Emily's Nightmare

The second step of this refinement process, was to fuse the grown crimson beartrap with the pike. The aim of this step was to return the killing nature to the pike without the dangerous effect of mental encroachment. This step required more precise control so Shui also entered the Still Heart state, just in case. As he forgot about the world and the self, he was able to focus his full attention on the pike and flower.

Before the fusion process could begin, the two materials had their solid states destabilized. This way, their two real images could be overlapped, but if he got lazy here, then the two would quickly reject each other and the process would fail. However, in the Still Heart state, there was almost no chance of him committing such a careless blunder.

'Now, it's only a matter of time.'

A couple hours later as the sky began to be painted in orange, Shui exited the forging room while stretching his body. His mind felt refreshed, but there was some fatigue in his muscles. He thought about cooking something up or ordering room service, but he decided to go wake up Emily first. When he entered the large bedroom, he found her fidgeting in her sleep with a grave expression on her face.

"She must be having a nightmare. Not surprising considering what she's been through."

Shui approached and was about to shake her out of her nightmare, but then he noticed something odd. There was something off about her aura. She may be distressed because of her nightmare, but this didn't seem to be an effect, rather it seemed like the cause. In order to verify his suspicion, Shui briefly looked at her with his Sage Eyes.

'Tch, as I thought.'

It had been cleverly hidden so he hadn't noticed even with his strong spiritual sense, but there was a faint mist around Emily's head. This mist appeared to amplify certain aspects of her soul, more specifically, her emotions. It wouldn't be too bad if she was happy, but since she was hit by stressful events back-to-back, it was her negative emotions that were being boosted. He had already seen signs of it while she was awake, but now that she was asleep, her subconscious was more susceptible to the threat of her powerful anxiety.

He wanted to rescue her from whatever terrible dream she was having immediately, but he was afraid that the mist would hide itself while she was awake.

'I'm sorry, Emily. Please give me some time.'

The mist was a fragrance that attacked her when she inhaled it, so he chose to first dispel it by slowly blowing it away with a wind spell before purifying her mind with an inscription.

Meanwhile, a young Emily cowered in place. All was engulfed by darkness, and yet, she could see 'them' clearly.

"It's your fault."

"Why are you still alive?"

"Just die already!"

She was surrounded by hateful gazes, mostly from indistinguishable faces, but the faces that she could recognize were the ones that could hurt her the most. The aunts and uncles she would meet on the street, her family, her master, her senior brother and, Shui. It didn't matter if they hated her or if she believed in them, when those malicious words bombarded her, she could hardly endure for long. She had been her true age at first, but as she stayed under this beating, she grew younger and her abuse got worse. They laid not a hand on her, and yet she was in so much pain. She did not retaliate, she did not refute their claims, she did not stand up against them; in her dream, all she did was curl up and mutter the same line over and over again.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry..."

How much longer she would have to endure was unknown to her, as well as how long she had already been enduring. As a genius tier 3 array master, her soul was comparable to those in the Sky Realm, but she wasn't at the level where she could directly use her soul strength to empower her mental defense. Instead, all she could rely on was the stamina of her mind. Enduring without any sense of time, that was her only option.

She was inching closer and closer to her final breakdown, so it was no surprise that she was slow to notice the crack that appeared above her. However, as the crack quickly grew, white light poured out of it and shrouded her in its divinity. Once protected by this light, all the voices that had tortured her were replaced by his kind tone.

"Emily, it's time to wake up."

"!"

With a jolt, Emily opened her eyes and jumped up in bed. Her upper-body was drenched in cold sweat, but her legs were still comforted by the warmth of the bed sheet. She huffed and puffed as she tried to get rid of the memory of her nightmare, and, it was surprisingly working. Although she wanted that experience out of her head, she thought that it would hang on for exactly that reason; as if it existed for the hateful purpose of bothering her out of spite.

However, when she woke up, she was no longer plagued by a growing anxiety that threatened to destroy her. It wasn't like she had forgotten about everything, it was just that the emotions that were inspired by those concerns had weakened. No, to be more precise, they were reset to their original strength.

Unaware that she had been under the influence of some sort of poison or curse, Emily looked at herself in wonder. Shui considering telling her who he believed did it to her, but it was still too soon.

'This and everything else. I'll remember each and every single crime for the day of judgement.'

Believing that her improved change was because she had a chance to sleep, Emily felt tension leave her body. Once he saw that she had accepted the effect of the treatment, Shui called out to her.

"Emily, are you okay?"

Emily flinched, before slowly turning towards him. She thought that she had recovered, but her stomach felt queasy when she recalled that crime. He told her that she needn't feel guilty, but the heart wasn't so easily convinced.

She was worried because she hadn't sorted out her thoughts about him yet, but when she saw the curious look on his face, she felt relieved. She hadn't forgotten what her family did, but she was no longer wrecked by an unreasonable amount of guilt.

'I'm so, glad.'

A problem that concerned her far more than even she knew about, was finally taken care of. Then, with a refreshed smile, she answered.

"Yes, I'm fine."

Meanwhile, there was a very grumpy little duke. This young duke had believed himself to be the most outstanding tier 3 array master here. Even if he couldn't beat the old fogeys at the top of the Minor Ranking, he was certain that no member of the younger generation could be his match. However, that ignorant arrogance of his faltered when he saw Emily's performance. Like many others, he wanted to think of it as a fluke, and his guardian also tried to plant this concept into his head for fear that he would be reckless, but the young duke wasn't just a boy who would allow his pride to be trampled on. If she was unable to deliver a performance of the same level on the second day, then that would be that, but if she proved to be a brighter star than him...

"Send a message to them. Tell them that there may be a flower that needs to be uprooted."