Chapter 275: Nightmare 1

Mirabella slowly nodded her head at them, the suffocating pressure radiating from her form deliberately retracting until she felt no more threatening than a calm breeze.​"Okay, I understand... The main building is cleared of monsters, you can go there and rest." She walked towards the exhausted kids, her dark coat brushing against the concrete, and squatted down before them so she was at their eye level.

​The kids stared at her without a single fear, their innocent eyes fixed securely on her piercing blue ones. In a world that had seemingly abandoned them, this terrifyingly powerful girl represented absolute safety. Mirabella smiled lightly—a rare, genuine expression that softened her sharp features. She opened her palm, and with a micro-surge of spatial magic, eight bright packs of candies appeared out of thin air, which she handed to them.

​They all stared at the sugary treats in awe, then looked up at the young woman guarding them, who nodded gratefully at the Captain.

​"Thank you."

​The kids, ranging from five to twelve years old, said in a disjointed chorus, eagerly taking one each.

​A crisp, synthetic notification sounded only in her mind, completely isolated from the physical world, followed by a line of glowing text across her retinas.

​’I don’t know the amount of points, but it’s something,’ she analyzed, filing away the system’s hidden metric for morality and planetary restoration on Earth. She stood upright, her demeanor instantly shifting back to that of a stoic commander, and nodded at the two guardians, who hurriedly led the eight kids towards the safety of the main building.

​Mirabella waited patiently in the field until the last of them disappeared inside the heavy doors before she raised her arm. Tapping the smooth interface of her Galaxy bracelet, she opened a wide-band communication channel linked to every surviving member of her faction.

​"Dragon Team, 240 of you need to appear on the field in one minute... If you are late, you will lose out of my generosity."

​With that single, uncompromising statement, chaos erupted. All the scattered students, no matter what section of the massive campus they were clearing, rushed out in a frantic panic, burning through their stamina and energy reserves as they sprinted toward their Captain’s location. But even with their enhanced speed, half of the number simply could not cross the physical distance in time, missing the strict duration.

​’For goodness’s sake, it’s only one minute, and this University is huge,’ Precious thought, crossing her arms and sighing as she stared at the straggling students still running desperately towards them, their chests heaving.

​"Ok! All of you here, form five circles! From the outer to the inner!" Precious ordered, taking charge of the logistics to spare Mirabella the effort.

​They moved with military precision. The Invincible Four, Carl, Precious, Grace, David, Daniel, Mitsuki, Yi Chang, Ken, Kent, Casey, and all the breathless students arranged themselves into tight concentric circles, with Mirabella standing at the very epicenter of the formation like a queen on a chessboard.

​"Okay! Now, listen up." She said, infusing a tiny fraction of energy into her vocal cords so her voice reached every single student present, echoing with undeniable authority.

​"We are all in a dangerous place, filled with powerful monsters, and for each of you to survive you must at least be a Lv100 fighter... So I plan to help you all advance to this level!" She raised one slender finger into the air, the gesture commanding absolute silence.

​"First! You’ll have to prove yourselves to me!! If you can withstand what will happen next, I will help you advance greatly!! I might even help some of you advance to Lv400! But if you can past with the highest score! So tell me, are you all ready?"

​The students were paralyzed with shock. Helping hundreds of people advance to such astronomical levels in a single sitting? Was that even mathematically possible within the confines of the system?

​"It’s possible, but we will need hundreds of thousands of awakening stones and Monster cards, who has that many?" Someone in the crowd muttered, voicing the collective doubt. The sheer economic cost of such a mass-leveling event would bankrupt entire top-tier guilds in the second Server.

​"I believe the Captain! If she said she can do it, then she can do it!" A girl answered fiercely, her loyalty absolute.

​"Yes! We’re ready!!" They all yelled in unison, their voices echoing off the university walls, driven by a desperate hunger for power.

​Mirabella nodded at them. She wasn’t bothered about those who were doubtful; words were cheap. She would simply show them that the impossible was just another boundary for her to break.

​’In the past, I won’t even dare say this, but with the number of awakening stones in my storage, I can even turn the weakest of soldiers into a world ending force in the second server,’ she thought. She drew in a deep breath and said aloud:

​"Now, listen up... I will send my mental energy around, do not fight it, accept it willingly."

​She closed her eyes as she activated the third stage of the Mental Overlord skill. The air in the courtyard instantly grew heavy, vibrating as a wave of pure, condensed golden energy expanded from her core, washing over the concentric circles of students like a silent, ethereal tsunami.

​Hitachi felt the immense, suffocating weight of the mental energy moving towards him. As a high-tier combatant, his automatic mental defenses flared to life, ready to deflect the psychic intrusion. He stared at Mirabella for a moment, weighing his instincts against his loyalty. Then, choosing to completely trust her, he manually lowered his guard. Her overwhelming mental ability easily passed through his dropped defenses, gripping his consciousness.

​A sudden, unnatural wave of calmness washed over his entire being, and his vision went black as he closed his eyes.

​The moment he opened them again, the ash-choked ruins of New York were gone. Instead, he was lying on soft, manicured grass, staring up at a pristine, star-filled night sky unmarred by apocalyptic smog.

​Hitachi blinked, the scent of night-blooming jasmine filling his lungs. He slowly sat up, the fabric of his clothes rustling against the grass. He looked around and felt a violent jolt in his chest as he recognized the place instantly. The elegant architecture, the specific curve of the roof tiles, the sprawling gardens—he was in the Azul Clan Head’s estate. In short, he was in his home.

​He slowly stood up from the green field at the back of the massive house, his mind struggling to process the sensory. He slowly walked towards the grand back door, his footsteps echoing too loudly in the eerie silence.

​"How did I get here? Was it all a dream?" He muttered in profound confusion. The transition had been so flawless, so absolute, that it blurred the line between reality and illusion.

​He took a hesitant step up the smooth stone of the front stairway, only to freeze, his blood running ice-cold. There, sprawled across the elegant marble steps, lay the violently mutilated dead bodies of his family’s loyal butler and several maids.

​"This?" He choked out, staring at their pale, horizontally frozen, horrified expressions. The metallic tang of fresh blood finally overpowered the scent of the jasmine. He slowly turned his head to the heavy, closed oak door of the main house, his red eyes widening, instantly filling with an ancient, deeply buried horror.

​"Impossible! It can’t be," he thought, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird.

​Trembling, he slowly stretched forth his hand, his fingers slipping slightly on the polished wood, and pushed the heavy door open.

​What he saw next inside the grand foyer froze him in absolute, paralyzing fear, shattering his composure entirely as hot tears finally broke free and rolled down his pale cheeks.