Chapter 89 Arc 2 - Lucas's Corrosive Mana

Andrew was walking home but his headache turned into massive dizziness. He fell to his knees and struggled to get up, but fell back down with a thud as he stumbled forward. The sun had started going down, so it was getting dark in the city. Andrew looked around for help, but no one was paying attention.

"H-Help me... Salath..." he asked for Salathiel's help, however, she couldn't come as Lucas forbade her.

Andrew was left all alone, with an unknown illness that came with Lucas's corrupted mana. His head was blank and in his mind, there were hallucinations of himself trying to drag him into the mirrors.

"Join us." one reflection spoke as it reached for Andrew's leg. The reflection's wings spread wide as it grabbed the leg. "We can help you."

"Let's kill everyone who betrayed us." another reflection appeared and reached for Andrew's head. "Don't tell me you don't want to."

"We know you want to... We are you!" both reflections spoke in unison as their eyes started glowing red and red mana forcefully opened Andrew's eyes.

When Andrew finally regained consciousness, his reflections were gone. His body felt heavy; like it weighed at least a hundred pounds more than usual. He tried standing up, but everything shook and made him fall.

"Dammit!" Andrew cursed as he rolled on the ground from his pain. His body ached everywhere.

He stood up again and groaned in agony. Andrew tried walking again, but he still could not keep his balance without shaking.

"I need help," Andrew called out to someone nearby. "Please help me!"

No one answered and Andrew kept walking. He saw a hospital and decided to take shelter there. No matter what condition he was in, he would be safe here.

"Yo, old man. Give us your wallet." Andrew heard a voice behind him.

Six bandits wearing face masks and bandannas over their faces appeared before him. Two of them carried swords while the others held baseball bats.

"W-Why now?" Andrew bit his lower lip as he felt his headache becoming even worse. He started hearing a voice telling him to kill them.

The robbers approached Andrew slowly, and then one of them took off his mask. It wasn't an old man. It was a young man around eighteen years of age.

"Hey, old man. We won't kill you if you give us the money." the youth said.

Andrew shook his head, his dizziness returned and it was much worse than before. His eyes started glowing red and wings appeared behind his back.

"You won't kill me?" Andrew whispered, his voice sounding monstrous in nature. "The irony. I want to kill you."

He flapped his wings and a wind gust blew away the bandits' weapons. They didn't have time to react before they were blown backward. One of the men flew into the air and crashed onto the street.

Andrew held out his hand, releasing a dark energy blast from his palm toward the men. It struck one of the men and exploded, causing his body parts to explode all over the place.

The moment the first man died, Andrew felt the satisfaction that came with relief from pain. He smiled and laughed maniacally until the voices grew louder in his mind.

"Kill them! Kill them all!" the voices said as Andrew looked at the other five. "They will pay for their sins."

He jumped toward the second victim and grabbed him by the neck.

"Still want my money?!" Andrew yelled as blood dripped down his palm. He stared at the man's horrified eyes as he slowly squeezed the life out of him, killing him.

Suddenly, two bandits who had swords launched themselves at Andrew; however, the moment swords touched wings, they were blown away. Andrew landed on the floor and used his claws to slash through the third victim. The bandit's screams filled the street and his body was splattered with blood.

The next two men stood against him but Andrew quickly pounced and crushed the two in his hands, killing them both in one hit. The last bandit ran away in fear after seeing what happened to their friends, but Andrew chased him down.

"Where are you going?!" Andrew yelled at him. The youth turned around with a bat raised high above his head.

"Stay away you freak!" he said and swung the bat infused with mana.

Andrew swiped his claws through the bat and it broke into pieces, causing him to drop it. Before he could react, the young man ran off to the next street.

"You won't get away!" Andrew yelled.

The man turned around with fear and started running back, but Andrew's wings beat him down to the ground, making him look like he was crawling on all fours like a dog.

The young man stood up and tried running away once more, but Andrew grabbed his collar and slammed him against the ground before punching him hard in the face, breaking his nose and causing blood to squirt everywhere.

"D-Don't...!" the young man said as blood spilled out of his broken nose.

Andrew lifted his claws above the man's chest and held his breath in anticipation of killing him. But as he was about to strike him, something suddenly stopped him. He felt something pull him back, and then everything went black as he passed out from the pain of his injuries.

***

When he finally woke up again, it was morning and his head felt fine for now. Andrew was glad to find that the pain from his injuries had completely gone away.

He sat up in bed and found himself in the cell of a magicians and mutants peace department. He looked around at all the prisoners in the room and then noticed the two other cells in this room were empty except for the bedding on the floor and the toilet in the corner. He turned to his right and saw another prisoner in a different cell lying down with blood dripping from his face.

"I... I was arrested?" he muttered to himself as he sat on the floor with his legs crossed as he watched the young man slowly dying from his wounds. A Nephilim kept gasping for air. "Why would I get arrested for defending myself?"

Andrew remembered how he was in his room, suddenly feeling a presence in his mind.

"Salathiel! Why am I in jail?" he asked. "Help me!"

Suddenly, a white portal appeared beside him and Salathiel came out of it.

"Come! Quickly!" Salathiel shouted and gestured her hand toward him.

Andrew nodded and walked through the portal, still not sure what happened to him the day before. Why did he pass out during the fight? He walked awkwardly and his head felt heavy as he stared at his white wings which he kept hidden from everyone as they grew out of his back.

When Salathiel finally brought him outside the building, she helped him to sit on a nearby bench and started explaining what happened to him.

"Your mana wasn't purified to the full extent. Which... Is my fault." Salathiel sighed. "I wanted you to be stronger."

"I'm glad that my head isn't hurting anymore," Andrew said. "Was that happening because of unpure mana?"

Salathiel sighed as she nodded.

"I'm sorry for getting you mixed up in this," Salathiel said with a worried expression on her face. "If my sister was the one reviving you, you'd been perfectly fine."

"But why this mana makes me ill?" he asked. "Is it poisonous? What kind of poison?"

Salathiel nodded.

"To revive the undead, we use our king's mana. Which is powerful, yet corrosive." Salathiel sighed as she lowered her head. "Since you have most similar mana to him, you also gained his bloodlust."

"I don't understand..." Andrew said, rubbing his temples as he tried to understand what was happening to him. "So it's like an illness?"

Salathiel thought about what to answer because calling it an illness would be an insult to her king. She shook her head and said, "More like, it's the honor that you're most familiar Nephilim to our king."

"But..." he placed his hand on his head, "It is wrong..."

"You see... Angels are beings that are focused on removing the sinners and mistakes of gods from the universe. So our bloodlust is already pretty big. But our king's..." she paused to sigh again, "his bloodlust is so strong that it can't be controlled anymore."

Andrew took a deep breath as he felt a chill go down his spine, but he still thought that this might still be better than death.

"Thanks anyway, I'd be dead if not for your king's mana..." Andrew said.

Salathiel nodded and said, "I know."

"Now that we are here, I would like to ask a favor of you..." Salathiel said as she looked into his eyes.

Andrew looked at her and asked, "What do you want from me?"

"You're a very powerful Nephilim. And... If you are willing to cooperate with us, I would like you to come to Eden with us." Salathiel said with a smile on her face. "I might be able to fix your condition."

Andrew furrowed his brow at this sudden proposal. He had no idea what she meant by going to Eden or what Eden was in the first place. However, he nodded in agreement before asking her about what happened to the last guy he wanted to kill.

"You passed out and he tried hitting you with a bat, but... Since you're a Nephilim you're immortal." Salathiel said. "You passed out because your brain got stressed out from all the corrosive mana."

"That's why my head is still aching now..." Andrew said as he rubbed his forehead.

"But it'll heal eventually," Salathiel said, trying to ease his pain with words alone. "Anyway, where do you want to go now? Want to get revenge for your death?" she asked with a teasing smile on her face.