🌘 Shadows in Sleep
Kaen's body lay still on the floor of his Mind Palace's throne room, breathing slow and even. The training had pushed him to the limit—both physically and psychically.
But in his sleep, his dreams were no longer his own.
A whisper crept through the marble halls.
"Do you remember me, Kaen?"
He turned—not in body, but in dream-form.
The golden halls twisted. His throne warped into a cage of thorns. Memories—of Gon's laughter, of Melody's songs, of Whale Island's breeze—began to drip like ink from the walls.
Something had slithered into the Mind Palace.
The Dream-Eater.
It had no form, not really. It appeared as a shape of Kaen himself—only with inverted colors, black-and-red aura, and a grin that split too wide.
"You think you own this place?" it hissed.
"I was born here. In the crack between your fears and fantasies."
Kaen's fists clenched, but the dream refused to obey him. The floor turned to clouds. The walls to glass. And far above—his Crown of Dreams floated, cracked and bleeding shadow.
"You opened the gate when you defied the trial," the creature rasped.
"You let me in when you chose to imagine new powers."
It stepped forward.
"Now I will be King."
Kaen's eyes burned.
"Then I'll tear down the palace and rebuild it from stone."
And he struck.
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⚔️ Mind vs. Mind
The Mind Palace became a battlefield.
Kaen summoned his Chrono Halberd, a weapon of time-frozen aura from his dreamforge, and lunged toward the impostor.
But the Dream-Eater vanished—and reappeared behind him, wielding a corrupted version of Kaen's own Imagination Construct.
"You're not the only one who can create here."
Every blow Kaen landed, the creature mimicked.
Every step Kaen took, it countered.
Worse—the palace itself responded to the Dream-Eater's commands.
"This place listens to whoever believes harder," it said.
"And right now, I believe I'm winning."
Kaen dropped to one knee. His aura sparked—but it was dimming. Something in him faltered.
What if he's right? What if this power really isn't mine?
But then…
A note rang through the air.
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🎵 A Song From Reality
In the real world, Melody had her violin pressed to Kaen's temple. Her fingers moved fast, playing a sequence she'd only ever used once before—with the mad Kurta king in the old days.
It was called the Harmony of Self—a Nen melody designed to reach the core of a soul in distress.
And inside the dream, Kaen heard it.
Not as sound. As memory.
His mother laughing while he built sandcastles on Whale Island.
Gon reaching out during the Hunter Exam.
Kurapika's eyes when Kaen offered his power without fear.
Real emotions. Real will.
Kaen's aura surged.
"This is my Palace."
The Dream-Eater reeled.
"No—no! You gave me an entrance!"
Kaen stood, cloak billowing around him, and raised both hands.
"Then I'll give you an exit."
And from above, his true Crown of Dreams descended—restored by Melody's melody and his unbroken resolve.
It embedded itself in his brow.
"You don't belong here," Kaen said, voice like thunder.
He raised his halberd—and erased the Dream-Eater in a burst of golden flame.
The Mind Palace shuddered, then went still.
The throne stood intact.
But Kaen knew something now:
He had been infected. And he had survived.
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🌊 Dark Continent Nears
Back on the Black Whale, the announcement finally came.
"All passengers—prepare for primary descent. Entering outer perimeter of the Dark Continent."
Kaen stood beside Gon, Kurapika, and Melody, staring at the skyline outside the observation window.
What they saw wasn't land.
It was a sea of beasts.
Massive creatures, each the size of a small city, slumbered across a poisoned sea. In the distance, a forest grew upward instead of out. Mountains blinked with glowing red eyes.
Kurapika whispered:
"This is where humanity ends."
Kaen clenched his fists, his new crown glowing faintly.
"Then this is where the King begins."
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🕷️ Elsewhere: The Troupe Stirs
Hisoka leaned over Chrollo, grinning madly.
"The parasite failed~"
"Of course," Chrollo said, flipping a new page in Bandit's Secret.
"But it left its mark."
He looked at a new ability now recorded there.
Crown of Thorns – Dream Manifest Rebellion.
"We don't need to infect him again," Chrollo mused.
"We just need to provoke it."
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🔥 Next: Chapter 64 – The Beast Beneath the Waves