"Haa..."

I drew a breath, staring at the man standing before me.

There was a whole lot of purple emanating from the Solarch's body, and he started to tremble.

"What... What have you..."

His voice was shaky as he looked at me, his eyes trembling at the same time. He was probably feeling it.

...The fear that I had instilled deep within his body.

"I didn't do very much."

There was no need for me to fight any longer.

All I needed to do at the moment was keep myself safe and wait for the emotions to get the better of him.

'Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear.'

These were the four 'negative' emotions within the 'prime' emotions: Love, Anger, Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust.

They were also the four emotions I carried in excess... Not truly my own, but born from the darkness I'd absorbed from Julien. The instant I placed "fear" into the Solarch's body, it burrowed deep beneath the surface, spreading like a cancer until it slowly consumed his mind from within.

Even now, the purple orb was growing.

"W-what is..."

In the face of Emotive Magic, things such as Ranks and Tiers were meaningless.

The moment I managed to tag him, I knew that things would turn out this way.

"Y-you..."

The Solarch's eyes flared up, turning a bright white as I was blinded for a split moment. The space around me distorted, and I could feel an attack coming my way.

My heart was at peace.

The fruits of my labour were already showing.

I didn't even look. A beam of light formed next to me and shattered the illusion that I had cast.

".....!"

The Solarch's eyes widened in disbelief, and several dozen magic circles formed in the air, each releasing a beam of light that shot in my general direction.

But—

They all hit every point besides where I was.

'His mind is being consumed.'

The fear was making it harder for him to think properly. It was making him fall for every little illusion that I cast, and the corners of my lips pulled at the sight.

Moving my hand a little, the sword started to move as I drew nearer to the Solarch.

Swooosh! Swooosh! Swooosh!

"Where are you!? Why can't I... hit you!?"

His attacks continued to rage on, but he was only trusting his eyes at the moment. The calmness that one usually needed to handle such situations was gone, and in its place was erraticness and carelessness.

He didn't even realize that I was now standing so close to him.

"H-huh!?"

By the time he did, however, it was a little too late as I reached my hand toward his chest.

"You——!"

The purple within his body grew, his face distorting as I opened my mouth to mumble, "Settle down."

My voice layered in that moment, and his movements slowed down.

It was just for a split second, but that was all I needed as I pressed my hand against his chest and quietly mumbled, 'Fear. Fear. Fear. Fear. Fear.'

"H-haaaa!"

The purple that dominated his entire body grew denser, his eyes widening as his face paled considerably. His chest started to heave up and down unevenly, and from the way he was looking at me, I could see genuine fear on his face.

He tried to leave, but I didn't let him.

I pressed my hand against his shoulder and kept him in place.

"No!!!"

He screamed, but he didn't dare to defy me.

He couldn't defy me.

I could see it in his eyes.

At this very moment, I was the scariest being on the planet.

Still, it wasn't over.

I looked at the leaves in my hands and pressed onto the second leaf. Almost immediately, images and recollections of the past surfaced in my mind as I closed my eyes and absorbed everything.

The process took no more than a second as I opened my eyes again and smiled. "Are you scared of me?"

He didn't answer, but his body trembled even further. The fear was all too clear, and I made use of that fear.

"I can see that you're trying to deny it, but you can't hide the fear from me. I can see it all."

His emotions...

They were all too clear to me.

I could see it all as I lowered my voice into a whisper.

"Do you see the people down there?"

I pointed at the Luminarch that had already gotten better and started to battle with the others. The situation looked rather troublesome, with everyone to some extent outnumbered.

"They're all people from your church, no?"

"....."

The Solarch didn't answer, but his body shook for a moment.

"How do you say their faith is compared to yours?"

"....."

Once again, he didn't reply.

He didn't need to reply.

"Do you think they are as useful as you to the Living Saint? Whose... life do you think is worth more? Yours, or theirs?"

"Haa.... Haaa... Haa..."

The Solarch's chest rose and fell unevenly, each breath turning more ragged as I pressed my hand firmly against his shoulder.

"You, right? I'm sure you're more loyal to the Living Saint than they ever were. I'm sure you mean more to him, too, and while their deaths might sting, they'll be nothing compared to yours. You're far more valuable than any of them."

"Haa! Haaa—! Haaa!"

I brought my face closer to his ear, the purple orb growing even larger.

"I'll spare you if you can get rid of them for me. I'm sure the Living Saint will understand your actions. Make sure you don't hold back at all, okay?"

"R-really?"

The Solarch's voice shook, his gaze falling on me with some hesitation. He didn't seem to believe my words fully.

I just smiled at him.

"Don't worry. Get rid of them, and I'll spare you. How about it?"

"S-spare...?"

The Solarch's eyes shook once more, and for a brief moment, I saw even hints of clarity.

'...Nope.'

I squeezed his shoulder further and poured even more of those negative emotions that reigned over my own mind, and the Solarch's eyes widened in horror as his body disappeared from where he stood.

"Haaaa!"

A scream ripped through the surroundings a moment later.

***

"Ukh—!"

A groan escaped Aoife's lips, her face turning pale as she stared at the three people who stood before her. Multiple swords levitated in front of her, circling her body as Theresa sat by her shoulder, her little face pale as she pointed at the swords, their glow turning from red to black.

Aoife clenched her teeth and thrust the swords forward, their forms vanishing from sight before reappearing in front of the Luminarch, gleaming with lethal precision.

Her face grew pale at the attack, but to make matters even worse, the Luminarch didn't regard the attacks very highly.

With Aoife having to divert her attention towards three people at once, she wasn't capable of putting pressure on them like before.

"...!"

With one of them blocking her attacks, Aoife suddenly found the other two Luminarch's lunging in her direction from both sides. Her face changed, but she knew it was too late for her to dodge.

The black veins that were pulsing deep within her body glowed further, and several more swords began to emerge from her belt. The swords dashed and cojoined together to form a protective shield as Aoife forced out a few words, "T-Theresa..."

The little girl didn't say anything, raising her hand once. The swords glowed a brown hue as a protective layer of rock formed over them.

This was Aoife's shield.

But even though it had formed, she still braced for impact.

The 'shield' was strong, but in the face of the incoming attacks? Aoife's expression grew extremely serious as her chest heaved with ease.

But...

"Huh?"

A bright glow suddenly appeared in the surrounding area, momentarily stunning her and the others. It seemed to come from above, and for a moment, she wasn't able to react.

The glow was bright and extremely powerful.

A terrifying pressure burst out from it a moment later, and Aoife's expression changed.

"Shit!"

She realized rather quickly what was happening.

Julien...

He had failed to take care of the Solarch!

"Kiera!"

Aoife immediately turned towards Kiera, who was soaked in darkness, and, as if sharing the same thoughts, Kiera shouted back, "I'm... trying."

But it wasn't exactly easy for her as well.

A couple of Luminarchs also surrounded her.

"Fuck."

Leon's expression twisted with strain as he looked up. Gripping his sword tightly, he readied himself to unleash his strongest move, knowing it would drain him completely, but just as he was about to strike, something unexpected happened.

"Haaaa—!"

A scream ripped through the air.

It came from someone none of them were familiar with, and as all heads turned toward the noise, the faces of a few changed completely.

Wait...

BANG!

A body crashed heavily against the water.

Standing where the body had once been was a familiar figure in red robes, hovering in the air with an imposing, unshakable presence. The air grew still at the sight of him, all eyes drawn in his direction as his gaze swept the surroundings.

Aoife felt her breath pause for a brief moment, feeling a slow sense of dread.

'What should we do about this?'

A voice soon appeared, whispering in her head as an arm went on to hang loosely around her neck, a head leaning against her shoulder.

'...He looks quite strong. What should we do about this? If Julien didn't lose, no, not even lose... If he had just held him off a little bit longer, maybe things would've been a little bit different. No, in fact. What if he had never kidnapped the Goddess? Would things still be like this?'

The voice whispered in her mind, echoing loudly as Aoife looked around her, trying to make sense of the situation.

That body...

Who was it?

Who did it belong to?

What happened to Julien?

Where was he?

Aoife's head lifted slowly, and as it did, her expression froze. Beside her, the woman's face tightened into a frown, her lips curling in opposite directions, while above them, Julien hovered in the air, gazing down at it all with a faint, knowing smile.

And then—

BANG!

Another body fell into the water.

This time, Aoife didn't need to look to know what had happened.

The Solarch...

He was attacking his own people!

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