A Psychic's Scarlet Dream

Ro: "We can"t stop."

Ro says to the dragon who relaxes somewhat after seeing the snakes" poison spreading in Walter"s body. The dragon nods.

Dragon: "Yeah, I know. I am not planning to stop either."

As he finishes his sentence, as if right on cue, much larger snakes that looked like pythons with golden skin surround Walter.

Ro: "Eh!"

Ro just can"t watch something as horrible as this but he has to force himself to do it.

Dragon: "I don"t blame you for feeling nauseous right now."

The dragon isn"t lying.

Dragon: "After doing your part, you are free to turn away."

Ro again runs to Walter and uses the same trick he has used for three times now. That is to say, the trick that has worked like a charm for three times now.

Walter: "d.a.m.n!"

He says as he grits his teeth in pain but can"t even lift his fingers to stop Ro from putting his hand through his body in diluted form and then condensing it with the atmosphere some of its portions are in touch with.

Walter: "GAAHH!!!"

As usual, the trick ends up being a very painful experience for Walter. This pain, however, worsens for him in every turn because of the now present poison in his veins. Ro, on the other hand, was building endurance against the pain he feels during this, which was already much lower than what Walter felt.

Dragon: "Okay, pull back already."

The dragon says in a forceful tone that brings Ro"s focus back on the subject and Ro pulls his hands out and retreats.

Dragon: "What were you doing?"

He asks as he motions his pythons to attack Walter.

Ro: "Sorry, I just noticed how my endurance against this pain is increasing on every single try."

Dragon: "Well, that"s a good thing but …"

Ro: "Yeah, I know. I won"t let myself lose focus again."

He says with an affirming att.i.tude that gives rea.s.surance to the dragon.

Walter: "Again, you say?"

Walter looks at the two with bloodshot eyes as he asks them.

Ro: "Well, what about it? Finally going to try to stop us?"

Walter: "You … stop messing with me!"

He says as the pythons bite on his hands and his legs while the poison keeps destroying his body from inside out.

Dragon: "Sorry, but we need to stop you."

Walter: "Yeah. That you do."

Walter bleeds from his mouth as he speaks but he still continues,

Walter: "Which is why … come up with something new for crying out loud!"

He says as his irritation becomes more and more visible in his voice.

Walter: "This trick of yours was fine once and twice but now you are just being one-trick ponies."

He displays his irritation clearly.

Ro: "If the same thing works, then why would we change it?"

His bloodshot eyes grow even more intense after hearing Ro"s words.

Walter: "Works? Oh please!"

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Barry keeps his distance from the burning body of the Spectre as he continues showing him the illusions using his photokinesis.

Barry: "If only I could take a look inside his mind at the same time and see for myself what he is seeing, I could control the illusions to make sure he doesn"t get a chance to figure out it"s an illusion."

Barry laments his inability to do so.

Barry: "But I can"t risk it. I need to stay on-guard."

Dyne could potentially pull something Barry had not antic.i.p.ated or Walter could come to his rescue. In either case, Barry needs to be on-guard.

Barry: "Still, I can at least do this."

He says as he intensifies the flames on Dyne with his pyrokinesis. Pyrokinesis takes more energy than telepathy. But, it takes less focus. And focus is what Barry can"t devote right now, energy he has in abundance.

Barry: "I hope he stays there for long though, long enough that Kais gets to the interior of the tomb."

Barry wishes so. Since he is unable to see what illusions Dyne is seeing, he can only wish for it. The way illusions work is not as simple as it may sound at first. One can"t just show others an illusion they want to.

Barry: "Yeah, only idiots or monsters would try to do that."

In which, most who try it would be idiots. Although perceptiveness varies depending on who the person in question is, the subconscious part of the brain is always very perceptive. If the illusion has even a slight error in a detail, the subconscious brain would pick up on that and the person would start feeling something wrong with what he/she is seeing.

In order to create a perfect illusion, you need to know literally everything. If you want to show an illusion of a desert, you need to know the properties of every grain of sand, the plants, whether among many others to create an illusion that the subconscious wouldn"t be able to pick up on. The only other way to do it is to put so much psychic energy into creating that illusion that others wouldn"t even have that much energy in them. That feat is only possible by someone like Kais, and he did do it back on the beach.

Barry: "But even so, I could still mold them a little if I could see them."

When a person just tries to use photokinesis to show others an illusion, they just insert light rays with the ability to form an illusion. These illusions connect with the targeted person"s consciousness and use their memories both from the conscious and subconscious parts to create an illusion they wouldn"t want to see.

That said, that illusion could be something the person so wants to deny that they would immediately start thinking it"s an illusion. And once that happens, the person would soon start to realize that it really is one.

If Barry was able to see what Dyne was seeing and how Dyne was reacting to it, he could do some modifications to that illusion to make sure that doesn"t happen. Unfortunately, that was not something he could spare his attention to.

Barry: "But still, it has been a while since I sent him in there. I suppose its working fine."

Barry says as he tries to think positively. Unfortunately for him,

Dyne: "It"s just not possible!"

Dyne breaks out of his illusion right at that moment, though it would be more accurate to say there was just no illusion to see after having literally been killed in it.

Barry: "s.h.i.+t!"

Dyne: "It will never happen!"

Dyne seems to be unable to get the illusion out of his mind. Barry thinks of using this chance to attack Dyne, but …

Dyne: "That illusion was the stupidest thing I have ever seen in my life."

He says something that catches Barry"s attention.

Dyne: "All the Spectres, dead; all the vampires, dead; Walter, dead; others, probably dead. It was just the most impossible outcome ever."

Barry stops in his tracks as he hears that. That illusion would be something Dyne never wanted to see and formed from his memories. But that also means that there is something in his memories that indicates the possibility of such a future.

Barry: "No way!"

Dyne: "That"s what I am saying."

He looks at Barry with bloodshot eyes. He doesn"t even care about his burning body. He doesn"t even feel the pain, at least, not more than the shock and disbelief.

Barry: "Tch!"

Barry regains focus. He realizes that he needs to focus on what he is doing at that moment. And so, he tries to intensify the flames on Dyne but,

Dyne: "If the inferno comes, it will be because of him."

Dyne says as if declaring.

Dyne: "If the corpses align, it will be because of him."

Dyne says again as if declaring. And in the same tone, he continues,

Dyne: "It will be Walter who would do it. If not him, then n.o.body would do it."

Dyne remembers the promise Walter made to him and the trust he gained from the Spectre to think he would stay true to it. He would not allow himself to believe in an illusion that is only possible if that promise is broken.

Dyne: "There"s only person who knows how to play with fire, and that"s Walter Schmidt."

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Walter is irritated by the fact that Ro and the dragon keep repeating the same trick again and again. But the two are willing to continue on with it if it keeps working. If Walter finds a way out of it, they have more tricks up their sleeves. That is what the both of them think.

Walter: "You people sure are confident, aren"t you? You do know I can heal myself with my psychic?"

He says as he reads those thoughts in their heads.

Ro: "Yeah, but you can only heal your wounds. The poison inside will keep you at bay."

Walter: "Too bad, you don"t know anything."

He says as he clenches his fists and fire forms on them.

Ro: "Is he going to try to seal his wounds close?"

Dragon: "With the poison already in his body, that won"t do much for him."

Walter: "True, which is why sealing my wounds isn"t going to be enough."

He cuts in their conversation with a big grin on his face.

Walter: "But this will be."

As he says that, the fire on his hands spreads from his body to hand wounds to his legs to his face to his back and hence, the whole body is covered in flames.

Dragon: "What!?"

The pythons retreat from the fire. And just as they do that, the fire even intensifies … it intensifies to the point it becomes a blaze and it keeps becoming fiercer.

Dragon: "Just what is he doing!!?"

Ro: "I have no idea!"

The two watch in sheer shock.

Walter: "Now then, let"s turn the heat on."

He says as if to mock the fire that was already present. But he wouldn"t bluff at a time like this. He doesn"t need to. And that"s because he can literally increase it to the level that it kills him. And he does just that.

By increasing the heat to what can only be found on the sun"s surface, he kills himself. As the person responsible for the fire dies, the fire disappears immediately. Thanks to that, the dragon and Ro only get half-burned to death.

Dragon: "AAHHH!!! AAHHH!!! What the h.e.l.l was that b.a.s.t.a.r.d thinking?"

Ro: "AHHH!!! AAAHH!!! Like I said before, I have no idea, but now that he"s dead, I suppose we won."

Even though they had ended up coming on top against the world"s strongest, they just didn"t feel any sense of accomplishment because the reason for their victory was the opponent. And then,

Walter: "Who did you think is dead?"

He says while stepping out of the smoke he had created and looking down at the fallen, half-burnt ghost and the dragon in his human-form.

Dragon: "WHAT!"

Ro: "No way!"

Walter: "Yes way!"

He says mockingly with a smirk on his face.

Ro: "How are you still alive?"

Walter: "All I had to do was heal myself before my soul completely disconnects from my body."

The two listeners are left with their mouths hanging wide as they see the monster beyond all monsters standing in front of them talking about healing a dead person, especially himself, back to life like it"s no big deal.

What else could they do when their opponent"s t.i.tle of the strongest in the world truly dawned on them?

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