Chapter 54: Shadow of Veronica

Instead of sleeping, Rachel decided to enter her inner world through the meditative state and take the time to better analyze everything that happened in the last forty-eight hours. She played through the events, spotting things she’d missed when in the moment.

It was quickly becoming very evident how powerful this internal world was since it did have some restorative effects on her psyche in the time she tested it. It appeared to catalog everything she perceived with her enhanced senses, as well as a short distance that seemed to be subconscious or related to some spiritual perception.

Though there were flaws in it that she started to see while poking and prodding the world from various angles. It did record reality accurately instead of by her own bias, but only when it came to her immediate surroundings, which could be related to a spiritual imprint others left on her soul.

As she relived sections of the night immediately following The Oscillation, Rachel discovered the reason for her organ failure. Time paused with her desire as she walked around the brown-skinned toad’s cobalt-hued dart. She concluded Scarlet couldn’t get all the poison since she’d been interrupted.

Swapping the scene to when she and Scarlet huddled close together, her blood spiking out to follow the deadly toad, Rachel focused on the slowed-moving liquid. Everything took on a new meaning as she examined its actions since she’d come into the picture.

Veronica was controlling it from inside Scarlet, or perhaps she was the blood itself, but there was a stark difference in its activity before and after the girl had sunk her teeth into her arm. This was obvious in how it consciously lifted the vespertine reaper off the ground against her will when Selvaria caused the wave.

By the fanged girl’s own account, Veronica told Scarlet she’d been lost before that point in the endless ocean that was Scarlet’s internal world.

Reliving the moment when Veronica flipped her off, Rachel scowled while creating a seat to collapse into; she’d spent hours in introspection and was growing surprisingly tired. This wasn’t some infinite training simulator; it did cost resources—spiritual and mental—yet also provided another way to exercise those aspects.

Veronica is dangerous, and it’s only a matter of time before she grows restless from being locked inside Scarlet as a gatekeeper. She has feelings and was practically brainwashed since she was little to see Scarlet as her god... It appeared things are changing for her now, however.

Leaning to the side, she rewound time to the second the psychopathic girl had taken control of Scarlet’s body to fight the toads. She saw somewhat of a reflection of herself in Veronica’s thrill to engage the aliens, but for entirely different reasons than her own.

Rachel loved the excitement of the battle and the heat of the exchange; the word ’prey’ left a bitter taste on her tongue since it wouldn’t get her blood pumping—she had discovered that part of herself under the Azure Moon.

However, Veronica loved to toy with her victims and dominate them with insurmountable power, condemning them to the realization of how worthless their lives were. She saw it in the hundreds of battle simulations she ran through the night—Veronica saw herself as a force of nature that couldn’t be resisted.

With every battle Rachel simulated between them, Veronica won, and she lost without exception—it wasn’t even close—making her heart rate increase over time. Observing from her sitting position, fist held against her cheek, Rachel cursed as Veronica beat her in record time.

The frightening part she was now starting to see was how intelligent and cunning Veronica was. Rachel had no clue how the girl was groomed to take this pivotal position in the Scarlet Hand’s plot to restrict Twilight, but the teen was not your typical schoolgirl.

I’m not just dealing with Scarlet, and she’s not the real issue... Veronica is. She put the thought aside while watching the laughing girl possessing Scarlet’s body cut her into ribbons. Veronica won’t hesitate to rip me apart if I stop being helpful to Scarlet.

Releasing a long stream of air while studying her status sheet and what had changed, she rubbed her temple.

[Strategic Mind - Advanced to B-tier]

[Mental Acceleration - Advanced to B-tier]

[Bestial Instinct - Advanced to C-tier]

[Bestial Instinct] only started rising when she began her simulated combat with Veronica; it seems she could further develop her senses inside this inner world, yet [Divine Beast Empowerment] couldn’t be exercised.

Her focus drifted to her Energy Stat to center on Constitution—it was this that made this mental space more flexible. Being of High Grade meant she could do much more with it than others, or so she’d come to believe, and it might even be worth putting a point or two into.

Yawning, she left the world, cracking open her eyes to the blazing sun, hardly blocked by the curtain from the window seat. Her arms felt like limp noodles in the light, and a wave of exhaustion flooded her brain; Maria’s healing could only do so much, she guessed.

She’d placed Scarlet’s bed far back on the opposite wall to keep the deadly rays away from her, and she’d taken this position because someone would have to intrude on her personal space to open the blinds up.

Her parents were still fast asleep, with her father holding her mother close in the cramped hospital bed, where she appeared to be enjoying the close contact. A smile touched Rachel’s mouth as she settled into a lying position, using one of the hospital blankets they’d left for a pillow.

It didn’t take long for her thoughts to give way to dreams, returning to Anthony’s quest. She roamed the faintly misty forest lands under the azure and alabaster orbs; visions from the goddesses didn’t come—thankfully—allowing her the chance to rest her troubled mind.

Noise made her ears twitch, rousing her drifting consciousness as her mother’s soft laughter made her groan and crack open an eye; it was dark, and sixteen percent of her [Lunar Pool] had been restored—somehow, someone had gotten by her to open the blinds, allowing the moonlight to hit her.

Scarlet and her mother appeared to have moved the beds to the side wall and brought in some chairs to sit in and chat. A quick vocal search discovered her father in the next room, trying to get answers from Mateo, but they weren’t alone.

Rachel sat straighter, stifling a yawn while hearing Captain Barbara Hall and another man she presumed was the military psychiatrist. Surprised, she realized she’d slept nearly fourteen hours—it was almost twelve at night.

"Finally awake?" her mother asked with a short chortle as she caught her stretching out, ears going stiff. "Scarlet and I have been becoming acquainted, and you startled her by bringing her into our room."

"Eh-heh. Yeah..." The girl’s cheeks darkened with embarrassment. "I meant to stay up until you came back, but, umm...my mind had other plans. Sorry. I just closed my eyes for a second, and I passed out. Oh, are you doing better?" she asked with true concern. "You looked terrible last night."

"A lot—better," she said, stifling another yawn. "Maria’s an interesting woman. She’ll probably find me later today... Oof."

Scarlet and her mother looked at each other in confusion when she winced, her mom asking the question on both of their minds.

"What is it—something wrong?"

Rachel rubbed her neck and got up to stretch out her stiff back and limbs. "Not really. Maria’s still recharging after healing me..." she trailed off, catching herself in time to not expose her terrified mother to how bad her condition had been. "I’m perfectly healthy after the good unicorn’s magic, though! No need to worry, Mom. Looks like the captain and doctor are here. I’ll just go see what’s happening—Mom?"

Internally pumping herself up, she went for the door, only to be stopped by her mother’s embrace.

"Just getting a quick hug in," she whispered, kissing her on the cheek. "Please...don’t push yourself more than necessary. I can’t lose you."

Rachel noticed Scarlet rubbing her arm with a melancholy smile as she broke away. "Haha. You know I’m built of tough stuff, Mom, but I’ll be more careful. Love you."

"Love you..."