The Power

"Ya there, Angel of Destruction... We finally meet."

A voice, deep, chill-inducing, and a freezing one entered Cole's nonexistent ears within the world of the dream, if it even was one.

Gulp.

An audible swallow was heard throughout the darkened expanse, it was Cole's.

He couldn't bring himself to speak.

His chest was shivering, his teeth were clacking against each other's, and his body was full of goosebumps.

"No need to be so scared now, Angel."

'Who?'

'W-What?'

'What is that thing?!'

'Is this the curse?!'

'No!'

'This…'

'This is terrifying!'

'What do I say?!'

'Crap.'

'Crap!'

'Fuck!'

After a long minute of fighting mentally over his physical and mental fear caused directly upon him by the intense pressure and aura of the voice, Cole finally spoke, asking about the voice's identity.

"W-Who are you?"

"Now I also wonder about that, who am I?"

The voice spoke nonchalantly, moving alongside the darkened space.

Cole, although manaless, could somehow feel the presence of that being.

'It's like a… smoke?'

Unable to clearly comprehend the being's shape, they suddenly closed in on Cole's spectral face.

"Now, sweet Angel, you must be wondering why I'm here, connected with you like this, right?"

Still feeling pressure from all sides and needing more force than necessary to speak, instead, Cole just bobbed his head up and down once.

"Indeed, you do. You know of your curse too, don't you?"

Cole nodded his head a bit more easily this time, thinning his lips as he did so.

"An apocalypse befalls and the world is doomed, and then, out of nowhere, voila! An Angel appears. A defect. An Irregularity!"

The being's seething tone got more hysterical with each word he gave voice to, making Cole feel as if he might get ripped to shreds right the next instant.

"And then, that very same irregularity decides to be the only one to stand tall amidst every fallen person, touching even, the very essence of destruction. Oh my lord, the audacity and recklessness!"

'What exactly is going on right now…?'

Cole couldn't help but feel slightly befuddled at the weird acting of the presence, the way they phrased the words, albeit, he got an idea that surely, they knew of the Celestial Eclipse.

"And then, darkness, the next moment, he sees that a curse has sprouted within his body, within his soul!" The voice shivered as if it was excited and full of ecstasy at the train of events.

'Is this thing narrating what happened to me or is he going to say anything useful anytime soon?'

"Oh so sad and pitiful, with his mother dead and crumbled, he decided to get the curse of destruction."

'Curse of Destruction.'

Cole instantly made a mental note of that.

"But now what?"

The presence ended in a deadpan voice as if truly asking what was going to happen now.

"He doesn't know how to activate his curse nor how to communicate with it. What's going to happen now?"

Unable but to speak now that his nerves slightly calmed down, Cole voiced with slight irony laced in his tone.

"Truly, I wonder?"

"Then he appears!"

The presence's voice suddenly became hysterical again as he screamed out unexpectedly, making Cole flinch back and get his heart racing. This time, not from being afraid, but rather startled by the change of tone like that.

"The cataclysm!"

"And who may they be?" 

Cole asked with a raised brow.

"Are you actually retarded?"

At that sincere question posed even by this frightful being, Cole felt a vein bulge on the right of his forehead.

'This fucking–'

"No, sir… I know you're talking about yourself."

"Bam!"

Bam!

In synchronization with his voice, a clap resounded, immediately after washing the darkened world in white.

"That's right."

He said with a content voice, his form finally becoming visible to Cole's blurry eyes at the change of light.

'He really is a smoke, and with blue shining eyes at that!'

Unable to contain the surprise, Cole hadn't realized his jaw had slackened. And that reaction was quite disliked by the 'cataclysm'.

"If you ever do such a thing again, I'll sever you from the thread of life."

'Thread of Life.'

He made another mental note in the meanwhile he voiced with an apologetic tone.

"I'm sorry for that… Sir?"

"Good, you're forgiven. Anyways, where did we leave, Angel?"

'Why is this guy constantly calling me Angel?'

"We left at the part where you are the cataclysm and the reason why I will gain the ability to somehow use my curse."

"Ah, yeah, yeah."

"The reason… well, there isn't a reason, no."

"Eh?"

"See, even though I proclaimed to be the cataclysm, I know I'm not. I'm just the first one to have discovered you so early on."

"Discovered me?"

"Blah, it's a wide topic so we won't bother with that now. Anyways, that aside, what I want to say is that your curse, its sprouting, and its activation happened because you were in a pinch."

"A pinch?"

"Yes, the moment you were about to be decimated from that Corrupted Gargagramagram, whatever it was called– I had to manifest myself physically to eat that thing whole."

'He probably means the Corrupted Gargrim…'

"Ah, so you really saved me?"

"Indeed."

"..."

Cole's widened brows instantly lowered as his face wore a serious expression.

"What's the catch? There must be a solid reason why you decided to aid me."

The moment Cole made that statement, not even a second later, a wide and villainous grin spread out on the smoke, just right under its eyes.

"Entirely correct, oh Angel of Destruction."

"Quit beating around the bush and tell me already, what's the whole deal with this nonsensical curse?"

"Quite the impatient one, aren't you? But fine, I'll tell you, so open your ears well."

Taking the signal, Cole tried to focus the whole of his attention on the next words the smoke would say.

"You and your curse… are a covenant."

"Covenant?"

"You heard me right, your curse will allow you to borrow powers from us."

"And who are the 'us' you speak of?"

The next moment the being decided to speak–

"We are the L@n@#$L%@s/"

"Kgha!?"

Clutching at his ears after the screeching and glitching of his voice, Cole instantly whipped his gaze and glared at the smoke, as if asking, 'What did you do just now?!'

"Relax, I did nothing. It's just proof that I cannot speak of us yet. As I was saying, you can borrow our powers in return for whatever we agree upon."

"Our first deal was this: I take the blow of the Garagararimagara, and as payment, I would get to feast upon its body and mana, including the severed limb you had decided to pick up the ground and take it with you just in case."