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Chapter 29: Curses 101
🕑 Added 2024-08-23 18:00:12 +0000 UTC10+ Advance Chapters: patreon.com/Accel14
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"–And that's about the jist of it," Azazel explained to the now-awake Raynare. "Until he learns to keep his Mana under control, it'll be too dangerous for you to be around him."
If he had been born a Fallen Angel, or any supernatural race for that matter. We could've had our own Sirzechs Lucifer, how unfortunate. Azazel thought.
Only one day had passed since Takauji had undergone his assimilation, and although he was starting to reign in his physical strength. Regulating his Mana had proved to be significantly more difficult.
His body and mind still needed more time to control the amount of energy coursing through him.
"But he isn't in any danger is he?" Takauji's Primera asked out of concern.
"No, only those around him that are below Ultimate-Class will be affected. Also, he intends to achieve control in 4, actually 3 days from now. So if he's able to keep his word it won't be long before you can meet again."
Knowing her master as she did, Azazel's words elicited some hope within her.
"He better live up to it then. I suppose I should also start working on my [Balance Breaker] while he does that."
Now that she was well-rested, Raynare had the energy to resume her day-to-day activities.
"I look forward to observing your progress then. Oh, and you should probably check your wings."
"My wings?" She gasped, her dark feathery wings protruding from her back.
All four of them.
"It's not all that surprising, the stronger we get the more wings we have. I'd find it strange if your second pair didn't grow after limit-breaking your Sacred Gear."
Noticing that she was simply too stunned by her growth to speak, Azazel simply chuckled to himself and went towards the underground training chamber.
"How's your progress?" The Governor asked upon seeing Takauji.
"For starters, I'm not destroying the ground each time I take a step, so that's a good thing."
"Indeed it is. The amount of Mana leaking from your body also seems to have decreased by about 30%, but obviously, there shouldn't be any leakage at all so you've still got some work to do."
"I know. However, I seem to have made a great deal of progress in another department as well."
"Oh?"
Takauji opened up his palm, Mana pouring out of his fingers as Azazel heard the sound of a distorted zipper being opened.
A black void opened up in front of Takauji, with a green hilt coming out of it.
He had finally learned [Vacio].
"The processing power of my brain has taken a drastic leap in strength, and thanks to my body's ability to do the rest of the calculations for me now. I've finally grasped the ability to divide space by my own Mana."
He pulled his sword out of the tear in space, clasping it firmly in between his palm.
"Good job," Azazel complimented. "But that sword isn't going to cut it for you anymore, with your level of physical strength you'd probably end up shattering it after only a few swings."
Takauji sighed.
"I thought so, but I must admit that I'm going to miss this sword. I feel like I've made a connection with it throughout the time I've used it."
"No, there's a way for you to still use it if you want."
"Really?"
"Yeah, just hand it here for a bit."
He did as the Governor asked, to which the latter proceeded to channel his fingers with Mana and slide them across the weapon's alloy.
A set of holographic-looking diagrams appeared out of nowhere, runic symbols being engraved across the blade as Azazel adjusted the strange set of floating symbols.
This must be what high-level [Mana Wiring] looks like. I'd say it's a sight to behold, but even with my improved mind, I can't understand a thing he's doing. I wonder if I'll ever reach that level.
"All done," he handed Takauji back his sword.
"What did you do?"
"First of all, I increased the durability of the blade by reinforcing the metal with my own Mana. And secondly, you should be able to actually imbue it with your Mana in order to make it actively work with your Darkness Magic."
Takauji's eyes flashed with morbid curiosity.
"You did all of that in a few seconds?"
"It wasn't especially difficult, at least for me." His pride leaked out, but with his level of prowess, he had every right to gloat.
"You're making me want to form a contract with you more and more," he confessed.
"So direct," he pretended to blush. "But I wouldn't mind forming one with you now."
"I can't tell if you're being serious or not."
"I'm being serious, back then your strength was merely High-Class so I didn't see much value in contracting you. But Ultimate-Class is a different story, you're technically as strong as my Cadres now."
Those who achieved the rank of Cadre within Grigori were all granted leadership positions within the organization.
"And on top of that, you proved your ability as a trainer by successfully bringing out Raynare's [Balance Breaker]. Meaning you've made a significant contribution to my field of research."
There was nothing Azazel held in higher regard than his love for experimenting with Sacred Gears. The fact that Takauji had given him a sub-species to work with, held more value in Azazel's eyes than he knew.
"What do you say? Will you make a contract with the big bad leader of the Fallen Angels? Demon-kun."
As if I'd ever choose Rias Gremory over Azazel as a contractor. An opportunity such as this is way too valuable to pass up.
"How could I refuse? But I won't be able to make it for another 2 weeks since my contract with Rias Gremory is still active."
"Bah, 2 weeks will pass in the blink of an eye."
Such a short time period was like seconds to the millennia-old Fallen Angel.
"Then I look forward to working with you."
His heart was filled with trepidation, Raynare's [Balance Breaker], his evolution, and a guaranteed future contract with the Governor-General of the Fallen Angels.
The future was bright.
But he wouldn't allow that to make him complacent, lest he risk losing all he had worked for.
"Haha, as do I. Now then, let's get back to your training shall we?"
"Of course."
"The best way for you to get used to your Mana would be to channel it as actively as possible. Originally I planned to have you just spar me and lose horribly to my overwhelming strength," All four of Takauji's eyes twitched in annoyance. "However, I think I found a much more entertaining method."
"Entertaining?"
"Yeah, I'm going to have you learn a new spell."
His expression lit up, his excitement trumping his bitterness from Azazel's comment.
"So far you've used your Darkness Magic to learn illusions, movement techniques, and even constructs. But there's one major field of your affinity you've yet to explore; curses."
"Curses?" His mind instantly went to those from fairy tales, like a princess being turned into a toad.
"Yeah, not only would it be a productive way for you to spend these 3 days. But it'd also be a good way to test the prowess of your improved brain depending on how easy or difficult it is for you to learn how to use them."
Azazel had a point, the only real test he had given his mind was using [Vacio]. However, that was something he already had previous knowledge of, and his body had done most of the heavy lifting anyway.
"Sounds like fun," he always cherished a good challenge. Not to mention the added bonus of improving his arsenal of spells to call on. "Where do I start?"
"I want to start you off with a fairly high-level curse called [Contamination]. Even your human mind probably wouldn't have struggled to master the low-level ones."
"[Contamination]? Color me interested."
"The curse basically interferes with your opponent's ability to channel their Mana properly, taking advantage of the corrupting properties of Darkness Mana and invading their body."
That sounds pretty simple on paper, but in practice that basically gives you the ability to completely dominate a battle of magic. My strength as a Mage would skyrocket if I could acquire that technique.
"The versatility of my affinity continues to surprise me day by day."
"Hehe, you're the only human in the last century to be born with that element. It's only natural that both you and it are powerful."
Takauji hadn't been made aware of the fact until now.
"Last century? Is there any particular reason why it's so rare?"
Azazel shrugged.
"For starters, there isn't any prominent human household that contains the affinity. So there's no reliable gene pool for it, and also humans who did have the affinity developed a pretty terrible reputation."
"How's that?"
"Out of every 20 people born with the element, how many of them do you think were branded as criminals?"
"Uh, I'm honestly not sure."
"Then I'll tell you, all of them. There has not been a single recorded human with that affinity that did not get branded as a criminal to some degree."
Takauji didn't find the explanation satisfactory.
"But is that the affinity's fault? Or the person's?"
"That's the question, isn't it? Does the affinity make the characteristic? Or does the characteristic make the affinity?"
"I'd have to go with the former," he answered the rhetoric much to the Governor's surprise.
"And why is that?"
"I mean, there are plenty of evil people around. So if it were the latter then Darkness wouldn't be so rare would it?"
Azazel showed a dry smile.
"Then are you calling yourself evil because of your affinity?" Takauji only chuckled in response.
"I don't believe in good and evil."
"Go on."
"Good and evil is just a matter of perspective isn't it? If society was formed around the notion of murder being a good thing, then it would be considered good. And things that were considered just in the past, are now considered unjust. It's just a matter of what the majority chooses to believe in. If I'm considered evil that's fine with me, and if I'm considered good that's also fine. I will just continue to be who I am, and do what I feel like doing."
He had never felt the need to justify what he did, he would simply do them. Overthinking his morality would just hold him back.
"So if you felt like massacring a city of people, you wouldn't feel any guilt after doing so?" Azazel being the man he was, wanted to poke at his mind a little more.
"You misunderstand me, I'm not a nihilist. Doing something that holds no benefit for me, or doing something where the risks outweigh the reward is not in my character. If an action doesn't contribute towards my goal, I won't do it. Plain and simple."
"And what is your goal exactly?"
"I just want to know how far I can go. How strong I can become before I'm struck down. That's all."
"That's a very simple-minded way to live."
"Is there something wrong with that?"
"No, I'm the same after all. I'm fueled by nothing but my own curiosity."
They both shared a hearty laugh for a good moment.
"Anyways, all this philosophy talk is starting to bore me. Let's get back to your training."
Azazel pulled out 6 large vials, filled with different color liquids.
Red, blue, brown, green, and two of them slightly different shades of yellow.
"This is liquified Mana, each containing varying elements. Fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, and light."
Obviously, there was no point bringing out Darkness.
"In order to get a feel for the curse, you'll need to start by experiencing how your Darkness Mana clashes with each of these elements. All you need to do for now is inject some of your Mana into these vials, and observe."
"Alright then," Takauji picked up the vials one by one and poured his Mana into them.
I see, my Mana is quite literally "contaminating" the Mana by corrupting its elemental properties. How terrifying Darkness is, to be able to do such a thing with no input whatsoever from its caster.
"Don't jump to conclusions," Azazel said as he read Takauji's face. "Since this is just raw Mana it's undefended, but a living being's Mana is always defended. Meaning you have to actually break through that defense to use [Contamination]."
So much for a free overpowered ability.
"And how would I go about doing that?"
All of a sudden, the Fallen Angel pulled out what looked to be the corpse of a human.
"Relax, it's artificial. Its body has been covered with a set of Ultimate-Class defensive enhancements I created and imbued with Ultimate-Class Light Mana inside. Your goal is to break those circles with [Contamination] and corrupt its Mana."
"Any tips?"
"Of course not, the whole point of this is for you to figure it out on your own." He tossed the artificial body towards him. "Good luck, I'm going to go help Raynare with her [Balance Breaker]."
Welp, here goes nothing.
