Chương 83: Chapter 82

Nina looked at the female figure walking around. The woman kept pacing back and forth, cursing the Hero Party and constantly murmuring that this wasn't how things were supposed to go. Sometime during the first year of her kidnapping, Lily had managed to get in contact with the other personas. Through some maneuvering, they were eventually able to figure out a way to get Lucian to see what was happening.

Given the fact that Lucian was the eldest among them, they believed he had the best chance of convincing Nina to stop putting up her barriers. But first, Lucian needed to see what was happening. He needed to understand the situation before he could do anything to help. That meant they had to get him into the conscious space before Nina completely closed off the subconscious from the conscious.

After timing everything perfectly, they pushed Lucian into the conscious space just as Nina was about to put up the barriers. Lucian entered just in time. He remained there with Nina, able to see what she saw and meet her eye to eye, while the others remained in the subconscious.... It took several months of probing and experimentation to gain information. As well as experiencing a total of three deaths, bringing their remaining lives down to a very concerning number of eight.

The first time Lucian was killed was because he wasn't careful enough with his words. In turn, the person they were dealing with ended Nina's life. The System being out of touch made the situation even worse. The second time Lucian died, he accidentally pushed too far into pretending that he knew nothing. He believed this would make them think he was irrelevant to the situation and, therefore, leave him alone. It sort of worked.

The person in question simply stated that if he wasn't useful, then there was no reason for him to live, since he had already seen and heard too much. The third time, however, went considerably better. Lucian had made significant progress. He had even managed to connect the woman's voice they kept hearing to the possibility that it was being transmitted from somewhere else, rather than belonging to the man directly speaking to them.

He was just beginning to piece together more information when his willpower ran low. At least, that was what Lucian believed was happening. He thought he was exhausting his own willpower. He didn't know the truth. Because of the collar, Lucian could not properly access his own Will. His Will was his power, but the collar restricted his ability to use it. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Instead, the power sustaining him was being drawn from Nina herself.

Her lifespan. Her health. Lucian had no idea. So when what he believed was his willpower reached zero, the collar didn't simply force him back into the subconscious. The body began to die. Nina did not normally have to face this possibility. She was the true source of the body, and under normal circumstances, the collar would not have been able to force her into such a state. But Lucian was different. He was using a power he believed belonged to him. And the collar was taking the price from Nina.

The result was catastrophic. The collar killed the body. It was painfully deliberate. Lucian experienced only a fraction of the pain. Nina experienced all of it. Even though she wasn't in control, the collar prevented her from becoming completely disconnected from what was happening. She was still the one occupying the seat when the body died. Had Nina been in control, the situation likely would never have reached that point and she should never have felt the pain.

But the collar had effectively created a situation where neither protection applied. Nina felt everything. After that stunt, Lucian became considerably more cautious. He would only appear when absolutely necessary, attempting to leave behind fundamental clues about the situation rather than risk another death. From what he had managed to piece together, the first thing he understood was that the person speaking to them throughout their captivity was probably not the person physically present in the room.

Whether that person was male or female remained unclear. The man with the muscles and tattoos was either irrelevant to the larger situation or was acting as a partner for whoever was speaking through the transmission. Lucian also understood something else. For that person to communicate with them remotely, there had to be some method of seeing what was happening inside the room. Some kind of camera. Some kind of transmission. Something that allowed them to watch Nina and speak to her without physically being there.

Lucian didn't know who was behind it. But he was beginning to understand that the person they could see was probably not the person they needed to find. … Lost in thought, Nina did not realize that the female figure had turned her attention toward her and was now making her way over. The woman walked steadily toward her before grabbing her chin and forcing her to look up.

"Do you also think I'm worthless?" she asked.

"A pathetic human being who can't even serve death to those who harm me?" From Nina's point of view, she had been forced to look up. Lucian, who was currently in control, immediately felt that the woman was out of her mind. Whatever ability the figure was using, Lucian couldn't tell. Despite being this close to her, he couldn't see her face. Not even the faintest outline or shadow of her features was visible. Lucian opened his mouth, trying to salvage the situation.

"No, I don't."

"Ha ha ha ha ha." She suddenly swung his head to the side.

"You're messing with me. They're all messing with me." She turned around and began walking toward the Soul-Shattering Sword. Damn. Lucian gritted his teeth. Am I going to die again? Inside, the other personas were worried, desperately trying to figure out what they could do. None of the things they could normally do would work. The collar had restricted them far too much.

Just as they were discussing their options, Nina quietly slipped away from her chair and moved toward the farthest corner of her subconscious, huddling herself up. And once she was far from sight, the consciousness shook. A figure was stepping through.

"Father?" Damien called out. The figure, Mr. Blackmore, looked toward Damien before speaking a single sentence.

"Get Lucian out, unless he wishes to die under that crazed woman's blade." As he spoke, Damien rushed to get Lucian out. Lucian, who was about to complain, saw who was about to take control and immediately zipped his mouth shut. The moment Mr. Blackmore took control of Nina's body, the memories came flooding in, along with a memory that Mrs. Blackmore had previously restricted. With a bit of thought, he quickly understood the situation. The crazed figure dragged the Soul-Shattering Sword step by step toward Nina.

And just as she was about to strike, ending the creature's life, she noticed Nina open her mouth. Two words. Only two words. But they made her stop in her tracks.

"Jeanette... why?" The figure staggered. The blade slipped from her hand and crashed to the ground.

"How?" Her voice trembled.

"How do you know that name?"