Chapter 101: Aftermath

A few moments earlier...

’Where am I?’

Regis felt himself floating in the middle of an empty black space.

Nothing could be seen, touched, felt, heard, and smelled. It was an empty void of nothingness.

’The Count! I still need to defend Pandora and Killian...!’

Remembering his situation, his blood-red eyes widened in urgency as he tried to look around the void.

However, he couldn’t even sense if he was really "looking" in a different direction.

The space was pure block.

This made it impossible for him to determine whether he was moving or not.

’What is this!?’

He felt suffocated, like he was in a dream and he was aware that he was in a dream, but he couldn’t wake himself up.

It felt really weird, he could feel panic slowly setting in his heart as time passed by.

Regis continued looking around the void.

However, no matter how hard he looked, there was nothing.

’Why the hell am I here? Is this the consequence of forcing my body past my limit?’

He started to rack his brain, hoping to find out even a gist as to the reason why he suddenly appeared in this place.

Wung—!

It was then at this moment that he saw something in the middle of the void with him.

Upon looking closer, he was shocked to find out that the thing that was floating in the void were words.

Perfect Adaptation.

Was what the words said.

’Isn’t this my gift?’

Regis thought in wonder as he proceeded to look around.

As expected, there was a golden word floating some distance away that said; Tranquility.

Lastly, he also saw that there was platinum colored words that said; Weakpoint Creation.

’Every gift that I have is here. And since they all reside in my consciousness, then it must mean that I’m in my consciousness too...’

"Regis!? What are you doing here!?"

Hearing a familiar feminine voice, he looked to the side and saw Vanessa with a surprised expression on her face.

"Vanessa!? Where are the others!?"

"Ouch~ That’s really what you’re asking me first after seeing me for so long~?"

A weird expression appeared on his face as he heard her words.

Seeing this, Vanessa giggled before shaking her head lightly and pointing in a certain direction.

Following her, Regis looked at the direction she was pointing at and was surprised at what he saw.

What greeted his sight was a hundred or so grayish red spheres.

"Are those..."

"Yes. They are the souls of the other children from the demonic human camp."

As if knowing what he had in mind, Vanessa shook her head and said, "Don’t ask me, I have no idea. In fact, I even find it difficult maintaining this form. Anyways, your situation outside isn’t really favorable..."

"...do you really have the time to wander in your own consciousness?"

Regis shook his head, "I don’t know how to get out."

"Are you for real? Just go back the way you came here!" Vanessa felt as if she was talking to an idiot.

"Argh, I really don’t know, okay!?"

"Hmmm..."

Slightly believing his words, she put her fingers on her chin and began to think deeply.

She was able to see what Regis was doing so she didn’t really need to ask him about the situation.

After a few seconds, she raised her head and looked at him, "I think I know what to do."

Then, without speaking, she suddenly walked towards Regis, scaring him in the process.

"W-What are you going to do?"

"Tsk, just trust me. You know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you..."

"...after all, we’ll also die if you die."

Convinced by her words, Regis gave up and stopped backing off.

However, trepidation resurfaced on his face once again as he saw the claw on Vanessa’s left hand.

Her nails became black as it extended, the nerves on his hands up to his elbow also became black.

Then, not wasting any more time, Vanessa immediately drove her claw hand towards his left chest.

"Remember to treat me well in the future, okay?"

Was the last whisper that Regis heard as he felt his eyes opening by themselves again.

***

The first thing that greeted his sight was the stupefied expression of the Count.

Then, seeing the magic spells that he had already casted upon meeting his eyes, he immediately went towards the manor.

Precisely, the location where he left the weak point he created earlier.

His gift, Weakpoint Creation, allows him to forcefully create a weak point in the target’s body.

However, one weak point could only be created per target.

This meant that since he had already created a weak point in that specific part of the barrier back then, he was only able to use it.

Just as Count Orpheus was able to recover, Regis could feel the despair within his eyes.

Then, his heart thumped as the memory of one of his evil crafts resurfaced in his mind.

[Verowal]

Regis didn’t know for sure if he had undergone awakening or what not.

However, he could feel that he could grasp more understanding of the evil craft within him.

Through this, he found out that controlling black flames strengthened by despair wasn’t the true way to tap into its power.

Verowal was an evil craft of Agaroth, the Devil of Despair and Destruction.

It was destructive flames strengthened by despair, but that was not all there was to it.

Regis was able to reach a deeper understanding of the evil craft, discovering that its true power lay in the fact that it could "ignite anything radiating despair".

It was like being able to "remotely ignite" anything that feels despair.

This was the reason why he was able to instantly ignite the Count’s eyes without any sort of preparation.

***

Present...

The man that had instantly cut off the demonic Count Orpheus’s hand solemnly looked around.

After staring at the Count, his eyes wandered on the two children that had collapsed on the ground before he looked at the lone boy in the distance.

"Sigh... I can’t believe that you will do this, Count Orpheus."

Hearing the man’s words, Count Orpheus only gritted his teeth. It could also be seen that his whole body was trembling.

"I have no choice but to report this to the headquarters. Do you have any objections, Count Orpheus?"

The man’s brown eyes stared at the Count that had already taken an inhuman form.

As if he had reached his limit, Count Orpheus suddenly shouted, "Oh Great Devil of Death and Extinction, Azrabelle!! Please heed my ca—"

Shuikkkk!!!

Before he could utter any more words, his deformed head flew up in the air.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk."

The man shook his head with pity, "I thought that you would at least atone for your sins, but it seems like I have overestimated you."

His figure then disappeared, instantly reappearing beside Killian and Pandora.

"Hmmm, it seems like your leg injuries are quite severe. Though you don’t need to worry, fighting evil has its merits. I’ll make sure that you’ll be able to walk in no time."

"As for you, it seems like you have overexerted yourself by casting magic way beyond your means. Though it is impressive, it’s also foolish..."

The man carried both of them carefully in order to ensure that their injuries would not worsen.

His figure blurred once again, appearing right in front of the white haired boy who had already collapsed on the ground.

Feeling his pulse, the man frowned slightly.

"Strange... He has both aura and mana circulating in his heart despite only having one..."

"Anyways, I’ll take them to the church first to see what’s going on."

He muttered to himself as his figure instantly disappeared.