Chapter 1
Frankly speaking, Lucrezia's mind was blank for a moment—blank for nearly two or three seconds before she regained her ability to think and realized what was happening before her.

More terrifying than being trapped in a nightmare of corruption and erosion by the Sun's descendants was suddenly seeing her father return from the subspace in the depths of this nightmare. And even more terrifying than that was the fact that the scythe in her hand was heading for her father's neck.

Now, the scythe was out of control. An eerie green fire was burning on its black blade and long handle. It was as if it had entered another dimension, beyond her grasp. Lucrezia was stiff and futilely maintained her grip on the scythe, finally stammering out, "Your... your scythe is very distinctive."

"Do you always act this thoughtlessly when you're nervous?" Duncan finally released his grip, and the eerie green flames vanished. "What's going on here?"

As the flames subsided, Lucrezia finally felt the scythe, formed from the power of dreams and curses, return to her control. She hurriedly grabbed it, took a half-step back, and prepared to answer her father's question. But in the next moment, a sense of crisis suddenly struck from nearby.

The Sun's descendants' "lesser forms" had finally reacted, and they clearly wouldn't give her a chance to chat with her father in peace. Accompanied by the constantly flickering light and shadows in the sunlight, several shadows lunged towards Lucrezia's back. With almost no time to think, Lucrezia suddenly turned around, the scythe in her hand transforming into a long whip entwined with thorns. However, just as she was about to lash out with the whip, the shadows that had lunged at her suddenly paused in mid-air and revealed their forms, collapsing to the ground as if they had lost their source of power, struggling violently.

At the same time, Heidi, who was barely holding on by controlling several personality avatars, suddenly felt the pressure around her lighten.

She transferred her "self" from a dying personality avatar to another in better condition, then looked in astonishment at the black-clad figures around her collapsing one by one, struggling desperately on the ground as if they were fish being roasted by intense flames.

Their black coats of unknown material bulged and writhed from within, and their terrifying limbs began to rot and decompose rapidly. Accompanied by sickening sounds, a terrible stench and foul pus gradually spread from their bodies.

Even as a professionally trained psychiatrist, Heidi couldn't help but take two steps back when faced with this scene. Then, as if sensing something, she subconsciously looked up at the sky—but in the instant of looking up, she forcibly suppressed her impulse.

The terrifying experience of witnessing the "Sun's descendant" when she looked up before was still deeply imprinted in her mind, preventing her from verifying her guess.

Just then, she heard the stranger who had suddenly appeared in front of Lucrezia say to her, "It's alright, the sky is safe now."

For some reason, these words seemed to carry some kind of powerful force. Despite having no reason to, a strong impression instantly surfaced in Heidi's mind: the sky is safe.

She slowly raised her head and looked at the "sun" that was suspended high in the sky, shining and radiating heat.

That "thing" was still quietly floating above the forest, countless twisted and tangled tentacles and pale eyes piled up like haphazardly growing masses of flesh, light like flames rising and burning on the surface of this deformed and terrifying "flesh mass"—but in the depths of that light, a touch of eerie green was spreading and rapidly covering the entire surface of the entity.

The instant she saw those twisted tentacles and pale eyes, an uncontrollable fear surfaced in Heidi's heart. However, she quickly realized that her mind had not been corrupted by this "sight."

The "Sun's descendant's" corruption seemed to be blocked by the constantly spreading eerie green fire, or rather... it was being eroded and assimilated by the latter, rendering it harmless.

The dying struggles and roars of the "lesser forms" tormented Lucrezia's eardrums. These black-clad, quasi-human beings were dying quickly in the mutated sunlight, like dissolving in strong acid. She watched this scene in confusion and turned to Duncan, "What's going on?"

"I've corrupted their temporary sun. Now, this sunlight is 'toxic' to them." This was the experience I learned from the "Black Sun Incident" in Prand. These "remnants" can only survive under specific "sunlight."

Duncan said calmly, then raised his head and gazed at the twisted entity that was still quietly floating above the forest.

He thought of the "Black Sun" he had glimpsed through the "Golden Mask" before, and the pale ancient god dying under its scorching rays. However, compared to the "Black Sun" he had seen back then, the thing hovering in the sky above this dream world was clearly much smaller and weaker.

So... this must be the "Sun's descendant" that the mad cultists were talking about.

Now, this Sun's descendant was being rapidly devoured by the corrupted flames. The light and heat it emitted were being transformed into something capable of incinerating it. Yet this strange and terrifying "creature" showed no sign of pain. It remained quietly and silently suspended in the sky, as if it had no emotions of pain or fear at all.

Simply radiating light and heat, like a true sun.

However, Duncan stared at its pale eyes and felt that this thing was actually thinking—it was observing, it had a purpose and reason, unlike the dying Black Sun that only wanted to extinguish itself, or the fanatical cultists who only wanted to destroy the world.

What exactly is this "creature" thinking right now?

"What are you thinking?" Duncan couldn't help but ask in his heart.

"Can I go back?" In the depths of the vague information returned by the ghostly flames, he heard a voice, sounding calm and gentle, "There's nothing I'm looking for here."

Duncan's eyes widened slightly for a moment.

However, in the next instant, just as he wanted to establish more communication with this "Sun's descendant," a phantom rumble suddenly came from the sky. Then, the burning ball of flames suddenly contracted into a small point as if collapsing inward. The next moment, the ghostly flames that had lost their target scattered in all directions.

The "false sun" that overlooked the forest disappeared.

A dim, reddish twilight replaced the "sunny" sky of the previous moment, and the entire forest was plunged into a twilight-like atmosphere.

Lucrezia's surprised voice came from the side, "Did you destroy it?"

"No," Duncan shook his head gently, speaking the information he had perceived in that instant, "It left. That wasn't its main body, but just a projection of a Sun's descendant formed in the dream, like a tentacle used for sensing. Now it's retracting that tentacle from the dream."

Lucrezia nodded thoughtfully, but she quickly noticed something else, "Wait, what about that Annihilation cultist?"

"He ran," Duncan said casually, "While those 'lesser forms' were dying, he was constantly lowering his presence. Then, taking advantage of the collapse and retreat of the false sun in the sky, he fled in the chaos."

Lucrezia frowned immediately upon hearing this, subconsciously surveying the forest that had fallen into twilight, "Damn it... I was distracted too... I should have left a curse on him..."

"It's alright," Duncan waved his hand, "Let him run for a while."

Lucrezia was slightly taken aback by these words, raising her head to look at Duncan, "You... deliberately let him go?"

Duncan didn't answer her directly, but squinted his eyes slightly, as if sensing something, then shook his head with a smile.

Anyway, he already saw me.

Then, he ignored Lucrezia's suddenly changed expression and turned to look at Heidi, who was standing uneasily a dozen meters away, trying to minimize her presence.

He came to this psychiatrist—strictly speaking, to a group of Heidis—and first checked on her condition.

About seven or eight Heidis were carrying injuries of various sizes. Three of them were severely injured, flopping on the ground like dying fish, their personality parts obviously withdrawn, leaving only some reflex-based terminal convulsions. Two others looked to be in good condition, one standing blankly in place, the other nervously avoiding Duncan's gaze.

Duncan expressionlessly swept over this "group of Heidis," sighing inwardly at how wild the psychiatrists in this world were, their split personalities even more split than schizophrenia, then walked straight past the "Heidi" who was looking nervous and avoiding his gaze and came to the psychiatrist with the blank expression.

"Are you alright?"

The "personality avatar" with the blank expression was startled, and a vivid expression suddenly appeared on her face, "How did you know?" Of course, she had already guessed who the tall, dignified person in front of her, who gave her endless pressure, was. She was already extremely nervous, originally intending to use a personality avatar to slightly conceal herself and avoid direct communication with this terrifying "subspace shadow," but she didn't expect it to last less than a second.

"You use personality avatars to protect yourself when you're nervous," Duncan said with a smile, his attitude appearing friendly, "Of course, I didn't expect your 'personality avatars' to be so... powerful. Now I'm deeply impressed."

"Sometimes... patients with schizophrenia are more difficult to deal with. If there are too few personalities, you can't beat them..." Heidi explained subconsciously, but then she reacted, "Wait, how did you know..."

Duncan smiled and raised his hand, pointing to the amethyst pendant on Heidi's chest, "Strictly speaking, I gave you this pendant..."