Dreamweaver; Successor Of The Nightmare King

Episode 119: Wisdom; Friend Or Foe?!

EPISODE 119: XCALIBUR AOP 2! UNION OF THE WORLDS! THE FOURTH SESSION! THEMOUNTAIN OF OLYMPUS! THE ASCENT! THE SEAL OF IDENTITY PART XXVVVII: THETERRANEAN BLOODLINE LIMIT! THE BLADES OF HOPE PARTH XIII: THE CONVICTION OFHOPE VS THE ARMOURED BASILISK OF DESPAIR PART II: THE CAPE OF SEALS PART II:WISDOM; FRIEND OR FOE?!

I crossed into the Weaver Of Calamity's zone generating clones of myself in the process. I shut my eyes and ordered my clones to form a protective circle so that they had an omnidirectional view of our surroundings and could avoid an ambush. All of a sudden, I began to perceive a sharp rush of wind.

"Something's headed this way!" I warned my clones.

We put up our guard and listened closely. The sound began to increase in strength and suddenly, a huge serpent leapt out of the ground and lunged at us. I sidestepped and deflected its lunge with a palm strike to the side of its jaw where its mouth did not extend. It flew away from me and crashed to the ground.

I activated the Libra System and scanned it. Its stats read;

"BASILISK STAT: IMMORTAL! STRENGTHS; ARMOURED SCALES! WEAKNESSES; FELINES/BIRDS OF PREY!"

I stared at it. It reared up. I noticed that I had barely inflicted damage.

I scanned one of my clones with the Libra System.

"SANZIRI NIGHTBANE (JUNIOR) STATS: DREAM KNIGHT HOUSE: HOUSE OF LIONS! SPECIAL EFFECT: CAN INFLICT PHYSICAL DAMAGE TO BASILISK/CAN SUPPRESS BASILISK ABILITIES. AFFILIATION: SUZAKU PERISTYLIUM! SPECIAL EFFECT: IMMUNE TO BASILISK VENOM/RAPID REGENERATION. INGESTED PHOENIX TEARS: EFFECT: IMMUNE TO BASILISK STARE/VENOM!" the note read.

"It's just like the stats of that other Basilisk" I thought and put up my guard.

"For both myself and this Basilisk, it appears we are fundamentally evenly matched however...it's hard to believe I hardly inflicted damage" I thought and narrowed my eyes.

"At the very least...I can rely on my eyes for this battle" I thought and opened my eyes.

"I see, so you're affiliated to both a bird of prey and a house of felines. That's the only explanation for the inability of my gaze to petrify you. Either that or you ingested the Tears Of A Phoenix" the Basilisk said.

"That just means we're evenly matched at a fundamental level" I said seriously.

"To top it off, you understand your current situation quite well. I can't sense conceit behind your actions" the Basilisk hissed.

I remained silent.

"Still...it was quite reckless of you to venture out here all alone" the Basilisk said as it slithered all around me.

I kept my guard up and faced its head.

"If you chose to do something like that I can think only of two possible reasons. Reason one; you're overconfident of your abilities and believe you can easily take me down. Reason two; you realized that some of your allies possess affinities that are naturally inferior to mine in the food chain of affinities. Seeing as these are the only options you could have based your decisions on, you're either very foolish or very shrewd. Shall we find out which you are?" the Basilisk roared and lunged at me.

I sidestepped and palm-struck it sharply to the jaw again. It flew away from me but instead of crashing, it used the recoil of its first lunge to amplify its speed. I leapt out of the way and somersaulted to regain my balance.

"This Basilisk seems to have something up its sleeve...and it's not armoured for nothing. My strikes barely penetrated its scales" I thought seriously.

"This boy...you're unable to penetrate my scales but possess enough strength to deflect my lunge?" the Basilisk wondered.

"This Basilisk..." I thought.

"This boy..." the Basilisk said.

"...may have hidden strengths!" we both declared and analyzed each other cautiously.

I recalled my Dad's warning when we began to play the game.

"Feel free to explore your lands and utilize the tools and techniques that align with your ideals but be forewarned, the Weaver Of Calamity still lurks waiting for the opportunity to take advantage of your failures" I recalled my Dad's warning.

"I hope this isn't the kind of story where a single mistake triggers a chain of cataclysmic events that leads the World on the path to an Apocalypse" I recalled my question.

"Feel free to make as many mistakes as you want. It's all part of the learning process but recall that the Weaver Of Calamity is also a 'Weaver' and unlike us, he doesn't weave clothes...he weaves traps..." I recalled.

"...Seeing as these are the only options you could have based your decisions on, you're either very foolish or very shrewd. Shall we find out which you are?" I recalled the Basilisk's dare.

I chuckled slightly.

"So that's what you're up to. You're trying to lure me into releasing Ferren's Seal" I said.

"The Seal Of Wisdom? How did he figure that out?" the Basilisk looked surprised.

"Well, it wasn't very difficult to guess...especially seeing as you seem to know more about me than I know about myself" I said with a smirk.

"So what will you do with that knowledge? Throw away your only chance to beat me by sealing your abilities away...or release it to overpower me? Which are you...foolish or shrewd?" the Basilisk asked.

"I'm a Dreamweaver and everything I need to beat you...I already have. I'll down you by relying on the strength I currently possess" I said and took my stance.

"So it's the path of the fool then!" the Basilisk roared and lunged at me.

I crouched and in the next instant, I completely disappeared.

"Huh? Where did he go?" the Basilisk seemed surprised.

In an instant, my hand was on its head. I had utilized the flame stream from my cape to amplify propulsion and thus greatly multiplied my speed.

"Propulsion?! So it's the path of the shrewd then?!" the Basilisk seemed surprised.

"Your ability to perceive everything only in terms of extremes is why you'll always lose. For the Dreamweaver, Wisdom can be found even in foolishness!" I roared as I generated metallic armour around my knees and channeled lightning into it.

My knees came crushing down on the Basilisk's head and its face was buried beneath the surface of the ground. Next, I channeled a strong Blaze all about it.

"INTEGRATED ELEMENTS! FIRE, EARTH AND LIGHTNING! SPECIAL MOVE! CONVICTION OF HOPE!" I declared. "When you fight a Basilisk, wear a helmet" I said with a smirk.

Concordia and the others burst into uncontrollable laughter.