Established Pinnacle: The Enigma

Meanwhile, deep inside the forest, Enigma turned to look at the entrance of the forest. Jade saw that his attention was elsewhere and not on herself, which made her pout in dissatisfaction, "Papa..."

"Yes yes honey, I know, father is sorry." He apologized and continued playing house with her and Hamura. Yup, a grown up man like him was playing house.

Meanwhile, Teach stopped teaching the four leaders. And as if he recieved orders from Enigma, he turned to look at Zhou Mingye, Castitas and Kris with a smile, "You wanted to become gods as well, isn't it? This is your chance."

The three men stopped their small warm up and looked at each in excitement. They had been oppressed daily by Alfredo's Divine Aura, especially since he did not bother trying to reign it in, they were tired and wanted a come back.

Enigma had long given them Epics as well, but they never found a chance to awaken them like Alfredo did. Teach told them that near death experience was an important factor to awakening... Or so he guessed. He was not omniscient after all.

"In that case, you guys go on, I'll just go back to my lab." Zhou Mingye said as he stood up and prepared to leave.

"Hey, are you scared?" Castitas provoked with a smile, but Zhou Mingye did not fall for it and only released a hint of his aura, rivaling that of Alfredo's as well.

"...."

"Impossible." Castitas was shocked, even Kris frowned a bit. Because Zhou Mingye had truly become a god, well an Immortal Sage to be precise... which was quite strong as well.

"Don't look at me like that, my Epic is related to Alchemy. I managed to break-through by mistake... yes, by mistake, while I was studying the crystals that Lady Jade gave me." He shrugged his shoulders and flew up, his hands behind his back.

As for his tone? It was condescending and too annoying for the two, who unfortunately had yet to unlock their own Epics. But he suddenly stopped and turned back, his eyes smiling at them with pride.

"Oh, and you two... good luck." His words towards Kris and Castitas made them frown a bit, but their fighting spirits were triggered once more. Especially Castitas, who loved the challenge.

Teach watched this from afar and wondered to himself, 'Should I tell them to give up? According to the main body, the opponent's are way above any strength they've met so far... or maybe I should not.'

The duo left, entering the dungeon and being transported within a completely different landscape of Nightmares and Horrors.

The soroundings were damp, and the clouds dark. There were multiple hills and valleys everywhere, creating multiple blind spots, and many shadow zones.

The rocks were also purple instead of the usual brown, and the grass a darker shade of purple. Everything just spelled out, Nightmare to them.

"..."

"..."

The duo exchanged gazes, and pushed on ahead. They've seen quite a lot, and were not unnerved by their new environment. Instead, they only had their senses on full alert, because anything... could happen within a dungeon.

Especially so, because this one, felt too much realistic. 'It's like I've been transported into a God's Realm. A God of Nightmare or of a similar authority.' Thought Kris as he appraised his new environment.

And he continued this appraisal, all the way until they found themselves standing before a jaggered hill, as if the vissitudes of life had released its stress upon it, and only it.

And looking atop it, they found a creature that closely resembled an octopus. It had over sixteen tentacles sprouting out of its being, it's body nonexistent, and the tentacles coming out of its round head.

Each tentacle had multiple eyes on it, like the suction cups on ordinary octopuses. It's head also had nothing but multiple mouths full of bladded teeth and countless snake-like small tentacles as tongues.

"...Do you, know what that is?"

"No."

The two demigods stood there flabbergasted, and in disbelief. They had never seen anything this hideous before, nor did they ever dream of such creatures existing. Especially in their dungeon of earth and springs!!

But despite that shock, they still had to fight. Whether they liked it, or not, they had to fight. And being the battle junkie he was, Castitas made due to charge up front first. "Alright!! In that case, you don't mind if I... bashed it to meat paste, right?!"

"Do your thing." Kris said, standing aside to watch instead. He also focused most on Castitas, in case the guy had his Breakthrough from this fight, zo that he could learn.

Meanwhile, Castitas rushed towards the creature, using his Skills to boost his stats rushing over as a blur transcendent of light and its natural speed.

Yet the moment he arrived before the hill, and prepared himself to jump at the creature, the creature, moving faster than him, used its tentacles to piece through the void and towards his head.

...!!!

Castitas felt his senses cry out in alarm, his body forcibly moving by itself, and using the gathered moment he wanted to force himself up with, and instead pushed himself aside.

Boom!!!

The tentacles pieced through the ground, missing their target. 'Gotcha!!' Castitas thought, using this moment to push himself off the ground and towards the creature at instantaneous speed.

His facial muscles subconsciously tightening, forming a daring smile on his face as he outstretched his hand to grab at the head of the demigod creature.

...!!!

But right then, his senses kicked up once again, this time, far more louder than before. At the same time, all countless tentacles of the opponent stared directly at him, and directly at his soul!!

They then gave out a light pink glow, which made his soul scream out in warning. 'Oh no..!!' Yet his current posture was too ambiguous and too hard to change mid air. '...I'll die..!!' He thought, his heart beat, unnaturally silent.

The world froze from his perspective. Everything was moving at quite the slow pace, including his thoughts and reason. The only thing moving abnormally fast, was the blood running wild through his veins.

It was moving so fast, it seemed absolutely inhuman, completing countless cycles in just seconds. It moved so fast, it evaporated itself, creating a red cloak over his body... which also signaled the flow of time to continue.

And when it did...

His outstretched hand, that was aimed at grasping the head of the creature, suddenly gripped at the void, as if grasping onto something solid, then using that one hand to pick himself up and propelled his body to jump over it to land far behind it.

...!!!

The creature was shocked. Kris was shocked. And even he, himself, was shocked. 'What..? So fast?' Thought Kris, already guessing that Castitas had awakened his Epic.

And so did Castitas. "Hahaha, HAHAHAHA!!! I DID IT!! I DID IIIIIITTTT!!" Roared Castitas in wild laughter and joy, his body growing quite big, ripping apart the clothes that he wore.

The red blood cloak over his body, being absorbed into his being, changing his complexion to being completely red. Including his pupils, which were an even darker shade of red than his body.

"RRAAAGGHHHH...!!" And roared out even more, his physique now completely ripped. His muscles thicker than a grown man's waist, pulsing with power. And his eyes, blazing with madness.

He then kicked off the ground with monstrous strength, shattering the surface. The creature also responded, shooting out purple plasma beings out of its eyes, each one tearing through the void of space.

Yet the purple beams did no damage whatsoever to Castitas. Instead, they fueled his rage, which only made him grow faster, stronger and madder than before.

"RRAAAAGGHH...!!" He roared as a representation of his anger, his voice alone quaking the entire world, and spreading out fear towards his soroundings.

And the creature, was also affected, which resulted in a slight delay of its movements. This led the red skinned Castitas to grasp it by its head from atop the hill, and flew with it towards the surface... smashing it down with all his might and power.

"SUPER... SMASH..!!" He roared, smacking it down and shattering the whole surface of this entire planet, going so far as to even tear through the skies and the oceans.

"...!!!"

And the creature, on its dying bed, wiggled its tentacles in a desperate attempt to survive, acting one of its innate abilities and transporting this entire world into an... illusory domain filled up with golden sands.

A Fragmented Dream World.

A dimension of dreams of the current reality this creature resided within. It then used all its might, to call upon the dream forces, the dream powers and the rules of dreams to fight for it.

Yet when it did so... the very rules and laws of dreams, suddenly rejected it.

...!!!

Stupefied, the creature felt an even higher authority of dreams bloom a small distance away, where most of the golden sand flew towards, to circulate as a dreamy storm of Providence.

"...."

And at the center of it all, stood Kris, who's entire body was swirling with dream essence and power. "My Epic... awakened as well? Just like that..?" He thought, in stupor as well.

Meanwhile, without the power and backup of dreams, and this dimension, the red skinned Castitas ended up pummeling the creature into meat paste, punching, punching and punching even more.

Each fist imbued with boundless rage. Each punch packed up with pure destructive force. As even when dead, the punching never stopped. Even when nothing of it was left, the punching still continued.

"..."

And it continued so, when countless illusory beings of various shapes and forms made out of golden sands appeared within the dimension itself. Yet even before them, the representation of ruthlessness never stopped.

Until the red skinned Castitas fell down unconscious, his energy running low. His size reverting back to humanoid, with his previous forged muscles gone. His visage was all skin and bones.

...!!!

[This...]

[What is the meaning of this..?]

[Where is the Lord of Dreams..?]

[Was it... killed? Impossible!!]

[Is it this entities..? If they can kill the lord of dreams, then what of we?]

The various apparitions conversed. And through the dimension of dreams that Kris now temporarily ruled over due to his awakening, he knew that these creatures were various races proficient in dreams, including deities, demons and others.

Yet the strongest of them, was the entity that Castitas killed, whom they considered, "The Lord of Dreams", a abominable creatire with quite the authority over dreams and dimensions. And now, they were fearful of him and Castitas because of killing it so easily, and quite fast.

'Strange... These creatures, are actually existing? This place.... you say it's a Reality? An actually, existing Reality?' He thought, discussing with the dimension itself. And it obediently affirmed his doubts.

Finding the whole situation behond his understanding, Kris flew towards Castitas, picked him up, and deactivated the ability of the creature that summoned this dream world, leaving behind the stupefied dream entities.

They then reappeared within an empty void, one full of nothing but debris and extremely large remnants of the planet. "The planet... was completely destroyed by this battle." He shook his head, and willed himself out of the dungeon.

And to his surprise, he actually disappeared and reappeared back at the entrance in just seconds. "Congratulations, you two, you've both awakened your Epics far faster than I expected." And Teach welcomed them back with a smile as usual.

"The Incredible Red Beast, and The Endless Dream. Nice Epics." He paused, but Kris had no time for that. He humbly lowered his head and said, "Lord, there... seems to be a problem with the dungeon this time around."

"Oh?" Teach smiled in interest, being curious at what the newly formed dungeon would look like. "I'm listening." He said, and Kris beginning his entire report about the first floor.