There were multiple things to unpack from all he had just received from the Divine Oracle.
"The source of the Seals of Sin— the power used by the Templars of the Church, are the Gryghori. In a way, such a thing is a twisted form of power that equally grants its user gifts and curses. A double-edged sword." He muttered.
His eye narrowed as he thought to Peter.
Compared to the other guards, Peter had possessed near superhuman strength. He had once uprooted an entire tree with his bare hands.
Of course, the cost of such strength, was his gradual mutation. It had not been a secret in the town that one of Peter’s arms was a grotesque appendage eerily resembling that of some twisted Abomination.
"Then... What about this so-called Seal of Divinity?"
{Heretic, you cannot acquire any more information today}.
Nero frowned,
"Come on. How selfish can you be?"
Silence.
He was not humored with a response.
Nero clicked his tongue and plopped right onto the... void?
Although there was no ground, so long as he ’envisioned’ himself doing it, he realized he could accompany quite a lot of things in this subconscious space of his.
’How interesting.’
Still, now was not the time to play around.
"The only way I can get the answers I need, is by killing the required number of Abominations and absorbing their Seals of Sin."
He furrowed his brows as he tried envisioning a counter of the Seals in his possession.
Sure enough, a plethora of golden burning runes appeared in his line of view;
***
Seals of Sin: (0/1000).
***
Nero folded his arms,
"Although the Grey Crows are relatively weak individually, they are classified at a rather high grade on the disaster scale when they swarm. Which is not very frequent... I probably won’t see anything as weak as that in the wilderness."
That meant gathering these Seals of Sin was not going to be easy whatsoever.
The one thing that had stuck with him the most, was;
"A Seal is a pathway, and a Sin is an aspect. There are multiple different pathways and aspects. That means we humans had just barely scratched the surface."
It was both intriguing and terrifying at the same time.
’I on the other hand...’
He froze.
’If my Seal did not come from one of the Fallen— one of the Ancient Gryghori, does that mean it comes from the Divine Will itself?’
That certainly could be the case.
After all, unlike the Seals of Blood, Iron and the likes, the Seal of Divinity sounded very much like it was directly related to the Divine Will.
’Then it certainly must be unique.’
Nero huffed and lay his head on the ground.
He gazed into the emptiness.
For some reason, he felt oddly at peace.
His life, up until now, had been rather bleak.
Despite having recently lost everything, he couldn’t help but feel like he had gained a bit as well.
He clenched his fists.
’A new beginning.’
Although the Divine Oracle had said a lot of strange things, he didn’t really care for now.
’Who cares about being a witness? The world burning to ashes seems like a very far into the future occurrence. I’ll be long dead before that even happens.’
He sighed and shook his head.
Indeed, all he could do was live in the down, curses and destiny be damned.
And the first thing he would do, was get some damned sleep.
***
His eyes snapped open.
Dawn light filtered through the cracked windows of the priest’s chambers, painting the room in muted grays and yellows. The comfortable mattress beneath him felt strange after so many years of sleeping on rough bedding.
He yawned then sat up.
He sat still for a few moments before attempting to ’envision’ the runes into existence.
Almost immediately, the glowing symbols began floating in his vision, as clear as if they were etched into the air itself.
***
{Divine Will Status:
Name: Nero
True Name: Armageddon, Angel of Judgement
Seal Rank: F
Seal(s): Seal of Divinity (locked)
Relics: Silver Blade
Skills: Heretic Eye
Description: Town Guard
Sins: Heretic, Witness
***
"Still there," he muttered, rubbing his eyes.
By his will, the symbols faded back into the aether.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, testing his body.
He felt thoroughly refreshed and invigorated.
For some reason, everything felt... different.
He felt stronger. Better coordinated too. Even his movements seemed more fluid than before.
The Silver Blade lay on the floor where he had dropped it the night before. Nero picked it up carefully.
He drew the blade from its scabbard.
***
{Silver Blade}: A blade forged from pure silver and a blessing that ensures its edge never dulls.
Enchantments: Blessing of Sharpness.
***
The steel gleamed with an inner light, and along its edge, tiny runes flickered in and out of existence. It was beautiful in a way that his father’s sword had never been. This was a weapon made for a specific purpose.
For killing Abominations.
’So this is a Relic...’
He remembered the Divine Oracle’s words. Relics were items made or forged using Divine sorcery. It was very obvious the blade was special.
’But what was it doing in the priest’s room?’
Thinking about it for a while, Nero could only think of one thing,
’Perhaps he meant to offer it to Peter as a gift of some sorts. Could it be that the priest foresaw the damnation of the town and was trying to protect it t?’
His expression turned dark.
There were some answers he would never get to know since those that could answer them were already rotting.
Nero sighed then focused his attention on the Silver Blade.
"Sorry, Declan. I just found a new friend." Nero said aloud, testing the weight of the sword. It felt perfectly balanced in his grip.
He sheathed the blade and gathered his belongings. The dried meats from the cellar, the few coins from the treasury, the map showing the way to Nlightwyrm. Everything a man with a good head on his shoulders would need to survive a journey through hostile wilderness.
Everything except experience fighting the creatures that ruled the cursed badlands of course.