THE STRONGEST NEXULYTE

Ivan stared at the mirror gate that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere in horror, his heart was beating so fast inside his ribcage that he could hear it clearly.

He had been hesitant about running away or finding a way to help Glen and Ralph who looked like they were not part of this world anymore but was there still a point in doing so now? Could he still choose with a mirror gate right in front of him? Even most Nexulytes would be terrified if a mirror gate spawned in front of them, much less someone like Ivan.

Just a second after the mirror gate appeared, Ivan saw a mass of yellow mist flow out from it. The yellow my mist moved like an entity with vision as it surged toward Ivan, accompanied by ghastly sounds of babies and anguished screams of women.

Ivan watched with horrified eyes as the eerie mist that covered his entire field of vision slowly moved closer to him while the strange sounds accompanying it echoed in his ears, he felt like he was standing in front of a massive wave with no way to run.

Surely, the mist finally got in front of Ivan and swallowed him.

"Am I…finally going to die?"

Was the last thing that Ivan thought of before closing his eyes as the yellow mist swallowed him and everything around him, he did not even think of his two friends; there was nothing he could do to save himself, much less save them.

Splash!!

After the yellow mist swallowed Ivan, everything went silent. The ghastly screams and anguished cries, the sounds of strong wind and destruction, and the sound of the thunderclap above the playground. All around Ivan was quiet and…peaceful.

Aside from that, Ivan also felt…cold. As if he was soaking in water.

'Didn't the yellow mist swallow me? Why am I still alive?' Ivan thought to himself as he slowly opened his eyes, what greeted him left him stunned for a good couple of seconds.

Ivan saw that he was not inside the yellow mist that had appeared from the mirror gate, at least his environment did not look anything as expected of such a monster.

Currently, Ivan found himself inside a vast clear sea. He estimated that the sea should be as huge as the outskirts that he lived in and the water of the sea was so clean that he could see clearly as if he was on land.

Rays of sunlight pierced through the surface of the sea all the way down to the bottom that was over two thousand feet deep while the top of the sea flowed gently in one direction as if being carried by a calm wave.

Ivan watched in amazement as he had never seen a sight as beautiful as this before, the sea was so huge and water so clear with not a single being to taint its glory; well, except for Ivan himself who was slowly drifting to the bottom of the sea.

It was then that Ivan realized that he wasn't drifting, he was drowning!

Immediately, the clear sea did not seem as beautiful as it had been earlier as Ivan was suddenly filled with dread. He began to move his limbs in panic, trying to make his body go upward but it was proving futile; he did not even know how to swim in the first place, he soon got tired from struggling too much.

'Why am I even struggling to survive? Isn't it better to just die this way? It should be less painful, right?' Ivan suddenly thought to himself. Realizing that there was no reason for him to try so hard to survive this place.

If it was truly inside the yellow mist, then getting out of this sea was impossible and even if he managed to leave; the outside world must have already been overflowing with monsters from the dreamscape. San pluto might not be able to send help in time before the outskirt was destroyed; they might not even bother to send help.

Why waste the life of important Nexulytes for a few bumkins living in the outskirts?

Ivan thought of those Nexulytes who had been in charge of guarding the outskirts for years now, a slight smile formed at the end of his lips as he imagined them getting shredded by monsters; the scene would be satisfying to watch. Sadly, he won't be able to see it but knowing that reality wasn't going to be much different still made him feel better.

'At least they will finally get to die horribly' Ivan thought within him as he stopped struggling and allowed himself to sink deeper into the sea with a peaceful smile on his face.

One minute…

Five minutes…

Ten minutes….

Ivan's eyes flashed open, a frown etched between his eyebrows as he stared around himself in confusion.

He was still inside the water, he was still slowly sinking deeper; so much time had passed before Ivan realized that he was not suffocating! He realized two things after opening his eyes.

First was that he could still breathe which he did not realize earlier because he had panicked, second was that…even after ten minutes of constantly sinking, the bottom of the sea remained as distant as ever!

'Why, why?! I have already given up, why can't I just die?! This place isn't meant to trap me forever, right?' Ivan thought as a newfound fear grew within him. A fear worse than the fear of death…

Being alone for eternity!

Although at this point, a new change occurred in the sea.

Ivan heard a thunderclap above the sea as the sunlight disappeared instantly, the calm sea suddenly began to rage fiercely and the clear sea water turned murky and dark that Ivan could barely see two meters around him.

Sounds of the water getting slapped rang in Ivan's ears, it was as if thousands of sea creatures were rushing all around him but he couldn't see them; only once did Ivan catch a glimpse of an enormous shadow that almost made his heart jump out of his chest.

Strong waves began to splash on the sea and Ivan found himself getting tossed around in the water without being able to react.

A thunderstorm had appeared so suddenly without a sign.

Ivan, getting thrown around inside the enormous sea with an unknown number of sea creatures surrounding him, could feel his heart grow cold with terror; all he wanted was to die a better death than those scumbag Nexulytes, why was he in a horror house…or sea?

Ivan had just been thrown away by another wave when he suddenly heard what gave him goosebumps.

"Hey"

A low voice of an old man that sounded like a whisper almost sent Ivan into shock, he would have fallen if not that he was currently floating in water.

Ivan hastily turned around to see who else was in this place but found nothing but murky water when he turned around, though he could have sworn that the voice just now was right behind him.

Ivan was still staring at the murky water when he saw a shadow from the corner of his eyes, he quickly turned to face it but came face to face with an old woman instead.

Ivan…passed out from shock.

"Huh? He fainted just like that, big brother is no fun anymore" A young girlish voice said with dissatisfaction as the face of the old woman peeled off, it was a mask.

....

Ivan did not know how long had passed, he felt like he had been asleep for years when his consciousness finally started to return to him. His body felt terribly weak and heavy, he also had this strong urge to cry for some reason but held himself back.

Ivan struggled a bit to move his heavy eyelids which took him some seconds to do and when he finally opened them, what he saw stunned him.

His sight was moving up and down at a fast speed as if someone was running while carrying him while a few meters behind them was a woman who was terribly wounded.

One of her arms was missing, part of her face was covered in blood, and a huge hole in her chest. But that didn't stop her from running after Ivan and his carrier at an inhumane speed while screaming

"Give me back my child!"

Ivan did not know who this woman was but he could feel the great sense of sorrow swelling within him and the urge to cry grew louder when he saw the woman finally losing speed, her body was probably succumbing to her injuries after she had pushed her body too much.

His vision went blank.

Another unknown amount of time passed when Ivan regained vision.

He found himself in a room full of babies, he estimated that there were around three hundred children who were most likely only a few months old in this place and almost all of them were crying.

'Where…is this?' Ivan thought to himself as he tried to look around but found out that he could not. He was also currently…a baby.

'What's going on?' he wondered.

The door of the room was pushed open at this point, startling the babies and causing a few to start crying even louder; they were most likely calling for their mothers.

'Where am I? Who was that woman? Wasn't I in the sea just then?'

A lot of questions ran through Ivan's mind which to his surprise made him more tired, it seemed that he had truly become a baby.

Ivan looked up and saw a man in a brown trench coat walk into the room with a glowing stone in his hand, he walked up to a baby and picked the baby up by holding his little hand and placed the stone in front of the baby.

The stone shone bright and the baby cried louder. Ivan heard the man click his tongue and casually threw the baby to the side before picking up another baby.

This continued until it got to Ivan's turn. The man stared down at Ivan and Ivan stared back at him. He saw the look of surprise in the man's face as he held Ivan's baby hand and…

Snap!!

He broke it.

A wave of pain rushed through Ivan's body , his mouth opened up involuntarily and a piercing cry rang out. But the man did not stop there, he released Ivan's now broken arm and held his little leg before also breaking it as well; Ivan cried more, the pain was heart shattering.

"Tks! This one isn't very useful. Take him to the newly discovered domain" the man in a trench coat said with contempt before moving on to another kid. The last thing that the crying Ivan saw before passing out was another man who appeared from nowhere and carried him away.

Ivan once again woke up after an unknown amount of time.

' Again?' Ivan sighed inwardly, mentally tired.

He opened his eyes to see what it was this time and was surprised to see that he was back in the sea.

Ivan had never been so happy to be in a place before, he felt like he had returned home after suffering all day outside.

But before he could rejoice too much, a soft voice whispered from behind him.

"Welcome back, big brother"

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