How To Survive A Calamity-Chapter 178: Awakening [2]

Alexander burst into bright flames as his mind went blank in place.

—Pure, pristine white immolating flames burgeoned out of his body like the birth of a new star in the vast darkness.

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A pure halo of white light spread out into the vicinity as a blinding radiance tore through the darkness.

'What?!'

Nicodemus felt the sudden blast of heat smash against his face and stumbled backwards in shock.

Before his very eyes, he watched as the black arms formed of pitch darkness dissolved and was consumed by the ravenous white flames that spread a blinding white halo as it expanded outward.

The burning heat prickled at his skin like needles as he heard the somber voice in his head speak once more.

[You had the chance. I warned you.]

"..."

Alexander's whole body was consumed in white flames that burned from his skin, flesh, hair and eyes. His figure was lost in the incandescence of it all.

But rather than burn his flesh and blood, Alexander felt a warm comfort and solace in the embrace of its purity.

In fact, it felt like it was something — somewhere he had belonged too after leaving for so long.

As Alexander gradually regained awareness and realised he was in flames, his first instincts - as would most anybody else - was to panic, but the solace and comfort were hard to miss.

He could feel the prickling heat, much hotter than probably anything else he'd ever felt — but the flames didn't hurt or burn him.

But despite everything, Alexander still felt scared.

Who wouldn't while they were covered in flames?

Even then, his breath staggered as he thought the flames to be pretty.

The flames that wildly expanded as they erupted began to recede around him.

Trise and Chelsea who were watching the entire time watched with wide opened eyes.

To them and anyone else, Alexander had suddenly exploded into flames, devoured within by it.

The level of shock couldn't easily described by word of the mouth.

Nicodemus felt the tension in the chamber rise instead with confusion.

His face contorted and twisted as his eyes darted urgently.

'What should i do?'

In the end, he could only turn to the living voice speaking in his head.

As if it hadn't heard him, Zet's response lingered and its sobering voice came late.

[...Survive.]

—Then Alexander moved, taking a step forward out of the wall as soon as he realised he could.

The arms which restrained him that were formed of darkness had been destroyed.

—burned and devoured by the white flames in the same way light chased away the darkness ... almost purified by it, even.

Every single trace of it had been wiped out instantly.

Alexander stepped forward as the flames which covered his entire body slowly dwindled and retreated until they were only small spots around his skin and body.

The white haired boy gazed at them curiously— mysteriously— as one of the tongues of fire danced in his palm almost as if it were alive.

—it might as well have been actually.

When he focused just a little, Alexander felt he could feel something from it — like an emotion of some sorts.

—An expression.

Perhaps he was imagining it, and all the hits to his head throughout the entire day had finally caught up to him.

But as the small little white flame danced seemingly harmlessly against his skin as if it were alive, it expressed something.

Something low, somber...and sad.

—Sorrow.

He felt sorrow from the flames.

Sadness.

'Strange.'

He couldn't explain it.

—but he could understand it.

After all.

He too, Alexander felt sorrow and pain.

As he looked closely at the white flame, he realised it looked transparent and almost ghostly and incorporeal.

It was truly...a bizzare flame.

"Alex! You're on fire!"

Trise's urgent voice pulled Alexander out of the rabbit hole that had become of his thoughts.

He raised his head and looked at her from across, blinking dazedly.

"Huh? Uh, i am," was all he could only say.

...How else could he describe the situation after all?

"... You've Awakened."

The flat, steady voice this time belonged to Nicodemus.

Alexander turned his gaze back to him, finally recognising the Demon Contractor was still in the same room, still standing against him.

Alexander recalled the situation he was in and his face became expressionless and devoid of all traces of emotions.

Almost as much as Nicodemus's.

"Nico." He soberly called out.

'Awakened? Is that what this is?'

Meanwhile, internally, Alexander's thoughts still trailed.

What did 'Awaken' mean, and what significance did those flames seem to have.

-Perhaps he's talking about awakening the white transparent flames as a new skill?

Alexander thought.

But still, he lowered himself to the one knee and picked up his chipped sword at his feet.

His flat expressionless face never shifted once as he casually did so as if the enemy standing before him wasn't there.

"I'll ask you again."

Alexander's voice rang emptily.

"..."

"Are you in trouble again?" He said.

"Nico."

"...."

"Are you getting bullied again?"

He asked again.

Alexander, his lips parted slowly in a question...

"That demon — do you want it gone?"

Nicodemus lingered mysteriously with his thoughts hidden from his empty look.

Whatever traces of panic and confusion he displayed earlier had vanished, leaving no traces of his thoughts before his appearance.

The red gem in one of his jands continued to glow brightly.

Nicodemus coldly gazed at Alexander equally.

"I..."

He knew nothing — no matter what he said — right then mattered.

He could tell.

Alexander had already made up his mind.

The cold, expressionless look on the white haired boy's face was no mask or facade.

It was an expression of his resolution and resolve.

And the flames were a representation of his will.

To Nicodemus, Alexander's seemingly considerate words and actions were no more than an ill-concieved trap.

A means only to put his subsequent actions and words at ease.

So once he was done, he would be able to hold high and say: I did all i could.

Nicodemus met Alexander's gaze squarely and his expression became terrifying like a beast.

"I want you gone."

The pages of the mysterious book in Nicodemus's hands fluttered rapidly as a vast, deep, and ancient darkness burst out of its pages like a tide and billowed into the air and space around his form.

The red gem beamed even more brightly.

The air vibrated.

Space rumbled as the darkness within Nicodemus's eyes deepened and settled.

Dark, red threads of miasma spilled out of his body and form, interweaving with the lightless black threads of surging darkness that evenloped him like a billowing curtain.

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Nicodemus's one red eye deepened and brightened and his pale white skin hardened into monstrous scales.

The deep black veins spread across his neck and face like cracks, forming strange and ominous tattoos.

The bumps rising on his forehead putruded as a single, twisted black horn sprouted out one side of Nicodemus's head. Then another shaped like a rams tore through the side of his head.

Darkness gathered around his arms and his black fingers and nails elongated exaggeratedly amidst the sounds of crushing bones and popping joins.

His mouth tore open as the edges of his lips widened beyond what was normal and exaggerated and sharp pale fangs like miniature daggers were exposed upon jagged rolls of teeth.

He gritted his fangs together and Nicodemus's figure hunched over slightly as a bulging hump rose against his back from one side.

The hump exploded like ruptured flesh, as a fresh sea of darkness flooded out from within like a tide.

A single massive black upside down wing tore through the flesh of his back, formed by the darkness that surged from within.

It was more than half the size of Nicodemus's whole body — until it expanded and grew.

It was pitch black, membranous, upside down, and scaly like a monster from a nightmare.

The single giant wing flapped the air once and rose a storm as Nicodemus rose sharply into the air.

The edges of his torn open lips elongated and parted into a dark, ugly, twisted smile that reached all the way to his eyes.

—his rows of pale fangs on full display.

Nicodemus's figure was now covered in inky black darkness that stuck close to his skin all over his body below his head with the sole exemption of his face as the only place his pale skin was exposed.

He raised the hand which held the gem in his long, thin and twisted fingers.

—then stabbed it through the left side of his chest and genuflected in mid air.

A burst of darkness sprayed like blood from the self inflicted wound, but Nicodemus in his devilish form only continued to smile with twisted glee residing in his dark eyes with red points.

As he withdrew his hand away from his chest, the glowing blood red gem could be seen in the same spot, replacing where his heart would have been — pulsing starkly.

Dark red veins spread from the gem and snaked all across his entire black body like cracks and Nicodemus exhibited unfathomable ancient power from his figure.

He spread his arms apart and released a powerful red pulse into the vicinity and the air rumbled.

Darkness thickened.

And bloodlust boiled.

Nicodemus cackled with a smile truly befitting of a devil — his voice like a cacaphony of dry, grating sounds and raspy echoes.

"[Muwahahahahahahahahahahaaa!!!!]"

His voice boomed loudly like an explosion.

Nicodemus — or Zest — gazed with dark demonic glee as his ancient presence spread, suffocating all corners of the ruined chamber.

"[Shall we begin?]"

He filled the chamber.

—"[Brave Hero!]"