Alice's whole body had turned into a dream form; nothing could harm her, but to affect the real world, she had to deactivate it on parts of her body.
The problem was both of them had a deep foundation in mind; in the form of dreams, the future could be seen in 20 seconds, and Katarina read her mind like an open book.
"When that cross power runs out, I can take a breath…" She let a punch pass through her head as his knee wanted to hit Katarina's stomach, but another hand got her knee in the air.
Their battle continued with none of them being able to do anything; even with Katarina's many traps, Alice never dismissed her form.
"How long can you keep this up before nightmares start?" Katarina smirked as she stepped back; her cross power ran out, and it couldn't be used for 10 minutes.
Alice's expression became gloomy; she had never told anyone about the nightmares. With her family being the only people with dream magic, many secrets of their magic were hidden within their chambers.
"How do you know about nightmares?"
Katarina smiled faintly. "Not all dreams are good ones."
In their previous life, both of them were partners for years and years, but in the end, Alice sold her out to the military. She had long moved on from being angry at her each time Ray's voice rang in her mind:
"That's a human's nature to pursue power. What if she betrayed you? If you think that all those moments that you had spent together were real, then that's enough."
All their shared memories flashed in her mind; her times with Alice were the only times she could say she loved someone.
"That's why you must die here." Her new life had no place for love or other obstacles to slow her down. To reach her goal, sacrifices had to be made.
"Why? What gives you so much killing intent? Were you abused in your childhood?" Alice asked with a curious tone.
"Are you stupid or what?"
"Most serial killers are like that, or maybe your mother was a prostitute."
Katarina didn't know if her opponent was being serious or just wanted to provoke her.
With a sudden kick, she attacked Alice again, and like previous times, she just passed through her.
"If nightmares are not coming, I will bring them out myself."
Her mind searched deep within itself; nightmares were fueled by fears, although she no longer had any fears. In her childhood, she was scared of many things.
Fear of heights and fear of spiders were the greatest ones; she raised them instantly to the point she could feel them again. As an artificial emotion, she had full control over both of them.
Alice didn't know what she wanted to do, so she decided to stay back and watch; it could have been another trap by her.
Katarina pushed her hand into her own mouth and deeper into her throat; breathing became hard, but she ignored it.
From the outside she couldn't give form to her thoughts. As she took out her hand, two tiny golden orbs shone in her hand.
"Are those fears..." Alice couldn't believe herself; at last she finally recognized her magic.
Her mentor had once told her the legends said all of the magic in the mind domain led to a mother magic called the mind magic; only tales on Mars talked about it, and no human had ever been born with it. "Your magic is mind magic."
"Took you long enough."
Katarina screamed out, "Your magic can help others; you can save millions of lives. Why are you doing this?"
"It's simple, I don't give a fuck about others."
Katarina understood her life's mission at the moment: "If this dungeon is the Pandora's box, I will be the lock to it." She whispered to her as a golden rose came to life above her head.
"Hahaa..." From the start, she had awaited for the golden rose to appear.
The orbs in her hands both were crushed in her palm. No change in the real world was made, but the blue clouds of Alice turned darker, like an infection; they started to grow more and more.
The golden flower's leaves started to open; with each leaf, a wave of mind attack came out from it. Not caring about the target, both of them were affected.
After all the ten leaves are opened, whoever is hit by it will fall into a slumber that they will never wake up from.
Alice had thought many times about why she had received such strong equipment that could kill her too.
Her determination kept her sane as she poured her magic into the flower.
Both of her legs were fully infected with the nightmares; with no hesitation, she cut both of them off as she returned to her human form.
Three leaves opened...
Katarina felt her mind being taken away by the violent waves of the rose.
"You did fine, but from the start, you have been like an insect in my spider web."
She summoned her cross, but this time it was the real one. In her dream form, she had used an illusion to give her the belief that she had no trump card left.
With just a dash, she closed the distance between them. Alice's eyes were wide as the last thing she ever saw was Katarina's fist breaking her skull.
Alice died on the spot, and her lifeless body fell on the ground, but the problem still existed. The golden rose didn't need someone to activate it anymore.
Her voice changed to a language that no human understood except herself: "As the monarch of Mind, I command you to submit."
The flower seemed to stop for a second, and that was all that Katarina needed; she took it in her hands and ate it.
Inside of her body, his mind attacked the golden rose from all angles possible. As it tried to resist being eaten out, her attack became more efficient as cracks started to appear in it.
After minutes, the flower had disappeared into thin air.
You have consumed an ancient relic.
Reward: 300 base stats in mind.
All the teams in the dungeon have been eliminated; you can leave the dungeon at any time.
Katarina's breaths were heavy; if she had failed, it would have meant death, but her plan had worked at the end, giving her immense gains.
From afar, she saw Ray coming after her with two blood bubbles following her.
"It's time to craft Stardust."