☄️ The Fall Begins
The sky of the Mind Palace split like shattered glass.
The dream-eater—a child's silhouette wrapped in writhing red threads—descended from the breach.
Its face had no features.
Its aura pulsed with anti-memory—Nen that consumes rather than creates.
"Target locked: Kaen."
Kaen stood from the Requiem Throne, his expression unreadable.
"He's here. The one born from the locked doors I didn't dare open."
Gon stepped beside him, aura flaring.
"Then it's time we tear off the hinges."
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🧠 System Breach
The dream-eater landed—without sound, without breath.
Instantly, portions of the palace disappeared.
Not collapsed.
Not exploded.
Just gone.
Kaen gritted his teeth.
"He's eating the structures of my mind. If I don't adapt fast enough, I'll lose my abilities—and myself."
"Then give me a target," Gon said.
"I'll handle the fists. You handle the world."
Kaen nodded—and launched into a chant.
Mind Palace Rewrite: Law of Crowned Defense – No Throne Can Be Eaten Without Trial!
Golden script flared in the air—creating massive runes across the sky like a firewall of ancient code.
The creature screeched.
It felt pain.
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⚔️ Dream-Eater vs. Gon's Spirit Flame
Gon moved like lightning.
Wild Axis – Spirit Flame Drive!
His fists ignited in green-blue Nen, each strike dragging the weight of his convictions with it.
"You're a parasite in my friend's mind!"
"And I don't care what you are—"
CRACK
He slammed his knee into the child's ribs. A shockwave burst across the palace—
—but the creature absorbed the energy.
Its body rewrote its shape.
Then—mimicked Gon's Jajanken.
A twisted echo of Rock struck Gon full-force.
"He learns. Fast," Gon grunted, crashing into the throne steps.
"Kaen! I'm going to need a little more than defenses!"
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🎵 Arrival of the Symphony
A gentle melody rode the air.
Melody appeared on a bridge of musical light, Kurapika at her side, his chains glowing crimson.
"He's not dreaming alone anymore," Melody whispered.
"Now the harmony must be restored."
She strummed a note—
And time slowed.
Kaen gasped.
"That's—?!"
"A rhythm of time, yes," Melody smiled.
"Let's make your thoughts sing again."
Kaen's aura surged.
"Then it's time for a duet."
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👑 Sealed Throne: The Forbidden Wing
Kaen reached into the deepest chamber of his palace—a forbidden floor even he feared.
A gate of black gold loomed there, chained in thirty-seven locks of Nen contract.
"I swore never to use this."
He gritted his teeth.
"But a King who won't risk his soul is no King at all."
He placed his palm to the gate.
The seals cracked—
and a new throne emerged.
This one burned with unrefined emotion. It was sculpted from guilt, sorrow, rage… and hope warped through time.
Mind Palace Authority – "Crown of the Broken Dream."
A throne that lets Kaen sacrifice past versions of himself to gain overwhelming insight, speed, and precognition—for one minute.
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🧿 Kaen, The Impossible King
Kaen stepped onto the battlefield again, his presence now terrifying.
The world shifted before he moved.
The creature attacked—
And Kaen was already behind it.
"I sacrificed the part of me that once feared power."
"And the part that hesitated to become more than human."
He struck the dream-eater with a non-existent technique—a move he imagined and manifested instantly.
Flash Illusion: Crownless Guillotine.
Reality around the child cracked.
Its mimicry faltered.
Gon grinned from the ground.
"There's the guy I remember…"
Kurapika's eyes narrowed.
"But what part of himself did he lose to reach this power?"
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🔥 Final Blow
The child tried to escape—
But Gon launched into a final move:
Jajanken: King's Resolve!
A punch layered with both his and Kaen's Nen simultaneously—a shared strike of friendship and fury.
The hit connected.
The dream-eater screamed.
Its body shattered into streamers of broken thought.
Kaen raised his hand—
"Absorb: Mind Palace Assimilation – Memory Cage."
He didn't kill the creature.
He imprisoned it inside the lowest dungeon of his mind—where it would be watched by versions of himself that no longer exist.
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🌌 The World Rewrites Itself
As calm settled, the Mind Palace reshaped.
New halls.
New light.
And at the center of it all… two thrones.
One gold.
One green.
Gon sat beside him, laughing.
"You always did dream bigger than me."
"But now you're not dreaming alone."
Kaen smiled, tears in his eyes.
"Let's make this world… worthy of those dreams."
And behind them, a third throne began to glow in crimson…
Kurapika was watching.
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🏰 Coming Next: Chapter 59 – The Eyes of the Chain King