The change had taken place so fast he couldn't comprehend it, not even realizing that anything had happened until he realized he had nothing in his hands, his mind snapping back to reality, calm as can be, as if lifted of endless pressure, as if realizing that that which had happened to Cades, to him, seemed akin to fiction, as if realizing that he had simply felt himself obligated to love his parents that he had never truly met, his sister that was probably dead, no, this Cades was not Cades, he was a Kirgun, yes, formed by his experiences, but only as a bystander, if at all.
He was separated from his past, so perhaps he also didn't feel anything as he saw wings flapping amidst the darkness he now realized to be covered in a thick, dark, fog, perhaps ehetrians he had once called his people, his friends, perhaps even his family, but now, he had never met them before, it was almost as if he was fighting against undead, as if he was facing beings he knew to be dead, beings that he knew to be dead and had not met, only heard about.
It was like looking through the fog, both physically and mentally, he was simply separated from the world he was in, from the challenge, perhaps he was separated from everything aside from himself, his face, his body that had already changed, and some memories that seemed to still cling to his psyche, dark and blurry, as if watched through a book, but still there.
Truly, he was not Cades, he was just someone that knew what Cades had gone through, someone that had read who he was, someone that understood him, someone that thought like him, but still, as Cades finally readied himself, his sword still in his scabbard, knowing just how big the difference between himself and normal people would be by now, he calmed down, choosing, not simply snapping out of it, choosing, to end this way of thinking for a bit, knowing he would need a bit of mana to destroy these people.
Or rather, these monsters, it would not be justice to refer to them as people as they were not the same as before ehetria fell, before Cades lost everything, before he was watching from the darkness of the mind, they were just made in their image, perhaps a last honour to some of them when one thought about it.
Perhaps it was because of all that that he felt so disconnected from it all, as if watching through his own mind, as if sitting inside his head, safe and sound, but still, he managed to choose to end his thoughts, he managed to watch the incoming wave of the flying people, many having great wings, many having black ones, but in the end becoming a greyish brown mass facilitated by their clothes, turning into a huge smoothie of bodies, a lot, but still, he had long since realized the difference.
A sequence two should be able to beat up to five adult people at once, a sequence nine should be able to do the same with a sequence two, an apex was an entirely new order, being able to take on around ten of the peak sequences, at least in his case, a lord multiplied that number by a bit once more, then the transcribe-rank did the same, at one of the greatest degrees, his body only having realized that he was a transcribe all the way on the wooden island, instantly becoming capable of easily facing dozens of lords at once, and that should be the case for a normal transcribe, Cades, or whoever he was now, on the other hand, was about nineteen times stronger, at least in relation to his mana-pool, and had quite a bit of talent, as well as access to actives to enhance his own position, the steadfast trick he liked so much, the overload to zap many at once, the missiles to attack quickly, ripping weak people apart in this case, and, of course, a lot of material for mana expulsion, the technique he had chosen to use right now, intending to blow them all away, most likely ripping their wings off, something he knew to be easier than one might expect while they were in the air, their bodies alleviating themselves to fly better, a natural reaction for ehetrians, but one of the reasons for which many thought on the ground and their species was known as being quite weak in comparison to others.
And indeed, he felt his mana move, more powerful than before, as if an intense pressure weighing him down had removed, not only because of his realization, but also because this was his home, not a place in which mana was constantly weighing him down, like that forsaken realm, not a place like the gigantic hand where he felt himself restrained by the pure presence of those beasts, no, he was at his full power here.
It was like a raging storm.
They were helpless, most of them weren't able to even see magic, even less so cast it, it was as if he was a fly trap and they were flies, as if he was a fire and they were moths, it was as if he had become the sole ruler over this desolate realm filled with nothing but people that should already be dead, flying around, forced in their ways by his power, many of them already having lost their wings and probably screaming in agony, something he was glad about not being able to hear right now.
Perhaps, if he hadn't lost himself, or just if he hadn't lost Cades, he would have failed to understand the difference, he would've despaired, he would've yearned to see them all again, but now, he understood as he moved more and more mana, causing a storm of great magnitude in this land empty of even mana itself, the perfect place for spells such as this, he was without feelings for them, he was simply a challenger, they were simply obstacles, otherwise, he would've struggled quite a bit.
Not to say that he wasn't still struggling, seeing that there was seemingly no end to the stream of enemies he had to face, more and more appearing after the defeated ones fell down into the thick fog, perhaps forever, perhaps just dissolving out of reach, as to save power for this illusion, still, he felt that something was amiss, after all, there were not only ehetrians on ehetria.