For Sephiroth, "hearing" the "voices of the hearts" of tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of people, did not give him the splitting headache one might imagine.
To him, it felt like standing in the middle of an enormous, bustling marketplace. It certainly was not comfortable, but it was not completely unbearable, either.
However, the more people he "heard," the harder it became to distinguish individual "voices." Those voices would then "sort themselves," producing a kind of "convergence."
Killing intent, fighting spirit, fear, gratitude...
The individual "voices" of countless people had their distinctive qualities drowned out by what they shared. Their thoughts gathered together, becoming something like background noise.
While Sephiroth coordinated and supported the battlefield in various ways, Laki's voice came through the communications device inside his helmet.
"Lord Sephi, an Imperial Guard unit encountered the enemy's top officer, Diamante. The unit has been destroyed, but Luo has gone to engage him."
When Sephiroth used Emotion Absorption on vast numbers of people simultaneously, what he heard were the "voices of the hearts" common to each group. Unless he deliberately connected to an individual, their voice would be drowned out.
Laki knew this, which was why she relayed the news over communications.
Although she also had permission to connect directly through "Telepathy," she still prioritized communications whenever possible.
After all, to initiate a telepathic connection with Sephiroth, she had to concentrate her thoughts until they were strong enough to stand out from the "background noise."
Only then would Sephiroth's Emotion Absorption pick up the "anomaly" and draw his attention. After that, Sephiroth would establish the telepathic connection himself. Only then would the "call go through."
On a chaotic, large-scale battlefield, that was far too much trouble.
Of course, whenever Sephiroth wanted to contact someone himself, he could locate