We stared at Zanfar in awe as his power continued to rise. When the Darkness disappeared, he stood before us, completely armoured in darkness; almost as though he were the ultimate warrior. His sigil was even more terrifying. It was something between a Reaper's scythe and a diabolic cutlass.
"Still think you're strong enough to defeat me?" he asked.
I frowned.
"Won't know unless I try!" I roared as I charged to attack him.
"Hmmph! You might actually be the foolish part of me that decided to challenge God. I guess I will show you what I am capable of. RAGING ULTRAVIOLET BARRAGE!" Zanfar roared as he released a successive stream of dark attacks that crashed into me with full force.
The attacks felt like minute cuts and they seemed to pierce through both flesh and bone. I screamed in pain, unable to avoid a single one.
"ZAN!" Ayumi screamed in horror but she was afraid to confront Zanfar.
The Dream and Nightmare kings rushed to my aid in hopes of disarming Zanfar but he blasted them to the ground. Zanfar's attack was holding me hostage. When he finally released his hold, I collapsed to the ground in an unconscious heap. Then Zanfar turned to face Ayumi. The look he gave her was one of utter hatred. One so great it paralyzed her.
"How unsightly. For him to have fallen in love with a coward that cannot even protect him from me. Is this your comprehension of strength? You cannot even look at me" Zanfar growled menacingly.
He had finally slowed down his speech to human levels.
Ayumi began to weep and couldn't stop.
"The Princess Of Dreams who wasn't even a combatant was a far more worthy adversary than you could ever hope to be. Take that fool back to the Human World and tell him this, I give him until midnight to surrender himself completely to me or I will destroy everything he holds dear and that…includes you! In the meantime though, I will entertain myself with those two idiots" Zanfar said as he pointed to the Dream and Nightmare Kings.
Ayumi carried me on her back and walked towards the Mirror Gates. She accessed its Through and Through function and disappeared from the world of Dreams.
She reappeared in the Kirisawa Residence with a terrified look on her face.
"Ayumi! What's wrong?! What happened?!" Mr Kirisawa asked worriedly.
"W-We were too late! Z-Zanfar has been unsealed! W-We couldn't stop him" Ayumi stammered and collapsed.
"Just what exactly happened in the Dream World?" Mr Kirisawa wondered.
He and Ai had finally regained consciousness. Arlene who was also present had tended their wounds.
I woke up three hours later. It was 9:00pm and I couldn't quite make sense of what happened. I even thought it had just been a nightmare. Face and Victoria were sitting beside me.
"Where am I?" I asked them.
"You're home" they said.
"Where is Ayumi? How is she?" I asked.
I still felt weak and painful.
They looked at each other worriedly.
"Why can't you answer me?" I asked them but they remained silent.
I got up from my bed and rushed to Ayumi's room.
When I opened the door to her room, she wasn't on her bed.
"Ayumi!" I called but there was no response.
I looked around and found her sitting in a dark corner trembling uncontrollably and sobbing.
"Ayumi" I called gently but she didn't seem to have heard me.
I walked towards her.
"Ayumi" I called her again but she didn't respond.
As I drew closer to her, she lifted her head to look at me but when she saw my face, a scared expression appeared in her eyes as my face overlapped with Zanfar's within her imagination.
She began to draw back.
"NO! STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed in terror.
I was taken aback by her reaction.
"Ayumi, it's me…Zan" I said gently but she was still terrified.
She clutched her head tightly and shut her eyes.
"Leave me alone Zanfar! I-I don't want…to die" Ayumi burst into tears.
I frowned and turned away from her so that she would not see my face.
"Ayumi…what did Zanfar do to you?" I asked her.
"I won't tell Zan to meet you at midnight! I won't let you kill Zan!" Ayumi screamed.
I opened my eyes in realization; then I narrowed them in rage.
"The bastard! I'll get him for this! Zanfar I promise you; by the end of this day, I will crush you into dust!" I swore and walked out of Ayumi's room.
I walked down the stairs feeling angry and hurt but trying to put on a brave face. Ai met me halfway down.
"How is she?" she asked me.
"She's scared of me" I said as tears flowed down my face.
I ran out of the house and roared;
"ZANFAR!!!"
Face and Victoria came up to me and laid comforting hands on my shoulders.
"Buddy, we're here for you" Face consoled me.
"What do you plan to do now?" Victoria asked me.
I shook their hands off my shoulders, refusing the solace they were offering and shut my eyes.
"Isn't it obvious?" I asked as I turned to face them and opened my eyes.
My eyes glowing as sinisterly as Zanfar's once more.
"I'M GOING TO KILL THE BASTARD!!!" I roared and summoned my sigil.
Then I accessed the Mirror Gate's Through and Through function and disappeared into the Dream World. Face and Victoria stared at each other with worried expressions on their faces.
"This is turning into a Nightmare" Victoria said.
"It's already a Nightmare. The question is…will we make it through this one?" Face said seriously.
I landed in the Dream World and what I saw shocked me. There were intense flames everywhere. Dark smoke stretched out as far as the eye could see.
"What took you so long? You kept me waiting for so long I just couldn't hold back the urge to start a bonfire without you. I have already destroyed a third of mankind's dreams. You know what that means don't you? A third of reality will be wiped out. A third of the human race will…die" Zanfar said with a smirk on his face.
"Zanfar…BECAUSE OF YOU…BECAUSE OF YOU…AYUMI IS SCARED OF ME!!! I WILL DESTROY YOU!!!" I roared as I charged to attack Zanfar.
"Yes…fight! Fight till your heart can bear it no more! Fight till your spirit breaks!" Zanfar urged me on as he parried my attacks.
I fought him with every intention of crushing him but little did I know that he was luring me into a trap.
I took a very wide swing at him and it made me vulnerable when Zanfar evaded my attack. Then he stepped into range and slashed me across the chest. I fell to the ground bleeding profusely.
"Do you understand that you can only obtain true strength by uniting with me? Do you see it now Zanfar?" he asked me.
I placed my sigil firmly on the ground and stood up by leaning against it.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UUUUP!!!" I roared and charged to attack him again.
"Have you been abandoned?" Zanfar asked me.
His question paralyzed me.
"I recall Ayumi making a promise to love and protect you just this sunset. Has she already broken that promise? Has she already forgotten her love for you? Tell me…is she really scared…of you?" Zanfar mocked me.
I shut my eyes and felt my tears flow.
"There is no pain in the darkness. Once you join me, you'll understand" Zanfar stretched his hand towards me.
"I also promise to believe in you regardless of the strength of the adversities we will face. I promise to protect you and to love you. I promise to see the future with you Zan. I make this vow on this sacred mountain" I recalled Ayumi's promise and opened my eyes.
"I'll never join you! It is your fault Ayu is so scared of me!" I roared.
Zanfar sighed.
"I did nothing to her. I only told her to get you to come to me before midnight. That was all" Zanfar said.
I pointed my sigil towards him.
"You're lying!" I roared and charged to attack him.
Meanwhile, in the real world, disasters were occurring simultaneously on all the continents. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes and tsunamis were beginning to ravage the earth. Dream City which was closest to the Dream World was undergoing a much worse trial. Nightmares were invading Dream City under Zanfar's influence and attacking humans. The Human Dream Knights fought against the menace.
Face, Victoria, Fenrir and Arlene spread out to fight the Nightmares. Face and Victoria were novices so they stuck together. Fenrir and Arlene had split up on the other hand. Mr Kirisawa left Ayumi in Ai's care to engage in the battle as well thus the war between Nightmares and Reality broke out.
Ai walked to Ayumi's room.
"Ayumi! You've got to snap out of this! You are stronger than this!" Ai scolded Ayumi.
Ayumi was still trembling all over.
"I can't. I can't do this anymore" Ayumi cried.
"You should be with Zan! Fighting with him! How can you be scared of the only man you've ever loved!" Ai scolded Ayumi.
"H-He is Zanfar" Ayumi said.
"Are you even aware of what is going on? Nightmares are invading the Human World! People are dying! Natural disasters are ravaging the world. We are fighting to protect this world and you…a full-fledged Dream Knight is cowering in fear. The novices are fighting too! They are looking up to us to guide them and assure them that everything is going to be okay! And Zan is on the worst battlefield alone because you abandoned him! Do you understand what he is going through now?! He can't fight in the condition he is in now! He has always protected you…getting hurt over and over again in the process. Enduring physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological torment all for your sake and you can't even protect him even once?! You disgust me! It was because of your weakness that…" Ai stopped herself from saying more. "You can sit here feeling sorry for yourself for all I care! I'll fight with the others to protect humanity!" Ai roared and left Ayumi's room banging the door in the process.
Ayumi buried her head in her knees and began to weep.
Meanwhile, Zanfar and I had taken a short breather. To be more accurate, it appeared as though he was teasing me. He still wasn't fighting seriously.
"What is it you really want?! You already have your freedom and we both know you don't really need me!" I argued.
He shook his head and turned to stare at me.
"How many times do you want me to ask? You still haven't answered my question. 'How would you like to become everybody's Nightmare?'" Zanfar said with a grim smile.
I recalled the evil bunnies that had been the bane of my dreams since childhood.
"That…was you all the time…watching over my dreams wasn't it?!" I roared.
"Indeed it was. Though I never imagined your father would infiltrate your dreams and awaken your powers as Dreamweaver. You Nightbane folk are indeed amusing" Zanfar said. "No one has blinded my intentions like your father has".
My rage grew. My dad had always tried to protect me and my mom sacrificed her years to keep me safe and for twenty years now, she had succeeded. Now I had to free them both! I didn't care how but I had to let them out of Zanfar's belly!
I charged towards Zanfar but he stood there smirking and waiting for me as though I were moving in slow mo. When I was close enough, I realized just how terrifying an entity he was. I found myself in the air and did not know how I got there. It only felt as though I was flung but the pain soon caught up and I realized how I was flung. The crack on the ground said it all. With a stomp, Zanfar had grabbed me by the throat and flung me into the air. Before I could recover my senses, he was right behind me in mid-air.
"This is what I've always wanted; your rage and with it, a path to your heart has opened for me and a door wide enough for me to break through. As I expected; your answer is satisfactory…Zanbӧngfar!" he declared as he turned into dark mist and penetrated my body.
I felt my rage grow and grow and soon, I felt nothing but rage. When I finally landed on the ground, I opened my eyes. Everything around me only served to make my rage even more. I felt two scars on my face, the scars of blood tears. The colors I once knew the world to be were now inverted. The flames were blue, the ground greenish. I sensed all the life in the world within me. All their evil thoughts, all their evil ways and my indignation grew. Every life on earth deserved death, and I was going to be the one to hand it to them for every human had the same thought, the same mark…of sin!
I raised my hands to the heavens in dream world and the sky began to fade away like clouds becoming thinner and thinner till finally, the greatest power of the Dreamweaver was made manifest. Reality and Dreams faced each other through their skies as though they were mirror images with differing reflections; an asymmetrical reflection. I now knew why Zanfar and Zanviel despised humans so much. Everything they ever tried to do right was a front to satisfy their own desires for conquest but now, the conqueror after subduing all the world would have to bow before a new oppressor.
"You pitiful humans! I know you all personally for you all played a part in what I am today. Even in trying to train and awaken seven souls of virtue, I find all of you riddled with the seven souls of evil; confounded and awed by their power. Well, they were merely fragments of my being and now, you shall be forced to gain upon my magnificence as I begin my rule as Overlord of both Dreams and Reality!" I roared as the power within me grew.
I felt my body changing. I knew that after this transformation, I would no longer be human but a creature of malice and fear.
In the world of reality, every living creature was forced to gaze at their sky. The blue firmament was no more and now, where the firmament was, a reflection of their intentions, their dreams laid to waste confronted them. They came to realize that their plans for the future was naught and all they had struggled for was in vain. There had never been a word for true hopelessness as the reflection that confronted them now for on this new creature, each person found a reflection of their own sin.
Zanbӧngfar had finally been reborn, the dream, the education, the thought that was completely isolated from God's loving kindness, his goodness and his mercy. A hideous creature with the characteristics of a chimera; a terrible hybrid with three heads, of a lion, a dragon and an eagle. It's body was that of a dragon with the underbelly of a serpent, white, yet disgustingly frightful and significant of death. For tails it had six of them which were serpents with heads and with these heads, it gathered the collective evil of the human race and transformed it into its sustenance. Now ask me; how do you defeat a creature that is sustained by the evil of men?
The answer is; mass repentance but how possible is that? Not possible for men but possible for God for the first reaction when faced with such a creature is more negativity; more fear, more sustenance.
This would forever be known as the day the sin of mankind took literal form, literal life. The Dream Knights were forced to see the being they would be forced to confront and in realizing just how futile their efforts were almost gave up but around the world, the strongest souls were also aligning; and everything would change with the appearance of the two Breakers; the one also known as 'The Old Living Everlasting Entity' nicknamed Code Ageless and the one who disregarded every human world to create bridges and now carried in her hands the bequest of a hero of old; the bequest called "The Power Of The True Soul.
"So…let the destruction commence!" I declared.