Man has mastered the art of tool making. The Celestials and the infernals, for all their great mastery of magic, and their thorough understanding of the different forms in which the source can manifest in the living…can't for the life of them make tools. They see themselves as above such trivialities, mastery of magic comes from within, not without.
Screw them, we showed them who's boss. We've built houses that live, ships that can sail the Damantic Oceans, and the Astral Sea beneath them. Ships that sail the skies just as much as they ride on the ground. And soon, man will build the tools that will take us to the stars, we! Humanity are the ones closest to the seat of the High God. Ours is a divine purpose and mandate given by our divine marker.
Our minds and our great ingenuity have always been about building Grim-Earth. We know one day the High God will return, one day these million years of killing will come to a resounding end and one will stand above all else having achieved the great rebirth… Godhood. Who then would he stretch his favor out for? The abominations are half-breeds trying to steal our world even as they swallow up all the resources.
Or us! The ones that have truly created and brought the modern age to life. So listen clearly, students, and understand that the Path of the Grimoire is more than just the mastery of a tool. You lot are here to learn how to create these tools and utilize them on the field of battle against those that do not deserve the right to breathe the same air as you.
And so, the first thing you must know, the first thing you must learn about grimoires is this. You do not make them, you do not shape them, all you can do is have a vision, and Fate upholds it. For the grimoire is not just a tool that you can create…it is a forge that makes you more than you were ever supposed to be. And that is what Grimgineering is all about. To Have Vision and Fate Brings it to life.
Secret Lectures Of Human Grimgineer Aralstos Horinvale.(Deceased!)
Azrael slid off the table and crashed to the ground with a loud groan, blood dribbled out the side of his mouth in a sticky mixture with his saliva. It poured out of his ears and eyes, his nose coming along into the mix. He had just awakened, but he had pushed too far, and now he was paying the consequences for it.
The entire room seemed to be spinning, but he still kept his awareness long enough to turn to the burnt husk of a demon-possessed individual underneath the table. The man was still alive, his breath coming out like a thin wheezing through a ruined face. He stretched his right arm out towards Azrael. One thing he could notice though was that his single remaining eye, the other having been burnt shut by the flames, was yellow. That eye was the one that used to be red, the telltale proof that he had been possessed.
"B-brother…. You can't stay here anymore…he's coming, he's coming for you." The man took a shuddering breath, Azrael's exhausted eyes fell on his outstretched arms and noticed a tattoo on his wrist, one of number -66. Almost immediately, realization dawned on Azrael as he stretched out his arms painfully and held the outstretched arm of the man.
"It's so quiet in my head now….it was almost too late for me. H-he would have taken my soul, thank you. I would rather die… A-as myself… than some….than some…..." he never finished the rest of his words, but Azrael, even as he felt the man's grip go slack, finished it up for him.
"Demon."
Azrael closed his eyes as darkness took, his body screaming out loud in pain. But much more than that, the influx of the new soul into his source was jarring. He had killed before, but without the awakening of his source there would have been no improvement or ability to advance. 100 souls to advance to the next level of each rank. This was soul number 1 for Azrael. There were 99 more to go.
But this soul was not a normal one. Number sixty-six was made from the same material and process as Azrael. Their bodies might be different, but they had enough resemblance to each other genetically that, just cannibalizing his soul to be able to advance would not have been enough. It was like two missing pieces of one larger whole attempting to come back together.
In this case, the essence of this man's body path. It was nourishment to Azrael's own body. Emilia and her mother watched in abject shock, as the tattoos on the body of the deceased man glowed, then literally broke down, and then started flowing straight into Azrael. Along with it were the soft flowing motes of the individual's soul. They rushed forwards like a flurry of gray-themed energy, surging up and entering Azrael's body through every available hole.
He arched his back in agony, even, unconscious this procedure was uncomfortable and in the eyes of those watching unnatural. Azrael was cannibalizing the path of a deceased person, using it to improve his own. It was the strangest thing they had ever seen. They were shocked into just standing there and watching as it happened.
But within Azrael's body, the change was more significant. The body path was one of great physical attributes. And since this brother of Azrael shared the same genetic material, though he's path has manifested as a body path. He absorbed it, and his ruined channels were healed almost instantly. The fibers in his muscles multiplied and shrunk, over and over again, until he had lean corded muscles with high tensile strength. He was stronger than he had any right to be, his bones were toughened as his body's own resistance to his dual affinities was raised tremendously.
Having to walk two paths would have been insane for anyone else other than Azrael. This was still a problem. But with this absorption, his body became stronger, able to withstand more punishment, and lost, importantly. His current abysmal pool of source grew. From its gathering point at the center of his navel, it followed set channels through his entire body, passively enhancing and keeping his body path active. Shadows and the dark still clung to him like a lover, this wisps caressing the sides of his face with such gentleness, you'd think it had a mind of its own.
"Is he okay?" Emilia asked her mother, never taking her eyes off Azrael, but still not entirely sure if she should go to him. Her mother quickly raised her own Grimoire, looking through the tablet as she angled it in the direction of Azrael and the dead body.
She looked through her tablet for a few seconds, exchanging glances multiple times between Azrael and the tablet before letting out a sigh of relief. "He's going to be okay, it seems they both share similar genetic make-up. Whatever process that has gone into creating them is as magical as it is biological. Just like how you gain a person's soul if you kill them, I think if he kills anyone that's like him or shares the same genetic material, the essence of their paths are also cannibalized, not just their soul. Right now, Azrael's body is three times stronger than it was before. He has no spell and hasn't formed his path yet, so the growth is a general one.
"It's amazing. His ability to heal has been greatly enhanced, and his source capacity has increased. It is still not as large as a normal person's. But the difference is slight, just about 30%, meaning it has at least 70% of the source as a normal person when before it was just about 20."
"Why does him having such a small amount of source?" Emilia asked. Her mother sighed.
"He has two paths. For humans, we store source or mana. For demons and the Infernal-Born, they can only channel it through their bodies. There's no storage, it flows for them the same way blood flows in their body. So his body path is actively taking, utilizing the source he stores to empower itself, but since it's a flow, his body seems to have adapted itself to it. His source is like his heart, mana goes through, it's filtered, then sent through the body and then back to it. The same way, blood flows through the heart.
"The problem of a limited source pool can be solved quite easily though. He should be mindful of the materials he uses in making his grimoire. He should ensure he uses mana efficient materials and when he's building his body path, he should avoid spells that drain a huge amount of mana. Small advancements or improvements so that he can keep active and train until his body and source grow big enough to acclimate to it."
Emilia looked confused for a bit before Azrael's voice cut into the conversation. "What happens if I kill someone else that's just like this man… just like -66?" Emilia's mother held his gaze for a few seconds without saying anything, before she sighed and went over to him, stretching out her hand to pull him up. For a moment, Azrael was just as confused as Emilia. Honestly, he didn't think anything positive would have come out of all the exposition this demon had given.
But still he took the offered hand and let her pull him up to his feet. The moment they did so, a gust of cold wind seemed to blow through the house. The moment it touched the man's burnt body, the body broke down. It collapsed into itself, leaving behind a pile of ashes, and burnt marks on the floor as proof that an individual had been roasted to a crisp in that spot.
"Well, I guess we don't have to explain to the police that we killed someone in our house. That's for the best, given how easy it was for both Thomas's murderer and this demon to get into this house, there has to be a breach of information somewhere… we can't trust anyone. We need to go into hiding."
Emilia took a shuddering breath as she turned to look at her mother. The very idea of going into hiding did not sit well with her. They were supposed to be out there finding who was responsible for Thomas's death and bringing them to justice. The law regarding murder was iron clad across the world of Grim-Earth. Deaths are only allowed in the arena. Anything outside of that would bring not just the full might of the police on you, but the covenants that uphold justice. Of course, even with that law, it did not stop people from killing. A murder outside the arena was taboo. There's no way in hell she was going into hiding until her father's murderer was locked in the deepest darkest cell she could find, or she's shoved an ice blade straight down their throat.
"We can't do that! We can't hide… not from my father." Azrael muttered softly, as he pulled a seat out. He bent down to pick up a piece of meat from the floor and threw it into his mouth, chewing rather loudly. He turned to look at Emilia's mother.
"I'm sorry for the danger and trouble I have brought to your family." She cut him off almost immediately.
"Nonsense! You were just a child and these people did all those horrible things to you. I can't even begin to imagine what you went through, as much as it pains me to admit. I understand why my husband was willing to sacrifice so much to keep you safe, to make you a part of this family. Demons and Angels want your body, but you have a life and soul of your own. Even your own father can't be trusted.
"You are a member of this family….and we protect each other no matter what. And if you're this important, if the potential you have is this great…then I have to make sure I keep you safe. Not just because it's what Thomas would have wanted…but because you're the only chance I have to make all these bastards pay for what they did to him. So tell me, what do you need? If it's within my power, I'll make sure it's available to you."
Emilia looked at her mother, absolutely shocked by what she was hearing. But even then, the fire she saw in her eyes gave her pause, and the fact that it was coldly reflected in Azrael's eyes too, made her heart skip a beat. And so he responded.
"I need a Grimoire…. And I need materials and primers for my body path. But most importantly…. I need spells…lots of spells!"