Chapter 64: Tortured soul

...

*Booooom!!*

*Bang!!!*

*Crash!!!*

In the middle of the sky, two figures could be seen fighting ferociously against each other while destroying everything on their path, as their attacks were simply too powerful for the environment to resist.

Although it could be certainly called a fight, if one paid enough attention, it was obvious that in reality, the fight was completely one-sided. As Thanatos, the infamous pirate that suddenly appeared a few months ago had not attacked even once at his opponent, instead, he was just diverting and parrying all his attacks, causing his opponent to get injured due to his own attacks.

His opponent, the mysterious cultist that had taken over an entire village and made all the people living there become the evil followers of the Anomaly, had noticed this a long time ago. He could feel the unmovable strength behind the stance of Thanatos, who even after receiving his most ferocious and strong attacks, did not budge one bit and continued parrying and diverting all his attacks.

"How... how is it possible...?!! Even though my strength has risen so high, why do you still feel so far away?!!"

Thanatos, who was silently observing his opponent's movements until now, scoffed slightly and appeared in front of the man with his red glowing eyes staring deep into his soul.

"Strength gained through him is nothing to me, after all..."

*Bam!!*

Thanatos punched the gut of the man at a vertiginous speed, and then kicked him in the face with extreme force. The man was sent flying away like a cannonball and crashed horribly on the ground, leaving spider-web-like cracks on the floor, and lifting a thick cloud of dust.

"...I'm the one that will kill him..."

Thanatos appeared in front of the zone where the man crashed and waved his hand softly. This simple movement blew away all the dust and revealed the injured figure of the man which had several bruises all over his body, and had even a lot of blood coming out of his mouth.

"You...? Kill him? "He" is a god, and a mere ant like you will never be able to defeat him. Just because you defeated me doesn't mean you have what's needed to take "him" down... I was, after all, only a normal artist before becoming who I am today, it was thanks to him that I became so strong. This means that there are others out there that also gained "his" blessing and gained incredible strength, maybe they were even stronger than I was back then, and thus, their power must be hundreds if not thousands of times higher than mine..."

*Tap*

*Tap*

*Tap*

Thanatos started walking towards the man with his sword in hand and looked impassively at him without making any reaction to what the man had revealed to him.

"Even if you can defeat all of us, defeating "him" is nothing but a dream. He has, after all, a power that goes beyond what a living being could reach in his entire life... and when he wakes up... Your life will come to an end... ha...haha...hahahaHAHAHAHA!!!"

*Zoooooooom...*

Suddenly, as the tip of Thanatos' sword touched the forehead of the crazed man, the entire area shook briefly as a golden glow appeared on the man's forehead.

"W-what are you... doing?"

"I'm seeing the truth..."

The man's crazed state, which could have made anyone recoil in fear or beware, disappeared completely as the mind of the man entered into a pacific state.

The flames around Thanatos' sword soon moved towards the man and enveloped his head completely. However, instead of burning him alive like anyone could have expected, instead, they started calming down his mind and taking over the dark aura that enveloped the man's body. 

Soon enough, the aura had completely disappeared, and only the flames produced by Thanatos remained on his body.

"As expected, although most of your willpower does indeed worship "him" and wants to follow his orders... There's still a small part of it that refuses his blessing upon you and tries to fight back and stop your own actions... I shall bring it our for a few seconds, as it will make my job a lot easier"

As if possessed, when Thanatos suddenly extended his palm towards him, the confused face of the man soon turned into one of anger, pain, and sadness altogether.

Small mutterings started coming out of the man's mouth, as he started grabbing his head with too much strength and even made it bleed due to the enormous strength he applied.

"Oh god, what have I done..."

Tears started coming out of his face, as a pained expression spread across his face. However, it was not a physical pain that was tormenting him, but an emotional one.

Just as the mind of the man was about to break down upon realizing all the bad and horrible things he had done, Thanatos' face appeared in front of him and took out something like a coin from his sleeve.

"Look at me"

The man did as Thanatos said. And soon, Thanatos started swinging the coin that was attached with a string to his finger, and his crimson eyes started glowing brightly as he looked at the man, mesmerizing him and making him fall into some sort of trance.

"Tell me where did "he" go after he arrived at this planet"

As the man's eyes fell on a trance, Thanatos started telling him what to do, and as if it was magic, the man just nodded and started recalling everything that happened that day.

That day, he was only painting the beautiful sunset in the forest of his hometown. However, as time went by, soon the night arrived and he tried going back home in order to continue the painting another day.

Unfortunately, soon the Anomaly arrived and shot him a strange ray that soon started taking over his mind, feeling him with the feeling of worship and fear for the anomaly. Telling him what to do, and what to feels.

The paintings he did in his hometown, were the last vestiges of his old self, trying to express himself through the paintings, but they were soon filled with madness, as his own actions started corrupting him as well

"After my mind started being controlled, the light moved fastly through the sky and traveled towards the New World in some strange direction. After that, he disappeared to never be seen again. However, I could hear him telling me to gather vital energy from the people and animals around me, that way he could wake up sooner from his slumber, and put an end to this world. Even now, I can still feel him in my head telling me to gather vital energy for him..."

"..." Thanatos just stayed silent while listening to his story, he seemed to be thinking hard about many things. However, soon Thanatos stopped swinging the coin in his hand and picked up his sword.

The man, who had been looking at the void with a blank stare until now, had the light come back to his eyes, as he started laughing crazily once again while looking at Thanatos with pitying eyes. However, unlike before, the man now had tears coming out of his eyes uncontrollably, and a hint of pain and sadness could surface through his eyes from time to time.

"I shall put an end to your misery. Let my sword take away all your sins and bear with their weight so you can rest in peace away from "his" control... Farewell"

[Void Zone!]

As Thanatos thrust his sword forward with a violent force, everything in its path started turning into dust, and soon the body of the man scattered away along with everything that the shockwave of the sword reached.

Letting the wind take the remains of the man away, Thanatos's red eyes glowed enigmatically before he started walking away as dozens of Ravens soon enveloped his body and blocked his figure from the outside world.

Soon enough, only the destroyed landscape and the dried tears of a tortured man were left on the battlefield, as Thanatos disappeared completely from the place, leaving only a few ravens flying around and spreading the sense of dread on anyone watching.

*Caw*

*Caw*

*Caw*

...

Jarron7

Was thinking about it, and honestly, hypnosis seems like a really good ability for a Shadow eminence to have. And since it's not complete bullshit because there was literally a guy that used hypnosis to fight in the main story, then why not have him also use hypnosis on his enemies?

As for what he did to the man before using hypnosis, although it may be a bit BS like most of his techniques, I think it can in a way make sense (?)

In summary, it should be him using his own "willpower" to affect the "willpower" of others. But I will let Sid explain it later in one of his strange monologues to no one in particular.

Anyway, that's all for today.

See you next time!