This battle was different, and both sides knew it. Fae held an inherent fear towards the Forsaken, as it was something they could easily become if they were not careful in using their Sins.

That fear was not present in these soldiers now, and the Forsaken, crazed as they are, knew this. These were battle hardened, and resolute warriors who would burn to ashes before they let a single Forsaken past them. Now it was time for the Forsaken to fear what they once were.

The only advantage the Forsaken held was their ability to let loose, as the Sin was already destroying them as time passed, but losing their reason in return. A bloodthirsty and crazy berserker was all they were, even with a powerful Forsaken like the former Lord of Greed controlling them. The Fae beside me were burning just as bright now, if not brighter. If the cost of victory today was every soldier here burning to nothing, then not a single one would remain in the end after they have won.

Leading the charge towards the Forsaken, with my spear in hand I took the first strike to plunge the crimson flame tip of the spear and drove it into the Sin core of the Forsaken in front of me. We would go crazy, rage, and win!

Once the first wave of Forsaken quickly fell before the combined might of the Fae, I saw the two lords in combat, Lord Wrath also fighting with renewed fervor and strength, having been inspired by my speech as well. This only served to motivate the soldiers even more, not allowing a single one to lose to their comrades in resolve.

Mindless as the Forsaken were, there still remained a spark of emotion in them. The abyssal power in me reacted to what they were feeling right now. They were learning the hard way what the most basic, primal, and worse emotion to feel on the battlefield was. They were feeling the infinite depths of the abyss that was fear.

My abyssal power was communicating something to me. Telling me to pull that feeling of fear in the Forsaken, to bring it out further. Feeling a primal coldness in my being, I listened and reached out my hand that was starting to emit a flowing shadow of deep black, and pulled that feeling of fear.

Chaos ensued in the aftermath, as the Forsaken gave in to their fear and started trying to run away. The soldiers and I charged after them, and the abyss within me felt sated by the fear of the Forsaken, and the feeling of enhancing the emotion in them created a spark of gold inside me, next to the crimson flame of Wrath. A golden spark waiting to be nurtured into a flame of Greed.

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Hunting down the fleeing Forsaken took time, but it eventually ended in a total victory for the Fae. No deaths, and not a single Fae fell to the corruption of their Sin. An evolution that only a battle of this scale could create in them. Now they were truly elite soldiers ready to protect the realm against any threat that sought to harm it.

The Forsaken Lord of Greed knew that it had lost the battle, and in a blaze of golden flames, tried to escape Lord Wrath and flee the battlefield. Focusing on the spark of gold within me, I recalled the feeling of tugging the fear in the Forsaken, and I reached for the cord of the only feeling the former Lord of Greed would have against me, anger.

He set up an elaborate trap just to try to kill me, the one who was his downfall, who ruined his centuries of hard work and schemes. I was the one who lit the spark that lost him the battle he was winning, and I would be the one who caused his downfall once again.

I grabbed the feeling of anger within him, and I pulled it too. This caused a powerful impact to rattle my body, and I coughed blood onto the ground, just more to join the field turned red long ago. The Forsaken lord before me was well beyond me in power, and this was the price to enhance his emotion.

This sparked the golden spark of a flame within me to grow into a small flame, a fully fledged flame of Greed, and for the Lord to freeze for just a second as he saw me in the distance. This second was all that was needed in a battle of powerhouses, and Lord Wrath wasted no time to plunge his crimson flame infused fist into the chest of the former Lord, shattering his Sin core with a loud boom.

The former Lord looked to his defeat, and his death, and roared in anger “No! NO! This is not the end, I refuse to go down alone!!” and looked to be trying to detonate his power and create an explosion to take down Lord Wrath with him. It was too late however, as he was already fading into ash and nothingness just like the Forsaken that died before him.

With that, the battle was finally over. Lord Wrath landed near us and looked at me, the both of us clearly looking exhausted and smiled.

“Nice speech, Luce! That battle would have gone very differently if you hadn’t started insulting everyone to motivate them! Even I felt like I could fight three more of those!” and he laughed his signature loud laugh. I joined him in laughing, and we did a strong fist bump.

I never felt like this winning a battle as Callum, this was new to me. I looked at everyone I fought with copying the fist bump that Lord Wrath and I did, albeit a little confused but seemed to understand it was a good thing.

Did I just create a cultural tradition of fist bumping in this world? Not exactly the thing I want to be known for in the history books, but such is life I suppose.

Selene joined the cheering group of soldiers, pride in her honor evident on her demeanor. “Well done, Lucian. I have watched many battles in my life, and this is one of the ones that I will never forget”.

Some of the Fae soldiers picked me up and marched back to the Fae walls, where a crowd of Fae citizens, and the various factions and Lords were awaiting near a podium. This was the place where public speeches were held.

Wait, they don’t expect me to give another speech do they?