Advent of the Three Calamities

Chapter 809: Puppets of Emotions [2]

“What are you doing!? Have you grown mad???”

“We’re on the same side! We serve the same person! Sir, Solarch!”

“Nooo—!”

Screams ripped through the surroundings, bodies falling into the Crimson Sea one after another. The scene looked tragic, with the Luminarch staring at the Solarch in disbelief as he ignored them and continued to attack them one by one.

It wasn’t long before all of the Luminarch’s realized that something was wrong, and they immediately got together to work with each other to get rid of the Solarch.

BANG! BANG!

The air grew dense, spells flying in all directions.

Be it the Luminarch and the Solarch. Neither party held back at all.

“Get ahold of yourself!”

“This is blasphemy!”

“Traitor…!!”

Shouts and screams followed, blood spilling into the Crimson Sea.

I stared at the scene in silence, saying not a word.

In that moment, the world felt like nothing more than a plaything in my hands. I could see orbs of countless colors swirling to life within the bodies of the Luminarchs and the Solarch.

’Yes, this is more like it.’

I pressed my hand upwards, causing the red within the Luminarchs’ bodies to increase while also pressing my hand down to suppress every other emotion.

“How dare you!?”

“Traitor!!”

“I’ll kill you!”

I didn’t stop there.

I snapped my fingers, quietly shattering more and more of the tags that I had inserted into the Luminarch’s body, fueling the fear that had completely consumed his body.

BAAAANG—!

One spell after another rained down, both parties not holding back at all.

Still, it was clear that the Solarch held the upper hand.

’That wouldn’t be too fun.’

Seeing him roar wildly in the air as he attacked the other Luminarchs, I squeezed my hand. The purple orb that had taken complete hold of his body suddenly shrank.

“Huh?”

His body came to a sudden pause, a certain clarity washing over his mind.

“Wait, wait…?”

That distraction was all the enraged Luminarch’s needed in order to find an opening and dish serious damage onto him.

BANG! BANG!

Several large spells hit the Solarch square on, his expression paling as he stumbled back in the air. His expression distorted from the pain, and as he looked ahead, he screamed.

“What are you doing!?”

I smiled when I saw the rising red within his body.

Still, things were far from over.

Raising my hand up once more, the red within his body started to expand as the ’Anger’ tags shattered one after another, his expression twisting more and more as the attacks kept raining on him from all directions.

“Have you all lost your minds?! Do you know who I am!!”

From purple to red.

His body was now completely red.

He lost all sense of reasoning, and his body glowed even more fiercely, the light blinding the surroundings as several dozen magic circles circled around him, attacking the numerous Luminarchs around him.

“Don’t stop!!”

“Attack him! Let this traitor die! In the name of the Living Saint!”

“Kill!!”

“Kill!!!”

BAAAAAAAAAAANG—!

It was a scene of carnage, limbs flying in the air as both sides attacked with everything they had, some even going as far as sacrificing themselves in order to create openings against the Solarch.

“Arrgh!!!”

Wounds started to accumulate on the Solarch’s body, and as I stared at the scene, I couldn’t help but pucker up my lips.

’What a pity…’

They really didn’t need to go that far in order to distract him.

I was here.

Pressing my hand down, I kept twisting and reshaping the Solarch’s emotions, pulling at them like strings. His focus wavered at crucial moments, leaving him open, and soon, the wounds he sustained grew severe.

But he wasn’t the only one I caused trouble for.

I did the same for the Luminarchs.

Whenever a side gained the advantage, I’d quickly help the other side to let the fight be more balanced, and as the situation went on, the injuries on both sides grew more and more severe.

’Hmm. It looks like they’re on their last leg. What should I do now…?’

I thought for a moment before shaking my head.

“Right, never mind.”

I looked at the remaining Luminarchs and Solarch. The pressure hovering around their bodies was much thinner than before, and the number of Luminarchs was four. With my hands behind my back, I hopped off the sword, flicking my hand as the sword followed from behind.

Eventually—

Thump!

I landed back on the sword.

Five pairs of eyes met my direction as I looked at them and nodded.

“Thank you all.”

And then—

I sashed the hair horizontally.

A thin red line formed on the necks of everyone present.

Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash!

Bodies fell, and I turned around.

The moment I did, I felt countless eyes turn toward me, some wide with disbelief, others frozen in stunned silence.

I raised my brow while staring at them.

“What?”

That was all it took for everyone to snap out of it as Kiera was the first one to move, dashing towards the water.

Splash!

“Huh?”

Now it was my turn to stare back, completely and utterly in disbelief.

However, it appeared that I was the only one in shock.

A certain voice echoed in the air a moment later.

“You… w-what in the hell did you do?”

The shock on Aoife’s face had yet to die down as she stared at me. Her face was quite pale, and her hair was disheveled. It was clear that she hadn’t had an easy time.

“H-how… h-ow did you do… that?”

Looking at her and the others, I gave them a short reply.

“Emotive Magic.”

There was no magic to it.

Just Emotive Magic.

That was all I did, and needed to do.

“No, but…”

Aoife didn’t seem satisfied with the answer.

“That can’t be, right? I’m sure you did more than that… Since when was Emotive Magic this strong? That was a Tier 9 user! How did you manage to turn him against everyone!? No, not just him! You managed to turn everyone against each other. It was almost as if they were all dancing at the palm of your hands. I’ve never seen something like this from you in the past. Since when could… do something like this? I… I even trained a lot. No, ah…”

From how rushed her voice sounded, it was clear that she was still in complete disbelief at what I had done.

But more than that…

I could also see it.

’Jealousy’.

She was feeling jealous of me.

I squinted my eyes, but didn’t say anything, staring at the black veins on her face as they had started to recede. Nobody made a comment about them, perhaps because they were already aware of them, or because they all shared the same thoughts as her.

I just looked at them and shrugged.

“It’s not that I haven’t been capable of doing this in the past. I’ve always been capable, but it’s not exactly easy.”

There were times when I purposely held back.

There were other times when I was just not capable of getting close to my opponents.

’There’s also the fact that my Emotive Magic has improved considerably after I absorbed Julien, and with the added negative emotions, I am now able to achieve something like this with much more ease.’

Still, this wasn’t my limit.

I knew I could do even more, perhaps even going so far as to make them kill themselves, but that process would take more time. No, in fact, I could do it in an instant if it were someone with low Emotional Resistance.

…I just didn’t try.

Splash!

A sudden splash pulled me from my thoughts, and when I lowered my gaze, I saw Kiera emerging, several items clutched tightly in her hands. Her entire body was wet, but as a red hue spread around her body, she dried up really quickly before turning her attention towards me.

“When you kill someone, make sure you take the items on their body.”

“Mhm.”

A nod followed from next to me.

It was Anne, looking at Kiera with some pride.

“That’s the way,” She mumbled, crossing her arms and nodding again, “Not taking their stuff after killing them is just being stupid.”

“…”

I looked at the items on Kiera’s hands, and well… They did look pretty expensive. She had a point, but that was probably the last thing that had been on my mind.

’I guess I’ll do that next time.’

“Here.”

Aoife tossed me something.

Grabbing it, I looked at it. Just a bracelet? Nothing about it seemed unusual, but the moment I poured my mana into it, a faint pulse answered back, and I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

“Oh, not bad.”

The bracelet was actually quite useful.

It enabled me to communicate telepathically with others.

“I’ve got some for the others too. This should be pretty useful.”

Kiera tossed similar-looking bracelets to the others. No one hesitated. They caught them and slipped them on, their faces lighting up with surprise moments later. I noticed more items clutched in Kiera’s grasp, things she’d managed to gather, but as I glanced around, I knew it was time for us to go.

“Let’s not waste any time. I don’t know if others might come. We can check the items later.”

Panthea was injured.

This much was clear to me.

Whether she could deal with the Living Saint or not, I wasn’t sure. She didn’t seem too confident either.

In that case, it was best to leave and not risk it.

I turned my gaze toward the ship in the distance. From where I stood, I could make out An’as on the deck, watching us with clear worry etched across his face.

Seeing him like this, I smiled before dashing in his direction.

It was time for us to make our way into the Clora Domain.