In Tanya’s dream, she was being held in a place with no light. Only darkness and coldness were her friends.

She was tied upon a cross and her body was covered in countless injuries.

The demon, her other self, stood in front of her with a whip of thorns.

"Still holding on?" The demon licked her lips. "They won’t return."

Tanya lifted her head up slightly. Her face was a mess with one of her eyes unable to open up.

"Yield. And it shall be over. Yield. And we shall be whole once more. Yield. And you shall no longer be helpless." The demon said.

Tanya smirked. For some reasons, she remembered that dark man with a trench coat. Despite his hostile appearance, the man was very gentle.

She didn’t trust Mater. But she did trust Crow.

"He shall return." Tanya uttered her last breath.

Suddenly, a foreign power penetrated the dream of the demon. Red beams of light pierced through the sky.

The demon snapped her head toward the sky.

"This is?!"

The structure of the world melted away. It was invaded by an entire reality.

"I won’t allow this!" The demon summoned all of her remaining power to wrestle the power of the dreamworld.

But she was only a shadow of what she once was. The true owner of this body was still Tanya.

The dreamworld was overwritten.

The demon opened her eyes once more and saw that she was within an ancient looking room. In the middle was a huge table with miniatures of a continent.

She sat in one side of the table. On the opposite site was Mater.

The cat had a small chair that floated slightly above the ground. He sat like a king with his paws tangled with one another.

Mater titled his head slightly to a side.

"We’ll meet again." The black cat’s deep voice echoed.

The demon sat down on her chair.

"So... You returned." The demon said. "What game are you playing at?"

"MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The black cat laughed manically.

The demon sweated. She didn’t understand the cat at all.

"Sorry. You just set me up for a perfect pun." The cat recomposed itself and returned to its serious expression.

"You are correct. I am playing a game. But it’s not just me. It is also you. We are playing a game called The Game of Destiny."

Mater placed his paw on the table. The miniatures lit up and became alive. The miniatures weren’t toys, they were a real dream. The dream of Tanya.

It was also the playing field of the game.

"In this game, you shall have your own pieces." Mater flicked his paws.

Six wooden pieces appeared on the demon’s side.

"And I have my own pieces." The black cat revealed six pieces on its side.

Mater’s own five pieces were his servants.

Crow the Assassin.

Bash the Brute.

Evelynn the Diva.

Sparrow the Virtuoso.

Solarix the Sorcerer.

And Forus the Knight.

"You can construct your own pieces however you like. Of course, for fairness, you shall have three Rank-2 pieces and three Rank-1 pieces. The same ranks as my servants." Mater said.

The demon frowned further. "What are you planning, anarch?"

"What do you mean? I am offering you a fair game to determine the owner of this body. I don’t want to dig into her brain and break Tanya apart, you know.

So this is an excellent solution."

"I’m not a child, anarch. Your kind is the most despicable out there. No anarch can be trusted."

The demon was obviously referring to Warlock. The selfish, cunning Warlock ready to side with anyone and devour anything just to become more powerful.

"It’s either this. Or I will break your Singularity now. Your choice." The black cat said.

"Heh." The demon smirked. "You won’t do that. Because if you do, the girl shall die. You’re bluffing."

The cat grinned deeper. "You know my kind well. You should know that I don’t care about her. She’s useful.

She’s useful because she has your power. And I’m interesting in your power.

If you refuse to accept this deal, I can do this the old fashion way."

The black cat revealed an Infernal Seal in his hand. The kind that used to enslave her kind for hundred of years.

The demon knew it well. Many of her kinds were fooled or captured by Warlocks and became their slaves.

She had two choices. Either play the game and accept the possibility of permanent vanquish. Or refuse and become a slave for Mater.

None of the options were good.

"Why should I play the game? If I win, won’t you just enslave me anyway?" The demon said.

The black cat flicked his paws. "I haven’t used this for a long... long while."

A contract appeared and landed before the demon.

Warlock usually used these contracts to establish a Submission Seal with their servants. It was mainly used only for those beings that the Warlock couldn’t enslave entirely. But it was useful for other things as well.

"A Soul Bound Contract, huh? I have heard about these for a long time. I’ve never thought I would be one of those poor imps." The demon grabbed the paper.

Warlock’s Contracts were notoriously deceptive. The Fae had issued a law to prevent any faerie to sign a contract with a Warlock. Otherwise, they would be banished forever.

Erin was an exception because Mater had connection with the Moon Court.

The Infernal Hell didn’t care. They were too arrogant to be afraid of some artificial Chaos User.

The Abyss wasn’t stable enough to even let that kind of information be known.

And the Forever Winter was simply too dead.

"Well? Are you going to sign or are you going to become my slave?" The black cat didn’t even look at her.

The demon clenched her fist tightly. She grabbed the quill and signed in her name. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"Participant: Kaera."

’A K suffix demon... If I remember correctly, these demons are usually Rank-2.’ The black cat thought to itself.

Kaera threw the contract toward to the black cat.

"Shall we begin?"

The black cat caught the scroll and leaned back.

"The game is on."

Chaos flooded over the table. Time started and the game began.

Phantom Dream might seem impressive at first. But it was just a dream. Nothing within it was real and no experience shall be retained. Only the memories and emotions shall remain.