bookpub 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.
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.|| nove)lb)1n
||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.