I hovered in the air, my tiny body trembling but steady, staring straight into Red's black, soulless eyes.
The System screen flashed before me.
[Skill Evolved]
[Psynapse Boost -> Psynapse Overdrive Level 1]
[Psynapse Overdrive] : An evolved form of Psynapse Boost. Greatly enhances perception, cognitive speed, and mental resilience. Impose your will onto both self and surroundings.
A strange sensation went through my brain. I felt like the whole world inside this memory was under my control.
I stared at Red and I could even vaguely feel the emotion she was radiating. Shock, surprise and some more emotions.
But I ignored this new sensation.
I had one goal right now and it wasn't survival.
It was payback.
I wanted her to feel it.
The same pain that had torn through my heart when I watched my father explode into a rain of blood. The same helplessness that crushed me when I saw my mother cry, frozen and powerless.
I wanted her to feel that raw, cold terror. The disbelief. The hole that opens in your chest and keeps widening, swallowing everything you are.
I extended my will toward Red and tried to freeze her body in place.
For a moment, she stiffened, her limbs locking up, her smile faltering.
But with a sharp snap of her will, she shattered the ice, and her eyes widened in shock.
'So she still has some control over this memory,' I thought grimly.
I floated higher into the sky, my tiny body glowing faintly.
Then, I unleashed my will.
The red sky above us cracked like glass. Darkness spilled across it, drowning the crimson light.
The heavens turned black, deep and endless, with veins of golden thunder rolling through the clouds.
The ground trembled as if the world itself had recognized the shift in power.
Red looked up, her mouth tightening into a thin line. She floated upward too, her hair whipping around her, her aura flaring as she gathered her strength.
But I was already moving.
First, I turned to my mother. She still stood frozen, shock etched onto her face. Gently, with all the care I could muster, I pushed her away through the air and surrounded her in a shimmering golden sphere, locking her away from the chaos that was about to unfold. Although, she was just a thought and memory I wanted to protect her.
Now, there was only Red and me.
I conjured my first weapon.
A single spear of ice, larger than a tree trunk, appeared in the air beside me. It spun lazily at first, then faster, a storm of frost swirling around its edges. With a flick of my hand, it shot toward Red like a comet.
She sneered and raised her hand. A fiery barrier surged to life before her, but the ice spear hit with the force of a meteor. The explosion sent cracks through her shield and forced her backward.
Before she could recover, I summoned five more spears. They rotated around me in a brilliant circle, humming with cold energy.
Red gritted her teeth and threw out her hand. Blades of wind screamed toward me, slicing the air apart.
I slammed my will into them, bending their paths away from my body. The winds twisted and scattered, harmlessly tearing through the empty air around me.
Then, I launched the spears all at once.
Red conjured a mirror made of silver light to defend, but the first spear shattered it on impact. The second and third drove her downward, and the last two exploded in bursts of sharp, glittering ice that rained across the battlefield.
She roared and summoned a wave of molten lava beneath her, riding it upward like a storm.
I answered her with the sky itself.
A massive cyclone of golden lightning spiraled into existence above me, its core spinning faster than any storm of the real world. With both hands, I sent it crashing down toward her.
Red barely managed to dodge aside, but the edge of the lightning clipped her, ripping through the lava she commanded and tossing her body like a ragdoll across the broken earth.
I pushed forward.
I conjured a new weapon: dozens of swords made of obsidian and fire, rotating in rings around me like a crown. With each pulse of my will, a sword shot out, streaking toward her.
Red fought back desperately. She created a dragon of black mist to swallow the swords, but the fire inside my weapons burned through the mist with ease and smashed into her, reducing her body to ash, only for it to reform a moment later.
She stared at me and shouted, her voice filled with anger and confusion.
"What did you do? How are you able to do this?"
I didn't answer. I didn't even look at her properly. Her screams didn't matter anymore.
Even after I erased her, she reformed in an instant, like she was stitched back together by the memory itself. I knew then, simple attacks wouldn't work. I had to erase her grip on my mind completely.
Above me, the black sky rumbled as golden lightning coiled and cracked like living beasts.
I reached out with my will, and the lightning obeyed.
Streams of blinding light poured down from the clouds, gathering right below me.
First, two thick legs formed, made entirely of roaring lightning. Then a huge torso, wide enough to crush mountains. Long arms grew out, crackling with raw energy. A monstrous head shaped from pure thunder crowned the construct.
A giant made of lightning, almost five hundred meters tall, now stood beneath me as I floated high above.
I narrowed my eyes at Red. Once again, I slammed my will onto her body, trying to freeze her where she stood.
She gritted her teeth, her face twisting with effort. For a moment, her body locked in place but then, slowly, she broke free, her movements jerky and forced.
I let out a slow breath.
"Fine," I muttered under my breath.
I waved my hand down.
The lightning giant roared, pulling its massive fist back, crackling with deadly force. Then, with brutal speed, it swung forward, aiming straight at Red like a hammer falling from the sky.
Her eyes widened in panic.
The ground beneath her exploded in a violent eruption of red and orange.
A lava giant burst out of the earth, molten and burning, flames leaking from the cracks in its rocky skin. Its shape was rough and incomplete at first — blobs of lava dripping from its limbs — but Red screamed, forcing it into shape. The giant thickened, hardened, its surface blackening like cooled magma with fiery veins glowing underneath.
Without hesitation, the lava giant swung its molten fist upward to meet the incoming blow.
The two giants' fists collided.
BOOM!
A shockwave exploded outward, ripping the air apart. The ground split open in every direction. Trees and buildings were uprooted like they were made of paper, and huge chunks of earth floated into the sky.
The impact sent waves of fire and lightning crashing into the surroundings, reshaping the entire world around us.
I roared and poured even more of my will into the lightning construct. Power surged through it like a raging storm.
The two giant fists, locked in a brutal stalemate, finally shifted.
With a deafening crack, the golden fist smashed straight into the lava giant's chest.
Boom!
The impact echoed like the end of the world. Cracks split across the lava giant's body, glowing red from within. It stumbled backward, massive feet tearing trenches into the shattered ground, before it lost balance completely and slammed into the earth.
The giant skidded across the broken land, carving a deep scar into the terrain as molten chunks of its body flew off in every direction.