Chapter 600: What it means to snap [1]

Advent of the Three Calamities

What does it mean to snap?

To snap... is to see red. To forgo all notion of self-restraint.

To destroy with complete and utter disregard for one's physical and mental toll.

Julien was usually always capable of maintaining self-restraint. However, at this very moment, he snapped.

All semblance of reasoning faded away from his mind, and he pressed onto the first leaf.

To those from the Church of Oracleus, no time may have passed, but for Julien, quite a bit of time had passed. His eyes turned even more bloodshot as he looked around him before settling his gaze on the one in charge.

He could see that most of the people present weren't that much stronger than him. In fact, a lot of them were weaker than him, at around Tier 5. Considering how difficult it was to reach Tier 5, it made a lot of sense.

Not everyone could create a domain.

But there were a couple of people who did feel threatening.

Lurking.

Smirk.

The man continued to look at Julien with a smirk.

He was well aware of Julien's capabilities, as well as his emotive magic. Everyone present was equipped with several relics that could help them reduce the impact of his emotive magic.

They were also aware of his lack of control over emotive magic.

So long as they didn't let him get near them, they felt like it was impossible for him to do anything to them.

"...You should just obediently follow us. There's no point struggling. This entire place has been taken over by us, and even if you do try to cause a commotion, no one will suspect a thing."

Deacon Micheals said, his voice lowering.

"There is no escaping from us. Your only option is to obediently follow us—"

"...You still don't seem to understand."

Julien cut the Deacon off, his voice hoarse.

"Right now. At this very moment... I don't care about anything at all."

He brushed his hair back, his chest heaving up and down with even more intensity.

"...Right now, I just want to wreck something."

He clenched his fist.

"To the point where it doesn't matter what happens to me or anything around me."

"Hmm."

The Deacon raised his head, his lips twisting further.

"Very well then."

He looked around him and motioned with a simple nod.

"Wreck to your heart's content."

All eyes were set on Julien and then—

Swoosh!

They all charged at him at once.

Their movements were swift, so fast they appeared as blurs, closing in on Julien from every direction. Weapons of all kinds were drawn: spears, swords, shields. Behind them, the mages stood with their hands raised, spells crackling at their fingertips, all aimed squarely at him.

The way they moved, synchronized and precise, made it clear they'd been trained specifically to work as a unit, built to take down targets far stronger than themselves.

He could see right through their strategy. They were split into two squads—the frontlines, made up of close-combat fighters, and the backlines, composed of mages ready to strike from a distance.

With them needing some time to cast spells, the frontline was clearly there to waste time and allow them to attack all at once.

In mere moments, they were all over Julien, who just looked around him, his breathing growing more and more laboured.

And then—

Snap!

He snapped his finger.

Wham!

The surrounding gravity tripled, cracks manifesting on the floor as several people lost their footing.

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

Julien's breathing continued to become more laboured with each second that passed. Looking around him, his eyes became even more bloodshot, with traces of red trailing down the side of his eyes as something within his chest threatened to explode out of him.

'Not yet. Not yet.'

Julien mumbled in his mind, threads manifesting all around him and shooting upwards, piercing the ceiling before shredding and falling down as a rain of needles.

"Watch out!"

"Careful...!"

Xiu, xiu!

It happened so fast, and with such precision that not everyone managed to dodge. A few were grazed by the needles before they even realized what was happening.

At first, it didn't seem like much.

Just a minor injury.

But it soon became clear that that was the furthest thing from the truth, as their entire body suddenly started to weaken.

"Curse Magic!"

"Ah! The needles are imbued with curse magic!"

Even though they realized what had happened, it was too late.

Thump!

Just like that, several people fell at once, their bodies limping on the floor as they struggled to gather energy.

'No, not enough...'

Julien looked around him. He was still surrounded on all sides. Looking back, he could see he was merely dealing with the weaker ones.

This was...

Not enough to appease his current state.

"Haaa... Haaaa... Haaa....!"

His chest continued to burn, fiercer than ever before, the pain threatening to consume his entire body as he pressed his foot forward.

Bang!

A spell suddenly flew in his direction, hitting him squarely in the shoulder.

The pain barely registered in his mind as he turned to look at the one responsible for the attack.

Julien didn't hesitate to point his finger in his direction as a thin wire shot in his direction, piercing him directly in the same spot he had hit him.

The shoulder.

"Akh—!"

A scream pierced through the room, only for it to be drowned by a rain of spells as they all shot in Julien's direction.

In the exact moment the spells shot in his direction, Julien imagined a pink orb in his mind, his entire muscles tensing and squeezing as he lowered his head.

Bang! Bang!

The sea of spells soon crashed on him, hitting him in all directions.

"Hek!"

Blood spilled out of Julien's lips as he barely managed to withstand the impact of all the spells falling on him.

His clothes were shredded, and blood leaked from all sides of his body.

"Charge up! Charge up! He's almost down!"

"Frontliners! Add pressure and wait for the mages to attack again!"

The situation didn't look great.

With the constant pressure from the frontline, Julien had no time to deal with the mages.

Clank!

As a red orb appeared in his vision, he directly punched a nearby sword away before trying to rush towards the back.

"Attack! Don't let him get past!"

But it was useless.

There was no passing the frontline, and soon...

Another wave of spells arrived.

"Shoot!"

Bang, bang!

"Ukh!"

Julien's body skirted back, his steps shattering the wooden floor beneath as he just barely managed to keep himself on his feet.

"Haa... Haa..."

Now more than ever, his breathing was extremely laboured.

His vision was blurry, and the surroundings seemed distant. Staring at his state, the Deacon smiled.

"All that talk for nothing. I didn't even get to do a thing."

He almost felt disappointed as he shook his head. He had somewhat expected a harder challenge.

'What does the Saint see in someone like this?'

Without much thought, the Deacon glanced towards the corner of the room where a figure had been waiting. With a nod, the figure slowly melted away, appearing behind Julien.

At the same time, he had to remind in a low voice,

"Make sure not to kill him."

The shadow didn't say anything and merely stabbed towards Julien's back.

Spurt!

Blood sprayed everywhere as Julien's figure froze on the spot, his eyes widening as his head slowly turned to see the figure standing behind him.

The Deacon smiled then and retrieved his communication device.

"It's don—"

"I..."

His words were cut short by Julien's hoarse voice as it rang across the entire room.

Slowly reaching out for the dagger that had pierced his back and made it all the way to the front, Julien spat out blood as he slowly smirked.

"...have been waiting for... you."

The boiling feeling he'd kept buried since the beginning erupted all at once—unleashed on the figure looming behind him.

'Anger'

And soon,

"Ahhhhhh!"

A blood-curdling scream reverberated throughout the room as the figure behind Julien let go and held onto his head.

"Ahhh!"

His screams continued as he started to rip his hair.

Julien turned around then, his hand quickly reaching for his face before a thread directly pierced through his skull.

Thump!

Silence returned.

"Haa... Haa..."

The only sound that echoed was the sound of Julien's breathing as his bloodied figure slowly turned to face the stunned Deacon.

"I... took care of the most... haa.. troublesome one..."

Julien's voice came out again, this time even more hoarse than before.

"Now... haaa... all-haa... that is left is you."

This had been Julien's goal the entire time.

He wasn't worried about the deacon, nor the people around him.

He was worried about the one he couldn't see. And for that reason, he waited. Waited for him to finally appear and ambush him.

He understood he wasn't here to kill him, and for that reason, he waited.

Wait for him to finally get close enough to do something.

And when he did, Julien didn't hold back.

He released all his stored-up emotions from the first leaf at once, rendering his opponent completely helpless.

".....Mhh."

The Deacon slowly placed his communication device in his pocket before smiling again.

"Good."

The two locked eyes with each other before Julien's figure blurred, appearing before the deacon, his entire body popping as a yellow orb appeared in his mind.

Equally fast, the deacon raised his hands and shielded the space in front of him.

BANG!

A deafening explosion tore through the air as the two sides clashed, sending a shockwave of pressurized wind rippling out from the point of impact.

The force of the impact was so strong that it sent several people falling back.

By the time the situation settled, Julien staggered back, his steps wobbly as he coughed out even more blood.

"Cough!"

On the other hand, the Deacon appeared unharmed. At least, on the outside.

Something about his expression...

It didn't seem quite right.

"Cough...!"

Soon, the Deacon began to cough as well as he looked down to see blood leaking out from his mouth.

"Ho."

The Deacon lowered his head to stare at Julien.

"You can imbue emotive magic in your fists?"

He sounded impressed.

"....Not bad. It almost got me."

Unbothered by the Deacon's words, Julien stood up again, his eyes hollow.

Every part of his body ached, and he could feel his mind starting to become blurry.

However, he had reached a point of no concern for his well-being.

Right now...

Looking at everyone around him, Julien had one thought.

And one thought only.

'...Wreck.'

He wanted to wreck everything and anything that stood in front of him.

And with such thoughts, he pressed forward, his eyes slowly changing as a domain started to form around him.

No, not one.

...Two?