As Gehrman died again and again something indescribable occurred between two unknowable forces.
The being known as the Moon Presence and the strange existence known as the Nightmare Spell each commanded a share of power over this reality.
Neither beings had "thoughts" like normal humans, but their intentions were deceptively simple.
Gehrman, or rather Paleblood, was an anomaly that the Spell was trying to correct. If one thought of the universe as an elaborate computer simulation, the Paleblood would be a virus in the Nightmare Spell's software.
The issue was, Paleblood was clever in its manipulation.
All Void beings were kept far away from the realities that the Spell held power over. But the nature of Void beings was chaos and disorder.
This nature is what made them so menacing.
But it was also what made them weak.
Without a proper directive, most Void creatures simply existed.
The Great Ones were a rare subsection of these creatures that had developed a Will of their own. They could embody concepts similar to those of the Gods that once created space-time.
They were not of the same species, but each was unique in that they could mimic (to a degree) the disorder of the Void into a facsimile of ordered reality.
And it was through exposure to these fake worlds that Paleblood was able to come up with a solution to bypass the barrier separating the Void from the Spell.
It simply had to be harmless.
The revival of a single human that was not destined to have any impact on the web of fate was not going to set off any alarms.
But the Spell understood the idea that this "virus" intended. Of course, even its vessel had figured out its purpose was to grow within the rules of the software.
So the restrictions that the Spell offered could only be used sparingly, as not many of its seemingly infinite resources would be spared to fend off the useless threat.
Of course, this was true only so long as Paleblood did not impact Fate.
And so far, it had not made any large changes, only saving the lives of a few inconsequential humans.
But with each step in power that the vessel took, the more likely it would interfere with the grand design of Fate.
That was why the Spell was willing to make a gamble.
In truth both Paleblood and the Spell did not have any inclinations toward how this Nightmare played out. The only thing that mattered was the vessel learning of Vermin, their potential to become Nightmare Creatures as classified by the Spell, and how to kill them using the Memory provided at the start of the Nightmare.
The eternity of Gehrman's Second Nightmare had been orchestrated by these two forces, these beings which could only be defined as omnipotent and omniscient.
…But in the end, the winner between the two forces would be determined by Gehrman's own Will.
His path was supposed to be set in stone, but the clashing of two cosmic entities made that path malleable. No other being would have this much control over their own Fate for years.
It was only Gehrman who could make the illusion of choice a falsity.
As he died over and over again the Nightmare around him started to collapse. Brygenwerth, Yharnam, Loran, and the Hinterlands all folded in on themselves and returned to nothingness.
But when this inevitable collapsing force reached Cainhurst Castle it seemed to stop.
A purplish fog surrounded the castle.
Despite the fact that Paleblood was safely in its prison in Gehrman's Soul Sea the outline of the creature appeared as if sketched into existence. It hovered over the top of the castle's highest peak emanating an endless fog of entropy.
The collapse of this reality had not halted, instead, Paleblood had simply added to reality. The fog simultaneously collapsed and regrew under the conflicting forces.
Paleblood leveraged its power over Cycles to cause the fog to enter into a state of constant diminishing and revitalization.
Still, it was very taxing on the imprisoned creature.
Paleblood had spent a lot of energy during this Nightmare. It even went as far as to create the Sin Memories and a hidden mechanic that would allow Gehrman to potentially slay Logarius if all of them were collected.
But the main authority in this dream was still the Nightmare Spell.
It could introduce concepts, it could even interfere with their conditions, but it could not force them onto its vessel.
The tenets of the Spell could never be broken.
And at its core it sought to create something that could defy even the heavens.
For that reason, it was grueling, deadly, and cruel.
No matter what Paleblood did, Gehrman would have to endure these things.
And now the vessel was facing the full brunt of what a Nightmare could do.
Gehrman experienced things beyond even Agony as he continued to die, tormented by the Truths of the Void.
In his current state, he could not be considered alive. And that was exactly why the Spell was collapsing the Nightmare.
Because if the Nightmare ended at this moment, Gehrman would fail.
Existence would collapse around Paleblood and erase them from all nearby planes of reality, effectively deleting the virus from the software.
Paleblood, on the other hand, was aware of what horrors awaited in the world the Spell ruled over. It was even more chaotic than Yharnam. The Nightmare Creatures varied so wildly in level that it meant that any number of threats could render Gehrman's revival pointless.
Even exceptional humans from Dorian's world could cooperate to kill him if they wished to do so.
So when the Spell put forth the gamble, Paleblood accepted.
Gehrman would receive innumerable Blood Fragments. If he reached the end of this Nightmare and Ascended as a Titan, then even the strongest human champions would find it difficult to keep him down.
Of course, Gehrman would have to die a couple of hundred times first.
Each time he revived and was exploded from the Madness, he lost another ten Blood Fragments.
Paleblood also set up a cycle within Gehrman in order to enhance the speed of rebirth.
Gehrman had to regain some semblance of sanity before Paleblood ran out of power or the Spell found a way around the clever fog that was summoned by the Void creature.
Something had to change in this endless cycle.
And eventually it did.
Though Paleblood was wary of the human champions from the "waking world". Neither it nor the Spell had thought to account for the human champion that they themselves fabricated.
…
The last human in reality was Logarius.
Trapped in the Throne Room with a creature that he thought was Gehrman, he felt something horrifically wrong.
It was worse than when he came face to face with Annalise. It was even worse than when he first encountered Ebriteas.
His senses screamed at him that the world had ended. And somehow, it wasn't the thing that used to be Gehrman that was doing it.
As Logarius became more and more debilitated by his own senses fracturing and the Madness emanating from Gehrman's being, something started to sprout in his soul.
It was a seed that should not have existed.
A seed of Corruption.
This was the Corruption that was of the Void, the very same thing that made Nightmare Creatures what they were.
This was not something that either of the two supposedly-omniscient beings had considered. After all, it was simply impossible for such a thing to occur.
Humans did not get Corrupted simply from intense mental debilitation. It was something that happened in the Soul, and thus something that nothing in this Nightmare could interfere with.
…Until Gehrman formed his seventh Soul Core.
The specific brand of Madness that was embodied by this Truth was one that was very akin to the Void itself. As such, the order in this reality started to fall apart.
Since there was so little of this Dream left, Logarius was able to see something he shouldn't have been able to.
Each time Gehrman died, Logarius was reset.
However, the new Madness bent this rule. Logarius once again witnessed the explosion of Madness emanating from Gehrman as if it was the first time.
But this time, his eyes were raised towards the ceiling…and the creature that hovered beyond it.
He saw the outline of Paleblood.
With Logarius's mind already fractured and the seed of Corruption was able to take root. And the constant exposure to Madness only benefited the Seeds growth.
The darkness of Corruption crept across the burning bright Soul Core of the Transcendent Human.
His skin started to fall off, his hair grew out longer and thinned before turning white and falling out in clumps. His muscles ate away at themselves and he transformed into an undying corpse.
The thing that was Logarius fell to its knees.
Its Executioner garb was frayed and tattered, no living skin existed in its now Arcane body.
Ghostly dark red skulls similar to those from the Executioner gloves formed around him. They circled his new form like vultures over a corpse.
And then that was what he was.
An Undying Corpse.
At that moment, a Corrupted Beast was born, and it looked the exact same as the thing that Johann had killed during his time.
The Lich, Martyr Logarius had been reborn.
And the first thing he did was let out an inhuman, horrified scream.
The second thing he did was kill Gehrman.
…
Gehrman died 700 times before something changed.
Though it would only make him more insane for a short while, the shattering of his Soul Core was highly necessary.
Despite his meteoric rise to becoming a Titan, he had already fallen back down to the Class of Terror. And while this resulted in a decrease in power, it also resulted in one less Truth assaulting him.
A certain amount of time later, Gehrman had his first thought in a very long time. It was a simple thought: Pain.
However, this simple thought would be the cornerstone of his eventual return to sanity. For if he was able to say one word, then he could eventually say all of them.
And one of those words would be the Truth he so desperately needed.
He used his shattering mind to the best of his ability, trying to come up with a word that fit the sensations that assaulted him.
Eventually, through sheer luck he was able to speak one of the Necessary Truths.
"Control."
The moon that resembled a machine made of blocks shuddered. All of the blocks followed the condensed core at the center, moving in a rhythmic pattern.
The Truth called this Blood Moon to settle and glow slightly, its red even more menacing than all the others.
Like that, the fifth Core was solidified.
The burden Gehrman carried was instantly lessened. Of course, he was still undergoing a terrible collapse.
The Madness represented by the sixth Core held immense pressure behind it. The power in its pull was strangely familiar, but also so greatly exaggerated that he wasn't able to focus on anything in particular.
The only thing Gehrman could think about was death.
In this state, he was able to dimly recognize the outside, and what he saw chilled him to his core.
The Undying skeleton that Johann had fought at Cainhurst Castle had somehow returned. It appeared he had even wrenched the bloody Crown of Illusions from the Throne.
He wailed…and then he split Gehrman in two.
He was barehanded and wielded no weapon, he simply cut with the dark-red pain of the fallen.
The power behind his strike was enough to cut a hole through the seemingly indestructible Throne Room.
And when he did, Gehrman could faintly make out the outside.
…the light purple fog that he associated with Paleblood was inching closer and closer to the window.
And something was pushing it back.
Before he could analyze this further, the wall returned in a flash and the world was reset.
While his previous deaths lacked this time manipulation (instead allowing for time to pass on as Gehrman was revived) he seemed to be in a familiar loop.
Thankfully, at the recognition of this fact the extreme focus narrowing his essence into a single point changed its focus to the process of his dying and reviving.
Because he was still dying.
Logarius still assaulted him every time he opened his eyes. And he did so with the power of something of the 4th Rank.
In fact, though he was technically a Beast (with only one Soul Core) he felt more fear of this creature than he did with the dreaded Corrupted Devil from the Forgotten Shore's Dark Sea.
Gehrman desperately wanted to dodge the killing blow that he knew was coming, but the Madness prevented any kind of complex thought to take place.
He needed to know the Truth before he could take any other step.
Fortunately, this familiar Truth came to him after only a few more deaths.
"Obsession."
The blood moon that had an eerily realistic blood-shot eye carved subtly shifted its aura.
Gehrman looked at the eye for a long moment…and then took a deep sigh. He knew that he would now stop dying repeatedly from Madness-induced deaths.
He was fairly certain that things would be okay now.
Paleblood's obvious presence likely indicated it stalling for more time in this Nightmare. Gehrman suspected it was so he could regain his sanity, but the fact that he was still holding out indicated something more.
Gehrman revived again.
This time he dodged to the side. He knew where the attack was coming and he was able to feel himself coming back to the Throne Room. Gehrman was more prepared than ever…and he still was left with a giant gash across his face.
Before he could even seethe his stomach was sliced, and his entire body collapsed as he died again. The blood was simply wrenched from his body with no time to protect or regenerate.
…He wanted to kill Logarius.
Gehrman knew that it was impossible, but he still wanted to. Logic didn't apply at the moment. Only malice did.
He felt…Greedy.
Gehrman felt his eyes widen and a very stupid idea entered his head.
Well…I am going to die anyway. I might as well try to get something out of it.
The next second Gehrman revived, he controlled the blood in his brain to collapse, and in less than a second he ended his own life.
[You have slain a Dormant Terror, Paleblood.]
[You have received a Memory.]
…
Memory: [Greedy Bloodstone Talisman].
Memory Rank: Dormant
Memory Tier: VI
Memory Type: Charm
Memory Description:
["Take your life into your own hands and break Fate. Then return."]
Memory Enchantments: [Greed], [Coldblood], [Bloodflame], [Hunter's Flesh], [Hunter's Mind], [Hunter's Soul]
Upon seeing the title Gehrman's face remained totally still.
Despite resolving all relevant Truths, he was still quite plagued with Frenzy due to the accumulation of Madness from throughout the night.
And yet he couldn't bring himself to finally celebrate the completion of this macabre collection of Memories.
…It had taken a lot to get them all.
Gehrman felt that he had lost a part of his humanity during this unholy slaughter. All in exchange for power.
Gehrman sighed as he felt life return to him.
This time, he had something entirely new to try.
The second that Gehrman reappeared in the pale purple fog, Logarius lunged in the exact same way he had before.
Gehrman had grown slightly weaker after losing another ten Blood Fragments, but he had already prepared for this.
Gehrman knew where the next to blows would land.
It would take a couple of seconds to summon all of the Sin Memories…but those seconds never came.
In manifesting the last Sin Memory, Paleblood had finally lost the contest with the Spell.
At the very instant Gehrman saw the shuddering fog outside of the castle fade, all of his existence was shrouded in utter blackness.
…Gehrman had been alive and decently sane at the time when the end came.
Which meant…
[Your Nightmare is over.]
[Preparing for appraisal…]