Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent!

Chapter 104  Nightmare

In the depths of his mind, Alex found himself ensnared in a nightmarish realm of twisted shadows and writhing tendrils. The disgusting looking tentacle creature had wrapped its tentacles around his spirit — his very soul. Its grotesque form pulsated with dark energy as it launched a relentless assault on his soul.

The creature's psychic attacks were relentless, tearing at Alex's mind and feeding him his worst fears and doubts at once. His soul itself was taking damage, delivering unimaginable pain to him second by second. With each passing moment, he felt his soul shatter and be reborn, only for the process to repeat again in another moment.

'Is this it? Is this where I die?'

The pain was so unbearable that Alex's willpower started to wane, and he became convinced that he was going to die the more he experienced the terrors the nightmarish creature had pulled him into.

***

Six year old Alex ran through the dusty streets of the mining colony, his laughter echoing off the metal walls as he chased after his mother. She was a blur of motion ahead of him, her laughter mingling with his own as they played together in the fading light of dusk.

Memories flashed before Alex's eyes — the warmth of his mother's embrace, the sound of her voice reading him bedtime stories, the smell of freshly baked bread wafting from the kitchen. It was a time of innocence and joy, a time where Alex was happiest in life.

But amidst the laughter and love, there was pain and loneliness — the faint memory of his mother's disappearance, the aching loneliness that gnawed at Alex's heart from that point onwards. The pain had been so unbearable for little Alex that he completely shut the memories of his mother out of his life. And then, in the blink of an eye, it was all gone — his mother's face, her name, her touch. All lost to time like they never existed. The only thing that remained was her soft voice reading him bedtime stories and consoling him when he had nightmares at night.

But now, as Alex stood in his mind' overcome with pain and on the verge of death, memories flooded his mind as the vague figure of his mother flashed past. He remembered his goal to reach the peak in the universe, to become the greatest awakened that will ever live.

With fierce determination burning in his heart, Alex thought of his only friend, Mira, who he had only known for less than half a year, but they had been through so much together it seemed like a lifetime. He thought of the times they shared together, times filled with fun as well as despair, and came to a conclusion.

He didn't want to be alone at the peak. He wanted Mira right there with him too. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

***

Suddenly, a burst of energy from somewhere deep within his soul, Alex's willpower surged forth, a faint beacon of hope in the shroud of darkness. With a defiant roar, Alex pushed back with all his strength against the tentacle creature's assault, channelling his inner strength into a powerful wave of energy that banished the creature to the nonexistence where it belonged.

The battle was over before it even started. It was only a fading image of a Variant class E+ rank beast anyway, if it were the real thing then Alex would have had no chance right from the very beginning. Alex had no idea where that burst of energy came from, but he could feel his soul burning with passion and a desire for more strength. He felt an emotion overcome him, one that screamed at him to kill anything that dared to stop his ascent to the top.

But he suppressed the desire. If he let it consume him, he'd only end up like the majority of the Awakened in both the federation and the Primordial Expanse.

For a few fleeting moments, Alex stood amidst the wreckage of his shattered soul, his chest heaving with exertion as he struggled to regain his composure. But there was no time for rest or reflection — the black cloaked man who launched the attack still lurked nearby, waiting for Alex to lose in the battle with the creature.

With a steely resolve, Alex concealed the fact that he had actually come out on top of the creature's assault, his expression carefully mimicking that of himself only seconds prior as he bided his time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

***

'How long is this shit going to take? Master said that this attack is extremely powerful and guarantees death to any awakened below Variant class and D tier. This kid must be quite strong to have survived this long.'

Marc, the black cloaked man thought to himself as he impatiently waited on the side lines, gazing off into the surrounding jungle from time to time in boredom as he waited for the attack to shatter Alex's soul once and for all, turning him into a lifeless corpse.

'It's a shame I can't just finish the job myself since he's so defenceless right now. But Master explicitly warned me multiple times not to interfere, lest I want the creature to make me its target instead…'

The wait continued for another minute and Marc started getting a little suspicious, from the information his Master had given to him, the average time people lasted against this attack was only 30 seconds.

The highest record there had been so far was a total of 10 minutes, and that was set by a Variant class E+ rank awakened! The poor soul still ended up succumbing to the attack even though he was so powerful, only further pushing the idea of the terrifying nature of this attack.

'Whatever, I knew this kid was strong anyway. I'll just wait another few minutes, he's gotta be dead by then.'

Marc shifted his back to face Alex, gazing off into the forest to make sure that no unsuspecting beasts or humans stumbled across him.

However, the moment he turned his back, he felt a chill run down his spine.

There was minimal wind at this time, only a gentle breeze rustling the trees above creating a calm atmosphere, but Marc was anything but calm.

At his level, he had developed a sort of sixth sense himself, but it was more of a 'danger sensing' sense rather than an actual sense like Alex's spatial perception.

And right now this sense was sending off alarms across his entire mind and body, practically screaming that he was about to face more danger than he had ever faced before.

'What-'

But before he could turn around to nervously check for any source of danger in his surroundings, he found he couldn't turn his head anymore.

His sight shifted, turning upside down as it quickly fell to the floor. His head rolled for a few seconds, before it stopped.

From the position his head fell when it was severed from his neck, he could see the boots of the person who had just decapitated him.

'How?'

In his last few seconds, he could only question reality, as he recognised those boots all too well.

They were Alex's.