...Mistress Juliana turned towards the rest of the recruits standing there gobsmacked looking at the horrific scene in front of them.

"Time is relative in illusions, a second could past and it could feel like a day. If you're wondering what happened to her, I projected an illusion of someone murdering her boyfriend. After watching that scene, she would have gained a great amount of hate towards the murderer.

Back in reality, I made him what she wanted to kill the most, it was a superimposition of her boyfriend's murderer. Isn't the storyline so creative, such a tragic love story, losing someone but only to realise that the murderer was you"

Juliana laughed as she snapped her fingers and called out to the girl,

"How does it feel? Killing your loved one with your own bare hands."

The girl, as if awoken from a dream wiped her eyes with her bloody hands, drawing red streaks all over her face. The pungent metallic smell of blood entered her nose as she finally came to a realisation that the boy she had taken revenge for was dead, right in front of her the worst of all, she was the one who did i. She was the one who murdered her own friend. The sour taste of vomit flooded her mouth as she started puking. Tears streamed down her face as she started babbling incoherently,

"This isn't real, this is an illusion. I didn't do this. If I close my eyes I'll wake up! that's right!" Her cries getting louder as she slowly drifted into hysteria.

"Looks like this one's broken already. Oh well, it's the incubator's loss. Too bad for them, 1 more plaything for me!"

Juliana then turned her attention to the rest of the recruits that were pale, looking afraid, worried to what Juliana might do to them.

Only one person looked her in the eye unwavering, the one person who lost his only kin to the resistance, the one who had his mother murdered, her corpse laying in the fire. The one who was too late to save his mother. The one who is longing for revenge.

"Oh, looks like we have a pretty strong one here. Let's see what's your deepest fear, let me try to break you~"

Juliana immediately used her manifest to throw Z into an illusion.

Z was in disarray as he opened his eyes looking at a house in front of him that caught on fire, a woman walking out of the house as her features melted away.

".... you were ...... protect me! You ....when I was killed .... Zero! You ....belong here. "

It was Z's mother. Her words were jumbled, but he could make out what she had said. She took step after step leaving behind bloody footprints as she walked closer and closer. Her hands hot as the flames she was burnt in, touched the face of Z.

"Oh god, Mom, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left you, I should have been there for you. I should have been the one to have died."

His mother, who was holding onto his face started to burn up even stronger, he felt the heat scorch his face and he screamed as he let go and gave in to the pain. Z opened his eyes and he was back outside the house. It started burning again, the woman exited the house again and once again he was burned to a crisp in the fire. Again once more, he faced the house, the woman and the fire, each time he felt the pain of being burnt to a crisp. Each time he endured it a little longer. After 48 times, Z could feel as if his mind was tearing apart, although he had willingly embraced his mother in the flames and continued to burn with her, he felt that this scenario was wrong.

The more he endured it, the more he felt as if this wasn't a place where he belonged and this for sure wasn't his mother's last sentiments before she left this world. After enduring the 67th loop, Z finally could hear what his mother was saying clearly.

"I'm glad you were so willing to protect me! You are always the one I thought about even when I was killed. It's time to wake up Zero! You don't belong here. "

The world around started to fade away and as he opened his eyes, he was back in the room with Mistress Juliana and the rest of the recruits. A searing pain washed over his face, it felt akin to burning.

He was left snivelling and sobbing on the ground. As he slowly regained his bearings he looked around and saw the whole group of recruits on the ground looking as if they have been driven to insanity their bodies thrashing about on the ground. His eyes winced as he looked at Mistress Juliana, who was standing there monitoring everyone. Z took a deep breath and calmed his mind, he stood at attention and looked towards Mistress Juliana.

"Good job! Come over here and have a seat!" She called out to him.

Z took a deep breath and calmed himself down, just as he was about to take a step forward towards Mistress Juliana, he started feeling his cheek burning again.

"This... This is an illusion, I'm still in an illusion. Z concentrated on his mental faculties and squeezed out all of his potential to reject this reality. The world he is in started to pulse, first erratically, then timed to his heartbeat.

"Ba-dump, Ba-dump, Ba-dump"

Z closed his eyes and focused entirely on his heartbeat, he started hearing screaming all around him, like a rude awakening he forced his eyes open. There he was, back in reality. He was standing in front of a pit filled with spikes, one more step and it would definitely spell his doom.

"Tch.. How boring." Mistress Juliana rolled her eyes as she mumbled under her breath.

"Ooh... I mean, well-done boy! First of the batch to break free from your reality. It didn't take you long for you to find the tell in a false reality. Keep that close to your heart, it is the one thing that will keep you sane in the insanity that is to follow. HAHAHAA. You may go clean up now, we still need time for these worthless maggots to wake up."

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"Ba-dump, Ba-dump, Ba-dump" the sound of a beating heart sounded louder and louder in Z's ears. Z opened his eyes and was shocked in the scene in front of him.