Sweet Dream? Nightmare?

Shu pushed open the basement door. He could sense Sirin's presence within.

The dim basement had no light source. In Shu's eyes, it was pitch black; he couldn't see a thing.

He paused at the doorway for a moment, giving himself a night vision buff before stepping into the basement.

The instant she heard the door open, Sirin, squatting in the corner, immediately held her breath, shrinking into a ball, not daring to make a single move.

But the footsteps drew closer, each step landing on Sirin's racing heart.

Sirin could only curl up smaller, tightly shutting her eyes, and began to pray desperately in her heart.

Can't see me... Can't see me...

Sirin silently mouthed these words, unaware that Shu could actually see her every move clearly.

The injured, petite girl squatted in the corner, curled up in fear, tears welling in her eyes, her heart overflowing with terror.

And Shu, at this moment, truly resembled a demon lord, walking step by step closer to Sirin. The darkness didn't become Sirin's refuge; instead, it brought her extreme fear.

It wasn't Shu hiding in the darkness, but a true demon lord, a nightmare about to devour this sweet dream...

No, everything happening now was a nightmare for Sirin. The beautiful world she had created, the world where the Demon Lord vanished completely after being defeated by the Hero, the world where all Homus could live happily and contentedly...

That world she had prepared for everyone had completely collapsed at this very moment...

Was she really unsuited for this kind of thing? Would everyone blame her when they woke up? Blame her for not protecting this beautiful world for them, for not letting them see the flowers under the blue sky, for not letting them see the Homus, see the whales...

Was she... wrong from the very beginning?

Disappointment in herself overwhelmed her fear and terror. Shu, who had just lifted his foot, suddenly froze, looking up at his own head in surprise.

At this very moment, there was no title there. [Demon Lord] had departed from him.

The sudden change stunned Shu for a moment. Then, without any further hesitation, he suddenly accelerated, rushing towards Sirin in the darkness.

But just as he was about to reach Sirin, another small figure suddenly lunged out from the shadows. A headbutt slammed into Shu's waist, sending both of them tumbling to the ground.

"Lady Sirin!!" Bella wrapped her arms tightly around Shu's waist, her eyes squeezed shut in fear, but she still shouted loudly to Sirin.

"Run!!"

Sirin snapped awake instantly. Enduring the pain in her knee, she scrambled up from the ground, leaning against the wall as she looked at the two figures in the darkness.

Shu frowned, looking at Bella clinging to his waist, watching this small figure desperately flap her sad wings, trying to push him away.

"Bella..." Sirin took half a step back but didn't turn to flee. Instead, she stared blankly at the scene before her.

Shu sighed. He truly had no more patience for this. The [Demon Lord] title had vanished for some unknown reason, and Bella before him no longer had the [Evil Dragon] title either.

Otherwise, just the act of the [Evil Dragon] resisting the [Demon Lord] would have been enough to grant Sirin the ability to fight back.

In fact, it wasn't just Shu and Bella whose titles had disappeared. Sirin's [King] identity had also vanished at some point. Everyone outside was now staring blankly at the space above their own heads.

"It's gone..." Bronya Zaychik stared at the empty space above her head for a moment, whispering softly.

Clang—!

The sound of something heavy falling came from nearby. Bronya quickly turned to look in the direction of the sound.

Where the sound came from, Raiden Mei was bent over with a look of utter shock, staring incredulously at the [Hero's Holy Sword] in her hand.

"What's wrong, Mei?!" Kiana Kaslana hurriedly ran to Mei's side, helping her up.

"Is there something wrong with this sword?" After confirming Mei was alright, Kiana finally shifted her gaze to the sword on the ground.

"I don't know... This sword suddenly became incredibly heavy. I can't even hold it..." Mei said, bewildered.

"Could it be related to the disappearance of the titles?" Bronya speculated. "Only the Hero has the ability to draw the Holy Sword. Mei lost her Knight title, so she also lost the qualification to wield the Holy Sword..."

"What kind of useless Holy Sword is this!" Kiana was instantly dissatisfied. She frowned, racking her brains, searching desperately for a suitable adjective.

"Isn't this just kicking someone out after they've served their purpose!" [Idiom: Discarding a useful person once they are no longer needed]

Mei: "..."

Whether it was the Homu residents or Kiana and the others, everyone had lost their identities.

The chaos brought by the disappearing titles even surpassed the moment the toy army appeared. And just as everyone instinctively looked towards the ruins of the royal palace, Joyce suddenly frowned and turned in another direction.

"Joyce, the spatial data has started to fluctuate," Schrodinger said, struggling to squeeze to Joyce's side and handing her a data slate. "Did Shu succeed?"

Joyce stared at the black clouds spreading from the horizon, her expression somewhat grim as she shook her head.

"Something's not right. There might be a problem." Joyce pointed to the blackness on the horizon. At this moment, the black line was clearly identifiable as a dense mass of dark clouds drifting over.

Schrodinger also turned to look at the horizon. After observing for a few seconds, she suddenly remembered something.

"These dark clouds look a lot like the ones that appeared when Shu made his entrance..."

Suddenly, both of them froze. The next moment, they simultaneously looked towards Mei and the others.

[Knight], [Princess], [Guiding Fairy]... these three identities were undoubtedly the most important ones present. But if even these three identities had disappeared, could Shu's [Demon Lord] identity possibly remain?

Since everyone's identities had vanished... then for whom were these Demon Lord-exclusive dark clouds appearing? And from where?

Suddenly, Joyce remembered a point.

In their hypothesis, there were two ways for a dream to end.

The first was to wake up naturally, which required time. The second was to be startled awake, which required external interference. They had chosen the second method: to shatter this sweet dream.

So, what would a shattered sweet dream become?

A nightmare. A nightmare terrifying enough to wake a child.

And the Demon Lord's setting was...

[To bring nightmares to children, making them unable to sleep all night.]

A clear dragon's roar echoed at this moment. A massive black shadow swept across the city sky, stirring up a storm capable of destroying everything.

At this instant, the true [Fairytale] had only just begun.