Ascension of the Dark Seraph

Lucivar's gaze lingered at the particular spot of the night sky where Caldaros disappeared to.

He thought of an idea—one he was almost proud of. The fact that he even managed to think of it in the first place was impressive enough, and he wasted no time conveying it to the Fool inside his head. Even now, the Fool's trick is single-handedly the strongest ability that he has.

It would be a waste not to use it against Caldaros.

'How about it, are you interested?' Lucivar asked inside even though he already knew the answer.

As expected, the Fool chuckled eerily.

Her chuckle lasted long and even turned high-pitched in the end, showcasing her great approval.

Loki's mischief has always been self-serving, and the idea Lucivar came up with was the ultimate self-serving thing he ever thought of. There was no actual benefit, nothing tangible that he would gain other than his own amusement.

But even then, the anticipation he was feeling—it was more intense than even killing Caldaros.

"Is it possible?" Lucivar asked whisperingly.

Gandr crept to his shoulder and hissed, "Yes, you are at the Second Divine Elevation. It's possible."

"As long as Caldaros is not at the Third Divine Elevation?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," Gandr nodded. "If he's at the Second Divine Elevation, your chances are fifty percent, and if he was still at the first or even no Divine Elevation, Caldaros would practically have no chance of resisting the Fool's Trick. However, I must say, Sunna's Avatars are incredibly strong, but obtaining her approval is relatively harder."

"She's prideful, even to her avatars. And with the multiple layers of requirements you set on the Fool's Trick ability, I'm confident Caldaros would have no chance. That is, if it really played as you planned." He added with a proud smirk.

Just the smirk alone showed that even Gandr was impressed by his plan.

But Lucivar felt nothing from this.

His focus was fixed on Caldaros' demise.

"Have more faith," He turned to look at Gandr and smirked. "When did it ever not go as I planned…?"

Gandr hissed and disappeared once again.

Once Lucivar snapped out of his trance and his senses connected back to the surroundings, he turned to look at Nerissa behind him. She was slumped on the ground, healing the gaping wound from earlier that was still bleeding profusely.

It was closing visibly, but it was far from being fully healed.

Lucivar approached and knelt in front of her, meeting her gaze directly.

He paused, looking at her up and down before he finally said, "You have a lot of explaining to do."

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Moments later.

Lucivar came out of the supermarket with a big plastic bag in his hand.

He went over to the few seats on the side, sheltered by a patio umbrella, where Nerissa was sitting at.

Under her extensive effort, her wound stopped bleeding, but her ether was exhausted.

Not to mention, she was also paler—she lost a lot of blood.

"Dry yourself with this," Lucivar took out a towel from the plastic bag—and handed it over to Nerissa before also placing a cup of warm coffee along with treats that she might like. "I also bought those for you. I don't know which one you'd like, so I bought a whole bunch."

Even as Lucivar sat down, Nerissa remained silent, staring at the floor.

She only reached for the towel to dry her hair and body the best she could, meekly, and sipped the coffee.

On the other hand, Lucivar crossed his leg and looked at the street nonchalantly.

He was waiting for Nerissa to break the silence and explained what really happened.

'It's not like I'm interested in her. Not really,' Lucivar told himself—as his eyes drifted toward Nerissa with unspoken intent. 'But something inside me reacted to her. It was familiar, akin to what I feel toward Morriva and Zibbo. But the pull Nerissa exerted on me is stronger—far stronger… and it didn't belong to Loki or Sutekh.'

Lucivar felt it earlier, the pull, while he was carrying Nerissa.

Normally, the Gods inside of him would awaken when his actions were aligned with them.

At least, that is how Sutekh was awakened.

His bubbling pride, raw instinct for survival, and the will to destroy everything for the sake of his thirst for power awakened Sutekh completely. Lucivar thought awakening the Gods inside of him would take him to achieve substantial growth of his inner self.

But maybe that wasn't the only way.

'What if this other God wanted Nerissa to be its Vestal so badly that it awakened? Is it possible?'

Lucivar hoped Gandr or Sha would answer that question, but they didn't.

Of course, not—that was too hopeful of him.

"Thank you… for protecting me."

Just then, Lucivar blinked back to reality when Nerissa finally broke the ice.

Hearing the sense of distance in her voice, as if she were talking to a stranger, Lucivar turned to look at her with a frown. She was the one who always preached that they were family, so it came as a surprise to hear her using this kind of distant tone.

"Like you said, we're family," Lucivar shrugged and waited again.

"Is it okay…" Nerissa bit her lower lip, but hesitantly continued. "To talk to you?"

Lucivar didn't respond with words.

He simply uncrossed his legs and leaned forward—a silent gesture that made it clear, he was listening.

After collecting herself for another moment, she finally began.

"I came from a well-respected family…"

Nerissa told Lucivar about her past, before she was taken in by Master Tobias.

She came from a well-respected family.

Even though her hometown was a slave city, her family held a notable reputation. Her father owned a bakery that was known for its fresh bread, and he had even dreamed of expanding the business to include cakes made from local fruits.

Due to this business, he has a lot of connections, even knowing the governor personally.

As for her mother, she was a housewife, or at least that is what Nerissa thought she was.

Every morning, the scent of warm bread filled her home, and every evening, Nerissa would sing for the customers. She was barely out of her teen phase at the time, but she wanted to help her father's business, and singing was all she could do.

Surprisingly, her small session of singing attracted more customers.

It became a custom—people would stop by to hear her sing, thanks to her beautiful, angelic voice.

For a year or two, this became a routine until came the day when Nerissa awakened her bloodline.

A Siren Hybrid.

It was the day when everything went wrong.

As expected, her parents held a celebration for her—becoming a Hybrid was a big deal for the city.

And knowing that she would soon need to enroll in an academy, Nerissa's singing session became even more frequent. She wanted to make the best of her remaining time before leaving. But with each passing day, the town grew quieter.

First, the fisherman disappeared. Then a merchant. Then a child. And no one knew why.

At some point, people began to notice a chilling pattern.

All those who had gone missing had one thing in common: they had listened to Nerissa's song.

Just like that, rumors circulated.

Nerissa's Siren bloodline must've killed those people through her singing.

It should be impossible, Nerissa wasn't even a Neophyre-rank back then, but the people didn't care.

Naturally, the family of the victims became angrier and angrier, blaming her for the deaths.

Due to the accusation, her parents prohibited her from singing again and even hid her from the people until she left for the academy. But one day, when her father decided to ease the tension in the house by holding a cooking day for the family, a shadowy figure got into their house.

It killed her mother and father brutally.

Nerissa was taking flour from the other room and came back with her mother hanging from the ceiling.

Around her mother's neck, there was a sign with one word, 'Murderer'.

Her father begged for her life before he was also killed.

"The Shadow spared me because it knew the truth," Nerissa said—fidgeting with her fingers. "It knew it was my mother who killed those people. She was a retired assassin who had spent years burying her bloodlust and playing housewife. But when she discovered I was a Siren Hybrid… she used me. One final time—to sate her bloodthirst. After all, I was leaving for the academy, and I would never come back. It was fine for me to take the blame."

Lucivar listened to her tragic past attentively.

He sighed at the fact that she was similar to him, used by the person they called family.

"Before it left… the Shadow said to me," Nerissa paused—her lips trembled at the thought. "That he'd watch over me. Like mom, he said that I'd also be a killer and when that time comes, he'd also come to collect my life."

"I don't want that to happen again… I don't want to be the one always being protected," She whispered, her voice trembling. "I want to be the one who protects. But to do that, I have to become stronger. But my bloodline…"

Tears slid down her cheeks as she choked out the next words.

"It craves a requiem of death. It demands that I become a murderer. The Shadow, he…"

Just before she could finish her words, Lucivar already sat beside her and pulled her into his embrace.

Feeling his warmth, Nerissa clutched onto his shirt and cried harder.

"I'm sorry, Lucivar…" She sobbed. "For letting you see this side of me, for having to protect me."

"You don't need to apologize, I did it out of my own volition," Lucivar answered as he rubbed her back gently. For better or worse, she felt for Nerissa as she had a lot of things in common with him. "In fact, as long as I'm around, you don't need to restrain yourself. Kill—as much as you need to, harvest as many death requiems as you want. Until you can protect us, I will handle the Shadow."

Upon hearing this, Nerissa's eyes widened—her sobs halted momentarily.

Then, her eyes softened as she buried her face deeper into Lucivar's embrace.

"Really…? You'll ward off the Shadow for me?" She asked softly.

"Yes," Lucivar nodded. "As long as you need to."

"Even…" More tears poured out as she choked out the words. "Even if it's an illusion?"

Lucivar hummed and hugged her tighter.

Almost instantly, she broke down again in tears, forgetting about the world for a moment.

On the other hand, as Lucivar consoled Nerissa, his eyes flashed with a peculiar light.

'Hmm… She might possibly turn out to be a more effective pawn than Leandra. Perhaps, I should use her.'

'Ah, I could use her for that. Let's test this new God's strength.' Lucivar smirked.