Neither Ro nor the dragon would be able to defeat or even gain an equal footing against Walter Schmidt alone. But by working together, they have managed to bring him to his knees.
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: "Damn!"
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 attitude that gives reassurance 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!"
*******************************
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 anticipated 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: "Shit!"
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 nobody 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."
*******************************
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 hell was that bastard 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 title of the strongest in the world truly dawned on them?
*******************************
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It has been a day. Not really, but according to the time on the island right now, it has; though if one tries to use their sense of time well, they would know that it has only been two hours. It has only been two hours since the fiasco with the time began.
Ethan: "Well,"
He says as he steps out of the bushes into the clearing.
Ethan: "I am finally here."
A faint smile is on his lips and there's good reason for it. He is seeing what can be called one of the most important reminders of history for the very first time.
Ethan: "Ha!"
A sigh escapes his lips as he looks at the golden monument. He is neither taken in by its beauty nor disgusted by it. Even though there is a smile on his lips, there is no real awe felt by seeing the monument. The only reason for the smile is the sense of achievement felt by him in reaching this place.
Ethan: "Still though,"
And yet, he can't deny that there's something amiss.
Ethan: "I'm sure …"
There should be something there that is not.
Ethan: "there should be a pond here."
He remembers the legend well. He has studied about it many a times so as to completely memorize everything about it. And it is times like these when that memorization helps him noticing things that may or may not seem insignificant.
Ethan: "And then,"
His eyes, as they try to look for the pond, spot something else that catches his interest.
Ethan: "So she went in, huh?"
He understands immediately that his partner has gone in the tomb as he sees her footsteps leading up to the gate of the tomb. There are, however, no footsteps inside the tomb.
Ethan: "And she's wasn't alone either."
He says as he sees three other footprints besides her going in the tomb as well. And just like her footprints, they can only be seen up till the entrance.
Ethan: "Now this is interesting. If I try to step in the tomb, I would probably find out the reason for that. But, I'll hold off on that for now."
He decides to first properly search the clearing and everything around it. After all, it's quite possible he would be led to a place he can't leave just by stepping backwards when he steps in the tomb.
Ethan: "So, I am really curious about where the pond is."
He puts a hand on his chin as he wonders about that.
???: "I can tell you if you want me to."
A voice, a familiar voice comes from behind.
Ethan: "…"
He recognizes that voice, and is caught off-guard by it.
???: "But I suppose you probably hate me so much you wouldn't want to hear anything from me."
His eyes stare at the ground as his mind clogs up with hatred. The desire to kill the owner of this voice takes over him as he turns around.
???: "See, I knew you hate me."
The voice continues. As he hears that, he realizes something. He realizes he was about to do something really stupid. And he steps back.
Ethan: "No, no,"
???: "No?"
Ethan: "No, please, feel free to tell me."
He says while his head hangs low and his eyes stare at the ground trying to hide his anger and hatred.
Ethan: "Where is the pond mentioned in the legends, Ozyllus?"
He asks the owner of that voice.
Ozyllus: "Well, the pond's on the opposite end of the island to the beach you initially landed on."
Ethan: "I see."
He understands that if he loses himself to anger or hatred right now, all the things he had done for so long would be for naught. So, he has to stop himself. He has to think rationally. He has to look at the man who turned his life upside down and try to talk to him calmly and rationally as if the hatred from 12 years ago has disappeared.
Ethan: "Then, tell me, why are you here?"
He holds those hands that are shaking from anger and asks so.
Ozyllus: "That's a good question, considering your position."
Ethan: "My Position?"
As Ozyllus sees his reaction, he ponders on how to give the answer to his question. After a moment of silence, he asks,
Ozyllus: "Do you know why I chose your eyes?"
Ethan's lips curl in disgust as he hears that question.
Ethan: "… I don't."
Ozyllus: "It was because you didn't have a purpose."
Ethan: "What!?"
His eyebrows twitch and his hands tighten but he is still somehow able to stop himself from attacking the so-called god.
Ozyllus: "It's because, out of all the people in the world that I saw every day, you seemed like the most devoid of a reason to live."
He says as he turns to look at the sky.
Ozyllus: "It was as if there you had no real desires, as if you were living for the sake of living."
He continues on.
Ozyllus: "You looked like you'll easily jump off a cliff if you feel like it, because there was just nothing driving you to live."
Ethan hears those words with wide-eyed shock on his face.
Ethan: "T-That's … bullshit!"
He says to the so-called god.
Ozyllus: "Is it?"
Ethan: "Of course it is. I was an eight-year-old boy. Maybe I had just not found anything that I was passionate about, but that doesn't mean I was …"
Ozyllus: "You were."
Ozyllus cuts in.
Ozyllus: "It was not that you had no passion for anything you did; it was that you didn't have any feeling at all towards it."
Ethan is left unable to respond. Memories of when he was an eight-year-old could have easily been forgotten by him if his life remained ordinary. But the incident that happened that changed his life forever was etched into his memory. And so, he couldn't forget the days around that fateful day either.
He remembers them. He remembers them well. And so, he can't refute Ozyllus' words, because they spell the truth.
Ozyllus: "If you missed eating, you didn't feel anything. If you missed class, you didn't feel anything. If you were ignored by everyone, you didn't feel anything. If you were bullied by everyone, you didn't feel anything. If you were congratulated on your birthday by everyone, you didn't feel anything."
Ozyllus keeps wording those irrefutable facts and Ethan is left with no room to escape.
Ozyllus: "It was as if, no, you really were … hollow. You were hollow inside."
*******************************
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