Family heirloom, then turned into a demon girl

Chapter 158 Mission: 10-5 Concealing the Truth
Time goes back to the beginning of tonight.

"Xiang."

Thanks to Ace's intervention, the demon "Nanna" awakens from her dream before Toyokawa Shoko does. Worried by the frantic howling, Wakaba Mutsu dives into his own dream and opens the stage.

Her dream and Xiangzi's dream have a nearly identical structure. Because both are double-layered dreams formed by the nested stage of a theater, under the influence of Nanna's blood, the two dreams merge with each other over a long period of contact, forming a unique triple structure.

"Two different stages in the same theater"—this is the dream that Xiangzi and Mu now share. Xiangzi and Mu's dreams are not directly connected, but as long as they enter the backstage, they can enter the other's dream through the entrance.

However, although the two people's dreams have almost the same structure, there is an essential difference.

The place where Wakaba Mutsu appears after entering the dream is not the "stage" but the "theater".

Mu jumped onto the stage, passed through the "fourth wall", and then went backstage, into another dream, and came to the sleeping Xiangzi.

"Xiang."

Wakaba Mutsu shook Toyokawa Shoko who was sleeping in the garden and called out again.

Xiangzi was obviously frowning, with a faint red light shining through his tightly closed eyes, and his body was shaking constantly.

Ruoye Mu knew that this meant that Xiangzi was being eroded by Nana's will. This was not a solution, so she made a decision.

A transparent silk thread stretched out from Wakaba Mutsu's fingertips and moved closer to Toyokawa Shoko little by little.

The so-called "essential difference" lies in this: in the dream, Xiangzi is a puppet performing on the stage; while Wakaba Mu is outside the stage, with multiple identities. She can be both "puppet" and "puppet master"; not only "audience" but also "director".

The unconscious Xiangzi was controlled by Ruoye Mu's silk thread. He slowly stood up and sat down quietly in the pavilion.

A truly excellent actor must know how to set and control the stage. This is what Ruoye Mu has always been taught. Whether it's a gift or a curse, Ruoye Mu has always remained lucid in her dreams. Thus, she builds stages in her dreams, controlling countless puppets to perform scenes.

Wakaba Mu took a deep breath and said to the sleeping Xiangzi, "Xiang, I'm starting."

Sometimes, Ruoye Mu couldn't tell whether he was in reality or a dream, and felt that the real world was also a stage controlled by himself. Ruoye Mu also knew that this was the "talent" that made his family famous - it was this cursed talent that made them natural actors, and they would suffer forever for it.

At the same time, it is this talent that allows her to do something that Xiangzi cannot do.

According to the secret plan that the two of them had tacitly understood but never put into words, Wakaba Mu took off the mask on his face and exchanged it with Xiangzi's mask.

Her gaze detached from her own body and ascended to the sky, taking in a "God's perspective" overlooking the entire stage. Invisible makeup artists appeared with wigs and makeup, swapping the two people's hairstyles, clothes, and makeup.

After completing all this, the erosion of "Nanna" left "Wakaba Mutsu"'s body, and along the thin silk thread, drilled into the body of "Toyokawa Shoko".

The puppeteer thought about it, and "Wakaba Mu" who was sitting upright on the chair opened his eyes.

That's good, the puppeteer thought.

It was time for her to set another stage.

Under the puppeteer's control, "Toyokawa Shoko" took two stiff steps, then quickly adapted, her movements indistinguishable from the real Toyokawa Shoko. Embracing Nana's influence, she passed through the backstage and entered the dreamland on the other side.

Then, the passage connecting the two sides was firmly closed. Unlike Toyokawa Shoko, this girl with Toyokawa Shoko's appearance was a complete hollow shell, a puppet controlled by the puppeteer. No matter how hard Nana tried, she couldn't get the puppet to rebel against the puppeteer.

In this way, "Wakaba Mutsu" who is in another dream will be safe.

Nana realized that no matter how much she tried to molest Toyokawa Shoko, she remained unmoved. She thought that Toyokawa Shoko had woken up and had stabilized with Chuhua's help. In order to completely erase her consciousness, Nana had no choice but to send a group of followers into the dream through this connection to try to occupy it.

Upon noticing the appearance of the werewolves, the puppeteer simply waved his hand again, and a group of doll-shaped puppets appeared on the stage, fighting against the werewolves.

Then Chuhua was swallowed by Nana, and the location of the dream was exposed. Nana came here without thinking, and started the final decisive battle with the puppeteer who borrowed the power of Toyokawa Shoko.

"From the beginning, of course."

In response to Asmodeus' question, Toyokawa Shoko chuckled and replied, "Since I already knew your intention, how could I not have a way to deal with it?"

That's right, this plan had been set from the beginning. By exchanging their identities, Xiangzi and Hehe could trick Asmodeus into believing that Xiangzi and Nanna were both badly damaged and had no time to care about anything else, tricking it into activating its backup plan, controlling the dream and taking away Nanna's power.

Then at the last moment, Xiangzi, who has always been able to regain control of his dreams, can easily reap the final fruits of victory.

"What two lunatics!"

Asmodeus, who had fallen into the trap perfectly, couldn't help but curse: "Aren't you afraid of death?!"

The most dangerous part of the whole plan is to let Wakaba Mutsu pretend to be Toyokawa Shoko and bear the erosion of Nana and the attack of Little Ace on her behalf.

Just like she was pierced by the Yama Sword just now, one careless move could result in a life-threatening situation.

However, in response to Asmodeus' question, Wakaba Mu just tilted his head.

"Why are you afraid?" she asked silently with her eyes.

"what."

A helpless sneer emanated from Asmodeus's mouth: "I forgot that you don't have normal human emotions at all."

Nero frowned. This demon's schemes had clearly been completely thwarted, yet it seemed to still be confident of victory.

So she poured her magic into the blade and prepared to attack.

"I have to say, this move really surprised me. But——"

At that moment, Nero's pupils trembled, and he immediately swung his blade down. Simultaneously, a sudden change occurred, and a familiar power erupted from the bodies of Toyokawa Shoko and Wakaba Mu.

"—Do you think I'm a demon who would leave such a loophole?"

Asmodeus slowly said the second half of the sentence.

(End of this chapter)