CHAPTER 79: FEAR OF ASURA: PART 2

"What are my worst fears? Clara dying before me? Sebastian, and Kirin dying? I don’t think nothing can move me if I know that these things are not happening, and are just an illusion meant to scare me." Johan smiled softly, as far he remembered, you did remember that these were just illusions, so logically he should be fine.

"But Johan..." Sebastian’s face turned ugly with shame, he felt like he was becoming useless since Johan got stronger, and now he can’t even serve, and defend him, sending him straight in danger while he sat there outside.

Olivia also hesitantly stared at Johan, her eyes filled with worry, but unable to form the right words, ’Do I even have the right to worry about him?’

Johan walked closer to them, and first gently patted Sebastian’s shoulder with eyes that said "I have a plan." which would ease at least some of his guilt for now. As long as Johan came out fine, everything would be good.

Then, Johan walked over to Olivia who was fidgeting in her position. She tried to say something, but—

Johan had placed a finger over her lips, then softly moved it over her lips, feeling the softness of them. They also seemed wet because of her drinking water just a moment ago.

Olivia’s ears turned red, but her face stayed the same. Johan’s hand moved over to her cheek, gently rubbing from her cheek to her neck with a smile.

"I think I will be fine. I have already been through my greatest fears..." Johan spoke right in her ear, his voice barely a whisper, the warmth of his breath hitting Olivia’s neck, which made her breathe heavily, her breath also hitting Johan’s face.

Olivia didn’t say anything. She could see that nothing she said could change Johan’s mind, which disappointed her a bit until—

Johan tightly wrapped both his arms around Olivia’s slim waist, closing the distance between them until their entire bodies were pressed against each other, their faces just a centimeter away.

"...You promise?" Olivia asked between hasty breaths, her brown eyes locked with Johan’s as if she could see beyond them.

"Yes, I will definitely come back." Johan said, tightening his hug around Olivia, his eyes firm.

"Great..." Her head leaned against Johan’s chest, hearing his rhythmic heartbeat—which was surprisingly also very fast for his calm, emotionless face—making her chuckle.

Johan let go of the hug quickly, watching how Orihime was staring at them as if judging him, making Johan wonder if she still believed the lie Sebastian told her.

Johan took a deep breath, finally preparing himself to enter the trial, but he noticed Olivia hadn’t let go of him yet, her grip only tightening around his neck.

"Olivia, I have to go. Acier and everyone else is waiting..." Johan said seriously, making Olivia finally let go, her comforting smell still lingering in Johan’s nose.

Olivia turned around quickly—maybe embarrassed, maybe uncomfortable to watch Johan go. Johan, without thinking, walked closer to the red brick wall.

Sebastian and Orihime watched Johan with worry, the tense silence soon becoming unnerving.

Nothing seemed to happen.

But Olivia quickly turned around and ran to Johan’s body that—just as she moved—started falling backwards toward the ground.

Olivia got on her knees, catching Johan’s head in her lap, looking worriedly at his violet eyes that seemed empty and hollow, as if of a dead man.

Olivia pinched Johan’s cheek, slapped it, even shook his head, but he wasn’t waking up. The aether in his body was still present, so he was for sure alive.

She pulled up Johan’s head higher near her chest, then pulled it into a tight hug, letting it rest on her breasts while rubbing the back of his head desperately.

She frantically turned towards Sebastian—the man who always seemed to have an answer.

Sebastian, as Olivia had expected, had instantly understood what had happened. "Don’t worry... The trial started..."

"Helloo, someone was supposed to scare me?"

Johan walked in a sandy place that seemed too cold to be a desert, with a dark purple sky and deep gray fog. And when he looked closely, the sand was black too.

’In the game, by this time, the entire family of Leor and Selene was getting butchered in front of him. Why is nothing happening?’ This was the first time in all nine gameplays he’d never seen something as weird as this place.

He walked further, but the environment—sand, air, sky—everything was entirely the same, just different shapes of the mountains of sand.

Johan didn’t even realize when he had broken into a run, as if he was trying his best to escape the seemingly peaceful place.

He ran, and ran, and ran, but it didn’t end. Same cold sand. Same purple sky.

Suddenly, he stumbled on the sand, falling on the moist ground face-first, panting hard, his heart rate dangerously high from running so much.

Which shouldn’t be possible normally, as he had almost infinite health due to becoming one with the God Tree.

"Cough! Cough!"

"What the hell is this!?" The grin he had at the start completely vanished from his face. Then, he thought of another possibility that made him feel a chill deep down his spine.

"This... this solitude is my greatest fear? How can I even defeat this!?"

In the game, Leor always had clear enemies that he physically fought and defeated. Like it could be Radhaan, who he had to defeat, and so on. But with solitude... this was something Johan never experienced in the game...

Suddenly, the air seemed to get colder, the wind flowing sharply against him, raising some of the black sand in the process.

Johan slowly stood up, walking toward where the black sand had moved. And then he saw something that made his eyes widen to the limit—falling on his knees against his will while clenching the sand on the ground so hard that crimson blood poured out of his hands, tainting the sand red.

A.N.= We are premium baby!!! HElll Yeah!!!! This is gonna be so fun now that I have hopes of earning money, I think I will publish even more Chapters now.

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A lot of fun things here in the server like the philosophy channel, team roast nights, gaming weekends, book club, self-improvement club, anime club, music hub — just started yesterday so still building. You’ll be the first members and pillars of this epic creative community I have envisioned. Of course, character art will be there as well... NSFW too ahem. There are many things, and we are evolving every day. Come here and join this journey too :)