Defender of Dreamland [Solo/Job]

His body has been dropped, twelve people have been saved now from their fears. Eight more and the final battle will occur. How will Black Rose think of his absence from the guild for so long? This was by far the longest he has been away from the guild, they certainly will begin to wonder about his existence sooner or later. Maybe they would get the memo that he was out on a 100 year job, and if that were the case, it would be plenty of years before they send out some sort of rescue party. Provided that be the case, Elyx would already be dead! Oh well, it was not like any of this was too hard, not quite yet at least. Every single fear so far has been either resolved via talking or via battle, nothing that would attack him mentally just quite yet. Until that happened, this was going to be a walk in the park. And so while he was dropped, he would take the time to gather his thoughts as his next target was going to have to be saved from their fear. It was a rather stupid fear in his opinion, but he understood why some others could be afraid of it, and so he will not make fun of the client for it. Killer Clowns seemed to be common for both adults and children, a shame since he has never seen one quite yet. But those alone probably would not be the only things to fear, imagine being locked in a house with one while it was dark. The most light you have is minimal, and when you use it, you increase the chances of your opponent finding you. So either lower the chances and go through the night with darkness where you can't see, and once the clown sees you and you can't see him, prepare to be unable to run. Or you can increase the chances of getting caught, but you can see the clown pretty clearly, know when he is running towards you, then run away as quickly as you can. The goal was basically to survive the night, and could he do that? Pretty much if there was a hiding place. Alternatively, if bad goes to worse, he could just engage the clown in combat and kill it. That probably would make things a lot easier, not having to worry about magic attacks since this was the neutral grounds, so no magic or tricks for any stupid clown. And Bound Iris was much sharped than any blade a clown could provide for him. So with a smile on his face, he would be glad that the drop had finished, this was going to be a resolved fear now instead of one that people would fear. It was a little bit understandable, Elyx was afraid of the element that he needed to drink in order to keep himself alive. But something that was designed to entertain little kids just seemed a little bit over the top for the wind slayer. But then again, most of these people were average humans, it was expected they fear such small things, and it was his duty as a mage to save them from it. And so he would do his duty for the next client.

His body would gently glide down onto the scene as the new sight had been revealed, it was on top of a building. The sky seemed a little bit like the previous one, though with a darker shade of red, and the sun was still emitting black light. It was odd to describe it like that, but the Sky Slayer was unable to find any other words to describe it in any other way, so that was all that he was able to do. Anyways, that was besides the point, there did not seem to be any other buildings around, only this one. There was a hatch on top of the roof that he was on, it was nice to have this dream help him out a little bit. But then again, what might he see once he got down the hatch? Well, jumping down was a suicidal idea, not what he would like to do. So he would walk over to the hatch before twisting it to the right with both arms, using all of his strength to finally get it to twist. It showed heavy amounts of resistance, but freed itself in the end. A smile on his face was finally placed, this was going to be a lot easier than he had expected. Once he entered from above, he would land on the ground of a hospital room, the left side of it being where he landed. Perfect, so his client was a patient? Turning to the side to see if that were true or not, he would examine the bed to see a man with his eyes wide open, no one that he recognized before. It seems like he was the one with the fear, but being a dreamer, he was unable to speak to Elyx. The door did not have a handle on it, and when the Sky Slayer would try to press on it, it would not budge. Seems like there was no way to get out of here, and the hatch above was the only option. Looking at the client further, he figured that the fear was being helpless, and that he was going to die. It made him wonder what he was suffering with in the real world. And this dream was to tell him that there probably was not any hope anymore. It was not that bad compared to some of the previous ones, but he himself and those close to him probably would feel devastated to see him die, so it was understandable for this to be a fear. Elyx was literally the only other being there, and so all he could do was try to give some encouraging words to the patient, trying to make him feel better. Since there was no way that he was able to use magic, this was going to be the forced next resort, trying to comfort with words. That was not going to be easy, but this job relied on it, so he would let out a sigh before looking at the man in the eyes, who looked back with a small smile on his face. His eyes were closed a little bit, maybe the fear was having no one to help him with whatever sickness he was going through. Maybe it was just simply the fact that... He might not be missed.

"My name is Elyx Reiaki, and I am going to bring you some good news." He told the man, who would tilt his head to the side. Elyx wondered about why he thought this man would not be missed. Was he a liar? A thief? Did he purposely push others away from him like the average Tsun? And now when he was on his hospital bed, no one was here. The man would shake his head softly, as if to doubt him. But the Sky Slayer continued to speak to him. "I have heard that you do not quite feel good. And here you are on the hospital bed, because you think that you are alone, and that is why you believe this dream to be reality." He explain before looking over to the man, who would nod his head as if to confirm what the young mage had said. "You only think you are alone because you probably pushed others away from you. Say this were your final hour, would you not like to leave them with a good memory of you? To say sorry for anything that you might have done to them, and to thank them for enduring whatever you had done to them?" He would ask, causing the man just to look at Elyx blankly. The fear was being slowly driven away as the color of the sky and the sun through the window would reveal itself. He was thinking about it, which was the point, but there was no way that his client would be able to answer such a thing, so Elyx was not going to force him to. "You do not have to answer my question. But if it were me, I would not fear death and try to hope I live, because eventually we are all going to die. I however would love for others to remember me for something I have done for them. To me, I believe that the goal of life is not to live forever, but to make something that will when you leave the earth behind." It made a lot more sense now to the client, the sky was clearing away slowly. The man was starting to let his slow and small smile return onto his face. The fear of dying was something that many people shared, and sadly, so did the Sky Slayer, but that did not mean that it was going to happen at that moment. Provided you leave a good impression on others, you will be remembered and love. And if you did not live a good life, end any negative bonds that you might have had with others. Tell some people that you are sorry for what you have done, because if you are going to die anyways, there probably is no reason to be holding any further grudges. With that being said, it is also in question for one to forgive the actions of others when they have done you wrong. That is not for a man alone to answer, since there are many point of views. But while one is alive, his life will be taken for granted by those who claim to love him. But when they lose that person, that is when the life of that dying person is valued. Sad…

The sky was finally beginning to look blue again, the words of hope would inject something that was new from fear, and the Sky Slayer was glad that he had done it while he did. Otherwise, this man might have woken up and Elyx would have died without being given a chance, which is not something that he believed to have been fair. After all, there were no clues or anything that would have helped him. What helped him out for this job however was the fact that he was able to problem solve. That was a key element in being a Bounty Hunter, solving problems until you pour your soul out into it. Being a detective was kind of fun, but not when your life depended on it, which is why it is a stressful profession. Still however, this man was able to get over the fear of death and the fear of regret. Not only that, but he learned of a word that Elyx had only learned recently. Redemption. It was being able to make up for what had been done in the past, and instead replace it with something bright and happy, something that will make up for whatever that had been done before. It could be big or small, but nothing can be so large that redemption can't be an option anymore. The world finally brightened up, the handle of the door would suddenly reveal itself. A few seconds later, a nurse would arrive on the scene with a clipboard and a pen to write down things for his current health. The Black Rose mage wished him well, walking out to see that the hospital was full of people, as opposed to the previous amount that had been there. So this was the 13th dream, the unlucky dying patient. It could have been way worse for such a number, but this one was not so bad. It seems like he was going to have to drop once again to be forced into a 23 hour sleep before waking up. It was not that good of an idea to let this occur, since Elyx felt like he could have done a lot more than this. But alas, this was what the job wanted of him, and maybe the next dream would require him to fight for his life. For that, without being able to use any of his Sky Deity spells and summon any Celestial Spirits, rest was definitely something that he was going to need. Besides, there is no proven way to fight the system, so complaining about it was not going to help anyone either. His body would tilt back as a sudden blurry scene would be shown to him through his eyes rather than the hallways of the hospital. It was time to drop and say goodbye to this dream. As usual, his lips would curve upwards as his body was relaxing, the drop had taken place, and the scene would leave as his body laid back onto what seemed like air. But it was just a dark scene with his body in the middle, his chest moving up and down as he was forced to sleep once again. This was the least stress and most stressful 100 Year job he had ever embarked on. Day 13.

13 days have flown by quickly, but in real life, there must have been some severe damage and suffering throughout the land of Fiore. As his body would float through the darkness, he would think about what he could be doing out there as opposed to in here. It was not fair, to seemingly be sleeping while the rest of the world had to suffer through the darkness that was the nightmare kings actions. Why do they have to pay with their lives because dreams did not seem real? Why did the king take so much offense to this? If he felt so bad about it, just give the humans a bad dream, and spare those who did believe in him. It was not like many people would be physically affected by this, but to straight up go into the real world and try to murder everyone, whether they believed in him or not, that seemed rather extreme. There had to be more to this, right? This could not be the only reason why the tyrant was trying to slaughter the town, right? There was no denying that he would find out in a week, because this was going to be the 14th dreamers word that he entered. It was only going to be a matter of time before Bound Iris will cross the flesh of the dream tyrant. And soon the country would be saved from the monster. But for now, Elyx was going to have to be patient. To take any reckless actions like using Deemos Orb will only put an end to him. If a dream were to die, he would die along with it. Such a tough job this was, but he had to endure it. The mental pain would have to wait for later, there were others who needed their fear cleared. The next gate to open would reveal a snowy terrain with the coat of one being covering them. They had their arms crossed over their bodies, understandably so since they needed to keep much heat. So the fear was ice? Being frozen? Stranded in the ice? Well then this person should not be near Iza, because that tanuki can make a Winter Wonderland in any scene. Oh well, it was time to enter the dream. Nodding his head, he would pace forward, closer to the gate before putting out his pointer finger, reaching out to feel the weather. As expected, it felt like a chill to him, but to a normal human, it probably felt like they were paralyzed. It was expected, and to see this as a fear made sense. So the goal would be simple, get the client out of there and onto a scene with heat in it. Somewhere like a desert? Wait, then that heat will get to the client and probably make them scared of both the cold and heat. That was going to be a chaotic ride in that dream. So the next best thing would have to be done, get her out of there, or find a stray igloo with supplies. Both seemed unlikely and they seemed to be relying on chance. But this was a dream, it was not like chances had favored anyone but the user before. And so his body would enter the 14th dreamers dream.

He would arrive while sleeping on the snow, his chest on the snow cover, his left cheek leaning against it as his nose would be given space to breathe. His light brown eyes would reveal to the world, a sight to see would be all of the snow. The wind was blowing rather brutally, the specks of white would flow all over the scene. What a snowy day, it was time to find the client. They had a brown coat over them, which was not too hard a color to tell the difference of between that person and the snow. His feet would begin to pace through the snow, his right arm pushed forward so that he did not have any snow bits getting into his eyes. It was a tough travel, even with his physical strength. Regardless however, he must pursue his target, and by making this travel, such would be accomplished. It seemed like however that he had no leads to getting there, since it was all snow and more snow. The only difference was the sky once again, still red, and the sun however had a bit of mercy and gave him its usual yellow light. While that sky is active however, he was helpless to resist against the power of the dream. Such an unfortunate event, the Sky Slayer would very much rather just see a nice blue sky and drop at this moment. To think before that he was complaining about lacking the dreams that should have been given to him in a chain. All those words and thoughts he took back, because this travel alone required all of his strength. The winds were getting colder and colder, blowing throughout the glaciers harder and harder until eventually, he would see a little tiny dot out in the distance. The dot was the color black from this distance, and as much as he would like to run towards it, he would end up just walking to it without speeding up his pace. This world did not let him want to catch up to his client for whatever reason, all of the ice around him was annoying in all honesty, forcing him to slow down his pace. Still however, it was not like he had a right to complain, he was a mage who did not really feel temperature anymore due to Ignite living with him for the past year now. With that being said, the client was probably a regular human who did not have abilities to move through snow at the same speed that he did. Not to mention that with such a heavy jacket, their bodies were a lot more delicate to the weather around them, thus causing them to lose their breath quickly if not their lives. Being stationary however will only make them colder, and then eventually freeze to death. Now that he thought about it, ice was a lot more dangerous than he expected it to be. Iza's ice felt like nothing compared to this nasty climate, how could it be that cold? Well, slowly but surely he would have an answer for the solution to this problem. And so he would continue to waddle until eventually, he had reached his target. The client turned out to be a she, and she was right in front of him now.

He poked at her shoulder, causing her to jump up, the sky turning even darker into the red color, and even the sun was beginning to grow darker. His light brown eyes would raise as he realized that he had startled her with such a sudden address, he needed to remedy it before she would up. Hold up, hold up! I am not here to hurt you friend! He would tell her, causing her to turn back, slowly at first before she completely turned, hands up as if she were ready to defend herself. In all honesty, in this weather and her reaction, she was nowhere near ready to try such a thing. It was a good thing that she was his client, and not his enemy, otherwise she would be a goner by now, kneeling to the mercy of Bound Iris. With a smile on his face, he decided to introduce himself. Hello there miss, my name is Elyx Reiaki, and I will be here to save you from the glaciers. He would announce, placing his hands in his pockets before she would slowly nod, seemed like they had an understanding there. And so the both of them would begin to walk side by side, his blade being pulled out in case of anything that would try to attack them along the way. The goal was to make her feel safer, and the safer she felt, the more that the sky was willing to go along with him. Nothing in the snow seemed to attack them so far, which was a good thing as of right now. But the further he pressed onto the journey, the more he began to realize that there was not much to fear since there did not seem to be monsters around the area. It was just the thought of being stranded and freezing to death that drove the young lady into fear. If he had to guess, maybe she was currently on some sort of escapade that required her to go through such terrains. Well, if he can just guide her correctly through the scene, she would not have too much to fear anymore. Placing his palm out towards her, he would try to keep her warm by using his magic in his body. Just because it was nulled did not mean that it did not create warmth for him, because it was still in his body after all.

She would grab it, causing Elyx to sacrifice a bit of his warmth in order to help that of his client stay warm. Her eyes closed, and under the hood he could not see her mouth, but something told him that she was glad he had done that. It felt nice to help these people, though some may be a little annoying, some were nice people that appreciated help, and definitely did not this sort of mental torment. Her fear will be relieved soon if he had anything to say about it. And so the both of them would continue to trek through the snow, hoping for a way out. Elyx had an hour when he started this, but time as of currently was of the essence, he could not bare to face any more trials in this. Otherwise he might fail as his easiest task yet.

Feeling the presence of the sky turning even more red, he realized that it was not the fear in the client that was making it grow so dark, but the fact that he was running out of time. Desperate to make a great escape from the scene, he would pull the girl up and onto his back, which added weight on him yes, but he had an ability that would speed up his rate and make sure he does not fall behind. In doing so, once it became active, his heart rate would quickly begin to increase, his light brown eyes raising as the blood was pumping faster throughout his body and into his veins, such a nice and gentle rush felt so exciting and violent inside of him. For such power to flow inside of him felt nice. Once he knew his client was safe and secure on his back with her arms wrapped around his neck, he would begin to make a break for it, running through the ice at full speed, the young lady swinging around like a flag in the wind due to the amount of force. She could not scream, which made his life a lot easier, but she had to grip of a tiger. With that being said, she was doing surprisingly well, not trying to let go or anything, but trying to hang on for dear life like any rational person would do. He had to admit, he liked this client a lot better than many of the other ones he had to deal with, which preferred to panic at the face of danger rather than face it head on. And so the sky would finally begin to lose its dark shade, the time finally being beaten as the ice and the wind began to cool down, nothing blowing anymore as they reached the border. The height of the snow began to decrease as well until eventually, the soles of his boots were visible. The scene at the end was a nice and warming meadows, sort of like his Guild Spell that he had, they were just as calming as this scene in front of him. It was beautiful, the wind around them was a calm zephyr hat did not dare try to bother the duo. He'd place the young later onto the ground gently and gracefully, making sure she had not fallen instead. Once that had been done, he would look up at the sky once again, a nice shade of light blue mixed with a few white clouds. A nice ending, perfect to sleep in. Which was nice since he felt like he was going to drop, the world once again blurring before it then happened. The fear of being frozen is now gone, and she would be safe from it. The 14th dreamer has been saved, if he keeps this up, the final boss would be met with, and he was going to have to make it answer to him. The dreams in the real world crap would be over, the land of Fiore would be saved, he would obtain a major reward, and he would remedy the fears of 20 people, one of them being his girlfriend, one of them being his best friend. It would all be worth it, all in time. Day 14.

And just like that, Elyx was able to clear 14 of the nightmares that his clients were having, save them from their fears, and bring them to a new light. In the process, he was also bringing light to the world one day at a time, the sacrifice of time was only necessary for now, but they will soon know why he had hesitated, because he only wanted to handle the source of all of this chaos, nothing more, nothing less. Nothing that would be unnecessary to the battle, which was good, because what was going on took a lot of time already, they did not need any more time to be wasted. With a smile on his face as he awoke in the world of darkness once again, the door would reveal itself. But before it opened, he would feel his feet hit the ground of the new world. Something about this felt odd, but that was all. Nothing in his senses could feel any traces of danger, so he would shrug it off and see what this scenario would place right in front of his light brown eyes. A light would reveal onto him, showing that he was standing on a square platform. His head would tilt up to see where the light was coming from, but of course, he was unable to see it, nor did he plan to actually see through it. What was going on again? Whatever it was, it did not seem to harm him. Looking behind him, he would see three different screens of different scenarios, all of which seem to be throughout the job. The first one showed him being surrounded by the giant room of blood, looking around before diving into it. Such a scene made him cringe. The second one showed Iza, shivering as a tanuki before he would give her an assist, putting out his arm so that she may climb onto it and be safe around him. The final one was of him skydiving, his hands out as he had to guide the man and avoid having him take the bullet fire. It placed a smile onto his face to see these scenes, only for his face to obtain its normal position once he say giant words in white print above the screens. They were chopped up into pieces, but altogether they would read, "I have been watching you for quite a while now." "So you plan to stop all of this?" "I must say, you are one interesting boy." "But I am not done trying with you." "See what is behind that door, maybe you might find a client, as you call it." "Or do you want to return home." "I am giving you a chance to surrender and leave unscathed." "But if you refuse, I will have no problem killing you." "The choice is yours." And with that heartwarming message, the text would then spell out his name E.L.Y.X.R.E.I.A.K.I. Before following up with a yes or no at the bottom of it. A second door would appear, once that opened up back into the real world. To go back now and go to the home he missed so much, or to take on the nightmares that next awaited. The choice was not hard.

Hell no. Ignoring the warning given to him, the Sky Slayer would walk past the door offered to him in the middle, and he would then walk towards the one at the edge, no problems there it seemed. A smile on his face as he realized that he just made a choice to save Fiore instead of choose his own health and safety. Throughout all of his life, he thought that he only did things that made a benefit for only himself and those he considered allies. But here, he saved everyone, and what exactly was he supposed to think about that? It made him feel warm inside, the lips still curved upwards as he realized that this was going to be a lot easier of a task than he had expected, he had the confidence now knowing that he had done the right thing. Black Rose would have been so proud to see his development, seeming selfish and childish at one point, but now he was here, conquering the fears of others to save Fiore as opposed to leaving their fears hanging and letting the nightmares win. The dream king may have tempted him, a test of character for sure, but in the end, he was Elyx Reiaki. He was a Wizard Saint of Fiore. He was going to get out of here with the lives of others saved in his hands. And soon, one day, he might be known for it. But even if he was not, he would still continue to fight. He'd rather die with pride than live with shame. And once he had entered the second door, he would fall onto the scene, and this time, he was brought in front of a man and a reaper looking thing in front of him. The hooded being was about to slice down onto the man, but Elyx pulled out Bound Iris quickly and slashed it to the side, blocking the impact from occurring. It had a scythe, a very dangerous weapon to be using. But physically, it did not seem to stand a chance, was this all that the reaper could do? Apparently not however, as it then would begin to grow in size. Now he realized what this fear was, it was the fear of death. No matter how much his client had been fighting it,, some sort of sickness was keeping him from staying alive. Such a cold fate that was. However, the Sky Slayer would not let him go down like that. Bound Iris was able to prevent this nasty situation, the reaper, which signaled death, was not going to make it. Instead, death will be put in its own coffin once Elyx was done with up. The reaper would emit a loud yell, frightening the man even more on the plains. However, with the red sky and the giant size, it was still not able to make him scared. Instead however, he felt determined to finish off this fool for being so damn loud. The client was trapped since the meadows had an ending, and that man would fall off if he went over the edge. But with a certain Sky Slayer on his side, the man should be safe from the danger that was this dream. It was time to fight!

And so the beginning would occur. He would jump up as the reaper sliced down, the earth shaking below him before Elyx sliced it upwards by the chin. It was a good first blow, causing the enemy to stumble backwards. The Sky Slayer would quickly take advantage, being in the air gave him a little bit of ground. Using the ability of air Step and mixing that with his speed, he would dash and slice one time, dash back for a second slice, zip upwards to give an uppercut slice, and finally dashing downwards to cause an explosive strike with his blade. This caused it to stumble backwards mightily before falling backwards. Seems like it was unable to provide him with much more of a challenge than that, such a shame. It made him embarrassed to be called into the dream, but death was definitely a fear. This man might have his own reasons to fear it, probably a lot of unfinished work to do in the real world. Understandable, since Elyx would share that problem with him. So if that was how they were going to connect, it seems like he would have to help a brother out, right? And so the reaper would quickly get back up onto its feet, clearly not going to accept that without upgrading its battling game increasing. Good, because he liked to have his battles with a bit of challenge. The scythe would slam onto the ground, twisting sideways before it started to swing onto the ground. It was trying to spin around constantly to eventually hit him, no matter where he ran. It was a nice game, but he was going to have to break the rules here. The man was in danger, and if he gets here, he would wake up, nothing that Reiaki wanted in this case. So instead of even trying to bail out of the scene, he would lift the Bound Iris blade and blocked the impact, but it required him to lock his feet onto the ground, his teeth to clench from all of the pressure, and eventually he would push back and shove the scythe away. The reaper was exposed, so Elyx would make a break for it, running towards the stomach before pouncing upwards. His right hand would slash downwards onto the coat of the beast, ripping pretty deeply. The enemy screeched mightily, the red sky soon losing the red shade and instead began to gain a little bit of blue. The further down this things health was, the better the chances until eventually the sky was of normal color once again. Landing on the ground, he would quickly evade by jumping back. However, since he did not pay attention to his footing, he would slide back on the edge and fall back so suddenly. But... He could not go out, not now! With reflexes oh so quick, he would grip the edge of the world with his available left hand, dangling now. The sky began to grow red again, this did not seem good. The world below him was shrounded in darkness, Elyx did not dare want to find out what it could do to a mages body that ended up in there. It took a lot of upper body strength to be hanging like this.

Dangling like a little bell in a cats mouth, he would swing his body from side to side, which will add stress to his fingers, but he needed to launch himself back up onto the stage so that he did not fall to his doom. A little bit of pain was nothing compared to having his existence erased... Again. It was bad enough the first time, he did not want to repeat it in a world where not even Nimpha was able to reach him. And so with a few mighty swings, he would eventually haul himself into the air, spinning in a cartwheel sort of formation, the monster right in front of him now. It was now his chance, Elyx would slice the reaper backwards and out of his way, hitting its head, slicing it in half and forcing it to fall backwards. It took a while, but once it hit the ground, the impact let out a mighty thud. Such an impact was devastating for anyone in the way, but fortunately, the client was in the middle of the stage, and not the arena, making sure he did not fall off and for good reason too. The death reaper had been defeated, it looks like things are able to be peaceful once again. With a smile on his face, he would look over towards the man as the Sky Slayer would approach him, calmly to make sure his client knew whose side Elyx was on. The sky was no long a violent red color, but a nice light blue once again, and the sun would also be yellow as usual. It was a nice ending, he was able to slay death for the moment. The dream seems cleared, and now Elyx was learning of the many fears there are that exist. This was the 15th one he had seen, and none of them seemed to quite fit the Sky Slayer, it was amazing what people could be scared of, and for good reason as well. Such a chaotic world, who would set things up like this where there was fear rather than bravery and even carelessness. That is what he'd gladly give Iza credit for, she did not care, she had very few fears, and had yet to see any from her. When she does have a fear however, she freezes up and hides, knowing what would happen if she dare not do it. Maybe there was a bit of wisdom in her... Just a bit, and he was willing to admit that much. Anyways, it seemed like he would have to go. Which was nice since he felt like he was going to drop, the world once again blurring before it then happened. The fear of being frozen is now gone, and she would be safe from it. The 15th dreamer has been saved, if he keeps this up, the final boss would be met with, and he was going to have to make it answer to him. The dreams in the real world crap would be over, the land of Fiore would be saved, he would obtain a major reward, and he would remedy the fears of 20 people, one of them being his girlfriend, one of them being his best friend. It would all be worth it, all in time. Day 15.

The drop occurred once again, bringing him to the world that allowed him to be back on the stage where he was before. Three more screens would appear, reminding him of the adventure he had in some of the other dreams. Like the ones with spiders and how they had to stay calm, or get eaten if they panicked and the spider were to arrive too early. Such good memories in that first screen. The second one would go a bit further into detail as it advanced the plot a bit further, showing the time where they were trapped in the land of ice in the third one. The one in the middle however had nothing this time. A bit odd, but he did not care to let that bother him for right now, it was just one ruined screen. The text would appear once again, this time it showed in red letters to show anger, and to be honest, Elyx was having a lot of fun with it. The text read "I hope you liked the choice that you had made for yourself, it probably will be the last one you will make, and it was by far the worst. There are five more nights for you to barely make it through, and then I will put you to the sword of yours, oh what a great day that will be. Tell me Elyx Reiaki, when you bleed, do you scream? If you do, make sure it is loud, I want to enjoy every bit of it. You are a Lerale magician, so you understand that music is for entertainment. Your screams specifically will be my own music, so clear the days fast. I won't screw with them any more like I did last time, I want to pain the halls of my new palace with your blood. Time to die!" And with that, it would disappear as the next world would reveal itself, the next door clearly showing that there was still going to be quite a bit of work done. It was a fiery little place that Elyx would like to assume was hell, and many people would fear such a place, and for good reason as well. It seemed like he was going to have to beat it, such a nice job. A smile would appear on his face, full well knowing what he had to do, and he was going to do it without any fail. When he returned, he would be able to smile and laugh at the master of the dreams for thinking he could stop the Sky Slayer from stopping all of the dreams that had been let loose out in the real world. It was time to strike now before his client wakes up, or it will all be over. There were 20 of the dreamers, and 15 of them have been cleared. Now it was time to clear another one up from theirs. And so he would walk over there, feeling ready to fight whatever it was in hell that he was going to have to take down. Demons were nothing new to him now, they were just regular enemies to him that did not have any effect on him. Crossing his arms as he looked at it, he would then enter the scene.

Upon stepping into the world, he would have a better view of it as he landed on top of one of the trees. It seems like there was a second fear of fire, two of the dreamers had a fear of fire. This time however, the one client was not a child, but a woman, who was on a different branch as she looked down. She was not moving, the wildfire in the trees beginning to climb up to her and claim their next meal if she did not move. The tree was rocking as well, back and forth. Eventually, she would end up burning and falling along with the tree, but not if Elyx were to come in and save her from doing that. He would pounce from his branch quickly to pull her away from the tree, swinging onto the next branch with his other hand white the right hand had a client in it. With that, he would begin to travel along the trees without any problems, eventually finding one to put her down, she did seem very worried about the fire. The fire did make the red sky seem a little bit more reallistic, but that did not make it right to exist at all. She would look at him with a puzzled facial expression, most likely from the fact that even though they did not know each other, he had saved her life. Well, in a normal case, he would have done it just because he had good in his heart. But her life was not the only one on the line, but the whole land of Fiore as well. Provided he had let her die, the world would have been the cost. It seems like they did not have time for small talk. A sudden roar would occur from behind them. Turning around to see what beast was after them, he would not see an animal after their lives. Instead however, there would be a giant wave of fire coming at them like a tidal wave. Seems like the nightmare planned to end them quickly, whatever was causing the flames already had too much control, and since he was unable to use any of his Sky Slaying magic, he had no choice but to try to break away from it and take the girl with him. The young lady however would take the wheel as she then jumped onto the next branch before turning back. She would nod her head, knowing what they had to do, she was a lot braver than expected. Each person was different, maybe this one would not let herself be shamed in front of anyone, regardless if they were a Wizard Saint or not. It was good though, he did not have to carry her on his back or anything, he just needed to make sure that she was able to escape from the dream without taking any damage. Seemed easy enough, and with her being able to help him instead of act as a weight on him, this day was probably going to go by rather quickly. It was all so perfect, the perfect client. They were getting braver and braver per night, and things were supposed to get harder they said. It was probably the easiest he had this whole job.

The both of them were going to have to escape from the wave of fire. The trees were burning, and as long as they make this sort of like a race, a competition, they would make it out of here with a successful blue sky in the air and smiles on their faces as one of them is going to be forced to sleep without any breaks, a drop that would be for the Sky Slayer. The wave of fire was rather slow, but it covered so much ground that the both of them could not hope to just dodge it, all they could do was escape by continuously moving forward, their smartest move in this scenario. He liked how this client was moved by competition over fear, and so that he would not have to push her throughout the whole thing, say some stupid words, or convince her to do anything. It was her adrenaline that kept her fueled up, and personally, Elyx liked that about this client. Clients seemed to have improved since the beginning, and part of that was just to make fun of Iza, but regardless, it was definitely true. They seemed a lot more calm and willing to escape their fears as opposed to the beginning ones. Either that, or they would stay out of the way instead of cause any more trouble for him, and so then his life and job were both much much easier. It placed a smile on his face to see that there was this much of a difference now, and this was going to only get easier before he faced off against the king of dreams. Then again, that king of dreams probably was going to be the one who set up such easier clients and tasks, trapping in the different spirits in different nightmares. The both of them continued to leap onto the branches, nothing that hard. However, the fires were getting bigger and bigger, closer up the trees than he had expected. It was a nice but realistic scenario, the fire was was coming form behind, but in the dream, the fire was all around them, swarming all of the place. They were all ignited since the start, and for brilliant reason as well, to ramp up the pressure that the Sky Slayer and his client would have to endure. It did place a lot of that onto them, but with their little race occurring in the back of their minds, that pressure was overcome with nothing but smirks and willingness to win. They wanted the leg up over each other, a regular human and a mage. But Elyx decided to let her win, it would help her get over the fear of fire and give her some happiness in the end. It was not about him, it was the client that mattered the most, and he was more than happy to accept that fact as a reality. And so they would continue, the sky beginning to go from a dark red to slowly turning into a violet, and after that, blue would follow right after if they keep on going at this pace. It was so much fun now, being able to nail these fears with such ease with distractions. Maybe he should do the rest of the dreams like this.

And so finally, the duo would reach the end, the trees were becoming less and less in their numbers and soon enough, they were able to get to the end of the forest with smiles on their faces. The young lady was able to beat him, and because he had let her as well. It was nice to have this sort of fun again, he had missed it for about a month now, not being able to have it since he was focusing so much on this current job. Still however, it was amazing how one was able to escape from a giant wave of fire, and eventually, they would both end up finding themselves on the side of a beach, where there would be nice cool water for them while the sun, which was emitting regular sunlight, would beat down onto that water. Many people were there as well, just enjoying themselves and having a great time. It was almost like he were back in Fiore again, on one of those vacation days however. Maybe that was what Black Rose needed, a break from it all. One day where they could say something along the lines of "Whoops, we are sorry, we are no longer here and will not be, so screw off and leave us alone. We will be back by tomorrow, but for now, we Bounty Hunters are at a beach" or something like that. What? It was honest, and they would all enjoy themselves, even Elyx, who would only feel a bit uneasy and rest by the edge of the beach rather than end up looking at the water and running into it. Then again, there were two people who would gladly try to throw him inside. Wait, three now that he thought about it, there was always the factor of a little She Phoenix that he knew. Followed up by that would be a little pranking tanuki who full well knew that he once had a phobia of water. And then there was Kaku, who seemed to make him do things regardless of their danger or not. The three of them as a team would definitely get him in the water, which he would prefer that to not happen. And so just like that, what once seemed like a blissful and happy idea had been shot down. Whoops. On the plus side, he could try to enjoy this time here in the beach while he could. However, when he would attempt to try to approach the water, he would feel the would around him blur and his eyes were losing their focus. In the end, his body would fall backwards onto the hard feeling sad. Eventually, he would go to sleep, seems like he had dropped yet again. It was getting old now, being forced to sleep without any fun in the end. Despite his life pretty much being to wake up, take a job, eat, shop, sleep, repeat, it was a lot more fun than just solving the problems of other people and then going back to sleep. If this were his life, he could swear that he would go crazy by the time he grew up to be a full grown adult. Oh well, it was only going to have to be 4 more times. Day 16.

The next time he had entered the world of dreams, the stage that he had to stand on, none of the screens would arrive. And what was the making of this exactly? That was what Elyx was wondering. However, there was no time for questioning, only listening if he wanted to get out of this world without having his head placed on the block. The white text would appear once again, and they seemed rather taunting this time, something that one should not do when they are addressing this mage specifically. However, he was powerless against the king of dreams, but only for the moment, once he had his hands on his opponent, he would be able to slice and dice his opponent all he liked. For now, he will play by the kings rules, and when the right moment comes, place Bound Iris through the stomach of that tyrant. The white text then read, "Elyx Reiaki, you have quite the interesting history behind you. I have looked a bit in your memories while you and that girl were having a race, and I must say, you have quite the interesting fears, if I were to tell you that myself, as the king of dreams. However Mr. Reiaki, if there is one thing I know how to do, it is to make those fears into worst nightmares. What do you think the rest of the clients would be like, happy to see you, only to know that you share the same fear as they do!? Ha... No... Not in my world. Listen Sky Deity Slayer, if you want to keep playing this way, you can, because you have made that stupid choice a long while ago, and I have no intention on letting you advance back on your words. For such reckless actions, you will have to suffer before you die! Hope you like water~ And one more thing, there are not as many clients as you think. Instead, I made a special one just for you. Sadly, I had to strip away a few worthy mentions to throw in that piece of garbage, which took up THREE spaces. I must say, he is not ordinary, despite me thinking of him to be trash. Who is he you ask? Well..." And the text would cut off. Elyx would snarl when he read those words, and the door to the next world would open. How dare the king taunt him when can not say anything back? Oh well, there would be plenty of time for revenge later on, and all he had to do was press one. So this was the 17th client of the job. And the special client took up three spaces. Three assuming those be the clients, that one client will act as 18, 19, and 20. All right, that made him three days ahead of schedule, and how was water going to both him? While he had his medallion on him, there was not a body of water that could scare him. He felt invincible, because he had not used it yet. The next world was red as usual with the sky. On the side he would notice a man, and he looked like he was able to be hung on a gallows. Seems like he was scared... Of a final verdict.

A crowd of people were cheering for the man who was on the gallows. There was a burlap bag on his head, covering his face so no one would see what would happen to him right after that. The noose hung loosely around his neck, his feet were both on the wooden stool, keeping him from falling to his death. The hands were tied behind his back, it was close to execution time. This was a fear, now why? If this was what he deserved, he should have what he had coming. But then again, this was a fear. There were a few theories as to why this might be the case. The first one made plenty of since to him, it was because he was not afraid of death and did not regret a damn thing, making him worthy of such a death. There was another possible answer to this... Not that it was very believable, but if it were true, that would explain why this were a fear. This man might be innocent, framed, and it was the night before he was going to court to see what the verdict would be. It was stressing him out probably, eating him from the inside out and sucking on his mentality slowly. He was worried about the result and how it would end up. Well, there was one thing that the Sky Slayer could do for him, it was to save him from the death of the gallows. To do this however, he was going to have to do quite a lot. He did not quite recognize the town that he was in, so the escape would be hard. He was going to have to get there in time to stop the stool from being kicked, stop the guard and fight him quickly enough, then cut the rope using Bound Iris. To help the man breathe, he would have to untie the burlap bag taken off of his head, and this would also probably allow him to see. Once that happens, the crowd would get rather pissed for the lack of death that was supposed to occur. Such sick people, but that was what happened every time, it happened back in the old days and will still happen now. People just liked to see people hurt, it was a nasty and sick was other thinking. All right, and once they were able to make it past the angry mob, Elyx will have to carry him on foot and escape from the town. This had to be done with every step perfect, there was no room for mistakes, or it will be game over. If he game himself away, game over. If he accidentally kicked the stool away, game over. So many risks, exciting, but definitely not fun. If this were real life and he had failed, that probably would be his last regret. Placing out Bound Iris, he would walk into the crowd and try to blend himself in with the group, which worked since mages seem to do well when grouped up with humans around this area. Slowly he was moving forward, some tried to shove him back, but they ended up in the recoil since his defenses were much stronger than their power. It was a nice try, but futile.

Well, it seems like a plan was done in place, and now it was time for him to use his training as a Bounty Hunter. Using his speed once he got to the front of the crowd, he would dash over to the top of the wooden stage where the gallows had been set before quickly jumping upwards, slicing the blade to the side to cut the rope holding the man by the neck. The next slice would cut the burlap bag in half, almost hitting his client, but what mattered was that it did not. The guard would quickly pull out his sword, being given enough time to do so. That guard would slice down onto Elyx's head, trying to end this quick. The Sky Slayer had much more awareness than that slow speed, a lot more would have to be given to him to even try to dent him. The blade of Bound Iris would dash upwards as the attack had been blocked, instant damage inflicted onto the opponent as he had struck successfully. With a smile on Elyx's face, he would quickly kick the guard onto the armor, located where the stomach would be. This would push the guard back and all of the stage, giving them a bit of time. All right, as evidence of his success, the sky was beginning to grow from a dark shade of red to a light shade of red. There was still more to do. The crowd clearly did not approve of this, and if they wanted to do anything about it, they were going to have to catch him first. The man turned out to be smart enough to take that stupid bag off of his head, man, he liked these new clients, they were able to think for themselves. Once that had happened, the Sky Slayer would pull the man up and over his shoulders, carrying him like a log before dashing away and through the crowd. Some were able to see him, but they were ONLY able to see him. They could not react in time, trying to land a punch or whatever. He'd have to shoulder them out of the way, he was trying to make an escape, he did not care to be polite to those who were trying to stop him, or those who wanted him stopped. Once he bailed out from that scene, they would be outside, where a whole town would be located. An angry mob was behind them, and the duo would have to make a quick escape. Elyx looked both ways to see if there was an exit, and he did see a little boat that could bring them away and onto the water. There was no other option, so the mage would dash over in that direction and throw the client onto it before he would then get onto the boat himself. The crowd was small at a distance, and also very quiet. But his sense would get a little more tense, the rush of getting away for something felt kind of amazing to be honest, maybe he could understand why some people liked to cause trouble. Maybe it was not the best choice, and he did not agree with their ways of dealing with boredom, but he understood them at least.

The Sky Slayer would begin to row as his client would place himself in his seat comfortably to avoid any problems like falling off. The sky would then begin to grow a lot more blue for every row he gave. Some people were so stupid and tried to swim in the river to catch up to them. It was not their smartest moves, and they would soon realize that once they drowned. It was a perfect escape for them, no boats would catch him due to his physical power, it was like riding a motorcycle, except on water. The escape had been a success, and they would pass under a bridge to show that they were leaving the town. The destination was unknown, but now those laws would not arrest the man that the town was trying to hang. All right, maybe they might try to search for him and try to get him back, but in another town, they had to follow those towns rules. And if he were truly innocent, he would be able to go scott free in their land while the previous town could do nothing. Wait, no, they could do something. They could declare war over one person that they wanted to see dead. Technically, that was an option. Not the most financially stable move, but it was an option regardless. Placing his boat on a dock far from the town, the man would be dropped off in a new town where he could try to start a new life. Give himself a new name, earn himself a new reputation, who knows, if he works hard enough, he might be royalty. Such a thought seemed impossible, but Elyx liked to believe that anyone could be a king or queen if they tried hard enough. The Sky Slayer did not want to be a king, or at least, not the king of Fiore. There were already enough responsibilities that he had to handle on his own. Only one man can handle being the king, and only a reclusive few can be successors worthy of having the crown. To whoever those people are, he would clap for them gladly, Elyx was not one of them. It was true, he was not yet ready for the responsibility. There was still areas for him to grow in, and that was exactly what he was going to do. He was going to grow until eventually, there was no more space to grow. However, he was going to take this moment to relax as the waters would calm him a little bit at a time. And finally, his body would begin to drop once again, another forceful sleep placed upon him, not that he minded though. Sleep was great, it provided him with the ability to get a good nights sleep, especially considering he probably had some sort of big day tomorrow. Some client who was able to take up three slots, and who could this wonderful person be. Hopefully it would be easy, but there was an uneasy feeling in his stomach that told him that it was only hopeful thinking to wish for something like that. Despite wanting to ignore it, that feeling had not let him down once. And so... He must be ready, for tomorrow is not like the other days. Day 17.

And with that, he would be back on the stage where he would be greeted by the three screens. It seems like they all had nothing on them, the king of the dreams must have something really important to say. Maybe to wish him luck or something? All joking aside however, he would notice that there was a face reveal of himself in the middle screen, facial expression neutral. Around the neck was a noose, nice. Seems like there was no luck wishing to be involved in this scenario, which was fine, since Nimpha was his luck tutor anyways. The king of the dreams would then begin to speak with the white text above the triplet set of screens."You have now been set to take on something much worse than you expect. If you believe this client is one to underestimate, and that your power would slaughter the previous nightmares I have induced, then I proudly announce that you would be sorely mistaken. My power is to not be underestimated, and what better to do than bring you to a nightmare... Created by yourself!" The stage suddenly was no longer below his feet, the screen showing Elyx choking on the noose, as if the stage were the stool preventing him from dying. A blue outline would form around the real version of hims neck, but it did not hold him up, it just kind of followed the mage wherever he went, which was downwards in this case. Falling, plunging, unable to escape from the darkness that was this nightmare. There he was, he was falling into nothing but darkness. His right hand was held upwards, reaching towards the darkness that was upwards, and no one was there to grip it. The whole world was dark, and there he was left to fall without even an idea of when he'll make impact. Such a weird nightmare, he jerked upwards in his bed as he would take deep breaths. The air felt a lot more clear in his room than it did in his dream, like he was free from the toxins of smoke. A piece of paper was lying on his blanket over his lap, blank on the side that he was looking at it from. He could not remember placing that paper there, and the window suggested that it was too early for even Ignite to awaken. Could this be the work of the king? To try to confirm that theory, he activated his slayer senses, which would detect him from huge distances away. However, he was not around the area based on what he could sense. And so finally he would feel his body slowly gliding instead of ending up on a tough ground with a nasty landing. It was sort of angelic, sad how no one was able to seem him. But the world was dark once again, the stage was not there anymore. So... What exactly was he doing here? Where the hell was the client he was supposed to meet? Was this the start of the job? If so, he would probably search for the special person that was the source of this dream. Who was deemed worthy of taking up three spots in this job, filling up 18, 19, and 20. Well, who else... But himself...

If this were like any other dream, he had an hour before he would fail. Then again, the sky was not red, and the sun was not black this time. Both of those seemed to not exist, the world around him was only darkness as far as the eye could see. This was going to be a long travel without any light to guide him. With a smile on his face, he'd trek on, getting a little bit more excited as more time would pass by. What was he going to face that made the king of dreams so confident? Was it some grand monster that he would have to slay via Bound Iris? The Sky Slayer could only be so lucky, facing off against a worthy opponent. But as he pressed further on, a light would begin to reveal in the distance. This light would glow brighter as the Sky Slayer gained some ground towards it, until eventually he would see the content that was under the light. It was... Iza? What was she doing here? Her head was hung down, the shade over her eyes, it was not a pleasant sight. Careful to approach the tanuki, her head would rise slowly, a drip of water revealing itself as it flung off of her face, hitting the ground with a gentle "Tic" upon impact. At that very moment, his eyes would open wide, a small anger arising in him was about to create a spark in his fears. To see her crying, and what exactly was causing her to be so sad? Before he could try to approach her, she would notice him before jumping back and away from him. His eyes would look at him as if he had slaughtered and tortured a kitten, what was she doing? Did she not recognize him? Before he could ask however, a sudden cry would emit from his direction, the voice belonging to no one else but Iza. A sudden tip of the blade would pierce right through her back and surfacing through her stomach... It was a brutal sight indeed. Unsheathing his own Bound Iris blade, he would quickly try to pounce at whoever or whatever had done that to her, probably the same one who made her cry. The enemies blade was pulled back and away before blocking the following sword lock from occurring. The body of Iza would go limp before falling to the side. The enemy that he just clashed with has a black hood over his head, and the darkness of the world did not even let the Sky Slayer see the details of the face of his opponent. What the hell was going on? Whoever this person was, he hated already, client or not, this person had to die. Even if it was in a dream, there was no way he would let this go unnoticed and unpunished. And so Elyx pulled back again, his opponent mimicking his exact move before slashing downwards onto the head. His opponent sliced upwards to block the impact once again, this enemy was reading his moves too well... Considering his speed and awareness, that should definitely not be possible for the average human. But here it was, being done to him in front of his own eyes. Who was this guy?

So the fear was having Iza being taken out... That was a good fear to pick on, considering she was his girlfriend.. But there were plenty of solutions to that, he was able to heal her and protect her, he can even slay the one that caused her so much pain and misery. It was not so much of a fear, and for Iza to take up 4 spaces in total, was that really it? The dream king should know a lot better than this, was there some trick up his sleeve? This man that he was fighting came first. Admittedly, he was rather impressive, the hooded figure being able to match his power, speed, and awareness, it was almost as if he were fighting against him... Self... No way... That was when realization came to him. What if this enemy were him... And there was only one way to find out. The goal was the hood, not the man anymore. Bound Iris would be sliced to the side, just below the neck area before the attack had been blocked. Taking this chance, while they were in the dark, the Sky Slayer would raise his right leg up and pushed it against the stomach of his opponent. While in the dark, the hooded figure would not expect him to suddenly use his legs to carry out attacks. Forcing his opponent to stumble backwards, Elyx would jump up with the blade held out to the right side before slashing it to the left, right where the neck would be, but he aimed for the back. And... It was successful, the hood came off, revealing a tuft of brown spiky hair from behind. So it was him... The client was him... And his fear was that he would hurt Iza was his actions. He feared for the tanuki, and this was actually sort of symbolic. Turning his head around to meet the real Elyx, a drop of water would show as he dropped his blade onto the dark ground. I never wanted to hurt her you know... But it seems like everyone who comes to me will end up in some sort of MISERY! Why... Why am I just not good enough... All of this power and yet I am powerless to even control myself... The other Elyx would tell the original one. These thoughts, in his mind and yet he did not know it. The dream was of himself, and this was proof that something was not in check with his own self, this was pure evidence of it. The original Sky Slayer was about to speak, only to be cut off by a continuation of the monologue that the other brown haired boy had to say. If I were just a little bit stronger, a little bit better, I would not have to continue living this way. I want the power to save those who I love... And I end up stabbing Iza through her back like she were some sort of monster! I'M THE MONSTER! I SHOULD HAVE A BLADE STABBED THROUGH MY SKULL FOR DOING SUCH A THING! And inside, the real Elyx knew that this was not normal, this was a potential danger to himself. If he let this dream go by unnoticed, it would probably become a reality.

Elyx remembered the last time he was in this sort of conversation, it was with Iza, right before they had been engaged. It was funny how that worked in the end, and Elyx would be so damn stubborn and even cut the tanuki off, shutting her worlds away from his ears and just continuing to ramble. To knock some sense into him, she gave him a nice little wake up call with the back of her hand, and despite their differences in power, the Sky Slayer will definitely not forget the pain ha had to endure for the next few minutes. But, it got him to shut up and listen to her, right? Seems like Elyx has no other choice, this "Monster" was going to have to shut down and listen for once. Walking up to his counterpart as the monologue continued, he would sheathe his blade back to where it belonged before balling up his right fist, guiding to towards the cheek of the other Sky Slayer, a snap of the neck could be heard, that much force had been applied. The original Elyx had to shake his fist from the impact, damn, he really did have a hard head. But regardless of that, it seemed like he was able to shut himself up. Good, because now he was going to have to fight if the cloned version of him dared to attack him. But for some reason, that did not seem to be the case, matching light brown eyes were locking onto each other now, one of them glaring while the other one was in a state of shock. If this Elyx wanted to act like a hopeless idiot, he would be allowed if he were his own person. But since that was not the case, it was likely that the original would be affected. To see this uncovered insanity that was in the back of his mind, he was glad to be able to see it now and shut it down before it would get too out of hand. Elyx prepared himself to tell off this idiot, it was not fair for him to suffer just because of another ones dreams. He was going to listen whether he liked it or not, because it did not matter to him. It was going to be an Iza worthy sort of scolding, because the Sky Slayer full well knew better than to act like this. however, every word to be emitted from his lips would be said out of love, he only wanted himself to be a prosperous man, and to have such low self esteem was not going to fly under his radar. Breathing in to let the effect of the punch reach full force, the silence was rather damning to the both of their ears. However, it seems like they were going to have to understand each other, and despite the both of them being the exact same person, they were neither close nor alike. It was a shame, to think he himself would have been easy to relate to. Oh well, and so he would place his hands in his pockets, breathed in deeply before breathing out, calming himself down before he would lash out on his counterpart. And so he would then begin to speak.