Kenji's POV:
"I feel like shit!"
I was currently lying in puddle of, guessing by the smell, blood. The reason why I'm guessing is cuz I can't see squat. Wherever I am right now, it's super dark and a little chilly too, so I'm probably not on that lava floor anymore.
"What happened to me?"
Last thing I remember was, I was going down to check out that building in the lava, then something jumped out at me and then I can't remember.
"Where even am-! ARGH! Shit! My eye!"
Suddenly I felt a burning pain, as left eye felt like it was on fire. Unfortunately for me, it would seem like my eye wasn't the only thing that was hurting.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch, OUCH!"
My entire body was sore all over. My skin felt like it was on fire and my muscles stung like crazy every time I moved even the slightest. Still, I shouldn't just be lying around like this, so grit my teeth and forced myself to my feet.
"*Sharp inhale* Ouch! Wait, I couldn't I just have-?"
And it was only after I got to my feet that I remembered I could have psychically lifted myself off the ground and saved myself some pain.
"Whatever! Let's just see where the hell I a-! Ah, ah, AH!" I screamed as a sharp pain shot through my head.
As I mentioned, this place is dark as hell, so I can't see anything. So, remembering I was a nascent soul, I was trying to use my 6th sense to take a look at my surroundings instead, but the moment I tried, it felt as if someone had shoved a needle into my brain.
"*Sigh* Well, I guess that won't work! Then let's try-! AH! FUCK! GHA!" I shouted as my other 6th sense failed me too.
As part of my aura training, I've also learned to see the spiritual plane of souls, just like Shinji and Aiko has. Though, this method is not the best for getting a sense of your surroundings, since more often than not, everything will just look like a black void sprinkled with some dust and glitter, but it's better than nothing. Unfortunately, the moment I tried, I got a pounding headache and my eyes felt like they were gonna pop out of their sockets.
"Okay! So, that doesn't work either! Great! Now what?" I muttered to myself.
After this, I just decided to feel around in the dark, which is how I also discovered…
"Crap!"
*Thud*
"Ouch!"
Yeah, it seems I can't will myself to levitate anymore either. So, after pushing myself off the floor, again. I limped face first into a wall, which I could hug as I made my way towards wherever this wall leads. After a few turns, and a painful fall down a flight of stairs, I finally found it.
"*Huff**Puff* Holy shit! Is that the exit?!" I blurted out as I saw a bright light at the end of this tunnel.
Seeing this, I tried running towards it as fast as I could. Unfortunately, my body was still battered and exhausted so, it was more of a limp, than a run. When that blinding light enveloped me, I felt a sense of relief washing over me. Unfortunately, that didn't last.
*Bang*
*Thud*
*Bleurgh*
When my eyes adjusted, the first thing I saw was a bulky guy without a shirt standing with his back turned against me. Peeking past him, I saw an oddly familiar scrawny dude on his knees, clutching his stomach as he threw up his lunch.
"Come on! I didn't even hit you that hard!"
I don't know why, but I could feel my hair stand on end as the shirtless guy's voice entered my ears. Regardless, I forced my body to move towards them, but the moment I got close…
*Poof*
They turned into smoke, vanishing into thin air. Shortly thereafter, I heard that guy's voice again coming from behind me.
"HEY! THAT'S MINE! GIVE IT BACK!"
"Sure, I'll give it back, if you can reach it! MIDGET!"
Looking behind me, I saw the naked back of the same guy from before, dangling a book on cultivation over a familiar looking dwarf. However, soon after, they all vanished again, and just like before, I saw the same back-muscles reappear somewhere else.
*Bang*
"Stop! Please!"
*Bang*
"Punching bags don't talk!"
*Bang*
This time, he was sitting on top of some poor guy, punching down while ignoring the pleas for mercy, but once again, they vanished, and the same guy would reappear as he bullied somebody else, and every time he did, I felt my anger building.
I've seen plenty of bullying like this happening at Shiro Academy back when I worked as a tester, so this isn't exactly new to me. Back then, I used to just ignore it since it wasn't any of my business anyways, but at some point, or another something changed. Now, whenever I see something like this, I just feel so irritated, like something is gnawing away at me on the inside. However, something about this guy pissed me off even more than usual.
"JUST STOP IT, ALREADY!" I shouted, as my anger boiled over.
I realize all of this is probably some kind of illusion, but I just couldn't help myself. So I mustered as much energy as I could and tried to punch him, fully expecting for my fist to go straight through him as he turned into a puff of smoke. However, to my surprise, my fist connected, but it wasn't him I hit…
*Bang*
"You … were never … one of us."
Suddenly I was sitting down, and pinned beneath me I saw Shinji, hatred in his eyes, his body bruised and beaten to all hell, with my fist planted in his face as a puddle of red was forming on the ground beneath his head. I could feel his cheek on my knuckles, and I could smell the blood in the air. A normal illusion shouldn't be this real.
"What just-!"
Before I had time to make heads or tail of what just happened, the world began distorting around me, and next thing I know, I'm suddenly standing in front of the boss. Hiding behind him, I could see Aiko, sporting a black eye as she peeks out at me with terror in her eyes.
"Was that-? Wasn't Shinji just-?"
"You have some nerve saying his name after what you did!"
"Huh?"
"I thought you had changed! I guess I was wrong about you, Kenji!"
"What?"
"I don't know what I was thinking, taking in a cultivator as a disciple! Now get lost! I don't want to ever see your face again!"
"Wait! That's-?"
And again, the world twisted as I suddenly found myself standing in front of a grave, with a familiar name on it, "Shinji".
*Heavy breathing*
My breath became heavier and heavier with every moment that passed thinking about it.
"Why?"
"What do you mean? Shouldn't you know why? I mean, you're the one who did it!" That annoying voice chimed in from behind me.
"No! Why are you so determined to piss me off!"
Just then, ignoring the consequences of doing so in my current state, I entered my aura form a bolted towards the guy facing away from me, grabbing his shoulder as I was ready to knock his block off.
"Huh? Wait, how are you-?!"
*BANG**CRACK*
And it was as I planted my fist in the guy's face that I realized why this guy irritated me so much, as well as why those scenes of him picking on others seemed so familiar, because he was me from back when I was part of the Ember sect.
*BANG**Crack*
"Ugh!"
I'll admit I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but it doesn't take a genius to see this place ain't right. At first, with how he kept disappearing, I thought it was just a trick of the light element, but if that was the case, then I shouldn't have been able to feel Shinji's face on my fist. However, soon after, any doubt I might have had about all of this being an illusion vanished in a single sentence.
"I guess I was wrong about you, Kenji!"
Since the day we met, I can't remember a single time when he has ever called me by my actual name before. It's always been, meathead, or brat number whatever, but never Kenji. That's something he's only ever done in my dreams, which explains why I'm gleefully hitting myself.
*BANG**Crack*
"Ugh!"
"Using illusions!"
*BANG**Crack*
"Argh!"
"To prey on my insecurities!"
Granted, I didn't spend much time learning about the complicated theories behind it all, and to the untrained eye, it might have seem like I was just goofing off, going to parties, amusement parks, and the lust district, which I am never returning to after what happened last time. No, I was gaining important practical experiences, and I'm definitively not just saying that because it's the convenient excuse I just thought up for next time, I want to slack off. Thanks to these convenient excuses, I mean, experiences, I understand there are all sorts of scary illusion arts out there. Like for example, after partying with some dream demons, I know it's possible to trap someone inside their own dreams, though they didn't drag me into a poorly stitched together compilation of my nightmares like this asshole.
*BANG**Crack*
"Ouch!"
"I don't know who you are, but if you wanted to piss me off then congrats!"
*BANG**Crack*
"Gha!"
"You succeeded!"
"STOP, I YIELD! I YIELD!"
"Sorry, but a bully gotta do what a bully gotta do!"
"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!"
*BANG**Shatter*
And with that last punch, the dreamscape was shattered and I returned to the real world. Or not?
"What is this place?" I muttered as I looked at my surroundings.
I'm not sure how to describe it. After I smashed my double's face, the shattered remains of the illusionary space I was in remained, floating in the air, each shard playing a different memory of mine on loop. Meanwhile, the place I was standing was eerily silent. The ground was charred black with puddles of red and dead remains lying scattered everywhere. Just over the horizon I saw the flickers of fire, dying the edges of the dark sky red. My double was nowhere in sight, however I wasn't alone. There was a guy sitting in front of a horse made of fire and bone. Every inch of his body was covered by a suit of red armor, a plume made of lava on his helmet and crimson flames flickering out of his visor. However, that's not what drew my attention. It was the memory shard floating next to him.
*Splash**Gulp*
"Can't … breathe!"
*Sizzle**Thump**Thump*
I'd forgotten what happened. That catfish jumped out of the lava and swallowed me whole.
"Am I … Dead?"
…
Meanwhile, on the third floor of the underground.
"What happened here?"
After descending down into the gaping hole at the center of the lava lake, the group found themselves in an underground arena painted red with blood, the mutilated and eviscerated remains of powerful magical beasts lay scattered across it.
"The blood is fresh! This was recent!" The elder leading the group said as he tipped his finger into a puddle of blood.
"Elder? Would it be wise to turn back? Many of these beasts seem rather strong! If the one we are chasing is behind this then-!"
"No need to fret! This is rather fortunate! Thanks to him clearing the path ahead, we may pass without much trouble, while he must surely be injured and exhausted after facing so many deadly foes!"