Chapter 94
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Episode 20 - Luminus Arcantel Valentina [6]
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Charlotte sat on the floor with her eyes closed.
Her mind wandered through the darkest corners of her emotions, recalling experiences in which her negative feelings had intensified, among many others.
To use negative emotions, she had to imrse herself in the Sea of Emotions, according to Luminus’s explanation.
The Sea of Emotions was buried deep within her mind, and to access it she needed to reach absolute calmness.
Once she completed that step, she would open the door to the Sea of Emotions.
After that, she would have to head toward the dark side of the Sea of Emotions and try to control her negative emotions.
’Phew, stay calm, just relax and don’t think about anything else. Just imagine a vast silent void, but a comfortable one.’
The darkness around her beca faint, as if she were sailing across a calm ocean with gentle waves moving nearby.
She was aboard a small rowboat, surrounded by imnse darkness accompanied by a faint cold breeze that sohow also felt warm.
Her mind sank deeper and deeper into that ocean, and at so point, she felt sothing click.
"...!"
The next second, she opened her eyes and looked around.
There was a vast tranquil sea, without a single wave or disturbance moving the black water.
The water only covered her feet, reaching slightly below her knees.
Charlotte took a breath and felt as though she were truly there, not inside her own mind within the Sea of Emotions.
The faint icy breeze of the Sea of Emotions brushed against her face.
"So this is the Sea of Emotions... Everything looks calm."
Even though everything was covered in darkness, there was sohow a faint illumination, as if a moon existed in the middle of the black, starless sky.
"Now I just need to find an area with strong waves or a high tide, like a storm."
According to Luminus, once inside the Sea of Emotions, she would appear at its central point.
If she moved in one direction, she could find either the zone of positive emotions or the zone of negative emotions.
The zone of positive emotions was like the gentle waves of a beach, light and calm, accompanied by a delicate breeze.
In contrast, the zone of negative emotions was like a storm, with powerful waves and a violent tide.
’Alright, let’s go find it.’
She began to walk. Beneath the water, her feet lightly disturbed the surface around her, creating small ripples.
Charlotte continued walking slowly across the black waters of the Sea of Emotions.
Each step created tiny waves that vanished seconds later, as if that place absorbed any disturbance far too quickly.
The silence was strange, heavy, but not uncomfortable yet.
However, after several minutes of walking, the breeze began to change.
The air no longer felt calm.
Now it was colder and more humid.
Charlotte frowned slightly as she kept moving forward.
The small ripples around her legs began moving more violently, gently crashing against her knees.
Then she heard sothing.
"...Ugh..."
Charlotte stopped imdiately.
She slowly turned her head while observing the darkness around her.
"No... that wasn’t the wind."
The sound had been far too clear to mistake.
She continued forward cautiously as the black waters slowly began to churn.
The gentle ripples now resembled small currents colliding against one another.
And then she heard it again.
"...it hurts..."
"...help..."
"...please..."
Charlotte felt a chill run down her spine.
The voices were faint, distorted, and filled with suffering, as if countless lanting people were speaking beneath the water.
The tide slowly began to rise.
The black water now reached above her knees.
Charlotte took a deep breath as she kept moving forward.
’This must be the zone of negative emotions.’
The atmosphere completely changed within just a few steps.
Behind her, a faint and silent calm still existed, but in front of her, the dark ocean churned violently.
It was as if two completely different worlds coexisted together.
Charlotte slowly extended her hand forward.
And right at that mont, she felt sothing.
A kind of invisible barrier.
Her fingers touched the emptiness, yet a cold and heavy pressure spread across her entire hand.
"...A wall?"
The barrier separated both regions of the Sea of Emotions.
Behind that invisible wall, she could feel soft and warm positive emotions.
But ahead of her...
There was only darkness, despair, and a suffocating pressure.
The waves began rising violently as the lants increased around her.
"...I don’t want to die..."
"...it was all my fault..."
"...I’m alone..."
Charlotte clenched her teeth as she felt negative emotions slowly invading her mind.
Sadness.
Fear.
Guilt.
Despair.
It was as if all those emotions were trying to sink into her at the sa ti.
Her breathing beca unstable.
"Kh...!"
Charlotte took a step back while clutching her chest.
The negative emotions were not only heard.
They were felt so vividly.
And they were absurdly intense.
For an instant, she rembered monts she wished to forget.
The fear of not being enough.
The despair of not surviving in this world.
The helplessness of failing her goal, dreams, and purpose.
Even insecurities she had never admitted out loud slowly began surfacing from the depths of her mind.
The black waves crashed into her violently.
Charlotte lost her balance and partially fell into the water.
"Ah—ah... ah...!"
The voices increased brutally in number.
Thousands of distorted whispers filled the place as an unbearable pressure compressed her mind.
Charlotte felt nauseous.
Her body trembled involuntarily as she tried to breathe normally.
"Damn it... t-this... isn’t normal..."
She tried to stand up quickly, but another emotional wave struck her consciousness directly.
Despair.
Emptiness.
Hatred.
Charlotte felt tears involuntarily gathering in her eyes.
"No... calm down... calm down..."
She imdiately rembered Luminus’ instructions.
She could not allow herself to be consud.
She had to balance the negative emotions using the nearby positive emotions.
Charlotte quickly turned toward the invisible barrier.
She could clearly feel the other side.
Warmth.
Peace.
Hope.
It was weak because of the emotional storm, but it was still there.
Charlotte placed both hands against the invisible barrier while breathing heavily.
"Just... bring the positive emotions... over here..."
She closed her eyes as she tried to concentrate amidst that unbearable chaos.
The voices continued assaulting her mind relentlessly.
"...you’re useless..."
"...nothing will ever change..."
"...give up..."
"Shut up...!"
Charlotte released mana involuntarily as she clenched her teeth tightly.
Then she felt sothing warm slowly passing through the barrier.
A small, gentle emotional current flowed through her hands.
Charlotte’s eyes widened slightly.
Tiny particles of white light slowly began to mix within the turbulent black waters.
The violent waves subsided just a little.
Enough for her to breathe again.
Charlotte dropped to her knees as she gasped in exhaustion.
"A-ah... ah..."
Her body was still trembling violently.
"Shit... t-that was dangerous..."
The voices were still present, but now they were weaker.
Charlotte slowly raised her gaze toward the black storm before her.
Sohow, she had managed to control the negative emotions by using positive emotions.
’Ah, it’s ti to get out of here. I don’t want to stay in this place any longer.’
***
When Charlotte opened her eyes, she found herself sitting in a ditation position. Her breathing was ragged, and sweat covered her entire body.
She also felt small warm droplets falling down her cheeks.
"You scread in agony a few seconds ago, and seeing that you’ve opened your eyes, it seems you succeeded, right?"
Charlotte looked up and noticed that Luminus was watching her with a warm smile.
Charlotte’s thoughts slowly cald, and her emotions stabilized.
She felt restless and ntally exhausted.
"Rest for now. We’ll begin the training afterward."
Charlotte rose unsteadily from the ground and then sat down.
She inhaled and exhaled, repeating the sa thing over and over again.
Obviously, the negative emotions she had experienced had not completely disappeared.
So Charlotte closed her eyes and searched for that sa calmness she had used when she entered the Sea of Emotions earlier.
Shortly afterward, after approximately an hour, she had returned to normal.
Then Charlotte stood up and approached Luminus.
"I’m fine now. We can continue."
Luminus was sitting while looking outside, where the snowstorm had still not stopped.
She stood up, turned around, and looked at Charlotte for a mont before nodding.
"Good."
Both won stood facing each other, separated by a distance of two ters.
Charlotte had taken her sword and held it firmly while watching Luminus.
"The Divine Art of the Eternal Void is divided into eight Forms. First Form: Eternal Despair. Second Form: Wrath of the Eternal Dream. Third Form: Art of Eternal Pain. Fourth Form: Song of Eternal Fear. Fifth Form: Art of Pure Hatred. Sixth Form: Art of Divine Guilt. Seventh Form: Dance of Eternal Loss. And Eighth Form: Eternal Void."
The Divine Art of the Eternal Void used the negative emotions of despair, wrath, pain, fear, hatred, guilt, loss, and emotional emptiness.
Using the experiences of her life, Luminus created each of the different Forms of her Sword Art.
She was not inspired by anything; she simply used those emotions and created what was now the Divine Art of the Eternal Void.
Charlotte listened in silence. Each na within the Sword Art’s Forms carried its own aning.
This was a Sword Art divided into eight sections.
’The Sword Art of the Starlight family only has four Forms, and this one has double that.’
Sword Arts beco more complete and complex the more Forms they possess.
Of course, that did not an they were stronger simply because they had many Forms. Rather, they represented a way of dividing and expressing all past experiences.
One example of that was the Divine Art of the Eternal Void.
"Now, let’s begin with the First Form: Eternal Despair."
Charlotte straightened her posture and carefully listened to Luminus’s next explanation.
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