Supreme Couple In Apocalypse: Undead King & Demonic Queen

She had to play passively and defensively to avoid the dragon\'s attack since she didn\'t have enough powerful defensive capabilities against its offense.

The dragon died after a minute, but Nira dealt 90% of the damage while Aria was in the role of distracting it and confusing it with her Animated Spirits and other related skills since her damage was not much even with her Regalon Drive.

But to Aria\'s shock, the dragon turned into motes and then into a single egg.

She stared at the egg as Nira collected it and spoke after a second, "So, we have to kill one of this kind every time we need an egg, and we need a minimum of 30 eggs for the Easy-level Task?"

"Exactly," Nira chuckled. "Feeling overwhelmed? It\'s fine. I didn\'t bring you here expecting you would contribute much right off the bat. You\'re here so I can teach you directly, and you can also experience the powers and true skills of others, including the monsters here."

"I see," Aria nodded and grinned. "Alright, I will work hard!"

"Good. We\'ll need to spend one full day here to make our participation worth it. There are also random Event zones in this world for extra rewards that will increase our stats and give us Artistry Fragments, but we\'ll have to compete directly with others for it and we can\'t do that with your current combat capability, so we\'ll do small challenges first while I teach you."

…

While Aria was in one of the playgrounds of Realm Wars in Adraxia Dimension World, Erix and others were training as usual and making progress.

However, Rin and Erix boldly and forcefully trained in Way of Unfettered\'s 3rd stage for a longer time despite the daily limit being 30 minutes.

They spent 3 hours in the nightmare and once their consciousness returned to their bodies, they didn\'t wake up.

Isabella thought they would wake up soon and didn\'t disturb them, leaving them under the Dreanox tree.

However, night descended and they still didn\'t wake up, making Isabella, Lily, Sameira, and Kenshin concerned.

They went to check on them again and this time, they tried to prob and wake them up. They tried to infuse pure soul energy and even tried to jolt their consciousness with spirit force but to no avail.

Finally, Amu made a deep check on them and relayed slightly troubling news.

"Their consciousness is lost in a trap that manifested within their own mind," Amu said with a frown. "They are not done yet. They are fighting a battle they created themselves. I think this happened because they stayed in the suffering nightmare for a longer time."

"It\'s better not to disturb them and let them wake up on their own."

…

On the next day, Aria and Nira finished their Egg Hunt. Aria couldn\'t reach the Easy-level task, but Nira reached her Medium-level task and also won some rewards from an event.

Still, Aria learned much and was truly excited to use her experience gains to create her first skill.

Both of them emerged from the portal near the Dreanox Tree because it was time for Nira\'s first class.

Lilith was still in her Insight Scroll\'s effect and her aura was more potent and filled with mysteries of Void elements than ever.

Isabella, Lily, Sameira, and Kenshin were present, but they looked concerned. Upon seeing Aria and Nira arriving, Isabella quickly stood up and said, "Nira, Aria, can you take a look at Rin and Erix?"

"What happened?" Aria felt concern in Isabella\'s voice and her senses immediately locked on to Rin and Erix who were in the cross-legged position under the Dreanox Tree.

Meanwhile, Nira also inspected them with her Inspection-type skill and immediately frowned. "Did they train the 3rd stage past the set limit? How many hours?"

She sounded as if she was sure of her speculation and her expression turned somber.

The others had a bad feeling upon seeing Nira\'s tone and face.

"T-Three hours, is it bad?" Isabella clenched her fists.

"The last one who went into Self-Induced Nightmare while practicing in the 3rd Stage of Way of Unfettered died after staying four years in this state," Nira answered, her tone grave. "Some can win against this state, but those are far and few in between. The majority who fall into this state never wake up and die."

Everyone was shocked.

"There should be a way to recover them, right?" Sameira quickly asked, anxious and concerned.

The others were also the same.

"That\'s why this state is dangerous," Nira gritted her teeth, feeling angry and helpless both. "There\'s no way to give them help from outside nor recover their consciousness. This state\'s result entirely depends on them."

\'Damn it! I guess even Master Tenebria\'s face will falter once she learns of this situation.\'

Nira internally cursed. \'They need to transcendent beyond their own desires and ambition while still keeping them and develop themselves in this nightmare created by themselves.\'

\'The last one to come out alive was Master Tenebria, but all fifteen who were talented and thought to be strong died after trying, never waking up\'

Everyone turned silent, but Aria soon broke it. Her eyes filled with faith as she said, "They will wake up soon!"

"They taught me how to fight against my own nightmares. They are the strongest! They will wake up!" Aria shouted while clenching her fists.

"They will indeed," Isabella\'s face also changed as she balled her hands and nodded with conviction. "There\'s no way these two can lose against any nightmare."

Kenshin grabbed Sameira\'s hand, his face peak of stubbornness. "Rin and Erix will wake up."

Sameira nodded as she grabbed her husband\'s hands rightly and said, "Ken, you know what to do."

Kenshin grinned and pulled Sameira into his embrace, "My fierce lady, I love you."

Sameira smiled and kissed him before whispering, "See you soon, love. We shall finish before Rin and Erix, so we can brag to them."

"Sounds good, hahaha."

Both of them vanished and appeared beside Rin and Erix before sitting cross-legged and beginning training on Way of Unfettered\'s 3rd stage despite already finishing today\'s 30 minutes of it.

"What are you doing?" Nira frowned and inspected them, but upon seeing the familiar spiritual pattern and sensing their consciousness drifting, she was dumbfounded. "W-why? Why are they doing this?"

Isabella bit her lips, but the fires in her eyes burned brighter than ever. She connected spiritually to her son who was playing with other kids a few kilometers away and said, \'Aaron. Mum is training for multiple days like before again.\'

\'Ok, mom. I will behave, but I am still strongest in my class, you know that, right?\'

\'Haha, I know, I know.\'

\'Bye, mom. Wake up soon.\'

\'Bye.\'

Isabella then sat cross-legged under the tree. \'My conviction and resolve I made for this life with these people will not fall before any nightmare.\'

To be with them, and prove to them that she has chosen this path herself that she would follow til her end, she also started training in Way of Unfettered\'s 3rd stage as her consciousness drifted away.

"W-what the hell?" Nira grabbed her hair. "Do they think this is a joke?!"

"Shut up," Lily snorted and arrived under the Dreanox Tree. "If we lose against ourselves and our own nightmare, the may our lives be our greatest joke. But you will watch and witness us in the path of power again soon."

She sat down cross-legged and began Way of Unfettered\'s 3rd stage, bearing full resolve and trust in the beliefs of her life that others helped shape and supported her, especially Lilith, Erix, and Rin. \'I am not going to fall behind.\'

Aria pouted and said, "I would have also done this if I could, but I already suffered the worst nightmare and defeated them!"

She cutely snorted and added while looking at Nira, "Humph, this is just another trial for us to get strong, Nira. Don\'t worry, we will all enter Axis realm and win to go a new and bigger world."

Nira was dumbfounded and blanked out for a few seconds before she took a deep breath and adopted a stoic expression while her eyes twitched a few times.

Opening her mouth, she uttered, "You can st-tu-"

But she stuttered and bit her tongue.

Nira\'s face turned red, but she recovered quickly and continued with a stoic expression, "You can stay here and train like I taught you. I return and I-Inform Master T-Tenebria."

Aria blinked and Nira vanished into the portal, returning to Shadow Bamboo Sanctuary.

"What\'s going on?"

Aria heard a familiar voice she hadn\'t heard for over ten days and shouted, "Lilith!"

"Here me out!"