Her words made sense, unfortunately.
“…Fine.” Neo said, clicking his tongue.
He activated Shadow Jump and vanished from the street.
Minutes later, Neo appeared at the academy.
He made his way quickly to Elizabeth’s room.
Since the academy had defense measures against Exalted Demigods, he couldn’t rely on his Paragon-ranked strength to sneak in undetected.
He had to move normally.
The guard at the gates allowed him entry after realizing Neo’s identity.
Upon reaching Elizabeth’s room, he noticed Amelia was absent.
The dim light from a bedside lamp bathed the room in a soft glow, and the rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor filled the silence.
“Seems like the Sphinx chose this timing because Amelia was away,” Neo muttered.
The news brought him relief.
Although he didn’t fully understand why, he didn’t want to face Amelia.
He approached Elizabeth’s hospital bed.
Her face was pale, framed by strands of hair that clung to her forehead.
Her chest rose and fell steadily.
Her furrowed brows revealed her restless state.
Neo pulled a chair close and sat down beside her.
“Mind Invasion—?!”
Neo flinched as his skill failed to activate.
It was bounded back by a powerful barrier protecting Elizabeth’s mind.
“What was that?”
Neo muttered as he opened his eyes.
His breaths were shallow and uneven.
If he had been a second late in deactivating his skill, he would’ve been hit by a mental attack.
“She has a mind shield and a counterattack prepared in case someone tries to peek into her mind?”
Neo’s brows furrowed.
Thinking logically, any Exalted Demigod – the peak of strength on Luminera – would have long prepared such countermeasures.
“I guess you don’t reach Exalted rank without being cautious.”
He closed his eyes and tried to use the skill again.
The result was the same.
Beads of sweat rolled down Neo’s neck.
Seconds turned into minutes.
He kept trying.
Thanks to his quick reflexes, he managed to evade the counterattacks, but every attempt was a walk on a thin line.
“Exalted Demigods are monsters, alright. I can’t breach her mental defense at all.”
He took another long look at Elizabeth.
“Should I use Emphatic Bond as it is?”
He wasn’t sure if the skill would work in this state.
Still, there was no harm in trying.
He reached out and grabbed her hand once more.
Her fingers felt cold against his palm.
With a deep breath, Neo activated Emphatic Bond.
His emotions surged, attempting to seep into Elizabeth’s subconscious.
He was successful.
“Huh, why did it work this time—”
Neo’s words were abruptly cut short. Stay updated via My Virtual Library Empire
Elizabeth’s mental defense roared to life and caught him.
He realized too late that the absence od the defense earlier had been a trap – a subconscious attempt by Elizabeth.
Elizabeth’s unconscious mind pressed on his soul from all sides.
Neo’s soul form started to flicker under the pressure.
“Dammit… why is she so powerful…?”
Despite having a powerful soul form, he found himself struggling.
His soul was being crushed.
He tried to call back his soul form, but Elizabeth’s mental defenses refused to let him escape.
‘I need… to do… something….’
Neo tried to think of a solution.
He recalled Sphinx’s words.
One phrase in particular echoed in his mind:
Elizabeth is having nightmares.
“Are you telling me… she is attacking me unconsciously… due to nightmares?”
The realization leaving him dumbstruck.
But there was no time to stay dazed.
‘Something, there has to be something,’ he thought.
Death from having his soul torn apart was painful, even for him.
Neo was no masochist and he didn’t enjoy suffering from pain.
If he could, he wanted a painless solution.
“Fuck, there is no way out. Might as well face it headfirst.”
“Mind Invasion.”
Neo activated his skill, hoping to use it with Emphatic Bond to calm Elizabeth.
Maybe then, she would stop attacking him.
As he was already inside her, the mental defenses couldn’t block him.
The skill activated and the scene around Neo’s soul form changed.
He appeared in a luxurious room with grand furniture, though the atmosphere was anything but serene.
A girl, thin and bruised, cowered in the corner of the room.
She seemed barely 12 years old.
Tears streamed down her face as a man, older than her by at least two decades, stood over her.
The man’s face was contorted in rage.
“Why! The! Hell! Are! You! So! Irritating!” the man barked, each word followed by the harsh impact of his boot against her body.
“I’m so—”
“Shut up!” he roared, cutting her off.
Neo’s clenched his jaws and tried to move.
But he couldn’t.
The scene around him shifted abruptly.
He now stood in an old, dilapidated room.
Dust coated the tattered sheets, and the broken furniture lay scattered across the floor.
The air was stale.
The girl, now a few years older, sat alone, her face illuminated by the dim glow of a screen.
She seemed to watching a princess show on the television.
Her eyes were hollow yet a smile adorned her face.
Suddenly, the door was smashed open with a loud crash.
She flinched.
A man stormed inside, reeking of alcohol.
Neo’s stomach churned.
The girl in these memories was Elizabeth, and the man was her ex-husband.
Neo tried to move and intervene.
But his body remained frozen.
It was then that he felt it—a ‘foreign power’ holding him down.
Elizabeth’s mental defenses had recognized him as an intruder and were preventing him from interfering with her memories.
The strain was unbearable.
It was taking all of Neo’s strength to keep his soul form from being crushed under the weight of Elizabeth’s subconscious will.
The scene changed again.
Neo found himself in the same room, the man missing.
Suddenly, a crisp slap rang out.
Elizabeth, who had reached the end of her teenage years and matured into a beauty, had an indignant expression despite being slapped.
A woman, bearing a striking resemblance to Elizabeth’s now ex-husband but much older, glared at Elizabeth.
“What did you say?” the older woman hissed.
“No,” Elizabeth replied.
“How dare you refuse!?” the woman shrieked, her hand swinging through the air once more.
The slap, brutal, left Elizabeth’s cheek flushed red and swollen.
A thin trail of blood trickled down the corner of her lips.
Neo’s fists clenched as he watched helplessly.
Elizabeth wasn’t awakened at this time, and the slaps of her mother-in-law, an awakened demigod, carried enough force to inflict excruciating pain.
“You have been married for eight years! You still haven’t had a kid! People are saying Aelric is impotent!” the woman shouted.
She grabbed Elizabeth’s hair with one hand and pulled roughly.
“They are right!” Elizabeth replied.
After years of enduring relentless abuse, she realized that no matter how much she begged, she would still be hit.
Her pleas had always fallen on deaf ears.
Until now, she kept her mouth shut as the Darkwolf Family supported her country.
But today….
“Forget a child, I’m never going to let that bastard touch me!”
“B-bastard? How dare you call my son that word!”
“What about it? That guy is an impotent bastard! Everyone knows it—”
Young, cornered, and overwhelmed by years of resentment, Elizabeth spoke without restraint.
The older woman lost her temper completely.