"Yes, I am," Eric answered Max's question while staring in the mirror. Upon Max's arrival, he started to feel calmer and peaceful due to the sense of familiarity.
"What exactly did you do to get this close to losing control? I have never seen you like this before. Tell me." Eric stared in the mirror for a few seconds before looking down at the running water and answered, "I realised what type of person I am and came face to face with myself. While I was accepting myself, I started to become cold and emotionless. I didn't want to lose myself and become a cold statue. I want to still be someone with emotions and a personality. I still want to feel others and experience the world. So, I tried to distract myself, but I made a mistake and started to act differently from myself, pushing myself away. Mixed with the recent stress we have been under due to the multiple enemies around us, our vulnerable position, and the meeting with the Trapper, it allowed the subconsciousness of my Aura to take over and almost succeed in taking over my domain of emotions and world of consciousness and subconsciousness. It's good that we are experienced in meditation and can calm ourselves. For now, I will be fine."
"I think we should find a therapist from the Mind Pathway. Maybe Visie can do it, or just get a relic from that pathway. It is high time we needed one," Max suggested to Eric while wearing a worried face. The grey bubble beside him entered his shoulder, getting absorbed into his body.
"You are right. You don't have to worry about such things with a mindset like yours, but I am always in danger like that. However, just a relic won't be able to do much. We need a proper therapist. Haha, I can't believe how ignorant I was of the purpose of the Therapist sub-pathway of the Mind Pathway when I was an Auri Nova. Now, I can understand its significance." Eric laughed and looked back at Max with a smile. This smile was genuine, a real smile; there was nothing fake behind it.
Max gazed at Eric's face and looked away with a guilty expression. "I am sorry that you have to take all the stress of everything while I am being all happy and ignorant of our situation."
"It is okay. There is nothing to apologise for. We have long decided: I will be the brain and you will be the brawn. As long as we support each other in our journey, struggles are just mere rocks to kick away." Eric tried to make Max feel less guilty.
"..." Max stayed silent and only looked away with clenched hands. Eric walked up to him and put his right hand on his shoulder. "Enough sulking. Now come, let's test our very first Rank 0 relic."
Upon hearing about the relic, Max's expression changed. His guilty and depressed eyes lit up as he remembered that they had a relic to test on!
Eric smiled at Max, and they both walked out of the bathroom and entered the living room. Eric raised his right arm in the air, stopping when his hand reached above his head. A rift in space opened again, like it did when he was in the bathroom, as the thick golden hand with huge, terrifying claws came out with the Imperator's Cross and waited for Eric to take it. Eric grabbed the earring from the clawed hand. After Eric took the earring, the golden clawed hand retreated into the space rift. The rift also closed after a few seconds. Eric turned his attention to the earring, looked at Max, and took a deep breath.
Eric closed his eyes. From his hands, his golden liquid came out and seeped into the cold surface of the silver earring. Eric suddenly felt thousands of eyes around him, staring intently at him. Some were angry, some were excited, some were sad, while some were confused. Eric looked around and realised that he could choose one of these Angel Spirits to come out. He could tell their ranks just by looking at them; the higher the rank, the brighter the Angel Spirit looked. On top of his head was an Angel Spirit shining as bright as the sun, bigger and more majestic than all the Angel Spirits present. "A Supernova Angel Spirit," Eric thought. It was good that he was looking at this Angel Spirit through the relic. If he had glanced at such a high-level creature in real life, he would have definitely been turned into a monster by now.
Eric glanced around and realised that there was no True Supernova-level Angel Spirit in the relic. He would have to hunt one himself—obviously, that is, if he ever came across one and was strong enough by that time. Eric put the idea on the back of his mind and started to look around, hoping to find an Angel Spirit that was the same rank as his and tolerable. His eyes stopped on an Angel Spirit in a corner. The Angel Spirit was neither shining too brightly nor too dimly. An amiable vibe with a mature gaze could be felt from its gaze. Eric reached out his left hand toward the Angel Spirit, and the Angel Spirit stood up and floated toward Eric.
In real life, Eric opened his eyes and looked in front of him. There stood an Angel Spirit. This Angel Spirit had a human figure and had three pairs of wings behind its back and a golden body. His eyes were pupil-less and his face expressionless. His demeanour was that of a mature person with wisdom and patience. There were eyes of all colours growing in and out of his body parts constantly. Max gazed at the Angel Spirit and was mesmerised. He had never seen an Angel Spirit in reality before and was finally happy to see one. He had heard that they normally are in a human form, but when they get angry or have to ward off curse spirits, demons, and devils, they take a terrifying form. They can be both aggressive and friendly to humans based on their nature and personality.
The Angel Spirit opened its eyes and blinked as it looked around, noticing Eric staring and Max's intent gaze. The Angel Spirit put its right hand on its chest and bowed to both of them.
Eric returned the bow, and Max followed suit. After bowing, Eric decided to speak first to make the silent atmosphere go away. "Hello, respectful Angel. May we know your name?" Eric asked with a respectful tone.
The Angel Spirit opened its mouth and introduced itself with its ethereal voice. "My name is Uriel. I am a Lysi Nova-level Angel Spirit. I am specialised in exorcising curse spirits, undead wanderers, demons, and devils. We Angel Spirits have no gender, but you can use male pronouns to address me."
"This is exactly what we want. Can you—" Max was saying when Uriel looked to his left with sharp eyes toward the bedroom of Eric, where Ruby was sleeping, and disappeared. He appeared a second later. In his left hand was a blob of black flesh with bulgy eyes and two hands like feet, with a constantly squirming body. It looked almost like an illusion. Uriel looked at Eric and said, "This is the puny curse spirit that has been annoying your wife for the last days. The Church of Serenity had to be severely controlled to not cause harm to the surroundings; otherwise, such a low-level curse spirit would have long died."
Uriel squeezed the head of the curse spirit, and it exploded like a balloon, engulfed in golden flames and not even leaving a speck of ash behind.
Max was impressed by the cool and nonchalant look of Uriel when he burned the curse spirit. Eric turned to Max and asked, "Do you also want an Angel Spirit for you?"
"Hmm..." Max put his right hand to his chin and started to think. After a while, he replied, "I don't think I need one, but I am okay with a low-rank Angel Spirit that can grant protection to my surroundings when I fight. Every punch and kick of mine always ends up destroying the surroundings and causing others unnecessary harm. Not like I care, but it still hurts after the fight ends."
Eric nodded and looked at Uriel and asked, "Can you recommend an Angel Spirit suited for Max?" Uriel nodded his head and replied, "Sure." He floated toward the earring and touched its surface with his right hand's index finger and called out for someone. Soon, a small, chubby-looking Angel Spirit came out of the earring. She seemed very scared and stressed about her surroundings. The moment she came out of the earring, she started to fall toward the ground. Max reflexively moved and caught her with his left hand before she could fall. Max stood up, looked at her, and smiled. The Angel Spirit looked up at Max and was full of fear as she screamed with her high voice that only seemed to make her cuter. She was just about to cry when Uriel came behind her and massaged her small head with one of his wings, making her calm down. Uriel looked up at Max and Eric and apologised as he explained, "Forgive her for her behaviour. Her name is Pixie. She is an Auri Nova-level Angel Spirit. As you might think from her size, she used to be a fairy. One day, however, she was caught in the radius of an Aura user of the Goodness Pathway's advancement ritual, making her turn into an Angel Spirit. She is very shy and scared, but I promise you, she is very capable of putting up barriers and protection. Mr. Max won't regret having her around. She may seem to be scared of you all at first, but she is very caring and sweet when she gets to know you. I just have one request to you both: please keep her away from violence and blood and make sure to protect her."
"Even if she does nothing, I will still protect her. It will be a nice challenge during a fight. She seems like such a cutie-pie," Max replied while touching her cheeks. "Please don't touch me," she told Max in her cute high voice. She removed his hand using her own small hands. Max may seem like a man-child, but he knows to respect others' requests and personal space. So he pulled back his hand and put her on his left shoulder, not annoying her anymore.
"So, say Uriel, if the negative effects of the relic weren't being taken care of by the Church of Serenity, what would I have had to sacrifice?" Eric asked Uriel out of curiosity. Uriel turned his head to Eric and answered, "You would not have had to sacrifice anything, Mr. Eric."
Before Eric could say anything else, Uriel continued, "Normally, whenever you use the earring, you will have to sacrifice something true, but the negative effects also depend on what the relic is being used for. If you were to summon an Angel Spirit the same rank as you, it wouldn't make any sense for you to use your arm or a limb permanently, so you would just sacrifice a nail or some hair of your body, which would grow back naturally. It is at the higher levels that the things you will need to sacrifice will become more absurd and more permanent. However, you don't really have to worry about the negative effects. I recommend that you do good deeds as much as possible to fill up the relic so that when in battle, you won't run out of blessings to be received."
Eric sat on the sofa and said to himself, "So it seems that the saying, 'You can only know the true usage of a relic when using it,' is extremely true for Rank 0 relics too. It sure makes a lot of sense."
Uriel nodded, and Max, with Pixie on his left shoulder, sat down on the sofa. They were not worried about Ruby waking up and finding them sitting with angels since normal humans can't see Angel Spirits so long as the Angel Spirit doesn't allow it.
Uriel was yet again the first one to speak up. He really seemed to be taking Eric's job. "Sir Eric and Sir Max, I suggest you both now go to sleep. We will protect you while you sleep, and tomorrow you both will meet the Trapper. You don't need to worry. He won't be able to do much even if he attacks you. There is a brother of mine in the earring who, despite being a Lysi Nova rank, is very good with dimensional-based abilities. He can provide you with a lot of help. There is also Divine Karma. They will also be observing the conversation. This way, the three of us will make a cancel-out, making sure no one takes any drastic action that they will regret."
"You are right, but how do you know all this?" Eric side-eyed Uriel as he asked with his arms crossed. Uriel looked at Eric and answered, "I apologise for the intrusion, Mr. Eric, but my sister, who is very good at memory reading and storage, read your memories while you were sleeping. You do not need to worry. I only know what is necessary to help you. Sister must have already destroyed most of the memories she saw. Prying on someone's memories and their precious moments is a huge sin. We Angel Spirits will never cross the line."
"You are talking too much, too desperate to justify yourself," Eric said with an angry tone. "I apologise for letting my old habit take over me again. If there is something I can do for you, just speak."
"Your Father has already promised me a lot of help. Don't fret over it."
YAWN!
Max yawned. It was getting late, and Max was no late-night owl like Eric. He stood up and waved goodbye to Eric and Uriel and walked toward a wall to go back into his room. A grey bubble came out of his right shoulder, and just when he was about to leave, Uriel stopped him. "Mr. Max, please wait for a moment."
"Huh?" Max looked back at Uriel with sleepy eyes and asked, "What's the matter?" Uriel floated to Max and looked at his right abdomen. He swallowed his spit in fear as his Adam's apple went up and down. He raised his right hand and slowly put it on his stomach. Uriel closed his eyes as if to sense something.
Pixie gazed at him with a worried look. Uriel's forehead started to sweat. In his vision, he saw a dark ball in Max's right abdomen with a red lining. He was trying to interact with that black, dark ball made up of black flames. The moment he interacted with that dark ball, the red lining formed two red eyes and a huge smile on the dark ball of flame, and pounced on Uriel's hand.
Uriel opened his eyes and pulled his hand back in fright. The black flame entered Uriel's arm and started to corrupt him.
"Ahh!" Uriel let out a scream in pain as he grabbed his head and sat down. His entire body started to become black. All of his golden body was growing cracks, becoming blacker and blacker. His white eyes became red. He was about to be fully corrupted, becoming a corrupt Angel Spirit!
Max, Eric, and Pixie were in a state of shock, making them unable to act in time, but the moment they did, Pixie screamed for Uriel, Max took out his purple liquid and jumped at Uriel to save him, and Eric put his golden liquid in the earring again.
There was a state of emergency. Uriel was just a moment away from becoming corrupted. Just then, the earring let out a white light as a golden ball of light came out and sprinkled itself on Uriel. All the cracks and corruption stopped and slowly subsided.
Pixie got up from Max's shoulder and flew to Uriel in worry and panic. Uriel was on his knees, panting with sweat flowing down his forehead. Max was staring at Uriel with a guilty face. Eric, who was shocked, now had an expressionless face yet again.
Uriel got up and looked around with a smile on his face. He was trying his hardest not to make others worry about him. "What just happened?" Max asked Uriel. Uriel didn't answer his question and simply said, "You have a lot of affinity with curse spirits, demons, and devils, Sir Max. You should get a relic and hunt them down." After suggesting Max, Uriel turned his head around and looked at the earring in Eric's hand and bowed as he thanked his brother. "Thank you for your help, Brother Lucias." Eric looked at him in confusion and posed a question. "Is Lucias the name of that Supernova-level Angel Spirit in the earring?" Uriel nodded his head up and down to his question.
"Are you okay?" Max asked worriedly about Uriel. There was no doubt that he was feeling guilty. Uriel turned to him with an awkward smile. "Yes, I am, Mr. Max. You don't need to worry. It was my fault for trying to inspect your body carelessly."
"But you did it to help me," Max answered, his expression sadder. "Sacrificing and harming ourselves to help others is the core nature of Angel Spirits. We all help others for our own satisfaction. There is no reason for you to feel any guilt. It will only mess with your mental state." Max looked at him with an "oh" expression and explained, "No, it won't. This is the type of person I am. If I am feeling something, I will fully show it. If I don't and keep my emotions to myself, I will be losing control."
"So, that is how it is. I will keep it in mind next time," Uriel replied.
Max then turned to Pixie, who was flying by Uriel's face, and said with a guilty smile, "Maybe you should not be with me. I would not like you to get hurt." Eric expected Pixie to be scared and immediately agree to Max's request. After all, she was very shy and easily frightened. What she had just experienced would for sure make her feel like being around Max was around a bomb that could explode and kill her at any time.
However, Pixie instead flew to Max's face and touched his cheek with her small hand and smiled warmly at him, and said, "It seems my initial outburst was too exaggerated. I apologise. I wasn't sure what type of person you were, but you turned out to be pure. I love people like you. So, let's make a duo and help each other. In the end, it was indeed Brother Uriel's fault for inspecting your body carelessly."
"Aren't you scared you can get corrupted as Uriel did just now?" Max asked Pixie. "No need to worry. I can handle corruption way better than Brother Uriel, and I have Brother Lucias to help us in the earring. So there is no need to worry. I would rather risk dying than not working with a pure and honest soul like yours."
Max smiled at her and caught her with his left hand, and started to pinch her cheeks again. He laughed, turned around, took out his purple liquid—it turned into a grey bubble which came out of his shoulder—and walked through the wall to his room.
In the living room, only Eric and Uriel were left. Eric had no intentions of asking any questions to Uriel as of now. He told Uriel to return to the earring, which he did with no objection. Eric put the earring in his pocket, stood up, walked to his bedroom, and saw Ruby sleeping soundly with a relaxed face.
After staring at the night sky for a few minutes through the window, Eric lay on the bed and went to sleep. Tomorrow was the day to meet the Trapper. He had made all the preparations he could ever make.