Chapter 387: Personality Inversion
"Is that really what it does?"
The Alliance members stared at Noah in absolute shock. The very concept of such a magic was terrifying.
"What are you saying? I don't understand at all!" Happy cried out, waving his paws frantically.
"Are you an idiot?!" Carla snapped, glaring at the blue cat. However, she quickly softened her tone and explained, "In other words, when Nirvana's seal is lifted, anyone whose heart is wavering between good and evil will have their fundamental personality forcibly changed to the exact opposite."
"And that is exactly why I repeatedly confirmed Noah's knowledge of this magic before he started," Hibiki chimed in, his expression grave.
He stepped forward to address the group. "If I wasn't absolutely certain that Noah completely understood this magic, and if he hadn't explicitly guaranteed he could protect us from its influence, I would have vehemently opposed unsealing Nirvana."
"Human beings naturally experience negative emotions," Hibiki continued. "It's unavoidable. We all have moments where we think things like: 'If only that person wasn't here...', 'It's their fault I'm suffering...', or 'Why does this always happen to me?'"
"Nirvana weaponizes those exact thoughts. It judges those fleeting moments of darkness, seizes upon them, and violently drags the person completely into absolute evil."
Hearing Hibiki's breakdown, a heavy silence fell over the Alliance.
Everyone understood exactly what he meant. No one lived a life entirely devoid of negative thoughts. When faced with hardship or tragedy, it was human nature to feel anger, resentment, or despair.
Most people simply learned how to process those emotions properly, working through them so they could continue living their lives.
But if Nirvana could forcibly intervene during that vulnerable processing phase and instantly plunge a person's soul into irreversible darkness... it was a terrifying prospect. None of them ever wanted to experience something so vile.
"So, if Nirvana fully activated while we were unprotected... would we all have been turned into villains?" Lucy asked, her voice trembling slightly.
"But wait, does that mean the bad guys from the dark guilds would have been turned into good guys?" Happy asked, raising his paw as he pointed out a major loophole.
"That is technically possible," Hibiki nodded. "However, the true terror of Nirvana lies in how it can be purposefully controlled and aimed."
"Imagine if the Oración Seis directed Nirvana's influence solely at a specific Light Guild. The mages inside would instantly turn on each other, slaughtering their own friends without a shred of hesitation. They would wage unprovoked, brutal wars against other guilds. Under Nirvana's influence, those atrocities would become reality."
"No way..."
The group gasped in horror.
Just picturing the scenario Hibiki described sent a cold chill down everyone's spine. A world where friends butchered each other over a forced shift in personality was nothing short of hell.
It suddenly became incredibly obvious why the Oración Seis were so desperate to secure Nirvana. It was the ultimate weapon designed specifically to annihilate Light Guilds from the inside out.
Standing quietly in the background, Roubaul and the Nirvit descendants wore expressions of profound sorrow and guilt as they listened to the discussion.
"Ooooh... aarrrgghh... guhhh..."
Suddenly, a series of pained groans echoed from the pile of defeated generals. Everyone whipped their heads around.
Hoteye was thrashing on the ground, clutching his head in visible agony.
"W-What's happening to him?" Wendy asked, shrinking back slightly. Meredy and Yukino immediately stepped protectively in front of her.
"Could this be..."
Connecting the dots from Noah and Hibiki's explanation, the Alliance stared at Hoteye with a mix of shock and intense anticipation.
"How pathetic. To think this fool actually still harbored a shred of goodness in his heart!" Midnight scoffed, instantly realizing what was happening to his comrade.
Seeing that Hoteye was the only general reacting to Nirvana's dark light, Noah snapped his fingers. A silencing ward clamped down over the other Oración Seis generals, preventing them from interrupting the process.
Simultaneously, Noah slightly loosened the physical bindings on Hoteye, allowing the large man to move his limbs freely, though his magic remained completely sealed.
"Argggh! Money! Money! It's all about money!" Hoteye screamed, violently rolling on the ground as he clutched his head in torment.
The Alliance watched tensely.
Suddenly, Hoteye stopped thrashing. He lowered his hands, and a breathtakingly warm, radiant smile spread across his face.
"I don't need something so trivial as money anymore... oh yes."
"What?!"
The entire Alliance gasped in unison. The man's entire demeanor had changed so drastically it gave them whiplash.
At that exact moment, a thick tendril of putrid black mist seeped out of Hoteye's body, floating through the air before seamlessly merging into the colossal black pillar behind Noah.
"I was so desperate to find my long-lost younger brother... I convinced myself that if I just amassed enough wealth, I could finally find him... oh yes."
Hoteye slowly stood up, tears streaming freely down his face as he spoke with utter conviction.
"But I realize now how horribly wrong I was! Oh yes!"
"The world is absolutely overflowing with LOVE! Ohhh! LOVE! What a truly magnificent, tender word! As long as there is love in this world, nothing is impossible! Oh yes! I finally understand the truth! How foolish I was all those years!"
Overcome with emotion, Hoteye lunged forward and wrapped Jura—the man who had defeated him—in a massive, crushing bear hug. Tears poured from Hoteye's eyes, splattering directly onto the Wizard Saint's shiny bald head.
Jura stood completely frozen, utterly dumbfounded by the sudden display of affection. He had absolutely no idea how to react.
The rest of the Alliance was equally stunned. They stood frozen in place, staring at the bizarre scene with wide eyes.
Only Noah and Hibiki remained composed. Since they both fully understood the mechanics of the magic, they weren't particularly surprised by the outcome.
As the shock slowly wore off, Lucy and Wendy began to tremble again.
"T-That is terrifying..."
The others nodded in solemn agreement. Seeing a person's entire fundamental personality forcefully overwritten right in front of their eyes was deeply unnerving.
"Well, a bad person turning into a good person is ultimately a positive outcome, wouldn't you agree?" Noah smiled, trying to lighten the mood.
The group nodded, the lingering tension in their chests easing slightly.
"That dark light forces an absolute personality inversion on anyone caught in the space between good and evil. Which means, just a moment ago, your heart was wavering on that boundary, wasn't it?" Noah asked, turning to Hoteye.
"Even as I obsessed over wealth, a small part of me always knew that what I was doing was wrong... oh yes," Hoteye admitted, finally releasing the bewildered Jura from his bear hug.
"I honestly never would have guessed..." Jura muttered, adjusting his slightly rumpled collar.
"Everything I did... I did it all to find my little brother. That was the only reason I needed money in the first place... oh yes," Hoteye smiled gently.
Hearing his reasoning, and seeing the genuine warmth radiating from his smile, the Alliance found their hostility toward him melting away. He suddenly didn't seem like the monster they had fought earlier.
"You know, looking at you brings back such fond memories," Hoteye said, looking affectionately at Jura.
"Oh? Does my face perhaps bear a resemblance to your younger brother? Ho ho," Jura chuckled, genuinely curious.
"No, you look exactly like the potatoes my brother and I used to eat together all the time! Oh yes!" Hoteye beamed happily.
"...A vegetable?!" Jura's jaw dropped in sheer disbelief.
"Pfft... Hahahaha!!!"
The tension utterly evaporated as the Alliance burst into uncontrollable laughter at Jura's expense.
"Well, since you've repented and seen the light, that's the best outcome we could ask for," Noah chuckled.
He then raised his right hand. Activating his Gravity Magic, he enveloped the entire Alliance in a localized zero-gravity field, causing everyone to gently float into the air.
"Whoa! We're flying!" Natsu cheered excitedly. He instantly began doing the breaststroke through the air, aggressively swimming through the empty space.
"Woah!"
While the rest of the Alliance wasn't quite as hyperactive as Natsu, they were still thoroughly amazed, looking around curiously as they bobbed gently in the air.
"Things are going to get incredibly shaky in a moment, so I'm keeping you all suspended in the air. We are now moving to the final stage of unsealing Nirvana," Noah explained.
He turned back toward the colossal, churning pillar of dark magic. Forming a sword gesture with his right hand, he traced several intricate patterns in the air.
"Release!"
The moment the command left his lips, the black pillar began to violently expand outward.
The earth surrounding the pillar instantly shattered. Boulders, dirt, and entire trees were launched into the air as the sheer magical force excavated the ground with deafening roars.
Noah effortlessly guided the floating Alliance members further back, keeping them safely out of the rapidly expanding destruction zone.
After expanding to a massive radius, the black pillar finally stopped growing.
BOOOOOOM!!!!!
A cataclysmic series of explosions tore through the forest. Centered around the black pillar, the earth within a multi-kilometer radius fractured completely. A gargantuan, perfectly circular plate of land violently erupted from beneath the bedrock.
The forest, soil, and rocks that had previously covered the area cascaded off the rising plate, revealing the sprawling, ancient stone architecture hidden beneath.
With a deafening, whistling roar, the colossal plate of earth continued to rapidly ascend into the sky, forcing Noah to elevate the floating Alliance even higher to avoid being crushed.
"WHOOOAAAAA!!!!"
The Alliance screamed in awe, entirely overwhelmed by the sheer scale of what they were witnessing.
As the massive city rose from the earth, six gargantuan, cylindrical 'legs' burst from the ground beneath it. The impossibly thick stone pillars rapidly extended, hoisting the entire landmass high into the air.
Countless tons of dirt and uprooted trees rained down like a catastrophic avalanche.
The localized earthquake triggered by Nirvana's awakening flattened the surrounding forest, sending the local wildlife fleeing in absolute terror. The deafening roar of the ancient super-magic fully activating echoed for miles in every direction.
Noah calmly guided his floating group higher into the sky, giving them a perfect vantage point.
Staring down at the colossal city suspended on six gargantuan stone legs, the Alliance was completely speechless. All they could do was gasp in sheer disbelief; none of them had ever seen anything remotely this massive in their entire lives.
Within minutes, the city had reached its maximum height. The six stone legs firmly planted themselves into the bedrock, and the apocalyptic rumbling finally ceased.
The sight of a sprawling ancient metropolis resting on six towering stone pillars was genuinely awe-inspiring.
Since Noah already knew exactly what Nirvana looked like, he wasn't particularly shocked. If anything, looking at it from above, he couldn't help but think it looked like a giant stone spider missing two legs.
"Please don't tell me... that city is Nirvana?" Lucy asked, pointing a trembling finger down at the colossal structure.
The entire Alliance turned to Noah, desperately hoping for a different answer.
"Yep, that's Nirvana," Noah smiled casually.
"How on earth can a literal city be classified as 'magic'?!" Lucy shrieked, completely losing her mind.
"You're looking at it the wrong way. That right there? That is the truest expression of magic," Noah replied confidently.
"There are so many buildings down there," Sorano noted, marveling at the ancient architecture.
"Yeah, let's head down and take a closer look," Noah suggested.
He smoothly guided the floating group down toward the very center of the city, gently landing them on the spacious platform at the peak of the central tower before dispelling the Gravity Magic.
As soon as their feet touched solid ground, everyone eagerly began exploring the platform.
"Whoa! This is amazing!" Natsu and Happy cheered, sprinting around the ancient stone platform.
While Gray and the others maintained a bit more decorum, they were equally fascinated, constantly turning their heads to examine the intricate stonework.
"This is ancient architecture, isn't it? It's a fully functional city," Ultear observed, running her hand along a cracked, weathered stone pillar near the edge of the platform.
"Exactly. An ancient metropolis. That is the true form of Nirvana," Noah explained, gesturing to the sprawling city below them. "And this specific tower we're standing on is the central control room—the Audience Chamber. From here, one can control the movement of the entire city."
"Whoa! Make it move! Let's test it out!" Natsu practically teleported in front of Noah, his eyes shining with intense curiosity. He was desperate to see how a stone city actually walked.
"You really want me to? Alright then," Noah didn't wait for Natsu to change his mind. With a casual flick of his wrist, he injected a pulse of his magic directly into the architecture beneath their feet, activating Nirvana's movement systems.
BOOM!!!
The six colossal stone legs engaged in perfect synchronization, and the entire city abruptly lunged to the side.
The sudden, massive shift startled the rest of the Alliance, but seeing Noah casually controlling the structure quickly put them at ease, and they returned to admiring the ancient city.
"Urrgghh!"
The exact millisecond Nirvana moved, Natsu collapsed onto the stone floor, clutching his mouth as his face turned a sickening shade of green.
"Hey! Pull yourself together!" Lucy panicked, rushing over to him.
"S-So sick..." Natsu groaned, completely paralyzed by his motion sickness.
"You literally asked him to move it! You brought this on yourself!" Gray laughed, thoroughly enjoying his rival's suffering.
"P-Please... make it stop..." Natsu whimpered, staring at Noah with pleading, tear-filled eyes.
Seeing that Natsu genuinely looked like he was about to projectile vomit, Noah mercifully halted the city's movement.
Once the platform stopped shaking, Natsu took several deep breaths. Trembling violently, he grabbed onto a nearby pillar and shakily pulled himself up.
"Urrgh... just thinking about the fact that it can move makes me feel sick," Natsu gagged, staring out at the horizon while clutching his stomach.
"At this point, that's not even a physical issue. That's purely psychological," Noah deadpanned, rolling his eyes.
If just knowing the city could move was enough to trigger his motion sickness, Natsu was beyond saving.
~~~
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