Shackles

Under the guise of the illusory night, everything was calm and settled. Under the blanketing layers of illusory stars, we fought with monsters one after the other without any rest.

The time spent inside the dreamscape resembles the world greatly.

As I looked around, fighting and shedding blood, trying to take the flesh of my enemy in order to keep my life, I felt a sense of desolateness.

The ones I am killing spills their blood, however, they are not alive. They are but data, an illusion and we are merely fighting a set being created by a monster outside.

Our eyes could see the monsters, I can feel the pain, but it is not the same. The sharp pain is lacking in its impact, the numbing of a limb is nothing but a short feeling of electrocution going around one's body, chronic pain such as stabs disappear as soon as a minor healing spell is given.

Pain is the only gauge one can tell that you are alive, it is an unpleasant feeling but it is one of the most important feelings.

But in this dreamscape, the more I live here, the more I get a grasp of my existence, the more I see the imperfection of the world.

A dreamscape is nothing but an illusion, it is not real and as another two days passed, the more I felt that something is amiss with this world. The more I can feel that this world is too flimsy.

As I moved around calling upon the elements, calling the mana for help, the more I grew tired of collecting and moving mana.

The mana in this illusory world is nothing but a joke, it can be manipulated without limits, I can move the mana around without consequences, I can alter my body if I so wish to and nothing will come of it.

This world is becoming more and more flimsy for me, but I never tried destroying this place for blowing up my cover will be the greatest mistake I could make.

But on the fifth day, I sensed something was amiss, the monsters we encountered began to have a sudden leap in strength. Their speed, power, toughness, and everything else was gradually beginning to increase.

"Vir, something's wrong. The Dreamscape…it's beginning to change."

I spoke to Vir, but even he cannot feel the change. On the sixth day of our stay in that dreamscape, the massive change began.

BooM!

An explosion happened echoed in our ears as Van, Vir and I found ourselves in the midst of what can only be described as a lynching of monsters.

"Damn it, the monsters are never-ending, there are too many of them! Viryon! Buff my strength and defense, I'm going to decimate everything around us!"

"Okay!"

As Viryon agreed, the Martial Van began to move. His body erupted to bright red flames, increasing the temperature around us by several notches.

"Ifrit's Wrath!"

He dove into the oncoming hordes of monsters and retaliated as much as he could.

Viryon continually cast his spells and one after the other, he ensnared and ended their lives. But despite our situation, no one ever truly showed their true capabilities.

Vir did not call for his elemental guardian neither did Van used his Martial Soul. The fight was strictly using our basic and fundamental abilities.

I wish to try harder, but I could not. I wish to push myself to the limit, to engage in all-out combat where my life is on the line. I wish to do that stupid mistake in a world where even if I die, I can retry once again.

However, I could not! There were others present, and I could not hope to do something so obnoxious like that just to test out my skills. My cards are my lifeline, like how I cannot use the full capabilities of my twelve Mage Channels to its fullest outside, the chains bounded and held a tight grasp on my actions.

I wish to no longer be bounded by these chains, I want to let loose and see where my capabilities would place me.

However, I fear that no such thing will happen.

As I felt a piercing pain in my head, I called upon the ranking board of the examinees and saw the list of names and only mine, Van's, and Vir's are glowing signifying others had already died.

It is time to leave.

"Van, Vir, everyone is dead, we can stop fighting now!!"

Van and Vir heard my words and immediately stopped their movements and just let the monsters around them maul at them and kill them.

"I'll see you later, Xir." Viryon smiled as his upper body got shredded to pieces by a monster resembling that of a Lynx.

And as my wish to let myself become free and use everything in my arsenal to try and kill everything on my path got destroyed, I stopped the movement of my mana and just let things go like what Van and Vir had done.

I waited for my death to come, I closed my eyes and let myself go.

But it never came and as I was about to kill myself and opened my eyes, I saw the monsters paused without any movement. Some were in mid-air with their maws open, somewhere just inches away from tearing my head off, but none of them could reach me.

"What's happening?"

And as I questioned, I heard a voice.

"Xir…"

"Lethias?"

"Oh good, I can communicate with you…I just noticed how you're not giving it your all. If you are fearful of letting everyone know of your secrets, do not worry, I cut off the feed and no one can see even a glimpse of what you are going to do."

"Do you mean I'm free?"

"That you are, my little creation."

It was odd, I never truly understood why and how, but I always found myself smiling in a situation where I smile in the face of danger despite my inability to understand happiness.

I smile, though it never reflects my emotions and as I stand with a plethora of ways I could die, I smiled and asked Lethias for one last thing.

"Lethias, are you in control of this whole thing?"

"Yes, why?"

"Good, then, make sure to not limit the monster's intelligence and their number, I want to see where I can go with this."

"…Hahaha, it seems like you inherited your old man's arrogance, but don't worry, I'll control the monsters and try to kill you, so don't die so quickly."

"Mmm!"

And without any warning, the wave of monsters began once again. And as the shackles on my limbs that bounded me to stay still came off, something within me awakened.

It is no power nor is it anything close to that, it was an emotion, a desire, and this desire was known as the desire for death.