[Nightmare]

The young men and women, guards, and servants in the room turned to the person in question with shock.

"Lina. I'm not sure what you're trying to say, but you need to leave." Marie ordered with cold eyes.

"No! I'm no longer going to sit around and take this abuse!" Lina screamed with a red face.

"Abuse?" Marie asked after raising an eyebrow.

"Are you deaf!? Yes, I said abuse!" Lina screamed.

"That despicable ant stole everything from me, and now you're flaunting it in front of my eyes!

Now you want to sully my reputation!?"

The atmosphere in the room dropped below zero.

Everyone was silent.

"Lina. You're lucky you were allowed to pay your respects to Helix as a childhood friend.

However, once the Circles of Remembrances are unlocked, you won't have that option." Marie sneered.

Silence and shock befell the crowd.

"I can't wait for that to happen!

Then it will prove that Helix stole my beautiful face!

It's a crime punishable by death!" Lina screamed.

Whispers of confusion washed over the audience.

"Lina, aside from the claw marks you've added to your face, you have the same appearance you've had since coming out of the Eye of Beauty chamber." Marie said with a frown.

"Hahahaha haha hah!" Lina cackled maniacally.

"I know you're all in on the joke!

You can't fool me, bitch!" Lina screamed.

The guards stepped forth to restrain Lina, but Marie motioned her hand to stop them.

"No one's trying to fool you, Lina." Marie said with a deescalating tone.

"Hah! You might be able to convince normal people that you're not all plotting against me.

But you can't bullshit someone who has been bullied!" Lina scoffed.

Mummers of confusion washed over the crowd.

Marie walked over to the end of the aisle that Lina was standing in.

She looked the woman in the eye from twenty feet away.

"Lina, why would every person here be so cold as to pretend your face hadn't reverted to its original form?" Marie asked with an icy tone.

"Why? Hahahaha! Why, she asks!? Why!?" Lina cried with anger in her voice and a shaky body.

"Because I killed your precious Helix!"

Silence and shock enveloped the atmosphere.

"Yeah, that's right. I stole your precious Helix and darling NPC from you all!" Lina laughed bitterly.

"Your precious Helix. Helix this, Helix that. Blah blah blah!" She added mockingly.

"That's all you talk about. How does it feel to experience loss?"

Anger, turmoil, confusion, hatred, and unadulterated rage filled the faces of the otakus, servants, and guards.

Marie stared at Lina with cold, steely eyes.

"Serves you all right for what you've done to offend me." Lina scoffed.

"But killing Helix wasn't enough to atone for this humiliation.

How do you ants plan to compensate me for the injustices I've suffered?"

The people's bodies in the room were shaking far too violently to act immediately.

If they could, they would have already beaten Lina to death.

"We're not giving you anything bitch!" Tanya screamed bravely.

"Yeah! We're going to compensate you with death!" A young man screamed.

"You're lucky this is a funeral, you cunt!" Another woman screamed.

"Lina, what are you doing!?" David cried.

Lina turned away from him with a huff.

"Did you dare threaten me, you little ants?" Lina asked with contempt in her eyes.

"Damn right we did!" Another man yelled.

"I see. It seems you've left me no choice!"

Lina waved her arm as a large ark of water materialized in the sky above the students.

When gravity hit the water, it splashed on top of them, drenching their clothing.

Thirty people were soaked in an instant.

"Now die! Chain Re—"

A cold, ruthless voice rang out before Lina could shoot a lightning bolt into the audience.

"[Shatter.]" Marie growled with her hands against the ground.

A wave-like ripple lightly lifted and dropped the super-otakus like they were on a roller coaster.

As the ripple moved closer to Lina, the area it covered narrowed until it only affected the ground below Lina's feet.

Lina's face paled when the ripple touched her, and her body convulsed unnaturally.

Blood rushed to Lina's face, and her eyes clouded over.

Finally, before everyone's eyes, her body collapsed.

It would be more accurate to say imploded, as her shins bent at a 90-degree angle in a sitting position and her torso dropped to the floor.

Lina's femurs had been targeted exclusively, so the horrifying collapse was caused by her thighs suddenly disappearing.

It was the most grotesque and unnatural sight anyone in the audience had ever seen.

After a moment of shock, Lina looked down to see what had happened.

When she saw her body, she panicked.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh! What did you do!" Lina screamed.

"I just saved the lives of everyone in this room!" Marie sneered as she started walking toward Lina.

"I'm not talking about other people, bitch!

I couldn't care less about those ants!

What did you do to me!" Lina screamed.

"To prevent people from dying from releasing their Nightmares, I used Shatter to target your femurs alone.

As a result, they exploded into thousands of fragments and shredded your thigh muscles into confetti." Marie explained.

Cringes and wincing filled the faces of the individuals that Lina hadn't drenched in water.

Shock and fear were overwhelming the people that were.

"Wha…t. What did… you say?" Lina responded in a groggy tone.

"You can't feel this yet because your body is going through shock.

But you're dying right now. Your femoral artery has been cut so many times it might as well have exploded."

Those near Lina watched as blood slowly gushed and pooled around their feet.

"If you survive, you'll wake up without legs, and the number of bone fragments in your ass will be impossible to remove.

So you'll live every moment of every day in pain from now on." Marie explained with merciless detail.

"The question is, what should we do now that you've offended me, little ant?"

A wave of fear and terror washed over the crowd.

"You've offended a person that you couldn't afford to offend.

The question is, how will you compensate me?

Nothing you can offer will ever replace the priceless treasure known as Helix Margrave!

No amount of torture, pain, or suffering will ever be enough.

So what will I do with you?" Marie asked with a predatory gaze.

An icy chill of fear washed down Lina's spine, but it quickly dissipated as sleepiness started overtaking her.

"I guess you'll find out when you wake up.

Guards, take this murdering psychopath out of my sight and save her life!

I'm far from done with her!"

—

"I…. I don't doubt that this will work, but it's dangerous, sad, and honestly disturbing."

Macron cringed, and darkness clouded his eyes.

"It's genius, and it's extremely effective.

So hats off to the strategy, but… it's extremely sad." Charlotte added.

"We've been given a general strategy, and this is only a suggestion." Riley replied.

"So a better question to ask is whether we're willing to defile Helix's funeral and the goodwill of the others.

Moreover, are we willing to do this in the first place?" She continued.

"I'll do it." Marie replied with a low tone.

She was still hugging her knees against the wall.

"You will? That's not like you." Charlotte frowned.

"She killed Emelia and probably killed Helix.

I'll do anything to expose her delusional personality and crush her spirit." Marie explained with hatred burning in her eyes.

"Look, Marie. I want to use that girl's jugular veins like shoelaces as much as you do.

But before you do that, let's play the message so you can hear it for yourself.

I don't want your desire for revenge to corrupt your personality.

We all need it now more than ever.

Can I play it?" Macron asked.

Marie nodded, and the others assented.

Macron dropped to the ground and initiated the magic circle.

"If you're listening to this, you're taking the requirement to gain control of the otaku super-virgin population seriously.

Congratulations. You have a chance at survival.

It won't be easy, but rejoice! You have a poker hand filled with aces that you don't deserve.

You'll only gain control over these people by turning Myriad into a real cultivator world.

When Myriad becomes a cultivator world, the strong make the rules, and the weak will not break those rules at any cost.

This strategy only works because the four people I've listed are good-natured and currently the strongest among their peers.

There's no longer a reason to convince people to be good with them at the lead.

It will temporarily solve 100% of your problems within a week.

However, to make this happen, you must expose the ugly nature of cultivation culture, and the people in charge must demonstrate that people cannot afford to offend them.

For that reason, the law cannot come in contact with my killers, and the matter must be settled by violence in a shocking public demonstration.

The more extreme the demonstration, the more effective it will be.

The best place to make such a demonstration is at my funeral.

By showing that people are heartless, cruel, and disgusting at such an event, you'll gain support for this new world without crushing everyone's spirit."

Silence penetrated the room's atmosphere.

"Moreover, you must make people believe that Lina, who has the strength to challenge the cultivation world, is nothing but an ant to the new leaders.

While it would be a hard battle in an arena, anyone can turn her into a rag doll if she's distracted and threatening to others."

Macron sighed heavily.

"Lina was my best friend for half a decade.

However, I've provided countless hours of evidence of her threat to the other super-otakus.

If Emelia's dead, she's involved, and I have no mercy left in my heart for her.

As proof, she's probably having a mental breakdown from my self-defense trump card and is easier to destroy.

You're welcome."

Charlotte and the others in the room nodded with steeled resolve in their eyes.

"I will not ask anyone to engage in such a cruel, ruthless strategy.

This will be difficult for the heart to bear, and I do not wish that upon the people I love.

I do not recommend this strategy out of revenge.

Rather, I'm only suggesting it because it's the best way to protect everyone else from the tyranny of the powerful in the coming months.

It could save countless lives.

So if you execute this strategy, please remember that you shouldn't do so strictly for revenge.

Revenge is only natural, but I ask you to focus on the benefits that it provides others first.

You must prevent harm to the super-otakus at the funeral when Lina snaps.

So please, give it time and think about this strategy.

During that period, fine-tune your Nightmare in a way that will only target Lina.

Please do not harm other people for the sake of one."

Marie pressed her face against her knees again.

"Okay…." She whispered.

"I will. I promise, Helix."

Macron nodded.

"If you want to continue on this route, I'll play the strategy he has devised to accomplish this goal. It's… questionable." He cringed.

The others in the room lit up with excitement.

"If you go this route, you must get Lina to show up to the funeral.

Next, you'll need to control the flow of speeches into topics that stab at Lina and threaten to expose her.

You must make every topic as offensive as possible to her.

That… will be incredibly easy because she'll probably snap if people say anything good about me."

Laughter erupted in the room after his comment.

"However, here are the best topics to address and some ways you can spark them.

These are the topics you'll need to address…."

Giggles and excitement filled the room after hearing his strategy.

"Wheeeeeeew! Hellie is getting shameless!

Anonymously starting a harem card for himself?

That's a bold move.

If he were this confident before, he'd have had a harem ages ago!" Charlotte commented with amusement in her voice.

Laughter filled the room again.

After Macron shared in the chuckling, he looked at Marie.

"Marie, I know you're willing to help.

But can you gain enough control over your Nightmare to only target one person?

You have an area of effect spell that you'd normally use to target the entire group of Knights." He commented with a worried expression.

"Yes. Helix researched my Nightmare with the Myriad Library and gave me techniques to control it.

He trusts my control of spirit particles, too…."

Marie trailed off, and her face became bright red.

Charlotte and Riley burst into laughter, confusing the two men in the room.

"I-I can do it. Helix thinks I can, and so I will too.

I just need the next two days to practice with professional guidance." Marie explained hurriedly.

Macron closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Normally, I couldn't do that with everyone locked up and under house arrest…." He sighed.

"But that trouble maker managed to make a powerful ally who's reviewing these strategies.

I should be able to make this exception, just give me a bit of time."

The women looked at one another in surprise, and Atlas leaned against the small with a faint smile.

—

Disclaimer: Grammatical mistakes and minor inconsistencies = more content.