighting in whatever world that portal connects to. Could this be a battle between two alien civilizations or is the target our planet?" the News Reporter Girl wondered.
Ciella was in the field of Lunar Flowers awaiting my return patiently when she also noticed the unusual scene above the horizon. Suddenly, the mobsters began to attack from all sides. Ciella's eyes widened in horror as they approached the field of Lunar Flowers but then, just before they could get any closer, she noticed arrows raining on them from above. Then the image of mobsters in her mind was replaced by the image of monsters. She raised her eyes to the sky and saw countless arrows. They rained all around her but didn't touch her. All over Dream City, Concordia's arrows began to rain on the invading Nightmares.
Meanwhile, Keiran, Mitsuki and I continued to defend the Mirror Gate. Keiran's flame field prevented more Nightmares from accessing the Gate. Mitsuki weighed them down with the moon's gravitational force while I continued to knock them out.
"Mitsuki, is your ability not ready yet?" I asked.
"No, you've only downed roughly ninety two Nightmares. There's a way to get my ability prepped up more quickly. To do that, I'll need to link it to Concordia's sigil" Mitsuki said.
"Why?" I asked.
"Well, my sigil has the ability to register other sigils, particularly of allies and keep a record of the foes downed by other sigils. In your case, it appears to recognize your body as a sigil. If I can get Concordia to assent to my registering her sigil within mine, Concordia's ability to down a large number of foes in virtually an instant will greatly shorten the amount of time it takes to prepare my sigil" Mitsuki said.
"Go ahead then" I said.
"Concordia? Can you hear me?" Mitsuki attempted to contact Concordia telepathically.
"Of course, thanks to Arlene's sigil. What do you want Mitsuki?" Concordia asked.
"I was hoping to register your sigil as that of one of my teammates. You know about my ability right? Well, with your ability to take down a great number of adversaries, I can greatly shorten the amount of time it takes to prep my sigil" Mitsuki said.
"I consent. This battle is a serious matter and we should take advantage of every means in our arsenal to reduce the potential for human casualties" Concordia said.
Mitsuki smiled.
"Thanks" she said.
"How did it go?" I asked.
"Concordia consented. I'm registering her sigil now" Mitsuki said.
Almost immediately after she had said that, the hand on her pocket watch began to move. It moved slowly at first and then began to gradually pick up speed. Thirty minutes later, the hand of Mitsuki's pocket watch had performed a full revolution and landed on the point marked twelve, zero and four hundred.
"The requirement for switching sigil from dormant state to active state has now been fulfilled. Awaiting your instructions" a voice spoke from within Mitsuki's sigil.
"INTERNAL TITANIUM CHRONO CHROME! AWAKEN!" Mitsuki called as the entire space surrounding the Eternal Mirror Gate was altered.
Keiran and I found ourselves within what appeared to be a tremendous dimension surrounded by countless clocks. At the centre of the dimension was a tremendous clock which's hand was practically still. Surrounding that clock were medium sized clocks. Surrounding the medium sized clocks were small clocks, some of which turned clockwise, others turned counterclockwise.
"The tremendous clock represents the entirety of history. The small clocks represent days. Whenever a small clock performs a revolution, a second in history is achieved. The medium sized clocks represent lives. The clocks we're searching for are these ones" Mitsuki said as she pointed to a group of uncountable dark coloured clocks.
"These dark clocks represent Nightmares. I'm not allowed to influence their fates or alter their lives in any way but at the very least…I'm going to slow them down to a crawl which should give us all the time we need to act" Mitsuki said.
"Slow them down to a crawl? Is that even possible?" I asked.
"All the preparatory measures are in place. By linking my sigil to Concordia's which was already linked to Arlene's, I can match these clocks to the Nightmares that are currently rampaging" Mitsuki explained.
"You haven't answered my question" I noted.
"Time is relative. By observing other living creatures, it becomes obvious that how quickly or slowly they can move is in a sense tied to their perception of time. By altering the perception of time of the rampaging Nightmares and drastically reducing it, I can slow them to a crawl. I cannot however completely eliminate their perception of time though" Mitsuki explained.
"I'm sure there's a catch. There's no way a technique this convenient exists" I said with a smug look on my face.
"Of course there is. The first catch is the condition tied to prepping up my sigil" Mitsuki said.
"Downing four hundred adversaries?" Keiran asked.
"Yes. And the second catch is that the effects of this technique will only last for an hour and thirty minutes after which I'll have to repeat the process of prepping up my sigil to be able to utilize this technique again" Mitsuki said.
"Told ya" I said.
"Okay, here I go" Mitsuki said as she stretched her hands towards the dark clocks.
The speed at which their hands were moving gradually began to slow down till they appeared to be practically still. At that point, the dimension disappeared.
"Another thing you should know is that the awakened form of my sigil can only be perceived by my allies" Mitsuki said.
We looked around and noticed that the rampaging Nightmares appeared to have been frozen. At that moment, Concordia's voice rang within our minds.
"The activities of the rampaging Nightmares have all but ceased. I'm assuming you awakened your sigil Mitsuki?" Concordia asked.
"Yes, thanks to you. We have an hour and thirty minutes in which the Nightmares will be completely inactive. Within this period, we should get the Dream Knights battling in the Real World to transport the inactive Nightmares back to the Dream World by utilizing their sigils as points of contact" Mitsuki said.
"I'll relay this to Arlene" Concordia promised.
"We've been fighting for an hour and thirty minutes already, give or take. If the Nightmares are going to be inactive for an hour and thirty minutes, that practically sums up to the entire duration of the eclipse" I said hopefully.
"Actually, we can't know that for certain" Mitsuki said.
"What do you mean?" Keiran asked.
"The News Reports claimed the Solar Eclipse would last for about three hours. It could end anywhere from exactly three o'clock to three forty five. I doubt it will end anytime too close to four hours though. The effects of my sigil will end at exactly three o'clock. If by that time we haven't found a way to seal the passages linking the Dream World to the Real World, the rampages will begin again and last until the Solar Eclipse passes" Mitsuki explained.
"But how exactly do we seal the passages? They didn't exactly form naturally but were instead triggered by a rare celestial event" Keiran said.
"For now, it's good enough that we've located all major passages thanks to Arlene's sigil. All we can do for now is to bolster the defenses surrounding these passages. If this is effectively done, we should be able to prevent the Nightmares from infiltrating the Real World until the eclipse is over" Mitsuki explained.
In the Real World, the Dream Knights began to transport the inactive Nightmares back to the Dream World by utilizing their sigils as points of contact. The News Reporter girl from our school and her crew could now clearly see the battle raging between the Dream Knights and Nightmares. She could not however record the event since the cameras captured it as a battle occurring between cops and mobsters.
Ciella who was in the field of Lunar Flowers looked around herself and saw the petrified Nightmares. In the next instant, she noticed brilliantly armoured knights approaching. With their various weapons, they appeared to cause the Nightmares to vanish. When the Nightmares had disappeared, they disappeared as well.
"Wh-What was that all about? Am I dreaming? A hallucination?" Ciella thought and shook her head in an attempt to wake up.
However, when she stared towards the horizon, the scene of the battle raging at the Eternal Mirror Gate confronted her.
"Could the ones fighting the monsters be…the heroes from twenty three years ago?!" she realized in awe.
Then she suddenly noticed something strange. In the scene displayed over the horizon, three knights appeared to be battling the Nightmares. Further onward were an army of what appeared to be mixed units composed of both humanoid knights and various mythical creatures resembling titans from various cultural myths. These units appeared to be confronting an army of monsters. Currently, the battle appeared to have ceased. What interested Ciella the most about the scene was the image of one of the knights who was battling.
"Is that…Keiran? San's brother?!" Ciella exclaimed in shock.
Keiran's face was not masked so the only things that raised uncertainty within Ciella's mind were the distance between herself and the scene displayed in the horizon and the fact that Keiran's armour appeared to be glowing.
"I'm not sure but if that's Keiran…" Ciella thought as she shifted her gaze from Keiran to a figure in a bloody cape and wearing sunshades. "…could the bloody caped guy really be…?!" Ciella wondered.
She was so shocked though that she couldn't bring herself to complete her sentence.
Over the course of an hour, the Dream Knights in the Real World transported most of the inactive Nightmares in the Real World back to the Dream World while those in the Dream World acted quickly to bolster defenses at the passages that had formed linking the Dream World to the Real World.
Then an hour and thirty minutes completely passed.
"It's been exactly three hours since the rampages began. Has the Solar Eclipse passed yet?" I wondered and peered through the Eternal Mirror Gate.
It was still dark in the Real World.
"You've got to be kidding me!" I thought in alarm.
All of a sudden, my Gramps' voice rang within my mind.
"San, listen closely to me. The Solar Eclipse will last for another thirty minutes. Starting from this moment, you and I are going to seal the passages that have formed as a result of the eclipse" my Gramps said.
"But how Gramps?" I wondered.
"You'll release the true first limiter" the Nightmare King said.
"The true first limiter?" I wondered.
"The limiters of power and speed you've been utilizing are limiters you imposed upon yourself subconsciously to limit your physical ability. The Seven Limiters of the one known as the Nightmare King's successor can only be released as one comes closer to fulfilling the Thirteen Rules contained in the Tome that grants the right of succession. You've fulfilled roughly half of the rules so you should currently have the ability to unlock three limiters" the Nightmare King said.
"Really? But I don't feel much different from before" I said.
"Of course, it's not completely dependent on physical ability" the Nightmare King said.
"Not completely?" I asked.
"Each limiter grants a unique set of abilities and when the seventh limiter is unlocked, the very fabric of reality itself can be altered which is why I've limited my use to three limiters" my Gramps said.
"I see" I thought to myself.
"But even if the limiters are not completely dependent on physical ability, to some extent, the strain of suddenly releasing much more power from yourself than your body can currently handle will come with consequences. Prepare yourself to endure the potential backlash" my Gramps warned.
"Let's do this!" I declared with determination.
My Gramps sighed.
"Fine, repeat these words after me…" my Gramps began to say.
I paid close attention.
"TO THOSE THAT MUST NOT DIE, I PROTECT THEIR LIVES…" my Gramps said.
I repeated the words.
"…TO THOSE THAT MUST NOT BE SEPARATED, I PROTECT THEIR BONDS…" my Gramps said.
I repeated the words.
"…TO THOSE THAT MUST NOT BE FORGOTTEN, I PRESERVE THEIR DEEDS…" my Gramps said.
I repeated the words.
All of a sudden, a flood of words began to rush into my mind. Rushing in with the words were what seemed to be a conceptual flood of various abilities.
"…IN MY HANDS, I HOLD EARTH AND ENDREGEN, MAN AND ENDREGININAN, LIGHT AND DARKNESS! SEAL OF ENDREGEN…UNLOCK!!!" I roared with my Gramps as my inner clothes gradually transformed into blue armour.
Energy flowed into my cape greatly strengthening it and turning it fiery. On the back of my cape appeared the insignia of a golden lion.
At the Dream World's Border Wall, Arlene noticed that the marker indicating my location had suddenly disappeared.
"Concordia, San is…! San just disappeared from my radar!" she called to Concordia in concern.
"Mitsuki, what happened to San…don't tell me he's…!" Concordia called in concern.
"San is alright…he's just…" Concordia heard Mitsuki say.
At the Dream World's first fortification, my Dad, Mom, Saito and Ariel suddenly turned to look in the direction towards the Eternal Mirror Gate.
"Something just changed" my Dad said seriously.
"What is it Zan?" my Mom asked.
"I can sense another presence, a very powerful presence almost identical to my Dad's, the Nightmare King's" my Dad said.
"Impossible! Who could possibly match your Dad?!" my Mom exclaimed in shock.
"I can think of only one person other than myself" my Dad said.
At the Mirror Gate, Mitsuki and Keiran turned to face me.
"San?" Mitsuki called in concern.
A mysterious shadow had masked my face. All they could see of my face were glowing crimson eyes.
"San? Are you okay?" they asked.
At that moment, the effects of Mitsuki's sigil wore off and the Nightmares commenced their rampage again.
"I'm going to shut the portals with Gramps' help. I'll hold them shut for thirty minutes, thirty minutes in which I'll be completely immobilized" I said.
"Don't worry, we'll hold them off till the Solar Eclipse passes" Keiran promised.
"Gramps…let's use the Binding Aura Seeker" I said.
"You understand how it works?" my Gramps asked.
At that moment, two blades materialized in my hands, one as golden as the sun and the other as navy as the night. These were not my Mom and Dad's Pyrostellis Luminares but rather the blades of the Silver Reaper from Endregen.
"I do" I said as I plunged the swords into the ground.
My Gramps did the same.
"By channeling tremendous vibrations through the swords into the earth, we can locate all the major rampaging points, tie the energy of our blades to the passages surrounding these points and through Endregen's Interdimensional Gate, seal them shut. While we channel the energy into the earth though, we won't be able to attack or defend" I explained as vibrations from our blades flowed through our swords to all the passages.
The passages slowly shut. During the next thirty minutes, the Dream Knights in the Real World struggled to expel the Nightmares that had infiltrated the Real World while those in the Dream World struggled to contain the rampages. As the Mirror Gate slowly shut, I looked over my shoulder to stare at it and could see Ciella in the field of Lunar Flowers staring at me though she didn't seem to recognize me. Then the Mirror Gate shut completely.
After thirty minutes passed, things in the Real World began to stabilize as the Moon gradually moved away from the Sun.