Bro, I'm not an Undead!

The brightness of the world was partly drowned in the wake of the great suction, and Baddan, who was closest to the tiny dark ball was the one who felt its might best.

What had spawned before him didn't pull apart the inanimate objects close to him, or gouge out everything in sight in order to satiate a bottomless appetite.

No.

He felt something deep within him get drawn out, something he apparently couldn't defend entirely with his Nitros perhaps because it stood separate from what he was allowed to protect according to the sucking sucker before him, or because Dander was just much stronger.

His emotions....

They were getting pulled on!

Baddan felt a mixture of rage, delight, happiness sorrow, despair, relief, indifference – just to mention a few – all at the same time surface within him.

'Is this really...' he thought with great difficulty, '...a Majestic Territory?'

Indeed it was so.

The scope of the tiny irregular sphere was not to be underestimated.

It mirrored the scale of what a Territory was capable of.

Figures far off, including even the Factions and other Ardent Curses who had resumed their battles were forced to draw farther away as they felt their emotions tugged!

Warding Pride frowned and zipped through the air to cast more than a kilometer's distance between – with her crew – away.

Only then, and with her Nitros lightly active, did she feel the effect lessen.

It was true for others as well.

It was astonishing that something so far away had such a profound pull.

A good amount of both humans and Curses who weren't quick enough had their emotions whisked away in a moment, and they bodied dropped the ground.

Trails of white cords drained from them and were fed into the tiny ball before Baddan!

Their sources, pitifully turned into empty faced husks that did not respond to anything and anyone; a rather chilling sight.

Were emotions really that important?

Replicus felt the fierce tug from the tiny ball too and he immediately accelerated upward.

Without Nitros, he and his subordinates were easily susceptible to the danger.

Replicus only stopped when they were so high up in the sky that mundane sight wouldn't be able to differentiate what was human and what wasn't even with the canvas of gold around making things easier.

He dipped into a cloud he had just made, turning it dark and shiny, and immediately began trying and define what the hell he had just seen

'What kind of a Territory is that?' he wondered darkly.

A Territory cast from a wand and not around the user?

That was absurd!

The purpose of a Territory was to create an environment where you held the advantage against enemies, and were able to completely dominate them.

What then was this?!

"Could it be that instead of creating a large space with complex features, that Dander character instead chose to invest his Nitros into something like a Primary attack function that works outside the borders of the actual Territory – which, shockingly, is that small ball? If he sacrifices everything else for that... it would be extremely powerful, right?" a thought phantom of the Penetrator theorised.

"How many years would it take to master something like that? A Territory that expresses its powers outside, sacrificing the resources needed to create a GeoScape inside, for that singular function. That's insane!" another said.

"Years? Isn't that something that would only work with a Creed? Beasts don't have the ability to store Creeds! Is it just talent?"

Indeed, it was bizarre.

The range of the ability that Dander chose was vast and incredibly potent.

But then, what was this ability?

What exactly did stealing emotions entail?

Why did it leave victims slack?

"I bet emotions are part of the soul," a thought phantom said with a worried look. "Remember when we lost our body temporarily in the Temple of Unlusted Tears? We were still able to feel as a disembodied soul. I think emotions are elements of the soul that are expressed through a body. They may not be integral parts of it, but I think losing them is as good as losing the very heart of a soul, and some of its strength!"

It was quite the theory, and the other thought phantoms mulled over it, some agreeing that it indeed made sense and others posing questions that seemed to contradict the assertion.

Unfortunately, there could be no confirmation for this.

Right then, as Replicus was stuck debating with himself, Baddan moved.

He brought his hands together while combating the singularity.

A canvas of solid white bloomed around him, Lipptis and the tiny Territory firmly before beginning to gain an abundance of colour.

He was going for it.

He was going to defend with his own Territory!

Baddan then bellowed out:

"Majestic Territory Expulsion—"

...But in that instance, the tiny sphere before him enlarged abruptly, as though feeling threatened, and let out a world-shaking force that broke the solid foundation of Baddan's Territory, making it crumble to pitiable shards!

The Sky Watcher was shocked, and in his momentary surprise at his Territory being blown up, he felt the tug at his emotions grow stronger and ultimately overwhelm his coat of Nitros!

"Lipptis!" he roared, and the Masked Facade lurched forth, placing itself between Baddan and the Singularity.

Unfortunately, this didn't stop the now large ball from drawing on Baddan who barely managed to erect another shroud of Nitros around himself.

In fact, with its size now large, the ball begun to drag physical matter towards it, as though hoping to fetch its true targets along as well. Great chunks of the gold land were ripped from their collective and hurled towards the dark hole.

The manner in which it happened was frightening fast!

Lipptis was a creature devoid of emotion, without a soul. It was much like the Apostles, with something akin to a source that perpetuated its existence. Because of this, it was immune to the drawing of emotion, however, the moment its huge limbs touched the singularity, they were shredded into bloodless bits!

For Baddan, the opposite occurred. The pull on his body was less exaggerated because Lipptis made herself a blockade between him and the vacuuming danger, but that which applied to his emotions persisted. Soon, he could feel himself turning... dull.

Only the loose shade of Nitros around him was stalling his demise.

As though watching his beast get obliterated to the waist – most of its limbs gone in mere seconds – wasn't enough to cause adequate despair, the hundreds of chunks of golden land flying at speeds faster than sound towards the dark ball smashing against Baddan only turned the situation more precarious!

The power of the complex, shrunken Territory was so great now that all the conflicts in the vicinity stopped entirely!

Several Ardent Curses had been dragged along by the invisible intangible might, their emotions and bodies devoured when they slipped past Lipptis!

In the distance, the Mad Bishop, Warding Pride, Musing, Thrill and the other Factions had ignited their Nitros at greater output in order to resist the force.

Some had even employed Creeds to fixate themselves and their subordinates in the sky, much like Replicus and crew.

A moment later, the great ravine was no more, and the diamond river within it was drawn on too.

The world was quickly getting dismantled.

In four seconds, a massive crater four kilometers wide and at least double that in depth had emerged.

Dander, who was immune to the effect of his Territory roared in laughter from his bloodied mouths while soaring through the sky!

He looked at Baddan who continued to persist with Lipptis who existed only up to her shoulders now.

"HAHAHAHA! Stop hanging on! Perish already!" he cried jubilantly and hesitated a little before sending a jet of golden fire that blasted Baddan, pushing back against his grown coat of Nitros!

Up in the air, Grim ground his teeth and lurched forth.

"Don't."

Replicus forbade him.

"But boss! He's going to die if we keep standing here and doing nothing! I know he's a new guy, but..." Grim argued.

Pherdanta silently shared the same sentiment, as did Allora, but both of them felt it wasn't their place to question Replicus on this matter, unlike their white-haired peer.

"He's not a fool. I was worried at first too, but he seems to have a plan of his own. A risky one. It would be a shame to not let him try."

"But boss...if he dies..."

"Just observe."

This was a terribly risky move on Replicus' part for many reasons that contradicted what he even hired Baddan for, but he saw a glimpse of the victory that the Sky Watcher was aiming for and soon...

Only Lipptis' head remained, her neck being torn apart by the millisecond.

She showed no emotion still... and waited.

Baddan on the other hand, on seeing Dander placing his full focus on him and the beast...

'Good. Keep your eyes on me...' he thought before clutching the veil over his face... and removing it.

His mostly calm but sweaty visage was revealed.

Dander saw it and scoffed.

However, the next face he saw, had him donning a different kind of expression.

Once Baddan's face was revealed, Lipptis' was also shown in full as the brick-coloured talismans on it were ripped to shreds.

"Close your eyes. Quickly!" Replicus commanded his Unlimited who immediately obeyed just in time for neither their full focus or peripherals to gain an inkling of an idea as to what was behind Lipptis' talismans.

Even Replicus' sockets turned dim. He too wouldn't look.

Of course, for Dander, it was too late.

...!!!

He had seen it.

That face.

That wretched face.

The moment he glanced, he couldn't look away.

And when seven breaths passed with his eyes locked onto those details that both fascinated and turned him pale with fright...

He had already lost.