738 The Haunting Illusion
After thirty seconds, Varian was gasping for air as he exited the illusion.
The System indicated he broke a bottleneck, but Varian was in no mood to appreciate his progress.
"F-Fuck!" Clenching his fists, Varian hissed.
This time, he didn't encounter the abyss emperor but saw Enigma killing his mother.
In high-level illusions, you'd typically not know how you got there. You'd just be 'present' in the scene and believe everything was true. It's like a dream, but even more realistic.
So, Varian had to go through the heartbreak of his mother's death and the rage at Enigma once again.
'Kill! Don't kill! Kill! Don't!'
Varian took deep breaths in an attempt to calm his mind.
But it barely did anything.
'Why do you have to give me that one illusion?'
A few days ago, he experienced the same illusion when he was fighting the Xanders.
In that illusion as well, Enigma was killing his mother…and looking at him with a mocking smile.
Compared to that illusion which was cast by a peak level 7, this one was way more realistic and thus, dug deeper into his heart.
'You can't kill me.' Varian recalled Enigma's mocking smile.
His blood pumped with rage as he gritted his teeth and closed his eyes shut.
'If not for Sia's existence, I'd definitely…' Varian shook his head and suppressed the negative thoughts.
'I hope I just don't have to see Enigma anytime soon.'
After a few more minutes, Varian dived into the illusion again.
"E-Enigma!"
His eyes seemed to spill fire as Varian spat her name with hatred.
Sia flinched at his words. She could more or less guess the illusion. So, she wanted to tell him to stop.
"Var—"
"No."
Varian rejected her.
And entered the illusion.
"Damn it!"
His nails dug into his palms.
And he entered it again.
"I know it's an illusion, but why can't I calm down?"
Blood spilled from his palm.
And again.
"Stop fucking laughing!"
Looking at Varian who got more and more enraged after each illusion, Sia bit her lip and left for her room.
Closing the door shut, she covered her eyes with her hands and started sobbing.
It was selfish on her part. But Sia thought, no, she wished that he was able to overcome his negative feelings against Enigma.
Seeing how 'normally' he behaved with Enigma after she made the potion, Sia rejoiced.
She thought in the near future, Varian's relationship with Enigma would return to normal.
But…
"…When did you learn to act so well?" Sia muttered as tears dripped down her cheeks.
The hatred he showed made her realize how much he was hiding.
Perhaps Varian himself didn't realize this.
After all, he was working hard to improve his bond with Sarah and Sia.
'No, that's not right.' Sia shook her head and recalled everything from the moment she confessed about his mother's death.
After learning such a big truth, anyone else in Varian's position would've asked for a showdown with Enigma.
But Varian didn't. Not only that, but he also waited for a long time before facing her. Even when he did finally face her, he didn't show any abnormal reaction.
It's just too strange.
'Just what are you thinking?…'
Sia wiped away her tears and looked at the woman in the mirror.
Her golden eyes flickered as they turned into violet for a split second before turning back.
"…Enigma, you want to meet him?" Sia raised a brow at the sudden message.
No voice sounded in her mind, but Sia understood.
"Very well."
Sia nodded and after ensuring there were no traces of tears on her face, she rushed back to the room.
In case Varian got into trouble, she had to help him out.
"Haaa~"
After an hour, Varian slumped on the sofa as he looked at the silver sky with complicated emotion.
'Status'
[Superhuman L7: 6/7
Space L7: 5/7
Lightning L7: 5/7
Plantae L7: 6/7
Psychic L8: 0/25K
Macrokinetic L7: 6/7
Water L 7: 5/7]
It's been a while since he last checked his status. But it was better than he expected.
And with his recent actions that could only be described as self-afflicted torture, the Psychic path finally reached level 8.
Varian wasn't in the mood to check out his new strength.
Rather, he used his mind sense once again to try and view the capital city once again.
According to common knowledge, he shouldn't be able to see it until he was at least a peak level 8.
But with the addition of mindpower he got from the macrokinetic path, Varian defied the convention and got the view of the city.
"Boo...got it!" Varian said in a tired tone.
"Um." Boo gave him a replenishing potion and nudged him to drink it.
Varian patted it softly and drank the potion. The heaviness in his mind slowly dissipated.
Without any hesitation, Varian used his authority as the ghost ship's master and shared his 'vision' with Boo.
"Ah!"
The two views overlapped and a more comprehensive view was generated in an instant.
The floor of the ghost ship went transparent and with Boo's help, Varian could now see the whole capital.
"W-What?"
Every building here was a mobile fortress!
Even the castle that was floating a few feet above the ground.
"They really went all out in their defense." Varian clicked his tongue.
One of his most anticipated plans was scrapped at this moment.
Since psychics had relatively weak bodies, you just need to sneak attack them before they could stop your attack.
This is why most psychics remained in the rear during wars.
Any battle with a psychic would typically be determined based on whether they stopped you from attacking and took control of your body or you attacked them, thus killing the weak bodied psychic.
Barring the capital and a few cities where very strong abyssals resided, if Varian used a ghost ship and sneak attacked the cities with lightning and water, what would happen to the psychic abyssals with weak bodies that didn't do anything to prevent him from attacking?
Most of them would die!
It was an improvisation of the plan he already made.
Varian really wanted to destroy a big portion of Mirage Abyss' cities and break the balance.
But since it came down to this, he could only follow his original plan.
"Boo, be careful. Go to the holy altar."
