Chapter 372: Welcome To The First... Calamity "I’m honestly surprised..." the woman said as smoke trailed from her lips. Azel could smell it... the bitter scent of burning herbs used to make that cigarette. "I thought the Sword Saint’s son would be much faster than this." Nari screamed the moment she saw him. "Azel!" The sound of her voice snapped Rain’s attention instantly. Her head turned, eyes widening when she saw the silver-haired young man bleeding out on the stone floor. ’The fuck...? Fuck... fuck... fuck... who the hell is that?’ Rain thought rapidly. Azel wasn’t weak... he was very far from it. He was a combat prodigy, one of the few who could fight above his rank according to Sebastian at least. But now he was shaking and blood was pouring from his chest like a waterfall. "Bang!" she shouted, thrusting her hand forward. A bolt of holy energy shot across the room... a bright streak of gold that burned through the shadows. It hit the woman squarely in the side... and bounced off. Rain froze. ’Holy energy bounced off her body...?’ The woman drew her sword out of Azel’s chest, letting the blood gush freely. She tilted her head slightly, looking down at him. "Ah... I went a little deep." Her tone carried no remorse. Azel stumbled back, barely breathing. But in that same instant, his eyes hardened. ’No... not yet,’ he thought. His heel twisted against the floor and he launched a spinning kick upward, his aura bursting out in a violent blue wave. The woman lifted her sword just in time, blocking with the flat side. The impact created a gust of wind that shattered a few bricks nearby. Azel used the force to push himself backward, flipping before landing hard. ’I’m healing...’ he realized, gasping for breath. His vision was hazy and his chest burned like fire but his body was already mending itself. His holy energy was working... He spat out blood and raised his sword hand. ’I’ll push it to the limit... no matter what it costs.’ He summoned a weapon from his storage ring... a single-edged bonesword then he lowered his stance. ’No matter how fast you may be,’ he thought, exhaling slowly, ’you can’t outrun Starstrike.’ He took a deep breath. "First Style..." The world seemed to turn white. Everything froze... the cultists, the torches, the air itself. Azel vanished. When he reappeared, he was right in front of the woman with his sword slashing horizontally with blinding speed. "Star Strike." The blade left behind a trail of light like a comet splitting the night sky. But instead of the sound of flesh being cut... there was a clang instead. Azel blinked in shock as his sword broke apart mid-swing, fragments scattering into the air like glass. ’Im...possible.’ He barely had time to process it. Skinbutcher had only managed to block Star Strike once and that was using the Fragment of the Sky’s divine energy. But this woman... she had done it effortlessly. ’She’s faster than it...’ Before he could even step back, she vanished again. The air where she stood rippled and then cold steel tore through his chest from behind. Azel’s body stiffened. His breath caught in his throat. The blade protruded through his ribs. "It’s here right..." she whispered softly, her breath brushing against his ear. "Hehe, I found your mana core." A shattering sound echoed through his body... a deep, hollow crack that felt like something tearing inside his soul. Azel gasped. His holy energy sputtered out instantly. The glowing light that once surrounded him faded completely. ’No... no, no, no...’ He tried to gather the holy magic, but it was like grasping water... nothing answered. Blood pooled at his feet. He tried to summon his ice... anything. "Ah, I nearly forgot," she said. "You have a second core as well, don’t you?" His heart stopped for a beat. She smiled faintly. "Boss really said to cripple you completely." Her blade glowed then she brought it down... straight through the right side of his chest. Azel screamed. Every cell in his body seemed to explode at once. His veins glowed bright blue for a split second before bursting, blood spraying outward. The pain wasn’t just physical... it was spiritual as well. His mana circuits ruptured like shattering glass, and the backlash of his own power ripped through him. He fell forward, barely catching himself. "You shouldn’t bother using your aura in this worrisome state," the woman said casually, flicking his blood off her blade. "Your mana cores have been destroyed, which means you’re a cripple now. The sudden destruction of mana in your body set off a trigger that offset your aura as well, so you can barely—" Her words stopped mid-sentence. Aura erupted around Azel like a bomb. The blue flare swallowed the altar, whipping the air into a vortex. He forced his broken body to move, dragging himself toward Lorraine. The woman watched him with mild curiosity. "Kids..." she muttered, taking one slow step forward. Then her sword flicked out. A sharp slash cut clean through his leg. Azel’s body lost balance. He rolled several times, leaving a streak of blood before stopping at Rain’s feet. Rain’s mouth was open, frozen in horror. His chest was shredded... his leg was gone and blood was pooling fast. "G-go..." Azel managed to whisper, his voice was trembling. He pointed weakly toward a cracked window at the corner. "Take Nari... and Lorraine... and g—" He didn’t finish. Several chains made of purple fire exploded from the air, wrapping tightly around Rain’s body and slamming her into the wall. She screamed. The chains burned through her arms, searing her flesh. The flames hissed where they touched holy energy... it was a direct counter. "You know, I’m honestly surprised you know so much about us, Saintess Candidate." A familiar voice said from behind. Azel’s fading eyes turned toward the sound and what he saw made his heart stop. Nari. But not the cool Nari he knew. Her smile was dark and her eyes glowed purple. "Like our exact hideout, and how weak we were at this time," she continued. "It can’t be a coincidence." "Nari...?" Azel croaked. Rain’s eyes widened. "Have you... lived this life before?" Nari asked, tilting her head. That question made Rain freeze completely. Even as the chains burned into her skin, she couldn’t talk. Her pupils trembled. "So you are," Nari said. "What do they call them again? Oh... uhm... A Regressor." She smiled wider. "You traveled back in time to live life to the fullest, eh? How predictable." Nari took a step closer. "I have a lot of questions for you like what happens in our respective futures, and which god’s playing with us." But before she could finish, Rain’s entire body began to glow. Nari frowned. Then, before her eyes, Rain’s body dissolved into golden particles fading slowly into the air. "What the—" Nari muttered. "So she wasn’t even here in the first place? That was just a clone." She exhaled sharply, annoyed, and turned her gaze back to Azel. "Your friend abandoned you," she said softly. "Now you’re all alone." Azel’s mind was fading fast. His vision was red and many emotions made their way into him... He was angry at Rain for not being there. Angry at himself for believing in Nari. He was sorry that it had come to this. And then... sorrow. He thought of the women he loved. Their faces flashed through his mind. He thought of Naelia’s smile, of the way Edna used to hold his hand when she laughed. What about his daughters? What about the child that Medusa was expecting? He wondered what they would do when they found out he was gone. Would they cry? Would they fight? He wanted to tell them not to. But his lips wouldn’t move. "You’re thinking," Nari said softly, kneeling beside him. Her hand touched his chin, tilting his head up. "You’re thinking about what could’ve happened... what will happen... what won’t happen. Humans always do that when they’re dying." Her fingers trailed down his chest, touching the shredded flesh. "Every time I approached you, I was studying you. You had aura, but you could use magic too. You didn’t have circles, but you had cores. You were a strange one. I wanted to know exactly how to break you." Azel’s lips trembled. "Why...?" Nari smiled. "Because I enjoy seeing people suffer." Her hand pressed deeper into his chest. "But..." she whispered, "I’ll make an exception this time." Her fingers closed around something warm. She pulled. Azel gasped as his heart was torn from his chest... still beating in her hand. The world around him dimmed. His ears rang but his eyes became unfocused. He saw her holding it in her hand, blood dripping between her fingers. Then he saw it... [Welcome To The First Calamity] The System was really playing jokes with him... he was dying... "At least, you’ll die a hero." And then nothing. Darkness swallowed him whole. Nari stood slowly, staring down at the corpse. She dusted off her cloak and sighed. "Dump his body into the lower levels of this place," she ordered. "I don’t want the Sword Saint on our ass until we awaken Diabolo." The smoking woman walked past her, gripping Azel’s body by the collar with one hand. She lifted him effortlessly onto her shoulder. "You should’ve let me keep him," the woman said, smirking. "You know I love these kinds of kids." "Just say you love fucking crippled kids... what a disturbing kink." "It comes with the powers." The woman said then she walked off into the shadows. Nari turned toward Lorraine, who was still chained to the altar. Her eyes were wide with horror and her mouth was trembling. She couldn’t move but she saw everything. Nari approached her slowly, stroking her cheek. "Don’t worry, my dear Diabolo," she whispered softly. "I’ll bring you back to the land of the living... very soon."