The situation at hand was exactly why she had Margaret use "Abundance."
Margaret's "Abundance," a conscious inebriation and an advanced form of fervor, possessed the ability for refined control over the liquid magic power in a cup, akin to mixing a cocktail.
By infusing various emotions into the cup, Margaret was able to detach from her own emotional state and easily customize the effects of the magic power within it.
She could combine healing and protective effects, concocting the most potent positive outcomes similar to brewing potions; or she might layer various offensive effects like flames and lightning to create even more vicious attacks.
What's more, this "mixing" was not limited to her own cup.
Utilizing her own natural oddity, Asou Haruka was able to project everyone's true nature into a cocktail, seizing the opportunity to control the contents of others' cups.
When the "drink" changed, correspondingly, everyone's true nature would undergo a related transformation; this was the truly frightening aspect of Asou Haruka's ability.
Just now, she had "mixed" into Yuan's cup, thus reversing the effect on his emotions and causing him to fall into a deep sorrow from which he could not easily escape.
This influence wouldn't last for an extended period, and the greater the opponent's magic power, the shorter the duration. However, on the ever-changing battlefield, even a mere moment could be enough to clinch victory.
The masterpiece shaped like a dagger in Emerald Sparrow's hands arrived in front of Yuan almost at the same time as Hong Siyu's magic technique; and until this moment, Yuan had not made a move.
It was only at the instant her body was about to be struck that she finally blinked, retrieving a trace of self from the overwhelming negative emotions that had almost taken complete control.
Grasping the cup, she exerted a slight force and twisted her stance within a hair's breadth; simultaneously, the "qi" in her body flowed, following a specific trajectory and moving to protect her vitals in the shortest time possible.
Then, a vigorous surge of magic power erupted from within her, and the powerful shockwave deflected both the dagger thrown by Emerald Sparrow and Hong Siyu's magic technique.
She had narrowly fended off this wave of assault and was about to dissolve the lingering emotions still occupying her mind, but she abruptly found she didn't have the opportunity—because the next wave of attacks had already arrived.
The bartender standing behind the counter slightly tilted his cup, splashing the liquid within towards her.
As the liquid left the brim of the cup, each drop behaved as if under precise command, spreading as far apart as possible, like a net spreading out. This net, formed from liquid, descended from above, enveloping Yuan in its grasp.
Yuan had to react in the briefest timespan, yet the emotions clouding her mind were a massive burden, numbly slowing her response. It was only a moment before the liquid nearly touched her that she abruptly accelerated, escaping the area covered by the liquid with her previous terrifying speed.
Then, she realized she was still not safe.
Forcing her body to accelerate in panic, she hadn't anticipated the multitude of threads waiting along her path. And although the strength of these threads was not great, colliding with them at high speed—
—would be no different from sustaining a slash.
This was precisely what Yuan had been avoiding all along, as well as what Emerald Sparrow and the rest had decided they must accomplish.
She couldn't let the opponent succeed.
Therefore, she attempted to mobilize her qi once more in hopes of confronting these magic silk threads. After all, the manipulation of internal energy was a matter of thought and quicker than compelling her body to action.
If she could successfully use qi, then theoretically she could soften the magic silk threads before her, avoiding injury from collision...
Once again, Yuan's thought process came to a halt.
She discovered she could no longer utilize her qi.
After a brief pause came realization and a sense of relief floods in.
Indeed, hadn't she been cautious of this very ability from the beginning?
In the corner of her eye, she saw the petite blue-haired girl, expressionless, hovering in midair, standing on a magical power web woven from bluish threads, with countless threads twisted around her ten fingers, extending into the dense net surrounding Yuan.