Just beside him, Olivia began her own journey. Azrael could not see her, could not sense her form, but the world shifted subtly, threads of energy whispering of her focus.
Olivia's heart flared first. The surge of mana wrapped around her chest, coiling like a living serpent.
It pressed against her ribs, pure and merciless, burning impurities into smoke that she exhaled with each breath.
Every heartbeat sent shards of light spiraling outward, cleansing stagnation, forcing every residue through her skin.
Pain and release became one, each exhalation a release, each inhalation a surge.
The red light coursed through her veins, bright and searing, from hands to shoulders, from feet to spine, igniting every fiber with fiery clarity.
Her blood itself seemed to shimmer, charged with the storm, carrying the purifying current through every artery.
Her bones felt like crystal conduits, quivering under the light, vibrating with newfound energy.
The mana spiraled up to her head, crown, and brain, illuminating thought and spirit with blinding clarity.
Her consciousness stretched, expanded, reaching toward the infinite threads of the void, aligning with the rhythm of her own pulse and the heartbeat of the world.
Her entire body became a vessel, a conduit for the storm.
The impurities that were built up from weeks, months, years, every hesitation, every fear, every fatigue, burned away through the pores of her skin, through the exhalations of breath, leaving only clarity and raw energy.
Her eyes fluttered closed, her body trembling, yet she remained resolute.
The storm within her raged, a living thing, alive with intention, echoing through every bone, every vein, every nerve, until every fiber was illuminated and purified.
And still, she held focus. She could not allow herself to falter.
The storm was violent, absolute, but she guided it, letting it flow, letting it burn, letting it fuse with the essence of her being.
The three red stars in Olivia's core glimmered fiercely, spinning like molten rubies suspended in an endless void.
Each pulse of light resonated through her chest, vibrating against her ribs like the strike of a celestial hammer.
They rotated faster and faster, orbits tightening, until the edges blurred into streaks of crimson fire.
Then, one by one, they collapsed. The stars shrank inward, spinning violently, before plunging into the center of her core.
The moment they merged, a torrent of energy exploded outward, coiling through her veins like serpents of liquid fire.
Her heart burned hotter, every beat sending waves of purifying light through her limbs.
The mana wrapped around her bones like molten armor, illuminating each marrow and sinew.
Blood glimmered ruby-red as it carried the flow, pulsating with every breath. Her eyes squeezed shut against the intensity, and for a heartbeat, the world seemed to shrink into the core of her body.
Red light cascaded from her chest to the crown of her head, spiraled down her arms to her fingers, ran through her legs to her toes, threading through every fiber, every vessel, every nerve.
The impurities of countless battles, of exhaustion, of hesitation, flared and evaporated in blinding heat.
Her breath caught, a hiss of fire and smoke escaping, as if the very air recognized the absolution occurring within her.
And then, it steadied. Her core, now fully fused, began to expand outward, pulling in the surrounding mana.
Streams of faint energy from the void arced toward her body, weaving along invisible paths, spiraling into her chest.
The storm of her own creation obeyed her will, condensing into a single, focused surge.
Beside her, Azrael's core began to rotate with unprecedented speed. The three bright white stars that orbited now fully fused with it, the core spin faster than the eye could follow.
His pitch-black core, a vessel hungry for energy, gaped.
The surrounding mana, faint threads drifting like cosmic mist, seemed to sense its hunger.
They rushed toward him, invisible at first, then coalescing into streams that twisted and writhed in space, drawn to his core with the inevitability of a predator hunting.
With every breath, he inhaled the surrounding mana, forcing it down through his body with surgical precision.
The currents surged through his veins, flowing through blood and sinew, igniting marrow and filling every cavity with the pulsing storm.
Lightning-like streaks danced along his bones, cracking away residue, burning impurities, leaving behind channels of pure energy that hummed in rhythm with his heartbeat.
The core devoured the energy voraciously. It pulsed outward, drawing in more, faster, streams of mana twisting like living things to enter him.
His body shook violently under the load, the storm was relentless but he guided it, channeling it through every fiber, every vessel, every organ, until the darkness of his core was lit from within by the fierce, controlled blaze of absorbed mana.
Every inhalation brought more power, more purification. His heart pounded against his ribs, forcing the flow upward through his shoulders and into his head.
Lightning surged through his brain, aligning synapses, illuminating thought, forging clarity from chaos.
The veins of his body glowed silver-white, threading through marrow, through muscles, through sinews.
He gritted his teeth against the burning pressure, exhaling in time with the storm, guiding the mana like a conductor, shaping the chaos into perfect resonance.
the hunger of the core magnified, pulling in every remaining tendril of surrounding mana with a ferocity that left no particle untouched.
Olivia could feel it now, the flow of pure mana spiraling through her from every corner of her being.
The fused core glowed crimson, radiating light that wrapped around her bones, lit her veins, coursed through her blood like molten rubies.
Every exhale released impurities in a hiss of smoke and fire; every inhale drew in mana from the void, a living pulse obeying her will.
Her limbs trembled, her heart scorched with the intensity, yet she did not falter.
Each nerve, each fiber, was aligned to the storm within, allowing the crimson light to flood her entire body again from head to toe, from marrow to skin, every heartbeat purging weakness, every breath drawing in strength.
Her vision swam with the brilliance of her core, and for a moment, the world seemed to disappear entirely, leaving only the pulsating red of her own mana, pure, violent, infinite.
In this perfect focus, the breakthrough was almost complete, yet the storm continued, obeying her, refining her, binding the universe's energy into her essence with every heartbeat.