Genius Warlock

[Greed fire]

Oliver chanted the incantation as he placed his palms together.

The emotions of greed and fire in each hand merged into a single entity, which was not a difficult process for him. Combining mana and life-force was more challenging than this.

Rather, it was much easier than creating an artificial soul.

"Kyaahhh!"

Suddenly, Marie let out a blood-curdling scream, her emotions, and expressions visibly agitated.

It wasn't surprising, really. This black fire, mixed with the emotions of greed, was like nothing she had ever seen before.

Oliver, however, was unfazed. Like the flames of a war wizard burning with mana, this black fire – which he had come to call "Greed Fire" – continued to grow in size and firepower by consuming the emotional particles around it.

“This, what… !”

Marie was visibly shaken by the power of the black fire.

Being connected to emotional particles, she could sense the ferocity of the fire more than anyone else.

It was an unbelievable magic, created on the spot. Perhaps Oliver wouldn't have thought of it without his battle with the war wizard. People often thought of magic and black magic as two separate things, but maybe they should be used together rather than apart.

"Um..…."

Oliver focused on the reality in front of him, looking around at the burning black flames. Perhaps because of the addition of emotions, it was much more difficult to control than the flames he had dealt with when fighting the war wizard.

The fire raged on, trying to escape Oliver's control, inflating its body to burn everything around it to nourish itself. Was it because of the characteristics of fire, which swallowed and expanded, and the emotion of greed?

‘Maybe it's worth researching…..'

Oliver clenched his fist, determined to rein in the flames. Slowly, he brought the fire under his control, shrinking it as its momentum subsided. At first glance, it seemed that the strength had decreased, but in reality, it was closer to crouching down to hit the target with precision.

“Chase.”

Oliver raised his finger and pointed it at Marie, commanding the flames to surge toward her like a trained hound on the hunt.

The fire, eager to devour every last particle of threatening emotion, grew in power and size, swallowing all that came in its path with a ferocity that resembled a giant monster preying on smaller fish.

Whooo whooo whoooo————!!!!

The deafening roar of the black flames filled the air, chasing Marie like the natural disaster unleashed by the war wizard's magic, and she fled frantically, unable to control all the emotional particles.

As Oliver's black fire burned and swallowed the emotional particles without any hesitation, the flame's greed, will, and power grew stronger.

‘This magic? Is it black magic? Anyway, it's tricky.' thought Oliver, as he walked loftily, carefully controlling the flames.

Just as controlling fire does not make him immune to it, this powerful fire was a powerful weapon to Oliver and at the same time a danger that could consume him at any time.

This Magic was like a double-edged sword.

It wasn't for nothing the war wizard Oliver fought kept moving his hand to control the fire, and put a stone pillar around him.

In particular, because the black fire had emotions, it continued to get out of Oliver's control and tried to satisfy its own desires.

Rather than a fire, it was closer to the embodiment of emotions as they were.

So Oliver walked slowly forward, controlling the flames from harming him, and preventing the flames from spreading too much.

Perhaps that's why Oliver's walking speed decreased as the flame increased its power by eating Marie's emotional particles.

The black fire was also fire, so it burned the surroundings and emitted a lot of smoke, and Oliver stopped walking after sniffing it.

Flames tried to drag Oliver like a dog pulling its owner when it couldn't go any further due to the towering Oliver.

In fact, dissatisfaction was shown by the appearance of strange mouths and eyes all over the huge flames.

But instead of obeying the will of the fire, Oliver only suppressed the fire by clenching his fists and controlling them with his hand.

The flames seemed to be in agony, and the momentum subsided with a scream that was hard to express in words.

When the flames finally settled, the surroundings came into view. The forest lay in ruins, just like with the War Wizard, but even worse. Only black ash remained, as if nothing had ever been there.

The inferno was insatiable, and it was questionable how much it would have consumed had Oliver lost his grip on it.

The forest, already ravaged, would have likely spread its fury to the outskirts of Landa, and possibly even to the city center.

It felt like an exaggeration, but strangely, a vivid image formed in his head.

‘I can't use this carelessly.'

With a resolute clench of his fists, he tamed the flames, quelling them to a subdued roar.

"This, what the hell…"

Marie, who had been pursued by the blackened blaze, gazed at Oliver in a mixture of fear, shock, and admiration. Her men were equally stunned into silence.

With the flames still smoldering behind him, Oliver strode forward. Although this was the opportune moment for Marie to strike, she stood motionless, transfixed by his sheer power and authority.

Shuzzzzzz——

A sudden rush of emotions swirled around Oliver as he reached out to collect a handful of Marie's emotional particles. The onlookers remained frozen in astonishment as he held the particles in his hands, appearing to do nothing with them.

"Marie."

“Huh? Yes! Master.”

“Is this emotion the pure faith of Marie and other believers?”

"…Yes, Master."

Oliver nodded twice, compressing the emotions in one hand while extracting mana in the other hand to create a small fire.

Then he let the two face each other just as he did when he made the black fire.

If there was a difference, this time the fire and emotions did not combine, instead they burned together.

Emotions burned and smoke rose.

It was like another form of Pilgaret.

Oliver cupped his hands in that state to make a bowl and inhaled the smoke rising in his hands.

Although the form was different from Pilgaret, the basic principle remained the same, so the emotions were transmitted to Oliver's lungs through smoke and spread to every corner of his body.

At that moment Oliver could feel it, the mixed emotions of countless people, the fragments of their lives.

The emotions were so fragmented and overwhelming that Oliver couldn't fully comprehend them, but he caught a glimpse of what this faith meant to Marie and her followers.

"Haa…"

Oliver gazed at the dwindling black fire before him and let out a sigh.

The fire, which could no longer consume any more emotions, was losing its intensity.

After a moment of contemplation, Oliver flicked his hand, and the flames dissipated with a wave. The fire, which had been as large as several houses, screamed as it was extinguished, and dozens of mouths moaned in despair.

WHOOSH

With a whooshing sound, the black fire dwindled down to the size of a match flame before disappearing into a stream of black smoke.

Everyone watched the scene in silence.

"Marie," Oliver said, turning to her.

"Yes, Master?" she replied, confused.

"I want to apologize. I realize that I may have judged your work too harshly, despite saying that we shouldn't be quick to judge others."

Marie tried to protest, but Oliver continued, "I have a rough idea of what you've been doing, and I know that you've been taking care of the family more than me."

“… Uh, I'm flattered."

"No, you're great," Oliver added, "even greater than me. But I have no intention of going with you."

As Oliver finished speaking, he lifted his hand to control the emotional particles that Marie had scattered.

Despite being burned, some of them remained, and Marie tried to stop Oliver from extracting them, just as she had done before.

However, unlike a few minutes ago, she was unable to intervene this time.

"Uh.… ?”

Marie let out a dazed sound in surprise.

"I think I understood Marie a little bit," Oliver said as he took control of the emotional particles.

The small amount of remaining emotional particles formed an air current and surrounded Marie.

She was taken aback by this sudden action.

"Seeing that you recovered from your previous injury, Marie doesn’t die easily, right?” Oliver continued. "So hold on tight."

With that, Oliver snatched the air as if squeezing it.

The emotional particles that formed the airflow intertwined with Oliver's movements, creating a typhoon-like current that moved rapidly and forcefully.

Wooden pieces, fallen leaves, and even Marie were twisted, torn, and bent as they were caught in the interlacing of the air currents.

“Kkeuggeuk!”

Marie was lifted into the air by the emotional particles, spinning uncontrollably in every direction like a person caught in a typhoon.

She struggled to resist, but Oliver's control over the particles was too powerful, constantly increasing their output and countering her movements.

Helpless like a moth in a spider's web, Marie could only struggle in vain. When Oliver abruptly lowered his hand, Marie crashed to the ground, her limbs severely twisted by the powerful whirlwind.

However, due to the power of black magic that resided inside her body, she soon recovered.

"Aaaagh!"

As soon as Marie finished her recovery, she jumped up and tried to swing her nails at Oliver.

CLUTCH!!

But before she could even make a move, the emotional particles caught her, completely controlling her actions.

[Nail]

Oliver tapped the air with his finger, and a nail as large as an arm appeared from the particles, embedding itself in Marie's body.

"…..!!"

Marie let out a soundless scream as the pain overwhelmed her.

"It's more efficient to use it like this. Or like this.”

Clap

When Oliver clapped his hands, the emotional particles clumped together in the same shape as hands, squeezing Marie's body like a mosquito.

She collapsed onto the ground, her body broken and mangled, yet alive, and her body was restored as if it wouldn't let her die.

It was as if the black magic was controlling Marie, not the other way around.

"Stop it! You bastard!"

[Thorn]

Despite their fear, Marie's men attempted to stand up to Oliver. However, at his gesture, their bodies became ensnared by thorny vines, leaving them unable to move. It was a one-sided display of power.

Oliver surveyed the fallen figures of Marie and her men with a disdainful gaze.

With a flick of his fingers, he raised Marie's twisted body from the ground. Her form was grotesquely distorted, but slowly mending.

“Can you hear me?”

Marie managed a weak response, "Yes, Master."

"I didn't want you to call me ‘Master',"

“……”

"but I have changed my mind somewhat. If you want to call me that, you may."

"Ma-Master," Marie stammered, unsure.

"You can worship me as a savior, or not. It's up to you. Do what you want."

Marie looked at Oliver in silence.

"To be honest, I still don't like it, but I don't think I'm qualified to stop you from doing what you want, given what Marie has done."

When Oliver inhaled the emotional particles, he recalled fragments of her emotions and memories.

"So just do what you want. However, don't drag me in even if you use my name. I still want to look around the world. So I ask you from the bottom of my heart. Please don't come into my daily life. If you did… You’ll regret it."

Marie nodded with her head down.

With that, Oliver snapped his fingers, and the emotional particles scattered, dissipating into the air.

"It was nice meeting you, Marie,"

(To be Continued)

OR

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