Chapter 77: ？？？
"You have slain two calamities."
The words echoed through Azrael’s mind.
It was as though the loudest gong in existence had chosen his skull as its instrument.
A sharp pain followed immediately.
It was not the system’s voice.
This voice was something Azrael had never heard before, yet somehow felt as though he had always known it.
A paradox.
Jasmine looked at him with a slightly narrowed gaze.
"Is ???’s voice too much for you to bear?" She muttered, studying him.
Then it registered.
"Seems like you cannot hear the name yet."
The voice continued regardless of what Azrael was experiencing.
"You have claimed two calamities as your loyal subordinates. You have awakened a calamity space."
Then it stopped.
Nothing further.
But its lingering presence was enough to keep Azrael trembling for several seconds after.
The pain itself was nothing compared to what he had endured before. But there was something about the weight behind the voice that made the body respond before the mind could reason against it.
"That came as a surprise," Jasmine said with a smile, looking at him.
Her plan had never involved Azrael killing the calamity.
She only wanted him to refine his combat technique against an immortal warrior whose skill had left even her astonished across their history together.
But things had taken a considerably more interesting turn.
First, Azrael had managed to inflict genuine damage on a being she herself had never been able to touch in that way.
Second, a second calamity had escaped its seal and entered the fight, something she had not accounted for and which presented its own complications.
But neither of those was what shocked her most.
What she found most staggering was that Azrael had killed two calamities that were both higher in tier than him.
"What skill did you get from that fruit?" Jasmine asked, unable to stop herself.
For the first time since Azrael had known her, her composure had a visible crack in it.
What she had witnessed was simply too significant to process quietly.
After all, if he could kill calamities like dimensional beasts now, what would he look like once he actually grew into his power? An army of calamities was not a figure of speech. It was a real possibility.
"I do not know yet," Azrael replied with a shrug.
He was turning a golden brown token over in his fingers, tracing the black lines along its edges.
It had appeared in his palm the moment the mysterious voice went silent.
"What do you mean you do not know? Have you not looked into your core to examine the new imprint?" Jasmine asked with raised brows.
Azrael furrowed his own.
He did not follow what she meant.
[That is the standard method for checking new skills. You simply have the luxury of the system handling it for you instead.]
The system explained quickly.
’Oh,’ Azrael thought.
He shook his head at Jasmine.
"I did not have the time," he said.
"Alright, one hour break before we continue. Use it to check your new skill."
Azrael nodded, then stopped.
"Before you go, you mentioned a name earlier. I could not hear it. Can you write it down? I should be able to read it even if I cannot hear it."
For a moment, Jasmine’s brow twitched.
His words made her pause for a fraction of a second.
At her level, that pause was the equivalent of a long silence.
"I will give you credit for that," she said, looking up at him. "But I need to correct my earlier phrasing. That name cannot reach you through any medium. Your mind will automatically skip it regardless of how it is delivered."
Before Azrael could follow up, Jasmine launched upward, cutting through the air at a speed that left only trails behind her.
Azrael watched the trails fade.
"She did not even give me a chance to ask about catching more calamities," he sighed, pressing a hand to his head.
His gaze dropped to the token in his palm.
He channeled a small amount of essence into it.
A blinding light erupted, washing over most of the surrounding space.
The ruined earth grew even brighter beneath it.
Slowly, two figures condensed before him.
The first was a man barely into his twenties, standing with a straightness that suggested the world had never once found a way to bend him.
The second was a young figure with short white blonde hair that caught the light.
Pale skin glowing faintly with blue from beneath the surface.
Barefooted, as though he had never needed shoes and likely never would. The ice spreading from where he stood confirmed that any footwear would freeze within seconds of being worn.
Azrael observed them both, noting the quiet submission in their presence toward him.
Then his face went pale.
"This requires an enormous amount of essence to maintain," he said.
[You are pulling myths into physical reality. What did you expect?]
Although only about a quarter of his essence had been consumed, given how much his reserves had expanded since waking up that morning, a quarter was no small figure.
[Also, you are sustaining two at once, both above your current weight. The previous version of you would have collapsed the moment you attempted this.]
Azrael considered that and nodded.
It was true.
"I will use one at a time going forward," he muttered.
He pulled both calamities back into the calamity space within the token.
"System, hold onto this for me," Azrael said, letting the token rest in his open palm. "I do not want to lose it if I misplace my spatial ring."
[It is not possible to lose the calamity token, but I will keep it regardless.]
The token vanished in a flicker of white light.
Azrael smiled as he looked around at the wreckage surrounding him.
"Now, the main event," he said.
The system, equally eager, pulled up the status screen in the next moment, letting the new skill settle into Azrael’s view.