Fantasy Clock～Dream Ruler～

"This is... the World Gate? When did you two master it?"

My eyes wandered back and forth between Xia Yinci and Su Huilin, but they seemed a little confused, and looked behind me instead.

"There is one behind you, too."

Xia Yinci casually pointed behind me, and what she said with her lips pursed slightly stunned me for a moment.

I turned around hesitantly, and found that my world gate really appeared there without my consent.

"what happened?"

This is indeed a minecraft door, but why does it show up by itself?

"It's a bit similar to the situation before the domination war started~ I think it's the ghost of the dream maniac?"

I don't have much idea of ​​what was going on before the domination war started. After all, I joined the Domination War with just a few days left until the start. But since Xia Yinci said so, it is very likely that this happened.

Dream madman. You mean the masked man you saw first?

Obviously it hasn't appeared for so long, why is it changing the way to refresh the sense of existence now.

"But……"

I frowned, and looked at Chen Xue who was looking around blankly, and Ye Yuan who was in his trouser pocket nonchalantly.

"Why didn't the world gate appear behind the two of them?"

Ah, is it similar to Kaede Watanabe?

——As soon as he asked the question, such an answer suddenly appeared in his mind.

"Just the withdrawal of the Dream Thief King, will you, the forced Dream Thief, lose their reason to participate in the domination war?"

To liberate the forced dream stealers from the war of domination, this is the request of the dark knight, right?

But obviously we didn't do anything.

"Eh? Eh?! Eh?!! I was expelled from the domination war? Eh——I still want to compete with ANIKI and sister-chan!"

Chen Xueyang put his hands on his cheeks depressedly, squatted down on the spot and lowered his head.

"How to do how to do!"

"What can I do... what can I do here?"

I curled the corner of my mouth helplessly.

"Maybe you were called to assemble by Mask-chan!"

Who is this "mask sauce"? Could it be the dream madman?

"Everyone gathered but I didn't go, then 'they' will definitely know that I have withdrawn from the domination war!"

"So... what's wrong?"

"ANIKI! Then they will find a way to take me back!"

"Recycling? Why are you recycling?"

"Withdrawing from the war of domination, we are of no value to them, but we still know a lot of information about them, so they must take back ours? Are we going to let the information go wild?"

"Is that so..."

The force behind the Dream Stealer is the religious organization "The Name of Our Lady". Although I have never had direct contact with them, but through many indirect understandings, I know at least a little of their temperament.

"ANIKI, is the place where you imprison me safe? I don't want to be caught and executed!!"

To be honest, if possible, I would rather put her back and ignore this kind of chatter.

"It's okay. Please don't talk about me."

I sighed, ignored Chen Xue's shining eyes, and looked at Ye Yuan who was silent next to her with some concern.

If Chen Xue is on my mother's side, there probably won't be much of a problem. At least safety can be guaranteed.

But Ye Yuan...

etc? ! Why should I keep this dangerous man safe who tried to kidnap and kill me more than once?

Accidentally, Chen Xue led her thinking to the wrong direction?

This guy...does he really think he is a harmless animal?

Forget it, don't think about it for now.

"By the way, Ye Yuan, are you okay?"

"what is the problem?"

Ye Yuan put down the hand that was kneading his red hair, and looked at me suspiciously.

"Security Question."

I raised my eyebrows and added.

"Security Question?"

Ye Yuan frowned and asked.

"...Are you a repeater?"

I couldn't help giving him a blank look, and explained helplessly:

"I ask you to withdraw from the domination war like this, will you not be targeted? Although the Dream Thief is gone, but the Dream Thief and the forces behind it are still there? The alliance of the Dream Thief will not be completely destroyed because of the Dream Thief. Disintegrated, right?"

"Oh. That's what you meant."

Ye Yuan understood, and moved his head slightly up and down.

"It should be fine. I was temporarily added to clock No. 9 before the start of the Domination War. No. 1 there is more talkative. Even if he didn't say hello to him, he wouldn't casually report the lack of people."

Clock number nine? It was the group of guys who experienced the Dream Stealing incident before the start of the domination war, and there were only 9 people left, who had no choice but to join the Dream Stealer?

I remember number 1 of that clock, called Chen Yong. Because he deliberately let us go more than once because of guilt.

So Yewon is one of the people who fills in the 3 spots they once vacated? But we once fought against the ruler of clock number nine, and we don’t remember such people... Sure enough, those people who fought with us at that time were not the rulers of clock number nine.

"Okay. That's good."

Originally, I only asked about his condition out of friendship.

Even if he is really in trouble, I can only help as much as I can, and it is impossible to help him with my life.

So I answered him casually, and walked to the door of my own world.

Although I don't know the current situation in the gap between the dreams and whether it is still the same as before, I have no right not to go.

Maybe there will be a rule of "non-attendance is equal to voluntary withdrawal"?

According to the degree of wanton behavior of those dream madmen, this kind of rule does not necessarily exist.

I turned around, and Xia Yinci just happened to look over, and she and I were stunned for a moment.

I thought Xia Yinci would turn around arrogantly, but this time she didn't look away and smiled at me warmly.

[If one day I am in danger in the future, you must also come to save me. 】

Suddenly remembering what she said not long ago, I took a deep breath and stepped into the other side of the door.

"My dear rulers—"

Immediately afterwards, a familiar voice resounded arrogantly throughout the world on the other side.

"Welcome back, between dreams."

It was still the sky that was splashed with blood.

The center surrounded by several Dominator clocks is still the clock belonging to the Observer. And the dream maniac standing on the watcher clock with arms outstretched was wearing the clown mask as always.

I wanted to get closer, but my body was fixed on the number 11 under my feet, and I couldn't move at all.

There was no sign of any evil spirits or devourers nearby.

——This is the scene we often see before the start of the domination war.

The only difference is that looking around now, many positions of rulers are already vacant, and it is far less lively than before.

Where is William?

My sight involuntarily stopped at No. 1, which had become empty on the clock.

The number belonging to him has lost its light at this time.

It was Sato Kazuhiko and Watanabe Kaede before, and this time it was William again.

Although this unfrank uncle always likes to tease people's appetites and keeps important things in his heart, although he has had conflicts with me before, he is the most suitable person to be our leader. He is an annoying yet cute uncle.

No longer will someone stand on the edge of the clock, spit out choking smoke faintly, and pull out a smirk deliberately.

I clenched my fists, desperately suppressing the thoughts of going berserk in my heart.

"You should be satisfied with the gift I presented to you not long ago, right?"

Countless evil spirits, and the "devourer" who can devour our lives.

This is the "gift" in the mouth of the dream maniac.

"Whether you are satisfied or not, I am very satisfied with your diligent performance—it is certainly a good choice to escape to your own dreams, and more than 90% of the evil spirits have also been expelled by you."

Having said that, the madman stretched out his palm, attached it to his mask in a distorted posture, and twisted it left and right.

"Ah, please let me take back my disappointing evaluation of you! You are amazing! You are a wonderful product of the Creator!!"

The movement stopped suddenly, and the strange excitement around him disappeared suddenly, and he put his hand down unhurriedly.

"However, the number of expulsions of the Devourer is "0"."

The passionate tone suddenly turned sharply, cold and without any emotion.

"For the evil spirits to wreak havoc, but to be powerless against the Devourer... What an exciting and disappointing result!"

The tone of voice was filled with passion and distorted disappointment for a moment, and then turned back to a flat tone.

"It doesn't matter, the evil spirits and devourers you failed to kill will all appear in the next domination war."

"And what about the evil spirits we... killed?"

Suddenly, a question came from clock No. 6 with only two people left.

A young man with square glasses and serious eyes raised his hand and asked in a non-joking tone.

"The defeated ones will naturally not appear again. Oh, of course, we will not add new evil spirits."

The one who answered this question was observer No. 3.

——The mysterious girl in the black cloak who visited my dreams many times.

As if sensing my gaze, the girl turned her head sideways.

Even though the black veil hid her face, I still felt that she met my gaze.

【You are our bet. From the moment you participated in the domination war, you will never be separated from us. 】

The last conversation was only halfway through, and they unilaterally terminated it.

"Hey!! I knew I wouldn't go back. It would be nice to stay here and kill a few more evil spirits, so I can have fun and relax in the future!"

Lazy complaints came from the direction of clock number three, and I looked over, only to see Yingzi sighing childishly. The atmosphere in the vicinity seems to have eased a lot because of this news. However, Arquette was immersed in her own thoughts and never raised her head from the beginning to the end.

According to the name of the Virgin Mary, evil spirits are "resources" created by using believers' beliefs, so they are not endless.

It's just that the statement "no more new evil spirits" always makes me uneasy.

After all... I don't think Dream Madman will lower the difficulty for us at this time.

"You didn't call us here just to remind us of this kind of thing, did you?"

Sure enough, other people also realized the same problem and asked the observers loudly.

Many people echoed his words, worries quickly overwhelmed excitement, and spread the word.

"Of course we won't stop your domination war for such a trivial matter."

The girl deliberately paused for a moment, and the echoing voices around fell silent.

She looked around and said calmly:

"The purpose of calling you this time is to announce new rules of the game."

As soon as the words fell, the cracks in the whole dreamland became noisy again.

"New rules?! It's such a time, what kind of new rules are going to be promulgated!"

"Yeah, the previous rules have just been figured out, what else do you want?"

More and more protests sounded overwhelmingly from all directions.

The girl watched the crowd, as if waiting for everyone to quiet down, and did not speak for a long time.

I don't know how long this chaotic situation lasted, but a cold voice pierced through the hustle and bustle, pulling the atmosphere to freezing point in an instant.

"Shut up all of them."

Position 1 of the observer's clock. The man in a white robe opened his squinted eyes, leaned on the armrest of the sofa, rested his cheek on the back of his hand, watched us as if looking down on ants, and said in a cold tone:

"All of this is to end this war of domination faster. I don't care if your performance is good or not, the time of this war of domination has far exceeded our expectations. The tug-of-war is what I don't want to see develop."

For some reason, it is clearly a human being, but his body seems to have lost its "humanity", like a foreign species in human skin. His words in a flat voice seemed to be the roar of a foreign species. The sense of oppression he brought made us dare not even breathe.

"The new rules will be the catalyst to accelerate this war of domination, and it will also be the best means to bring you to the final stage."

Probably after he finished what he wanted to say, he closed his eyes again without even looking at us. It's like nothing happened.

Although there is no objection on the surface, this statement undoubtedly aroused boos in everyone's hearts.

Because this kind of statement seems to treat us as pawns, as if we are data that can be manipulated at will.

Observer No. 3 had no intention of saying anything, but just stretched out his hand to signal the dream madman standing in the center.

And the madman of the dream who received the instructions opened his arms to us again wantonly, and announced the so-called "new rules" in a high-profile manner.

"The newly added rules are very simple. We will give you 12 hours of preparation time to adapt to this rule. After 12 hours, you will no longer appear in this world with only consciousness, but together with your real body. Come back here, and can't leave."

After all, Ruler No. 3 added in a very slow tone:

"This means that you no longer have the right to be 'reborn', understand?"

As soon as the voice fell, the atmosphere suddenly fell into a dead silence. Almost everyone's expressions changed in an instant, from the unwillingness to be despised by others to the intense fear of facing death.

"Hey! Doesn't this rule mean that if we die again, we will face real death?"

It was the four-eyed youth from clock number six again. He took a step forward with great excitement, raised his arms and swung them forward vigorously once. In an instant, his body was pulled back to the figure under his feet, and he couldn't leave there even a single step. Only strong emotions leaped before the eyes of the madman.

But the Madman of Dreams ignored him after hearing it once, ignored his protest at all, and laughed sarcastically.

"Don't worry. I won't let you die without a whole body. I guarantee that once you die, your body will be teleported back to reality."

"It's not that kind of problem!! I don't understand what it means to 'return here with the body'... Could it be that we will be trapped in a dream until the end of the domination war, and we will not be able to return to reality?"

Xiao Lulu clenched his right fist and waved it to the right, mustering up his courage to question loudly.

The black cat knew that she would act impulsively, but because of the restraint of her feet, she was fixed at the origin and could not reach Xiao Lu Road at all. She tried her best to wink, telling her not to act recklessly again.

It's just that Xiao Lulu stubbornly stared at the dream madman, waiting for his response.

"Miss, did you come to participate in this war of domination with this level of awareness?! Huh? May I ask you?"

The terrifying roar came straight to Xiao Lulu. However, today is not what it used to be, Xiao Lulu is not prepared to give in at all, and also looks directly at the dream madman with firm eyes, stubbornly wanting him to give an answer.

On the contrary, Chalt did not say a word from the beginning to the end, and calmly observed the movements of other people.

Did these two people with impulsive personalities grow in different directions?

Just when the smell of gunpowder smoke between the two became more and more intense, Observer No. 3 stood up calmly.

"About the question you raised, I don't deny it. As long as you decide the winner as soon as possible, this kind of problem can be solved. When there is only one clock left, we will naturally release your body back to reality. In addition, this The 12-hour preparation time is also time for you to think about it. If you can't adapt to the mode of the final stage, it's very simple - just quit."

This direct and unquestionable answer caused all doubters, including Xiao Lulu, to fall into a brief silence.

If you do not accept this new rule, then withdraw from the domination war. Her meaning is very clear.

No matter how much dissatisfaction there is, but her words have come to an end, we are inconvenient to protest. Because she gave solutions that couldn't be adapted.

--quit.

"Excuse me, how do we solve the problem in reality? Many people here have their own professions."

This time it was Lin Yu who asked the question. Lin Yu's tone was not as usual, without any obvious hostility. After all, as the speaker of the second No. 2 clock, if he said something that offended them, we would inevitably be targeted by the observers.

In my opinion, he seemed to be deliberately restraining his emotions and keeping his tone at a relatively peaceful level.

"So I gave you 12 hours of preparation time to deal with these trivial matters. Ah, by the way, these 12 hours include the time between dreams and reality, that is to say, after you have experienced a total of 12 hours in reality and dreams, You must return to your own position. After everyone is here, the time between dreams will be reset, and the final stage will begin at that time."

"Time Reset".

According to her analysis, because the time of the dream and the reality are not synchronized, the first person who has experienced 12 hours will return here first. Everyone's 12 hours are distributed differently, which can cause problems. Therefore, the time should be recalculated after all the members arrive.

This is the so-called, "reset".

If it is this mode, then the dream gap will inevitably be reset after 12 hours.

"Then people who have spent 12 hours in reality, don't they have to go to their own place as soon as they return to the dream? At this time, other people can move, but these people can't move freely. Isn't that interesting?"

Indeed. Not being able to act freely is tantamount to being at the mercy of others. Then this is also a question that needs attention.

"The set meeting point is the gap in the dream after 12 hours. You can understand it as a new gap in the dream that is different from the current one. After you spend a total of 12 hours, you will return to the gap in the new dream. So what you are worried about doesn't exist."

"Some of the participants are patients, right? Sending the patient's body here to fight, isn't it tantamount to declaring them a direct defeat?"

Following the successive strong responses from Observers No. 1 and No. 3, the question no longer focused on whether the rules themselves should be implemented, but began to discuss the fairness of this domination war. This is actually just a protest by the rulers in different ways.

"Although the real body is sent here, we will maintain your current image and basic health in the dream. You don't need to think about this kind of issue. We have already read the basic rules, so I won't repeat them."

There is no time for us to ask any more questions, and the No. 3 observer returns to his own number after answering this question. The observers disappeared one by one in numerical order. The dream madman in the center put his hands on his chest and bowed playfully,

"Hey, wait for me!! The body is teleported here, doesn't it mean that the food has to be dealt with...?"

The laughing clown on the mask seems to be laughing at us who can only obey.

Before the question was finished, the observers had all disappeared talking to themselves, leaving only a lukewarm announcement——

"12 hours of preparation time. Time, start!"

The voice fell, and the observer's clock became empty for a while. Movement restrictions have thus been lifted. But all the dominator clocks started to make noise because of this.

"Damn! Hey, Arquette, you participated in the domination war before, right? Is there a way to add rules like this?"

One of the rulers of Clock No. 3, a boy who was naked as hard as steel looked at the silent Arkat, his tone was unavoidably agitated, but Arkait stared down blankly as if he didn't hear him. .

"Arket?! Hello?"

The boy leaned in front of Arkaite and swayed, and Arkaite slowly raised his eyes, his eyes seemed a little lost.

"Ah. I'm fine."

"I didn't ask if you're okay...forget it."

The boy curled his lips helplessly, seeing that Arket was out of state, he stopped asking him. He walked to the edge of the clock and looked down the town. The center of the town is condensed in a mass of black. The boy took a closer look and realized that those were evil spirits whose actions were restricted.

Suddenly, a fiery red light emerged from the blackness, and after only a few seconds, the evil spirit and the Devourer disappeared together.

"Is there a gap between the dreams that were sent to 12 hours later?"

It's better for the boy to start caring about other things, while Sakurako is watching Arquette with blank eyes.

After returning from the deserted star, Arquette has been in such a state of absent-mindedness, looking a little haggard.

Sakura doesn't need to speculate. His current appearance is definitely related to the "Phantom" beside him. The phantom refers to the princess that only Arquette can see. From others' point of view, this is Arquette's unique dreamer, but Yingzi thinks that it is not that simple.

After hesitating for a moment, she walked to Arkaite's side, poked his right shoulder like a dragonfly, then swayed to his left, and leaned in front of him with her hands behind her back.

She didn't ask him "what's the matter with you", but asked in a very slow tone:

"Hey, why didn't William come back with you?"

Arquette's thoughts instantly came back to reality, his eyes trembled slightly, he avoided Sakurako's direct gaze, and forced a smile.

"He died with the King of Pirates of Dreams, and he has already left the stage. It is not a bad thing for us."

"Really? I don't think it's a sign that you think it's not a bad thing."

Sakurako didn't intend to let Arkaite take this topic, and walked up to Arkaite, looking straight into his eyes.

"What the hell is going on? Don't lie to me! You clearly didn't listen carefully when you announced the rules just now. I don't want to get through to the final stage of the domination war, but you, the leader, are paddling in the water. So, yes! Matter! Just! Straight! Say it!”

Arquette avoids Sakurako's eyes again and again, but Sakurako follows his line of sight dangling back and forth, always letting her eyes meet his. Arquette stopped dodging and sighed softly.

"I'm just sad because I was an outsider twice and watched the princess and the prince die."

Seven years ago, it was the white ghost who fought against the king of stealing dreams in the cage.

Alket stopped ten meters away from the prison arena, and the stolen dreams were far away from the periphery. Claiming to be a knight, he didn't have the courage to cross the line of defense of the Dream Thieves, so he could only watch one side fall. Finally, she died for unknown reasons.

Seven years later, it was William who fought against the King of Pirates of Dreams on the deserted star.

Arkaite stood on the adjacent desolate star and tried every means to cross this long distance, but there was no way to reach the other side anyway. Flying on the desolate star was unusable, and he could only watch both sides lose and turn into crystal chips. dissipate.

Now, Baitu Yayi, Zuo Xibai and William are all dead. Only he, the "outsider", was safe and sound.

"Arket, you are not a knight. Whether you insist that you are a knight or not, you are not a real knight."

Sakurako's tone was very affirmative, Arquette glanced away with some disappointment, and did not respond to Sakurako's words.

"Since you're not a knight, you don't have to abide by the morals of a knight. Get the result of dominating the war and use him to do whatever you want. Why stick to what you want to do, isn't it against ethics?"

"It's not such a simple matter! What I can't stop thinking about now is to bring the dead back to life! This is no longer a question of chivalry or ethics. The death cannot be brought back to life, it is a balance. What I think It's... absolutely wrong, isn't it?"

Arquette is actually very tangled. The more he wanted to do this, the more he felt that this was impossible and that he couldn't do it.

"You really are not a knight. As a knight, shouldn't you save your princess at all costs? What's more, your wish will not affect the world at all. There are only two more people in the world. Why can others pursue even more unreasonable things?" Wish, can’t you?”

"I just……"

"Stop being 'just'!"

Sakurako interrupted Arquette arrogantly, pursed her lips, and said in a commanding tone:

"From now on, you set out towards the goal of saving them as much as you want! Regardless of whether you can accept it in the end, after winning this war of domination, you will have one more choice anyway. You don't want to even have the chance to regret it." no?"

Arquette didn't know how to answer Sakurako, and she didn't know if her thoughts were right. However, even if her thinking is wrong... but doing what she says is not necessarily wrong.

After all, it is absolutely impossible to continue to be depressed and be a burden. It is better to move towards a goal that may not be achieved as she said.

Just like Sakurako said, I am the leader of clock number three, no matter what, I have to find a goal that allows me to move forward.

If I don't move forward, neither can we.

"Arket. I want you to prove to me that you are our knight."

"Didn't you say I'm not a knight?"

Looking at Sakurako, who is docile and friendly on the outside, but domineering and domineering on the inside, Arquette feels that she is somewhat similar to Mei Baitu in a certain way.

"It's because I don't believe you're a knight that I want you to prove it to me, don't you?"

The 12 hours passed quietly, and the rulers spent the remaining preparation time meaningfully in different ways.

Only one side was caught in the chaos of leaderless dragons.

"Isn't this kind of rule restricting the way we steal dreams from being used again? And locked in the world between dreams, how can we rely on the help of the Holy Mother? Damn! At this time...! Where did the king go? ah?"

The young man on No. 2 paced back and forth, looking very flustered.

In this case, there is no one to guide them, and the situation will only become more and more chaotic.

Pupil No. 3 squatting on the ground wandered along with the young man pacing back and forth. He sighed and said faintly:

"The position of the king has just started, and there is no light. Could he already..."

"Shut up! This kind of thing... how is it possible?" No. 2 stopped him loudly, and looked away anxiously, "Did any of you go to steal the Dream King's dream? At this time, don't worry about getting more power. Follow the World Gate to find him in his dreams!"

"There's no need to look any further."

At this time, the executioner stepped on the clock unhurriedly, and glanced coldly at the dream stealers.

It took him a long time to continue:

"The King of Stealing Dreams has fallen."