Chapter 7: The Emotion Harvest
The night in Lirath was silent — unnaturally silent.
No wind, no laughter, not even the sound of a heartbeat.
The moon hung like a dead eye above the city, staring down upon streets that gleamed white with artificial perfection.
Beneath that stillness, in the unseen layers below, something stirred.
⚙️ The Underground Network
Aiden followed Kael Irin through the narrow tunnels beneath Lirath's eastern district. The air was thick with metallic dust and humming with faint electrical resonance. Strange symbols glowed along the walls — emotion-sealing runes, designed to suppress energy waves.
"Welcome to the heart of the lie," Kael muttered.
He stopped before a sealed metal door marked with the insignia of the Lirath Law Guild.
"Above ground, they say emotion is chaos. Down here, they mine it."
"Mine?" Aiden asked.
Kael tapped the lock, and the door hissed open — revealing rows upon rows of glass chambers. Inside each one floated a figure, their faces peaceful but hollow, their chests glowing faintly with shifting colors: red for anger, blue for sorrow, green for envy.
"Emotion isn't destroyed," Kael said quietly. "It's harvested — extracted from citizens before it drives them mad. They drain it… sell it to the Guild… and use it to fuel their psychic machines."
Aiden stepped closer to one of the chambers. Inside was a woman, maybe twenty, her tears suspended mid-air like crystals.
[System Notice: Pure Emotion Detected — Type: Envy. Energy Quality: High.]
"Envy," Aiden whispered. "One of the Seven Sin Cores."
💀 The Living Core
Before Aiden could reach the glass, the chamber began to shake. The green energy inside pulsed violently, bursting into fractal lines across the metal floor. Kael grabbed Aiden's shoulder.
"Step back. That one's unstable—"
It was too late.
The glass exploded outward in a storm of emerald light. A wave of emotional energy slammed through the room, throwing both men back. The air thickened with envy's poison — whispers crawling across Aiden's mind.
"They'll always be better than you."
"No one sees your worth."
"You're nothing compared to them."
Aiden gritted his teeth as the voice pressed against his sanity. The Emotion Qi inside him trembled, threatening to collapse under the surge. But then, his eyes snapped open — a burning red glow flooding them.
"System — Reversal Protocol!"
[Emotion Conversion Active: Envy → Desire]
[Stabilizing Mental Core... Complete.]
Aiden stood amid the chaos, smirking.
"You can't consume me with envy," he said, voice steady. "Because I already want everything."
🧠 The Manifestation
From the shattered chamber rose a figure — the woman no longer human. Her body flickered with shifting green flame, her face distorted with hundreds of overlapping expressions. Her voice echoed with a thousand jealous hearts.
"I am what they buried here," she hissed. "The hunger to be more — the sin they denied!"
Kael drew a blade made of condensed psychic energy. "Emotion Wraith. It feeds on what people covet."
"Perfect," Aiden said, stepping forward. "I feed on what people feel."
[System Notice: Battle Commenced — Sin Core Manifestation: Envy]
[Recommended Strategy: Emotional Synchronization.]
The wraith lunged. Its claws shredded through air, each strike leaving trails of green fire that turned the metal walls into ash.
Aiden countered with waves of dark red Emotion Qi, each pulse colliding with the wraith's aura in explosions of color and sound.
But the more he fought, the heavier his thoughts became — envy pressing into his chest, whispering memories of failure and weakness. Kael's attacks began to falter too.
"She's turning our own desires against us!" Kael shouted.
Aiden grinned through the chaos. "Then let's use them."
⚡ Emotion Fusion
He closed his eyes — memories flooding back: his powerlessness, his fear of being ordinary, his longing for recognition. But instead of resisting, he embraced it all.
[System Command: Fuse Emotion — Envy + Pride = Ambition.]
A deep crimson light burst from his core. The energy spread through his veins like molten purpose.
The wraith screamed — its envy burned by the sheer will radiating from Aiden's body. He reached out, gripping the wraith's throat, eyes glowing brighter.
"Ambition consumes envy," he said coldly. "You wanted what others had… I'll take what you are."
[Skill: Sin Absorption — Active]
[Core Assimilated: Envy]
[Progress: 2/7 Sin Cores Acquired]
The green flames collapsed inward, spiraling into Aiden's chest. The wraith's final whisper echoed like a prayer.
"To feel… is to live…"
Silence returned.
⚙️ Aftermath
The room was wrecked — cracked glass, smoking circuits, and the scent of metal and blood.
Kael leaned against a wall, breathing heavily. "You absorbed it… didn't you?"
Aiden nodded. His aura was darker now, steadier — a calm built from chaos.
"The second Sin Core. Envy's emotion… transformed into my ambition."
Kael gave a faint laugh. "You're either humanity's evolution… or its end."
Aiden looked toward the ceiling, sensing the city above — millions of sealed emotions pulsing beneath calm faces.
"Both," he said softly. "To change this world, I'll have to destroy what it's built on."
[New Quest: The Rebellion of Emotion — Awaken the Sealed Hearts of Lirath]
[Warning: Host is now a Class-A Emotional Anomaly. Expect pursuit from Mind Guild Executors.]
Aiden turned toward the tunnel's end, cloak fluttering in the artificial wind.
"Then let them come. I'll make them feel."
⚜️ Next Chapter Preview:
"Lirath's peace begins to crack as citizens experience emotion for the first time.
The Mind Guild responds — sending an Executor, a hunter who cannot feel… and cannot die."