Chapter 63- Laughing Nightmares (Part 3)
The world rumbled and shook around Elise as if it was getting shaken by a raging storm. She didn't get how this was possible when she was literally floating in the void with no solid objects around her.
The more dreadful fact is that the creature in front of her, who was still grinning at her, didn't seem to be affected by this change. It was as if this whole mess was not related to them.
Gripping her sword tightly, Elise tried to keep her calm and get ready for whatever was going to happen.
*RUMBLE*
The void world turned upside down with the loud and chaotic change. Cracks upon cracks spread all over the place.
'What do they intend to do? Either way, I can't wait for whatever they are planning to happen.' Resolving herself, Elise charged toward the clone.
Her feet could weirdly step on the emptiness yet still feel a hard ground beneath her. However, she ignored all of those weird facts and focused solely on destroying her enemy.
"Haah!!" With a low growl, she attacked the clone.
The latter's grin didn't vanish at all and instead seemingly grew wider.
"Smile." They said again, in that same, inhuman tone.
Then, they pulled their sword and clashed with Elise again. The moment they crossed swords, the world shook violently in response as if its demise was related to this fight.
"Who are you and why are you targeting me?" She asked the clone with a cold tone.
"Smile." The fake Elise responded.
"What do you mean 'smile'?"
Elise was aware that it was useless to ask these questions and she didn't expect a satisfactory response. But, before, when she asked her clone a question, it triggered this change so assumed that if she kept asking, changes will keep occurring in response.
Another thing she pinpointed was that this clone can't use Gravity Manipulation. They had other powers but not that skill. This was a good thing as if this clone had the skill, she would've had to deal with a bigger, more threatening problem.
'Fuck this! I can't just keep this for longer.'
Elise had already started to lose her footing. The fight was going in a direction she didn't like.
"Smile." The clone said.
Her voice sounded like a broken record, a cursed one at that. She kept repeating those words as if they were the only things she could say.
"Smile, smile. That's enough." Elise's anger was reaching a boiling point.
Her sharp and cold eyes had bloodlust seeping out of them. Her wild aura became even more chaotic.
The Soul Eater's aura also became violent, losing its calm blue hue and coated in a darker shade of white, the same color as Elise's aura.
"Die!"
Using her full power, she unleashed her strongest attack so far. Stabbing with her sword, she appeared in a flash as she closed the distance between them.
In a split second, the whole world froze and Elise could somehow perceive it in that slow motion.
"Smile, smile, smile, smile, smile."
Then, the clone's face started morphing and reshaping itself just like before. The change was faster than the blink of an eye.
Her gorgeous face was now a whole different one. A face that belonged to a man. The face was pretty average, with a lot of facial hair covering half of his face. He had two small, brown eyes and a huge nose.
"Smile." The voice also changed along with the features.
Elise's calm and tranquil eyes instantly widened to the extreme. Her heart which was beating calmly stopped for a second and her breath got stuck in her throat.
'What…' She asked herself in complete disbelief.
That face, that cursed face that haunted her nightmares for years and years, never leaving her alone. The face of the same person was the reason for her hellish life and her constant, traumatic torture.
He was the man that was behind all of her sadness, anger, and fear. She could barely look at that face without getting a panic attack. She would feel the urge to vomit and hyperventilate just to calm her heart which was beating like drums in her ears.
"Why don't you smile, Elise?"
The voice asked again, in that same tone she knew and hated to the deepest of her bones. The voice that would easily send her to the deepest abyss of nightmares and fear.
"Are you going to smile for me, Elise?" The wicked grin widened and the face of the man contorted along with it, making him look like some kind of devil in human skin.
*Swish* *BOOOOM*
All of this happened in that split second when the world froze. The next moment, Elise was sent flying back, before tumbling to the ground. Her body lay there limply for a moment. Anyone could see how she was shivering visibly.
Her eyes were still looking horrified as if she was still in disbelief. But, even with that, she helped herself up, using the sword as a support.
Instantly, pain assaulted her ribs and made her grunt painfully. Holding her chest, she assessed her injuries.
'I broke… a few ribs…'
Looking back at the creature in front of her. It still had her body form but with the face of a person, she knew in the past.
A mere glance at him and she could only tighten her grip on her shirt as she was sure her hands were shaking now.
"Smile for me, Elise."
All those wicked words were like a cursed call from the devil himself for her.
'Why can… I see his face? How… do they… know.'
Tears glistened in her beautiful eyes as she closed them and tried to calm down. However, the moment she closed them, all those bad memories came rushing back to her and submerged her in her own fears and traumas again.
The emotions she felt at this moment weren't new but they were still as painful and suffocating as they were before.
The creature saw that and decided to approach her, slowly.
Elise instinctively started retreating. Her feet didn't listen to her and instead listened to the screaming fear in her head.
"Stay away!!"
The clone didn't listen and continued walking toward her.
"I said don't get close!!"
Her aura raged even more and turned into a crazed mess of anger, frustration, and, deep, soul-crushing fear. Then, in the spur of the moment, she held her sword high and attacked the clone.
The fear in her eyes didn't vanish, but, more than that fear, her desire to shred that face to pieces so that she could never see it again was even more intense than that. She would pay anything, do anything, just so that she never see that face again.
She would give away anything purely to never see that face in her sleep again so that it never hunts her wherever she goes. It was a deep wish of hers that she could only hide in her heart.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!" Her loud, beautiful voice echoed in the whole void.
*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*
She slashed and stabbed madly. Her only goal was to erase that face, to erase that wicked smile from her eyes to never appear again.
However, the latter merely parried her attacks as if they were nothing.
"Die!! Die!! Die! Just fucking die!!"
'I can do it… I won't allow it to let me down! I can erase that fear!!' She thought in her head.
However, deep down, Elise knew that it was only hopeful thinking and not a real determination. She wasn't ready to face that man at all. Hell, she knew the face in front of her was a fake copy but she still could feel her body acting up from seeing it.
How is she going to face the real fear? How is she going to face that horrible past when her mind was still haunted by it? From where will she get the courage to actually forget about that part of her life completely?
That was simply impossible and frankly naive.
As she was like that, dancing between hesitation, fear, and determination, the clone finally opened its mouth again and said something, different than anything else.
In the deep silence, his voice rumbled in her ear loudly.
"Do you love pain, Elise?"
It was an odd question. However, the meaning behind it was far darker and more horrible than it may seem. For Elise, that question was doom itself.
"SHUT UP!!!!!"
"Why don't you love pain, Elise? It's such a beautiful way for the person to feel alive."
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"
Closing her ears, she shook her head.
'I don't want to listen… I don't want to… H-Help…' She thought in her head as tears trickled down her face.
"Pain is beautiful, Elise….Just like you." Whispering near her ear, he said in a slow manner.
"I SAID SHUT UP!!"
(A//N: Elise's past will start to get revealed as she faces it bit by bit. It's quite traumatic but it will make you love her even more… hopefully :) )
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