454. Coercion.

454. Coercion.

Starlight's vision blurred, and she felt suffocated.

Her mind went blank, completely failing to process what was happening. She froze in place, staring at The Deep with a stunned expression, unable to utter a single word.

Seeing Starlight's shocked and speechless look, The Deep felt a surge of satisfaction. However, he hid it well, instead putting on an innocent facade as he looked at her.

"What's wrong?"

The Deep spoke.

"You just said you had a crush on me, so I thought... you know..."

It wasn't until The Deep broke the silence that Starlight snapped out of her daze.

In that moment, she felt her worldview shatter. Taking a deep breath, she shook her head in disbelief.

She didn't want to think about what was happening. Her mind was in complete chaos, and all she wanted now was to leave the room and find a quiet place to collect herself.

"Hey, listen. You're beautiful, okay?"

Seeing that Starlight was turning to leave without saying a word, The Deep hurriedly spoke.

"I'm not trying to hurt you or anything. This isn't forceful; it's just... another way of doing things."

But his words didn't stop Starlight. She was already at the door when The Deep threw out his trump card.

"You know this is about how much you want to be part of The Seven."

Starlight faltered mid-step, nearly tripping as she froze at the door.

In an instant, countless memories and fragments of her past flooded her mind.

How many years had she worked tirelessly to stand where she was now?

Dance lessons, strict diets, waking up early every day to participate in endless talent shows and competitions—all to achieve better results, to become a real hero. She had sacrificed her entire childhood.

And now...

Her dreams, her efforts—everything she had worked for—had been reduced to a cruel joke in The Deep's words.

What a farce, this so-called Seven, these so-called superheroes...

Starlight turned to face The Deep directly, her gaze sharp.

"What did you just say?"

Electricity lit up her eyes, and the lights in the conference room flickered in response.

A powerful energy surged from Starlight's seemingly fragile body, gathering as radiant energy in her hands. If she wanted to, she could obliterate everything around her in an instant.

"Whoa, whoa! Calm down, okay?"

The Deep raised his hands slightly. While he was superhuman and could withstand the pressures of the Mariana Trench, he wasn't keen on testing what a furious Starlight might do to him.

As Alex acted, the corrupted energy lingering in the air also froze. Though it continued to churn, it stopped expanding further.

Alex's body passed through the walls and table, walking directly to Starlight's side. His gaze remained fixed on the polluted energy emanating from her.

To Alex's eyes, the corruption looked like an overturned palette, a mix of murky and viscous colors swirling together. Just looking at it was nauseating.

The way this energy manifested was bizarre, as though it was peeling off from Starlight herself.

It was like an afterimage stretched out in slow motion. As Starlight wrestled with her inner turmoil, more of the corrupted energy seeped out.

And when she crouched down, the corrupted energy erupted, detaching from her movements and forming a unique spatial entity.

"What on earth is this stuff?"

Extending his arm, Alex attempted to touch the cloud-like energy.

But before his hand could get close, the corruption churned violently, pulling away from him as if repelled by something within him.

How was this corruption created?

Replaying the events he had just witnessed in his mind, Alex refocused his gaze on Starlight.

"Emotions, perhaps? She's experiencing emotional outbursts and deep despair right now. That might be a useful starting point."

If corruption was born from human psyche, feeding on emotions and spreading through thoughts, then perhaps addressing it at its source could yield valuable insights.

With that in mind, Alex amplified his telepathic abilities, using Professor X's techniques to forcibly alter Starlight's emotions. He implanted feelings of affection for The Deep deep within her consciousness.

However, the corruption didn't vanish. It avoided Alex but continued to hover around Starlight, as if anticipating what would happen next.

"So..."

Alex narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Is this what you want to see?"

His expression darkened as he snapped his fingers.

Instantly, a fabricated memory—indistinguishable from reality—was implanted into the minds of both The Deep and Starlight, seamlessly integrating into their original memories and smoothing out the sequence of events.

At the same time, Alex lifted the psychic lock he had placed on the two of them.

The next second, Starlight fell backward, collapsing to the ground. She barely had time to react before scrambling to her feet, retching as she bolted from the room.

Opposite her, The Deep twitched slightly, his face filled with a disturbing sense of satisfaction. Watching Starlight's panicked retreat, he seemed completely absorbed, oblivious to the fact that his pants were only halfway down.

What The Deep didn't notice was Alex sitting casually in the chair behind him, legs crossed, his gaze also following Starlight's retreating figure. His expression was complex.

As Alex had anticipated, when the fabricated memories overrode reality, the corruption vanished.

However, this outcome directly disproved his previous theories linking corruption to emotions. All his prior hypotheses had been overturned.

.....

30 advanced chapters on p@treaon

For advance chapters: /Uchiha_Itachi007 (replace @ with a)

455. Surprise.

456. The Expert.

457. Helping Each Other.

458. The Translucent's Breakdown.

459. Infiltrating the Sage Grove.