Far away, in a wide, rotten area similar to the one Somnu and Carmella had witnessed as they chased after the MIrewalker Fort, a single lone figure had laid claim to it.

  The blind Sleeper was alone.

  He sat naked at the edge between rotten land and grimy waters. His lean, yet muscular frame resisted the chilly wounds bouncing off of his pale skin.

  His eyelids were closed as he adopted a meditating position, interlocking both his flesh and blood fingers with the condensed straws replacing his left arm completely.

  This position and method had been another way for him to recover some of his energy on all those sleepless nights. Although he couldn’t hold it longer than an hour or so before losing focus, it had nonetheless helped him execute his plans from a distance.

  As he had been fully focused on the pawns, while at the same time checking on his siblings, along with Aurora and Arman, he hadn’t noticed Fala get within range of their telepathy. When she attempted to resonate with the doppelganger, it hadn’t worked, which might have been the first clue Mathros noticed regarding the truth of his location.

  Now, he was easily able to cancel the summoning of his familiars and then resummon them around him. As the black crow landed on his shoulder, he finally relaxed his posture.

  “Master, why did you do that?” Fala asked him while nudging the cheek she had been separated from longer than she would have liked. “They worked hard to help you.”

  “...” Somnu pursed his lips for a moment, then patted the bird on the head. “I’m not good at explaining stuff like this, Fala. I wanted them to stay safe, I had to protect them, especially after Leyna almost…”

  “It’s okay, Master! I completely understand!” Naga climbed into his lap and raised her head high. “Unlike a certain bird brain.”

  “Can’t you see Master is conflicted, skank? This isn’t the time for your neediness.”

  “Truth is, I’m just being very selfish.” Somnu spoke, interrupting the almost palpable tension between the two glaring familiars. Borrowing Fala’s vision, he looked up towards the distant crimson moon as it signaled the end of Lethe. A knot in his chest accompanied many conflicting emotions stirring within him. “If something were to happen to them when I could have avoided it again… I would never forgive myself. In the end, It is better to seek their forgiveness, than my own. After all, their spirits are far purer and better than whatever defective soul I have.”

  “Master…”

  “I’m well aware others may misunderstand and think I’m a self-righteous hypocrite, but, before John Doe makes it here, I want at least you two to understand why.” The scarecrow paused, winced slightly, then let out a sigh that turned into a self-deprecating smile. “I’m lazy, so lazy I stayed cooped up in my room for a whole year instead building up the courage to apologize. I’m envious of others who have everything I want. I’m gluttonous and wish I could eat corn with everything. I lust… Lust for deep connections, for a genuine touch I can trust to not involve a betrayal from either side. I’m greedy, because I want it all, and more. I’m prideful, unable to accept other people’s views, help and advice, relying only on my own intuition and strength. And lastly, I’m wrathful, angry, furious, constantly feeding this never-ending, never-satiated abysmal grudge. So, you see, I’m selfish, more so than anyone else. I want it all, and I want to protect them too. Nothing will stop me, no matter what I have to sacrifice, even if it’s myself.”

  That was a scarecrow, and no one more than him adapted the role better. He was a punk, sleepless, selfish scarecrow through and through.

  “...”

  Having listened in silence to their master’s heartfelt openness, the two familiars both shuddered slightly when he reached for his straw arm, grabbing onto it tightly as he spoke of sacrifices.

  As the cold winds brushed his hair a couple more times, he finally relaxed his posture and spoke once more, this time, his voice more calm and almost more cheerful.

  “That said, they will be really upset with me the next we meet up. Well, maybe not Carmella and Mathros, but the others might threaten to kill me painfully.” He forced a chuckle, trying to imagine their faces in his sightless eyes. “It almost makes me not want to wake up and confront them, but that would just be me running away again.”

  “Don’t worry, Master! I will devour anyone who threatens you!”

  “...” Somnu patted the serpent’s head as he briefly considered telling her she would likely not be able to come with him to the waking world. Eventually, he gave up on that. “No, I have to personally take responsibility for whatever they choose to do with me.”

  “Like tie you upside down, in a secret location no one can find, and then torture you repeatedly while you beg for their forgiveness?”

  “...”

  Hearing his usually reclusive crow say those words, Somnu was momentarily stunned.

  Did her personality change a bit again? What happened in those days she was away?! She was constantly hunting down Nightmare Creatures. That might have left some lasting effects…

  A moment later, he let out a sigh.

  “By now, the fort should have been submerged and everyone should have made it out of this Layer.” He said, looking in a faraway direction where likely no one remained. “Based on what we know, it’s very likely that only two Sleepers are left on this Layer.”

  Somnu was fairly confident of this for multiple reasons. For one, he had Mathros and Lulu send those who escaped the fort outside of this Layer.

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  With the fort being submerged, it meant the remaining Sleepers inside and the Luscairna had now been similarly freed from this nightmare Layer.

  That was because the exit to the Abyss of Lethe was the actual swamp itself.

  When Somnu had first gotten to this Layer, and presumably defeated the scarecrow monster that had chased him, he watched it get swallowed up by it as it tried to struggle out. There were no restrictions that had activated at that time, which meant the swamp did not have any Nightmare Creatures within, or nearby.

  Then, considering how others randomly disappeared throughout the entire Layer, the swamp itself became the only possible exit. It was the only thing that appeared both in the thick forest and outside of it. No matter how big the Abyss of Lethe was, the swamp was everywhere, and accessible to everyone, assuming they weren't trapped somewhere.

  There were two other hints he had connected to this after coming to this conclusion too, which only helped to strengthen it.

  One, the System had used the words “Lethargy is the primary cause of inability”. That was the hint to explore all the options and dive into the swamp that almost everyone would immediately avoid for many and obvious reasons.

  Second, in one of his visions after defeating the Thieving Slime, Somnu was submerged and floating upwards. This had been different than all his previous visions, which he guessed was likely a hint of the water being the way out.

  I wish this thing would just be more direct… He had thought at the time he broke all this down, sighing at his inability to control his translucent crown, despite not giving into lethargy.

  Now, the only other remaining possible Sleepers that he knew of were taken care of as well.

  Behind the blind Sleeper lay the remnants of four corpses, while one was fully intact. He had quickly hunted down the five pawns Arman had let out after their initial meeting in the throne room to discuss the plan.

  It allowed him to split them apart as they were released one by one, and then hunted them down before they knew what hit them. The only reason he had left one corpse intact was to only give John Doe one remaining body to possess after his plan was complete, forcing the Blood Fiend to appear where the Unseen Dreadbeast of Lethe was waiting for him.

  However, that had not gone according to his calculations.

  The world had turned crimson and the Nightmare Creatures that he had kept away with [Hollow Gaze] were now starting to get closer. Not just that, they were getting ever stronger under the new harrowing light in the sky.

  Thankfully, the clones were still more than enough to kill whatever Nightmare Creatures were around before the worst possible case happened.

  It was inevitable now that they would all turn into Dreadbeasts in due time.

  This allowed Somnu to once again level himself up a couple of times, while holding onto a couple reserves for the upcoming fight.

  Although they hadn’t fully reseted what he could do, they had at least likely brought his uses of [Distorted Fallacy] into six or so.

  He used his current time to relax and try to restore as much of his strength as possible. Before he disappeared from the fort, two more things had happened.

  One, he had received a quick visitor who gave him two items before leaving to join everyone in the fort again. And two, he used [False Echoes] in the one-legged elf’s ears while she was still being restrained by Mo even while falling.

  “I know you can hear me. I’ll be waiting south of here. Let’s finish this like you always wanted, one on one.”

  Those simple words were more than necessary to ensure his enemy would make haste to reach him.

  CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

  Somnu allowed Grudgekeeper to eat the last corpse behind him as he no longer needed it. By now, its strength had grown exponentially after the feast it had consumed in the last few hours.

  The updated stats would have looked something like this if he had eyes to see them.

  [Hollow Core Level: Lvl 41.] {With 100 more Cores to the next level up.}

  [Dream Catcher {Grudgekeeper} Level: Lvl 37.] {With 5817 more Ego Particles or Core equivalent to the next level up.}

  Nonetheless, there was one last thing Somnu was now fully confident in believing.

  John Doe wasn’t simply just non-human, but he very likely had no physical body himself.

  This was another one of those cases where the phrase, “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” was the only reasoning he could rely on.

  Nothing else made any sense to explain the Blood Fiend’s actions thus far. It was very likely that John Doe, the Sleeper without a name or face, was an entity that relied on the Faceless Forager to enter the dreamscape and increase its power by killing and consuming others, even those pawns he had clearly allowed to be killed.

  It had all been his plan to keep Somnu busy, and grow in power, enough to take over whatever Dreadbeast was hiding within the fort.

  The only thing I can’t figure out is… Somnu thought as he slowly stood up, hearing the distant tremors grow stronger and closer. If there was a Dreadbeast within the Fort, I should have been affected by a restriction. At least, if the three fears it was based on were something I hadn’t encountered yet, or some kind of restriction that simply doesn’t work on me… Like sleeping.

  He had come to this conclusion based on simple conjecture. For example, he had no idea of knowing if restrictions could be blocked another way, say, if the Nightmare Creature was put to sleep somehow. Most restrictions he had encountered were always activated when he got in range of a Nightmare Creature, and almost always after they had already noticed him and began their hunt.

  “Master! We don’t have to do this, right? We can just jump in the swamp!” Fala tried to persuade him against his last reckless plan, even without knowing the details.

  “...”

  Using her vision, Somnu looked down for a moment, seeing his broken, illusory reflection in the swamp. Behind it shone the crimson moon. Then, making up his mind, he turned around, equipping Grudgekeeper and summoning all his Mementos and clones.

  “That won’t solve anything, I’d just be running away too.” He said, noticing the massive figure in the distance getting bigger with every second that passed. “The only reason he’s coming to me too, is that neither of us can leave this Layer without ending this.”

  Without voicing it, he had hoped this entire time that his System would still allow him to leave despite the issue with his active fears.

  However, now, the only one he was concerned about overcoming, was the one he had been plagued with ever since that fateful night.

  He raised his head and prepared himself for what’s to come.

  The inevitable, and final clash between the two Dreadbeasts was about to begin.