-----

As I crossed my arms feeling a bit angered, I saw something weird, the Nightmaresaur Aura started to grow stronger, mutating.

"Huh?"

Its solidity became thicker, and it gained features from the Zombie Nightmaresaurs it just ate. Their flesh, bones, blood, and souls didn't go anywhere, becoming more power for it.

Suddenly, several more dinosaur skulls popped up around it, glancing at me.

"What the hell is my own Aura and Shadows becoming?" I wondered. "This is weird… Perhaps some kind of mutation triggered by my Nightmare Power? It sure has effects I wouldn't have been able to predict… Well, so you're one being or many?"

"Graarrr…"

"Grooohh!"

"Shyaaagh!"

"Gruooohh!"

"I don't know what to get from that, and I cannot read your mind either because I think you have no mind…" I said. "Perhaps some new lifeform born from my own shadows? Well, whatever you are, you better behave."

"GRRHHH…"

"Yeah don't groan at me or I'm going to seal you! Hell, I could even delete the skill if I wanted, understood?" I said.

"Graaahhh…"

Realizing they couldn't act all rebellious against me, the Nightmaresaur Entity nodded and quickly melted into nightmare miasma and shadows, disappearing.

"Mama?"

As I finished that, I heard the beautiful voice of my cute baby girl, I quickly looked behind me, finding her sleepy, adorable face. Her father was behind her, while the rest of the people sleeping began waking up.

"Oh, good morning my princess! Did you sleep well?"

I quickly went to grab her, lifting her up and carrying her in my arms.

"Hmm, I wanted to sleep a bit more…"

"Did you?"

"Uh-huh."

As she nodded cutely, her long, silky hair waved, it looked messy, so I took out an hairbrush and started to gently comb her beautiful hair.

"Hmm…" she groaned cutely and sleepily, as she rested her little head on my shoulder while I groomed her hair gently.

Her hair still smelled like shampoo. The shampoo and other products from this world are so good for a better hygiene, my baby girl now smells really good all the time.

"What a beautiful hair you have dear! Don't you want to take a bath first?" I wondered, patting her back. "I can bring out a bathroom, I have something inside my shadows that might work."

"Nuh…" She groaned. "I'm sleepy!"

As she said that, she looked at me while furrowing her eyebrows.

She might be trying to act tough, but…

She's too cute!

"Well if you want to sleep so badly, I could help you take a nap inside my shadows once we eat breakfast, alright?" I asked.

"Okay…" She nodded, as she approached her little lips to my face and kissed me a couple of times all over. "I wuv mama…"

"Aww…" I caressed her little head while we walked to the table. "I love my baby girl too, more than anything in the world!"

As we sat down to eat, my ghosts brought over the food, serving it over the long, bone-made table.

"Sniff, sniff… Oh!"

And in that moment, as she smelled the delicious smell of roasted meat, as if she had woken up, Nyx's eyes shone brightly and she jumped out of my legs.

"Meat…! Smells nice!"

She began drooling a lot, and her sleepiness quickly disappeared.

"It has a distinctive smell like… Nightmare Beasts, right? I once ate them in that Nightmare Realm we were trapped in, mama!" She said, wagging her cute tail around.

"Yeah I remember you cooked them, hahaha…" I giggled. "So eat up!"

"Thanks!" She started devouring the large pieces of mildly seasoned meat happily.

"Good morning…" Emeraldine walked towards the table while looking sleepy as well. "Ah, it's really hot around here…"

"I'm used to even hotter environments usually," Nia said. "But it is indeed very hot, and humid... Good morning dear."

"Ah, good morning to you two~!" I said, as the Emeraldine kissed my lips, and then Nia did the same, although her kiss was a few seconds longer.

"Hi Nyx!" Celes said. "Hi auntie!"

"Hello!"

"A-Ah, hi…!"

Nyx, who was busy eating, barely glanced back at Celes before resuming her meal.

Partner then joined back with us, and also Arthur and Jonathan, and Lucifer of course.

At the end, we were able to have a nice breakfast, while talking about various things and relaxing.

Nyx, who was sleepy before, regained all her energy after eating so much meat and other delicious food, such as sweet pastries and cream-filled doughnuts.

Once we were done eating and preparing, it was time to continue our journey, the Crimson Blood Forest was right around the corner.

"Oh wow, so this is the Crimson Blood Forest, huh? It's all red!"

Nyx energetically looked around, as we stepped into the Second Layer of the Hollow Core Nightmare Labyrinth.

And indeed, it was all red, crimson trees stretched into the skies, gigantic carnivorous roses and vines spread through the land, deep pits of red colored water, which was definitely not just blood, and even the skies turned redder.

It kind of looked like an autumn forest, but also it looked weird and twisted, like something you would find in my Soulscape or… in a world of vampires or something.

"This place looks creepy as fuck!" Partner said, looking around. "I love it!"

"Y-Yeah…" Emeraldine muttered. "I'm not a big fan… the air smells weird…"

"It smells like blood…" Lucifer said.

"Oh wow, this is… quite something, haha…" Jonathan giggled. "Uh, did those vines moved?"

"Vines?" Nyx wondered.

RUMBLE!

As we were walking into the forest, the gigantic, black and red colored vines where red roses sprouted from moved.

Yeah these gigantic vines of hundreds of meters long, started rushing towards us!

It was an enormous plant-type Nightmare Beast.

"SHAAAAHHHH!"

With a loud hissing sound, the ground shook and cracks spread through the forest floor, and more titanic vines rushed towards us from every angle.

Ah well, we're starting out with battles already, huh?

I wonder if I can turn this giant thing into an Undead, wouldn't it be cool?

BOOOM!

-----