Panic began to set in.
The world around me was twisting itself and bending in all sorts of horrifying ways as the realization was setting in.
I didn't know how much of everything I've lived in the past weeks was real and what was fake. Usually the illusions presented themselves as ghosts haunting me; this was the first case they manifested like this.
No, it can't be…
The power I had was real, the split demon was also real, and the goopy hands weren't; those were simply part of Leonhart's flames trying to keep me safe and trapped so they could give me the medicine.
Wait, what if everything that happened after that visit to the doctor is real then? Did the fat man really try to bully me then? What about the experiments we did to test out my powers? How much of that is even real?
I was trying to reminisce about all the events that happened in the span of the last month or so and couldn't tell if something was odd or out of place.
Then I remembered the words of the doctor, and everything suddenly clicked in my mind.
Realizing what was fake and what wasn't was the priority, I could no longer afford to take those pills whenever I was experiencing a hallucination; I now needed to take them periodically.
"This is a bit more annoying than I thought. Hey, do you know how often I have to take in these things?" I asked Ilay, trying to show myself as composed as possible; my heart was moments away from beating out of my chest.
"Once every five hours." He responded in a calm tone.
"So was your house really destroyed?" I asked him.
"Yes… yes, it was. Don't worry though, everything's fine; everything has been sorted out and fixed. Let's go back."
But… were my grades also just a work of fiction? What about the underground arena?
I was looking through most of my memories to see some irregularities, to guess what was real and what wasn't, until I noticed an eyeball emerging from the ground; it was extremely veiny and was staring a hole through my head.
"How cruel of you to leave me there! Do you know how much those geezers were nagging at me? Why do they get so pissy about a bunch of broken machines? I really can't understand them." Leo complained behind us.
His voice initially startled me, making me jump in place from the scare.
He was sitting on top of a large floating hand made out of his flames; a strange tail appeared on his back, the flames were creating sharp claws on his hands, and a spinning crown floated over his head, producing most of the flames.
Hearing his voice managed to help relax me, even if just a little.
So that's the artifact, a crown…
"Ah, don't worry about them; you should've just ignored them. Father will most likely deal with it the moment he gets back." Ilay answered while stroking his hair.
That didn't seem to calm down Leo, as he was still pouting; no one could win against him. He was born with unparalleled beauty, to the point not even his brothers could do anything but dote on him as the jewel of the Lumine family.
"Sorry for all the trouble I've caused you; I didn't know things would've gotten this bad." I then apologized to both of them now that they were both present.
"I said it's fine already; no need to apologize. It was a situation that escalated out of control and was definitely your fault." Ilay repeated.
"You're forgiven. Do you know how scary it was when you transformed all of a sudden and glared at us? I thought for a second the demon had taken over you; you can't even imagine how we felt!" Leo seemed to be still conflicted on the whole thing.
"Ah, right—" Just as I was about to apologize, I was interrupted.
"So what's the ability of the third form? If you reveal it to me, I just might forgive you!" Leo suddenly closed the distance; I could see glimpses of his mischievous nature slipping past the gaps of his pouting facade.
I felt some relief when he returned to his usual behavior, so as we headed back home, I went into detail about how this newly acquired power worked and all of its functions.
"No way, you can create artifacts at will?" Leo screamed, surprised, his eyes beaming with excitement.
Even Ilay was left shocked by this outcome, his mouth being left wide open.
"Well, it's not without its drawbacks; it consumes a heavy amount of energy, it leaves me physically drained, and it also consumes the scales, reducing my defenses." I repeated to make my point come across, but it was futile; Leo had already begun listing a bunch of weapons and effects he wanted.
"So can you make me a pair of tonfas? I don't really care about the effect. Just make them as sturdy as you can… Oh! You can make me a staff, like the staff of legends that can increase its size at will! Or, you can make me a spear!" He was already lost in his own world; small, star-shaped sparkles were coming out of his body.
He's all listing weapons that are famous throughout the Fracture. I may not know much, but I'm not that ignorant.
There were all kinds of weapons that became the signature of powerful explorers who made a name for themselves, part of the strongest beings.
The unbreakable tonfas that release powerful shockwaves whenever they make contact, or the legendary staff famous for being able to withstand even attacks coming from a red-graded demon or explorer like my uncle, or the spear that it's said never misses its target by lacerating the space between the wielder and its victim.
We all heard of those legendary weapons at least once, and their users were famous throughout the whole world until suddenly one day they all disappeared. Now all that is left of them is interviews and random pieces of footage of them fighting being the only remaining proof of their existence.
I basically passed out after making a barely passable weapon; there was no way in hell I could've produced a weapon of that caliber.
"Leo…" Ilay wanted to say something but couldn't; Leo simply ignored him.
"Oh, oh, what about the chains my father holds? Can you recreate those weapons? If you can mimic the effects of other weapons, does that mean we can start mass-producing these things?" His eyes were glimmering with newfound enthusiasm.
"Yeah, but wouldn't that worsen Lucy's condition? Currently his corruption is at an all-time high; he should probably rest for a couple of—"
"Nah, all he really needs is one of those treatments… You know… kind of like what Elvis had a while ago. I don't remember well what it's called, but it's the one that rebuilds the body to your liking, which would remove any corruption left in him." Leo mentioned.
I think I heard of that method too; it's that body reconstruction thing… I think I saw an ad for it, for old people to rebuild their body back to when it was at its prime. This is what he is talking about, right?
"That's an extremely painful and risky procedure; we should probably rely on the safer method, although it's a lot slower." Ilay responded immediately.
The two of them kept arguing on the way back until we reached their home, where we saw a bunch of the bodyguards play around with the weapon I made before passing out.
It was a weapon identical to the spiked ball the brave knight used during our game and the one Elena used to try to kill me. The length of the chain was a bit longer, but that wasn't an issue.
They would try to swing the weapon a couple of times before letting go of the weapon as the chain was slowly hurting their hands.