Crack.

A faint but unmistakable sound echoed from deep inside Levy's chest so quiet at first it seemed like the ghost of a noise, yet sharp enough to slice through the suffocating exhaustion clouding his mind.

Another crack followed. Then another.

It felt as if something ancient, something tightly bound for generations, was beginning to split open inside him.

Inside his chest, around his weakened heart, tiny circular seals light green in color, almost translucent had long sat dormant since the day he first ever got it. They circled his heart like chained rings, each one holding a piece of his bloodline's curse locked in place.

Now, those seals trembled.

Thin fracture lines spread across their surfaces, glowing faintly, almost pulsing in rhythm with his heartbeat.

Thump… thump… thump.

The beats grew heavier, louder, faster each one pushing against the weakening constraints.

Crack… crack…

The seals split wider.

And then

BOOM.

A final, deep rupture echoed inside Levy not through the air, but within his very being. The seals shattered all at once, disintegrating into dust-like green particles that dissolved into nothing inside his chest.

His heart surged violently, thumping so hard his ribcage shivered.

THUMP THUMP THUMP.

His half-dead eyes heavy, hollow, lifeless for days suddenly flickered with a faint glow. A soft green light pulsed through his pupils, barely visible but unmistakably alive.

Levy inhaled a shallow breath.

For the first time in hours, something like awareness sparked behind his gaze something sharp bright and instinctive.

He understood.

Even in this half-collapsed, starved, beaten state… he understood what had just been unleashed inside him. The instinct to use it rose naturally like breathing, like blinking, like something his body had always known how to do, even if his mind didn't.

Slowly, he closed his eyes.

He didn't need to think. The moment the seals broke, the knowledge awakened on its own.

Then almost peacefully he opened his eyes again.

The world shifted instantly.

Everything around him the crowd of Atlanteans, the sharp objects beneath Aurora's bleeding feet, the cold stone floor all twisted, distorted, and spun as though reality itself turned like a whirlpool around Levy's pupils.

The center of that whirlpool… was him.

The illusion burst forth.

Not forced not controlled just automatic.. Instinctive and natural.

It reached the closest mind to him the muscular yellow-scaled merman restraining him from behind. The man's eyes, once sharp and mocking, suddenly glazed over. His pupils unfocused, his breath stilled, his expression blanked into a stiff, statue-like emptiness.

His body remained standing exactly where it was.

But his mind…

His mind had already been ripped away.

Inside the illusion

"Where… am I?"

The muscular merman blinked his big fish-like eyes as he looked around. The drowning exchange, the blood, the crowd all were gone.

Instead, he stood in a tiny, cheap-looking old house. The walls cracked, the wooden beams warped with age, the familiar scent of dried salt and old seaweed lingering in the air.

His old home.

The home he once lived in with his mother.

"What…?" he whispered, confusion instantly clouded his head. "Why am I here? Wasn't I just… wasn't I watching that girl dance?"

He glanced around again, bewildered. The small place looked exactly as it had when he was a child right down to the chipped table and the cloth his mother used to embroider.

His gills fluttered anxiously.

Nothing felt wrong with his body, and yet everything felt wrong with the situation.

He blinked again. Then realization dawned at him naturally as just aware of it by itself.

"A dream," he murmured. "This is… a dream."

He looked at his own hands, flexed his fingers, then inhaled.

It felt real.

Too real.

"Why does it feel like this?" he whispered. "Did I fall asleep while standing there?"

It made sense. He had been holding that "useless man" for two straight days. He must've dozed off. His mind must have slipped.

But something still felt off.

He could sense that he could wake up at any time like when one becomes aware they are dreaming and can choose to force themselves awake. Obviously not aware of what illusion is even.

"Yes. That's it," he decided. "Just a dream. I should wake up."

He was already preparing to do exactly that

when a voice called out.

"Save me…"

A soft, trembling voice he knew far too well.

His entire body froze.

That voice belonged to

"…Mother?"

He turned around slowly, dread crawling up his spine like icy seaweed.

And then he saw her.

His mother.

Kneeling on the dirt floor, her head hanging weakly forward. Blood soaked her clothes, dripping down her arms. Her long hair once thick and silky was torn out in chunks, strands stuck to her bloodied face.

One of her arms laid severed on the ground beside her.

Her remaining hand trembled as she reached toward him, fingers shaking.

Behind her stood a man.

An unknown figure. Holding a knife against her neck.

The merman's pupils shrank violently, his gills flaring open in shock.

His heart thundered inside his chest.

Thump thump thump.

"What… what kind of nightmare is this…" he whispered, voice cracking as fear and rage battled inside him. His breath quickened. His fins tensed. His body trembled at the sight he never imagined even in his darkest thoughts.

His mother.

The only person he had ever loved.

Bloody, broken and begging?

He swallowed hard, trying to force calm into his voice.

"This… This is fake," he whispered to himself. "Mama is dead. I buried her. This… this isn't real."

He tried to repeat it, tried to anchor himself to reality.

Fake fake fake.

But no matter how many times he said it, his eyes refused to look away from her.

And every detail felt too real.

Too textured.

Too close.

The smell of blood.

The tremble of her breath.

The quiet, choked sob that left her throat.

The knife pressing deeper.

Rage bloomed in his chest. Hatred… sharp enough to choke him.

The man holding the knife

He wanted to tear him apart.

"I should wake up," he muttered desperately, trying to break this nightmare like he'd break any dream. "I should just wake up. This is just.. just.. just a nightmare."

But he couldn't force himself out.

Because his heart wasn't listening.

Fear. Rage. Grief. All of it held him prisoner.

And Levy's illusion born from desire, memory, and the deepest pain locked around him like chains.

Whether he realized it or not…

This nightmare was already too horrible, too perfectly tailored to his heart.

"Juveru… save me, son… it's hurting… it's hurting so much… please save me… your sister… these monsters killed your sister… cut her into pieces and… and…"

His mother's voice cracked as she cried out, kneeling on the dirt floor, her trembling hands stretched toward him. Blood streaked her cheeks, mixing with her tears as they ran down her face. Her entire body shook violently, her breath hitching as though every second alive required a battle.

The yellow-skinned man Juveru froze.

His lungs stopped working. His heart missed a beat.

That name…

That name she used only she ever called him that. Not a single soul in the world used that name except his mother. It was hers and his alone. A name that belonged only to that small, warm home he once had.

"Sister…?" he whispered involuntarily, his voice cracking. "What… what about my sister…?"

His throat tightened until it felt like he might choke on his own heartbeat.

Then

A wet, sickening sound splattered near his mother's knees.

Juveru's gaze snapped downward.

Right beside her… something appeared in the illusion like it had always belonged there: shredded pieces of flesh cut unevenly, some small as coins, some larger, all glistening with fresh blood lay in a forming pool of dark red. Hair tangled in the mess. Torn fabric stuck to sticky surfaces.

He blinked.

Once.

Twice.

His pupils shrank, trembling violently.

Those clothes…

Those were his sister's. Her favorite outfit. The one she refused to take off on festival days. The childish pattern, the tiny sea-flower embroidery his mother spent nights stitching it was unmistakable.

His chest constricted so hard it hurt to breathe.

And then the nightmare deepened.

More figures appeared several men, stepping out of the shadows like they had always been waiting. Their bodies dripped with blood, their weapons painted in layers of drying crimson. Some smiled. Others twisted their lips in cruel amusement.

Juveru's vision blurred at the edges.

"No… no… this dream is too much…" he whispered, stumbling one step back as his legs wobbled. "This isn't… this isn't real… right? I should leave… I should… I should wake up… This is fake. It's fake… So fake."

His voice trembled, sounding more like a desperate plea than a statement.

He kept repeating it but each time, the words felt weaker, more uncertain, swallowed by the overwhelming smell of blood filling the air.

Just as he forced another shaky breath

"Hehe… I enjoyed your family too much," a mocking voice whispered right beside his ear. "So fun. I even fed your sister to your mother. Heh… delicious, wasn't it?"

Juveru's blood ran cold.

He turned his head stiffly like his neck had rusted to see a man standing right beside him, smiling with a madness that chilled him to the bone.

"What…?" Juveru croaked.

He looked quickly toward his mother again and his world collapsed.

The blood around her mouth was thicker now, dribbling down her chin. Her lips seemed stained.. no, smeared as though she had tried wiping desperately, but it only spread further. Strands of hair clung to the sticky red.

And then.. as if the nightmare wanted to crush the last piece of sanity in him

His sister's clothes appeared stuck to the corner of his mother's lips.

Blood dripped from her mouth like a small waterfall.

Juveru's mind screamed, but no sound left his throat.

No no no no no.. this is .. this can't this isn't

His breath hitched violently, his chest rising in uneven, panicked spasms. The illusion twisted his grief and rewove it into terror so potent it felt like poison coursing in his veins.

Then.. the man beside him casually slung an arm around Juveru's shoulders, smiling like a friend sharing a joke.

"Too scary, right?" he whispered. "You must be thinking this is a dream… right?"

Juveru couldn't speak. He could barely blink.

The man leaned closer, voice dripping with venomous delight.

"This is not."

Before Juveru could react the man flicked a dagger and dragged it across Juveru's cheek in a shallow but sharp slice.

A hot line of pain tore through his skin.

Juveru flinched, inhaling sharply as his hand flew to his face. His fingertips touched warm liquid. When he pulled them away, red stained his fingers.

He felt it.

He felt the sting.

"This… this can't be true…" Juveru whispered, shaking his head violently. "It's… it's a dream… a nightmare… I can leave… I can leave anytime… please… please let this be a dream…"

Panic swelled inside him, suffocating him from all sides. The room grew smaller, darker, oppressive. The smell of blood grew overwhelming, seeping into his senses like a toxin.

But the pain on his face the stinging, sharp, burning sensation refused to fade.

He staggered backward, eyes shaking like a trapped animal's.

This wasn't just a nightmare anymore.

It was erasing the line between illusion and reality inch by inch.

He tried to force himself awake tried to will himself out of the moment but his thoughts scattered like broken glass, slipping from his grasp.

T-this pain… if it's a dream… why does it hurt… why does it hurt this much…

He was still reeling when

Slash.

A quick, brutal sound echoed.

Juveru's eyes jerked toward his mother.

Her head was no longer attached to her body.

It rolled… slowly… across the floor… leaving a wet trail of smeared crimson.

Until it hit his foot and stopped.

His entire body locked into place.

He stared down, trembling violently, as his mother's severed head still dripping slowly turned its gaze upward to meet his.

Her dead eyes stared into his soul.

"You… you didn't even try to save… your mother," she whispered, her bloody lips barely moving. "You're such a useless son…"

Her voice faded as her eyes dulled, life disappearing completely.

"No…" Juveru croaked, stepping back so quickly he nearly fell. "No no no no this.. this isn't.. this can't this can't be happening."

His world spiraled.

He couldn't tell what was real anymore.

He couldn't breathe.

He couldn't think.

He couldn't move.

He just stared, hollow, as the head lay at his feet.

And then

Laughter.

Loud, ringing, cruel laughter erupted all around him as the men in the illusion began roaring with amusement.

"USELESS SON!"

"USELESS SON!"

"USELESS SON!!"

Their voices echoed and multiplied, bouncing off the walls, pressing in on him from every direction until his ears felt like they might burst.

Juveru folded inward, expression completely destroyed fear, guilt, grief, rage, everything tearing through him at once.

His illusion was no longer a dream.

It was a cage.

And he was trapped in the most horrifying truth he could never escape:

He no longer knew what was real… and what wasn't.

"I.. I…" Juveru's lips trembled violently. His hands shook as if they no longer belonged to him. His entire body quivered like a cornered animal. "I… I… I am not… I'm not…"

The words escaped him in a broken murmur, barely recognizable as speech. His voice sounded like something squeezed out of a throat choking on terror.

His gaze darted around wildly left, right, at the bloody ground, at the bodies, at his mother's severed head lying at his feet as if begging the world to suddenly make sense again. But nothing made sense. Everything only grew darker, louder, more suffocating.

The worst moment of his life was collapsing around him, swallowing him whole.

Then

His trembling fingers brushed against something cold and solid.

His bone dagger.

He froze for a heartbeat.

Slowly, mechanically, as if his muscles moved on their own, he lowered his gaze. The dagger was gripped tightly in his fist white knuckled, trembling, yet firm, as if instinct had taken over where sanity had collapsed.

Then he lifted his eyes again, looking at all the figures around him those men laughing, mocking, smearing cruelty across the air. Their laughter drilled into his skull, tearing at his remaining consciousness.

Something inside him snapped.

An animalistic sound tore from him a half scream, half snarl.. raw, hoarse, soaked in agony and hatred.

"I AM GOING TO KILL ALL OF YOUUUUUUU!!" he roared, his voice cracking under the weight of his madness. "YOU KILLED MY MOTHER!!!"

Before any illusion shadow could react, before any sense could anchor him, Juveru lunged

exploding forward with blind fury.

He didn't hesitate.

Not even for a fraction of a second.

He turned sharply to the man standing closest to him and plunged the dagger deep into his chest.

The blade sank through flesh with a sickening wet crunch, sliding all the way to the hilt.

The man gasped in shock eyes widening in disbelief but Juveru didn't watch.

He didn't even pull the dagger out.

He simply released the weapon entirely as if it were no longer important and spun toward the next figure, sprinting with the desperate fury of a wild beast.

Inside his head, the illusion had fully consumed him.

Dream and reality had merged into a single horrifying truth.

He no longer cared who these people were.

He no longer cared what was real or fake. It was so horrifying that even if known it is dream he would not stop until killing these people.

All he knew was simple, burning, overwhelming:

They killed his mother.

They killed his sister.

They destroyed everything.

He would kill them all even if it meant dying right after.

Outside the illusion, in the real world

Levy watched everything from above, his gaze hollow, distant, eerie. His half-dead eyes were glazed but focused looking down into the nightmare he had created.

He hovered over it like the god of that fabricated world silent and unmoving his consciousness tethered to the illusion he accidentally mastered.

His breathing was weak, ragged, but steady enough. His body was trembling, but his mind… strangely clear.

He understood what had occurred.

The seals those ancient, pale-green restraints circling his heart had cracked, splintered, and shattered moments earlier. And with their destruction, his ancestral ability the Heart Illusion had awakened.

He had not planned this. He had not consciously chosen the scene. He hadn't even had the strength to think anything complex.

But the ability had responded to his command anyway.

All he had done… was whisper in his mind one simple intention:

Show him what he loves the most. Show him what he fears the most. Combine them. Just break him.

And the Heart Illusion obeyed.

Unlike ordinary illusions, where one must imagine and form every detail manually, Levy's boon did it instinctively. Automatically. Perfectly.

It reached into Juveru's deepest emotional core pulled out his strongest love, his strongest terror and fused them into a single nightmare so real that even knowing it might be false wasn't enough to escape.

Levy had only watched.

He hadn't directed the scenes. He hadn't crafted every detail. He didn't have the strength to. He had simply allowed the ability to run freely, and it built the nightmare itself flawless, immersive, devastating.

This was what the Heart Illusion was.

If the target's emotions were strong… the illusion would become inescapable.

And Juveru's emotions were overflowing.

In the real world, only an instant had passed.

Not even a full breath of time.

Yet the effects were devastating.

Suddenly

The yellow-skinned guard's eyes rolled and turned vacant, blank as a corpse. His grip on Levy vanished completely.

And then

Without warning, he cried out, tears gushing from his eyes as he dropped Levy entirely. Before anyone could process what was happening, he grabbed his dagger… and drove it with full force into the chest of the octopus man standing beside him.

"GRRAAAAHHH!!!"

The blade pierced deep.

Octopus man Krolious gasped, staggering backward with sheer disbelief carved across his face.

"What.. what the fuck?!" he shouted, choking as he tried to comprehend the sudden betrayal. "Why you?!"

But Juveru didn't hear.

He was trapped in his illusion his nightmare and to him, every Atlantian present was a murderer of his family.

He let out another agonized scream and launched himself toward the others slamming, punching, clawing, trying desperately to kill anyone he could reach.

Chaos erupted instantly.

"WHAT IS HE DOING?!!"

"KILL HIM! KILL HIM NOW!!"

"He's gone MAD!"

Krolious, clutching the deep stab wound in his chest, roared through gritted teeth:

"KILL HIM! HE TRIED TO KILL ME! END HIM!!!"

Dozens of Atlantian guards rushed forward, weapons drawn, surrounding Juveru… who fought back with hysterical strength, crying and screaming like a man whose world had shattered.

And in that chaos

Levy was free.

No longer held by the guard, his frail body staggered forward, barely able to stand. He stumbled, almost collapsing immediately, but somehow somehow he found the strength to stay upright.

His hollow, half-dead eyes lifted.

He saw Aurora still dancing, feet covered in shredded flesh and blood, tears streaking down her cheeks her expression stunned as she watched the sudden internal war erupt among the Atlantians.

For a moment, their eyes met.

Aurora froze, shock flickering across her face.

And Levy

who had not eaten for six days, who could barely stand, whose body was failing

ran.

He ran toward her.

Every step trembled. Every breath shook. His legs nearly collapsed under him with each movement. But he ran anyway, straight toward the girl who had been dancing through agony for him.

For Levy

He didn't know why his body could move.

He didn't know where this strength came from.

He didn't know if he was about to die in the next heartbeat.

He only knew one thing:

He had to reach her.

Aurora's eyes widened the moment she saw him.

Levy weak, hollow-eyed, barely able to stand, looking like a skeleton held up only by stubbornness and something desperate inside him was suddenly running toward her.

Not stumbling.

Not dragging himself.

Running.

His bare feet slammed down onto the mound of sharp debris she had been dancing on, the same jagged shards that had shredded her feet again and again for two days straight. They cut straight into his skin instantly deep, brutal slices but he didn't even flinch.

It was as if his nerves no longer worked.

Or as if the pain simply meant nothing to him anymore.

Aurora's heart clenched painfully at the sight.

He didn't stop or hesitate.

He didn't slow.

He just ran.

Straight toward her.

And before she could even react

he leaped at her.

His thin arms opened wide, trembling, yet determined. She instinctively reached out to catch him, eyes widening with shock. His weight little as it was now hit her full force, making her stumble backward.

"Mmhm!" she gasped.

The sharp debris beneath her feet shifted, and together they fell, tumbling off the bloody mound and crashing onto the cold stone ground.

The impact was hard.

Pain shot through her back.

But she didn't even care.

Her arms were wrapped around Levy, holding him instinctively as if afraid he'd vanish if she let go.

For one heartbeat

Everything felt still.

His face was pressed against her shoulder.

Her arms held him tightly. His shallow breaths trembled against her skin.

Then Aurora snapped back to reality.

"Hey.. hey! We're saved! Let's… let's run away!" she exclaimed breathlessly, grabbing his arm with trembling urgency. She pushed herself up despite the lingering sting in her healing feet. "Come on get up, we need to move!"

Her feet had nearly finished regenerating the glass-like shards of debris were being pushed out by her immortal flesh, sealing the wounds from inside out. But blood still coated her ankles and calves, staining her a frightening red.

Levy, however… wasn't looking at escaping.

His dazed, sunken eyes locked onto her face.

And suddenly

He reached out with a trembling hand and touched her cheek.

His fingers shook violently, barely able to hold steady, but they cupped her face with a gentleness contrasting the chaos around them.

His voice cracked. Weak. Barely a whisper.

"Never… never do that again…" he breathed. "I..I told you… not to… why did you… why…?"

He repeated the word "why" like it was tearing him apart.

Aurora froze.

Her heart gave a small, painful twist. She had never seen anyone look like this broken, terrified, relieved all at once.

"You… are you worried for me?" she whispered softly, almost tenderly. Her expression softened in spite of everything.

She placed her hand atop his, gently holding it against her cheek as she smiled faintly, trying to calm him. "I.. "

But before she could say anything more

A loud, cold voice cut through the moment.

"Your feet stopped."

----

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