Monarchs of Ruination

[+0.1 Anger…]

NOX frowned at the Emotion Points he was earning from these students—just from taunting them a little.

These brats really do get angry easily. Some were even beginning to hate him for no real reason.

'Is it really that easy to hate someone?' NOX mused.

Of course, the intensity of their emotions determined how many Emotion Points he received.

But the most absurd part?

These brats were literally feeding him power—giving him the very means to teach them a lesson.

To NOX, Emotion Points were his absolute strength—at least for now, while he was still a mortal.

With enough Emotion Points, he could create anything—skills, weapons, artifacts—out of nothing, without even using mana.

This meant he had an infinite number of skills at his disposal.

And given enough Emotion Points…

He could even kill a God.

A grin crept onto NOX's lips.

How powerful was his Unrecorded Divinity at its full potential? If it was capable of creating such a ridiculous system, then how much more terrifying would it be once fully awakened?

After a few breaths, NOX snapped back to the present.

He slowly stood up from his chair, his eyes still shut. He walked steadily toward Student 2, the one who had just spoken.

As he approached, the students instinctively stepped back.

They claimed they weren't afraid of Devils, right?

Without warning, NOX opened his crimson eyes—

[Consuming 3 Emotion Points to activate Evil Eyes.]

Then—

Boom!

The entire courtyard was bathed in crimson eyes, glowing eerily as the red light spread across the space.

These haunting eyes stared directly at the students, suffusing the air with an unsettling presence.

In an instant, everything fell deadly silent—there was no sound, not even the usual chirping of crickets. It was as though nature itself had frozen in fear.

The students froze, their eyes widened in fear, their hearts gripped by a cold, suffocating terror.

They were too terrified to even move

After a single breath—

Clang!

A weapon dropped to the ground, its sound breaking the silence. Then—

Clang! Clang!

More weapons fell, one by one, as the students couldn't grip them any longer.

"P-Please… make it stop… make it stop…"

"This isn't real… This isn't real…"

"I'm sorry! Please stop!"

One by one, every student collapsed to the ground, losing their balance as their pleas echoed across the courtyard.

Some were so overwhelmed with fear that they fell unconscious.

They were too terrified to even regret coming here.

But NOX?

He didn't pity them. He didn't care for their pleas. They came here seeking trouble because of rumors.

What NOX cared about was their emotions—and the Emotion Points they were giving him.

[+4 Fear…]

[+8 Fear…]

[+5.8 Fear…]

Seeing the notifications, NOX's grin stretched from ear to ear.

Right now, he was nothing more than a mortal—too powerless in the grand scheme of things.

And his enemies wouldn't wait for him to grow.

He had a nagging feeling that Heaven itself was already aware of his regression.

And they wouldn't just sit back and let him rise again.

They would strike first.

And when they did, they would hit him hard.

NOX clenched his fists, his grin fading into an expression of determination and hatred.

He refused to lose everything again.

He had fought too hard, killed too many, ended entire worlds, just to reach this moment.

This life would be different.

No matter how many schemes Heaven plotted, no matter how powerful his enemies were, he refused to be powerless again.

And the only wild card he had to fight back were his Pathos Emotion System and his Unrecorded Divinity.

The more Emotion Points he earned, the more options he would have to fight his enemies.

Because those were his current strength and only real options.

Snapping out of his thoughts, NOX turned to the academy students, who were still miserably crying on the ground.

He let out a deep sigh.

"I think I may have traumatized them for life…" he muttered.

But when he glanced at the notifications again, seeing hundreds of Emotion Points gained from spending just three—

A smirk formed on his lips.

'Who would've thought? Scaring people really does make you rich.'

But his smirk quickly turned cold as he called out to the assassins behind him.

"Haven't you guys watched enough?"

The moment he spoke, the air stirred, and in an instant, four assassins appeared from the shadows, silently blending into the darkness.

Unlike the students from the academy, these four were professionals—their Dharma Seeds likely tied to darkness or space.

How did this kid notice their presence? More importantly, how could he direct the echo of his voice straight to them without using Aether or any other energy?

Normally, a Rank 2 Awakener could easily control the echo or sound of their voice, manipulating its path with Aether. It wasn't a specific skill, but rather a passive effect that came with strength and mastery over the elements.

Yet NOX—an Unranked Awakener—had done something that only those Rank 2 or higher should be capable of.

This revelation left them on edge, and they immediately became more vigilant.

What they didn't know was that NOX didn't need Aether to perform skills. Hell, he didn't even need to awaken or acquire skills.

His Emotion Points were omnipotent.

[+0.1 Fear gained from No. 420]

[+1 Hatred gained from No. 421]

[+0.1 Fear…]

NOX didn't even turn around as he addressed them, his back still to the four assassins.

"The Human Supreme Society is truly arrogant, sending Rank 2 Awakeners to kill an academy student."

The four assassins remained silent, their eyes still fixed on NOX's back.

'Did this kid seriously just expose his back to assassins? Is he arrogant or just stupid?'

It was basic common sense for Awakeners not to expose their backs to assassins—it could easily be a fatal mistake.

Yet NOX was nonchalantly chatting, seemingly without a care in the world.

"Is this kid alright in his head?" one assassin muttered.

But none of them let their guard down. Carelessness was courting death in their line of work.

They would never underestimate NOX—the same boy who had made nearly fifty peak Unranked Awakeners lose the will to even hold their weapons.

NOX slowly turned, his crimson eyes meeting theirs with a predatory intensity.

At that moment, NOX found himself in a dilemma—he had so many skills to choose from, nearly infinite options.

'Having too much is never a good thing,' NOX grumbled inwardly.

But the moment the four assassins saw his eyes, they immediately recognized them for what they were—Evil Eyes, a power typically only higher-ranking devils possessed.

"You really are a Devil's Seed… and a high-ranking one at that."

One of the assassins spoke with greed in his voice, his eyes glinting as the others echoed his thoughts.

If they could assassinate a high-ranking devil, their status and rank would surely rise within their organization.

[+1 Greed…]

[+1 Greed…]

NOX didn't respond to them, but his frown deepened as he noticed the notifications.

A flicker of surprise crossed his face—not because of the assassins' greed, but because his system was quantifying greed as an emotion.

It seemed he didn't yet fully understand the true nature of his Unrecorded Divinity or what being the God of Myriad Emotions truly meant.

But he didn't dwell on it for long—he would explore these mysteries later, after dealing with these rats.

"Increase my Strength, Constitution, and Agility stats by 100 each."

NOX commanded his system.

[Consuming 50 Emotion Points (EP) to increase Strength stat by 100.]

[Consuming 50 EP to increase Agility stat by 100.]

[Consuming 50 EP to increase Constitution stat by 100.]

In an instant, NOX could feel his body bustling with overwhelming power. He felt lighter, faster, and stronger than he had just moments ago.

The way his power increased was bizarre—there was no energy being expended, no force being applied.

If NOX were to describe it, he would say it wasn't that his power increased—it was more like he simply received power, as if the very fabric of reality was subtly reshaped around him.

Is this system bending reality itself using Emotion Points? It wasn't increasing his power, but rather altering reality so that he became powerful.

But how?

Even after living through nearly a billion years, NOX couldn't quite make sense of it.

But for now—

He was just glad there were no energy fluctuations or force disturbances.

Because he had no intention of alerting his enemies.