Chapter 6: Hellish fusion.

Raizel found himself right in the tower once more the moment he passed through the doorway while dragging the monsters body along with him, before him stood the very same maid who had gifted him the bracelet of before.

"Ah" was the only thing that could put of his mouth.

But not minding she asked "shall I handle that for you young lord, I know the perfect attires to prepare with this".

Raising a mental eyebrow Raizel understood that she had been aware of probably everything that went down in that other dimension, *wait..... everything?*he realized but shook it off as that wasn't really anything to be shy for as he was still nude even now.

"Thanks, you may" he levitated the body towards her.

She took a bow and collected the body then summoned the bracelet which contained Eva "you may have this back young lord".

After taking a final bow she was gone from Raizel's sights, he walked over and took the bracelet hanging in mid air. The voice rang in his mind once more and Eva burst out of it at a speed Raizel could've sworn he'd never seen before, but he was relieved in seeing her once more and couldn't contain his smile as he too could see the excitement she was showing was flying around him.

"How was your test master" asked Eva in a polite manner after coming down from her former high.

Raizel held back his chuckle and gave a light shrug "based on my performance, I rate it as below average" he replied as he felt from the depths of his heart.

That battle was way too uncoordinated and sloppy, he took way too much unnecessary damage but the end results were quite a feast.

"I see, thankfully there's still much more opportunities for you to grow and hone yourself".

Raizel gave a small nod in agreement and looked at the doorway which was still open wondering why but put that aside for now and teleported himself back to his own home.

He willed for some new clothing to be put on him, just a simple white round neck shirt and black jeans with a pair of white sneakers.

"Now to go meet my aunt"

"Now to go meet my aunt"

"I'm already here"

Her voice came from behind Raizel which startled him a bit, then he turned around to face her. "How many more unnotified dimension tosses do you have planned for me"

"About as many as it would take for you to reach perfection, so depending on how you perform it could take about 2-3 more" .

Raizel sighed and Sheva smiled then took a step forward and hugged him without warning "it's not easy for me too seeing you get harmed, but I know I must sharpen your senses and prepare you just a little bit for the challenges you'll be facing soon out there".

Raizel rest his head atop hers and reciprocated the hug "I know aunty".

They let go seconds later and Sheva took his hand "come, it's time for you to meet the outside. But first we must get you some more suitable attire" she moved both he and Eva into the tower and called for a few maids who showed up the instant they were summoned.

Sheva ordered they choose something befitting to show my status as royalty but also not too over the top and the maids followed her orders without the slightest room for error.

Raizel was taken away and after a few minutes of deliberation amongst them they all decided on how his attire would come out, then it was created. He was given the privacy to put it on, after admiring it for a while he did and then stood before the human sized mirror to see how it looked.

The design of his top overwear was closest to that of a below knee length slim fit black trench coat with a flared upright collar and with gold button. Five gold rings were also inscribed around the area just below the elbow and leading all the way down to the wrist area, it's was also given shoulder pads which were some kind of mount, it's design was the upper mouth path of a snake clamping down on what would be it's supposed prey's innards.

Another gold line ran on the lateral part of his arms and sides, on the back of it was the insignia belonging to his clan, the Ouroboros. His inner wear was white and had a collar than fit snugly around his neck while his pants were a matching pair to his top overwear, his footwear was a black ankle high laced leather boots with a gold heel lining.

His inner wear was white and had a collar than fit snugly around his neck while his pants were a matching pair to his top overwear, his footwear was a black ankle high laced leather boots with a gold heel lining

"Hmm, what can I say, I look way too good" he smirked while looking at his reflection in the mirror, his long waist length hair was covering up the Ouroboros insignia on his back but that was nothing to worry for. The material for the clothes were of course no simple one due to the simple fact of how it felt almost alive and connected to Raizel's will, it was also full of very convenient abilities that had been sealed into it of which he would explore later when he had the time.

The maids were all summoned back into the room and they too admired just how good the young lord looked, losing his divinity had made him lose great amounts of his transcendent beauty that was only matched by the Fallen, but the son of the Fallen remains the son of the Fallen no matter what and so one shall always be awed.

"You look amazing Young lord" complimented one of his maids gave agreeing gazes.

Raizel smiled at the compliment gave a small nod "thank you, Aereth"..

He could see the visible surprise on her face and that of everyone else's present, a while ago he had inquired their names from Eva as he had felt it would be greatly impolite not to know the names of those who serve him and seeing the small joy he had caused by doing something so simple, Raizel was sure he had made the right decision.

*Guess it wasn't all that bad losing some of that dragon pride* he thought to himself.

Raizel was led out of the room to the place where his aunt and also Esna stood in wait for him, right besides them was a moderately large white carriage and the front were two white horses descended from Pegasus.

"You look perfect" complimented his aunt the moment Raizel reached her.

"Thank you aunty" he smiled, his heart thumping a little bit faster with joy.

Raizel caught Esna's gaze and the beautiful smile on his face turned into a mischievous one "sooo...I'm waiting".

She looked away and rolled her eyes "you look decent enough" she begrudgingly and very dishonestly admitted. He placed a hand on his heart and feigned being hurt "ouch, how cruel. Decent huh, really" he wiped a non-existent tear from his eyes and turned to his aunt for a hug.

Esna could that from lady Sheva's gaze she too was in on the being hurt pretense and couldn't hide her surprise at this sort of shamelessness from the Ouroboros herself "well, when you two are done being shameless I'll be waiting" then she stepped into the carriage and almost immediately Raizel couldn't help but laugh a little seeing Esna give up on his antics.

Seconds after all three were present in the carriage and the two horses as if on cue stepped their hooves onto the ground, a small wave of power washed over the carriage and then they were airborne without the slightest disturbance.

Each step the horses took created a small wave of blue ripples, a doorway opened before them and they ran into it, coming out right outside the towers gates and continuing onwards.

Raizel's gaze was glued to the view of the outside, although it hadn't been long since his little exploration he still was hit with a wave of morbid curiosity. The metal monsters in the sky, the many high towers, the ground right below, the dozens of Dao practitioners gliding on their flying swords, the extraordinarily gargantuous doorways leading to other worlds, he saw them all.

"What do you think" asked his aunt who had been watching Raizel greedily take in the sight of the outside world around him with a warm smile on her face.

He finally pulled his gaze from the outside and faced his aunt "it's a very lively world indeed".

She nod "did Eva tell you these doorways weren't part a part of my creation".

"Mhm, she did".

Sheva smiled "any guesses for what caused it".

"The heavens, they seem the most obvious culprit" he answered.

"Wrong" interjected Esna who waved her hands and the interior of the carriage changed as it seemed they were now in the void, some beings came into view and Raizel had a confused look on his face.

"Who are they" he asked.

"The ones responsible for the doorways and also the ones responsible for bringing about the new hierarchy in the heavens".

"Ahh, so they're the ink of creation guys you told me about".

"Correct" she smiled.

Raizel leaned back into his seat with his gaze still focused on the visual models before him "is earth the only place they chose to spawn these doorways".

"In a way....yes, in the sense that these portals were opened across every important incarnation of Gaia's body, along with some seemingly random few ones. Their purpose in doing so is something I am not aware of yet, but for now I'll make use of the doorways to their fullest potential".

Raizel nod his head in understanding and returned his gaze to the outside, after some few moments in silence he couldn't help but ask the question plaguing his mind.

"Aunty....how strong are they".

The question was asked in a roundabout way, Sheva and Esna both knew the real question and answer he was looking for with this.

She cracked a small smile "the definition of strength amongst them isn't so simple and straightforward as it is when it comes to gods, but in a sense of the word, the 'weakest' ones amongst them are much greater than perhaps every last primordial known and unknown to me".

"But as I said, the definition of strength isn't as straightforward amongst them. They're a completely single unit with a unknown hidden head amongst them, that's the only one that could be judged in a straightforward way as I've learned but as for how strong they are.....I have no idea".

"They level of authority they possess is a bit unnerving, I'm sure the Archangel and the Fallen know more about them than I do but..."

Raizel understood what she meant, talking to either one of his father(s) right now was something that required a mood almost impossible to create and the effort to do so just wouldn't be worth it, although compared to the situation with Michael, it would be a bit easier talking to the Fallen.

And although he hadn't gotten the real answer to the question he asked it was enough, he already understood recently that his aunt was more powerful than he had thought. And so wherever her real strength might lie it seemed it could be great enough that she was not in anyway helpless against these beings based on her confidence, he could take solace in that for now.

Esna and Sheva exchanged looks for a moment like that a thousand words had been spoken between them, some minutes later they had arrived at their destination and Raizel for the first time showed a bit of true awe at the beauty before him. "Wow" he unconsciously whispered.

Sheva's heart swelled up with pride seeing that look on his face, her efforts truly were not in vain after all and even Esna who hadn't seen this place for an entire century came to slightly appreciate it all over again. The academy was also absolutely huge, almost the size of multiple cities combined.

"Welcome to Leviathan, the No.1 learning institute in the world" announced Sheva.

Raizel raised a brow"you named it Leviathan?".

"Mhm".

"The first foundation and the core of this place was made using an actual piece from the Leviathan, although it's a dead piece it's still valuable beyond compare".

Sheva's explanation only served to make Raizel more confused because of the word 'piece' the Leviathan was the most untouchable beast in creation to anyone other than the All powerful being and the three conduits of his power made manifest.

Micheal has no reason to hurt the Leviathan as it's chained up in the sea, neither does his Fallen and the other one, in fact both are strictly forbidden from interacting with the Leviathan, it can only be called upon by the All powerful being which has only happened once since the beginning of creation till this moment.

Sheva giggled to herself as she knew word for word every thought that had just passed in Raizel's head "i know you have your questions, but not now, your presentation awaits".

The horses slowed down and began walking down, people down below looked a bit surprised at what they were seeing as almost no one ever uses a horse and carriage for transportation anymore, unfortunately this could not hold their attention for anymore than five seconds and they all continued on their way to into the prestigious institute.

Bit if this could not hold their attention then what was about to happen was overqualified to, twelve cracks in space opened up and from it emerged twelve beings who all came towards the descended carriage and took a bow.

The eyes of everyone present were in complete and utter disbelief at this, they looked upon them even more closely to be sure these were the same beings depicted in murals and statues and they truly were, there was no mistaking that level of presence.

The feeling that one could be snuffed like a candlelight at any second, the feeling of the world and it's laws becoming as fragile as ceramic before them, these beings before them were known as one of the select few picked as representatives for the 12 strongest races in the world and also the guardians of Leviathan who stood side by side with the gods as they built this place,

They were bonafide legends of the past and had the highest of prestige, seeing them was almost impossible for anyone who weren't the gods themselves so the fact all twelve guardians were here without question and bowing before that carriage could only mean...—

The carriage door opened, from it stepped out a raven haired woman so beautiful and alluring not even a dream could recreate it, but yet so cold. And right besides her was a younger woman with golden curly hair reaching down to her waist length, beautiful as the moonlight in the night sky and shining with a brighter glory than the sun itself, she was the definition of a dream.

Of course the shining part came from the twisted vision caused by their hearts full of adoration for Esna who in reality wasn't looking at them but the main character of this entrance still staying inside the carriage. 'scared' she whispered with a smug look.

Raizel smiled, he was a Devil, the last thing he'd ever be was afraid. And so he wrapped up his observation he stepped out of the carriage and all every bystander present could do was look dumbfounded by how he looked, even more dumfounded were they were they when all twelve guardians took a knee with their heads down.

This surprised even Raizel himself as he hadn't expected this 'what is this' he whispered to Esna who only looked at him with a smug look and giving no answers yet, he gave a low sigh in exasperation.

"Rise" Sheva's cold voice rang in everybody's ears, the twelve guardians obeyed her command and got on their feet.

"It is an honour having you back lady Sheva" said one of them.

And it was like a thunderbolt had struck their minds, Lady Sheva, there was no one who didn't know that name, the leader of the gods and the one responsible for bringing about the current age of today, but above all she was the saviour of the world. There existed no damn soul on this planet who hadn't heard of her, of course statues of her existed but those things absolutely paled in comparison to what stood before them now, it was easily like the difference between heaven and earth.

And that very same being is what stood before them right now, they all immediately took a bow towards her, to have looked upon her so casually, what greater honour was there than this.

"Let's move along now" Sheva ordered after giving a mental to the horses to leave.

The guardians complied and left, Sheva took ahold of Raizel's hand then walked forward along with Esna towards one of the many doorway entrances leading into Leviathan, the crowd naturally gave way as they walked and only when where they no longer in their sights did they remember to breathe.

Then without hesitation they all hurried into anyone of the doorways into Leviathan like a herd of excited buffaloes, the gods were back in the world once more and there really couldn't be a greater joy than this. News travelled fast in the minutes this happened, it wasn't just the tower reappearing in the world once more but the gods were genuinely back in the outside.

And so while a new bundle of chaos was building up in the outside world Raizel was admiring everything about the inners of Leviathan and were right inside the walls of the institute along with many others who stepped out after them, there seemed there were two outsides to the place. The first outside that they just stepped out of could be classified as they outskirts.

The real outside was the like the inner of a city, everything could be called Leviathan but it was abundantly obvious that Leviathan wasn't just a 'school' it would be more accurate to really call it a semi-nation onto itself, people lived here in a normal way, had businesses and houses here, it had districts, transportation systems, landscapes, water bodies.

In the few seconds after he spread his senses that's all he was able to catch, then there was the real center of this place which was the institute itself before him referred to as Leviathan. It wasn't just one single large building but multiple of it in different places all together and all with their own specific purposes and all coming in different shapes and sizes, could be called something close to a campus in colleges.

His senses couldn't permeate it even with him being right inside it's premises but he could get a feel around it, Sheva and Esna teleported him and themselves to a black obelisk tower, almost immediately all eyes were on them, especially his aunt.

They walked through the obelisk to the suprise of everyone again because that's not how it worked, meanwhile Raizel looked around the new space he found himself in. The obelisk had no top or end, instead what existed was what looked to be the vastness of space and the trillions of stars it contained.

There were walls but they were only high enough to a particular point and then cut off by space, it was also incomparably more spacious than what it looked like compared to the outside view.

The floor itself was just made with a purely black material with a smooth surface same as the walls, webbed lines of mana pulsed through it every second that passed. Raizel observed the only people he saw in here other than the many weird beings in cloaked form sitting down were parental guardians and their children sitting down in waiting areas and coming forth one by one to enter the wall right after another was done, with this he could guess what purpose the obelisk served but still needed to he sure so he he asked;

"What is this place".

"This is where the awakening of a child occurs, it serves a lot of purposes. For example, people who awaken on time on their own aren't brought here but late awakeners are who mostly come here for help"

"They're taken to any number of the countless rooms that exist behind the walls and then awakened, you'll see how it happens soon enough although yours will be a bit different".

"After their awakening they're also brought to anyone or the cloaked beings standing guard who summon a white or and then the awakened place their hands on it to discover both their latent potential, innate ability and which universe of power they belong to and that's what is displayed up there".

"It's a very simple process all things considered".

She took Raizel's arm and gently tapped her feet on the ground first before she flew up with him right the top "oh well, it's time for yours now". The whole place trembled for a moment and as if they had been frightened out of a deep slumber the cloaked beings all jumped out of their seats and bowed with their heads to the ground, it was an unbelievable thing that the madam had returned and none of them felt it.

The people below were unable to take their eyes away from the phenomenon above them, the web lines on the floor and walls began encroaching onto the very fabric of space around them and then stopped.

The star filled space dissolved and moved like a sludge towards Sheva, it wrapped itself around her body and became a new covering for her body. A strange force pushed everyone down to their knees except Raizel who couldn't help but look on with interest.

Sheva heaved a small breath and smiled "at the level I am right now what I'm about to do would be impossible even with my authority, hence another reason why this tower exists".

"It's supposed to help me tap into a level of power I need without ascending further up"

She created a transparent field around them in the shape of a cube then stretched her left hand forward and opened her fingers in a way as if to pinch someone.

Small white threads appeared the closer her finger tips got to touching until she caught it, a small white ball and all the threads were connected to it.

Raizel although had lost every right to ever interact with the heavens or it's countless laws could still feel it, what she held in her hands right now.

She left that small small ball hanging mid air and opened her hands to catch another one, the second ball appeared in no time and it was different from the white one, this one looked and felt like a holy gold.

It was also much more resilient than the first one, it released little sparks of golden lightning to fight against Sheva's encroaching fingers and each strike tore through her flesh down the bone but the look on her face neve wavered, instead she fought back with a little special thing of her own....water.

Or so that's how it presented itself to the naked eye, the 'water' wrapped around her palm, then in a moment engulfed the golden ball and compressed it's size to fit snuggly around it. The ball released harsher strikes of lightning the smaller it got but every strike it did disappeared the moment it touched the 'water'.

Once it had fit snuggly around the golden ball Sheva pinched it between her fingers finally catching it, she left it hanging just the same as the first and went back to complete the third.

The pressure in the box got a bit heavier, the obelisk itself began vibrating at an impossible speed causing a good amount of chaos for the inhabitants down below. The third one finally appeared and it was way different compared to the first two.

This one was mixture of so many damn colors and radiated with the presence of an aurora all around, Raizel felt a sense of familiarity with this one and he already deducted what it was, Magic.

*Should I take this as a sign that perhaps this is what I would've awakened as* he questioned.

Sheva pinched the orb and dragged it down, surprisingly it didn't show the same hostility the golden one did at all. Then with a swift move she clasped all three orbs in her locked palms, her eyes turned a pitch black void, the cube shattered and then rebuilt itself and shattered again over and over,

Reality was cut in half and turned upside down, dimensions began overlapping with the space inside the obelisk, age old monsters swimming in a sea of galaxies were right before them, there was no difference between the floor and the ceiling, no difference between forward and back or left and right.

It was absolute terror seeing and experiencing all this, not a single one of the guardians here were anywhere near powerful enough to do anything if those monsters accidentally kill them all by just by rolling around.

But in all of this only one person remained unaffected and indifferent to the chaos, Raizel's attention was laser focused on watching his aunt complete her intended goal.

The 'water' appeared around her hands and split into two intertwined wheels, then a third was created along with a fourth, a fit and a sixth.

Sheva released her palms and let the wheels spin around the three clustered orbs shaking vehemently and fighting for dominance, then without warning she moved the orbs along with the wheels right into Raizel's chest.

He hunched forward as what felt like a hammer jammed into his heart without warning, Sheva pressed a gentle palm onto his chest, a stream of starry pink flames engrained with tiny streams of red engulfed her hands and then spread like wildfire onto Raizel's body.

'please bear with it'

She whispered as the flames began tearing Raizel's body apart, sinking into every strand of muscle, every cell of blood, every last bone and into the special points created in his body, into his soul and then finally converging at the main point of his heart.

The flames rushed towards the three clustered orbs and attacked with the ferocity of a dragon, Raizel blinked, a single expression not present on his face but it was obvious to his aunt. Raizel was bearing a process so incomprehensibly painful and cruel that not even the lowest of the lows should ever receive.

Meanwhile in his heart the 'water' and the flames began fusing together to create something to create something else entirely, flames that looked and felt like water but still retaining the same nature of what fire was.

It brought both a feeling of great relief and one of greater hell to Raizel's hear, he fell forward and Sheva caught him in her hands, his hands squeezed hard at her dress and his face was down. Sheva felt Raizel's body tremble non-stop and her heart ached, almost wanting to stop this process but the resolve of a dragon was not to be trifled with.

It had a will unto itself that could go against the bearer if it had to and right now it was holding Sheva's wavering heart down with all it's might, forcing her to make the hard choice and carry on with the plan. Tears ran down her cheeks, the fact that Raizel hadn't made a single sound, not even a little squeak only served to gouge her heart even deeper.

She wanted him to make an expression, say something, anything just so she could have the justification to stop it but he didn't, right to the very end as the three orbs in his chest were forced to submit and fuse together. The two types of power along with the crimson flames residing in his body was drawn into the new core forming in his heart and soul.

All mixed together in what would look to be a spiral soup of colors to the spiritual eye, Sheva's water-flame proceeded to completing the final part of the process. The soup was guided into Raizel's soul and soon after a cocoon formed around it, Sheva's flames separated itself and wrapped itself around Raizel's soul as it began the tempering process which went on a few moments then it dispersed.

Raizel's soul now took on the visual representation of a baby him sitting naked in a lotus position and a serpent wrapped around his waist up to his neck and standing poised with it's head ready to strike. Above his head was a tilted and tall floating gold crown which was was split in two and was also mostly covered in rust.

The baby which was now the visual representation of Raizel's soul was pitch black in colour with silvery white eyelashes and hair, it's eyes were also closed, the serpent wrapped him was gold and it's two eyes were different on each sides as it's right was red and the other side a whirlpool of colours.

Raizel's physical heart had also undergone some changes as it now looked something more like a huge monster core which was a deep crimson in color and pulsed with power just like a heartbeat every .5 seconds, with each pulse Raizel's body was filled with a new wave of power that made his body and abilities a little stronger.

Raizel's spiritual world underwent massive changes, many new minor points were created all around his body. These points now circulated spiritual energy produced by his heart while the ones produced by his soul only regulated in the 14 original key points.

Sheva had a relived smile on her face the moment she sensed it was done, Raizel's body drifted off from her as a bright red light built up in his chest and spread all over his body then shot up like a pillar into the cosmos. It stayed for a few more seconds and died down completely, Sheva waved her hand and fixed reality back to it's formal state and dispersed the cube containing them.

Raizel's torn clothes reformed around him once more, he placed a hand on his chest and felt the new core that had replaced his former heart, felt the power it pumped into his body by the second and felt himself grow stronger.

He was no longer operating in the dark about the full capabilities of his own body, he knew exactly what type of power he had awakened and was fully aware of himself getting stronger by the second. He smiled and gave a glance to the people down below, most especially Esna who stood at the same spot, most probably completely unaffected by the chaos that occurred soone moments ago.

She smiled at him out of nowhere and he too returned the gesture, the people below came to the realisation that the one behind Raizel was a god and took a bow.

"Rise" she commanded and they obeyed.

Sheva placed a hand on Raizel's chest "interesting, there was already a unique change in your body that I failed to notice, but it worked well in bringing results much better than what I expected" she smiled and looked up at Raizel.

"I have to go now, my job is done and the second step is complete" .

Raizel nod his head in understanding, she smiled and turned her gaze to Esna "take care of the rest". She vanished after that last message, he flew down towards her and they left the obelisk.

"Well, time for you to go see exactly what Leviathan is and take your first step towards to making friends".

"Not looking forward to that last part" he confessed.

"But you don't have much of a choice here".

She had a smug look on her face saying that and Raizel clicked his tongue in annoyance but accepted his fate and sighed.

"Good, now let's go".

"Yeah".

EnD.