Magical Girl's Knight Brother

Chapter 712 The First Encounter with the 'Nightmare'

Tang Zijun calmly stated the fact that she had "devoured" the Lord of the Deep Sea, as if it were an ordinary matter. However, these understated words fell on the consciousness of the God of the Era, which was composed of endless time and logic, like a supernova thrown into a calm lake.

Within the time window, the enormous face, composed of gears and streams of light, appeared to freeze in an extremely rare state.

The torrent of flowing data seemed to freeze instantly, and the spacetime vortex that formed the eyes also stopped its subtle rotation. A kind of fluctuation that went beyond mere surprise and was almost a logical short circuit exploded in the core of the God of the Era's consciousness.

In an instant, billions of conflicting information streams flashed through His consciousness, individual life forms... non-divine origins, actively accommodating and governing the contaminated cores of the ancient rulers, with a probability lower than the spontaneous reversal of the universe's heat death.

After a brief downtime, the immense consciousness of the God of the Era swiftly restarted, and the data flow surged forth with even greater ferocity. Surprise was replaced by a more intense excitement, based on pure logic and a desire for research.

"...sample." The colossal spacetime vortex eye of the God of the Era locked onto Tang Zijun, or rather, onto the slowly rotating, azure chaotic core at his waist, emanating an abyssal aura. "Perfect...active contamination sample carrier."

His gaze instantly shifted to the cold, nightmarishly contaminated area in the laboratory below, which stretched out like black thorns.

"Tang Zijun, you can try to use your new power to touch it and influence it. You don't need to destroy it, just the slightest contact. Observe the reaction. Perhaps we can find a holy sword that can pierce the nightmare itself."

Tang Zijun raised an eyebrow slightly. The God of the Era's proposal was bold and crazy, but it suited him perfectly.

He was also eager to know what effect the chaotic primal force within him, originating from the sleeping lord of the deep sea, would have on the higher-level "Nightmare" contamination.

"Okay," Tang Zijun replied in a deep voice.

Without further hesitation, his right hand flashed towards his waist.

【Masked Drive!】

The silver light from the core of the Wolf Rider's belt instantly shone, and he precisely inserted a metal card engraved with a wolf's roaring head into the driver's slot.

Kamen Rider Wolf Knight!

A cold, electronic voice rang out, and a streamlined, silver-gray armor instantly covered the entire body, the compound eyes of the wolf-head helmet gleaming with a sharp blue light.

But this was just the beginning. Tang Zijun's movements did not stop at all. His left hand, as if scooping up stars from the deep sea, instantly grasped the irregularly shaped, eerie blue round pendant—the Abyss Pendant—floating beside his belt.

Click!

A crisp locking sound!

The dark blue round plaque was securely embedded in the groove in the center of the belt!

【ii%8husband%husband%#husband】

A terrifying energy surge, more terrifying than ever before, erupted. It was no longer simply the power of the ocean, but a manifestation of the deep coldness and chaotic will of the universe. On the shattered surface of the black and blue armor, the patterns that resembled solidified cracks in the abyss burst forth with dazzling, eerie blue flames. An invisible, chilling pressure, capable of freezing time and space, accompanied by the illusory wails and frantic whispers of billions of deep-sea creatures, instantly filled the absolute void at the end of time.

At this moment, Tang Zijun was no longer human, but a walking, living abyss, the embodiment of the chaotic sea.

Om-!

Faced with this sudden surge of chaotic primal force, far exceeding the pressure of a single Great Old One, the colossal planetary form of the God of the Era involuntarily trembled violently. Countless intricate gears emitted a strained, metallic screeching sound, and the flowing golden fluid of time experienced a brief reversal. Deep within its mechanical consciousness, composed of pure logic and cold time, an instinctive fear and an impulse to worship a higher-level chaotic being proliferated like a virus, instantly staining the data stream with a scarlet red that symbolized chaos and warning.

[Alert! ...Grid suppression...Protocol 4 activated...]

The God of the Era's voice carried a rare electronic tremor as he forcefully suppressed emotions that did not belong to Him.

Tang Zijun ignored the strange behavior of the God of the Era, focusing all his attention on his fingertips.

This was not an attack, but more like a cautious "touch," a "probing" that crossed dimensions.

He held his breath, raising his senses to the limit, attempting to capture the most subtle ripples of rules arising from the collision of two cosmic-level contaminants. This was his first true encounter with the power of a nightmare—even if it was just a fragment without its master's control.

To make direct contact.

This is undoubtedly the best opponent, a benchmark that allows him to measure the ultimate depth of terror.

The right hand, covered in tattered black and blue armor, slowly rose and gently touched the cold, lifeless nightmare contamination that spread like poisonous thorns across the Star God's remains in the laboratory below...

There were no energy beams, no earth-shattering explosions.

But the instant he made that move, *whoosh!*

The dark, cold nightmare pollution that had been slowly eroding the remnants of the Star God suddenly erupted into a violent frenzy, like ice thrown into lava.

No longer content with slow infiltration, the black thorns, like billions of enraged venomous snakes, twisted, expanded, and thrust upwards wildly. Countless tiny, terrifying patterns, like cracks in the universe, appeared on their surface. A cold will, a hundred times stronger than before, mixed with a desecrated rage, crashed into Tang Zijun like an invisible tsunami.

at the same time.

In the void before Tang Zijun's fingertips, a viscous, cold, and unfathomable azure chaotic primal force emerged out of thin air. It had no form, yet it seemed to be alive, carrying the ultimate distorting authority over water and spirit unique to the corrupted network of the Lord of the Deep Sea.

Like an invisible, gaping maw of abyss, it hurtled towards the rampaging, nightmarish pollution.

boom!!

In Tang Zijun's mind, it felt as if ten thousand supernovae were exploding at the same time.

There was no sound, but the entire end of time was violently vibrating.

There was no light or shadow, but the space around the point of impact was instantly covered with spiderweb-like black cracks, just like fragile glass, and the flow of time showed strange stagnation and reversal.

That was not sound, nor an energy surge, but a pure crushing force of will that cannot be described in any language.

Cold, deathly silent, empty.

It doesn't bring pain, but it brings a sense of dissolution of existence that is more terrifying than pain.

It was as if his entire self, all his memories, emotions, and will, were swept away, flattened, and reduced to the most primitive and meaningless cosmic dust in the face of this descending will.

"

—!

Beneath the shattered black and blue mask, Tang Zijun let out a short, painful groan. It wasn't physical pain, but rather a suffocating and tearing sensation as if his soul had been forcibly forced into absolute nothingness. He felt as if he had fallen into an ultimate void where there was no up, down, left, or right, no passage of time, no light, no heat, and not even the concept of "nothingness."

What's even more terrifying is that this descending will didn't attack him actively; it was more like a pure, existing weight, a form beyond his comprehension. Just sensing it and touching it was enough to bring his soul structure to the brink of collapse.

Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff!

Like a pressure cooker releasing pressure, the shattered black and blue armor covering Tang Zijun's entire body suddenly erupted with a dazzling, eerie blue light from the patterns resembling cracks in an abyss. Immediately afterward, a series of muffled yet violent energy explosions erupted from all parts of his body.

Each explosion was accompanied by a frenzied release of energy and a violent tremor of the armor. The dark blue chaotic energy, like a runaway dragon, surged and clashed across the surface of the armor. It was as if the massive, polluted core within him, belonging to the sleeping lord of the deep sea, had instantly lost control under the impact of this higher-level will, plunging into a state of violent self-destruction.

pedal!pedal!pedal!

Under the crushing force of this internal and external energy surge and will, Tang Zijun's body was unable to control himself and retreated repeatedly. His heavy combat boots stomped on the void ground at the end of time, creating invisible ripples. With each step back, he left a fleeting, extremely chaotic, dark blue footprint in the void.

Finally, he could no longer hold on and knelt down in the void.

"Wolf Riders!"

The immense consciousness of the God of the Era emitted an unprecedented cry of surprise, accompanied by a distinct electronic tremor.

Within the time window, on the enormous gear-shaped face, a crimson data stream representing an alarm surged forth like a flood bursting its banks. The entire planetary entity trembled violently due to the energy turbulence erupting within Tang Zijun and the terrifying will that suddenly descended and quickly faded away. Countless sophisticated timing instruments emitted piercing shrill beeps.

[Energy out of control! Rank suppression breaches critical threshold! Forced stabilization field activated!]

Golden force fields composed of solidified time flow instantly enveloped Tang Zijun.

However, this terrifying loss of control came quickly and went just as strangely!

The moment Tang Zijun knelt down, that icy will, as heavy as the universe, vanished without warning.

It was as if it had never truly descended, but was merely a violent hallucination that Tang Zijun experienced when she touched the nightmare contamination.

At the same time, the raging, out-of-control, and about-to-explode abyssal chaotic primal force within his body was instantly smoothed out by an invisible hand, abruptly calming down. The energy flames that had exploded on his body surface instantly subsided, the shattered black-blue armor returned to stability, and the dark blue cracks began to flow with a cold and orderly light once again.

Only Tang Zijun herself knew how dangerous that brief moment of contact had been.

That wasn't a defeat in the energy level, but an absolute crushing on the level of existence, like a two-dimensional being trying to understand the height of the three-dimensional world. Just the concept of "seeing" was enough to destroy its cognitive structure.

He knelt on one knee, his large, armored hand pressing hard against the side of his helmet, as if trying to suppress the excruciating pain and dizziness that felt like it was about to burst and then be instantly hollowed out. Beneath the shattered visor, his face was as pale as paper, cold sweat soaking through his inner lining. Every breath he took carried the heaviness and apprehension of surviving a catastrophe.

"...Tang Zijun?"

The God of the Era's voice carried an unprecedented solemnity and a hint of barely perceptible lingering fear as he quickly scanned Tang Zijun's condition.

[Physiological indicators...stabilized after drastic fluctuations; energy core...re-stabilized; willpower fluctuations...suffered a severe shock but did not collapse.]

The data stream frantically analyzed the residual information from that brief, elusive contact of will.

"That was...."

"I'm fine," Tang Zijun's voice came from under the mask, hoarse and strained as she tried to suppress a trembling.

He slowly lowered his hand from the helmet, braced himself on his knees, and stood up again with some difficulty. The shattered black and blue armor made a low, steady scraping sound with his movements, as if the terrifying loss of control and explosion just now was really just an illusion.

Only Tang Zijun himself knew that it was no illusion, but a glance from a higher dimension, a trivial, perhaps even unconscious, contact. This alone almost caused his proud power to completely backfire and brought his soul structure to the brink of collapse.

He looked down at his gauntlets, his fingers, covered in the Abyss Armor, curling slightly.

Looking down at the nightmare-contaminated area in the laboratory below, which had returned to a deathly silence as if nothing had happened, the cold black thorns were still slowly eroding the remains of the Star God, as if the backlash of the will that had just been enough to annihilate the Abyss was nothing more than a gentle breeze to it.

"Heh..." A cold and complex chuckle escaped from beneath Tang Zijun's mask.

He finally experienced firsthand what a nightmare was, what the ultimate terror of tearing apart the void and seeing gods as ants was.

This holy sword... is indeed not so easy to obtain.

The God of the Era's enormous spacetime vortex eye stared at Tang Zijun, who had risen again, and then looked at the deathly silence of the Nightmare Pollution. The data stream fell into a brief silence, seemingly reassessing the threat level of the Nightmare, as well as the limits and fragility of Tang Zijun's "Abyss Sea" form when facing a higher being.

"...What you just did..."

"7

The voice of the God of the Era carried a chilling lingering fear.

"...I almost got 'formatted'."

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