Chương 73: The Second Day of Tests – Part 2/2

While Rina left the room with a red face and shining eyes, Marina was called next. She entered the room in silence, her hands slightly damp with sweat. Master Thalor created the illusion without saying a word. What appeared was a version of the orphanage completely empty. There was no one. Not Lysithea, not the other children, not Joker and Harley. Only silence. Marina walked through the deserted corridors, calling everyone's names, but no one answered. The illusion was cold, heavy, and extremely lonely.

Marina stopped in the middle of the main hall of the illusion, looking around. For a few seconds, her body seemed smaller. The vapor around her began to leak out uncontrollably, forming small nervous clouds. She clenched her fists tightly, trying to control herself. After a while, she closed her eyes and murmured quietly, almost to herself: — They're here… they're just not visible right now. But they're here. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

The vapor around her slowly began to calm down. Marina stayed still until the illusion started to disappear. When she left the room, her face was pale and she looked exhausted, but she had managed to stay on her feet without panicking. Right after that, it was Sylvara's turn. The illusion that Thalor created for her was different. It showed the orphanage garden being completely destroyed — the flowers she had planted and cared for over the years being burned and trampled by soldiers.

Sylvara saw it all happening without being able to do anything. Her hands trembled visibly. For a moment, it seemed like she was going to lose control. Small vines began to grow aggressively around her feet, as if they wanted to attack the illusion. But Sylvara took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and forced the vines to stop growing. She stayed still, simply watching the destruction of the garden with an expression of pain, but without attacking.

When the illusion ended, Sylvara left the room in silence, her face more serious than usual. She walked to a distant corner of the courtyard and sat on the ground, leaning her back against the wall. Joker and Harley continued leaning against the stone pillar, watching the candidates as they went through. Harley took another sip of water and commented quietly: — Sylvara almost lost control… I saw the vines. Joker nodded once. — Marina did too. Her test was about loneliness. It almost broke her.

Harley stayed silent for a few seconds, looking at the cloudy sky. — This test is worse than the physical one. In the physical one, we just get beaten. Here… they mess with us from the inside. Joker didn't respond. He simply kept watching the door to the room, with that lazy expression that hid quite a lot. On the other side of the courtyard, Lirien and Kuroe were still waiting to be called. Both were quiet, each dealing with their own anxiety in a different way. The second day was still far from over.

And what remained ahead promised to be even more difficult than everything that had already happened. End of Part 2/2 (continues in Part 2/3)