Chapter 51: Raven

Within the huge nest made of dry pale wood, the two eggs glowed with a subtle radiance of divinity.

Azazel stared, completely entranced by it, he didn’t realize he was already walking toward it.

’Snap out of it mortal.’

Azazel jolted at the sound of Akathartos voice.

“What just happened.” He asked.

’The egg… one of them is dying, it tried to make you its thrall and replenish its life force using yours.’

Azazel shivered.

He had been this close to losing the second life he was offered.

Of course the eggs were dangerous, he was foolish to expect otherwise.

Perhaps he was becoming too complacent with his current life, so much that he no longer looked out for dangers like he did in his original world.

He stared at the eggs, his gaze darkening by the second.

“How am I supposed to create a bond with the eggs when one of them wants to drain the life out of me. Why is one of the eggs almost dead, while the other is full of life.”

’Instinct,’ the blade said. ’It must have done that in an attempt to preserve its sibling, thereby losing its life slowly as it gave its vitality to the other egg.’

“So how do I go about this?”

The blade lingered for a second.

’I don’t know if this could work, but what if you absorb the dying egg? The fact that it was sentient enough to influence you means there’s still a will left within it, if you’re successfully able to absorb it, you could get a powerful bloodline.’

The offer was too good to pass up on, the rewards were priceless.

In the first place, bloodlines were quite rare to obtain.

The game mechanics often followed certain patterns after the awakening of a resonator.

The order followed the soul mirror, the buildset and items contained within it, the regalia and finally, bloodlines.

The first on the list was something everyone could obtain after resonating with a god or a lesser god.

The soul mirror.

No one knew how it came to be or what created it, they only knew it was there from the moment they awakened a class.

The soul mirror acted like a system, storing the user’s information within itself while tracking and recording the growth of the resonator, it also held essential items needed to complete the buildset of the resonator’s class.

The regalia, on the other hand, unlike the soul mirror, was only available to resonators who had ascended.

It provided general buff abilities depending on the role and the class of the resonator, it wasn’t exclusive to a single resonator only, instead it provided several fortes which allowed for versatility between them.

The last and perhaps the rarest of them all was bloodlines.

Unlike the soul mirror which came naturally with awakening or the regalia which came as a power-up during Ascendance, the bloodline couldn’t be obtained naturally.

It was only obtained after a creature with sentience bestowed its will on a person thus recognizing them as a member of their race.

The bloodline gave more than just a mere power up, or mere skills.

It completely reforged the body and turned them into something far more lethal, less human but more powerful.

It was something Azazel definitely needed however, there was a huge problem.

Azazel couldn’t absorb mana like a normal resonator, it was a flaw from his class and there was no way he could go about, or at least no way he knew of.

He didn’t know if he could absorb the remaining vitality of the dying egg when he couldn’t even replenish his own mana naturally.

His mind raced thinking of several possibilities he could attempt to claim the egg without dooming himself.

He found none.

’Go ahead with it, I’ll take care of the rest.’ Akathartos instructed.

“I can’t.” Azazel admitted honestly. “I don’t know if it would work, I can’t even absorb mana from the surrounding atmosphere.”

’Taking mana and taking essence are completely different, I’ll guide the essence, just follow my instructions.’

It said calmly.

’Make a cut on your right palm, one deep enough to draw blood.’

Azazel did as he was told.

A blade of obsidian—a rapier—appeared within his left hand.

He watched the transformation with visible shock, his right hand turning an eerie black while shadowy wisps and violet markings danced around it.

It was exactly the same as the time when Akathartos tried to possess his body during the trial.

Doubt flickered in his eyes, the memory of the trial crawled up his spine.

Just recalling it was enough to make him shudder.

The trial didn’t just break him.

It scared him.

Left him with a deep trauma, one he couldn’t forget no matter how much he tried.

The obsidian blade gleamed with unholy light, its glossy surface ominous.

The hilt fit perfectly within his hand, just as he had suspected, Akathartos had adjusted itself specifically to suit him.

It didn’t feel awkward, didn’t need a few swings to adjust, it just felt right, like it had always been there.

He took a deep breath.

“Here goes nothing.”

The cold steel bit into his skin, causing him to stifle a groan.

It was cold, far cooler than any blade should be and the rapier was ridiculously sharp.

He hissed in agony.

Azazel felt an instant fatigue. He had been cut by blades before during his trials, heck he had been stabbed a knife in his former life but that pain seemed trivial compared to the sting he felt from Akathartos.

His breath hitched.

“Argh… what the hell.”

A wave of nausea hit him, his stomach churned, eyes bloodshot but it was gone within a few seconds.

’Idiot.’

The blade remarked.

Azazel took in a deep shaky breath, his body was drenched in sweat.

Even he couldn’t help but scoff at his foolishness.

Using a tainted divine blade as some sort of ritual knife, it was beyond stupid.

’Mortal, pierce a hole through the shell then place your blood on it.’

Azazel hesitated for a second, his pulse thudded in his ears.

It was still a dangerous gamble—one that could cost him his life.

But the question was, could he trust a weapon which was waiting to devour him at a moment’s weakness?

Azazel bit his lower lip, then asked.

“Why are you so hell bent on acquiring the ravens, what’s your gain.”

The blade lingered.

’You really think you can defeat that ’thing’ without acquiring as much power as you can? You do not have the Ouroborus here in this timeline, you have its blessing at best, without a bond you can’t harm that thing.’

Azazel stared at his blade with a silent question.

Questions like why the final boss couldn’t be harmed without a bond but he held his tongue.

Akathartos however did not deem it relevant to reveal any further information.

Seeing the tainted blade go silent, Azazel sighed then tightened his grip on Akathartos.

“If I die…” He said quietly. “you’re coming with me.”

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