“You see, I keep telling that kid not to live in the past, to look forward. But truth is, I’ve never left the past behind. That’s why I’ve lingered in this world like a ghost all these years… all these years. I can’t move forward… I can’t say goodbye to you.”
“I still can’t now.” Tears had wet Faust’s face without him noticing. He swallowed, steadying his breath, then murmured low, “But I have to move on.”
“I’ve clung to that vow to survive this long. Maybe it’s time… to send those headed for the future on their way, then come join you.”
“You won’t have to wait long… I promise. We’ll meet again soon, and not even death will keep us apart.”
Thunder rumbled across the sky, unleashing a torrential downpour.
On the outskirts of London, Ode—who had just driven back to the ancestral home—held his phone, still showing the dialing screen, in one hand while leaning out the window to peer outside.
The iron gate he had crashed into not long ago had already been replaced. As the Aston Martin drew near, a red probe extended from the new gate for a scan before it automatically swung open. Ode stared in astonishment. “Damn, Karo must be behind this.”
The silver-gray sports car sliced through the curtain of rain and entered the estate. Ode redialed Cavendish’s number. “? What the hell is that guy up to now?”
A voice spoke abruptly right in his ear. “Which guy?”
Ode’s movements froze almost imperceptibly. The Sleep God, who had appeared in the passenger seat without warning, reached over and grasped the wrist holding the phone. He gazed at Ode while pressing a kiss laden with suggestion to the inside of his wrist, his lips flush against the pale blue veins beneath the skin. “All the troublesome matters have been resolved. I’ve come to take you to my palace…”
Ode had no intention of rashly stepping into an Elder God’s domain without preparation—especially now that he knew the truth.
Yet he didn’t pull away. Instead, he leaned in proactively, deepening the kiss with Hypnos as his left hand slipped into the Sleep God’s chest, parting the soft, misty folds of his loose collar. “I haven’t been home in over three months. Mind if we stay here tonight?”
The Sleep God didn’t mind Ode’s wandering left hand—in fact, he seized Ode’s wrist and guided it even lower. “As long as I’m with you, time and place mean nothing. Truth be told, I’ve never tried it in a car…”
The earpiece, concealed beneath Ode’s slightly flushed earlobe, transmitted every sound to GORCC.
Ode didn’t bother tapping it. As the Sleep God scooped him up in a bridal carry, he murmured a quick “Watch your head” before wrapping his arms naturally around Hypnos’s neck. A thick gray test tube—freshly acquired from Eva—slid into his palm, and as the Sleep God maneuvered him into a face-to-face straddle, he swiftly slipped it into his mouth.
Four hours had passed since the last dose of gray mist. According to Abel’s Eva projections, one tube of the high-concentration mist would assimilate Cthulhu within a day; two tubes ought to cut that down to at least twelve hours.
The sole drawback was that this entanglement with the Sleep God meant he’d likely miss the Elder Gods’ meeting at four in the morning…
Should he skip it?
The thought crossed Ode’s mind in the few seconds it took him to sit upright with the Sleep God’s guidance.
Did assimilating the Sleep God hold greater value, or did the intelligence from eavesdropping on the Elder Gods’ meeting?
Or… he could gamble and aim for both.
The madness buried in his bones welled up once more. In the dark, cramped confines of the car, Ode’s eyes gleamed faintly, his pupils dilating with exhilaration.
Two more sample tubes slid silently into his grasp. Ode tilted his head back and took them all in his mouth. Straightening up, he raised a hand to half-throttle the Sleep God’s neck in a teasing manner. He flashed a suggestive smile at the deity and leaned in to kiss—
“Mmm… Huh?!” The Sleep God’s body shifted from languid relaxation to abrupt rigidity as realization dawned.
The moment the Sleep God began to struggle, Ode clamped one hand tightly around Hypnos’s throat while his other produced a flash of reflected light. A gleaming silver Beretta jammed against the Sleep God’s abdomen.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Bullets hammered into the Sleep God’s gut one after another. His lips and tongue, straining in resistance, faltered under the sharp pain, allowing Ode to force the gray mist straight down his throat.
“Ugh! Cough—cough cough!!” The Sleep God’s gritted teeth failed to sever Ode’s swiftly withdrawn tongue. Clutching his throat amid coughs, black diamond eyes blazed with savage fury. “How dare you…”
“Boom!”
A twelve-gauge shotgun shell detonated the Sleep God’s shoulder in an instant, leaving a grotesque, ragged stump.
Ode straddled the Sleep God’s lap, looming over Him. Without a word, he tightened his grip on the divine neck and reclined backward.
They didn’t crash into the Aston Martin’s dashboard.
As Ode fell back, his Dream Realm ripped a crimson gash through reality, swallowing the plummeting pair before sealing shut in a flash.
Ode strained with every ounce of strength to restrain the Sleep God, who thrashed like a massive wild beast. Steel-hard muscles churned beneath every inch of contacting skin, surging with the inexorable force of molten iron.
“Why such rage? Why fight it? When you hurled that homeless man before Reid and turned him into a plaster statue for casual carving and rewriting, did he struggle? Did you release him?”
“You’re mad…!” The Sleep God’s muscles coiled like a lion’s. In a blink, he ripped Ode free as if plucking a trinket and flung him brutally into the Corpse Sea below. “You think hauling me into the Dream Realm lets you slay me like Behemoth?! I surpass Behemoth! I dwarf even Hastur! Have you forgotten? I am the Sleep God! I rule all dreams!”
Ode struggled to rise, only to feel an intangible force pinning him down, rendering him immobile. The bones beneath him lay as inert as true remains—no cries, no stirring.
“Really?” Ode sneered. “Does your dominion over ‘all dreams’ extend to Azathoth’s dream as well? Then why aren’t you the leader of the Elder Gods, Hypnos—Urk!”
The Sleep God’s hand punched through Ode’s chest. His arm’s sculpted muscles gleamed under the Dream Realm’s congealed twilight, veins throbbing crimson. “I should have been.”
He bared his teeth in a grin. “I should have been leader of the Elder Gods, sovereign of the universe. I deserve to rule supreme in Azathoth’s dream—the sole king.”
He drove his hand deeper, bending close to Ode, who spasmed in agony, slick with sweat and gasping for air. He whispered, “And now… the Dream Realm delivers my crown of kingship and scepter straight to me.”
“Once I devour you, Ode, I swear I’ll consume every god—Elder or Outer alike. I’ll claim that ultimate throne… and you’ll be with me, forever within my flesh.”
“Rip!”
The Sleep God savagely tore Ode’s clothes asunder.
He sank his teeth into Ode’s left shoulder, ripping free a chunk of bloody flesh. Crimson trailed down his chiseled jaw.
Chewing with icy menace, he growled, “Your fatal error was challenging me. Believing you could subdue me here in the Dream Realm.”
Yet amid the searing pain, Ode chuckled lowly. “Do you truly see me as such a fool?”
“…?” The Sleep God halted, unease flickering in his eyes. “What do you mean?”
Outside the Dream Realm, beside the Aston Martin.
Torrents of rain plastered Faust’s meticulously groomed hair to his scalp. He wrenched open the car door, hauled Ode’s body off the Sleep God’s form, seized Hypnos’s collar, and plunged his right hand into his pocket. Out came a neat row of thick black sample tubes. Biting through the seals, he rammed them down the Sleep God’s gullet—
“?!” Inside the Dream Realm, the Sleep God’s limbs abruptly grew leaden and unresponsive.
In fury and alarm, he lunged to snap Ode’s neck—but the next instant—
“Swish…”
Silk threads whistled through the air.
In his fading consciousness, the Sleep God stared in mingled terror and awe as slender silver filaments erupted from his limbs and torso, snaking upward into the unreachable heavens.
Ode pressed a hand to his chest wound, panting as he rose. He watched the Sleep God’s features contort in dawning dread, his body slackening into marionette stillness. “Then your fatal error was forgetting I’m not you. I have allies.”
Freed from the Sleep God’s yoke, the Dream Realm resounded with spectral howls once more. Ode paid no heed to the souls’ vengeance upon Hypnos. As his wound knit slowly, he departed the Dream Realm and rejoined his body.
He was no longer inside the Aston Martin; lingering there risked tainting Faust.
Faust had carried him to the bed in the ancestral home. The Sleep God’s husk sprawled messily at the foot. Raising his head, Ode spotted Faust at the window, arms braced on the sill, a cigar clenched between his teeth and glowing scarlet amid the nocturnal deluge. “You know… most folks in this bind would pray, ‘God save me from unleashing hell with my own hands’… but what’s left to say? God is the enemy.”
Ode pushed himself upright. “What of your oath?”
Faust glanced back. “Leave that to me. Your sole concern is securing victory.”
He rose without a hint of unease and strode to the wardrobe, rifling through for fresh clothes. “So, next move? You can’t park this Sleep God at the bed’s edge like a footstool indefinitely.”
Ode shut his eyes, testing. When they reopened, polished redwood floors and the bedpost filled his view. Propping up, he glanced at hands several sizes too large. “I’m attending the Elder Gods’ meeting. Intel suggests I can unravel my final mysteries there.”
“…What mysteries?” Faust paused mid-donning his shirt and turned. “Your origins again? That’s irrelevant now—”
“No. Utterly vital.” Ode licked his lips. “Just now, as the Sleep God nearly slew me, He claimed He ought to rule Azathoth’s dream—and I’m pivotal to that ambition.”
“How could some ordinary human—or whatever emerged from the Kunyang labs—fulfill such a dream? My past hides secrets I’ve yet to uncover.”
“I feel it in my gut… an ironclad intuition. Solve this, and we triumph.”
Ode met Faust’s gaze. “We seize victory this round.”
