It was like a nightmare, a nightmare potent enough to destroy both spirit and body, with thousands of birds wailing and crying, swirling into dark clouds, obscuring all light.

At this moment, Teda awoke from the nightmare, only to realize the nightmare had invaded reality, intertwining with it, transforming into a prelude of despair.

Teda's body trembled as indescribable emotions assaulted his heart. Overwhelmed by emotional turmoil, he found himself unable to think, with only his chest rising and falling as he gulped the nauseating air.

"No... something's not right..."

Teda murmured to himself, lifting his head to find a familiar yet grotesque face close at hand, smiling beautifully yet sinisterly, reaching for his Constant Motion Core.

"Father, will you deny me?"

Alice tempted him, her familiar voice disturbing Teda's mind. The deformed mass of flesh before him vanished, replaced by a figure bathed in dawn's light.

She wore a white dress, her hands tucked behind her, and she smiled at him.

"Father, you're just one step away from your wish."

Alice leaned closer, reaching out with a warm palm, gently caressing Teda's bloodstained face.

"Alice..."

Teda whispered, his will wavering slightly. As he slowly raised his hands, about to offer the Constant Motion Core to Alice, a cold Iron Spear fell, piercing Alice's arm from above.

The familiar face was replaced by blood and worms; the smaller body became a deformed flesh mass, with the outreaching arm pierced by the Iron Spear, sprouting crimson fuzz from the wound.

A piercing shriek shattered the warm words, and blood splattered across Teda's face, seeping into his eyes, twisting his vision into a crimson hell.

Alice lifted her head, only to see Bologue, with astonishing life force, not yet dead atop the Bone Spear, throwing the last of the Deceitful Snake Scale Liquid at her.

Bologue felt himself physically dead, yet his resilient spirit resisted death. He remained conscious, vowing to burn the monster before him to ashes with the flames of anger.

But this was merely a delusional fantasy, against the cold harsh reality. Bologue's rage changed nothing.

He hadn't died; only the burning Soul Shards were supporting his will, while the broken body could no longer follow his furious commands.

Alice pulled Bologue from the Bone Spear and tossed him heavily into the corner. Soon, the flesh writhed beneath her, once again enveloping him, binding him aside.

No one could stop Alice now. Her sinister eyes brimmed with hunger and a thirst for souls, reflecting Teda's bewildered face.

"You know what to do."

The broken arm healed anew, and Alice extended a hand, lightly resting upon the Constant Motion Core, her slender fingers slowly curling, amidst sinful thoughts of unbearable joy.

"No..."

Teda suddenly rejected Alice, his voice so soft that even she couldn't hear it clearly. Kneading the Constant Motion Core tightly, his voice grew sterner.

"No, you're not Alice!"

Feeling the cold, sticky blood on his cheeks, Teda awoke from that moment, roaring in despair.

All those beautiful illusions shattered, leaving only the cruel, real picture behind. Teda looked at the creature occupying Alice's body, overwhelmed by grief and rage.

In a flash, the remaining Ether rang loudly, conjuring iron arms out of thin air beside Teda, fists clenched, twisting a cold long blade into their hands.

Illusion Creation.

A cold gleam flashed, shattering Alice's arm along with the bone spear growing from it into flying shards. Countless wounds appeared across the deformed flesh, with no blood seeping from the split wounds, only crimson fuzz dancing over the severed edges.

Alice's will slowed for a second, that pretentious gentle smile still lingering on her face. When pain arrived late, Alice understood what occurred, her visage twisted into a terrifying expression, as her head cracked into eerie petals, a deep roar erupting from her black throat.

"It's all your fault!"

Alice whimpered, extending more slender arms from the flesh mass; they stretched meters long, far beyond any human limb.

The arms waved frantically, tearing away flesh from the ground, grabbing broken bodies, sweeping over lifeless rocks and more, embracing them all and stuffing them into the dark throat, devouring greedily.

While feeding, she lunged at Teda, for in her eyes only the Philosopher's Stone within the Constant Motion Core could now satiate her hunger.

"It's all your fault!"

The twisted voice paused, reverting back to the familiar sound in Teda's memory, accompanied by sobbing echoes, almost as if a young girl was wiping her tears before him.

The sinister, frantic power surged, tempting every sentient existence, yet it no longer affected Teda.

At this moment, Teda finally returned to rationality, seeing through his own mad fantasies.

Before him was not Alice, but merely a monster driven entirely by hunger. It had no individual will, only the instinct of hunger, and all its previous disguises and words were merely evolved means for feeding.

Now it was immensely hungry, demanding the last soul.

The illusory arm swung out sharp arcs of blade light, slicing a rain of blood in mid-air, confronting the swinging arms.

Teda paid no attention to the frontal battle; he just slowly retreated, looking down at the Constant Motion Core in his hand.

"It shouldn't be like this…"

Teda muttered, tearing the fur off the metal shell with both hands, stripping away the frantically growing flesh, even though it polluted his hands, gnawing at them until they bled profusely.

The flesh underfoot began to writhe, blood-covered bone spears erupted from the ground, but before they could harm Teda, they were cleaved by the swinging blade.

"It shouldn't be like this…"

Teda continued his mad whispering, then he looked up at Alice.

He looked terrible, skin clinging tightly to his bones, as if no flesh remained between them, only a layer of human skin draped over white bones.

The skull-like face had deeply sunken eye sockets, like deep, dark caves, where, in the lightless depths, a dazzling bright light began to emerge.

Teda remained silent, for someone on the brink of death, all words were unnecessary; he needed to use his last strength on something worthwhile.

The Ether was restless, stirring an extraordinary storm, and even the pale flesh beneath him began to tremble.

The battles between them had always taken place in the flesh nest on the back of the Wolf Spider. With Alice's awakening, she drained all the life force of the Wolf Spider, the massive corpse spanning the rift in death.

Driven by Teda, the corpse moved once more, causing the earth to quake.

Alice was unclear about what Teda was doing, but his actions undoubtedly triggered Alice's instinctive vigilance, as scarlet fur rose and danced, sharp, fragmented sounds echoing constantly, like countless teeth clashing.

Driven by hunger, sticky saliva overflowed from the throat. Ultimately, Alice was just a product of the Immortal Heart out of control; it wasn't truly Calamity, hence its power had limits.

The more power it released, the hungrier it became, and the more it needed to feed.

"Food... food..."

Alice's voice turned frantic. Amid attacking, it even thrust an arm into its mouth, petals closing, teeth interlocking, crushing its arm into minced flesh, which it swallowed in big gulps.

With every second that passed, it consumed vast amounts of energy. To satisfy its hunger, Alice began to devour itself.

Teda watched all this expressionlessly; in his current state, he couldn't really muster any expression.

The decrepit figure was extremely emaciated, as if only the piling white bones supported it. His steps were unhurried, like a specter weaving through gaps in the attack, his long blade intersecting, slashing large sections of flesh.

No one knew what Teda was thinking at that moment; he seemed to have regained sanity, returned from the brink, yet also appeared plunged into ultimate madness, feeling nothing.

The Ethereal Radiance on his skin, too, after a burst of intense shine, gradually dimmed, flickering on and off.

The Alchemy Matrix had reached its limit, and Teda's Illusion Creations bore many cracks, soon collapsing. Even if the long blade kept swinging, the sharp edges had acquired many notches.

But for Teda, it was enough, because he had arrived at his destination.

Looking at the metal shell bound in scarlet flesh before him, Teda slowly knelt down, embracing it.

The flesh extended, winding around Teda, taking great bites out of his tinder-like body. Teda showed no sign of pain, made no reaction.

He merely stared blankly at the face that had lost consciousness. Now she truly had become a lifeless puppet.

Observing the curve on Aimou's face, with a resemblance to Belli, Teda remembered his treacherous student, a sliver of curve pulling at his numb lips.

"You... shouldn't have come back."

The light in Teda's eyes dimmed, emitting a final softness in his weary pupils, as his blood-stained hand brushed across the hair.

Taking up the Constant Motion Core, Teda stripped the flesh clean from it. Though some crimson remained festering in the gaps, still struggling to grow, it no longer mattered.

Teda gazed at the withered Fantasy Species on the Constant Motion Core. With the Fade Away of Ether, this figment of imagination was heading towards destruction.

"A Fantasy Species, huh?"

As a Condenser of the Illusion Creation school, Teda recognized the Fantasy Species at a glance. Now, with Aimou's "death," the wish of the Fantasy Species should have ended, yet Teda could distinctly feel the Fantasy Species' power still operating, albeit it was nearly depleted.

"The Grace of Fate..."

Teda murmured softly, reaching out to touch the Fantasy Species, listening to its wish.

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