Chapter 159: Family Drama

​The seed in front of the Nightmare Origin Tree sank into the ground, and in its place, a tree grew. It was a simple-looking tree with green leaves and brown branches, it was almost ten times the size of Nighmare Origin Tree, towering over like a gaint.

​The Sun and Moon in his Soul Space became real moments later.

The Nighmare World was now bathed in the light of sun and moon. All three celestial object rotated and orbitated smoothly without any friction.

​[Dream] said, "I had expected the Nightmare Origin Tree to eat it and not allow another tree of a similar nature to take root in your soul space."

​Night said unsure, "Maybe it likes sharing space?"

​To be honest, he didn’t know what was happening. He was as clueless as the readers.

​[Dream] looked at him with an amused expression. "You want to know what it means?"

​Night looked at her with a cute innocent expression and nodded.

​[Dream], however, stuck her tongue out and laughed. "I won’t tell you."

​Night’s lips twitched. Who is the child here?

​[Dream] paused, reading his thoughts. "Honestly, I don’t know."

​Night looked at her, confused. "Huh?" His mouth hung half-open, his expression a mix of bewilderment and realization.

​[Dream] snorted. "Did you really think I am all-knowing? Even though I was a lot more knowledgeable for my age, I died pretty young, you know..."

​Night turned his head to look at the new tree beside the Nightmare Origin Tree. His mouth was still half-open, and his thoughts were all over the place.

​In the end, he looked at the Nightmare Origin Tree that was chilling on its throne and gave up thinking too much about it.

​"You do you..."

​He returned his awareness to the outside world.

​Nothing had changed. Vance and the hybrid were still engaged in their clash; the conversation with [Dream] had only taken a moment.

​By now Vance and the hybrid had clashed another hundreds of rounds.

​Sparks flew from their weapons. Vance looked more and more drained as the fight went on, while the hybrid’s cheeks were as rosy as if she was enjoying every moment of it.

​Vance thrust forward with another elegant half-parry to block a spear strike. But this time, the hybrid changed tactics. She pulled back her spear an inch, letting his attack parry empty air, and then her spear moved.

​Pierce!

​The spear thrust forward at many times its previous speed aiming for the kill.

Vance knew it was too late to bring the rapier back to block the attack, so he ducked a little toward the right to avoid getting hit in his vitals.

​He had a good defense, but against this opponent, it didn’t mean much, so he chose to take the hit in his left shoulder instead of his heart.

​The hybrid looked at Vance with an evil gleam in her eyes. She was about to twist her spear and cause more damage, but Vance’s rapier was already moving to poke a hole in her head. She didn’t want to make the mistake of underestimating Vance while he was empowered by the mysterious artifact.

​She pulled back and used the side of her spear to block, creating some distance.

​Vance tried to punish her abrupt movement, but he stopped when he felt his shoulder burn.

​Shit.

​The Blood Tower that floated above his head moved toward the wound to suck out the blood-red flames, but it was already too late.

​Vance looked up at the hybrid, who was playing with a small ball of the same fire in her hand. Inside it were a few drops of Vance’s blood.

​His pupils constricted as he understood that if he allowed her to continue and refine it, he was toast. He tried to cut his connection with the blood; as a Vampire with the Blood aspect, it was a simple task, and surprisingly, it worked.

​He looked relieved, but then he saw the mocking smile on her face, and his own face paled.

​The next moment came exactly as he had dreaded. The ever-loyal Blood Tower, his family heirloom that only answered to his bloodline, stopped answering him.

​The artifact flew away from his head, moved toward the hybrid, and came to rest between her fingers.

​Vance had a bitter look on his face. As he felt the boost he was receiving from the Blood Tower leave his body, he fell to his knees.

​He tried to get up, keep his back straight, and die with pride like a warrior, but his legs shivered and he almost lost his grip on his weapon. With great struggle, he tried to look up, but his vision was blurry and his ears were ringing.

​He could barely make out her figure as she walked toward him with the spear lightly resting on her shoulder.

​"No last words?..." the hybrid asked.

​Vance somehow heard her, though. "Vivian...ne... it see...ms yo...ur bro...ther will fol...low you soon..."

​The hybrid heard him but didn’t care what he meant by that. She swung her spear downward with the intention of beheading him.

​Vance saw the spear inch closer to him and closed his eyes, but the death he was expecting didn’t come.

​He opened his eyes with great struggle, and they widened when he saw what had happened: a black root had wrapped around the spear just before it could end him.

​His eyes moved toward the owner of the root. He saw the boy looking at him, asking a question in a tone that was both speechless and full of annoyance.

​"You didn’t say Vivianne at the end, right? Gods, no wonder I felt something off with this whole situation. The stupid Physique was trying to create a fight between me and my new friend..."

​"Surely, if I had watched you die, I would have had to hear about it for the rest of my life.... Seriously, she had a brother and didn’t think it was important information to share???"

​Night looked exasperated, while another Night clone appeared, picked up Vance, and held him by his shirt. Due to the height difference, Vance was still practically kneeling on the ground. Night looked at him closely with his pupilless eyes.

​"Now that I look closely, you do look like her. You look like a watered-down male version of her, just without the horns."

​The hybrid turned her head to look at Night and then at her spear. She said, "Can you let my weapon go?"

​Night didn’t say anything; instead, he tightened his grip and tried to pull the spear away, but he failed to move it an inch.

​The hybrid looked at him like a cat looking at a mouse and said with a toothy smile, "I was just being polite."

​Night fell his back covered hin cold sweat as he realised the power difference, he expected her to attack him for it, but she didn’t do anything. She turned her head back to look at Vance, as if she felt these events were more entertaining than a fight.

​Vance saw the boy handling him like a stray cat. In any other situation, despite being as weak as paper, Vance would have fought for his dignity after being treated like this. But right now, he simply had a stunned look on his face.

​Because the boy in front of him was talking about his sister as if she were still alive. And what did he mean she had horns?

​Since when did his cute sister have horns? This point confused him, making him wonder if this boy was mistaking her for the wrong person.

​But his next words caused him to hold his breath. "Vivianne, you stupid devil, are you watching? Does this guy ring a bell? Or did you lose your brain cells during the evolution?"

​Vance opened his mouth, wanting to argue that his sister was not stupid, but instead his eyes turned into an O shape. A blackish-purple portal appeared, and from it, a woman came out. She was in a wheelchair.

​Vivianne had a cold look on her face as she looked at Night and said, "Even if you saved me, it doesn’t mean you can talk to me however you wish."

​Any other time, Night would have apologized and been a lot kinder, but right now he wasn’t just annoyed, he was frustrated.

He also realized it was not normal for him to talk like this, and if he had to guess, the culprit was the new tree in his Soul Space.

​But now was not the time to deal with the tree.

Night said looked at Vivianne, raising his eyebrows, "So you don’t know what you did?"

​Vivianne fired back, "What did I do? I have been playing the part of a good person all this while... Tell me one thing I did wrong!"

​Night then turned Vance toward her and said, "Then how do you explain this?"

​Vivianne looked at Vance with an annoyed look for a second, then dismissed him and looked back at Night. "What is there to explain?"

​Whatever conversation Night and Vivianne were having, Vance heard none of it. His eyes had been completely focused on Vivianne since the moment she appeared.

​Night now looked even more bewildered, looking like he was about to start punching the air to release some of his frustration. He said as though trying to made a toddler recall its crime of stealing sweets and forgetting.

"Try to recall if this man has a past with you!"

​Upon hearing this, Vivianne had a look of realization. Then she said by reflex, "You are the first man I have spent so much time around! And don’t worry, I am pure!"

​As soon as she said this, it looked like she had lost all her anger, and a blush crept onto her face.

​Meanwhile, Vance finally gathered the strength to mouth out a single word: "Sister?"