Chapter 796 – Envy VS Envy [Part 1]

Cyrinne stepped forward.

Not attacking.

Claiming space.

"I was born heir," she said evenly. "Stronger. Clearer. More stable."

Vira’s jaw tightened. "You were exiled," she spat.

Cyrinne’s lips curved faintly. "By fear. By you."

Lux watched the exchange quietly.

He had been a catalyst.

A distraction.

A wedge.

Cyrinne lifted one hand slightly.

The arena responded.

The Envy field shifted, no longer amplifying petty comparison, but stabilizing into something structured. Competitive, yes. But not hysterical.

"You mistook cruelty for strength," Cyrinne said. "You mistook insecurity for control."

Vira’s aura flickered violently again, but it was unstable now.

"You were a servant," Vira snarled.

Cyrinne’s eyes did not soften. "I was a child."

The weight of that sentence hung heavy.

Lux felt something in his chest tighten slightly.

He hated messy politics.

But he hated abused power more. But it was a normal thing for envy...

Cyrinne took another step.

"And today," she said calmly, "I reclaim what was mine."

The arena trembled, not in destruction, but in recognition.

Authority rebalancing.

Vira’s reflections fractured further, the mirrored superiority collapsing into unstable silhouettes.

"You can’t," Vira whispered.

Cyrinne met her gaze evenly. "I just did."

The words didn’t echo.

They settled.

Heavy.

Final.

Vira’s distorted form twitched. The layered reflections around her flickered violently, like mirrors cracking from the inside.

"I just reclaimed our Envy... artifact," Cyrinne continued, voice steady, almost gentle. "It answered."

Vira’s eyes widened.

Not in anger.

In disbelief.

"Impossible..." she whispered.

Then louder.

"Impossible!!"

Her aura flared wildly, destabilizing the arena’s sigils again.

"It shouldn’t be able to detect you," she snapped. "It should reject you. It..."

Her voice faltered for a split second.

"...it even rejected me."

There it was.

The crack.

Cyrinne’s gaze sharpened.

"Yes," she said calmly. "I know."

A pause.

"I saw your dried blood."

The nobles flinched.

"Your attempt," Cyrinne continued, taking a slow step forward. "Seems like you weren’t strong enough."

Vira’s fingers curled into claws again.

"It rejected you."

Silence.

And then...

"No!" Vira screamed.

The sound tore through the garden like something alive being ripped open.

Lux didn’t speak.

Didn’t react.

He simply stepped backward and vanished.

’Shadow Step.’

He reappeared casually on Vira’s previous elevated seat, where the velvet cushion still held the faint imprint of her composure. The wine bottle had survived the earlier shockwaves. The glass had not.

Lux picked up the bottle.

Examined it briefly.

Still intact.

He snapped his fingers lightly, summoning a fresh crystal glass from his storage, and poured himself a drink with unbothered precision.

The arena trembled.

"Now..." he muttered quietly to himself, crossing one leg over the other. "Let’s see the rest of the show."

And oh... It started immediately.

Vira lunged.

No elegance left. No composure. No layered sweetness.

Just fury.

Her claws elongated into jagged crescents of compressed envy-force as she surged toward Cyrinne, the ground splitting under each step. She swung downward in a violent arc meant to cleave through defense and dignity alike.

Cyrinne didn’t retreat.

She raised her hand.

The artifact’s authority pulsed outward from her chest like a heartbeat.

The collision detonated.

A shockwave erupted, flattening hedges, tearing lanterns from their hooks, sending noble spectators scrambling backward. The polished garden pathways cracked in long fractures.

Lux lifted his wine calmly before the shockwave hit his level.

Telekinesis flickered for a half-second.

The force bent around him.

His hair didn’t even move.

He took a sip.

"Mmm."

Vira attacked again, this time faster, her distorted reflections multiplying around her. Dozens of near-identical versions lunged in from multiple angles, each one slightly different, each one slightly "better" than the last.

Classic Envy.

Cyrinne’s aura expanded.

Not chaotic.

Structured.

The reflections hit her shield and shattered like glass sculptures thrown against steel.

The resulting explosions blasted the outer garden walls apart, decorative statues crumbling into powder.

Lux’s table exploded beside him.

The marble slab shattered into shards.

The wine glass tipped, but Lux caught it mid-fall with telekinesis, stabilizing the liquid perfectly.

He adjusted his seating position slightly.

The bottle wobbled.

He caught that too.

’Can’t waste good wine.’

Below, Vira screamed again, summoning a massive spear of compressed comparative hatred, a blade shaped from years of rivalry and insecurity.

She hurled it.

The projectile tore through the arena like a falling star.

Cyrinne stepped forward.

Not aside.

Forward.

She extended both hands.

The artifact flared in her core.

The spear collided and split.

Energy burst outward in a violent dome, shredding the remaining garden foliage. Trees uprooted. Pathways collapsed. The outer pavilion crumpled like paper.

Lux’s seat cracked beneath him.

He lifted slightly, levitating just enough to avoid falling as the stone fractured.

He took another sip.

Vira staggered from the recoil but recovered immediately, her form now fully monstrous, elongated limbs, fractured reflections orbiting her like broken satellites.

"You stole it!" she shrieked.

Cyrinne’s voice remained even. "It was never yours."

Vira surged again, this time attempting something more desperate, she expanded her aura outward, trying to overwhelm the domain itself, to drown Cyrinne in amplified comparison.

The air thickened.

Even the nobles on the sidelines began to clutch at their chests as insecurity flooded the space.

Lux felt the pressure too.

[Envy Domain Overload Detected.]

[Emotional Disruption Attempt: Rejected.]

He swirled his wine.

Cyrinne closed her eyes briefly.

Then... The artifact pulsed.

A clean wave.

Not loud.

But absolute.

The unstable amplification collapsed inward.

Vira’s reflections shattered.

Her elongated form snapped back violently into something closer to humanoid, though still distorted by rage.

She stumbled.

Cyrinne stepped forward again.

"You built your authority on fear," she said quietly. "But the artifact answers to balance."

Another pulse.

Vira was thrown backward, skidding across broken stone until she collided with the remains of a pillar.

The impact cratered the wall behind her.

Dust rose.

Silence followed for half a second.

Lux poured himself another glass.

The bottle was nearly empty now.

He debated summoning another.

Decided against it.

Vira dragged herself upright, trembling.

Her power still flared, but it was unstable now, spiking erratically instead of flowing.

"You think you’ve won?" she spat.