Gazing directly at an Outer God had consequences far more severe than Shiller had ever imagined.
Especially since this particular Outer God was no obscure entity. Among all of Love Craft's creations, not a single investigator had looked at him directly, and even descriptions of his avatars were but a few sparse strokes. Yet in the Cthulhu Mythos, the more mysterious the deity, the more powerful it was.
And Shiller's talent in psychoanalysis, namely his Empathy ability, made him more susceptible to sensing the presence of terror. Although he gazed directly at Nyarlathotep's true form from within the Dreamworld, within the Cthulhu Mythos, everything in the world was nothing but a dream of Asathos, no different from facing Nyarlathotep directly.
That initial headache was not the consequence, but merely a harbinger of what was to come.
Shiller fell into a dream. He began to have the same dream repeatedly, where he saw a massive ancient city teetering above the sky, while he himself was deep within the endless mazes of rice paddies on the ground.
The giant female corpse nailed to the cross continuously wept blood from her eye sockets. The blood soaked the rice paddies, making his progress through the mud increasingly difficult, sinking deeper and deeper.
When he focused his attention on the real world, he could momentarily free himself from the mud's clutches by falling, but as soon as his mind wandered even slightly, he would return to the maze, squeezed by seemingly endless wheat stalks until he could no longer find his complete self.
Shiller could no longer distinguish which parts of his hallucination stemmed from the Beastification Curse and which from Nyarlathotep.
All he knew was that these two forces interacted, even complemented each other, causing his mental state to plummet in a straight line toward rock bottom.
Thankfully his link to the High Tower was his last line of defense. In times of need, he could leave his body and exchange information with the High Tower to maintain that last shred of lucidity, keeping his mind infinitesimally close to rock bottom without completely losing himself.
Obviously, such a state maximized Shiller's Empathy ability. In a word, Shiller was terrifyingly strong now.
Of course, strength came at a price. Hallucinations were not a Superpower with an on-off switch at one's whim; once trapped in a hallucinatory state, the world was no longer normal.
Shiller slept again for a while and with great difficulty extracted himself from the dream. He suddenly felt a bad premonition and looked up to find it was already 11:30 in the afternoon.
The problem was he had classes in the morning.
He hurriedly climbed out of bed, picked up his mobile phone from the nightstand, and saw 59 unread emails, all from his students.
Before he could even open one, a chirping noise erupted from behind him. Shiller stood up and turned around, but there was nothing behind him.
As soon as he noticed the noise, it grew louder and kept echoing in his ears.
"Professor, are you alright? I'm really worried about you. If you're not feeling well, please take some rest," one voice said.
"I apologize for the disturbance, Professor Rodriguez. I heard you were unwell this morning and am extremely concerned. Please take care of yourself…" another voice conveyed.
"Professor, how are you feeling? If it's really tough, you should go to the campus hospital. The doctors there are very kind, and I'm sure they'll help you get better quickly…" came another concern.
Shiller opened the emails on his phone, and as expected, they were all greetings from students, overflowing with deep concern.
At the very bottom, he found an email from Clark saying, "Professor, I noticed your absence after class. Knowing you were busy in the morning, I informed the students that you had taken sick leave, so don't worry."
An email from Diana followed, "Zatanna and Lady Shangdu have successfully received the package. They've already begun their research on the Blue Beetle and the magical items on it. Everything is progressing smoothly, so don't stress too much."
Oliver and Arthur had also sent emails, mostly greetings, but it was Bruce who inquired, "Professor, I heard you didn't come to class this morning. It's hard to imagine what could make you miss a lecture, but let's hope Mercury doesn't explode anytime soon, thanks."
Putting down his phone, Shiller suddenly saw his reflection in the window glass. But in the reflection, besides himself, there were several members of the Justice League.
They were sitting around a round table in the cafeteria, eating and chatting.
"He really didn't come," said Clark. "I stayed an extra 10 minutes on purpose. He's usually there by now, but when the bell rang for class, he still hadn't shown up, so I could only tell the students he had taken sick leave."
"The students seemed disappointed because it seems Professor Shearer gave a very interesting lecture yesterday. I could only emphasize Professor Shearer's ill health and reassure them he would make it up later. They showed understanding," another voice joined.
Diana put down her freshly delivered meal and said, "He must have gone to trouble the Behind-the-scenes Manipulator. Someone's in for it, haha."
"Don't celebrate too soon," Bruce tapped his plate with a fork, drawing everyone's attention seriously. "You guys should really consider what kind of plan would make him skip class. The manipulator isn't as dangerous as an absentee Shiller, okay?"
"I'm sure as long as you're not by his side, there's no danger," Arthur said nonchalantly, and the others expressed similar sentiments, leaving Bruce speechless.
Suddenly, as if Clark sensed something, he turned around and looking at the figure at the entrance of the dining hall, exclaimed, "Good heavens! Professor?! What are you doing here?!"
Several people hurriedly put down their utensils and crowded around. Shiller felt somewhat bewildered, wasn't he just seeing illusions on the glass in his own bedroom? How could an illusion break through the glass?
"Quick, quick, take him to the resting room, oh my goodness!" Diana hurriedly pushed people aside, urging them to take Shiller across the corridor to the resting room.
Fortunately, the staff cafeteria was separate from the student cafeteria, only a few staff members were present, so it didn't cause much of a commotion.
Shiller only barely came to his senses after arriving at the resting room. He looked down and saw that he was still in his pajamas and slippers. And indeed, he was not in his bedroom, and the people in front of him were not illusions.
How did he get to the cafeteria?
The members of the Justice League didn't know, and neither did Shiller himself. After hearing his account, Clark immediately realized the gravity of the situation and said to Bruce, "Go check the surveillance!"
At the time, they hadn't realized that Shiller was experiencing illusions; they thought someone had conspired to teleport Shiller here.
But when Bruce pulled up the surveillance footage, everyone was stunned. Shiller had walked here on his own, without any interference.
Because it was mealtime, almost all students and teachers were gathered in the cafeteria. Shiller encountered no one on his way to the staff cafeteria.
This was even more shocking than if he had been teleported.
"I don't feel any abnormal power on him," said Diana. "And I think Professor Shiller couldn't possibly be mind-controlled. His mind is too complex for anyone to control."
Shiller sighed, drawing everyone's attention to him, but now, to his eyes, they had all transformed.
Diana had lost all color, turning into a typical ancient Greek statue with a halo behind her head. Arthur's head had turned into a tuna, opening and closing its mouth and blowing bubbles. Bruce had one white angel wing and one dark bat wing sprouting from his back. Clark was even more severe—the room seemed to contain an entire sun.
The brightness dazzled Shiller so much he could hardly keep his eyes open. He had to shift his gaze and turn his head away, saying, "I'm not being controlled; I'm just in a bad mental state, constantly seeing illusions."
The others exchanged perplexed looks, seemingly unsure what to do next. But Shiller really couldn't stay in that room any longer; everyone was too bright, the whole room almost as luminous as the surface of the sun, a blinding white where he could see nothing clearly.
This left him with no chance to focus on anything to distract himself, and soon he was once again engulfed by illusions, with the real world growing increasingly distant, and their voices sounded as if from far away until, at last, he could hear nothing at all.
"If the Professor has become like this, there must be a reason. I think we should investigate," Diana said.
"I feel the Professor's thoughts are very chaotic," Clark said. "Too chaotic to discern his emotions."
Bruce picked up his phone and sent a message to Heavenly Sign Lilith, saying, "I've called Lilith over. She has the Mind Reading Technique; maybe she can clarify what's happening with Shiller's mental state."
Lilith quickly arrived. Hearing of the situation, she didn't hesitate to use her abilities at once.
However, she suddenly clutched her head, letting out a pained scream, and then squatted down.
Several people hurried to help her onto the bed next to them. Lilith, who always seemed so calm, sat there, gasping for air, and said somewhat frantically, "I saw something terrifying. I can't describe it. His mind is always filled with these things; I can't go any deeper."
Bruce steadied her shoulders, pressing down slightly to make her feel controlled. Lilith's state improved a bit, and Bruce looked into her eyes, asking, "Do you have any prophetic inspiration?"
After a long silence, Lilith took a deep breath and said, "Someone is going to die horribly, tonight."
"Who? Who's going to die horribly?"
"I don't know."
"Where will he die?"
"I don't know."
Bruce then asked a most crucial question.
"Is his death related to Shiller?"
Under the intense gaze of everyone present, Lilith, pale-faced, lifted her head and slowly nodded.