[Boss Battle: Kovalein the Dream-Crafter – Phase 1 Initiated]
→ Subspace Field Activated: False Reality Core
→ Subject: Yuto Arakawa
[Loading custom simulation: "The Life You Were Denied"]
Begin Dream Sequence...
■ Tokyo, Earth — 2024
Yuto blinked.
He wasn't in the Dream Realm anymore.
He was standing on a familiar street.
The smell of takoyaki. The buzz of train lines. The golden hour sun touching concrete towers.
"...Wait."
He looked down.
Two legs. Human. Skinny jeans. A schoolbag.
And his reflection in a store window—
His old face.
Unscarred. Uncorrupted.
Alive.
"Yuto-kun! You'll be late!"
A voice called from across the street.
A girl with auburn hair waved at him.
"You promised you'd walk me home!"
He knew her.
Or… the dream wanted him to.
"Who… are you?" he whispered.
But his mouth moved on its own:
"Coming, Mizuki!"
■ The Perfect Lie
For the next hour—then the next day—Yuto lived a life he'd never had.
A doting mother. A bright future. Friends who cared.
The trauma, the accident, the truck—never happened.
He was happy.
Almost.
Somewhere deep inside… a voice screamed.
■ [Nyx Interruption Attempt: BLOCKED]
ERROR: Dream Core Overwriting Personality Threads
Inside his real mind, Nyx was fighting.
[Come on, Yuto—this is a trap! Wake up!]
[You're a bug-born sovereign! Not some schoolkid with a crush!]
But the dream wrapped tighter.
At night, "Yuto" stood on his apartment balcony.
The Tokyo skyline shimmered.
He smiled.
"This isn't so bad…"
Then…
A drop of code fell from the sky like rain.
He touched it—and the illusion cracked.
■ Memory Trigger Detected
Partial Personality Thread Restored
Nyx's voice surged through the fracture:
[Yes! You're breaking through—!]
The world flickered.
Mizuki appeared beside him.
Tears in her eyes.
"Yuto… please don't go. Isn't this what you always wanted?"
Yuto looked at her.
She felt real.
Felt warm.
But…
"You're not real."
"You're what I wanted when I was weak."
He stepped back—
—and tore through the sky like paper.
■ Dream Core Breach
Yuto awoke in the Dream Realm again.
Face-down on floating glass.
Kovalein stood above him, mask cracked.
"So you refused bliss. Most don't."
Yuto rose slowly, eyes glowing.
"You tried to overwrite my soul with nostalgia."
"But I'm done mourning the life I didn't get."
[Skill: Sovereign Rejection – Heart of Truth]
→ Effect: Shatter dream constructs with self-awareness
→ Cooldown: 1 use per realm
Yuto extended his hand.
Threads of black silk ignited like fire.
"My real life was pain. Suffering. Crawling through code as a bug."
"And I'd choose that over your lies every time."
■ Boss Phase 2: Dream Becomes Nightmare
Kovalein's voice distorted.
"Then you'll face not what you wanted—but what you feared."
The sky turned red.
And Yuto heard the one voice that still haunted him—
"You were never supposed to exist, Yuto."
His father's voice.
And behind it?
A monstrous shadow stitched from all the things he failed to be.
"Oh," Yuto whispered, threads coiling.
"Now we're finally getting honest."