Heavenly Opposers-Chapter 334 - 333-Giving Them False Hints.
The question itself heated the atmosphere into something else: the ability to wield the element of death, one of the rarest gifts to lie at hand, though deeper into that question lay the inner workings of the fact of how Azrail is related to Thanatos. To the public, DeathMark has denied any access and claims it was just a coincidence.
But to the ones that really know, they understand the fact that it’s all just bullshit; there must be deeper inner workings—this many say with the inner question of how DeathMark is really related to that power, to what depth it lies, cause in the end that will define in a sense a lot of the future interactions.
’They are trying to dig into the workings of her herself.’
The thought made Azrail smirk. The way in which Azrail will answer this will then lead towards what answers they want to.
’I am playing in the field of women who have been creating the flow of cosmos anyway they wish.’
To these women he is still just a baby fresh out of the womb, and to them they will easily be able to play around with words and actions and lead the talk toward whatever they want it to be—these are after all women that has been holding power in their hands for a long time, and trying to mess with them will never be good in any way.
"It’s a blessing indeed; it’s not easy holding such powers in my hand all the time."
Azrail’s response to General Rix was delivered with a calculated blend of humility and fatigue. He made it sound like a beautiful, unbearable weight—the kind of sentiment a young, powerful soul would genuinely feel, still too close to the novelty of cosmic force to treat it as a mere tool. The atmosphere, which had been tense with political manoeuvre, now shifted into the dense, serious air of genuine curiosity. Rix’s question had successfully sliced through the political veil and plunged directly into the matter of Azrail’s core being.
"A blessing and a burden," Kaelen Rix repeated, the deep growl from her helmet speaker betraying a sliver of something that might have been empathy, or perhaps just a recognition of shared danger. "The fear others feel is merely a reflection of their own frailty, not a true measure of the power itself. What I asked, young DeathMark, is how it feels to wield the element of death, one that looks as unique as yours."
Azrail paused; he could feel the tension at those words, and as that question lay, he also felt the eyes that trailed over him—all of them doubling down at him. They knew they didn’t have more time over him; the ticking clock of having to head out with Charmeine still exists, which means they need to milk most out of him within that time frame, or get him deeper into their web of manipulations.
So Azrail didn’t reply directly; he took his time, pausing for a moment, after which he replied.
"It feels overwhelming to be honest, but above that is the sheer joy, wonder, and feeling of power and prestige at what I control. And unique? Yes, I did hear about it—the perturbation of my domain being similar to a greater being—but it all just came down to being simple rumours. I was lucky to have something this great, even more so when being compared to such a legend."
The words of it felt light yet heavy, and Azrail made sure to stress the wordings of being lucky quite heavily—but that doesn’t mean his words left the heavy space of meaning. It didn’t clear up anything; perhaps it only deepened the suspicions, though even for them it’s hard to read everything when Azrail’s face is hidden away.
Azrail could tell that his answer wasn’t satisfactory in any way, and the women around weren’t really liking the fact that such a junior to them was messing around like this, so Gakoria took the lead.
"So then what brought you to our neck of the woods? I am sure the Eternity’s Requiem would have accepted you with open arms."
The words were innocent at best, and it dug deeper into the fact that if it were anyone else asking they might have suffered a huge blow. That wording, in a sense, suggested that Olympus might not even match Eternity’s Requiem’s ability, but Gakoria asked it with such softness that it felt normal for almost a moment.
For a moment only, though.
"I chose it because it was the best path for me—simple as that."
Azrail replied back, his voice getting a little lower, seemingly as if wanting to get out of this whole conversation, and the others picked up on it—thus they knew pushing any more after this would only be hurtful in the long run. After all, they still needed Austin to stick more with them.
Gakoria, sensing the conversation drift, signalled Zylara Vex, the Strategos, with a slight, almost invisible tilt of her three-fingered hand.
Zylara, the analyst, didn’t shift in her crystalline seat. She simply turned her array of compound eyes onto Azrail. The lights within her translucent chest flickered—a subtle visual indicator of her processors spooling up.
"Fascinating, DeathMark," Zylara’s voice was devoid of tone, pure function. "I have more of a doubt about your powers. If your power is based on the cessation of vibration, it must operate on a principle of resonant nullification. This requires massive localised energy input to achieve absolute stasis. We have noted several reports from rankings, specifically relating to unusual energy signatures spiking during your recorded battle. They were classified as an ’Inverse Decay Signature’. Explain that signature to me. How does one generate a counter-vibration to existence?"
This was the hook. Zylara wasn’t asking if he was powerful; she was asking for the technical specifications of his engine. They had observed a real, recorded energy anomaly linked to him.
Azrail felt a fleeting, internal amusement. The "Inverse Decay Signature" was a minor, controlled byproduct of a low-grade shielding algorithm he ran during his domain to mask his true power signature—something which Azrail had added to his domain, to this ’character’ that Azrail had built. He knew they would notice it, and he had his prepared answer ready. But first, he needed to make it look like a struggle.
He rubbed his temples slowly, letting out a small, almost imperceptible sigh. He forced his hand—the one not currently holding the cup—to tremble slightly, catching Gakoria’s eye with the movement.
"Inverse Decay," Azrail muttered, letting the name hang in the air like a piece of complex, heavy physics. "It is... a complication. Lady Vex, you are correct in the principle of nullification. However, the energy input is not localised. It is... drawn from the ambient environment, but it only accepts one particular type of fuel. A highly unstable, difficult-to-control, theoretical fuel."
He looked around the room, making eye contact with each woman as if sharing a secret he shouldn’t be revealing. This was his "failing" moment—the moment the powerful junior, exhausted by the mental pressure, lets slip a tactical advantage.
"I believe the signature you detected," Azrail continued, his voice dropping slightly, "is the result of my body attempting to filter out low-level Chrono-energy signatures from the timestream. My power... my bloodline linked with my element, reacts violently to even trace amounts of temporal manipulation. It isn’t a power source; it’s a toxic byproduct. Every time I generate stasis, I have to burn off residual Chrono-energy like poison, and that burn-off generates the Inverse Decay signature."
....Chrono-energy toxicity. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦
The reaction was immediate and electric.
