For a moment, everything, sound, breath, heartbeat, fell utterly still.
Then, from deep within both of their cores, light erupted once again.
Azrael's pitch-black core, now fused with the three stars, pulsed once more, but this time the shockwave of silver-white radiance was gentle; it was soft, pure, unrestrained energy.
The light tore through him once more, racing along every vein, illuminating every artery until his body glowed from within like glass filled with lightning.
His bones mended with white arcs that coursed through his skeleton like living rivers. His veins shimmered, each strand of blood flowing with the purified mana.
The lightning spread to his fingers and toes, coiling in jagged tendrils before being drawn back into his core, like breath returning home.
Every nerve was soothed; every cell embraced under the light of transformation. As he held the flow steady.
It was like a release.
The mana aligned perfectly, spiraling through him in rhythm with his pulse.
The black core, once turbulent and hungry, settled into perfect stillness, glowing faintly from within silver veins tracing its surface like cracks in polished obsidian.
From it radiated calm, dense power, pure and alive.
At that same instant, a surge of crimson erupted from beside him.
Olivia's core had reached its crescendo. The three red stars she'd absorbed now pulsed from within her chest, their light saturating the surrounding air.
Her body arched slightly as the surge passed through her, a river of warmth.
The crimson light shot through her bloodstream again, flooding her veins until they shimmered through her skin like glowing scarlet threads.
Her bones glowed faintly orange beneath her flesh, vibrating under the pulse of power.
Every heartbeat sent a flash of red light through her chest, expanding in concentric ripples that merged with the icy mana around her, bending it, reshaping it.
Steam rose from her skin as the last impurities were burned away, dissolving into faint motes of light.
The cave itself seemed to hold its breath, the air thick with heat and static.
Then her core, now bright as a miniature sun, began to stabilize. The spiraling storm of mana condensed, folding neatly into the crimson sphere that hovered within her spiritual world.
It pulsed softly, rhythmically, its glow settling into a steady radiance.
For a long, breathless moment, their two forces, silver and red, filled their minds.
The energy surged outward, spilling from their spiritual space into the physical cave. The once dimly lit hollow exploded with light.
The snow along the cave walls melted in seconds, water droplets suspended midair from the sheer density of mana. The air crackled and hummed.
Silver-white arcs of lighting twisted around Azrael, striking the frozen floor and scattering sparks of mana-infused frost.
Around Olivia, waves of crimson lighting danced and coiled.
The twin storms collided in the center of the cave, not with violence, but with harmony.
Silver and red intertwined, spinning together like galaxies merging in slow motion.
The very mana in the air vibrated with their resonance,
Azrael still sat unmoving, but his body thrummed with quiet power. Deep inside him, his mana core spun, once a void of black, now shifting, reforming.
Its surface rippled like liquid metal, shadows bleeding into silver until it gleamed a pale, light gray.
The three stars that had fused into it moments ago were gone no longer orbiting, no longer separate.
Each rotation sent a faint vibration through his body, a deep hum that resonated with the slow beat of his heart.
Thump. The core expanded slightly. Thump. It drew in the mana from the world around him, thick, cold, ancient.
The cave's air began to bend.
Strands of silver mist drifted through the cracks of the ice, pulled toward him as if by invisible gravity.
They swirled through his nose and mouth with every breath, spiraling into his chest, flooding his veins with frost-bright light.
His heartbeat slowed. The world narrowed.
The gray light coursed through him,
Each breath echoed like wind in a hollow mountain, deep and calm. The mana no longer fought him, it flowed with him.
His body had become the channel; his heart, the metronome.
The gray light of his core pulsed once more, deep and resonant. For an instant, it flared bright, then stabilized, spinning in perfect equilibrium.
And then, the air shifted before the voice came again, the very same other worldly voice that spoke to him back in a carriage when the system had just finished subjecting him to the pain that came with his two gifts.
[Freedom of the Broken] and [Body of pure devastation]
And this time just like before it came to congratulate him on his breakthrough
"Congratulations to the being Azreal Tiamat on his Ascension to the first stage of the novice realm, may ##*#*#*#*?!¥?!, grant you Luck on your journey.
And just as fast as the voice appeared it vanished taking with it it's otherworldly feeling.
Olivia's presence stirred on the other side of the cave.
Her mana responded to the change in the atmosphere, waking from its slumber.
The red hue that marked her essence flickered within her chest like an ember finding air.
Then it surged.
Her mana core glowed, vivid, earthy brown rotating with graceful ferocity.
The streams of light that had once encircled it now folded inward, drawn into the spinning core until it throbbed like a miniature sun.
It pulsed in time with her heartbeat, slow, deliberate, perfect.
Every thrum of her pulse sent brown waves through her veins, bright enough to glimmer beneath her skin.
The light traveled from her heart to her fingertips, from her spine to her crown, illuminating her from within.
Her core grew larger, its color shifting between gray and brown before finally settling at brown,It was calm.
As the lights dimmed. The heat and static faded. All that remained was stillness, heavy, sacred stillness.
And just like him she Heard the otherworldly voice as well, but unlike him she recognized the voice for what it was, one of the Twofolds, Slyai the lifebloom
"Congratulations to the being Olivia, rejected family name , on her Ascension to the first stage of the apprentice realm, may ##*#*#*#*?!¥?!, grant you Luck on your journey."
And just as quickly as it left Azreal it left Oliva as well.
Azrael opened his eyes first. A faint glow lingered in his irises, silver threading through the usual dark hue.
His breath came steady and smooth, each exhale sending ripples through the thin frost below him.
Across from him, Olivia's eyes opened slowly, the red glow within them fading to a deep, shimmering pink.
Her hair clung to her cheeks, damp with sweat, her expression serene but powerful.
For a long while, they said nothing. The only sound was the faint crackle of returning frost, the cave slowly reclaiming its silence.
Then Olivia smiled faintly, voice hoarse but calm.
"…Looks like we made it."
Azrael let out a slow breath, his lips curving into a faint grin. "Yeah," he murmured. "We really did."