Grim Reaper in the Apocalypse: Reaping Immortals

Atlan had his eyes closed as he stood in mid-air.

Don't believe the illusions, he reminded himself.

Atlan raised his hand and pushed a button in his battle suit. And the blue light on his soles suddenly blinked and lost its power.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Without the antigrav boots turned on, Atlan would plummet down into the abyss where even the 50-foot lava tsunami could not fill halfway.

Despite that, Atlan closed his eyes and let himself lose the antigrav boots.

His body fell, but surprisingly, there was an invisible flooring underneath his feet that caught him just when everybody thought he would plummet down into the stalagmites.

Atlan, with his eyes still closed, raised his leg and walked forward.

He recalled the image of the swaying suspension bridge in his mind. He ignored reality and let his imagination dictate his actions.

Even though there was nothing to walk towards, Atlan still walked forward with no hesitation in his movements.

And as he took a step, his foot felt a solid wooden floor in front of him. He smiled. Just as he thought, the collapse of the wooden suspension bridge was only an illusion. Even as the tsunami of lava engulfed it in its melting temperature, it still stood tall and defied logic.

Atlan took another step forward and felt another plank in front of him. Slowly, he made his way toward the invisible suspension bridge. This time, there was nothing to rush him.

Ninth smiled when she saw this. "Our Star Porter has guts, I'll give him that."

This Remedium has a strange property where it made illusions based on the imagination of the Saviors traversing it.

When the tsunami of lava reached the bridge, everyone knew what would happen next. They thought that the bridge would collapse and be melted by the lava that engulfed it.

And due to their 'human' thinking, the bridge did collapse. It followed their imagination and gave them an illusion that destroyed the wooden suspension bridge.

"If a Student saw the bridge falling, what would they think would happen next?" she asked her team.

"They'd think that they would fall into the abyss," answered the Mage.

"Yes. And because of their thinking, they would actually fall to the abyss and get swallowed by the Remedium, never to be seen again."

That was normal. Even if they knew that it was an illusion, their innate logic would imagine that they would fall once their foothold got destroyed. It was human to think that.

"The only way to survive this is to go against logic," Ninth said.

If one truly believed that the suspension bridge survived the tsunami of lava, then the Remedium would make it true.

That is what Atlan did. He closed his eyes and believed his imagination. He imagined that he was crossing through the suspension bridge safely, plank by plank.

Even though there was nothing underneath his feet, he was able to walk in the air.

"Do you think other Students would have been able to do that," asked Ninth to her team.

The answer was obvious. They wouldn't.

The Remedium would prey on their inexperience. That is one of the reasons why Students weren't allowed on missions for Critical Points in the City. Of course, this mission was the exception since they needed the Star Porter to carry the constructs inside.

Atlan took his final step forward and landed back on the asphalt of the main road. He opened his eyes and saw that they were a lot closer to the Church than they were before.

He looked to the side and saw that were at 40th Street. They only needed to traverse 60 more streets to finally reach the Church.

"Good job, kid."

The rest of the team lauded Atlan for his unwavering confidence. It made them trust the young Star Porter much more than they did before.

Their main concern during this mission was not Atlan's lack of strength or experience, it was his mentality.

Usually, novices like him would panic whenever a dangerous situation occurred. Students would forget all their training and go out of position in an attempt to run away or save themselves from harm.

Nothing was more dangerous than a panicked Savior who was only out to save himself. They were unpredictable.

They could deal with a weak Savior, but not a hysterical one.

This was their main concern with Atlan. However, they were quickly proven wrong.

Even in the face of a 50-foot lava Tsunami threatening to overwhelm him, he kept calm and trusted the battle suit entrusted to him. If he panicked and tried to run, he would only trip himself and eventually fall to his death in the abyss.

He also showed tremendous conviction. If he wavered even a little bit when he walked through the invisible suspension bridge, he would immediately fall to his death.

This showed to the Specialist Saviors that Atlan was the kind of guy who kept calm under the most extremes of pressure.

They could work with someone like him. They could rest easy knowing that Atlan would not panic and cause chaos in the team's formation. They could focus solely on protecting him and letting him reach the Church in one piece.

"Care to tell us how you did that?" Ninth asked.

"You said it was all an illusion, and I believe it. If the suspension bridge was strong enough to not break under the full weight of my battle suit, then it surely wouldn't get destroyed by some lava. Because of that, it was easier for me to believe that the bridge was still there, just invisible."

Ninth patted him on the shoulders. "My father was right about you."

"What did he say?"

She smiled. "He said that you're crazy. In a good way."

Only a crazy person would put his life on the line by trusting his imagination. Insanity bordered genius. She still didn't know which side he was on.

"I hope you continue to be crazy because the Remedium has yet to show us its craziest side."