Chapter 24: Lifeblood
Russel followed behind Omar, Oliver's body slung on his back. The two were marching up a hill in the moonlight, the rain had let up moments ago leaving the ruined cobbled streets of Dublios slippery, and the dirt past its limits muddy. Russel continuously shifted Oliver on his back, seemingly unable to find a good way to balance it. His eyes stayed fixed on the lantern in the old man's right hand as they walked to wherever this altar was. After a few minutes, the ground finally leveled out and gave Russel a much-needed ease in difficulty as he struggled under the weight of the body.
A few more moments passed and Russel found himself in front of a large stone altar, a shiny stone embedded in it that seemed to suck in the light that was coming off of the moon.
"Place him done, top of the hip on the bottom of the stone." Omar instructed.
Russel did as he was told and set Oliver down gently on top of the smooth stone. Once the body was positioned, the light began to intensify and red light emerged from Oliver's head and chest, corresponding with where the seals had been placed earlier.
"Now place your hand on top of the seal above his head." Omar instructed once more.
Russel proceeded to look for the seal and found it where Omar had said it would be. The white seal he was referring to looked the same as those that he had implanted in Oliver's body, the difference being the colours of the two varieties. As soon as he put his hand on the seal he felt it dig into his skin and he started to bleed profusely from his palm. He tried to draw his hand back quickly, but was stopped by Omar who had placed his hand on top of Russel's own.
"Do not remove your hand or the ritual will not work." Omar warned, withdrawing his hand slowly.
Russel grimaced as the seal began to turn on his palm. He clenched his teeth as he visualized the flesh on his hand being mutilated and scraping against his bones. He quickly pushed such thoughts out of his head and looked back at the body of his friend as the red and white lights clashed against each other, fighting for dominance. Russel watched as his blood trickled down the alaer and began to creep over the body, seeping into the three wounds where the seals were placed. The red light intensified and Russel watched in awe as the three wounds from the seals, and the others that littered Oliver's body started to close themselves, leaving no trace that a wound had ever been suffered.
The red light continued to grow stronger than ever before and Oliver's eyes shot open. His eyes had become the same bright red as the light that enveloped him, and when he smiled two of his teeth had grown sharper points. Oliver lifted himself from the altar and stood on his feet on the ground below him. The pain in Russels hand disappeared and he looked over to Omar, who simply nodded at him. Russel withdrew his hand and looked at his palm. The flesh was not distorted as he had envisioned it had been, instead all that was left on his hand was the fireball insignia that had been present on the seal of which his hand had been placed upon.
"The lifeblood ritual is successful." Omar told them, the red light quickly fading behind him.
Oliver turned to Russel, still wearing the stupid fanged grin he had shown when he was revived. Russel happily stuck out his hand which Oliver grasped tightly.
"Welcome back Oliver." Russel smiled.
"I feel better than I ever have…" Oliver grinned.
And with that said, Oliver promptly collapsed and was caught by Russel. He looked over at Omar urgently who just sighed.
"He'll be fine. His body will still be adjusting to its new form." Omar explained. "And just so you know, if any of those seals is destroyed it will be fatal and there will be no bringing him back again. Also, since he is just a demon he won't be able to fire concentrated essence like you can, also he has no wings and will be unable to fly."
'So that's what my energy beams are called? Concentrated essence… Sounds cool.' Russel mused.
"So mundane races and demons aren't that different." Russel acknowledged.
"Well demons are just bodies with the souls of a member of a mundane race placed inside of it. Or in this case, a transformed and reanimated body. Regardless of race, we can all die the same. An angel, demon or fallen angel being decapitated will achieve the same as a dwarf getting decapitated." Omar sighed. "Now then, let's return to the house shall we."
The next morning Oliver awoke to find Russel staring down at him. Oliver looked at him quizzically. He wore an expression that he had never seen on Russel's face before. That of someone who was worried. He wondered what the always arrogantly strong swordsman could be worried about, and that's when everything flooded back to him. The death of Rachel, the fight with Bloodweld, and what Russel had transformed into. He determined that Russel probably wanted to explain a few things and possibly apologize, though as far as Oliver was concerned there was no need.
"I need to tell you some things…" Russel trailed off.
Oliver was surprised, he expected it but was surprised he was actually right. He quickly racked his brain and could hardly remember any other occasions where a prediction of his had been right. Though most of the things he had predicted had been outlandish, like Rachel kissing him while he was half asleep, or confessing her undying love for him with tears in her eyes, both things have never come true much to his disappointment. But on the bright side, he was right this time. He mentally patted himself on the back as Russel began to speak again.
"What you saw me become in the fight against Bloodweld, and what you became when you were revived… It's about time I told you." Russel started.
"Ok… And that is?" Oliver questioned.
"I'm a fallen angel, effectively a high class demon, and when I take that form I gain quite a bit more power than I would have otherwise. And when you died, we were able to bring you back as a demon, your life force tethered to me." Russel explained.
Oliver went silent for a second as he contemplated the new information. He was a demon now, he laughed internally at the memories of the servants at the manor in Eastcliff referring to him as a demon child. He was alive, and that is what mattered to him, even if he was a demon. He then contemplated the fact that his friend was a fallen angel and had not informed him of it prior.
"When did you use your fallen angel powers?" Oliver asked.
"In each illusion when we were in the forest, and the fight against Bloodweld. I used it only at points that it was needed." Russel explained to him.
"I see… Then I don't really see any problems. If no one died because of you not using your full power, then there is no harm in keeping secrets." Oliver shrugged.
"Well… As I've said before… In a way everyone in Eastcliff and the forest died because of it… The siege on Eastcliff was for the king to kill me…" Russel trailed off in guilt.
"Seriously? You don't actually believe you're at fault for that do you?" Oliver asked, dumbfounded at how stupid he thought Russel sounded. "The only reason all those people died was because the city was destroyed, and you didn't do that. But damn… We're up against the king of Sylizen…"
Russel looked at him curiously, surprised that he didn't seem to have any issue with the fact he was now a demon, or that Russel was a fallen angel. He didn't really know what to expect when he told him, but this was certainly not it. In his head he had run across possibilities of Oliver trying to kill him, or blame him for Rachel's death, get up and leave, or even kill himself.
"Is that all you wanted to say?" Oliver asked.
"I think so…" Russel affirmed.
"Good. Now then, shall we test out this newly enhanced body of mine?" Oliver asked.
��I have nothing against it." Russel told him.
"Then let's see what this body can do!" Oliver said excitedly, jumping out of bed.
He stood tall proudly for a moment before he felt himself losing his balance and fell to the floor face first, making a loud noise as he collided with the stone flooring of Omar's basement.
"Before you boys go and try anything, I should explain to you exactly what Oliver is now capable of, and what you can do at this point for that matter Russel." Omar sighed, walking into the room.
"What's the harm in trial and error?" Oliver asked, lifting himself from the floor.
"Because I don't want you fools to end up killing each other." Omar explained. "You are not as capable as you may think.
"Fine then. I still had some stuff to ask you anyway, you wouldn't answer any questions since I started training here for some reason." Russel sighed.
"Simply because I wanted you to get strong enough before I revealed anything more for you to try." Omar argued. "But at this point you've improved quite a bit, and Oliver has some things to learn about himself. So ask away."
"What is different from how I was?" Oliver asked, taking the initiative.
"You now have enhanced senses and physical abilities on a whole new level from what you had before. Like all demons you also have decent regenerative abilities, but not as good as that of an angel or fallen angel. You also have three weeks points where if a part of you is destroyed you will die instantly, these places are an area of your stomach, your heart and your brain. Luckily, two of the places were also points of instant death, so you don't have that much more to look out for. Finally, you only live right now by slowly sapping a small portion of Russel's life force. So if he dies, you will die alongside him. And if you are in a different plain of existence, say if he was in Oblivion and you were in Ocasia, you would die from not being able to tap into his life force." Omar finished.
"Wait a minute, you mean we can step foot in Oblivion?" Russel asked in surprise.
"Yes, and you will soon have to. This is another thing I wished to talk to you about. The collection of the seven demon stones from the seven plains of Oblivion, a task you will have no choice but to undertake." Omar explained. "You both wish to get revenge on the Order of the Dove for destroying your home, and for Russel taking away his beloved."
"Yes, I do." Oliver acknowledged.
"I want to kill every single one of the bastards." Russel growled.
"Well then you will need to collect all seven of the demon stones for multiple reasons. One, when you fought Arthur and when you fight angels in the future you may win the fight but not kill them. That is because since the end of the holy war, for a reason that I am not sure of they have had to allocate a specific amount of their energy to the fight, and if they underestimate their opponent by using too little energy they will simply retreat." Omar told them. "Additionally, you cannot kill them in Ocasia, as they operate puppet bodies, mundane racials they have taken over almost like parasites, even if you kill that body which is very unlikely they will simply find a new host. That leads into the second reason."
"So I can't just charge into Arthur's castle in Okumura and kill him to end everything?" Russel growled.
"Not in the slightest. Not only is that a suicidal endeavour, even if you were to retrieve your beloved, if we assume that she is there that is, you will only find yourself targeted again by other angels alongside Arthur." Omar warned him.
"Damn it…" Russel growled, clenching his fist.
"What is all this about Russel's beloved?" Oliver asked, only having a faint clue as to the Kathleen situation for the bits and pieces of information that RUssel had provided.
With a sigh Russel recounted to Oliver his relationship with Kathleen, the fight with Arthur and how she was taken away by the angel when he fled their fight.
"With that out of the way let's talk about the second reason. To actually kill an angel you must destroy their true body, which is in the divine realm as the mundane races know it, or as the angels and demons know it, Heaven. As far as we know, the only way for someone who is not a angel to enter their realm is to use the power of the demon stones to bust through the gates." Omar explained.
"So everything they tell us about the mundane races being able to ascend to an eternal paradise in the divine realm…" Oliver murmured.
"It's just a fantasy that they use in order to subject the mundane races into servitude. In truth, all mundane souls end up in Oblivion." Omar told him sympathetically.
"So if we go to Oblivion… We might find Rachel's soul!?" Oliver asked, suddenly excited.
"It is almost impossible, but it could possibly happen, I won't lie to you." Omar smirked slightly.
"Then I'm in." Oliver grinned stupidly.
"As long as I get to kill those angel bastards, I'm in as well." Russel confirmed.
"Well then, we had better continue your training." Omar nodded.
Weekly Power Status
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