The wind was wrong.
Not just cold wrong. It moved like it was listening.
Erza stood at the threshold of the Cancer Gate, watching as the spiral of sickly violet mist pulsed like a heartbeat. Tendrils of memory drifted through it—half-formed images, whispered names, pieces of forgotten dreams trying to escape.
Seris adjusted her gauntlet, its Virgo crest glowing faintly. "Once we cross, time may distort. Stay tethered. Stay aware."
Auren flipped his hood up and activated his tether seal. "Keep your mind focused. Anything we see might not be real, but if it hurts you, it is."
Korr said nothing. His blade was already out.
Lysra stepped up beside Erza, her tone quiet. "If something takes over your body… we stop it. Even if it's you."
Erza nodded. "Understood."
He didn't say that part of him wanted to burn everything inside the Gate already. His Leo mark was seething. Cancer's domain reeked of weakness, but hid something deeper an intelligence, watching, waiting.
They stepped through together.
✦ Within the Cancer Gate
The world bent.
Sky became water. Earth became memory.
They landed in silence on what looked like a street, except the buildings around them were half-dissolved, their walls pulsing with slow heartbeats. A light drizzle fell from a moonless sky.
Erza looked around.
They were in Elarin… but not the real one.
Children's drawings floated through the air like leaves. A carousel spun in the distance, music box notes warped and slow. Shadows moved on the walls but cast by no source.
Then came the whisper.
"He failed us…"
Erza turned. The voice had come from behind except no one was there.
"He ran… like a coward…"
The street shifted.
Suddenly, Erza stood not in Elarin but in the throne room of his old kingdom, fire and ash raining down, his father bleeding out beneath the shattered Lion Banner.
Erza clenched his fists. "No."
The illusion trembled, resisted.
But his Leo flame surged and the false throne room cracked and burst into embers.
A moment later, Seris appeared beside him, breathing heavily.
"I was back at the convent," she said quietly. "Before the fire. My sister was still alive. The Gate… used her."
Erza steadied her. "It's memory warfare. Cancer feeds on what we repress."
✦ The Dreambeasts Awaken
A scream shattered the air.
Auren called out. "North alley! It's Korr!"
The group sprinted down a warped corridor only to find Korr standing frozen, staring into the eyes of a Dreambeast.
It was massive eight-legged, blind, its body stitched together from thoughts and regrets. Its mouth stretched sideways like a scar, whispering multiple voices at once.
"He regrets surviving. Let us help him forget."
The Dreambeast lunged.
Korr didn't move but Erza did.
Flames ignited across Erza's arms as he shouldered into the creature, erupting in a flare of gold and orange. The monster screamed, half-formed limbs unraveling.
But it wasn't dead.
It split into two, then four smaller copies slinking along the walls like thought-parasites.
"Split reality predators," Auren cursed. "It divides to survive trauma!"
Seris leapt into action, slicing down a copy with blade precision, her aura flaring green. Lysra followed, her twin daggers glowing with etherlight as she weaved through dreamflesh, dismantling another.
Erza stood over the core beast its eyes reforming, whispering again.
"You couldn't save her. You left her in the fire."
This time, it spoke in his voice.
Erza's flames flickered.
The pain came back his sister's scream, the burning halls, the collapsing world.
But then he remembered her face brave, not begging. Proud, not broken.
"I didn't leave her," he growled. "She chose to stay behind. So I could fight this war."
And with that, his aura ignited.
A radiant solar lion surged from his back, jaws open, roar shaking the dream-space.
The Dreambeast shrieked
And was consumed in a pillar of mythic flame.
✦ Silence After Fire
Smoke lingered. The sky above had shifted—now cracked with threads of starlight.
Auren checked the readings on his seal. "That one… was just a scout."
Erza nodded grimly. "Cancer is testing us. Trying to break us from within before it uses force."
Lysra added, "There are people here. Trapped in their own memories. I can feel them... fading."
Erza looked ahead. In the distance stood the Heartspire, the dream-core of the city.
And beneath it, shadows twisted forming the beginnings of something vast. And regal.
"He's here," Erza muttered. "The Dream Lich."
End of Chapter 23