Child of Doom

The Great Fall (2)

With unprecedented speed, Kiyo and his echo traversed the vast forest, their destination clear: the Star Kingdom.

On his journey, Kiyo located a familiar structure, the prison where he was held. It lay outside the borders of the Star Kingdom, in all its splendour.

According to Seraphina, there was much more to this prison; it was not only used to hold monsters but also served as a laboratory to awaken volunteers using the First Nightmare seed.

For safety's sake, this prison was built outside the Star Kingdom in case one of the volunteers failed to defeat the first Nightmare and turned into a Nightmare Creature.

A Nightmare Creature often referred to the monsters that inhabited the Nightmare Seeds and were categorized into seven ranks: Dormant, Awakened, Fallen, Corrupted, Great, Cursed, and Unholy.

Humans followed a similar ranking system: Dormant, Awakened, Ascended, Transcendent, Supreme, Sacred, and Divine.

What distinguishes humans from nightmare creatures is the path their souls take, whereas nightmare creatures seek to make their souls more corrupt and sinful, humans seek a path that grants their souls divinity and purity.

'Divine and pure, huh.' Kiyo almost laughed when Seraphina related those words to humans.

Additionally, there was another difference between nightmare creatures and humans, and that was classes. Nightmare creatures had seven classes, and the higher a nightmare creature's class, the more intelligent and ferocious it was.

Kiyo could not ignore the reality check this hierarchy presented. Aspirants like him were considered below the rank of Dormant.

They were at the bottom of the hierarchy, struggling to reach even the most basic level of power. Although Kiyo's body was of Awakened rank and the class demon, his soul remained an Aspirant - a mere ant compared to those who occupied the higher ranks.

A part of him yearned to return to the real world, but another part was tempted to rise through the ranks, challenge more Nightmare Seeds, and establish himself at the top of the hierarchy.

'Oh well, I will consider the future later.'

For now, Kiyo was focused on his mission, meticulously planned and timed for the winter solstice. Initially, he had believed that conquering the First Nightmare Seed would elevate him to the rank of Awakened. However, he discovered that overcoming the First Nightmare Seed only granted him the Dormant rank.

To progress from Dormant to Awakened, the spell would send him into one of its Dream realms.

The main difference was that a realm existed in the current future, while a Nightmare was created by the spell to recreate the past. Kiyo was currently inside a Nightmare, yet the people here were not aware of that.

They believed they were inside their own world, but in fact, this was Kiyo's first Nightmare.

'Too confusing.'

Anyway, within these realms, people of the dormant rank, also known as Sleepers, would face trials. Only by surviving these trials and returning to the waking world through special portals known as Gateways could they attain the rank of Awakened in both body and soul.

To speed up the process, the Star Kingdom sent their transcendent, or as they called them, Saints, were tasked with retrieving sleepers from the dream realm, since saints had the unique ability to travel between the waking world and the dream realm at will.

This meant Kiyo was less likely to encounter a Saint. However, he had to be cautious—Godrick would be in the Star Kingdom for his son's party, and Seraphina had warned him about the potential dangers.