Chapter 278: The Harsh Reality: Nightmare 4

​Mirabella’s Spectral form materialized above a blood-soaked, desolate expanse. The air was thick with the copper stench of carnage and the ash of a ruined world. She moved her gaze around, taking in the countless corpses that littered the bloody battlefield, before turning her head to a solitary, kneeling figure some distance away.

​Mirabella blinked, drifting closer to the figure, and was stunned speechless.

​The figure was Carl. He was kneeling on the cracked, ruined ground, holding her lifeless body in his trembling arms. Dark blood was flowing from her lips, and a massive, fatal hole was torn completely through her chest, exactly where her heart should have been.

​"I was killed?" she muttered in surprise, staring at her own corpse.

​The Mental Overlord skill didn’t show the future; its core mechanic was to violently extract and manifest the target’s worst psychological nightmare. In that haunting moment, Mirabella just discovered that she was the most important person in the world to Carl—so much so that her death was his absolute worst nightmare.

​"Oh Carl... I took you as my first Subordinate, but I have overlooked you for so long, because of this, you’re not even Lv100." She muttered in a low voice, burdened by a sudden weight of responsibility. She looked up, staring at the unnatural, swirling storm gathering before them.

​"Hahaha! I finally killed her!!!" A deep, reverberating roar sounded from the heart of the storm, as two massive, glowing red eyes appeared within the dark clouds, staring down at Carl with malicious glee.

​"Now!! I will destroy her body, and erase her from this world!" it added, the voice shaking the very earth.

​"I don’t know if this is an illusion or a dream," Carl muttered, his voice eerily calm as he gently placed Mirabella’s body on the ground and stood up to face the towering storm.

​"I know I am weak. I know I am useless. I know I don’t compare to those around her. I know I can’t reach her! Yes... I know my limit."

​WHOOSH!

​Mirabella was stunned as a torrent of crimson energy erupted from the ground, violently spinning around Carl like a localized hurricane.

​’This? What power is this?’ Mirabella thought in disbelief, her senses trying to analyze the aura. It felt too heavy, too primal to be a normal God bloodline. Normal gods governed concepts and elements, but this raw, unbridled pressure felt like it belonged to the ancient god beasts and primordial deities of a forgotten era—an Ancient Bloodline that completely defied the logic of their current Server.

​"I will keep on growing!! I will work harder, I will protect her!!"

​Carl yelled, the sheer force of his voice cracking the air as his natural blue eyes flared and turned a brilliant, piercing golden. The dense red energy spread outward, as a blinding golden energy appeared from his core, flawlessly mixing with the crimson.

​"Huh?"

​Mirabella was dumbfounded as the fabric of the illusion warped. Two massive, radiant golden wings burst out from Carl’s back, scattering light across the blood-soaked field. His short blonde hair rapidly grew in length, flowing wildly in the energy storm.

​"I will kill you!!"

​He screamed and shot forward, easily breaking the sound barrier with a concussive boom that shattered the ground he had been standing on.

​"This power! This isn’t an illusion created by Mental Overlord! Carl has this power in him!!" Mirabella froze, lowering her gaze to her spectral hand, witnessing the residual golden energy wrapping around her fingers, warming her ethereal form.

​"What sort of power is this?" she muttered.

​High above, Carl appeared directly in front of the massive red eye in the storm. With a single, devastating punch, the whole world trembled violently. The sky tore open like fragile paper, and the earth split into halves beneath them.

​"Such devastating force! And that’s just his physical attack! If he can use such powers in the real World, Carl will be unstoppable!!" She yelled in shock, quickly flying backward as the ground before her shattered into the abyss.

​Through the chaos, Mirabella watched as two more wings burst out from Carl’s back, making four magnificent limbs of pure golden light.

​’How many does he have? I will have to help him bring this hidden power out!’ She thought, her mind racing to adjust her plans. She closed her eyes, finalizing her decision.

​’The others aren’t important, Carl, Grace, and Hitachi won... Grace’s attitude is weak, so for now, I will help Carl and Hitachi advance to Lv400! His power will surely reveal itself when the second test start.’ She opened her eyes one last time, watching Carl, who had landed back on the fractured ground. He dropped to his knees right before her lifeless illusionary body, crying silently.

​"I Promise, I will get stronger and protect you!" he said to the void.

’I wonder who is protecting who?’

​Mirabella smiled softly at his unwavering loyalty, and vanished from the illusory world.

​"AHHH!!"

"NO!!!"

"WHAT?!! I AM STILL ALIVE?!"

"WHAT HAPPENED?!!"

​The pristine silence of the university courtyard was shattered by a chorus of panicked screams. The entire Dragon Team was suddenly back on the physical ground, breathing heavily as if they had just run a marathon. Their faces were painted with horror, fear, and profound disbelief. Some were so frightened they were violently trembling on the grass, while others were openly crying, unable to shake the residual terror of the Mental Overlord’s illusions.

​Mirabella stood at the epicenter of the formation, perfectly composed, staring at the surrounding students. She specifically sought out Carl, seeing the immediate expression of profound relief wash over his face as he realized she was alive. She gave him a subtle nod of acknowledgment.

​She then turned to Hitachi. He had a dark, dangerous expression on his face, his gaze fixed intensely on the ground, the trauma of his slaughtered clan still fresh in his mind. Nearby, Austin was busy hugging his sister Aurelia, sobbing uncontrollably. He had just seen his whole family wiped out, and witnessed Aurelia suffer a fate even worse. He felt utterly, completely weak.

​"You all witnessed it, right?!" Mirabella yelled, her voice laced with spirit energy, instantly silencing the weeping and drawing all their attention towards her.

​"If you are weak, what you just saw in that dream will occur, and you will suffer the same fate!! I don’t know what you saw, but you all look pathetic!! How do you plan to survive Galaxy Fall, and save your world with such mentality?!!!"

​She yelled at them, her harsh, uncompromising words echoing off the ruined buildings, stunning the terrified students into absolute, breathless silence.