446 Test of Willpower
“I’m done.” Fein raised his head and look at Zero, who had his mask on his face again while sitting on the throne.
“What did you think about?” Zero asked, with an apparent tone of interest. He could see that Fein had really something important in his mind.
‘I just spied your information,’ Fein thought with glee. No matter how mysterious a person is. He won’t be able to escape his probe ability that came directly from his system ability.
Of course, it’s inappropriate to say this, right? He was quite certain that if Zero knew that; he knows his information. They would have to fight against each other. Just like how Fein won’t hesitate to silence a person in a situation where the said person discovered his system or status as a traverser.
“Well, I’m just thinking how I would fight Niki. In your words, he seems to be a pretty terrible guy.” Fein pretended to sigh.
“As the one who fought him personally. I can say that it was a test of will to fight him.” Zero clenched his fist.
Fein couldn’t see Zero’s expression now so he can’t read his thoughts properly. But the body language already told him that Zero had remembered something unpleasant.
“A test of will?”
Hearing the tone of doubt in Fein’s voice made Zero nods again and again. Zero puckered his lips inside his mask and said. “Yeah, I can’t really explain it clearly, and I don’t really want to remember that bastard. I just have one question... Are you confident with your willpower? If not, I will warn you now that don’t fight him.”
.....
‘What’s fighting had to do with my willpower?’ Fein wants to retort but he didn’t have any information about Niki so he just decided to keep it to himself.
“Hmm... After this past year, I’m pretty confident with my willpower.” Fein looked at Zero.
“I have a series of tests here that can determine if your words are true. Do you have the mentality to try it?”
Fein could feel that Zero had a smirk behind the mask by the tone of his voice. ‘It’s just a test of will, isn’t it?
“How many tests does this test compose of? And what are they about?” Out of curiosity, Fein wants to see if he really has a strong will.
“Well, one of the tests would be derived from your deepest fear, another one would reflect your biggest trauma, and the rest are related if you can keep a firm will in front of temptations. Are you up to the test?”
‘I didn’t expect that the course of events would become like this. I’m just here to meet you, right?’ Fein scratched his head. “Since you said that fighting Niki is a test of will. Then I’ll let you become the determiner if my will was firm enough.”
“Then let’s start. This test of will is one of my abilities. I can change the environment around our base on my will. Don’t worry, this test doesn’t affect the physical body, but only the mind. What you will experience won’t do any real damage to you.”
“That’s reassuring...” Fein took a deep breath, and his eyes sharpened. “I’m ready!”
Before Fein could even open his mouth again, the surrounding started to shuffle which made him dizzy. Zero and the bronze disappeared as if the conversation and all the things that happened were just illusions.
Suddenly, the fog became thicker and thicker, until everything was involved with it including Fein.
After a few minutes, the fog faded... Then, Fein saw a scene that he would never forget in his life. Inside a basement what looks like a basement, Sofia, Fey, and Mellissa... The three most important people in his life were hung to the roof of a ceiling breathless and only had whites in their eyes. A thick rope was connected from their necks to the ceiling.
‘This is just an illusion... Calm down.’ Fein bit his lip then stared at the three figures straightly without batting an eyelid. “I’m not my previous self... This level of genjutsu doesn’t work on me!”
Just like that, the scene broke like glasses and returned to its previous state. Fog filled the place again along with the darkness.
‘As expected... It seems my deepest fear is losing my loved ones.’
Even though it’s just an illusion... That kind of bloody scene where Sofia, Fey, and his mother committed suicide was just too intense. ‘If it’s my previous self, I would have lost control of my emotions one hundred percent.’
Gregory’s death not only made his will stronger but also affected his emotion. Now, he was less likely to go berserk. Of course, if it’s real life, not an illusion. Fein’t won’t even bother to control himself. He would immediately go straight for the kill, and torture the culprit. But since, it’s just a test.
“Good job for passing the first test. You really had what it takes.” Zero’s voice entered Fein’s ears out of nowhere.
When Fein look left and right, Zero was nowhere to be seen.
“You won’t see me if I don’t want you to see me. Though, I’m just standing not far away from you. This is my ability... At first, I can only create all kinds of environments. But after years of practice, I can simulate vivid scenes with slight manipulation of light and sound waves inside my dimension.”
Fein’s mouth twitched as he heard Zero’s explanation. ‘I know, I already read it from your interface, no need to tell me. It’s just Real Dimensional Construct isn’t it?’
He couldn’t help but feel doubts. Since base on the description of the Real Dimension Construct, it could only manipulate the environment to any terrain the user wants. But who would have thought that Zero could make a scene like a movie, or an illusion?
“By the way, I heard you say that, This level of genjutsu doesn’t work on me... I’m just curious, what do you mean by genjutsu?”
Hearing Zero’s confused voice immediately stunned Fein. “Ah don’t bother with it. It’s just my self-expression. But you can think of genjutsu as an illusion. What I mean is, that level of illusion won’t work on me.”
Fein’s eyebrows twitched as he continued to explain. How he would say that it’s one of his favorite anime references?
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