Leila stood in front of Elaric.
Above and beneath them stretched the never-ending cosmos.
Galaxies spun in silence....
Stars burned and died in the blink of an eye...
Entire universes expanded and collapsed within monts.
Ti itself twisted and distorted around them, warping reality into impossible shapes.
Floating high above, countless eyes...
Each stretched into eerie slits of light as they gazed down upon them coldly.
Those eyes seed to form the shape of sothing...
Sothing far beyond human understanding.
The trial for the Authority of Omniscience had begun.
Leila’s breathing turned ragged as she looked up at the impossible sight.
Her knees trembled under the crushing pressure the environnt brought to her.
Even the two voices of fate that always whispered quietly in her ears... fell silent.
They watched in hushed fear, as if unwilling to disturb what was unfolding.
An unnatural stillness surrounded her mind, yet within that stillness was chaos.
Nurous thoughts twisted and warped into shapes that couldn’t be understood.
She felt like her mind was being peeled open layer by layer...
Her mories were scattering like torn pages in a storm!
Sweat dripped down her pale face as her vision blurred.
She tried to focus, to move, to speak—
But nothing ca out.
Across from her, Elaric stood calmly.
His blue eyes reflected countless stars and shifting tilines, his expression unchanging...
As though nothing could touch him.
He tilted his head slightly, observing her trembling form with quiet detachnt.
It was as if this test ant nothing to him.
As if he was rely waiting for her inevitable end.
Leila’s hands clenched at her sides, nails digging into her palms until blood dripped down onto the shifting, star-filled floor.
But even as pain grounded her fading mind, her legs buckled slightly.
The oppressive presence bearing down upon her seed to grow heavier with each passing second.
Her lips parted, a shaky breath leaving her throat.
In that mont...
It felt as if her consciousness itself was starting to crack.
And all around them, the silent eyes watched unblinking...
Waiting for their judgnt to fall.
...
At the sa ti, as Adam hid within the shadows cast by [Surreal Creation].
The arena fell silent.
Only the faint dripping of blood from his wounds onto the cracked stone could be heard...
’My regeneration is being suppressed...’
Adam frowned.
Selena stood at the center, her long silver hair brushing against her white armor.
Her crimson eyes scanned the dark, indifferent and still.
"Adam."
Her voice was quiet, calm, and utterly empty of warmth.
Adam stayed hidden within the shadows.
He didn’t answer imdiately.
Instead, he activated [Surreal Creation], manipulating the illusions to make his voice echo from different directions.
"...Who are you?"
His cold, emotionless tone ca from his left.
"What do you want?"
This ti, it ca from his right.
"Why are you wearing my mother’s face?"
It ca from directly above her.
Selena tilted her head slightly, her calm expression unchanging as she listened to his echoing voice.
"This is not a face I wear."
She replied, her tone sharp but calm.
"This is who I am."
Adam was silent for a second
"Don’t.. lie to ."
His voice cracked, rage trembling within each word.
Selena tilted her head slightly, observing the shadows with a faint, unreadable glimr in her crimson eyes.
"I have no reason to lie to you."
Silence fell between them.
Then Adam spoke again, his voice low and trembling with contained hatred.
"...My mother died years ago. She wasn’t... she wasn’t like you."
Selena didn’t flinch.
Her expression remained the sa...
Cold, unwavering, and emotionless.
"You misunderstand, Adam."
She said, her tone quiet and precise.
"I never died. I simply left."
Adam let out a broken, bitter laugh.
It sounded out faintly through the arena.
"...Left... yeah. Frankly enough, I can believe it."
His eyes burned with a sharp, cold sadness.
"You’ve always been selfish."
Blood dripped from his shaking fists onto the ground.
"So when you left... when you walked into the Tower of Yxthar without even turning back... no one cried for you. No one but dad."
His voice lowered to a near whisper.
"Raiden and Miya didn’t shed a single tear."
Selena remained silent, her crimson eyes locked onto the shifting shadows where he hid.
Her gaze didn’t soften, nor did it harden.
It simply watched, like a dead star observing the endless dark.
"This is irrelevant."
She finally spoke, her tone still flat, though a faint shadow of sothing unspoken lingered in her words.
"It doesn’t matter what you think of , Adam. It never has. What matters is what must be done."
Adam felt a burning pain twist through his chest, rage and grief choking him...
At the sa ti, he was confused.
"...What must be done...?"
He let out a quiet, broken laugh.
"That’s all you’ve ever cared about, huh."
His illusions flickered, his weakened voice echoing out one last ti.
"...Don’t call yourself my mother."
Selena didn’t respond imdiately.
She rely blinked once, her expression empty as a corpse.
Then Celestia appeared beside her, stepping out from warped space with quiet grace.
She placed a hand on Selena’s armored shoulder, her crimson eyes glimring with cold amusent.
"He won’t co out willingly..."
Celestia said softly, before raising her hand and snapping her fingers sharply.
The sound cracked through the silent arena like a bone breaking.
Two figures appeared before Selena, thrown harshly onto the bloodstained floor.
Adam’s eyes widened within the shadows.
Standing there, barely conscious, bloodied and bruised, were two people he was familiar with.
A man with his black hair ssy and bloodstained.
Cuts and bruises marked his arms and face, his dark eyes glaring up at Celestia with tired defiance despite the blood dripping down his chin.
Beside him was a woman, her long black hair tied in a low ponytail, dirtied with dust and blood.
Her soft brown eyes blurred with tears as she struggled to keep herself upright, her arms bound tightly behind her back.
Raiden and Miya.
Adam felt sothing twist painfully in his chest as he looked at them.
’Raiden... Miya...’
His siblings.
The only family he had left in this twisted world.
Raiden raised his head weakly, his dull eyes trying to focus amidst the pain...
He could not even speak even if he wanted to.
Miya, trembling, forced her eyes open as tears fell down her dirtied cheeks.
"Brother... Adam... run...! They’re... they’re trying to...."
Her voice cracked at the end, as though sothing was "preventing" her from saying what should not be said.
Adam’s nails dug into his palms so hard that blood dripped down onto the cold shadowed stone.
His illusions flickered again, but he quickly stabilized them.
"...What do you want from ...?"
His voice ca from above them, quiet and dark.
Celestia smiled faintly, her crimson eyes narrowing with cruel amusent.
"It’s simple, Adam."
She said softly, almost sweetly.
"Co with us."
"Originally, we would have killed you and used your body for the purpose we want to achieve. But even then it’ll be the sa if you were to co with us alive."
Her words dripped like poison-coated honey.
"And I promise... your siblings will live."
Selena stood silently beside her, her crimson gaze locked onto where Adam’s real body hid within the shadows.
Miya sobbed softly, shaking her head as tears fell freely.
"Brother... don’t co out... please...! They’ll... they’ll hang you with those people!"
Adam’s heart pounded painfully against his ribs.
His mind raced.
He forced himself to think calmly, to control his trembling limbs.
’This is a trap.’
’If I surrender... we all die. If I don’t...’
His thoughts trailed off as he watched Miya sway dangerously on her feet, blood dripping from her forehead onto the stone.
His fingers twitched as rage burned deep within his chest.
But he forced himself to breathe slowly.
’Think... think...’
He whispered within his mind like a mantra.
His illusions remained steady as his gaze flicked towards Celestia.
She was watching the shadows carefully, her eyes narrowing slightly with faint irritation.
She knew he wouldn’t co out easily.
Adam forced his shaking hands to steady
Just then, a notification ca.
[SimplyInvincible is silent for a mont]
[SimplyInvincible reaches out a hand towards Adam]
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