CHAPTER 428: 428. FEATHER OF DREAMWALKER

The third challenge had finally arrived. This time, because Kael Driftsbane and his crew had lost the previous round, the right to choose the next challenge fell into their hands. The losing side of a duel or contest earned the privilege of determining the next trial.

A battered pirate ship, its dark wood creaking with every heave of the waves, drifted slowly toward the arranged meeting point. Its tattered black sails flapped like shredded wings, while its Jolly Roger—a screaming skull with red-painted tears—loomed high above, casting an eerie presence over the dark sea.

Kael Driftsbane stood at the bow, his eyes locked on the ship waiting in the distance. Beside him, Talindra, Kanth— still looking pale, weak and shaken from his previous encounter Angel Of Death— and several of their crew members watched silently. Their ship came to a halt a safe distance from Veins Peak Island, where another vessel waited for them.

Even though it was evening with still sunlight on the surface, the waiting ship was cloaked in unnatural shadows, almost like the dark sea itself had decided to protect it. It was the Shadow Pearl, the ship that was talk of the town in the Veins Peak.

Phantom Blackwood and his crew stood upon the deck, their Phantom Masks hiding their faces and Expressions, but their presence unmistakably radiating confidence and readiness.

"Then let’s begin this challenge, shall we?" Phantom Blackwood said, his deep voice carrying across the waves with a weight that made some of Kael’s crew stiffen.

A few minutes later, a small boat bobbed gently in the waters between the two larger ships. On that boat, Phantom Blackwood and Kael Driftsbane faced each other, neither showing a hint of weakness or fear. Their respective crews kept careful watch from their own ships, weapons at the ready, tension thick in the salty air. They also made sure no one gets near their Ships respectively.

"Kael Driftsbane," Phantom Blackwood began calmly, "I’m just a new pirate— five, maybe ten years on these seas. We even changed our name to the Blackwood Pirates. Tell me, why are you so determined to challenge us?"

Kael smirked, though his eyes held a cold sharpness. "Nothing personal, Blackwood. At first, my only task was to drag you into the light, make you reveal yourselves."

"So someone sent you after us, using you as bait?" Phantom Blackwood asked, his mind recalling a certain girl.

Perhaps she underestimated how quickly he’d grow in strength after killing her brother, back when he was just a low level immortal Practitioner when he killed her brother. That’s why she just sent a clone at Grandmaster Level to take care of him.

"Yeah," Kael said with a shrug. "Something like that. But it’s not only that anymore. It’s your ship, your mask, your entire legacy... I want it all."

"So it’s just greed, then," Phantom Blackwood murmured. He chuckled under his breath. "Have you ever heard this, Kael? Greed devours itself in the end."

Kael grinned, the wind whipping his dark hair across his face. "Maybe so. But greed is what drives me forward. Greed is what built me. And maybe it’ll destroy me, but at least I’ll devour everything before that happens."

Phantom Blackwood tilted his head, studying him. "You know, I almost like your honesty. Still, you might lose."

"We’ll see about that," Kael growled, leaning forward. "Today, we challenge not for gold, but for pride— and Whoever wins, the other will handover their Ship and the Name ’Phantom Pirates’."

Phantom Blackwood leaned back on the railing, studying Kael Driftsbane with narrowed eyes. "You guys giving your ship?"

Kael Driftsbane’s lips curled into a sly grin, his face betraying none of the pressure he felt. He raised a hand, displaying many storage rings on his finger.

"Not the ship," he said coolly. "No... We will give up our name and our Jolly Roger. Also, our treasures I showed before." He tapped his hand, one of a dull silver ring that glinted in the sun— a storage ring. "Everything inside this."

Blackwood’s eyes narrowed. "That’s hardly a fair trade. Our ship’s worth more than your trinkets and a faded flag." He leaned forward, his tone biting. "But it’s alright. For me, everything 10 Lydia, 10,000 Lydia – All are same. What’s the third challenge, Driftsbane? Let’s get to it."

Kael’s grin widened, but his eyes glinted with something darker— madness. He extended his hand, palm open, then closed it with a flourish. When he opened it again, it was empty.

Blackwood blinked and said. "There’s nothing."

"..." , Kael Driftsbane.

He froze, his confidence faltering for a split second.

He closed his palm and opened it again, his movements more deliberate. "It usually works," he muttered.

Blackwood snorted, his voice dripping with mockery. "Performance issues. It’s not that Uncommon. One out of Five–"

Kael shot him a glare which made Tyler stop his words. but Kael tried again, his fingers trembling slightly with focus. This time, a feather materialized in his palm, dyed a deep, earthy brown, its frayed edges shimmering with a small dull glow.

It looked unremarkable at first glance, like something plucked from a common bird, but the air around it seemed to hum, charged with a different type of energy that Tyler never felt before.

"This," Kael said, his voice low and reverent, "is the Feather of the Dreamwalker. It comes from a creature that dwells in the Dream Realm."

Phantom Blackwood’s smirk vanished, replaced by a flicker of unease. "The Dream Realm? That’s impossible." He leaned forward, his voice laced with disbelief. "Everyone knows that place is a myth— or at least, inaccessible. Not since the ancient races tried to conquer it and paid the price.."

His words carried the weight of dark history, a tale every one knew by heart. Many Many millenniums ago, entire ancient civilizations had perished attempting to breach the Dream Realm, a dimension of infinite possibilities and untold dangers.

After their fall, the realm sealed itself off from the Boundless world, or so the stories claimed. Tyler has studied about these in Academy.

Kael’s eyes gleamed with a manic intensity. "This feather doesn’t take us to the Dream Realm. It channels a fraction of its power —enough to weave a small illusory realm from our minds." He held the feather higher, its faint glow casting eerie patterns across the boat. "It will draw on your memories and mine to craft a dreamscape, a small pocket like Dream Realm. We’ll face each other memories, and the one who survives the other’s dream wins."

Blackwood’s jaw tightened, his mind racing. "And the cost?"

Kael’s grin turned predatory. "The victor claims the loser’s mental energy—every ounce of their spiritual consciousness. The loser? Drained dry. It’ll take centuries to recover, if they ever do."

The Boat fell silent, the only sound the creak of the Boat and the distant crash of waves.

Tyler felt a chill crawl up his spine. The Dreamwalker’s power was not a normal item. How the heck he acquired it?

"Can I choose another candidate?" Phantom Blackwood asked.

"Too late," Kael replied, his tone final. Before Phantom Blackwood could protest, the feather flared with light, its glow intensifying until it burned like a tiny star.

It lifted from Kael’s palm, floating between the two captains. Rays of radiant energy shot forth, piercing their skulls. There was no pain, no blood— only a sudden, disorienting pull, as if their minds were being drawn into a void.

Tyler staggered, his vision darkening. The world around him dissolved, the sea replaced by an endless expanse of shadow.

From the corner of his eye, he glimpsed a flicker of movement— a massive, illusory owl, its wings absent, its eyes glowing like twin moons.

Meanwhile , in Real world, the same illusory Owl appeared. Tyler’s Crew members readied their weapons. But quickly stopped by Talindra’s words.

"Don’t worry. It’s the next challenge." Talindra shouted.

The Owl tilted its head, observing the two captains with an unsettling intelligence, before vanishing into the nothing.

Back on the boat the two captains sat motionless, eyes closed, their faces eerily calm.

The feather hovered between them, a thin thread of light connecting their foreheads, pulsing with the rhythm of their intertwined minds. The crews watched in tense silence, their breaths shallow. The air crackled with latent energy, as if the Dreamwalker itself lingered, waiting to claim its due.

┉┈ ◈ ◉ ◈ ┈┉

Inside a dark void, Tyler drifted weightlessly. He could feel neither breath nor heartbeat. Then, a faint glimmer appeared in the distance, growing steadily brighter. Drawn to it by an unseen force, Tyler drifted closer.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes and gasped. He stumbled back as older boys shoved him roughly to the ground, jeering cruelly.

"What is this...?" Tyler whispered, staring at his reflection in a puddle. He was no longer himself. Looking down, he saw small hands, dark skin, and long pointed ears.

His voice was younger, higher-pitched.

"I’m... a Dark Elf now?" he muttered.

The third challenge had begun.