4 — Awakening

"Haha..."

Laughing was the only reaction Seraph Stell managed to let out in this moment. Indeed, he was overwhelmingly happy.

"Hahahahahaha!"

'I can feel it!'

His arms, his legs, his hands... He could feel them all! These were clear signs that he was actually alive!

"But god fucking damn, that took so long! I feel like way more than a thousand years have passed!"

Though he had not spoken in millennia, his voice wasn't hoarse in the slightest. In fact, it felt like he could speak for years to come without ever getting tired!

Seraph raised his right hand to his face, reveling in the sensation of touch.

"That's right... What were those messages, after all?"

He could clearly remember the voice that rang in his head in what felt like just seconds ago. It spoke of Divine Title and Akashic Records or something... The hell was that?

'I don't want anything to do with the divine anymore!'

It took him a thousand years just to escape the grasp of Akhavella... Yeah, that was something he probably wouldn't be able to repeat.

But, about that weird voice...

"The Ninth Heaven... I remember Cardinal Sthelean said something about Akhavella being a mighty god of the Second Heaven or something... And I laughed at his face."

Seraph grinned. The revelation of a new name — a True Name — should have felt weird for him, but for some reason, it clicked. Like something he had recovered after a long time — like the name Atherios Endraver Alyeste never existed to begin with.

"So I guess it wasn't all bullshitery from him... Eh, whatever. Now that I'm a demon, he won't mess with me anymore."

'Is that old codger even alive now? I hope not. That guy is way too weird for my tastes.'

... Wait.

A demon?

"SHIT!"

Seraph immediately moved his hand from his face to his hair, looking for the things that almost made him die from pain.

He sat up, scrambling through his hair, only to sigh in relief after not finding the damned things.

"Okay, no horns! I should be ready to go!"

However, he looked at his hands... Then the rest of his body...

"Great. WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES!?"

'Oh, right. A thousand years...'

Then, realization came.

"SHIT! WHY DID I ACCEPT THAT DEAL!?"

He grasped his head, irritated at his own naivety. Make a deal with a demon, seriously? That was just ultimately dumb!

At the moment, when Seraph — back then, Atherios — first met said demon, his mind was foggy. He had read about how a high-ranking demon's presence can make people act solely on instinct, but he was the Holy Vessel, for fuck's sake!

"Okay, no need to panic. First, I need to know where I am... Great."

A forest. Why is it always a forest?

Seraph slowly got up on his feet, not minding the sheer absurdity of the situation. Then, as he extended his right arm to the closest tree, he moved his hand in an unusual pattern.

He tried connecting to the Spectrum, the source of this world's Colors, to canalize his mana...

Seraph should be able to cut down this tree in half a second with a simple 『Sabre』, but...

"『Spectra: Sabre.』"

Nothing.

"Has it been that long...?"

Maybe he was unable to directly manifest the Spectrum. In that case, he could just go higher to ascertain the area...

"『Passo Leve.』"

Again, nothing.

"The hell?"

This was the simplest use of the Spectrum he knew. Ouro was the most versatile of the Colors, so using a "Passos" spell should be as easy as breathing to him.

Yet, there was no reaction. In fact, it felt like the Spectrum didn't exist at all.

"Lança! Garra! Something, just appear!"

No matter how many hand signs Seraph used, there was no reaction from the Spectrum. At the end of his patience, he was panting from screaming so much at a tree.

"Aaaaargh! Just fall, damn it!"

In the end, he even kicked the tree. However, the all-powerful tree didn't even flinch; it was his toe that started to hurt.

Looking to his side, Seraph caught a surprising sight.

A silver wolf stood staring at him, its head slightly tilted to the side, with a look that screamed 'what the hell is this weirdo doing?'

"Argh, shut up! Can't I get angry in peace!?"

The wolf tilted its head even more, seemingly

confused at the ramblings of the naked idiot. Then, it just left.

"What a rude dog... Wait, I'm still naked!"

Seraph immediately covered his best parts, cursing that wolf even louder... In his mind. He wouldn't want its pack to reach him when he can't even use magic.

'I should've paid attention to those physical classes... At least I can use a sword,' he thought brightly, but his positiveness got shot down in the next instant. 'Aaaaaand I don't have a sword. Shite.'

"First, I need to clothe myself. It's getting cold here..."

Seraph raised his head, and once again laid his gaze onto the damned tree that almost broke his feet. It was taller than most trees he'd seen, but not unclimbable. And, atop its mighty trunk, were some unnaturally huge leafs.

'And i'm getting thirsty. Gotta make it quick!'

Slowly but efficiently, Seraph climbed the tree, often hurting his hands with small chips. With that, he reached the leafs, and realized something.

"It's dying."

Yes, the leafs had started to darken on the edges, and even the trunk was slowly falling apart. Looking around, he noticed the same details on the other trees.

He did not noticed it before due to the stress of not being able to connect with the Spectrum. This whole situation felt weird.

"This is not the Urs Aletri forest, I can feel it. This place doesn't block Holy Power, it just... Doesn't exist."

Seraph wrapped the giant leaf around his waist, covering his privates. However, he did not stop thinking.

"It's the same with the Spectrum. I should've gotten at least a minimum reaction, but there's nothing here. There's no Colors, but there is mana...? What the hell is happening?"

'Aaaargh, my head is hurting! Goddamnit!'

His hands were sore, and his throat was dry. Had he even drank anything in the last thousand years?

'I didn't drink human blood... Right?'

Seraph dismissed that horrifying thought, along with the pertinent feeling sight of carnage he had in that 'sleep'.

"I need to find a river."

Now, with his private parts (un)properly covered, he felt safe to dive deeper into this weird forest.

"Alright, time to explore!"

'Heh. I always wanted to do that!'

For the first time in his life, Seraph experienced something really, really special. Something he always yearned for.

"FREEDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"

With this shout, he even saw birds flying away. He could shout without someone yalling at him for that!

'Long live, me!'