章 60: The Assassins (6)
Walking past the mangled corpse of Marie, who had her face clawed to shreds by his partner and then sliced into pieces by his own attacks, he crouched down over Isolda whose life was fast fading.
Sitting on his knees in a pool of her blood, Bazel watched with a neutral expression as he watched his first friend die before his very eyes without being able to do anything to save her.
Amber, who was frozen in fear just a moment ago, shrugged off the supernatural fight she had just witnessed and ran to her sister.
Seeing the exact same sight as Bazel she dropped to her knees and gently shook Isolda's shoulder,
"Sis, wake up...Sis...dont leave me alone..."
Tears fell from her amber eyes, desperately wishing for reality to not be as it was. In that moment Marie had finally gotten her wish, for her own despair was now mirrored perfectly in Amber.
"Not again...not again...not again..."
Amber, like a broken record, continued to repeat the same lines again and again. Bazel was in no shape to comfort her, for all he could feel was the same crushing guilt and shame at having failed again so soon despite all his new abilities and convoluted schemes.
His partner, who was cleaning the blood from its claws, walked up and looked at the dead Isolda with its violet eyes. Bazel could clearly feel hesitation emanating from it though he did not know why.
Looking back and forth from Isolda and Bazel, its hesitation ended upon seeing the stack of cat magazines that had presumably been stored in here for later use.
The feline picked up Bazel's hand with its mouth, biting it gently and bringing it over to the gaping hole in Isolda's chest.
Lines of ancient runes began to form in the air above Bazel's hand, as the seal that was placed on him was loosened ever so slightly.
Immediately Bazel felt a connection in the far distance, one that he could not explain but he could instinctively tell that somewhere out there was someone dear to him. Though he pushed that aside for now, due to the more pressing matters at hand.
"I see now" said Bazel, his face finally breaking from its eerie neutral state, "but I can handle more, oathkeeper."
The instinct that had been returned to him, as well as information that felt like it was coded in his genes, allowed him enough control to take over the loosening of the seal and completely open one of the locks.
The cat, no, the oathkeeper startled upon seeing Bazel's actions as it tried to stop the madness that was happening.
"No," said Bazel in a commanding tone, "I know what I am doing"
Flames began to sprout from Bazel's skin, the same dark red flames of hell that had appeared when the seal had all but broken before.
" Six locks for six states. Lust, Wrath, Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, and Pride. The sins...the sin of lust is no longer completely within me, where did it go then, oh oathkeeper?"
The oathkeeper did not respond, instead it looked away in guilt.
"I do not blame you, power is just that, power. It is useless if there is nothing to use it for, to keep those that matter to me safe at hand. And so... Just like the last, I will forsake this one as well."
"To give a Gift certain conditions must be met," muttered Bazel as he entered a hypnotic state, "When giving a gift, the one who gives loses something. While the one who receives gains something.
"The flames of Wrath, I give this to you: Isolda Voigt. In my name, those who would provoke me shall be burnt asunder."
All the flames on Bazel's body moved towards his hand, coming together in a spinning whirling mass that eventually formed the shape of a flaming heart.
Lowering it into the chest cavity of Isolda, Bazel completed the sacred ritual.
"Awaken my household member, the manifestation of vengeance and destruction."
He lifted his hand out of the cavity, hearing the strong beat of a heart that sounded like the smashing of a drum.
Thump, Thump, Thump.
With each beat waves of flame spread throughout Isolda's body, covering her from head to toe as her form was temporarily obscured.
Amber, who from her perspective Bazel had suddenly turned into the same devil who had killed her beloved sister, raised her gun with a shaky hand and pointed it at his temple.
"You...you DEVIL" she screamed hysterically, "Why are you burning her?!?"
She pulled the trigger, firing a bullet straight for Bazel's completely unprotected head which would no doubt have resulted in him dying if he did not take any action.
A wave of flame erupted forth from Isolda's figure, however, melting the bullet and end of the gun as it left its chamber.
The flames receded from the surface of Isolda's skin and receded back to the Heart of Wrath that she had been gifted. Her hand remained on the molted end of the gun, completely unharmed by the scalding heat of the melted weapon, and removed it from Amber's grasp.
She threw it across the room and looked at Amber with a glare, raising her hand and allowing flames to converge on it as she prepared to execute whoever dared to harm Bazel.
A hand reached out and onto her shoulder, stopping her from standing up and following the directive that had been planted on her soul.
She looked back at her master in confusion, wondering why he stopped her from killing the mortal who dared to go against him.
Bazel was silent, instead he reached out to her forehead and traced a single rune while saying:
"Remember"
A flood of memories came back, her own that had been sealed by the technique of soul enslavement that Bazel had done to save her.
Remembering everything, her now fiery red eyes widened in shock as she turned towards Amber who was stepping back in fear.
"Amber..." muttered Isolda, who dashed towards her sister and embraced her.
"I am sorry, its okay now, everything is okay."
The words were all that Amber needed to hear, returning the hug as she turned her reasoning off and just enjoyed the warmth of her sister who had returned from the clutches of death.
Having calmed down thanks to having successfully saved Isolda, Bazel carefully observed the changes that Isolda had undergone thanks to his efforts.
Her eyes were the color of flames and if one looked closely they would swear that they could see reddish black fire burning deep within.
Her long and smooth black hair was now a mixture of both of a volcanic red and an abyssal black, the colors almost perfectly evenly diffused all the way up to the roots of her hair.
Her entire body had been reconstructed by the flames, now no longer frail and deprived of nutrients as Bazel's Wrath nurtured her very core now. Her skin was smooth and supple, a healthy red blush on her cheeks, and her figure filled out in all the correct places.
'It seems my friend is quite the stunner when they are not malnourished' thought Bazel in amusement as he watched the heartwarming scene between two sisters.
'From Isolda, I can clearly feel a connection between her and I. We are now one and the same, tied by bonds that can never be severed. But I feel another like her...just not as strong. Its weak, infantile, like a plant that had just germinated but has yet to break through the shell of the seed.'
The rules of sharing a Gift came to mind, as another person whom was close to him came to mind. One who had also died right in front of him....
Bazel looked at the oathkeeper in annoyance, having deduced where a part of his Sin of Lust had gone.
'But now....now I know where she is...finally.'
He submerged himself in the connection between himself and Lily, pinpointing her location and committing it to the deepest of his memories.
'Though it may not be completely accurate, as the ritual was never completed by mysel-'
A booming voice interrupted his thoughts, one that did not originate from within or without but from another plane of existence perhaps.
"So this is where you are, pri-"
The voice brought Bazel to his knees, as he felt a pressure that he could only liken to the majesty of the sun itself. A sun, however, that was cruel beyond compare that thirsted for the blood of gods and mortals alike.
The oathkeeper had sprung to action the moment it realized the oddity within Bazel, growing to its full size and placing a paw on Bazel's head.
The seal that had been loosened by itself, and then wrenched wide open by Bazel, was shut once more. With the seal shut, the connection between Bazel and the other plane was shut as well which allowed him to think once again.
Standing up while holding his head, he looked over at Isolda who had fainted from experiencing much the same pain as he had.
Amber was panicking as she checked the pulse of her sister, only coming down after confirming that Isolde had just fainted.
While Bazel struggled to get his bearings back together, wondering what on earth he had just touched upon.
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