### Chapter 70: Cognition Hell (7)
Got too carried away…
Huh?
Swish, swish, swish—
The bl**d-red chunk formed frost rains pouring down around me, my eyes filled with the swirling mists between heaven and earth.
The city walls beneath my feet were massively collapsing, the towering, solid rocks crashing down with a deafening cracking sound, wrapped in the spreading frost, turning into large ruins shimmering with icy blue in the blink of an eye.
A furious wind howled past my ears, my cloak, clothes, and hair all seemed to be dancing at the heart of a storm like a fluttering page, “whoosh, whoosh, whoosh,” ready to be ripped apart at any moment.
And in the midst of this, my vision blacked out once again.
It wasn’t just obscured by the dust and bl**d rain; the bizarre bl**d-stained sky seemed to have suddenly plunged into endless night, its ink-black hue like a giant monster pressing down on me, sucking away all the light, leaving behind a deepening crimson sun that seemed to bleed above my head.
No…
That didn’t just look like it was bleeding.
That “sun” was genuinely glowing with bl**d light.
Like some putrid ooze, a dark red fluid, almost brown, was cascading down like a waterfall from that “sun,” brighter than an endless midnight. The scene felt strangely familiar yet even more bizarre now, buzzing with an uncountable number of nightmarish hums in my ears.
As these hums echoed, the air before me twisted gradually; the pang in my head turned into dizziness and nausea, as if the entire world was writhing in wave-like distortions. Even the dust dancing in my sight, the torrential bl**d-ice rain, and the high towers within the castle began to warp progressively…
“Ugh.”
The intense sensation of distortion made me feel quite nauseous, and I couldn’t help but let out a muffled grunt, a sudden urge to throw up rising within me.
d*mn it…
I hate this feeling…
As the uncomfortable sensation surged, I swallowed hard, forcing it down, then bit my tongue sharply, careful not to break it, but the pain was enough to keep me awake as I hovered steadily above the dark void south of the castle, letting my cloak and hair flutter behind me. When I raised my head again, the bl**d-colored light like that of the “sun” began to pour from my eyes.
At that moment, as I cast my gaze upon it, that “sun” hovering in the higher sky, shrouded in a misty illusion, began to undergo even more chilling changes.
It split apart with a horrifying crack as if being violently torn by some dreadful force, and emerging from that bleeding “sun” was a massive, bizarre eyeball swirling with dark green and deep black.
That was—
In the midst of the howling wind, my pupils dilated.
Everything around me was happening in the fleeting moment after countless resurrected tentacles had been driven back; even the meat rain falling from the sky continued, the dust below still spreading far away, though the air I inhaled was still a bit choking. I could also sense that those more distant tentacles, untouched by the Frost Power, were writhing in the dark.
They wouldn’t be scared off that easily, always ready to mount another fierce attack…
But none of that could capture my attention now.
My eyes were fixed, unblinking, on that thing high above, far more dangerous than those tentacles.
That thing was no longer the sun…
In less than a second, it morphed into a terrifying eyeball.
Hanging in the dark sky, it dripped with unsettling bl**d, a bare eyeball.
As the central crack of the eyeball expanded, a vertical pupil resembling an emerald colored by ink—exquisitely described yet grotesque—was completely revealed. It seemed as if it had just awakened, after a few random twitches and aimless rotations, that eye’s focus locked onto my position and then fixed itself there.
“Ha…”
At that moment of eye contact, every hair on my body stood on end, a strange tingling sensation crawling from my spine to my scalp, spreading through my body; my heart raced with indescribable excitement, and a smile crept involuntarily to my lips.
You little thing…
You’re the source of this “illusion,” aren’t you?
Not the power from the Goddess’s body…
What on earth are you?
“Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz…”
The buzzing in my ears intensified, and at the moment that eerie eye fixed its gaze on me, it was as if I couldn’t hear anything outside anymore—no tentacles, no bl**d, no collapsing walls, nor the vanished female swordsman; all of it felt like it no longer concerned me, completely expelled from my awareness, as if the world consisted solely of me and that eye looking down at me.
My head felt like it was about to explode…
Impressive…
Incredible power…
“Gidales…”
I gritted my teeth so hard it almost squeaked.
Without a doubt, this was Gidales’s power…
But it wasn’t from the Mother God of Abundance or the Goddess of Sin…
Danalcis, God of Wisdom, ancient deities…
And others, a muddle of things…
“Which of those are you, you little monster…”
Not that it matters…
Bring it on.
Since you’re the one being provocative, be ready to give all your power to me…
Let’s see whose “illusion” is superior.
Whoosh—
“Ga!”
With a hoarse screech, the sound of flapping wings suddenly filled my ears. I didn’t need to look around; it was my “Goat Cheese No. 2,” conjured from the depths of the abyss.
And its appearance, combined with the fact that I could still freely use the Power of Order, made me absolutely certain of one thing: this so-called illusion-changing rule wasn’t completely controlled by the one casting the illusion. It might have a kinship with “Oblivion,” but its nature was entirely the opposite.
Here, the changes depended more on the mindset and cognition of the one entering the illusion.
From the moment the female swordsman heard me mention “there’s a change,” she suddenly seemed to notice it—ever since then, I had a hunch, and now I could really confirm it. If I genuinely believed in the possibility of something existing or occurring, it was likely to manifest in this illusion, like those bl**d vessel tentacles.
And conversely…
As long as I wholeheartedly believed I could do something, I could do it, completely unaffected by the illusion…
Like all my powers.
It couldn’t weaken or completely erase a person’s powers in the illusion like fully cast “Oblivion.”
In other words—
The ability of this illusion caster simply wasn’t enough to influence my powers.
And I…
Just might be able to crush my opponent in this illusion with brute force.
With that thought racing through my head, simultaneously, the dark bird that suddenly appeared on my shoulder from the rising black mist flapped its wings, tilting its head to meet the bl**d-red eye above with its own crimson pupil.
Then it shone with light.
That’s right…
Ignore the dizziness and headache…
Ignore those incessant whispers from the demons trying to rattle my psyche…
Let’s have a little test.
“…Oblivion.”
