[You are now the last, final bearer of your blood]
[Your Primordial Lock is now opened]
[Awakening Primordial Bloodline…]
[Checking the Patron God…]
[Patron God: Goddess of the Primordial Night… Preferred not to be named]
[Nameless Goddess is investing personal divinity into you]
[Note from the Nameless Goddess… "Rest, my dear."]
[Registering you to the Pantheon Codex…]
[Kai ##### has been successfully recorded in the Pantheon Codex]
[Primordial Bloodline awakened]
…
[Divinity Status]
Name: Kai #####
Rank: Grade 0 Awakened
Bloodline: First Son of the Primordial Night
Primordial Lock: 1
Legacy Skill: Deep Slumber
Legacy Imprint(s): -
Ending Trait: -
Path: -
Ending Fragment: -
Quest: -
…
Kai's suffering didn't end there.
Once the orientation was completed, his sin cleansing continued.
He was brought to Cloud Alpha along with the other new Angels who would be his classmates, and was tossed into a cubical and suffocating prison on the outskirts. Bella's corpse, still wearing the lamb mask, was tossed inside with him.
"I already did what I was told!" Kai looked out the peephole, staring at the established Angel Supernal with teary eyes. "I already sacrificed my sister! Why am I still placed here? What more do you people want?!"
The Angel Supernal was about to leave, but stopped when he heard this.
He looked over his shoulder and met Kai's desperate eyes.
"You're kept here until you can demonstrate you have already accepted that her sacrifice is for the greater good of mankind," He said flatly. Not a glimpse of emotion betrayed his tone. Not even pity. "Only then would you be allowed out and attend the academy with the others."
"Wait, please!" Kai stopped the Angel Supernal again. His voice was breaking. "At the very least, bury her!" He demanded. His eyes are now bulging and red. "Cremate her. Something! She died for mankind, right? Then, honor her! Don't let her rot here! Please!"
"That's entirely in your hands. The sooner you accept, the sooner she'll be buried."
Despite Kai's shouts and curses, the Angel Supernal simply left.
In the next minute, all he could do was bang the steel door with his hand and scream.
But considering how far he was from the academy, his protest was hollow.
Nobody could even hear him.
He only stopped when his hands were throbbing from the pain of punching steel.
Kai staggered back into the small chamber and looked at her sister's corpse. He slowly slid down against the wall and covered his mouth with his trembling hand. Tears slid down his cheeks.
Everything still felt so surreal.
Just an hour ago, Bella was still cheering for him. Still smiling for him. Still there for him.
Now, she is dead.
"Forgive me, sister…" Kai wept. Not a restrained cry, but the raw, gasping cry of a child. "I know you told me to be strong. I will be. I promise. But this time. Just this time… let me be weak for the last time."
From early morning to the first shadow of the night, Kai sobbed on the floor.
He cradled Bella as tightly as possible.
Had it been another person, the exhaustion would've knocked them out. But he could not sleep. He was cursed to be awake and feel every agonizing second of this pain. Kai also soon realized the air in Cloud Alpha was dangerously thin, far more so than the cloud for the orientation.
Each breath came short and ragged. A desperate, shallow gasp.
Rather than breathing, it felt more like being in a constant state of trying to survive.
He was sipping at the edge of suffocation, trapped in a shallow veil where life and asphyxiation met.
Perhaps that's why the people here are wearing masks.
For days, Kai was imprisoned inside this cramped cubicle. Every day, there would be someone bringing him minimal food and drink, tossing it inside like he was some kind of animal.
And then, the Angel Supernal would ask him to stand before the peephole.
He was determining the emotions behind the eyes.
If he saw anything other than acceptance, then he would leave for the day.
And no matter what Kai said or did to protest, he would leave without hesitation.
Nobody gave any attention after the first day.
Even when his throat hurts from the desperate scream, none heed him.
Some days, he felt like dying so that the pain would stop.
Some days, he wanted to feel alive and watched the other new Angel Supernals train flying using the winged boots for the first time. His prison was on a cloudlet ten feet lower than the main one, so the only time he could see the others was when they were flying.
Some days, he felt alone.
Some days, he felt he wasn't alone—his eyes started to make sense of the darkness.
Some days, in the stillness, he felt company. Not a sound or a shape, but a presence. And slowly, his eyes began to parse the blackness, finding forms where before there was only void.
Some days, he felt like he was already dead, and his sister was sitting right beside him.
Had it not been for the soothing night air that made him feel more relaxed than ever, he would probably have lost his mind a long time ago. "I want vengeance against all the people who think our existence is a sin," Kai said with rage while holding Bella's hand.
At this point, a corpse should already be rotting.
But Bella was still pristine, like she had only died minutes ago.
Her beautiful shape, skin, and face hadn't decayed.
Only the smell was acrid, less than he thought a corpse would smell, but it doesn't matter. He has already gotten used to it by now.
"I want Angels—and Demons to feel the pain you and I felt," Kai's body shook with a raging fury. The demon man then flashed in his mind, "I will strangle every person he loves. I want to orchestrate their choked screams into a divine requiem that could reach all the way to you, sister, so you will know I am alive and I am strong as you wanted."
Kai rolled to his back and stared at the ceiling.
He had made his promise to his sister, so now, he needs to get out of here.
It was enough of him being weak. Bella is watching, and he can't disappoint her.
Just then, his eyes saw the notifications hovering on the corner of his vision. Kai rose from the floor and read them in surprise. "Right, I forgot about this," He scrambled to his feet. "Upon awakening the divine bloodline, the system panel would appear."
There are many threads on the internet about this.
Supernals would be able to see the system upon awakening their bloodline.
Nobody knew what it was exactly—but its purpose was obvious. It was to keep track of a Supernal progress as they grow stronger. Because of how useful it was, many said it was a gift from the God of Gods to help mankind fight the Blue Void.
But Kai doubted it.
If anything, the Blue Void was the result of Zeus screwing with another entity, as always.
Kai frowned at the very first notification. A Supernal's awakening stemmed from aging. Once the first Divine Lock was filled with the mana inside the body, it would spark the bloodline awakening.
Only those who have strong bloodlines have another requirement to awaken.
"My bloodline is strong, then?" A weak smile crept to his face. Then, he lowered his gaze, and his frown deepened. His eyes stared at the next notifications. "Primordial Lock? Primordial Bloodline? I have never heard of those before."
Everyone knew that Supernals had a Divine Bloodline and Divine Locks in them.
As far as Kai knew, there was no mention of anything primordial.
Kai's attention then went lower.
He was dejected to see that he still didn't know who the deity behind him was, as it seemed the deity didn't want to be known. All he knew was that she was the Goddess of the Primordial Night.
Above everything, he wanted to know why she was investing in him.
"Rest?" Kai raised a brow. "I can't. How does she expect me to do that?"
Kai dismissed the blurred last name registered by the system. It must be a glitch since he doesn't have a last name. "First Son of the Primordial Night…" He murmured his bloodline, and immediately, he felt the air turn colder. "Goddess of the Primordial Night? What's her rating? Is there any Supernal with her bloodline? Never heard of her."
Even though he never heard of her, it doesn't mean there aren't Supernals from her.
He put a mental note to look into that later.
As he thought about it, he realized the status window template was different.
A bit different from the general one he saw on the internet.
Other than his Primordial Lock, there shouldn't be an ending trait, path, ending fragment, or quest section.
The system is to track progress, not an additional feature for the Supernals. For some reason, his was different. But he didn't dwell long on that. His attention was fully fixed on one section, the Legacy Skill section.
The Legacy Skill is the skill exclusive to a certain Patron God.
Supernals with the same bloodline would have the exact same Legacy Skill. How well they can use it will differ depending on their talents. As for the Legacy Imprints, that is an ability associated with the Patron God.
Supernals with the same bloodline generally do not have the same Legacy imprints.
It heavily depends on their relationship with the Patron God.
"Deep Slumber," Kai whispered.
And almost instantly, another notification was opened.
[Deep Slumber: You will fall into a deep sleep or make others fall into a deep sleep]
Remembering the note from the Nameless Goddess, Kai decided to try this skill out. He wanted to ask the Goddess who she really was. And more importantly, he wanted to know why the requirement to awaken her bloodline was for him to be the last one of his bloodline.
It was unfair.
Had that not been the case, Bella would still be alive by now.
And there was no need for him to go through this suffering.
He tried saying it out loud. Clicking the Deep Slumber with his hand. Clicking it with his mind. None worked. He even tried to mimic how people normally sleep, but it's still no use.
Kai ran out of ideas, and he lazily looked out the peephole.
Nobody was outside, but the sky was beautiful.
"There are a lot of stars tonight," He mumbled. And then, the yawn came. He covered his mouth instinctively, and it was then that his eyes widened. It has been quite some time since he ever felt sleepy, and this caught him off guard. "I missed this feeling..."
He blinked his heavy eyelids and stared at the night sky again.
Looking at the night sky seemed to be the catalyst to cast the Deep Slumber.
Many questions about the Legacy Skill popped into his mind.
But he couldn't even contemplate any of them as the drowsiness claimed him.
Kai slid down to the floor and dozed off into dreamland.
Sleeping—it felt incredible. To think the mind could simply shut down like a machine unplugged is a wild thing to think about. A genuine miracle. Then, before he knew it, his eyes opened again.
He was now facing the sky, but it was… wrong somehow.
A deeper black, and the constellations are faint and dusty. Kai's awareness expanded. He saw the silhouette of cracked spires against the gloom, which made him assume he was lying in some kind of broken temple.
And then came the soothing hum that seeped into his bones.
Sleep tugged at him once more like a gentle tide.
He felt a softness beneath his head and a rhythmic stroke through his hair.
It was peaceful and profound.
Only then did he tilt his gaze upward, as much as he could. A veiled woman in black looked down at him. Her presence seemed to be the center of this terrifying, silent world.