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.|| 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.