Chapter 1041: Illusions...?

"How long has Renna been in her room? I haven't seen her hanging out with Lucifer and Arthas lately."

"A few weeks after Riley left. I tried knocking on the door, and the weird thing is, she always responds and opens it and... she looks fine."

"Looks fine?"

"Yeah, like she has always been."

Katrina and Liza were currently home and just hanging out in their living room. They have been enjoying their time without having to deal with their children ever since Arthas arrived — usually, at this hour, they would be receiving numerous complaints from everywhere all because of Lucy pranking everyone.

They were still receiving one or two, but that was nothing compared to before he was hanging out with Arthas — suffice it to say, he was a positive influence on Lucy. Katrina and Liza thought they would finally be able to rest and relax. But now...

...they were even more stressed and anxious than before since Renna was suddenly acting up.

"Could it be... she's just at that age?" Katrina let out a small sigh as she looked at Liza, "You know what, I'm glad I had a boy — at least Lucy is predictable, Renna's... too smart."

"What's wrong with being smart?" Liza clicked her tongue before taking a sip of her coffee, "And no, there's really something up with her. Have you tried talking to Lucy? Maybe she's just feeling jealous since Arthas is here?"

"Lucifer's not telling me anything," Katrina grunted, "He just told me 'Sometimes, women have to do what they need to do' in typical Lucifer fashion."

"What does that mean? Does she even know what women do?"

"I told you, typical Lucifer," Katrina shrugged, "I'm worried about something else, honestly. Have you heard the news from the detective?"

"Why would I even bother about the news...? I already have my hands full with the academy and with Renna," Liza let out a loud groan as she rested her head on the sofa.

"Apparently people have been missing," Katrina continued her story despite Liza clearly not being interested.

"Missing?" Liza raised an eyebrow, "People have always been missing in this place... especially when Riley was still active with his... you know what."

"That's the thing, though..." Katrina looked Liza in the eyes, "...She said Missing Persons rose to almost a thousand percent this month, a lot of people have been missing... and Riley's not here."

"Huh... maybe they're just out there."

"That's the thing, though..." Katrina looked Liza in the eyes, "...She said Missing Persons rose to almost a thousand percent this month, a lot of people have been missing... and Riley's not here."

"Huh... maybe they're just out there."

"Right..." Katrina could really only sigh as Liza was truly not interested in the news, "Anyway, when you checked on Renna earlier... she was alright?"

"She was, nothing seemed wrong with her. She's just her typical stoic self," Liza also let out a long and loud sigh, "Sometimes I wonder where both of us went wrong with our children, you know?"

"Uh, when we fell in love with a literal mass-murdering psychopath?" Katrina slightly winced, "I mean, we've always known they weren't going to turn out normal. Maybe Rennalyn's just a late-bloomer, you know? I think...

...It's best to just let her be, she'll open up sooner or later."

"Hm...

...I hope you're right."

Both Liza and Katrina turned to look in the direction of Renna's room, letting out sighs of exhaustion... completely unaware that Renna's room was actually almost completely empty; the only thing left were her bed, desk, and closet.

The thousands and thousands of cut-outs and print-outs which were scattered on the floor and plastered on the walls and ceilings, all gone. And instead, they were now millions of miles away from the New World, now completely organized into one large wall inside a literal planetarium—not a planet, but a literal planetarium; an entire ecosystem inside a globe the size of a small moon.

And right there, in the center, were several Rennas all running and walking around while scanning the wall of papers. They were like ants inside a mound; there were probably thousands and thousands of them all compressed in one place like canned sardines.

"It's not real... none of this is real." One of them, the only one who was sitting on the ground and biting her nail, was whispering to herself as her eyes scanned everything and everyone, "Stop it. All of you... stop it."

Renna's voice was trembling, only whispers — and yet even with all of her clones running around and making noises, only her voice echoed throughout the entire planetarium.

"I said stop it!" And as Renna wailed, all of her clones looked at her at the same time before just letting out a smile so wide it stretched their lips to their limit, almost to the point they started to bleed and split apart, "Stop it!"

And with another roar, Renna's clones all just faded away. And now, with all of them gone, the globe's ecosystem was able to breathe and show itself — but it was not the only thing that revealed itself, however, a large glass cage was now also visible; just a few meters behind the curled Renna.

And inside the large glass cage... were people.

People, all tied up and bound to a standing bed, hundreds and hundreds of them.

Renna's eyes squinted as she scanned the cage.

"One... two..." Her counts escaping from her lips in a whisper. She remained like this, just counting quietly... and after more than a minute had passed, her eyes suddenly widened.

"212! There were 213 of you just earlier!" Renna's teeth showed themselves as she rushed toward the cage and placed her palms on it; her breaths, marking the glass as her eyes once again started to move erratically, "Another one... another one is gone... why... why!? It's true, isn't it!? It's true..."

Renna then very slowly stepped forward; but instead of hitting the glass, she just went right through it like it did not exist at all.

"Then... when is it my turn? When is it Lucifer's? Mother?" Renna clasped her hair as she walked across her prisoners.

"Please... please let us go."

"Shut up!" And as soon as one of the people close to her spoke, Renna let out an almost shrilling scream. She then turned to look at the person... before suddenly rushing toward her and then pushing her arm straight through the woman's heart,

"It... it doesn't matter," Renna once again whispered to herself as the disgruntling sound of her arm removing itself from the woman's chest echoed through the ears of the other prisoners, "You... you would have been gone soon anyway...

...all of you will."

Renna's eyes then once again began scanning all of the people she tied up inside the cage. This time, however, the look on her eyes was far from her previous stoic, and now recently manic gaze. This time...

...there was absolutely nothing in her eyes.

"We are all just illusions, a dream," Renna tilted her head to the side as she smiled while her eyes were completely dead and empty. She then wiped the sweat trailing from her chin and cheeks, completely ignoring the fact that she just smeared blood all over her mouth... causing her smile to become even more exaggerated, "So, I suppose...

...It won't matter if I just kill all of you, no?"

***

"This is Diana's doing, I know it!"

Back in the Outerverse, Riley was still completely stuck inside his First Trial — Alice Lane. His head, still stuck on the wall as Alice walked around the prison hall not caring about him at all.

"Is it alright if you take this off now, Biological Mother?" Riley just casually spoke even with his cheek sticking to the wall, "Or should I remove it myself?"

"...Can you remove it yourself?" Alice squinted her eyes.

"In the risk of destroying the entire planet, Biological Mother," Riley shrugged.

"Well, we can't have that now, can we, freak?" Alice snorted before finally removing her telekinetic hold on Riley, "And why do you keep calling me Biological Mother instead of just Mother?"

"Because you died, Alice," Riley patted his cheek as he approached Alice, "And I was adopted by the Ross family."

"The Ross family... wait," Alice placed her hand on her chin, "Like Bernard Ross? Diana's husband—wait a minute, Diana adopted you when I died!? Wait, how did I die?"

"You killed me, and so the Hope Guild and Megawoman had to kill you, Biological Mother."

"Oh shitznels," Alice clasped her forehead, "I know I'm a failure in life, but... to kill my own child?"

"You will develop Alzheimer's — and when you killed me, I gained your ability and it started something. And also..." Riley let out a small sigh and shook his head, "...I did not come from the future. I suppose you can call this a simulation, Alice."

"Oh, so... you're not real?" Alice blinked a couple of times, "Bummer."

"No," Riley shook his head, "You are the simulation, Alice. You are not real."

"Not real...?" Alice raised an eyebrow, "What in the freak are you on about? Are you a drug addict, is that why I killed you?"

"I was 2 years old when you killed me."

"Holy crap," all the strength in Alice's voice faded away, "I was a monster."

"You were not," Riley said without any hesitation, "You were not a monster and you have never been."

"Aw, shucks. Thank you," Alice smiled as she looked Riley in the eyes, "But if you say I'm not real... then why do I feel real? I have memories and shit — heck, I might be forgetful, but I remember all sorts of things."

"Oh..." Riley then returned Alice's gaze,

"...This is real."