A few weeks had passed since Emrys's decision regarding Rou.
The young man was not yet the ruler of Ulster.
No ceremony had taken place, no responsibility had been entrusted to him, and he had not yet begun taking care of any matters concerning the kingdom. For the time being, he simply continued to live among the inhabitants, waiting for the day when Emrys would deem it necessary to put his decision into effect.
Life in Ulster had therefore returned to its usual course.
As for Emrys, he had returned to his usual activities.
He spent part of his time traveling throughout the kingdom, talking with the inhabitants or solving problems that genuinely required his intervention. The rest of his time was devoted to his own research and training his various abilities.
It was precisely during one of these training sessions that an unusual sensation appeared.
Emrys froze.
He had just felt something inside his mind.
Something that wasn't his.
His face tightened slightly.
"...What the hell is this?"
It was neither an external presence nor a hostile intention.
It was something much stranger.
An energy.
A small amount of energy was somewhere inside his brain. It was so subtle that he probably would never have noticed it if he hadn't focused his attention on his own body at that moment.
Emrys remained silent.
He concentrated.
The energy was definitely there.
It did not circulate like his own magical energy. Nor did it resemble his mental energy. It possessed none of the characteristics he knew.
Most importantly...
It didn't seem to have a source.
It was simply there.
Emrys frowned.
He had spent enough time studying magic and different forms of energy to know that something like this was not normal.
He immediately tried to analyze it.
"Trace on."
His power came into action.
For several seconds, Emrys didn't move.
He was searching for a structure.
A composition.
An origin.
Anything that could allow him to understand what he was dealing with.
But nothing.
His power couldn't establish any usable structure.
Emrys tried again.
This time, he concentrated his analysis even further.
He tried to break down the energy, follow each of its characteristics, and determine how it interacted with his own brain.
Still nothing.
"This is really strange..."
He tried once again.
The result was identical.
Emrys remained thoughtful.
This wasn't the first time Structural Grasp had encountered its limits. He knew perfectly well that his power wasn't omnipotent. Despite the improvements he had made to it over the years, there were still phenomena he couldn't immediately understand.
But this time, something bothered him.
He could feel this energy.
He could distinguish its presence precisely.
And yet, whenever he tried to determine what it actually was, his analysis found nothing.
"An energy without a structure..."
He remained silent for a few moments.
Then he sighed.
"I probably haven't trained Structural Grasp enough to be able to analyze something this ethereal."
The realization was frustrating.
But there was no point in stubbornly continuing.
Emrys could recognize his own limitations.
He therefore temporarily abandoned his analysis.
However, he certainly wasn't going to leave this thing inside his mind without trying to understand how it reacted.
He needed another method.
An idea immediately came to him.
Drainda.
Emrys extended his hand.
The sword appeared in his palm.
He grasped it before thinking for a few seconds.
Drainda's anti-magic was capable of nullifying magic.
If this energy was connected to a magical phenomenon, there was a chance that it would react to its power.
But he obviously wasn't going to drive the blade into his own body.
Emrys therefore simply turned the sword around.
He placed the pommel against his forehead.
"Let's see what you are."
He circulated a small amount of anti-magic.
Nothing.
The foreign energy didn't move.
Emrys frowned.
He slightly increased the flow.
Still nothing.
More.
This time, he felt a slight reaction.
But it wasn't the one he had hoped for.
The foreign energy seemed to resist.
Emrys concentrated even more.
He increased the amount of anti-magic again.
Then again.
A slight tension appeared in his mind.
"Hm..."
He continued.
The foreign energy finally began to decrease.
Very slowly.
But it was decreasing.
Emrys immediately understood that he had found the right method.
The problem was simply the amount required.
He increased the flow of anti-magic again.
His mind quickly began to be strained.
Using Drainda normally didn't require this much effort from him. But this time, he had to maintain a considerable amount of anti-magic in an extremely precise area of his own body.
He couldn't afford to release too much too abruptly.
His brain was still his brain.
Even Emrys had no desire to find out what would happen if he accidentally saturated his own brain with anti-magic.
So he increased it gradually.
The foreign energy decreased.
Again.
Then again.
Emrys's breathing became heavier.
A thin layer of sweat appeared on his forehead.
He continued.
The energy resisted.
Emrys gritted his teeth.
"Come on..."
He increased the flow once more.
His mental energy was rapidly decreasing.
But this time, the foreign energy was almost completely dissipated.
One more effort.
Emrys focused all his attention on what remained.
Then he pushed his anti-magic one final time.
The sensation disappeared.
Emrys remained still.
He waited.
One second.
Then two.
He checked his mind.
Nothing.
He slowly removed the pommel from his forehead.
"Haa..."
He exhaled deeply.
He was exhausted.
For a simple operation that had only lasted a few minutes, the amount of mental energy he had spent was ridiculous.
But he had succeeded.
This thing could therefore be removed.
Emrys wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Well, now that that's done, I can focus on the other problem."
When he had felt the anomaly in his brain, he had also noticed it in the brains of everyone within his passive detection range, regardless of their age or race.
He increased his range.
Again.
Again.
The energy was present in everyone.
He concentrated his Haki further.
The inhabitants of Ulster.
All of them.
Without exception.
Emrys remained motionless.
"...Everyone?"
He expanded his field of perception even further.
It was everywhere.
In every mind he could reach.
To make sure of his hypothesis, Emrys left UBW.
"My body is made of blades."
He appeared at a hidden exit point in a large city and sensed the auras here as well.
His expression became serious.
It's the same thing here.
Not just in a few people.
Everywhere.
Emrys remained silent for several seconds.
He had just removed something from his own mind that he had never noticed before.
And that same thing was present in the minds of all the inhabitants of Ulster.
But also in those of the people living outside the kingdom.
In other words...
This wasn't a phenomenon specific to Ulster.
It wasn't even a phenomenon specific to him.
It was worldwide.
Emrys slowly withdrew his Haki.
"..."
He remained sitting in silence.
This time, he no longer felt like joking.
Something had changed.
He didn't know what.
He didn't know when.
And most importantly, he didn't know why.
But an unknown energy was now present in the minds of practically everyone.
And no one seemed to realize it.
"I am the bone of my sword."
After returning to UBW, Emrys mentally resumed his analysis.
This energy didn't seem to affect memories.
It didn't seem to control thoughts.
It didn't cause any apparent pain.
And yet, it existed.
That was enough for Emrys to remain wary.
He looked at Drainda.
Well, so to speak.
He simply focused on the weapon he was holding.
He had just found a way to remove this energy.
But there was a problem.
A gigantic problem.
"If I can remove it from my mind..."
He thought.
"...I can probably do the same for the others."
The idea was logical.
But only in theory.
Emrys quickly estimated the number of inhabitants in Ulster.
Around thirty thousand.
He remained silent.
"Thirty thousand..."
He imagined the amount of mental energy required to repeat the operation.
Once.
Then another.
Then another.
Thirty thousand times.
His expression slightly fell.
"...No."
It wasn't merely a question of endurance.
He would also have to approach every single person.
Use Drainda directly on them.
Inject anti-magic into their bodies.
And unlike himself, Emrys didn't know precisely how each person's body would react to such an amount of anti-magic.
One mistake could be dangerous.
He couldn't take the risk of treating thirty thousand people like test subjects.
Emrys sighed.
He had to find another method.
Something simpler.
Something that wouldn't require him to touch each individual person.
Emrys thought.
He knew his own abilities well enough to know that there had to be a solution.
He had studied so many powers, techniques, and weapons throughout the years.
He had access to Unlimited Blade Works.
He possessed a considerable amount of accumulated knowledge.
There had to be something.
But what?
Emrys began mentally going through the weapons he knew.
One after another.
He eliminated the useless options.
Then thought about weapons capable of altering or breaking magical phenomena.
He stopped.
His mind remained silent.
One second.
Two.
Then his eyebrows furrowed.
"..."
He had just thought of something.
Something so obvious that he couldn't even understand how he had overlooked it.
A weapon he already possessed.
A weapon that had precisely the ability he was looking for.
Emrys remained still.
Then he slowly brought a hand to his face.
"...Wait."
He thought back to the energy.
His inability to analyze it.
Drainda.
The colossal effort required to remove it.
Then the other possibility.
Emrys remained motionless for a few seconds.
Then he slapped himself on the forehead with his palm.
"Damn, I'm a fucking idiot. I could have just used Rule Breaker."