Chapter 5: The Light Of Death

Chapter 5: The Light Of Death

Zain couldn't help but wonder what the deities had in mind by granting humans the power to climb the tower.

He was confused. He had never heard of anything related to this in heaven.

Lost in thought, Zain stared blankly ahead until Riry's voice broke through the silence. 'Zain!' she called out, shaking him from his reverie.

“Huh? Ah. Yes miss?”, he turned his gaze at her.

“Sigh, are you really alright?”

“You are spacing out now and then…”, she said, somewhat worried about him.

Zain merely smiled as he said, “I’m fine miss. It’s just, I’m a little tired.”

Riry was not someone related to Zain’s family, nor did she know him prior to him attending the school. Despite all that, she treated him like her own kid, with kindness.

If not for his mom, Zain would have become dependent on Riry for the compassion she had shown.

“Alright miss, I think that’s enough. Thanks for the help. I think I should leave now.”, Zain immediately stood up, saying all these things in a single breath.

But Riry had something else on her mind.

“Wait Zain, there is something I want to test…”, she said, grabbing his left arm with hers.

She wore a pair of gloves right after which, she opened a transparent crystal clear orb from her white bag lying on the desk.

“Zain, hold it.”, she passed the orb to him.

Having heard that, Zain stared at the orb, not quite taking it and, asking for no explanation either.

This orb was not new to him, in fact, he had been habituated to seeing it often.

The crystal orb was a sort of device that could measure the type of magic or power an angel had. It could even show the so-called class that the humans had made too.

While Zain didn’t have powers earlier, it was not true right now. Despite not having any real skills, he could feel a large amount of power surge inside him.

‘I don’t think it is wise to let anyone know about my powers…’, he thought as he stared at the orb.

It was necessary for everyone who had been awakened as an angel to climb the tower, of course, the minimum requirement was 10 floors - the safety floor where no one would die.

The government had made this rule in order to assess the abilities and talent of an angel, to know whether they were suited to be recruited into their Angel forces. The same could be said about guilds, which would wait to scout any potential talent.

Regardless, Zain had no intention of going through those meaningless struggles. He had far too problems to worry about and couldn’t afford to waste his time on mere merit or fame.

"It’s useless miss, I have no powers…”, Zain said in a low yet audible voice.

“Eh? How are you so sure that you wouldn’t have awakened your powers yet?”, she asked, staring at him.

“I mean miss, every time I come here, you use the orb to test out my powers, to check if I have awakened.”

“Not even once have I awakened, so it’s useless…”, Zain was trying his best to refrain himself from touching the orb.

“Come on, who knows you could have gained powers overnight?”, she asked, forcing him to accept it, but Zain simply did not take it.

“As if I that could happen…”, he murmured, while his inner thoughts said something else, ‘Wow, she sure is a good guesser.’

“Oof, come on Zain, please.”

Zain looked at her pitiful expression which had absolutely no effect on him.

“Miss, I know how much these orbs cost.”

“And since they are single-use, I cannot afford to waste any more of your earnings.”, he got up from the bed.

“I promise you that I will pay you back all the money that you have wasted on me.”, he said as he started to walk towards the door.

“...”, Riry had no words to stop him.

He spoke the truth. A single orb cost around 1,000 USD which was no small money! So far, she had already spent 9,000 USD on the orbs for him, which he didn’t know just until recently.

Having already awakened, his mindset had changed, and he could no longer deprive someone else of their things.

“But…”, however, Riry tried to stop him just one last time.

Zain retorted before she even got the chance to begin what she was saying, “Also miss, even if I had my powers awakened, I would by no means publicize it.”

“I and you, both of us know it very well regarding the scene that would unfold if I were to spread the news about my awakening…”

Those were the last words he spoke before exiting the room.

Riry was left alone, staring at the closed door.

Her gaze then shift from the door to the orb as she realized what Zain said.

She wanted to help him in every way possible, especially, wanting to motivate him by helping him in knowing about his awakened powers, thinking that he would live much more comfortably.

However, she realized that what she had imagined, could have been far from the situation that could have unfolded!

If Zain’s awakened powers had been weak, then, he would easily be prey to others.

While being a human, one gets many benefits, some include protection, free money every month, and some rations. But as an awakened, doesn’t matter how weak, one would lose all those rights and would then be easy prey for the stronger ones.

Riry, who was quite excited, closed her eyes tightly as a few drops of tears made their way down her face.

‘I was about to send him to a greater hell…’, she told to herself, biting her lips and regretting her actions.

And she passed a few more minutes, sobbing while thinking about Zain’s case.

Soon enough, she stabilized herself and recovered a little.

She took a napkin, wiping off the tears.

Clenching her fist and recovering completely, she was then about to resume her work. But she felt the need to wash her face after the little cry.

She walked straight into the washroom and washed her face, splashing the chill water. Her mood got better.

Soon after, she walked out, making a bucket list of what she had left to do for the date, but before she could even decide on the first task, her eyes ended up widening as chills ran down her spine.

“Wh-”

“What the heck!?”, she raised her voice, completely baffled by the scene in front of her.

She had no words to describe this.

She gulped a large amount of saliva several times as she remained in the same position, with her gaze fixated on the orb that she had left on the bed.

Her left eye twisted as she got goosebumps.

“Is this even possible?”

‘No…’

‘Is that a mistake…?’

‘Perhaps, a defective orb maybe?’, hundreds of thoughts clouded her mind, confusing her and making her question.

‘Just why?’

‘Why is it giving off black light?’

The orb, lying on the bed, was glowing with intense black light, covering the entire room.

It did have a hint of purple, but it was the pure black and red combination that took her by surprise.

She walked closer to the orb, wore her gloves again and lift the orb gently.

‘Is it broken?’, she asked herself yet again, not sure.

‘Hmm, I have no other way but to do this…’, she removed the glove of her left hand and then slowly moved it forward to ultimately touch the orb.

Right after this, the orb started to glow with green-yellow light, seconds after which it shattered to pieces.

‘No, it worked perfectly fine.’

‘It showed me my mana’s colour before getting destroyed.’

‘Then the black colour couldn’t have been a mistake.’, she placed her curled index finger on her lips as she thought about it, her heart beating way too faster than normal.

Her attention on the colour of the light was so high, that she had forgotten a small detail, the one who touched it.

As she thought more and more, the question naturally came to her mind with a solution as well.

‘If I am able to let the owner of this black mana, touch another orb, then I would be able to find him.’, she said to herself, but the question at the moment was still unanswered.

‘But, I only opened this in front of Zain…’

‘However, he never touched it.’, she scratched her head as she thought about it.

‘Uff, did someone perhaps enter the room when I had gone to the washroom?’, this was yet another question she framed, thinking of this possibility when her eyes fell on a single strand of hair on the bed.

‘This… could it be?’, she lift the hair, placed it in a small cover, and rushed immediately to the storeroom where many such orbs, essentially belonging to the school, were stored.

She lift one of them, and instantly placed the strand of hair on it.

‘Yea, there is no mistake.’, a small smile appeared on her face as yet another orb started to glow with a similar black light.

‘Hair of angels are said to have been imbued with mana, but the moment they get detached from the head, they lose the mana almost instantly.’

‘But this strand of hair appears to be different.’

Shivers, her eyeballs trembled as she thought about it.

‘If just a hair strand could cause such a bright light to be emitted, then just how strong could this individual be!?’, just as she thought this, she ran back into her designated room.

*gulp*

‘A total of 3 students had come here today, all of them being humans…’

‘Did one of them, by chance, awaken their powers?’, she thought.

‘Among the three, there was Zain too.’

She stared at the strand of hair.

‘Was it Zain? Does this piece of hair belong to him?’, while almost her entirety tried to deny this, a part of her wanted it to be Zain.

‘I need to find out…’

‘I need to find out if the Light Of Death belongs to him or not.’

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