Chapter 398: Emotions
The range of Astral Sea expanded into his awareness where he could feel the countless thoughts drifting through.
What Nathan was searching for were the several people who bore a certain type of animosity or anger towards Ethan and the news event.
However, there were too many minds spread throughout Grayforte, so of course he could not begin picking them off one by one
So what he went for were the specific emotions of anger and hate among the collective whole.
Whenever enough people experienced the same overwhelming emotion toward the same source, their emotions could sometimes converge into powerful currents that became impossible to overlook.
Nathan’s awareness followed that current, which then pointed him towards his targets. And with that, he took began altering their emotional states.
You see, every consciousness left traces of itself within the Astral Sea.
Not just memories, but every emotional state that person had ever experienced, from joy and grief to peace, love, and fear.
Each emotion became an imprint upon the sea, remaining long after the moment itself had passed.
So what Nathan did was to draw forth those older emotional states that already belonged to each individual consciousness.
A forgotten moment of serenity, a memory of contentment or a peace each of them had once experienced.
One after another, those dormant imprints slowly rose through the current, naturally settling over the raging emotions that had consumed them.
What Nathan did was merely return each consciousness to a state it used to known.
And within moments, the current of anger flowing through Grayforte began to weaken.
However, the current of anger flowing through the Astral Sea was so vast for everything to happen at once, so the process wasn’t instantaneous.
-
In one of the city’s streets, several men had been hurling bricks through the windows of a Stark Industries while screaming obscenities.
One of them reached down to grab another stone. Then, suddenly his movements slowed.
The rage burning within his chest suddenly eased, replaced by a familiar sense of calm.
His grip loosened and the brick slipped from his fingers. "What am I doing?"
The others around him gradually experienced the same thing. One after another, raised fists lowered and shouts died away.
Someone quietly turned around and walked off, then another followed. Within moments, the entire group had dispersed.
It was not that they had forgotten the broadcast or why they had come. But they no longer possessed the overwhelming emotional impulse that had driven them to violence.
——
Outside Clustervayne Guild....
Percival ducked to avoid a wild swing before driving his fist towards the face of one of the attackers.
At that exact moment, the man’s expression changed and the fury in his eyes melted away into confusion. "Huh?"
But it was too late as Percival’s fist crashed into his face, launching him several metres through the air before he bounced across ground.
Percival yelled. "Bitchh!!!."
He immediately turned and punched the next attacker charging him.
⸻
Across Grayforte...
The same phenomenon continued repeating itself as acts of violence slowly came to an end.
——
Back at the Stark Residence...
The summons were in solid combat against the afterimage manifestations of the Hero.
Although these manifestations possessed only Dark Nova’s base level of strength, they were still formidable opponents.
Each one wielded the same overwhelming physical prowess and terrifying speed, forcing the summons into fierce exchanges across the battlefield.
King Arthur found himself engaged against two manifestations at once; weaving between their attacks while returning fire with the Excalibur.
The first Dark Nova swung a fist toward his face, only for Arthur to raise Excalibur just in time to block the attack before deflecting the afterimage backwards.
Almost simultaneously, the second manifestation closed in from Arthur’s blind side.
Without even turning, Arthur adjusted his body out of the way, allowing the punch to graze past him before driving a powerful kick into the manifestation, launching it across the battlefield.
—
Elsewhere...
Ishtar had taken to the skies against another of the manifestations.
Blasts of green energy burst continuously from her palms as she unleashed volley after volley toward the approaching Dark Nova.
Each blast exploded through the air, forcing the manifestation to weave between them at astonishing speed before finally breaking through the barrage.
The clone appeared before her in an instant, launching a punch forward. However that attack had met a circular field of translucent green energy that expanded before Ishtar.
Ishtar then propelled herself backward, firing another succession of green blasts while the manifestation immediately resumed its pursuit.
The two continued streaking across the skies, exchanging attacks that repeatedly illuminated the battlefield.
⸻
Not far away...
One of the Dark Nova manifestations drove a devastating punch into Titania’s jaw.
The gigantic black dragon’s head whipped violently to one side as her massive body staggered backwards through the air.
She roared a furious roar, then immediately retaliated. Her jaws opened wide before an immense torrent of flames engulfed the manifestation.
The clone crossed both arms before itself, enduring the overwhelming inferno head-on.
Then, the flames changed. Without any interruption, the torrent of fire rapidly transitioned into a freezing breath that consumed the battlefield in blue frost.
Titania was a dual-element dragon.
Although exceedingly rare, such dragons occasionally came into existence when two dragons possessing different elemental affinities produced offspring together.
Rather than inheriting only one parent’s affinity, those exceptional few awakened both affinities, granting them access to two completely different dragon breaths.
The abrupt transition caught the manifestation off guard, encasing its crossed arms while the freezing torrent continued crashing against it.
—
The half-dragon Nina held the Shield of Pythos firmly before her as the Dark Nova manifestation launched into a relentless barrage of punches.
It was as though a hundred fists had been thrown simultaneously, producing a continuous series of deafening impacts.
However, not a single blow reached Nina.
With every punch that landed, the face of the shield briefly emitted an orange glow before returning to normal.
The Shield of Pythos possessed a unique property where than just blocking attacks, it also absorbed the full force behind every impact directly into itself.
The greater the assault it endured, the more energy it accumulated.
The Dark Nova manifestation continued raining down punches, completely unaware that every strike only accelerated what was about to happen.
Then...Nina smiled and whispered. "Counter Burst."
In that instant, an omnidirectional eruption of solar energy exploded outward from the Shield of Pythos.
A colossal sphere of blinding light, searing heat and overwhelming concussive force expanded across the battlefield at astonishing speed.
Everything caught within its path was thrown backwards, including the Dark Nova manifestation had just drawn back another fist to continue its assault when the explosion engulfed it completely.
The shockwave continued spreading across the compound in an enormous circle, forcing everyone engaged in combat upon the ground to instinctively defend themselves against the scorching heatwave that accompanied it.
Even the surrounding earth cracked beneath the tremendous release of force.