Zen quickly passed through the door with no effort. He had been practicing with his phantom form skill for the past few days, so he was quite efficient with it now.
Zen quickly found Clyde sleeping and floated closer to him. He wasn't sure if this would work but what did he have to lose.
He knew from study that the human mind was much more susceptible to manipulation when in a relaxed state,a basic example of such was hypnotism.
[Soul link Lv4]
Zen was a bit confused when he levelled up the skill because nothing had visibly changed, but he couldn't exactly ask the system so he just ignored it.
Zen was about to use the skill when Freya suggested something.
"See if you can possess him"
At first Zen thought it was dumb, but remembering how most of Freya's so called dumb advice had been very useful, he decided to go for it.
Zen backed up a little. He remembered what the system message had said about "willing" his skills,so he kept mentally willing or imagining himself flying into Clyde's body.
Zen quickly charged towards and through Clyde's body and was surprised when he didn't pass through him but seemed to be slowly moving into him.
Just when he thought it would work
[Skill level insufficient]
[Other requirements not met]
Zen's SP was immediately reduced to zero as he was sent flying back into his body.
Zen suddenly felt a pain in his chest as he opened his eyes.
After a few minutes of waiting, the pain gradually disappeared as his SP filled back up.
"What was that? It looked like you were really about to do it"
Zen was still a bit suspicious whether he was really about to possess him, but he didn't say anything and simply exited his body again.
Zen looked down at himself and realized he had become quite used to leaving his own body.
He didn't sit around to think as he quickly went to Clyde and activated his soul link.
He couldn't communicate with Black outside his body so he had no idea what was going on.
Zen waited for less than a second before he felt the familiar link. He suddenly "closed his eyes" and when he opened them again, he was suprised to find himself somewhere else.
"Hmm? I thought i couldn't..."
Zen suddenly stopped as he noticed the sight of this place in chaos.
The entire place was a war-torn hellscape. He looked around and all he could see was Clyde being tortured.
Zen blinked curiously and ended the skill before entering his body.
"I already got started. Did you see? What do you think?" Black asked.
Zen was impressed. Black had told him that it was capable of manipulating minds when in direct contact with a person's brain and nervous system, but he didn't think such a small piece would be able to cause such a scene.
He had previously taught Black all he knew about pain and torture,both psychological and physical, and even Black admitted that his knowledge on the topic was a disturbing amount, to which Zen replied that he was himself was taught some, and learned some from.... experimentation.
Immediately it had heard that and realized that knowledge could be gained through a method other than the neural link, Black had said that it also wanted to experiment to learn new things to which Zen agreed. The scene that was currently in Clyde's mind was a result of that.
If Zen could look inside Clyde's head, he would see that hundreds of thin black tendrils and threads had completely covered Clyde's brain.
Zen internally noted that if he ever got the chance, he would consider renaming Black, Nightmare,or perhaps Hellscape.
"Impressive, but have you considered another form of torture"
Black was curious. When it came to most other things, it was as indifferent as Zen, but it seemed quite interested in this.
"What kind?"
"What you're doing right now is aimed at causing him nothing but pain"
"I assumed that was the goal" Black replied
Zen was about to say something when the view of Clyde's torment flashed in his mind.
"Sorry, mental link" Black apologized.
Zen didn't really care and continued.
"You're correct, but we also want to wear him down mentally, making him more vulnerable both physically and mentally. That will make the final kill easier, and will make it very difficult to trace it back to us"
Black had a eureka moment
"Ah, because his mental and physical decline will be very obvious to others. I understand, but how?" Black asked, enjoying every second of this.
"Do you remember those books we read in the infirmary?"
"I believe i do. What about them"
"Remember that i said one of them was rather eccentric "
"The pornographic novel you said lady Freya gave you
"Exactly. Can you find memories on his family and people he care about the most?"
"Already done. He has a father, sister, brother, and mother,as well as a girl he has a strange affection for. They're currently being tortured alongside him in his mindscape"
"Good. You're going to need to make a few additions to their torture"
Black expectantly listened as Zen gave him instructions.
*****************
Zen found himself once again in Clyde's mind and his ears were immediately assaulted by the sound of euphoric moans of pain and pleasure combined with pleas for help.
Zen looked indifferently at the morally questionable erotic scene with multiple elements of torture, sexual violence and dehumanization, using his soul link to twist Clyde's mind even more. This was created from the joint effort of
He watched blankly as Clyde was tortured and forced to watched his family being abused,raped and even killed over and over again. Watching all his loved ones suffer through pain, degradation , and worst of all forced pleasure at the hands of.....wait a minute.
Zen could clearly recognize his own face at the center of the delusion Black had cooked up, and looking closer,he could tell that Black got every detail right, even his facial expression.
"Impressive"
Zen decided to re-enter his body and asked Black about it.
"Oh yeah. You said we needed to increase his hostility towards you,so i thought it would be a good idea. Is there a problem?"
"None. Quite the opposite in fact. Good job " Zen said, suprised he didn't think of that
"I have an excellent teacher" Black replied
"There's only so much the human mind can take. Let's leave before he wakes up"
"Oh we don't need to worry about that. I accessed the part of his brain that controls sleep. I could literally keep him forcefully asleep forever. In fact,why don't we just do that and force him to live through these nightmares until his death "
Zen thought for a few seconds before declining.
Zen explained that if they decide to do that, the school would have to get involved and sooner or later Black would be discovered inside him. This wasn't good because Zen had a deadline to complete the quest. And even if they found somewhere to hide the body, there was no guarantee they wouldn't be found out.
Zen promptly left his body and as Black seemed to have everything covered when it came to Clyde, Zen turned to his three roommates.
"Time to make a few prison wardens"
Zen looked in their minds and realized that they all already had vicious thoughts in mind for Clyde who happened to be the weakest in the dorm. It seemed getting defeated by a level zero had reduced his credibility even more.
Zen knew how effective those dark emotions were and other than using anger,pride and greed, Zen added one other factor,FEAR. Zen multiplied their negative emotions tenfold and instilled in them this unreasonable immense fear.
Zen only had one more person to go when he suddenly felt a strange sensation and was pulled back into his body forcefully.
"Hey,wake up sleepy head" Zen heard a soft whisper above him as the person gently shook him.
Zen looked up and instantly recognized the beautiful silver eyes of the girl above him.
"Zaria? What are you doing here?" He asked
"I should be asking you that. I couldn't sleep, decided to take a walk around. You?"
"Same. I guess i must've fallen asleep" Zen said as he stood up
Zaria giggled
"Yeah,i thought as much. You really should get more sleep. Even during class you doze off. Though I guess I'm not really one to talk either"
Black suddenly slid off his wrist and hopped into the palm of Zaria who seemed happy to see it.
"Hey there Black. How are you"
Black wrote an ok on her hand since they couldn't communicate, earning a smile from her.
"Do you two want to join me on my walk?"
Zen agreed. He was about done here anyway, and it didn't seem like Black would leave her any time soon.
"Don't worry,i can torture him at the same time, and there's no distance limit to my control" Black assured him.
Zen walked around the dorms alongside Zaria in silence for a few minutes before she broke the silence.
"I heard you got in trouble with the second years"
"It's nothing important"
Zaria suddenly tapped her watch and a recording of the interaction with Keith started playing.
"Maximilian was recording. He gave me this. That Keith guy.... Is he...?"
"Yes and no" Zen briefly answered.
"What?"
"That's why he hates me. Because I'm everything he's not"
"I don't understand "
"I was chosen, he was rejected " Zen said, deciding to give a little more context.
" I guess you could have called us friends at some point, but growing up,all we knew was survival of the fittest. The only chance at survival you had was to be the best. But the problem was that I was the best,over and over and over again. But then we got our abilities , and i got nothing. Surprisingly, for some time,nothing changed,i was still the best. The.... organization said i was the closest they had gotten to their goal. I was perfect, i was....chosen. Keith and a few others got dissatisfied, rageful. No matter how hard he tried, he was never good enough. He was eventually deemed a failure, and banished by the organization and his so called family. I guess he still blames me "
Zaria couldn't wrap her head around what she had heard.
"He was banished? Why? Because you were a better fighter than him?"
"I never said he wasn't a good fighter. I said he was a failure. There are other factors other than combat ability required. I never said I was perfect just because of my fighting ability. Although it was a factor,it wasn't all "
Zaria wanted to ask why his family didn't plead for him but she remembered that Zen said love wasn't exactly a common concept. She was beginning to see how cruel the organization was not just to others but its own.
"How old was he when this happened?"
"Twelve"
Zaria could only sigh as she realized she could no longer think of Keith as a villian.
Seeing her reaction, Zen considered not telling her that over ninety percent of players die at the age of ten, and among those were all of Keith's siblings, but he eventually did.
Zaria couldn't find any words . She looked at Zen and realized that he had survived quite a bit at such a young age. Even Black who was on her shoulder seemed to be digesting this new information.
Zaria wanted to ask what exactly he was chosen for but decided not to.
"Why do you trust me?"
Zen asked the question on his mind.
Zaria sighed as she herself wasn't completely sure.
"Do you remember what you said that day when you went out of control"
Zen shook his head.
"You told me you didn't want to go back. You said you would never ever go back. I guess I believed you,i could feel your pain and anguish. That place broke you more than even you know, didn't it? Good thing it's gone now, right?"
"....."