Michi smirked, looking down at Leo's floating soul. "Yes, Leo. You're on the right track. Every single piece of your suffering stems right back to Null."
PHANTOM SWOOSH!
Without warning, Leo pulled back his ghostly fist and threw a desperate punch straight at Michi's face! His spectral hand passed completely through Michi's cheek like air.
"Stop lying!" Leo screamed, his soul trembling with rage. "Everything you just said was a lie! A damn lie!"
Michi let out a long, heavy sigh, shaking his head. "Are you really this stupid? Fine... let me show you something."
GRAB!
Michi's hand snapped forward, catching Leo's spectral jaw.
"Red Access," Michi whispered.
Red Access—a terrifying psychological ability that grants its user total control over a target's mind to rewrite, delete, or inject memories. The only strict condition was that the user had to completely cover the victim's eyes, ears, and mouth with their right hand. Since Leo was currently a phantom, he couldn't touch Michi, but Michi's ability bypassed the physical plane entirely.
Michi's palm clamped over Leo's face. Instantly, false memories flooded Leo's mind.
In the mind's eye, a warm, golden sunlight filtered through a bedroom window. Iris woke up beside Leo, her eyes bright and filled with pure love. Together, they walked into a cozy kitchen, laughing as they made breakfast side-by-side. They shared playful, gentle arguments about what color they should paint the front door...
Then, without warning, the golden light began to curdle.
The cozy house melted away. The warmth dissolved into an abyss of pitch-black darkness. Nothing remained except a haunting, echoing sound of a woman sobbing uncontrollably in the void.
Michi's voice echoed through the dark:
"This is what would have happened if you chose her but you chose thorns instead of flowers. A brave choice, Leo... but do you have any idea what happened to her? To the girl who loved you with every fiber of her soul? She was loyal. She was ready to do anything for you without a second thought. But you chose your 'friend.' You chose to throw your life into a war that isn't even yours... to suffer endless pain for no reason."
CLAP. CLAP. CLAP.
"What a righteous choice. What a brave man you are."
Out of the endless darkness, a solitary figure slowly walked toward Leo, weeping into her hands. As she drew closer, she slowly lowered her hands from her face.
Her eyes were pitch-black hollows, with thick streams of crimson blood flowing down her cheeks like tears.
It was Iris.
She reached out with pale, trembling hands, her fingers locking around Leo's throat with crushing strength.
"You chose him over me..." Iris rasped. Her voice didn't sound like a single person—it echoed with three distinct, demonic overlays. "I had everything you ever needed... but if you truly love to suffer so much, then let me give you your eternal suffering!"
CRACK!
In the nightmare vision, she violently twisted Leo's neck backward!
SNAP!
Leo gasped as his mind slammed back into reality. Michi lowered his hand, letting out a breath. "There. I think that should be enough to make you see the reason."
Leo stumbled back, his ghostly eyes wide with terror, but he grit his teeth. "Lies... lies! It's all just a damn lie!"
Michi slapped his own forehead, groaning in annoyance. "Ugh, what a headache..."
Losing his patience, Michi grabbed Leo's soul and began beating him mercilessly, flooding his mind with wave after wave of horrifying false visions. Yet every time the visions ended, Leo spat blood in his mind and held firm to his truth.
"It's... all... lies!" Leo yelled, refusing to break.
After the third brutal attempt, Michi stopped. He lowered his hand and let out a long, defeated sigh. "Fine. I lose."
Leo blinked, caught off guard. "What?"
"I said you won. I lose," Michi grunted.
"But... we didn't even fight yet!"
"Listen to me, brat," Michi said flatly. "I could erase your soul in an instant if I wanted to. So be grateful you're still standing here breathing. Frankly, I just felt a little pity for my younger brother."
Leo glared at him bitterly. "Don't call me your younger brother! Not after beating me like a dog and trying to turn me against my best friend!"
"Aww, the little bro is mad! That is not cute," Michi teased, before his face suddenly shifted into an intensely serious expression. He placed his palm firmly on Leo's spectral shoulder. "From now on... I'll do my absolute best to protect you, little brother."
Leo recoiled slightly. "Hey... what is wrong with you all of a sudden?"
"At first, I thought you were just an annoying headache, just like Nerina was," Michi said quietly. "But fighting through your mind made me realize something... you're a diamond hidden in the coal. I know I don't deserve it, but... try to forgive your brother."
Michi turned around, preparing to walk away. "Fate clearly doesn't want us together right now, so I can't stay."
"Wait!" Leo called out.
Michi paused, an annoyed look crossing his face as he looked back over his shoulder. "What now? Was that speech not motivational enough for you?"
"I never thought of you as my brother," Leo said coldly, his voice devoid of emotion. "And I don't give a damn where you go or what you do. I only stopped you because I want to get back into my physical body."
Michi smirked, shaking his head. "Yeah... I kinda expected that."
Michi flicked Leo hard on the forehead!
FLASH!
Instantly, Leo's soul was violently sucked back into his physical vessel lying on the cobblestones. The agonizing pain returned all at once—his broken shoulder screamed, and warm blood poured once again from his forehead and nose.
Michi glanced back over his shoulder at the bleeding boy one last time, his eyes darkening.
"By the way, Leo... I know who murdered Nerina."
Leo's eyes widened in sheer shock. How... How does he know that?!
Flashback — Original World
It was a freezing, bitter night. Leo was shivering, curled up on a cold park bench, trying to sleep.
"Leo... Leo, wake up, son."
Leo opened his heavy eyes to see a beautiful woman kneeling beside him. It was his mother, Nerina.
Leo sat up frantically. "M-Mother?!"
"Dear, what are you doing out here in this freezing cold?" Nerina asked softly, her eyes full of warmth. "Get up. Come inside."
She led him to a car parked by the curb. She wrapped him in a thick, warm blanket, turned on the heater, and started driving.
"Where are we going?" Leo asked timidly.
"Home," Nerina smiled.
"Home?"
"Yes, home. But tell me first... why were you sleeping on a park bench?"
Leo lowered his head. "After Father died... I couldn't pay the rent. The landlord kicked me out."
Nerina sighed softly. "Then why didn't you try to find me?"
"I... I thought you hated me," Leo muttered.
"Oh, my dear child," Nerina said sweetly, reaching over to pat his head. "I only hated that pathetic man, not you. Due to legal issues, you had to stay with him. That fat, ugly insect... he was supposed to take care of you, and he couldn't even manage that."
"No... that's not true—"
"You don't have to worry about anything anymore," Nerina interrupted gently. "Your mother is here now."
She pulled up to a modest, quiet house. They stepped inside, and Nerina smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, dear. For tonight, you'll have to stay here. But I promise, starting tomorrow, we will live in a grand mansion. Are you hungry?"
Leo tried to decline out of politeness, but Nerina waved her hand. "Nonsense! You're starving."
She vanished into the kitchen and quickly returned with a simple plate of hot food. "Here it is. We didn't have many ingredients, so I couldn't make anything fancy."
Leo looked down at the warm plate. Tears welled in his eyes. For years, he had dreamed of this exact moment—seeing his mother's face, hearing her soft voice, eating a meal cooked by her hands. He took a bite, tears of sheer happiness pouring down his cheeks as he accepted her warmth.
He began devouring the food non-stop.
Nerina sat beside him, watching her son eat with a gentle smile. Then, her voice dropped into a calm, pleasant tone.
"You know... I mixed poison into that food."
Leo instantly froze. The food caught in his throat. He choked, looking up at her in horror. "W-What did you just say?!"
Nerina's gentle smile didn't fade for a second. "I poisoned your food. Because if people find out that man is dead, I'd be forced to raise you. And frankly... you don't deserve to live. For the son of an insect like you, death is the only true mercy. And honestly? It's hilarious—I don't even know who your real father actually was."
Leo gasped, blood suddenly leaking from his nostrils. "Why...? What did I do wrong?! Why do I deserve this?!"
Nerina leaned closer, her sweet face morphing into something utterly vile and demonic. "You deserve this simply because you exist. The fact that you are breathing the same air as me disgusts me to my core. You're such a headache."
In a single second, the angel who had rescued him from the cold turned into a devil from the deepest pit of hell.
Leo began coughing violently, dark blood spurting from his mouth. His head throbbed, those final, cruel words echoing in his mind, snapping something deep inside his psyche.
"You are such a headache."
RAGE.
Pure, unadulterated, blinding rage consumed Leo's dying body.
He gripped the metal spoon he had been using to eat his mother's cooking, lunged forward, and slammed the blunt metal handle directly into Nerina's throat!
STAB! STAB! STAB! STAB!
In an absolute frenzy of madness, Leo stabbed her in the exact same spot eleven times!
Nerina collapsed onto the floor, her eyes wide with shock as blood pooled around her lifeless body. She died on the spot.
As the adrenaline faded, the reality of what he had done slammed into Leo's shattered mind. He looked down at his blood-soaked hands, stumbling backward in absolute horror.
"Did I... did I just kill her? No... no, no, no! I didn't do it! I didn't do anything!"
Panic seizing his heart, Leo turned and burst out of the front door, running blindly into the dark night. He ran without direction, his mind repeating a single frantic chant like a broken record:
"I didn't do anything! I didn't do anything! I didn't do anything!"
Slowly, the potent poison coursing through his veins took hold. His legs went numb, his vision turned b
lack, and his body collapsed onto the dirt side of an empty road, leaving him to die alone.