CHAPTER 61 – GREED
The battlefield was silent. Too silent, as if the existence of sound within a kilometer had seized entirely. Leylin stood there, alone...a solitary figure dwarfed by the overwhelming pressure radiating from eighty-one demigods hovering above.
Then he spoke. Calm. Alien. Detached.
"You wish to trap me with this…" He gestured at the gathered demigods as though they were nothing more than a cluster of clowns unaware of the force before them. A small, almost mocking smile curved his lips. "How highly you think of me, a common mortal, to be graced by the presence of eighty-one demigods… Hehe. How truly amusing."
Crimson Six said nothing, her eyes narrowing. Something about his tone now felt alien. Wrong. A tremor of unease passed through her, subtle but undeniable. Almost as if Leylin had donned a different skin, one not quite his own.
Before she could dissect the sensation fully, Leylin continued..slower now, softer, deliberate.
"If the cores are what you want…"
In an instant, his hands drove into his chest. Shock rippled through the gathered demigods. Eyes widened. Thoughts froze midstream.
Then a flick. Almost casual. The Greed Core leapt from his chest and hovered in the hands of a female demigod, her fingers trembling as she tried to grasp the power offered to her. Silence fell. Heavier than before.
For a heartbeat, she simply stared. The core pulsed with soft green light, reflecting in her wide, fearful eyes. Her chest heaved. She didn't yet realize the danger.
Then—snap.
Time seemed to dilate. Her neck twisted backward, not in death's mercy but in betrayal, in inevitability. Every muscle contracted violently, her body resisting the break even as it succumbed. The world held its breath. Her limbs flailed, powerless. The Greed Core's energy anchored itself to her lifeless form, sending faint pulses of its power along her veins, as if marking her final heartbeat.
Leylin didn't flinch. He didn't move. Just stood there, watching the chaos his calm had birthed.
The demigods above froze. Every single one of them felt it: the crackling aura of unchecked greed radiating from his body, the violent harmony of desire and destruction interwoven.
Eyes darted. Minds raced. The tremor passed through them in a wave, subtle yet undeniable, and the first whispers of fear flickered in their minds.
She fell. Slowly. Too slowly, as though the air itself had decided to honor her final moments, stretching her terror into eternity. Every second felt elongated, each fraction of movement a curse that forced the observers to confront the inevitability of power far beyond their comprehension.
Her hands flailed, desperately brushing at empty air. Her wide eyes locked on… not Leylin, but the green light itself..flickering, alive, consuming. And with every inch she fell, the demigods felt a tremor through their own cores, a whisper of something primal and undeniable: desire unchecked can break even the strongest will.
Then she hit the ground. Silence returned. But it was not peace.
In her place stood a figure all recognized too well—not because he was popular, but because he was one of them, a fellow demigod who commanded lightning. The chaotic waves of energy rippled across his form, crackling like fractured emerald glass. His eyes, once tranquil, now bore the unmistakable light of possession: not hunger, not obsession… GREED.
From above, the demigods collectively exhaled a breath they hadn't realized they were holding. Minds connected across the formation, unspoken, unshared, yet entirely synchronized:
"What in actual fing name is going on here?"*
Leylin's lips curved faintly, almost imperceptibly.
"You wanted the cores… there you have one." His voice was a low hum, more of a vibration than sound. "The real question isn't whether you can hold one… it's whether you can hold one without breaking, without having your own desires override your will."
He gestured at the beings above. Crimson Six's eyes followed, wide, horrified. She had no idea when, or how, the green light had begun spreading across the formation.
The green glow began subtly, like ink dispersing in water, creeping across the eyes of every demigod present. The light traced the contours of their irises, whispering of things they could not comprehend...hunger, greed, temptation. Each blink, each micro-expression carried a flicker of something foreign yet intimately resonant. A whisper of desire seeded itself in their minds, the echo of a truth too ancient to name.
And yet… Leylin hadn't moved. Hadn't lifted a finger.
Even as some demigods struggled to maintain control, their breathing shallow and uneven, a creeping paranoia spread.
Crimson Six's gaze finally turned serious for the first time .. She wanted to act. To issue orders. To break the influence. But the runes of the formation prevented her...her own mechanisation to trap leylin..had thus become the cage that separated her from him
As for the being in question..Something about him seemed different now .
The demigods hovering above t her felt it too..the imperceptible pull, the gravity of something dangerous waking up
Leylin tilted his head slightly, observing them, the corners of his lips twitching ever so faintly.
"You think this is just a test of strength," he murmured, soft enough for only the nearest to hear, yet loud enough for the formation to catch the subtle vibration in their bones. "You think this is about power… but the cores are not yours to wield. They are a reflection of what you truly are. And all of you, for all your might, are fragile. The question is… will you survive yourselves?"
He paused. Allowing the words sink, allowing the silence stretch, letting the tension pull tight like a bowstring ready to snap.
The best part of it all..the true horror..was yet to come.
He wouldn't even have to lift a finger
"Let the chaos"!