Chapter 88 - Laughing Skull Of Darkness
Chapter 88 – Laughing Skull Of Darkness
During the process of healing, the Reaper forcefully shut down Azzy's soul orb as his death energy will oppose her life energy.
Only the Reaper knows that her attribute isn't light but life, an opposite element of death and is unique to a specific clan.
Because of that, Azzy temporarily regained his emotions. As he was genuinely happy for Claire, unknown to him, a smile appeared on his face.
Barbara, who was watching the both of them, pointed it out in shock as she captured the moment with her eyes.
Claire backed off from him and takes a look at him. She closed her mouth with her hands while her eyes widened.
Even she was experiencing the same amount of shock as Barbara. After all, she firmly believed that Azzy being emotionless might be a manufacturing defect.
"Huh! What are you talking about?" Azzy's smile was replaced by a frown as he touched his lips. "It's normal, right?"
"You are frowning?" As Barbara once again pointed it out, Claire grabbed his arms while smiling widely, "it's a miracle, Azrael. You can express your emotions."
Looking at Azzy's puzzled expression, Claire thought that Azzy wasn't acting until now but he really might have no idea about the facial expressions. She became happier and excited.
Meanwhile, Azzy now realized the issue within his body. He immediately lifted the seals and once again, his face returned to normal. "Am I still frowning?" He asked them in his usual plain tone.
"Eh?" The two of them were taken aback and Barbara sighed, "I guess it is temporary."
However, Claire had a positive mindset, "I guess it's because of some of your nerve blockages. When your organ is ruptured earlier, it might have got temporarily active. That means, there's a hope of full recovery…"
"It is fine. I'm good this way…" Azzy waved his hands in response before standing on his feet. "Now that you reached rank-5, let's continue your practice with a rank-5 robot. You have to get used to your strength too."
"We are continuing?" Claire was once again surprised upon hearing him. She didn't expect this boy will spout out these words after what happened earlier.
Azzy nodded, "Yes. This time, I will sit out but my Vajra will be your backup. Barbara…"
"Hmm?"
"You can also join if you wish." Since he forcefully stopped her earlier spar, he wanted to give her a chance. At the same time, he also wanted to make sure they don't get overboard with recklessness by releasing soul skills and make the Robot go into Berserk mode, especially Barbara.
With two opposite natures, Azzy hoped that they will hold themselves back.
Two hours later;
"Hah!" "Hah!" "Hah!" The two girls collapsed on the floor while heavily breathing with sweat all over their bodies.
On the other hand, the robot returned to its place as if nothing happened. Azzy then pressed a button on the controller that is located at the entrance.
A cabin opened and machinery hands came out of it.
The rank-5 robot was dragged inside to recharge and get repaired like how the other robots were stored into their respective cabins before Azzy and Claire started their battle with the rank-6 robot.
After a while, the girls went to the ground floor to shower and then, left for the dormitory. Training together made them a bit closer, especially on Barbara's side.
As for Claire, she no longer disliked Barbara but at the same time, she doesn't like her either because of her closeness with Azzy.
Meanwhile, Azzy went to the library on the same floor.
After returning the book to the exact spot where he borrowed it from, he took another book, which is a history book on the Qudour kingdom.
It was a book of Eighth Epoch when there are no existences of governments, and when Northern and Southern Qudour nations were of one single kingdom.
After placing it in the storage card, he went to the private training room on the second floor. It was allotted to Azzy by his Master on the day he became the disciple.
So, apart from Azzy or without his permission, it is restricted for anyone to train in this place.
Several advanced seals are applied personally by the Principal during construction so that the walls were able to withstand the damage of even a full-on attack of a rank-7.
"Okay, let's complete this month's assignment, at once."
Sitting on the floor, he meditated until he recovered his soul energy.
Then, he took out several blank cards that are made of bronze and a few cards that are made of silver.
"12, 13, 14 … 19…" "3, 4, 5… 8"
After counting bronze and silver made blank cards, he put the rest of them into his storage before proceeding with card creation.
He then picked up a bronze card and pours his soul energy through it while falling into a trance.
Azzy's surroundings changed to that of a graveyard. The sky was dark and there's a full moon in the sky.
Just then, dark energy emitted from the tombs and slowly, it formed the image of a purple skull that floated in the air as it stared at him.
"He He He…" It started to laugh hysterically.
It was a scene that he was familiar with. He imagined this place countless times, although he still was confused why the skull is laughing. It's not like he wanted to scare someone or anything.
Azzy raised his hand and the skull made its way towards him before landing in his palms. Even though it was made up of energy, it felt pretty solid in Azzy's hands.
The dream ended right away and he returned to consciousness.
Only five seconds have been passed in reality and there's an image of a skull on the supposed blank card.
Four red-colored stars appeared on the other side of the card, indicating that it's a rank-4, intermediate skill card.
"Intermediate level, again…" Azzy sighed inwardly. "I wonder when I will create an advanced level."
"When you master your soul energy…" The Reaper commented in his head.
"I know that. You don't need to remind me." He grumbled before taking out the next bronze card.
Like the holy ground skill to Claire, this Laughing Skull of Darkness skill card is unique to Azzy.
However, the key difference here is that the Holy ground skill's effects are indeed unique while this skull's effects aren't that much great.
Like a regular soul energy attack of his, this skull upon hitting the target will corrupt their soul energy.
Good thing is that it won't corrupt the soul orb, atleast, according to the Reaper.
So, as long as one expels their soul energy, they would be able to ward off this attack, pretty much easily. Any expert with considerable battle experience will be able to do that.
If such a case occurs, they have to replenish their soul energy too and it will give plenty of time for Azzy to attack. Maybe, that's the reason silver stars appeared on the skill card.
Within an hour, around 12 blank cards of bronze were filled with purple skulls while he almost exhausted his soul power for the third time.
Just as he was about to continue, his stomach sent him a signal by rumbling that he's hungry.
Thinking of finishing it later, he stopped the card creation practice and left the place.
By the time he reached the classroom, it was already 10 o'clock with two periods over already and Language class is going on.
The shorty from the Maple Academy was glaring at him while the others didn't pay much attention to it as it wasn't the first time he was late. Not to mention, Azzy even skipped the class, a lot of times in the past.
As his original spot beside Gideon was taken by Roland of the Maple Academy, Azzy sat in an empty seat of the front row.
Two more hours later, in the staff room;
Rubin, Exea, Uphiar, a couple of other teachers arrived one by one. Everyone had this clueless expression as they took their seats.
Uphiar asked the vice-principal, why they have been summoned all of a sudden.
She just shook her head, "Barton didn't tell me either. Let's see what he has to say. It must be important."
After a while, the principal entered the room and sat in his chair while having a serious expression on his face.
"Everyone, just now I received a message from WAMO.. It seems the Heavenly Academy threatened them that they will not attend the league as the committee rejected their request of changing the venue."