Chapter 16 The Grimoir.

With so little energy in the environment to feel, it was no wonder Alice was having problems. "Tell me what you feel," Azmodiel whispered, trying not to distract the girl. "It's like a tickle, but gentle." Azmodiel couldn't contain his smile, though, with no other people around and the girl being focused, there was no need.

"Well, it doesn't necessarily have to be Akash, she just has to feel something to guide her to her Nexus," reasoned Azmodiel as he formulated a plan in his head. "You feel it now, find where you feel it the strongest." Alice nodded at the instructions and sharpened all her senses. "Point to where you feel it," Alice's free hand moved over her body at a distance until her index finger stopped, pointing to her abdomen.

Without saying another word, Azmodiel focused his eyes, which seemed to have reached a certain threshold as he looked directly at the girl's silver soul and the nexus hidden in the center of her body, just below her navel, exactly where she was pointing. The girl wasn't inept after all.

It had to be said that the restrictions against Azmodiel worked in a rather ambivalent manner. The chains seemed to see everything in black and white, and black was only direct harm to Alice. As long as he had no intention or possibility of hurting Alice, they did not react to his actions.

He had experienced this with all his previous actions, but this was a more direct test. In a reactive act, upon detecting the connection, Azmodiel stretched out his hand to make energetic contact, to feel the flow of energy well. Until he turned off his gaze, he noticed the exact place he was touching and that his master was completely petrified.

Having found his target, the supposed angel of the girl did not hesitate to make his infernal essence flow into the girl, creating a thread of burning energy that came out of his hand and passed through her, dyeing her Nexus to something more visible without effort.

For her part, Alice went from standing in the field to crouching with her eyes closed, feeling the cold of the earth and the warmth of Azmodiel, to being in a void, to a tickle of energy. A series of emotions, one after another, passed so quickly that before she could assimilate the previous one, the next one arrived. Everything culminated in a sudden pressure in her abdomen, accompanied by a warmth and a feeling that can only be described as an electric impulse. Both new sensations distracted her greatly and made her open her eyes.

No level of fascination could make Alice dissociate from what was in front of her, millimeters from Azmodiel's face, with their hands intertwined. But he wasn't looking at her; his gaze was fixed lower. Following his gaze, she realized where he was looking and where that warmth was coming from.

That tickle in the fibers of her heart and those confusing emotions she had just been experiencing returned to her, making a mess of her mind, which wasn't helped by the physical feeling she was having. But before she could stop to think about her emotions, a small silvery glow with golden streaks emerged from the point where Azmodiel was touching her.

She felt the Akash that filled all things, from the air she breathed to the ground she stood on, and in that instant, the world seemed more alive than she had ever thought.

Azmodiel watched with interest as the Akash seemed to react to the obvious fascination and happiness that radiated from the girl, surrounding her and caressing her as if trying to get her attention. A phenomenon that spoke volumes about the girl's connection to this magical energy.

It was then that the young girl noticed that the flow of energy was easier to identify, to feel, perhaps thanks to the angel. Azmodiel's voice interrupted any line of thought that was forming, and Alice managed to regain a minimal amount of calm. "I am intertwining my energy with yours, making the flow more evident. Focus on it, and you will find your Grimoire."

Azmodiel's words ended with him looking at her directly, but this was neither the time nor the place to get lost in what Alice considered "his hypnotic sunset-toned eyes." Focusing on her angel's words and not on the uncomfortable and embarrassing position they were in, Alice tried to feel what he was indicating to her.

A few seconds of stillness and discomfort passed. Anyone watching them from a distance would have thought it was an inappropriate scene for a public place. Until Alice stopped seeing the glow with her eyes and managed to just feel it.

It was still a tickle, but there was something curious, an almost seductive sensation in that energy, but at the same time, it was strangely familiar. Lately, Alice was experiencing too many emotions and sensations that she had trouble describing, but she did her best to ignore that feeling while following the fine thread of energy.

The warmth of their intertwined hands served as an anchor to reality and gave Alice a sense of protection. She let herself go and released her nerves and fear. She felt her consciousness traveling through her body on a fixed course, being guided by her angel.

She didn't know when or how long it took to arrive; it could have been seconds or hours, but she arrived. There it was, right at the end of the thread, an existence without form or color. An existence foreign to her but at the same time extremely familiar, like reconnecting with a lifelong friend who knows everything about you. An existence to which Alice felt deeply connected.

It was part of her, beyond that, it felt as if there lay the core of what she was. In a moment, she felt both the presence of the Akash within her, both hers and Azmodiel's, that of her surroundings, and how the other essences converged at a point in her abdomen, right where the angel's other hand was, and how all these entered her, in almost celestial harmony. At the center of that harmony, she found the existence of the Grimoire. As soon as her consciousness made contact with that point, the Nexus became something accessible and familiar.

Unbeknownst to her, Alice had given Azmodiel access to her essence and her Grimoire. Physically, they were in the field, but in spirit, they were both standing in her flow. Azmodiel's voice sounded different in this plane, like a deep sigh filled with peace. "Take it, it's yours, it's what we're looking for," the girl heard, and then she realized she was not alone in the essence.

She raised a hand toward that essence, that light traveled to her hand with its own will, responding to her call, and in a flash of light, both returned to reality.

It was somewhat uncomfortable to open their eyes in this position; they could only manage to stand up quickly, and then Alice noticed something in her hand, something that wasn't there before.

Adorned with blue and silver sparkles, with a deep purple cover that looked like a peaceful and solemn sunset. It was decorated all over with branches and leaves embedded with precious stones. On the spine, in unknown letters but whispered to her upon seeing them, was her name. Alice had in her hand that which she had dreamed of as a child but was too embarrassed to admit how much she wanted it. She would want to show off to the whole town but had no one to share it with.

Alice had summoned her Grimoire, and it was beautiful.