A Dream I Never Dreamt Of…

The air still carried the scent of burnt flesh and scorched wood.

Richard stood motionless, eyes glued to the ashes that once held laughter. That once held him. NarLand—gone. The dream he never dreamt of... wiped away. The fruits he held dropped, one by one, rolling across the blackened earth.

The whisper still echoed in his mind—

A dream... a dream you never dreamt of...

His eyes flared. Not with sadness. Not with pain. With violence.

"I didn't want peace," Richard muttered, his voice dry. "I just wanted... revenge."

Something cracked in him. Not his heart—he didn't have one. Something deeper. Something UnReal.

Mana spiraled around him, glitching again.

But this time, he didn't get dragged away.

He dragged reality.

He walked through the flaming wreckage, touching every burnt body—child, old man, mother, friend—and every time he did, a part of him froze. Not with fear. With calculation.

"This wasn't a dream," he said, eyes glowing violet. "This was a dumb message."

---

The sky turned black. The world bent. Richard re-entered the Human World.

But not by teleportation. Not by fate.

He forced his way through dimensions.

He arrived back on the battlefield.

Dark Richard was standing tall, blood dripping from his gloves. Arielle's body lay at his feet, torn open.

He smiled.

But Richard didn't scream.

He didn't cry.

He didn't speak.

He just appeared behind him—

And kicked him through a reality wall.

Dark Richard coughed blood mid-air before crashing into the ground.

"YOU THINK YOU'RE THE DARK VERSION?" Richard shouted, walking slowly. "You're just a pathetic version of me who never faced pain. NarLand… gave me something you'll never have. Something worth destroying you for."

Dark laughed, "Oh really? And what did that dream give you?"

"Purpose."

Richard activated The Celestial Mastermind. But something was wrong.

Dark Richard didn't move.

He was already dead.

Stabbed.

Not by Richard.

By someone else.

His corpse fell—eyes wide, shocked.

Richard froze.

He didn't kill him.

"Who…?" he whispered.

But no one answered.

Only the wind whispered, and in it—another voice.

"A mystery… best left buried."

The battlefield was silent.

Dark Richard's corpse was still warm, and yet, Richard didn't move.

His breath—uneven. His legs—shaking.

Not from fear. From something worse.

Something deeper than agony. Something older than hate.

His mind cracked.

SNAP.

---

Flash.

Richard blinked—and he was standing in that same damn hallway.

"RICHARD FILVER!!"

Reio Amagrante's voice thundered like Judgment itself.

His holy blade—The Celestial Decimator—flashed with divine brilliance.

Before Richard could even raise his hand—

STAB.

His ribs shattered. Blood sprayed.

STAB.

Through the spine.

"AAAAAGHHHHHH—!!"

Death came.

And then...

---

Flash.

"RICHARD FILVER!!"

Again.

Again.

AGAIN.

Reio stabbed him.

Burned him.

Beheaded him.

Laughed while doing it.

Every time more brutal.

Every time more painful.

And every single death—

Multiplied by 500,000,000x the agony.

His nerves screamed louder than his throat.

His bones bent backwards.

His eyes popped out mid-death.

His soul was pierced—torn—ripped to unexistence.

He begged.

Not for mercy.

But for it to end.

"MAKE IT STOP!! MAKE IT ST—AGHHHHHH!!!"

But the loop didn't end.

It glitched.

Richard wasn't just feeling death—

He was feeling every moment he ever failed.

Every betrayal.

Every time he trusted someone.

Every time he believed in hope.

And they all stabbed him together.

Over and over.

Loop after loop.

Until…

---

A voice.

Cold. Hollow. Inhuman.

"This is your gift, Celestial Mastermind."

"To feel... what gods fear to feel."

---

Richard opened his eyes.

Tears?

No. Blood.

His body?

Torn apart.

His soul?

Cracked.

But his mind?

Still alive.

Breathing heavy, he whispered,

"…this is trauma…"

He looked down at his trembling hands.

"…this is power."

Darkness.

No time. No air. No sound.

Just… cold.

Richard opened his eyes—but there was nothing to see.

Only an overwhelming presence. As if the void itself was watching him.

Then—

A snap.

Scene 1: The First Loop

A warm summer morning.

He was eight again.

Running barefoot across wet grass. His parents laughed behind him.

The sky was golden. Birds chirped.

It was… beautiful.

He forgot.

He forgot he was trapped.

Until the window shattered.

A shadow burst in.

Sword drawn.

Eyes empty.

His mother screamed—

Richard turned, eyes wide, still holding a toy in his hand.

He didn't even flinch when the sword went through her.

He couldn't.

His body froze.

His brain locked.

Blood splattered across the toy.

His father reached for him.

Didn't make it.

Arrow to the head.

He twitched.

Then stopped.

Richard watched it all. Like a statue.

The shadow looked at him—

A smirk. A whisper:

"You live. They die."

Then—

Flames.

The house collapsed.

The air turned to smoke.

He screamed.

Louder.

But nothing came out.

Like his voice didn't exist anymore.

And yet, he felt every second.

The heat.

The pain.

The fear.

He ran.

But he didn't get far.

The shadow caught him.

Grabbed his ankle.

Dragged him through fire.

"Run, run, run, little Richard," it mocked.

"Isn't this what heroes do?"

Then it laughed—

And shoved him into the burning wall.

---

Scene 2: The Next Death

No pause.

No time to breathe.

He woke up.

Chained.

Iron shackles against skin.

His mouth—stitched.

Threads dug deep.

He couldn't scream.

The room was white.

Surgical.

Clinical.

A figure in a lab coat walked in. Holding a scalpel.

"You won't scream this time," the man said, smiling.

He didn't.

But his eyes did.

He was cut open.

Slowly.

Ribs cracked one by one.

The man counted with a smile. "One… two… three…"

Richard felt it.

Every. Single. Rip.

No mercy.

No sleep.

No escape.

He didn't die immediately.

That was the cruelty of it.

He stayed alive for 11 hours.

Then—when his heart finally gave out—

---

Scene 3: The Memory Death

He stood in a classroom.

Familiar faces.

Laughter.

He turned.

Elsa. Reio. Even Arielle.

All smiling.

He smiled back. For once.

They approached.

Said nothing.

Arielle hugged him.

Then stabbed him in the back.

Cold. Silent.

He gasped.

Elsa laughed.

"You trusted us?"

Reio spat on him.

"Filth like you doesn't deserve redemption."

They walked away.

Left him on the floor.

Bleeding.

Alone.

His hand reached out—trembled—

No one turned back.

He died hearing their footsteps fade.

---

Loop Count: 3

And this was only the beginning.

Loop Count: 4

Richard opened his eyes. Again.

The ground beneath him was dry. Cracked.

No sky. Just a dull grey nothing.

His hands shook.

He didn't know how long he had been falling through these endless loops.

But this one… this one felt colder.

Scene 4: Betrayed by Blood

A soft voice whispered in the wind.

"Brother…"

He turned.

Akira.

His little sister. Alive. Breathing.

Tears in her eyes.

He ran. He didn't question it. For once, he let himself believe.

He hugged her tightly, buried his face in her shoulder.

"I missed you—so much," he whispered.

She gently held his face. Smiled.

Then her hand formed a blade.

And sliced across his throat.

He stumbled back, gasping.

Blood gurgled from his mouth.

She looked at him, crying.

"I had to, Richard. I don't want to… but I have to."

The world turned red.

He fell.

And died in her arms.

His last sight: Akira crying over his body, whispering:

"Forgive me…"

---

Loop Count: 5

This time, it was winter.

Mountains around him. A frozen battlefield.

He wore armor. His sword was drawn.

Thousands stood behind him.

But he was alone in front.

Arielle stood across him.

Eyes cold.

Her stomach bore the scar from Dark Richard.

"You let me die," she said.

"No forgiveness. No redemption."

She charged.

He raised his sword.

But his arms didn't move.

They were frozen—by guilt.

She slashed across his chest.

He dropped.

She drove her blade into his throat.

---

Loop Count: 6

A feast.

Golden halls.

Cheers. Music. Laughter.

Richard was king.

They hailed his name.

He smiled—but uneasily.

It was too perfect.

Then the food rotted.

The people's faces twisted.

They melted.

Blood rained from the chandelier.

A scream echoed. A distorted version of Reio's voice:

"Long live the King of Nothing."

His throne collapsed into a pit of black.

And he fell.

---

Loop Count: 7

Time: Slower. Pain: Heavier.

He was crucified.

Literal chains of memory wrapped around his arms and legs.

Every soul he'd ever manipulated stared at him.

Mocked him. Laughed.

They took turns stabbing him.

One by one.

Each time, a memory stabbed him, not a weapon.

His betrayal of KoS.

His murder of civilians.

His lie to Elsa.

His manipulation of his own mind.

All of it.

One by one.

The loops didn't stop.

---

He started to scream.

Not because of pain—

But because he couldn't remember what was real anymore.

Was Akira ever alive?

Did Arielle ever fight by his side?

Was Reio always his enemy?

---

Loop Count: 8 to 20

Too many to count.

Each one, more brutal.

Burned alive.

Eaten by beasts.

Buried alive in silence.

Watching helplessly as every friend died again and again.

And again.

And again.

---

Scene ???: The Meta-Loop

He stood in front of a mirror.

He was old.

Hair grey.

Eyes empty.

"I've done this before," he said.

The mirror version of him smirked.

"You've never left this loop, Richard.

There is no end.

There is no exit.

There is no victory."

He punched the mirror.

Blood.

Glass.

But no escape.

---

Richard curled into himself.

The pain wasn't just physical.

It was eternal.

His soul begged to shut down.

His heart prayed to vanish.

But something wouldn't let him die.

Something crueler.

---

Then, a voice—cold, chilling, whispered from beyond all loops:

"Only two parts left, Mastermind.

You still haven't reached… the loop where you became the villain."

Richard's pupils shrank.

He didn't understand.

He didn't want to.

But it was already happening.

Loop Count: 21

Time didn't exist here.

But pain did.

And regret.

And illusion.

Richard stood in front of a burning city.

Ashes danced like snow.

Flames devoured buildings.

People screamed.

He recognized it.

The Human World.

His home.

He saw himself walking through the chaos.

Smiling.

But it wasn't him.

It was… another version.

Dark Richard.

Clad in void-black cloak, eyes blood-red, expression empty.

Dragging a sword behind him—carved from the bones of everyone who betrayed him.

---

"Why are you doing this?!" the real Richard screamed.

Dark Richard paused. Turned slowly.

"You really think this is my first loop?" he asked.

"No… I was you, once."

---

Loop Count: 22 – The Identity Shatterer

He saw his hands—

Drenched in blood.

Reio's blood.

He'd torn Reio's chest open with his bare hands.

Reio didn't fight back.

Didn't even resist.

"…You've changed," Reio whispered as he fell.

"You're not Richard anymore."

---

Loop Count: 23

Arielle, on her knees.

Stomach bleeding.

Coughing blood.

"You could've saved me."

He looked at him.

"But you didn't. Because deep down…

You wanted me to die."

He couldn't respond.

His mouth wouldn't open.

Guilt locked every word away.

He died with eyes wide open.

---

Loop Count: 24

Now, Richard stood before Akira, but he was older now.

Calm. Cold.

A blade in his hand.

"I took the path you couldn't," He whispered.

"You hesitated.

You cared.

That's why you lost everything."

She walked away.

He didn't stop her.

---

Loop Count: 25 to 35 – Memory Fracture

These loops weren't just torture.

They were altering his mind.

In one, he was born into royalty.

In another, he was never born.

In one, he lived a peaceful life with KoS, never fighting.

In one…

He was the very god he hated.

The Divine God.

He blinked.

And saw memories that didn't belong to him.

He killed Reio?

Or did Reio kill him?

He saved Akira?

Or was Akira just another tool?

His mind spiraled.

He fell to his knees.

"WHO AM I?"

The darkness responded.

"You're just the leftover emotion of a boy who never deserved peace."

---

Scene 36: The Mirror Chamber

Richard awoke in a pitch-black chamber.

Thirteen mirrors surrounded him.

Each showed a different Richard.

One weeping.

One laughing.

One covered in chains.

One bathing in blood.

One staying with Darklord.

And one—

Staring directly into his soul.

"You are all of us.

And none of us."

Richard backed away.

"No. I… I still know who I am."

The mirrors cracked.

"Do you?"

---

Loop Count: 37 – The Forbidden Loop

He saw a classroom.

Bright. Clean.

Kids laughing.

A young Richard—smiling.

This was… before everything.

He wanted to walk in.

He wanted to live it again.

Just once.

But the moment he stepped forward—

The classroom exploded.

Charred remains.

Children burned.

His own past—ash.

---

And then… a whisper.

Different from the rest.

Gentle. Soul catching. Familiar.

"Richard… wake up."

He looked around.

The voice was Darklord.

But it didn't sound from the loop.

It sounded beyond it.

Outside the nightmare.

He raised his head.

A small white light flickered above him.

And the loops… paused.