Thump.

Oh, god damn it! Stop knocking on my door! I didn't go to sleep late, so there is no way it's morning already!

Thump.

Give fucking up! There is no way I will move away from my bed!

Thump.

…

Thump.

Just five more minutes, okay?

Thump.

With the constant knocking sound reverberating through my head every two seconds or so, I couldn't sleep anymore. My drowsiness was already washed away by this annoying sound, leaving me no other choice than to move up and silence whoever wanted to feel the wrath of over one hundred kilos of fat slamming into him!

Thump.

Fuck you! I'm waking up right now!

I tried to shout those words, but I had to swallow them all back when I realised that I was unable to make even the slightest sound.

Thump.

Am I panicking? Am I in a coma? Or is this the legendary state of false wake up, so famed for how terrified it can be for inexperienced lucid dreamers?

Thump.

No matter how many times did I hear this sound, it remained strictly the same, constant knocking as if something was about to explode from within of my now untangible body.

Thump.

Well, at least I can try to open my eyes, can't I? Since I already realised that I'm most probably in the state of fake awareness, I should be ready for whatever will my brain project onto me?

As I opened my eyes and saw an endless sea of both astounding and hideous creatures filling my entire field of vision, I swallowed my determination right back.

The terrifying sight made me slow on the uptake, forcing me to take my sweet time that while those monsters were the only moving objects that I could see, my vision wasn't limited to them. It was just that in my current state, I was unable to pay attention to a cold sight of walls!

Thump.

Suddenly regaining control over my body, I approached the window that graced me as soon as I opened my eyes and noticed that what I took for the entire army of the beasts, turned out to be only its airborne part!

Well, I was lying on the floor and looking through the window located a bit higher than even the biggest beast of all of them could reach with its body, so it actually made sense.

Thump.

I think this sound has something to do with me regaining all my senses and capabilities…

Thump.

With the previous sound clearing my mind from all the useless emotions, this one brought a wave of memories, both beautiful and horrid, that washed through my consciousness.

In a single flash, I saw all the happy moments that I went through with Eve, all the schemes and ploys we deployed and the pitiful state she landed in because of this protector fucker.

My heart stopped for a moment.

Thump.

Only to wash all the pain, determination and compassion from my consciousness.

Looking down, I could see countless beasts slamming itself against the sturdy walls of the towers, but to no avail.

It seems that my upgrades my stronghold defences are way more than enough for now.

I had no way of knowing for how long I remained unconscious, with only the size of the scars on the battlefield and the presence of the flight beast capable of serving as some clues. After all, there was no point trying to ask those beasts about the time that I passed since I massacred their brethren!

Thump.

While the volume of the sound is slowly fading away, I can feel my entire body moving involuntarily every time it comes. What's more, it wasn't a stupid guess when I connected this sound to the changes occurring to my mind and body!

With every knock, I could feel my mana reserves being rejuvenated, as if all the scars appearing because of the entropy were automatically mending themselves.

Just like the first nukes fallen on the two famed cities unannounced, so did the idea to check out my healing dropped in my mind before erupting with insane results.

No matter how I tried to inspect it, I couldn't see any organised flow of mana inside me, indicating the active use of any of the spells!

Placing my hand on my chest in the bewilderment, I wanted to check if this body of mine is still real or just an illusion of dying mind.

Thump.

SO THAT'S IT!

This time I felt it for sure.

This knocking sound wasn't the effect of some randomly, more powerfull beasts shaking the tower. It wasn't some heavenly ordeal approaching to strike me down either!

It was the sound of my heart beating!

I could clearly feel my chest move when the sound came!

But it wasn't natural for the human heart to beat so slow!

Thump.

I guess letting the healing spell mutate was the reason behind this change. At this point, I can't help but wonder, how does this change influence my magical abilities?

As if my body didn't weigh anything, I kinda floated to the window, before simply moving my hand over the mass of the monsters.

Before I even managed to shout "fireball" in my mind or channel my mana through my mage's stick, I could feel all the free energy in the surroundings gush towards me, despite how full my mana reserves were!

THUMP!

At first, an unprecedented amount of mana gathered in my palm, only to almost instantly form into a sphere of fire and erupt outside of the tower just as fast as it formed. I could even see the space reaching its limit around this congestion of energy to the point of rippling!

But it wasn't an end to the attack by no means!

With the mana continuously soaring through my veins towards the concentration point, the free energy from the world continued to flow into my body, with no real resistance. I could feel the new bouts of entropy being supplied to my mana pool, but before they managed to do me any harm, they swiftly entered the flow and were infused into the constant onslaught of fire in front of me!

I couldn't feel the pain that I associated with my body falling apart under the constant attack of this magic poison. It was like….

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Before I managed to formulate my thought, I realised that my heart was now beating way faster than before!

Compared to before where it was maybe half the usual speed, now it was pulsating at least twice as fast!

This kind of constant blood pressure that was probably just a side effect of this event would normally cause my body to be ripped apart by the enormous amount of entropy that would be swiftly served right into my blood cells and delivered to every corner of my body, but I have yet to feel even a single speck of pain!

Contrary to the torture, the more energy went through my body only to end up as a fuel for the constant outpour of fire, the more elated I felt as if everything finally found itself back in its intended place.

There was no hesitation, hard, moral choices or risks anymore.

Just a pure joy of raining fire just like papa Kilgore prescribed for the melancholic mornings!

With my hands extended forward, I aimed them both at the sphere of fire that was constantly giving birth to the new waves of fire that were sweeping through everything that was alive in front of me.

The feeling of an unhindered massacre of those who dared to stand against me, made me burst in maniacal laughter!

High on the adrenaline and the emotions, I couldn't stop myself from laughing, while moving the orb of fire to the sides, to make sure the fire would reach even those smartass beasts that tried to hide behind the tower itself.

Only when the entire army of those weaklings was burned to the crisp and alluring smell of the Kentucky Friend Beast entered my nostrils, did I realise that with everything that I could reach with my spell already dead, there was no point in supporting the spell any longer!

Retracting my hands, it took me just a single silver of though to kill the orb of fire, before proceeding to the window at the opposite end of the floor.

At least, that was where I was heading, where the sudden pressure of overflowing mana made me drop to my knees.