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Within a space where all dreams and nightmares converged and were distorted, a playful young boy-looking Nightmare Demon glared where Nyx, Fran, and Alma were, his whole childish face distorting into one of pure anger, looking rather bizarre and disturbing.
"T-Those damn little brats managed to fend off hundreds of Nightmare Beasts on their own?! And they even had the guts to sleep for hours and eat a feast, all right below my noses?!" He groaned, grabbing a large elephant plushie and then tearing its head apart.
CRASH!
The elephant head fell to the floor, as the entire body burned into black, nightmarish flames, disappearing into ashes.
"Grrrr! But that won't last for long! The closer you get to her, the more the nightmare essence becomes! Hehehee! I don't even need to create new Nightmares if these damn brats will give me all the power I need!"
He smiled viciously, as he began using the power to create more and more Nightmare Beasts.
"It'll be simple enough; I will just flood the entire place with as many Nightmares Beast as possible and overwhelm them with sheer numbers! It almost worked before with just two hundred, I'll send five thousand this time! Everything I have and-"
He quickly glanced into the mirror in front of him, seeing the girls moving and then, disappearing…
"Huh? What are they…?" He muttered in disbelief, as he saw Nyx turn into a ghostly being and then begin to pass through the solid walls one after another.
Not only was she traveling incredibly easily, but she had already reached her area of destination, the largest open area within the swamps, where a girl was trapped within the dark waters and the algae.
"S-She reached the area where…?! No! This can't be happening! Already?! She passed through the walls as a damn ghost?!"
The Nightmare Demon of Childhood couldn't believe it, Nyx's powers were much more than he could have ever imagined! Now that the girl reached this area, Alma and Fran stepped out, riding Phantom Dragons to float above the water.
"I won't let you free another source of energy and food!" The Nightmare Demon screamed furiously. "Thankfully I still hadn't used the full Nightmare Essence quantity I've accumulated. Instead of summoning many smaller Nightmare Beasts, I'll spend it into the closest thing to a powerful Nightmare I can summon!"
FLUOSH!
.
.
.
"Phew! I think we made it! Girls come out- Ah right, Phantom Dragons please hold them, so they don't fall!"
Nyx almost committed a grave mistake but was thankfully she didn't completely screwed things over this time, the girls came out and quickly mounted the Phantom Dragons, helping them stabilize midair and not fall into the swamp.
This entire area was filled with water with no place to stand on, unfortunately. The Snowdragon could fly, but the Snowdad ended falling into the swamp he froze the water to walk over it to though, so he wasn't bothered.
"Are we here now?" Fran wondered.
"It seems to be a place full of swamp water… it's smelly," Alma said. "Where's the other girl?"
"She is over there…" Nyx pointed into the distance.
At the end of the room, there was a large concentration of water. All the swamp water was flowing there, constantly swirling into a large tornado of black and green water.
It released sparks of electricity constantly, and from them, black miasma emerged, rapidly releasing its contamination into the rest of the swamp.
"The animals of this swamp are being infected by that black sludge and turning into Nightmare Beasts," Nyx explained. "I think that's what happening over here! We should somehow find a way to stop it before it gets worse though. I think the miasma comes from the girl. She's inside of that whirlpool… I think that's how they're called?"
"I don't know much else but I think that's right," Fran nodded. "Um, how do we rescue her? The water seems dangerous."
"I'll be fine, just stay here and I'll grab her. Worst case scenario, I'll get covered with sludge," Nyx shrugged.
"G-Good luck!" Alma said.
"I'll be fine!"
Nyx flew towards the whirlpool, fearlessly facing it and then jumping on it.
SPLASH!
Fran and Alma panicked but remained there in silence.
Waiting…
As this happened, Nyx swam through the water, seeking the girl, she saw a large mass of miasma within the water.
She swam there, rapidly using her long tail to propel her there much more easily than if she didn't have one.
She also used her little dragon wings to swim even faster!
"Almost there…!"
She forced her way through the strong whirlpools that were constantly spinning around, trying to force her away from the girl.
But she ultimately reached her, touching her hand, which was completely covered by black sludge. 𝖓𝔬𝔳𝖕𝖚𝖇.𝖈𝔬𝔪
"The Nightmare Miasma is already covering her entire body! She might die if this continues for long! I have to quickly get her out of here!"
Nyx immediately could tell what was happening to the girl, if she didn't hurry, the miasma would consume all her lifeforce and energy and transform it into nightmare essence.
Once she held the girl's hand tightly, she smiled.
"There! I got you! Now…!"
RUMBLE!
However, that very moment, the water and everything else around them trembled, as a giant explosion of pure nightmare darkness sent Nyx flying away!
She ended letting go of the girl's hand, as the mass of darkness rapidly took a gigantic, aberrant form from within it all.
"GRUOOOHHH!"
"W-What?!"
Nyx quickly emerged from the waters, realizing a massive being born from all the sludge-like nightmare miasma manifested.
This thing faintly resembled the body of a huge old man, with large arms and legs, and an even more monstrous head, opening wide and releasing countless sludge everywhere.
It seemed to have been born not just from the girl's residual darkness, but also from her inner fears, traumas, and hatred.
"W-What is that thing?!" Alma cried.
"Another monster…!" Fran muttered.
"So you're the one behind this, right? Are you trapping that girl here?!" Nyx asked angrily.
"Guhu… Gueheheheheh!"
The thing started to laugh manically, only making the girls looking at it feel threatened, as its nightmarish aura only grew stronger and bigger!
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