The Third Disaster and more about the nightmares

"One of the Seven Great Devils sacrificed himself to place a curse on the human race. It curse affects every member of the human race indiscriminately. The curse turns humans into Nightmares moments after they die. The process starts upon death.

"Nightmares rarely retain fragments of their former selves. Most are driven by an insatiable hunger for the living.

"The most important things you should know about them is that they do not feel pain. They can't be easily killed. Unlike humans and other living organism, they do not feel tired, and they are entirely devoid of their past humanity."

"What pushed him?" Sal asked in his mind.

Sal wasn't ignorant of the devil race. He had a few run-ins with the devil race in the past; they attacked him as soon as they saw him. As per his understanding, they were battle-thirsty and bloodthirsty maniacs who liked to fight, kill, and expand their territories. They regularly invaded worlds to conquer and subjugate. They were one of the most fearsome races in the 3000 worlds.

Devils were widely known to be insane, but Sal believed that even an insane devil wouldn't sacrifice himself to place a curse on some race for no good reason. There was another side to this story which he hadn't heard, and he was eager to hear about it.

"In the second disaster, the Seventh Great Devil lost his entire family and most trusted generals and subordinates to war. Although many races had a hand behind it, humans were the biggest contributors. The Seventh Great Devil was nearing his end because of the weapon of mass destruction of the humans that eradicated everything he cared about, so he sacrificed himself to get back at them one last time." 

"I see. That's why the night patrol exists, right? If someone dies at night and become a nightmare, it's the night patrol's duty to eradicate them." 

Sal sought confirmation. That's why he shared his conclusion.

"You're right. That's the main reason behind the creation of the night patrol," the anomaly replied.

"Why didn't the original owner turn into a nightmare after his death?" Sal asked, feeling a bit bewildered. 

Since the process of transforming into a nightmare starts upon death, why didn't the corpse of the original owner undergo any changes?

"He had his ways. You'll know about it once you get his memories," it replied. 

"I have already defeated Big Joe. When will you give it to me?" 

"I will give it to you after you reach a safe place." 

Since the anomaly had started to open up to him, Sal felt like he could extract more information from it. "What were the first and second disasters about?"

"We aren't in a situation to talk about such lengthy topics," the anomaly replied meaningfully. "Focus on dealing with the nightmares for now. They are coming at you." 

"I can see that." Sal said. 

"Gah! Gah!"

Grunting, the nightmare with a fully intact body staggered towards Sal at the pace of a snail. It was moving painfully slow. Sal estimated that it would take it half a minute or so to reach him. 

The other three nightmares, two of which didn't have anything below the waist and one which was only a head, were dragging themselves across the floor to get to him, but it didn't seem like they would get to him anytime soon as their journey was being greatly delayed by the obstacles in the way.

Instead of going around the small round tables and the sofas, they were trying to force their way through them.

Sal had to say they were complete idiots.

"They are ridiculously slow and they are less intelligent than a child. Are these things really to be feared? Why do we call them nightmares?" Sal voiced his doubts to the anomaly.

The dead who haunts the world were called nightmares, but they seemed more like clowns in a circus than something straight out of a horror movie. Sal really could not see a good reason why they were given such a name.

"It's because they are Mortal-grade nightmares. They are the weakest of the bunch. With a bit of planning and some bravery, ordinary individuals can deal with them. The ones to be feared are the higher grade nightmares," the anomaly explained.

"Nightmares are divided into grades? How many grades are there?" Sal asked curiously.

"Five," the anomaly answered. "You already know the first one. After mortal-grade, there are Warrior-grade, Elite-grade, Transcendent-grade nightmares, and Disaster-grade nightmares."

"What's the difference between them?" Sal asked.

The anomaly hurriedly explained, "Warrior-grade nightmares are like introductory phase combatants with cheats. 

"Just like introductory phase combatants, they have enhanced strength and speed that puts them above mortals, but unlike introductory phase combatants, they are immune to pain and can't be killed even if they are chopped apart into pieces. They are capable of overwhelming a dozen armed soldiers with ease and surviving attacks that would be otherwise deadly.

"Elite-grade nightmares, unlike warrior-grade nightmares, have regenerative abilities, making them nearly indestructible. They can recover from all the damage they've taken in time unless they are drained from all their energy, which they get by consuming the living.

"Transcendent-grade nightmares possess powerful, supernatural abilities that rivals spiritual techniques of spiritualist and the innate abilities of the enlightened.

"Disaster-grade nightmares are capable of widespread destruction and chaos. They are wipe out entire cities in one move if given the chance. Amongst the enemies of the human race, they are second only to the Great Devils."

It might seem like a lot, but the anomaly had shared it all with Sal in less than 15 seconds. 

"The seventh Great Devil was at the level of a disaster-grade nightmare, I presume," Sal said.

"Indeed."

The anomaly confirmed Sal's guess with its acknowledgment.

"He was so strong, yet he was forced to a dead end because of our weapon. What weapon was it?" Sal questioned, feeling a bit curious.

"Nuclear bomb," the anomaly answered. 

"Nuclear bomb?" This was Sal's first time hearing about such a weapon. So he couldn't help but ask. "What's that?"

"The most deadly weapon created by the human race," the anomaly explained. "It releases an immense amount of energy through nuclear reactions, which involve splitting atomic nuclei to release enormous power, causing massive explosions, intense heat, and deadly radiation. The blast can obliterate everything within a vast radius, leaving nothing but devastation in its wake. Even if you somehow survived the blast, if you were in the radius of the fallout at the time of the explosion, chances are that you will die to the radiation."

Most of what it said went over Sal's head as he wasn't familiar with the terms used nor could he magically understand them. However, from what he was able to digest and understand, he reached a startling but concerete realization.

"I understand," he uttered.

The anomaly found his words strange and asked, "What did you understand?"

"The family and army of the seventh Great Devil set out to ravage the world, but humans found out the path they were on and dropped a nuclear bomb on them, wiping them out. The Great Devil somehow managed to survive the explosion, but he was severely affected by the radiation and was dying from it. After discovering there was no way to save himself, he sacrificed himself to curse the human race. The rest of the great devils retreated with their armies as they were afraid that the humans would nuke them next if they stuck around any longer." 

"Am I correct?" 

"Y-you..."

The anomaly felt surprised.

Sal had perfectly summarized the ending of the great war fought between the inhabitants of Threa and the invading race.

As for how he managed to do that, the anomaly couldn't understand it. It didn't have the intelligence to comprehend a man who was wiser than the strongest the oldest, and the wisest humans alive in Threa.

"You're correct," it replied Sal before it fell silent.

Gah!

The nightmare born out of Alexei's corpse staggered closer to Sal and stretched its hands towards him. Its monstrous hands were a sickly gray, with long, jagged nails that were razor-sharp protruding from its fingers and thumbs. These nails seemed deadly enough to tear apart a man into pieces. 

'If not for their speed, mortal-grade nightmares would be a force to be reckoned with.' 

Sal watched as the nightmare drew closer, each step it took was labored and slow, like a puppet with tangled strings. Before its hands could draw close enough for its nails to scratch his skin, Sal moved with lightning speed. He kicked it in the guts with enough force to send it flying backward. The nightmare's body crashed into the other three anomalies, crushing them beneath its weight.

Gah! Gah! Gah!

The three anomalies wriggled beneath it, their grotesque forms squirming desperately as they tried to reach Sal. They wanted nothing except the taste of his flesh. Their movements were jerky and unnatural, driven by an insatiable hunger for living flesh. 

The anomaly that had them suppressed beneath it started to slowly rise, its eyes locked onto Sal with a malevolent gaze.

From the actions of the other three anomalies, it was clear what it would do once it got back on its feet: it would come for Sal again, as he was the closest living being to it.

"How do I put them out of their misery?" Sal asked the voice in his head, his eyes never leaving the grotesque forms struggling before him.

"The nightmares can only be stopped by destroying the source of their animation, which is often hidden deep within their twisted forms. Thus, the best way to kill them is to set them ablaze," the anomaly replied.