Records of Rebirth

〚Skill Aptitude Increase:『Abyss Magic: LV1』has become 『Abyss Magic: LV2』〛

It seems I was indeed cursed.

The pulsating red energy was rampaging over Ophelia's body, swirling more and more out of control as its power continued to increase. 

Stop!

Please stop!

Its pull over my body was too strong and no matter how hard I tried to pull it back, I couldn't control it at all. It simply refused to listen to me, and I grew dizzier and weaker as more malevolent energy flowed from me into the ring,

My head had started to pound with a severe headache that seemed to split through my insides, and my vision steadily grew dark, my eyelids extremely heavy as I felt my consciousness slipping through.

I tried to shake it off but it only aggravated my headache, but I felt sleep gnawing at my senses as I caught sight of Ophelia through my blurry vision. 

She was lying in a pool of blood and her injury was so terrible, the pure white feathers of her body were unrecognisable, and with so much blood and red mist in the air, it was hard to tell where Abyss magic ended and where her wounds began.

I gritted my teeth and struggled over to her side to try and heal her.

And then I was jolted out of my dizziness when I glanced at her head.

The malevolent energy had torn its way through one side, exiting from the back in a gaping wound. Half of her face was damaged, with a large ripe wound covering where her left eye should have been.

It was simply gone, the flesh so matted over, like her flesh had been shredded on contact, and I trembled at the sight.

Why did it turn out like this?

No Healing Potion could fix this much damage. 

I cradled Ophelia in my desperation to shield her from the worst of the malevolent energy with my own body.

But this only made me notice how ice cold she was, and I trembled in fear. An unknown sense of dread began to creep in as I realised that maybe  I can't save her

When I checked for any life signs, her pulse was barely a whisper, so I force fed her a [Healing Potion] as it was the only way I knew to keep her alive.

However, as her HP increased, she began to spasm erratically, her blue eye darting uncontrollably as she moaned from the pain of her wounds.

It felt like I was only making it worse by prolonging her suffering.

"What do I do?!" I cried out in anguish. "How do I make it stop?"

Even now [Abyss magic] was swirling around me as it spread further inside the cave. I tried to contain it, but instead it was pulling more energy from me into the ring, which amplified it in turn.

The pulsating red shadows now flowed freely through the corridors, destroying everything in its path. And the ring was even levitating with the intensity of power it spat out.

And as it continued to grow traces of life around me began to disappear.

The plants inside my room had already withered, and the leaves of vines across the walls were shrunken with decay. The ground around me had also dried up, becoming blackened and cracked as the energy seeped into it – there was even a mysterious rotten stench emanating all around.

What had I unleashed? And how do I control it?! 

I was barely keeping it contained and if it wasn't because no other nestlings were around they would've been injured or killed too.

That thought terrified me and I screamed out loud. "Sensei!"

So when Sensei finally answered, I was less than pleased with his solution.

«Leave the ring and [Blink] to the shadow realm.» Sensei replied but his tone was too calm and cold. «It will eventually stop functioning when it's cut off from the energy.»

Leave?!

"Then…what about Ophelia?!" I questioned. "If I leave her now, she will die!"

I was barely keeping her alive with healing potions.

How could I leave her like this when she was in that situation because of me? 

«You don't have a choice.» Sensei answered mercilessly. «You can't stop the Abyss from spreading without consequences. If all that energy has nothing to devour, it will turn to you to sustain itself. If you don't get away, you will die here.»

Even still, I couldn't just leave Ophelia to die!

Her life was in my hands and all my nestlings were still here.

What will happen to the ring after I leave?

"What about the energy it has already absorbed?" I shot back. "If I disappear without getting it under control, what stops it from exploding and taking everything with it?"

"If I leave like this, I'm simply killing them myself."

«You don't have time to save them all!» Sensei shouted, not even bothering to deny it. «Leave now and save yourself, before it starts attacking you!»

"No, I'm not going!" I angrily replied. There had to be another way. "Help me stop the ring from drawing on more power."

It was taking all of my concentration to keep the Abyss from spreading throughout my cave, and this was getting harder to maintain as more energy was sucked into the ring.

The Abyss was fighting back, the malevolent energy from the ring becoming more and more intense. And the headache I was experiencing , was making it harder to remain conscious.

In my state, I couldn't bring myself to focus on calculating a safe distance with [Blink], without setting off the avalanche of death I was holding back. My senses were already too muddled. 

"Please help me, Sensei!" I cried out. "There has to be another way!"

I could feel myself growing weaker by the second as the Abyss ate away at my senses. My HP remained steady, while my stamina dropped rapidly, but somehow even with all the dense energy around me, my mana was still holding strong.

It seemed even with so much power teetering at the edge of my control – the Abyss did not demand much to spill forth, but in exchange my will was slowly being eroded.

However, Ophelia stopped trembling, the [Healing Potion] I forced her to drink, spilling all over the ground as her blood continuously pooled. My breath hitched in my throat, my anxiety raging out of control as I noticed her HP fall below critical.

Just then, Typhon appeared around the corner, rushing towards us with speed. But I screamed at him to stay back.

|[No, don't come here! Stay away!]|

Typhon halted at my command and then observed the dense mass of red shadows I was holding back. But his body trembled as he saw Ophelia bleeding out on the ground by my side.

|[It's too dangerous to come close.]| I told him before giving him another command. |[Take all the nestling and get away from here as fast as you can!]|

[What happened here?] Typhon asked, his eyes filled with anguish.

A range of expressions crossed his eyes, from anger and sadness to helplessness and deep seethed frustration. More so when he saw how desperately I was guarding Ophelia from the pulsating mass of energy swirling around us. 

And then, the system dinged.

〚Skill Aptitude Increase:『Abyss Magic: LV2』has become 『Abyss Magic: LV3』〛

The abyss rumbled once more, spewing further past the limit of my control as it reached out to grab him.

|[Stay away!]| I screamed at both Typhon and the Abyss – as he kept trying to come closer, and the Abyss kept straining to reach him, its resistance getting stronger as my control weakened.

But as the pulsating mist was about to break free, I locked eyes with Typhon, letting him know everything would be fine.

|[I will not let her die.]| I said to convince him. |[Take the others and leave. We'll be okay.]|

Typhon looked pained, his eyes filled with anguish, but he nodded and turned around to leave, as Ophelia's shallow breathing became even more so.

〚Skill Aptitude Increase:『Abyss Magic: LV3』has become 『Abyss Magic: LV4』〛

The onslaught of power was so intense that I began to scream in agony.

Typhon had already gathered everyone and left the cave but I was barely holding onto my consciousness.

The ring was hovering in the air as it spewed out large amounts of deadly, miasmic energy. And with nothing to devour aside from some plants, the ravenous energy became even wild, as it fought against me, trying to head towards the forest.

It had consumed everything around me, and because I was shielding Ophelia's body, I was able to keep her body intact. But it all seemed useless now because her heartbeat was so faint.

Unlike normal magic, Abyss magic didn't consume as much mana, and it could go on wreaking havoc as it pleased. Even with how much it spread, only a droplet of my MP had disappeared.

If I lost consciousness, it would all be over.

My efforts to contain the energy were already failing and the Abyss would continue to destroy until my mana ran out – which could be days or even months from now.

I curled myself around Ophelia's body, protecting her from the overbearing energy wreaking havoc in my cave.

"Please help me, Sensei. Help me correct my mistake." I cried out loudly. "I have to save her."

This should never have happened, and I deeply regretted my impulsive actions.

But I don't want Ophelia to pay for my mistake. I didn't care if the Abyss devoured me instead – it simply couldn't be set free, so I continued to hold it back.

However, when the Abyss devoured all the forest it could reach, I started to feel a painful sensation against my scales that made me hiss.

«I vowed never do this again…but you…no choice.» Sensei spoke through my anguished scream.

I could barely hear him, but I felt the pulsating Abyss that was about to devour me began to recede. 

The ring that had been floating, suddenly dropped to the ground, and the pulsating energy powering it suddenly became stable.

I opened my eyes and saw the energy of the Abyss had lifted up from my body, now flowing away from the forest and back into the cave.

It didn't hurt me, however, I noticed my mana was rapidly falling.

Not entirely sure what was happening, I watched as the energy culminated into a solid orb of densely pulsating energy and then, this red orb floated over to Ophelia's body.

"What did you do?" I asked Sensei.

But instead of answering me, he asked me a question. «Do you want to save her?»

I looked at Ophelia's deathly still body and nodded.

«Then, command the Abyss to submit and draw it into Ophelia's core.» Sensei replied. «I will help you this time.»

I reeled back in shock. "What?!" 

«Do you want to save her or not?» Sensei asked again, his tone cold and serene. «She's too far gone. This is the only way to bring her back now. You need to make a decision.»

I was hesitant, but after seeing Ophelia's body and how stiff it had gotten, I stopped panicking. 

I wanted to save her, and so I did.