Chapter 61: Jellyfish

Words : 1032 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

Chapter 61: Jellyfish"What if I don’t want to?" Vacuse grimaced. "What are you going to do if I don’t want to?" The man smiled and then gestured forward. The shadows around Vacuse latched onto him like thick ropes, binding his limbs to the stone floor. "What if you don’t want to? Do you think you have a choice in this matter?" Vacuse’s eyes narrowed and he ignored the shadows binding his body. "So, you’re going to take me and do what exactly? You still haven’t told me who you people are." The man snorted. "Let me guess, you’re buying time so someone can come to your rescue, right? No one will come. I’ve already separated us from the outside world with illusions. Besides that, the people with me are enough to finish the job." Vacuse’s heart dropped and he realized then that things were worse than he expected. But he also didn’t just give up. Words are meant to play on the mind. What the man said might not be the whole truth. Vacuse wouldn’t know if he didn’t try. He narrowed his eyes... and took a step back. The darkness that was holding him was shrugged off as easily as if it weren’t there at all. Nothing held him back. The illusions weren’t real. It was made to trick the brain into thinking it was. "So... I will be able to get out of this," Vacuse said and smirked. Then he turned and began to leave. A wall rose in front of him, a wall that wasn’t there earlier, but he ignored it. "Another cheap illusion." That was what he said until he touched the wall and... it was real. His blood ran cold and a chill made his body shudder. Things are getting fucking out of hand. He turned around. The man was smiling. "The thing about illusion is that you don’t have to create new things. You can blend it together with something that was. Is that a real wall or was only the part you are touching real?" Vacuse’s face hardened. "What do you want?" "I told you already, heir. I’m here to kidnap you. There are people who are interested in your body." Vacuse tilted his head and frowned. "They can send applications, but I’m not really interested in anyone." The man’s eyes flashed. But Vacuse went on. "You are also waiting for your companion, right? You are here to trap me and keep me waiting while you wait for them," Vacuse smiled and took a step forward. "I wonder, that aura of power I felt from you earlier—was that an illusion as well?" The man’s eyes fell when he realized that Vacuse had seen through him. But Vacuse was already on the move. He ran like lightning, his red cloak a streak as he covered the distance between them and appeared in front of him in a flash. His hand blurred forward, a Flicker Lance shooting forward... only to pass through empty air! The man wasn’t real and the illusion of the man unraveled. Vacuse straightened and nodded. "That’s what I thought. You’ve been hiding since, haven’t you? This is just a cover you made to keep yourself far from me. Your illusion powers are impressive, but your physical ones are shit." "Oh... so you’re this smart?" The voice was mocking and it didn’t come from a single point. It came from all around them as if multiple people were speaking at once. Vacuse didn’t bother to look for the source. He simply stood where he was. "At least I’m not a coward." There was a pause and then a snort came from around them. "You can’t taunt me!" Vacuse smiled. The voice was harsher than usual. "Maybe. But I know you are a coward. No wonder they leave this kind of job to you. What a worthless piece of trash." In front of him, Lyra twitched, but Vacuse was faster. He hurled a lance at her head with such force that her head broke apart and she was thrown back violently. Thud! She hit the ground with a dull, fleshy sound and stopped moving. Harkon flinched, blood splattered on his face and he looked at the body in shock before he turned to look at Vacuse. Vacuse shrugged. "She isn’t Lyra, check well." Harkon looked at the body and his shock only intensified. Lyra had changed. She still wore the clothing of the New Dawn, but the person was undoubtedly male. "What?" Vacuse’s eyes darkened. "Some of the New Dawn betrayed me and wore an illusion to get close to me. They must have knocked her out and changed her in the hall before we reached here or pulled her into another illusion just as we got here, replacing her." Harkon could only stare at Vacuse in shock. "Impressive. How did you figure it out?" This time, the voice came from the dead body on the ground. "But your actions remained inconsistent with the real Lyra," Vacuse said calmly. "Each time I threatened the illusion master, ’she’ would stiffen. But I’m more interested in you. How were you able to do this? Are you using him as your focus point or what?" As they watched, something crawled out of the body. It was a translucent jellyfish. A beast. "All beasts have their specialty and uniqueness. My beast can be my eyes and ears, and through my different hosts, I can weave my illusions everywhere." The voice came from the jellyfish. "But now you’ve killed my host." Vacuse smiled. "So the illusion will unravel." The jellyfish beast snorted. "You said it yourself, didn’t you? I am keeping you here until help arrives and I retrieve you. My job here is done. You can take over now, Shadowwind." The illusion was completely gone by this time and the moon pierced down on them. Harkon and Vacuse were standing far from the hall in the courtyard, facing a wall. A bitter cold wind blew against them. "Alright. I will. I’ll take care of him real good." The voice came from above them and they looked up. A man was flying on the back of a beast.

Chapter 61: Jellyfish

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