Only I Am A Reader

'What is a nightmare?'

Ever since obtaining Cassian's abilities, this was a constant question that remained on Leo's mind. Just what did Shadow Nightmare represent?

At first, he had more than one plausible theory, but as he used the ability further, Leo realized that none of his theories could be proven in their entirety.

At times, the Shadow Nightmares broke through the limitations that he envisioned, and at other times, they failed to live up to his specific expectations.

Even then, Leo didn't give up. He was still hoping to get a firm grasp on all of Cassian's abilities before he left this world!

However, after opening a few more doors to use Shadow Nightmare in this Gate, Leo couldn't help feeling that his old way of thinking was quite shallow.

'Does it really have to follow a certain setting?'

It was always much simpler to handle abilities with specific directions like Sword Breath, but that didn't mean that everything had to work in the same way.

Just by opening up his mind a little, Leo was able to complete a lot of complex tasks without putting out much effort. 

Balance and moderation were still the key, he couldn't look at everything using the same lens. Only by using and accepting the simple and the complex could maximum efficiency be achieved.

To begin with, what made Shadow Nightmare a great ability was how fluid and flexible it was. It might be lacking in stability and harder to control, but that was what made the possibilities even more endless.

In the end, the essence of a nightmare was still that of a dream, and in dreams, everything was possible!

Coupled with the correct resource material, Leo felt strangely confident that he could rely on this limitless ability to enhance his play even more.

'Wouldn't a true nightmare do the job better than empty words?'

Perhaps even giving it the final touch of realism that it lacked!

'Come out.'

Giving vague limitations over the supply of Enigma, Leo called out a Nightmare using the shadow of a very particular person.

It was Clara, the only person to have indirectly killed a teammate! While she herself was selfish enough to ignore that fact, Leo instinctively knew that both her heart and her shadow couldn't forget.

The irregular shape slowly rose into a tall stature, almost hitting 2 meters. A few seconds later, everyone could guess what was being produced, it was definitely something human!

In a situation like this, Aurora or Tina should have made use of the window to deliver any kind of attack, but as if the consistent sense of realism was suddenly thrown out of the window, both of them remained in place, waiting to see the end result.

'This is more like it.'

Initially, Leo planned to use his Shadow tendrils to slow them down until his creation was complete. However, thanks to the novel-like pause, his play could go on even more smoothly.

[W-]

A faint whisper sounded out as the Nightmare finally started to solidify. It was all dark like a shadow should be, but the outline was familiar to the pair on the other side.

[Why…]

The Nightmare spat out a protest with a face full of despair and dejection, it was only now that Aurora and Tina found the teammate that had been missing.

"What-"

Aurora's face distorted in agony as her eyes scanned the Nightmare's whole body. Aside from the heart-stabbing face, the arms, torso, and legs were all mangled and riddled with claw marks.

She struggled to understand that what was in front of her couldn't be the laboring Mark who carried their heavy possessions, but she couldn't stop himself from imagining this fate itself was real.

What would he have had to endure with an end like this?!

[Why didn't you save me?!]

The Nightmare's following words didn't help either. Taking heavy steps forward, his eyes were full of blame that it looked like it would spill out, stabbing Aurora's heart even further.

'Isn't it working too well?'

Observing from all perspectives using his shadow, he had definitely surpassed himself as a director. The heavy blame wasn't meant for Aurora, but it suited the scene perfectly!

"What do you think? Although I wasn't the one that made this, I feel like it compliments this work very well."

This was ultimately Clara's nightmare, not Aurora's. Aside from some very rare cases, all humans felt guilt regardless of how much they were affected by it. It was just that some chose to ignore it while others didn't.

Rather than making an original creation of his own or letting his Nightmares go wild as they wished, Leo left the stage for Clara's Nightmares to bloom.

Naturally, her Nightmares couldn't be reduced to this single recollection of guilt, but by making use of how recent it was, Leo lightly filtered all other possible sprouts through his initial limitation, letting his ability do the rest of the magic itself.

[You could have protected me…]

In all honesty, if Leo had to give it a grade, he would have gone over perfect marks. This was simply too fitting!

[So why didn't you?!]

The Nightmare was crying, but rather than weakness, he was crying blood out of unending anger. Wanting to vent it all out, its eyes looked at Aurora with total ferocity before charging at her like a madman.

This was still all anger towards Clara, but as the creator of the Nightmare, changing the target while maintaining everything else was extremely easy. 

"Why don't you play with it for a little bit while I finish the rest of my work?"

Of course, the expressive Nightmare merely qualified for the play's opening act. Other than the mental effect, it was there to occupy Aurora until Leo handled Tina and placed her next to her friends!

"I-"

Aurora looked extremely shaken as if torn apart by anger at Cassian and guilt towards the unreal Nightmare. Leo was relying on the Nightmare to hold her back using its full abilities, but from the looks of it, it might not even have to do anything.

'Now then.'

Regardless, anything was fine as long as it worked, it was now time to handle the last boring prey on this marathon.