Ervin felt a shiver of anticipation at this time. He began to believe something good may happen during this absorption process.
With his usual calm indifference, Ervin began plunging the Demon orb straight into everyone's hearts. Streams of Mana continually caused the Demon orb to grow brighter and brighter with each passing second.
When several minutes finally passed and Ervin absorbed from the last person, the Demon orb went through a change!
Unfathomably bright crimson rays of Mana continually blasted out of the Demon Orb that extended across the area for several meters.
The beautiful glow of crimson nearly put Ervin into a slight daze. He couldn't even focus on the fact that the bright light could potentially attract other Demonic Beasts to his area. There was just something within the glow that spoke to him, pulled him to make him feel so in tune with the crimson glow.
Ervin's magical sense subconsciously activated. He faintly trembles from something new within his detection.
The Demon Orb was now radiating a new sensation of magical power he never felt before.
With all those hatred absorptions, the Demon Orb was seemingly experiencing a new evolution. It began to violently pulsate upon his palm as this strange form of magic power grew higher and higher.
Ervin's magical sense was inevitably drawn to this source like a moth to a flame. Feelings of hatred, regret, and even intense depression rippled across Ervin's mind.
The intense sensation came in with the violent intensity of a thunderous storm to ravage the entire Lightwall City to utter ruins.
But Ervin was strangely not affected in the slightest. He couldn't quite explain the phenomenon. Yet he knows that in some way, the Demon Orb was pulling onto his soul, forcing him to stimulate what he truly felt during this moment.
The pull to his soul was instinctual, not all different from using one of his limbs.
From Ervin's soul, there was no intense negative emotion. No guilt, regret, or hatred over any of his actions. Nor was there any extreme sense of joy, the elation of excitement over killing.
There was only a true sense of satisfaction.
A satisfaction that made Ervin feel that all of his actions so far were perfect in one day of controlling the entire force of Magic itself.
Things could always be better. But Ervin could describe himself with no other words but truly satisfied. The serene state of his soul caused a mysterious connection to the Demon Orb to form.
His soul force rushed out to meet the strange source of magical power radiating out of the Demon Orb.
Ervin faintly trembled, an unfathomable wave of magic washing over his entire being. The connection expanded his horizons, making him feel as if the fog had completely vanished.
A bright luminous flash filled the area once again. When the flash cleared away, the Demon Orb was no longer on Ervin's palm.
However, Ervin could not just sense, he could truly feel the sensations of the Demon Orb sitting inside his soul space!
Without any input from him, the Demon Orb suddenly decided to fuse into his soul.
Tingles began to ripple throughout Ervin's entire body. His strength amplified to the point of being able to crack apart boulders, his magical sense now had a closer bond to the entirety of magic as a whole.
The world, even in the ominous atmosphere of the Twilight Wood became that more brighter for Ervin.
Ervin was briefly shocked. He didn't know what to make of this moment since Cyan never said anything about it.
With a thought, he knows he could still summon the Demon Orb to his hand, but he's just not sure why he can do it.
It was at this moment that Ervin soon heard a strange voice exuding an unfathomable wave of power bouncing across his mind.
"The Way Of Slaughter!"
"Huh?!" Ervin instantly jumped up. His body tensed to the limit, his eyes frantically looking around for any sign of life.
He would soon be disappointed. Besides him, nobody else was around this area for miles.
"The Way of Slaughter?" Ervin scratched his head.
He knows there are many Paths of Mana that he doesn't know about. Some paths are more suited to combat than others. However, Ervin didn't think a Slaughter Mana path would exist given the brutal nature of the name.
Ervin wished he could get more information about whatever this Mana path was, but that voice seemed to be content with leaving behind a cryptic message.
Standing around wouldn't do him any good. Ervin had no other option but to simply get back home. The fusion of the Demon Orb confused him.
Even still, the gains he can get today will be massive.
...
Several days soon blinked by in a flash.
The Mage Enforcer estate was seemingly calm for the regular enforcers and superior enforcers. They went on their regular patrol team without any issues.
It was the higher generals where a sense of panic was starting to settle in.
On this day, inside one of the meeting halls, several generals and mages who all exuded a superior aura of power over every else, all had concerned expressions warping their normally calm faces.
The head general table at the front of the table leading the meeting was actually a beautiful woman with a fierce presence to make even other war veterans tremble.
One look at her deathly cold eyes tells a thousand stories of battle. Not a single person under her would dare to disobey in the fear of slightly angering this unfathomable woman.
The deathly cold look on her beautiful face made for a majestic contrast that inevitably drew eyes onto her.
Typically, the other generals would feel reverence being in her presence. But this day got everyone incredibly riled up.
One of the generals loudly cursed, viciously spatting out, "Damn it. Why would you even care about trying to keep this silent? Two Late Stage Adepts have just died for fuck's sake! Even an Early Stage Adept death would cause some amount of concern. Losing not just one, but two Late Stages are more than enough for a call to action."
"Mn." Another general nodded in agreement. "I doubt it is a powerful Demonic Beast with a unique Innate Ability. If that were the case, that beast would already show traces of itself, or at the very least, commit daily slaughter within the woods than at seemingly random points in time. The person doing this is a demonic criminal no doubt about it."
Voices of agreement rippled all around the table. Nobody could let this go. Even Noble Families that are two or three-star powers would feel a tremendous loss has happened.
Raising one to become a Late Stage Adept is no ordinary situation. The resources poured into any Late Stage Adept are considerably large. They are supposed to be among the main fighting forces defending the city from all kinds of threats, whether it's from demons or other cities. Losing them was truly crippling their defense forces!
The only one calm within the raging surge of emotions was the head general. She threw her eyes around the room, naturally exuding a momentum that caused the raging generals to quiet down.
A melodic voice flowed out of her mouth as she said, "Riling up your emotions even more than it already is will do nothing for us. Covering this case is equally important. We can let any weakness show or we will be exploited. At the same time, we simply can't let these strange killings go by any longer. Thus, we will be receiving special help for this case."
"Special help?" The other generals curled their brows.
Their answers came in the form of a glittering white glow gleaming from the head general's ring finger.
The ring on her finger not only exuded this hypnotic beam of light, but it was also rippling a sense of magical power that caused these veteran generals' souls to tremble.
Their faces were slightly pale, sensing a higher form of power completely beyond their comprehension.
The head general couldn't focus on the others. A voice called into her mind, asking her, 'Is everything ready on your side? We will soon be arriving in just a short couple of days.'
Instead of just replying in her mind, the head general both spoke out loud and spoke in her mind. "Everything is ready for you Spirit Master Chen. And I hope we can get your help on this one issue."
'Spirit Master Chen!!' The other generals nearly flew out of their seats. With eyes widening to an extreme degree, trembles of anticipation coursed all throughout their bodies!
This Spirit Master Chen was a figure beyond them all, a living legend that thousands of other Mages can only ever hope to achieve in their life.
A supreme figure like him can seemingly perform miracles with utter ease.
These veteran generals, despite being in the Advanced Mage realm, began to feel calmer when they knew that Spirit Master Chen would be coming to their aid.