abcnovels
Chapter 176 176 Welcome To My World
Chapter 176 176 Welcome To My World
Chapter 176 Chapter 176 Welcome To My World
[NEXUS, BE ADVISED, YOU ARE NO LONGER IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD.]
Yeah, no shit.
[THIS IS AN ALL WHITE WORLD IN AN S-CLASS ILLUSION.]
Nexus' eyes darted about curiously.
[IT WAS CREATED USING THE HARNESSED MANA HARVESTED FROM THE ORB.]
Impressed, he nodded.
[ESSENTIALLY, THIS MENTAL SPACE IS AN ABSTRACT CONSTRUCT WITH A COLLAPSE TIME OF TEN MINUTES.]
His eyebrows piqued; "Just ten minutes?"
[A BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF PHYSICS WILL REVEAL THAT TIME IS RELATIVE IN EVERY INERTIAL FRAME.]
Nexus' brows shot up even highter; "Wait a minute, did you just call me stupid?"
Ignoring him, the system proceeded;
[WITHIN THE COLLAPSE TIME, YOU HAVE THE POWER TO MANIPULATE EVERYTHING IN THIS WORLD.]
[YOU CAN CREATE, AND YOU CAN DESTROY.]
Nexus' eyes twinkled; "Aye, so I'm like a god here?"
[AFFIRMATIVE.]
[WHATEVER YOU CHOOSE TO APPEAR REAL, WILL APPEAR REAL.]
"Damn," he chuckled- rubbing his hands together excitedly; "Must be my birthday or something. . ."
Meanwhile, behind him, in the real world, Selina's muffled breathing echoed through the air- shredding her nostrils in hot blasts. She kept her face forward- planting her eyes on the red girl ahead- not even bothering about the mysterious orb shining in Nexus' hand.
'And so it begins. . .' she echoed to herself; "Here goes nothing. . ."
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Uneasy, and shifting with nervousness, she kept her grey cloudy eyes on the red girl. Brows furrowed, Selina cocked her head- wondering why she hadn't unleashed her eyes yet.
But the girl's eyes had opened moments ago.
Only this time, she had awakened in a different place entirely.
The moment her lids shot back up, and revealed her blood red eyes, surprise carved up a slice of her heart. Gasping, shock tore through her entire being like a flying sword. Lips trembling, and eyes racing, her innermost thoughts raged inwardly;
"WHAT IN SEVEN HEAVENS IS THI–"
It trailed off at the end. . .
Before her, instead of the familiar sight of the green thickets, instead of the leafy throng of endless leaves- was the oppressive glare of an all white room!
The whiteness slammed down on her with a quiet anger that was almost divine. In her bones, a sudden chill raked through her- forcing her to shudder.
'What's this? I never get cold. . .'
The sheer whiteness of the room arrested her sense of sight. There were no shadows- none at all- just a bright spread canvas, gleaming- like it had been placed directly over the sun.
In both her irises- the reflection of the room shone. Along her pale white skin, it felt like all her sweat pores had closed up shop for the day- trying to trap her body heat inside- in a bid to fight off the budding cold.
Teeth clattering, and eyes twirling in circles, she shivered- sending wisps of condensed air through her nose. Silently, she pulled up her dress by the neckline- drawing it upwards.
'Where is–'
Quick as lightning, it dawned on her. A surge of fresh blood rushed through her head- blurring her vision. Desperately, she fought to accept the truth;
'No way–' she pondered in shock; 'Me? Trapped in an illusion?! Who's powerful enough to do that?!'
Through her flaming red eyes- the gathering clouds of anger began to form.
"Nice try!" she spat aloud- yelling into the soulless void; "But you're about to find out that trapping an illusionist in an illusion is a friggin' bad idea!!"
Around the edges of her eyes- a dark look streaked through.
Without any warning at all, she spread her legs and lifted up her long skirt- just above her ankle- revealing two legs draped in red ankle boots. Eyes glazing, and nostrils flaring, she lifted up her right leg- hovering it twelve inches above.
Then, with determination flashing through her eyes, she brought down the boot- hard and fast on the toes of her left leg! The hard heel struck her foot with a sharp clasp!
She yelped!
Her eyes moistened immediately- as her lungs collapsed- leaving her muttering in rasping? breaths. The sharp pain raged through her big and second toe. Under the red fabric of her boots, both her toes bled out freely- seeping through her socks in budding red.
Grinding her teeth, she clamped down on her tongue- forcing back the scream building on the crevice of her throat. Immediately, her slender hands let go of her long skirt. It fell to the ground- once again obscuring her feet.
Forcing her eyes close- the girl concentrated on the pain- muttering silently;
'This isn't real. . .only the pain is. . .this isn't real. . .only the pain is. . .'
For a brief moment, she remained static.
Her frantic breathing slowed. And slowly, she opened her eyes- expecting to be back in the real word.
Nope.
Her heart skipped a beat as the illusion slapped her on the face once again. Pain had failed.
<TRYING TO ESCAPE ALREADY?>
Nexus' voice boomed from overhead- loud and majestic- like the rumbling of thunder.
On the girl's face, just under the edges of her eyes, faint cracks broke out. Heart pounding like a war drum, she jerked her head upwards.
Her eyes saw nothing but white.
||WELCOME TO MY WORLD. . .||
He thundered;
||YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!!||
Red girl twitched at the note of finality in his voice.
"Show yourself coward! Are you gonna hide behind all tha–"
Nexus' hoarse voice burst out in a low vicious laughter- taunting her- stripping her down with rich chuckles;
||HIDING? WHO'S HIDING?|| he snorted; ||I'M DIRECTLY ABOVE YOU CHILD. YOU'RE JUST NOT POWERFUL ENOUGH TO BEHOLD MY TRUE FORM IN THIS STATE.||
An unfamiliar taste backed up on her tongue- bitter as bile. Realizing what it was, she swallowed, forcing it back down. It was FEAR- crude, oppressive, and loud.
With her head arched towards the heavens, her throat bobbed as she engaged him;
"Child? You dare call me child? We're practically the same age!"
||YOU'RE A CHILD.|| he declared matter-of-factly; ||ELSE WHY WOULD YOU BE RUNNING AROUND TOWN. . .DRESSED IN THAT RIDICULOUS RED COSTUME. . .PLAYING ASSASSIN? ||
"Blasphemy!" she cried; "You dare mock my clan's traditional garments? You're going to pay big time! I promise you–"
Red girl did not give a damn about her clothes.
She was simply stalling for time.
For some strange reason, pain hadn't worked. So, she was trying to disrupt the flow of mana in her soul- hoping it would sever the illusion's connection- and maybe trigger her physica–
From above, his dark voice cut through her rant;
||YOU MUST THINK YOU'RE PRETTY SLEEK.||
||I SEE EVERYTHING HERE CHILD.||
He echoed again for posterity's sake;
||EVERYTHING.||
The girl's heart sank.
||THIS IS A POWERFUL ILLUSION. THERE'S NO BREAKING OUT. THERE'S NO BREAKING IN EITHER. ONLY I HOLD THE POWER TO RELEASE YOU.||
He spoke with the thundering authority of an oracle;
||THE ONLY WAY TO ESCAPE IS THROUGH ME. IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO MY BODY IN THE PHYSICAL REALM, YOUR SOUL WILL REMAIN TRAPPED HERE TILL ETERNITY!!||
The girl's eyes widened- glaring defiantly, clenching both her fists by her side.
But her slumped shoulders betrayed her.
His dreadful voice ran along the small of her back- tickling her like invisible fingers, toying with her- switching between cold fear, and full blown terror.