The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 82

Chapter 82: The Nightmares

While Reid faced a mirror, Lisa was going through a nightmare of her own.

As soon as she left the void, she landed in a hall that she knew all too well.

Lisa found herself standing in a grand hall, its towering obsidian pillars stretching endlessly into the darkness above.

The hall was adorned with family banners that had a sigil of the Blackwood family on it.

Yes, she found herself in the halls of her very own home. A long table stretched before her. At its head was her mother, but her usual doting smile was gone, replaced by a cold mask.

But what made Lisa’s skin crawl was the person standing behind her mother. Her green eyes widened as she recognized him.

Line.

With a dagger still jammed in his head, he stood there looking very much alive as he kept his hollow eyes on Lisa.

“No-no, that’s not possible” she muttered.

Line was dead, she watched it happen. She watched Reid kill him so why was he here?

His mouth opened as he let out “hello Lisa, surprised to see me again?”.

Lisa’s body froze when she heard his voice again. Every night after that day had been hell for her.

She had been brave enough to comfort Reid but her, no one was there to hug her and calm her down.

She was just a 12 years old, even if she was from the great families, a murder wasn’t something she could witness and shrug off like it never happened.

Every night after that, she saw Line just standing there, looking at her, pointing an accusatory finger at her.

But she overcame it, or so she thought. Hearing Line’s voice again brought back all the memories she had locked away.

“You’re dead” Lisa said, trying to convince her self.

“And yet, here I am” Line said as he slowly walked towards her, blood still dripping from the spot where the dagger connected with his head.

“This is not real” Lisa shut her eyes and covered her ears but she could still hear Line’s slow steps towards her, she could still feel his hollow gaze.

“Is that so?” Line arrived closer to her “Let me show you then.”

Before she could register what he said or understand what it meant, she felt his cold fingers wrapping around her neck, lifting her in the air and denying her air.

Everything felt so real, the lack of air felt real and his cold hand felt real.

She turned to her mother who was still sitting at the head of the table, maintaining her cold gaze.

Lisa couldn’t speak but she pleaded with her eyes for her mom’s help, yet it never came.

“Where’s Reid now?” Line asked as he moved his free hand to the dagger in his head, pulling it out and jamming it in her stomach.

Pain exploded through her stomach as she struggled to escape, using her hands to claw at Line but nothing made him let go.

Slowly, her vision started blurring as she slipped into unconsciousness.

__________

“Welcome to your nightmare Reid” His mirrored version said, its voice identical to Reid’s.

The doppelganger tilted its head, a grin on its lips as it looked at Reid.

“Boy have you grown” It said “you’re no longer a failure”.

Reid said nothing as he continued observing his red eyed self.

“But here’s the thing though” It vanished and reappeared behind him “you do not deserve any of it”.

Reid reacted instantly, spinning on his heel and throwing a right hook at it.

His fist connected, but it felt hollow. It felt like he just punched through smoke.

The doppelganger’s body wrapped and twisted where Reid’s fist land before snapping back into place.

It still kept the grin on its face as it continued speaking.

“All this was just handed to you by Evo” It said. Reid threw another punch but the results remained the same.

“Without her, you’re nothing. Just a failure who crawled in the Scrapyards” it continued mockingly.

Reid didn’t want the nightmare to mess with his mind but the doppelganger’s words hit hard.

He threw another punch at the clone again but just like before, his fist just passed through it, only distorting its figure for a few moments before it returned.

“I thought you’d have figured it out by now, your attacks won’t work” it said with a grin.

“But mine?”

The red eyed Reid moved in a blur of motion.

Its fist slammed into Reid’s rib, perfectly replicating his strength and speed.

The air was knocked out of Reid’s lungs but before he could recover, another attack came.

This time, a kick aiming directly at his temple. Reid bend his body backwards, making the attack miss him by only a few inches and countered with a spinning kick.

But like it read his mind, the clone executed the same move and their legs met in the middle, sending shockwaves outward.

Reid barely had time to launch another attack when the clone suddenly teleported behind him, landing an elbow strike directly on his spine.

Reid grunted and stumbled forward but the moment he stabilized himself, the clone was already upon him again.

The clone was predicting his every reaction. Every attack he tried, every counter was perfectly mirrored and every feint was seen through.

“You can’t out think yourself Reid” the clone said as it dodged another attack from him “No matter how hard you try.”

Reid exhaled. This battle was pushing him to the verge of exhaustion and if he didn’t find a way soon, he might never win.

The clone lunged at him again, aiming a palm strike to his chest but this time instead of dodging or blocking, Reid allowed the attack to land which surprised the clone.

But before it could pull its hand back, Reid grabbed it without his hands phasing through. He pulled the clone towards him and delivered a headbutt.

The impact sent both of them staggering backwards and for the first time since Reid saw it, the clone’s grin faltered.

Blood trailed down Reid’s forehead but there was a wide grin on his lips.

“Let’s see you read my moves when even I have no damn clue what I’m doing,” Reid said with a smirk.

He rushed at the clone, abandoning every calculated and precise movements for more reckless ones.

He tanked hit after hit from the clone while he delivered attacks of his own.

The clone’s expression darkened as he tried to adapt to Reid’s wild attacks but it didn’t work.

An upper cut to the chin sent it flying and it landed on the corpse pile it previously sat on.

It got up again and tried to reorient itself but Reid appeared behind it and delivered an axe kick to its spine.

The clone slammed back down on the corpse pile and Reid raised his foot high up in the air, ready to drive it through its head.

The attack descended, but the clone vanished just in time. Reid’s foot slammed into the corpses below, their bones creating a cracking sound from the impact.

The roles had switched and Reid was the one wearing a grin on his face.

And the clone?

Its expression was that of rage. It could perfectly read Reid’s moves at first, only for him to start fighting in a way it couldn’t see through no matter how hard it tried.

“You know what, this is getting annoying” Reid said as he looked at the clone.

“I couldn’t agree more” the clone’s angry expression suddenly shifted to his grinning one again, as it he had gotten the advantage again.

Reid, standing on the pile of corpses, suddenly felt a hand gripping his legs, trying to pull him down.

He looked down and noticed that the corpse pile he was standing on had suddenly come alive.

He looked around the landscape, only to see all the corpses slowly rising as if returning to life.

“Let’s see you win this Reid” the clone’s voice came.

Reid, on the other hand, didn’t seem bothered. He looked at the rising undead with calm.

You see, this dream domain was meant to mess with Reid’s head but Owen made one mistake without knowing.

Although he observed that he couldn’t summon any of his forged-beasts in this domain, Reid still had the ability to copy abilities frim his forged-beasts.

And one of his forged-beasts, Nyx, had the perfect skill for this situation— [Nullification].

Without hesitation, he copied the ability and quickly activated it.

The world around him started breaking apart. The bloody sky started ripping apart and one by one, the undead disappeared into nothingness.

Seeing this, the clone panicked and rushed towards Reid in hopes to stop his ability but it was too late.

Before it could reach him, it also disappeared into nothingness, leaving behind a terrifying scream.

______

Reid snapped back to reality and although the mist still surrounded him, he was awake.

He looked around and spotted his teammates laying down on the floor, with their forged-beasts nowhere to be seen.

They looked to be in deep sleep.

Reid’s blue eyes then locked onto Owen who stood by his forged-beast.

“You broke out?” Owen blinked in surprise. “That was fast.”

Reid resummoned Nyx by his side as his aura flared.

“It’s my turn now” he said.