Just before Lucien’s body hit the ground, he was engulfed in a dark flame, encapsulating every inch of his physical body.
His mind soon fell into the deep abyss he had grown accustomed to.
"This place again... I thought I... told him not... t—" Lucien muttered, his eyes shutting due to his depleted energy.
3 conditions permitted Wrath to manifest in the physical world: Taking permission from the owner of the body, manifesting to prevent damage to the vessel, and finally, if the host’s body is depleted of energy.
The last condition was satisfied, and unfortunately, it was the only one that granted Wrath complete freedom over his actions.
"Ah... yes, this body. It’s quite weaker than expected, but it shall suffice for the little time I’m allowed to use it," Lucien, now with the mind of Wrath, spoke, his voice transforming into a screeching bass voice that sounded ever so demonic.
Wrath lifted his feet and stomped on the ground, a strange surge of demonic energy filling his entire body.
"My cloak!" His red and black cloak materialized from the traces of demonic energy that surrounded him. "It’s showing no signs of improving. I might have chosen the wrong human after all," Wrath concluded.
With every step, he sent deadly chills that displaced the earth beneath him, shaking it to its core. It definitely wasn’t the full extent of Wrath’s powers, but it was something he hadn’t seen in years. Wrath was ecstatic, picking up soil and throwing it at exceptional speeds while jumping around on the faint patches of grass that had withered away.
Ha! Hahaha! A-hahaha!
Wrath laughed, brimming with joy as he tossed his body into the air, flying with no limitations.
"Oh, how this boy has misused my power. He’s truly unaware of its limitations," Wrath said to himself while flying straight to the edge of the sky.
Suddenly, he fell to the ground, his body unable to move as though an unshakeable force had pinned him down.
"What. What is this?" Wrath muttered, shifting his gaze to a figure appearing from the dark.
"Most mages have magical attributes; some are natural and some unnatural. But weaklings like you wouldn’t know, huh... demon." Vaelion’s golden hair covered his eyes but his scrunched face was still evident.
"Cartoon Magic Manifestation: Circus Tree"
Wrath immediately sent out a burst of energy that disrupted whatever force was pinning him to the ground. However, a tree sprouted from the ground, growing immeasurably just like a beanstalk in fantasy novels.
’So that’s what he meant by unnatural attributes,’ Wrath thought, laughing in amusement. ’I’m glad I came to this world. It certainly is marvelous.’
Wrath watched himself get pushed into the heavens, gripped by the intertwining branches of the sprouting plant.
"Circus Tree is a boundless circus. Have fun trying to escape."
The branches were strong enough to withstand Wrath’s demonic crimson aura, but they broke like twigs immediately after Wrath began outputting Mana.
Wrath fell after the branches had broken. He saw his body approaching the earth, a faint smirk already surfacing.
"Is this the supposedly inescapable spell?" Wrath questioned in a taunting manner before his feet sank deep into the ground. He looked below him and saw his body being swallowed by the ground directly beneath him.
Vaelion’s face was immovable, expressionless, and almost... lifeless. Something was wrong, but Wrath was far from understanding what it was.
His body was eventually dragged into the earth, his eyes being filled with dust and humid soil before he magically appeared back on the same branch that locked him in place.
"What is this?" Wrath questioned, his voice getting deeper with each word he pronounced. He grabbed the branch, and with a touch, it exploded from within.
He fell to the ground, but the same set of events reoccurred. He found himself back on the same branch, as though nothing had happened.
"What could this be?" Wrath screamed from the top, losing his composure as his anger consumed him.
"C’mon, isn’t it already obvious?" Vaelion shouted from below, raising his sword and pointing it to the heavens. "Now you must pay before you cause any more harm, demon."
From his stance, it seemed Vaelion was preparing a projectile attack, but from that distance, Wrath couldn’t properly see Vaelion or understand what was going on.
All he could hear was his annoying voice.
Wrath exploded with rage, destroying the entire section of the tree he was on. This time, as soon as his feet touched the ground, he returned to the exact branch that he had been on.
"You haven’t even seen why I called it a circus tree," Vaelion shot something out of his sword. Wrath saw it approach him, but suddenly, it disappeared as though it warped through space itself.
The beam then appeared behind him. Wrath quickly shifted his body, extending his arm in an attempt to stop the beam.
"Oh? You think you can stop it with just your palm?" Vaelion’s voice echoed softly. The beam suddenly spread out, encapsulating Wrath in a confinement similar to a spherical prison.
Wrath lowered his hand and tried touching the bars of the confinement. It was hotter than anything he had touched before.
But that didn’t mean it was too much for Wrath to handle.
As his fingers gripped the bars, the entire prison immediately shattered into tiny fragments.
The faint voice of Vaelion echoed around him. From the source of his voice, it didn’t seem like Vaelion was speaking from below him. It felt as though his annoying voice hit Wrath from every angle.
’Is this an illusion?’ Wrath thought, breaking himself away from the branches that held him and jumping onto another one before the branch regrew.
Vaelion’s body suddenly appeared, floating in thin air. Wrath immediately aimed his palm at him and fired a high-power beam of glowing red-black light that engulfed everything in his path.
Vaelion smiled—the same smile that angered Wrath so much and with just a wave of his hand, the approaching beam from Wrath turned into a thread of the same color and settled in Vaelion’s palm.
"Your attempts are futile. You may give up now. From your very nature, you are unable to be levelheaded and feel any emotion other than anger and wrath," Vaelion stated, floating towards Wrath as more branches grew from the body of the tree and held Wrath in place.
Wrath easily disposed of the branches, but more kept growing out and trying to hold Wrath down. He jumped away from the branch he stood on and onto another one.
"A circus is meant to bring happiness, and the anger you feel is being directly translated into power for me. That’s the true reason behind this spell’s name," Vaelion stated, revealing the nature of his power.
’That foolish demon will definitely fall for it and try to prove its dominance. Just keep getting angrier,’ Vaelion thought, still keeping his face almost expressionless.
Wrath jumped but immediately fell to the ground and returned to one of the branches. He gripped his face with his right palm. "Is my time over already? This annoying brat," he muttered as his cloak dissipated into nothingness.
"Very well, I may permit you to fight this opponent since you seem like a suitable match. I may be anger itself, but I’m not dumb," Wrath’s final words echoed, and Vaelion slowly approached him.