CHAPTER 96: | THE FIRST EMOTION AWAKENS

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  "..."

  I lowered my gaze, my blood-red pupils narrowing into pinpoint slits.

  For the first time in my existence, a suffocating rage muddled my reason.

  It was an intriguing sensation, to feel this overwhelming fury, an emotion that had led countless beings to their downfall.

  Knowing that losing myself to this fit of rage would only benefit my opponent, I composed myself.

  I closed my eyes, regulating my breath.

  Emotions, I had learned, were merely instruments of destruction, a truth I had seen firsthand in the fall of beings who considered themselves emotionless, only to have them fall to my provocations.

  For a being with no emotions, or perhaps only lingering ones, letting them run amok was a danger in itself.

  'I am not like them. I am Alister von Fai, a being whose control over everything is impeccably perfect. What are emotions that I do not possess? Even if I were to have them, losing my mind to such a trivial thing, an emotion I have witnessed billions of times, is theoretically impossible.'

  A smirk of delight touched my lips, the delight of having obtained the very emotion that led to the downfall of so many.

  It wasn't lust that I obtained, nor was it the greed to possess her.

  It was wrath, the desire to tear apart the man who dared to defile my possession.

  I tilted my head toward Lumicor's companion, a woman who was immensely strong but not strong enough to be called unbeatable.

  My smile turned menacing as an idea bloomed in my mind.

  'I am the master of mutations, not you, so fear me, woman! Fear my brilliance… the brilliance that shall cover the world in sins!'

  Then, the familiar sound of a finger snapping echoed in the chamber.

  Amara, the first to notice, winced in pain as she lost all control of the tendrils that had latched onto every corner of the palace.

  “I-interesting to think that there was a rat hiding somewhere.”

  She stammered, nervous at the sudden loss of control.

  It was as if their cores had been pierced at the same time, an impossible feat to execute so perfectly.

  “Unless…”

  Her words were cut short as she felt the entire imperial palace radiating with divine energy.

  Though faint, it was enough to put her on high alert, knowing Lumicor couldn’t perform a spell so grand.

  Hastily, she entered the massive eyeball hovering above her, an eyeball created by a decent spell named [Ascension V: Eye of the Motherless God].

  "But… I’ve already anticipated this, woman."

  My voice was cold as my eyes gleamed with a predatory light.

  The atmosphere in the room shifted drastically.

  "Now, let me earn this emotion that I have yearned for!"

  My smile faded, replaced by an immense wrath.

  Without another moment of hesitation, I took a single step, and my every loyal skill 'void steps' activated.

  In the next instant, my form blurred and entered an unknown dimension that I had only just noticed, a place of darkness, like the Domain of Void, where only Samantha could access in this lifetime.

  It was only for a moment, but I felt like their watchful eyes were blocked.

  I soon materialized in front of Samantha like a ghost.

  Grip!

  The sound of bones cracking and breaking into fine powder reverberated strongly in the silent chamber as Lumicor calmly lifted his face, then gazed at me in shock.

  “You… you dare take what’s rightfully mine?!”

  I bellowed, a torrent of rage lashing out.

  His pupils narrowed into beautiful slits that I longed to pluck out.

  He shouted back.

  “Who are you!”

  My own pupils narrowed, glowing a deep red.

  I smiled like a demon from hell at his words.

  It was funny that he was questioning me, the man who had just proposed to the woman I possessed.

  “Me? I am nothing great. Just a man angered by your nefarious thoughts toward my possession.”

  Lumicor’s eyes narrowed further, shocked to his core.

  'Who would dare claim they possessed that person? Was this bastard insane? Thinking that he was the top of the world?! To say that he possesses that woman?'

  But contrary to his shocked appearance, he was already preparing for a decisive attack.

  My pupils narrowed, as I felt a cold chill graze my neck, knowing that in the next few seconds, my head would be severed by the ten swords that had already surrounded me.

  I didn't need to see or know how he created them so quickly.

  All I knew was that Lumicor was a top talent who should become the First Pillar of my empire.

  Amara, now regaining her composure, gazed at me and clenched her teeth.

  All she could see were thousands of centimeter-sized eyeballs popping out of my body, locking onto her.

  “I-impossible! How could anyone dare to possess such a complicated spell that would even fry my head just from the mere thoughts of such concepts?!”

  She shouted in confusion, her mind spiraling into whiteness as she felt an intense pain trying to eradicate her body.

  Lumicor, in the background, had also fallen to the ground as blood streamed down his eye sockets to his cheeks, and the intense pain of his body crumbling down was all he could feel.

  “Hahaha… Lumicor, you didn’t expect this counter-attack, right? Since when could you geniuses get the idea of being outplayed by someone you deemed insignificant?!”

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  Lumicor remained silent at my provocation.

  As I lowered my gaze to him, a cold and emotionless stare replaced my anger, as if the emotion I had displayed was nothing but a mere facade to fool everyone into thinking I was truly angry.

  A good move indeed, since losing your emotion in this state wouldn’t be a good idea, would it be, my lovely First Pillar?

  He felt my gaze.

  Still seeing only the whiteness of a colorless world, he closed his eyes.

  He wasn't dumb enough to fall for such a lowly provocation when a large amount of nefarious energy had infiltrated his mana circuits, twisting them by the second.

  He knew his control was weakening; the projectiles he had created earlier were slowly wobbling in the currents, some having already fallen to the ground and dissipated.

  He was amused by this dreadful situation, as this was the first time for him to be attacked by such an unexpected concept.

  A concept so strange that it couldn't be replicated by someone, but of course, he could replicate it given a year or two, with some improvements.

  But now he was stuck in this rut, unable to get away from his current situation.

  He needed to expel this nefarious energy to repair his mana pathway to its original position, but he couldn't do so, since his mana wasn't enough to dissolve that vile energy or expel it from his body.

  He was in a precarious situation where he needed to use a powerful spell whose drawbacks would be too much with his current strength.

  Lumicor hated this situation, where he was being led by someone.

  He hated it to his core, at the very thought of someone leading him, since he was too prideful to bow to someone he deemed unworthy.

  “Y-you’ve successfully angered me, human…”

  His words were quite amusing, and I couldn't help but smile as I lifted my foot and pressed it onto his head before I smashed his face into the ground.

  “Hmm? I thought you were going to beg me to spare you?”

  Lumicor felt utterly humiliated by his current situation.

  He was infuriated, humiliated to a degree that words alone couldn’t describe the wrath that boiled inside of him.

  “Me begging to be spared?!”

  He shouted with wrath as immense as the vast sea.

  As moths of light began to rise from the ground then exploded violently as he placed his palm on the ground, then pushed his face out of the floor.

  But to his dismay, he couldn't move a single muscle in his body.

  It was as if the foot pressing his head into the ground was a million-ton mountain, a weight heavier than the Atlantic seal that had hit him.

  Lumicor closed his eyes as he calmed himself from the intense wrath that was eating at his reasoning.

  He smiled.

  How utterly humiliating… to think that I, the God of the Lake of Dreadnought, have to use this move… how shameful indeed.

  Lumicor’s internal monologue was calmer than expected.

  The moths of light already hovering in the currents quelled their rage as new moths began to rise from the ground, shedding their old forms to become purer, brighter, and made of pure radiance.

  The moths moved with nuanced control, a display of radiance so beautiful it seemed to stop time itself.

  As they slowly gathered atop his head in a calm, gentle manner, connecting and fusing into a crown that then shifted into a halo.

  Amara gazed at him, squeezed her eyes shut, and shook her head dismissively.

  “To think that Lumicor could be pushed this far. How unfortunate indeed to see a newly ascended emperor fall so carelessly.”

  A sudden stillness fell over the chamber.

  The ferocious storm of combat gave way to a quiet, emotional turmoil.

  Samantha's mind regained its clarity.

  She was shocked to the core.

  This monstrosity had appeared from nowhere, instantly suppressing Lumicor the moment he arrived.

  It was only now did she notice that this creature of mutations was the man she loved, now wearing this hideous appearance all for her sake.

  Tears welled in her eyes and streamed down her freckled cheeks.

  She couldn't believe that someone would go this far for her.

  With a calm composure that belied the turmoil within, Samantha gently brushed her skirts, then walked toward the man she could never forget, her hand trembling as it reached for his mutated face.

  "How... how could you sacrifice your appearance just for me?"

  She was shocked to see that the handsome man before her sacrificed his appearance just to save her, just like those five gods who sacrificed themselves for power.

  Her face was soaked with tears, her silent sobs a pitiful sight, yet I smiled at her concerns.

  She was unaware that I could simply revert to my handsome form at will, all while retaining every aspect of my mutations.

  My face, my body was still beautiful as I had specially sculpted it with a sense of aesthetic.

  Even with me fusing with Tellus along with 'fallen lord Descension', I could still sculpt my biological structure to my liking if I so wished it and it was all thanks to 'incarnate of the fallen' that I'm able to do so.

  Samantha caressed my face filled with stones, carapace shells, and other mutations as she bit her lips then she slammed her fist into my chest.

  "Why... just why did you do that, you foolish man?!"

  She was in distress from stressed about her situation as she sobbed uncontrollably, her eyes locked into mine filled with pity as her legs grew weak as she slumped onto the ground, kneeling and sobbing.

  "Is it worth it? To be with me? Me, a foolish woman who has nothing great in my name?! Why me! Just why..."

  Her face was covered with tears, it was pitiful and saddening to see her crying, it was foreign yet it was entertaining to listen to her cries, it was beautiful.

  I smiled softly, flicking my finger.

  As the platform she knelt on rose, distancing itself from me as Lumicor, pinned beneath my foot, seethed with rage.

  He felt utterly humiliated.

  That he had unknowingly proposed to a woman whose heart belonged to another, and the rage he felt at himself for not having gauged it from a mere glance was unbearable.

  He bit his lips as the halo of radiance floating above his head spun wildly from his wrath.

  From the ground, moths of ember began to rise, and in the next second, they were consumed by pure radiance, swirling into a vortex.

  Lumicor's voice was extremely cold as his form burned into an ember of radiance before it deconstructed into moths of flames, then the moths of flames joined the vortex as it coalesced into a humanoid made of pure radiance.

  "I see... how fascinating to think that someone would have a method of attack that is unknown to me."

  The radiance spoke as it formed the first hand of Lumicor, then the other, as his torso followed, then his legs, neck, and face followed, lastly by his hair as he smiled.

  "You have garnered my interest, human. Tell me. What reward would you like to receive, and I, Lumicor, the God of the Lake of Dreadnought, shall fulfill it."

  As Lumicor finished his speech, the entire chamber was already filled with light that was eagerly coming at him.

  A blinding radiance erupted within the chamber.

  Amara was completely unfazed by the extreme light, her eyes, now filled with hundreds of mutations, simply watched the spectacle in front of her.

  Then she lifted her chin, her gaze fixed on Lumicor, who was now clad in divine armor.

  And from his back, feathered wings woven from pure radiance had appeared.

  "How beautiful..."

  Amara muttered in rushed breath as her face flushed with excitement.

  Samantha, meanwhile, now trapped by the same platform that guided her to safety, shook her head.

  "Am I really that unnecessary in this fight?"

  She slowly closed her eyes, her facial expression serene as that very question plagued her mind.

  "Mistress, you will eventually get used to this feeling. Since master is a man who wholeheartedly carries everyone's burden."

  "!?"

  Solia's sudden appearance startled Samantha.

  But she kept her composure.

  As she lifted her face to meet Solia's gaze, a bitter smile touched her lips, hiding her inner turmoil with elegant grace.

  "I see..."

  Samantha shook her head at the sight of Solia, whose face was as beautiful as it could be, her features in the one percent.

  Noticing the troubled expression on her mistress, even though she didn't show it, Solia smiled softly.

  "Mistress Samantha, you don't have to worry about me being your rival. Master, he is a man who values you, who cherishes you. As for me, I am merely his apostle, his secretary that he can command for convenience's sake."

  Unable to hold herself, Solia bit her lips as she shouted.

  "That man! That damned man, beware of him, mistress! That man is a cruel devil that will engrave his teachings into your bone if he sees you lacking! So please avoid this fate of mine! Keep his interest alive and please him!"

  "..."

  Her ranting ceased.

  Her gaze dropped to the swords strapped to her waist as Ishtar glanced at her with confusion.

  "Please be careful, mistress, that man... is worse than a devil."

  Samantha, oblivious of her delicate situation, merely dismissed Solia's words as she pointed at Lumicor who was now pointing his hand at Alister.

  "My lady, I know of your pain but I have no idea of how to address you so would you perhaps share me the name you have received from your parents?"

  Samantha asked politely as Solia smiled at her words.

  "My apologies, mistress, it seems that I'm a little bit late at introducing myself. The name is Solia, the apostle of Skaira, but now I currently serve the divine one, the Distorted one, eternally."

  Samantha, clueless about who's the Distorted one, smiled.

  "I see... what a lovely name you've got, Lady Solia. Pardon me if I'm intruding on his background, but may I know what his goal is in approaching me? But if you feel not like it then you have no obligations to tell me."

  Samantha's voice was gentle, yet her words were a careful interrogation.

  She first asked about his goals, a subtle tactic to make Solia raise her guard, before following with some seemingly insignificant questions.

  Every detail she gathered would bring her closer to understanding Alister's true nature and his motivations.

  Samantha was a meek woman but a sharp one at that, she was excellent in etiquette in politics and management, she was born with the qualities of a ruler but she was just umm... a bit on the average side.

  This tactical mind was something Solia knew intimately, a lesson her master had drilled into her very essence to ensure she would never be fooled by such an act.

  Nevertheless, she played along, knowing that Samantha was her mistress and that revealing some information about her master would not jeopardize his plans.

  She, too, knew nothing about her mysterious master beyond the fact that he was a devil.

  Feigning a moment of deep thought, Solia spoke.

  "Hmm? Let me see..."

  Their conversation was cut short.

  BOOM!

  The sound of explosions followed as tens of swords, perfectly in sync, unleashed a flurry of strikes against me.

  Then the shouts of Lumicor followed.

  "Allow me to grant you eternal death, human!"

  Maybe give it a try? ??