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Return of the Fallen Volume 6 Chapter 82

Author: Blue_Rat

ch82

The surrounding Adrola apes wasted no time and one after the other they dumped their ingredients into the cauldron. Hundreds upon hundreds of plants herbs and crystals came piling in, covering Kazuki under a hill of items. The smell of which was similar to mud mixed with burning grass. It caused Kazuki’s nose to tingle and twitch as he inhaled.

After all of the dry ingredients came the liquid. The old ape clapped and two large apes grabbed a wheel near the back end of the wall and together with a grunt and strain, they began to turn it. two tubes hanging down from the ceiling opened up and with it came a waterfall of two distinct colors, one red and the other a deep dark green.

As soon as the red liquid appeared, Kazuki could smell the overtones of metal coming from it and found it to be blood. A shudder ran down his spine as he wondered where they procured such a vast amount of fresh blood. Maybe he wanted to know or maybe he didn’t, Kazuki was stuck somewhere in between. The green medicinal like liquid and the dense sticky blood came together in the cauldron with him and quickly mixed, turning into an ugly brown.

As the liquid and solid ingredients rose as the cauldron was filled, so to did Kazuki. Just before the contents and Kazuki spilled over the top, the old ape clapped and the tubes in the ceiling were sealed shut.

Seven apes surrounded the cauldron. These apes all wore sacred garbs and on their left hands they each wore a single ring made of orichalcum. The oldest ape walked toward the cauldron and reached in and grabbed Kazuki, pulling him toward the edge. Waving his hand, the ring glowed with a bright light, and with it appeared a large jug that was twice as big as Kazuki was tall.

The old ape flicked the lid off and exposed a white liquid inside. Once again his ring glowed and the liquid within began to jump about as though it were boiling rapidly. The old ape poured a bit of the liquid into his mouth before immediately spitting it in Kazuki’s face.

As soon as this liquid touched his skin, Kazuki felt a burning sting. Kazuki ripped his arm away from the old ape in apprehension but Oren quickly calmed him down.

(“Relax ya baby pup. That reaction on ya skin means the orichalcum is compatible with ya flesh.”)

“Orichalcum! that liquid is the mythical metal! but it’s a liquid. Wait that’s not even the main point, why does my body need to be compatible with this metal in the first place?”

Oren could see Kazuki wouldn’t take give up until he was satisfied so Oren just briefly explained it.

(“If ya remember I told ya that we use bits of orichalcum all over my city. We bury some of it next to our plants and have it around us as if were glue. I told ya orichalcum can draw the dark energy that Zetrazz breathes out. It can absorb it like a sponge. During this baptism, we consume some of it and as it flows through us it absorbs the dark energy within our bodies and carries it out of us when it leaves our bodies. after the baptism, we all carry an item made from orichalcum to keep the dark energy away from us. Now do ya understand?”)

Kazuki eyed the jug that was double his size.

“And you guys actually drink this entire jug in one go? Not that I’m worried I can’t drink it all. I know I got plenty of room in my stomach but there’s just something about swallowing a bunch of metal that just doesn’t make sense to me.”

Oren shrugged.

(“Worried not worried, just makeup ya mind. If we didn’t drink at least this much do ya think we could get rid of a Titan’s powers inside of us. By the way, we do this twice but I doubt ya gonna need it two times. With a healing factor such as yours, ya definitely won’t need it, I think. So are ya gonna go through with it or not, cause your holding things up.”)

“Ok, I got it. Let’s do this.”

Kazuki swam back to the edge of the cauldron and the old ape held the jug over Kazuki. Opening his large mouth, the old ape gestured and pointed between the jug and his own mouth several times.

Kazuki nodded and opened his mouth. The old ape grabbed Kazuki’s lower jaw before tilting the jug over. When a hundredth of it was emptied into Kazuki, the old ape stopped and backed away.

Kazuki stared at him and Oren curiously.

(“Kazuki quit giving me the dumb look. If I was ya, I’d prepare myself for what comes next.”)

The old ape got in place along with the seven other apes. At this time, each one of them raised their left hands in unison and the rings began to glow. When their rings lit up, the cauldron in turn responded as well. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of inscriptions lit up in quick succession along both the outside of the cauldron as well as the inside.

All of the solid ingredients melted away and joined the muddy brown liquid. With it, the brown murky liquid lit up with a brilliant light and started to boil.

Kazuki had no time to worry about any of that for as soon as he drank the orichalcum and Oren warned him, a devilish burning sensation ripped through his body.

As though someone had tossed his insides into molten lava, Kazuki burned in agony. He couldn’t even wonder how any of the Adrola apes could endure such a blazing sensation.

At the same time, the metal flowing through his body was not merely burning through him, causing discomfort and pain but was actually destroying his body from the inside out. Every cell and every muscle, every nerve, and every bone, seemed to be burned to ash. With it, he could feel a tiny amount, a small fraction of dark energy being drawn away from him.

Many times Kazuki had tried desperately to remove the dark energy away from his flesh but every time he had, it ended in failure. This time though, this time it was different and he could feel it. As skin melted away, hundreds of holes exposing Kazuki’s innards opened up all over him. Dealing more pain than Kazuki initially thought was possible.

As Kazuki’s body was being burned and destroyed from the inside out, the glowing contents boiling inside the cauldron started to sink into every pore, hole, and orifice on Kazuki’s body.

The shredded skin and open wounds, along with Kazuki ki and natural healing ability, healed almost instantly. Every time a new wound opened up, it would just as quickly stitch itself back together. The apes helping with the baptism could notice all of the changes within the cauldron and they all reacted with both surprise and shock. Oren quickly snorted, causing them to notice their foolishness and put their concentration and focus back on the task at hand.

As Kazuki’s body was regenerating, his muscles and cells, bones, blood and flesh, all of it regrew back stronger than before.

Kazuki had no time to be happy though. Just trying to grit his teeth to ease some of the pain only resulted in his teeth cracking, followed by the orichalcum soup mix melting them too. They grew back, but that in and of itself was suffering.

After a while, this liquid metal had managed to circulate all over inside of him and with it, Kazuki felt a small almost unnoticeable twitch inside his brain. Like a fine hair resting in the palm of one’s hand, so weightless and barely visible to a normal person’s senses that the hair would go unnoticed. Maybe if there was a slight breeze that moved the hair, would someone just barely detect it? This, Kazuki felt such a sensation inside of his brain.

One minute after another passed and with it, the odd feeling inside his brain got stronger and stronger as the sensation moved all around his brain. Kazuki was confused by this weird feeling. Sensing with his ki as well as his aura, Kazuki couldn’t pinpoint the movement precisely nor what it was but he knew he wasn’t hallucinating it. After observing for a few moments, Kazuki quickly realized that the liquid metal was following this invisible movement. That’s when it struck him.

(The Azirian blood! So that’s where the little bastard blood was hiding.)

For so long the Azirian blood was hiding away like a snake in the grass and no matter what Kazuki tried, he couldn’t find it and because of that, he couldn’t remove it. Kazuki still couldn’t see it but now with this metal soup swishing around inside his brain, he was starting to feel its whereabouts.

Kazuki felt the sensation trying to creep out of his brain and head for some other place inside his body. Kazuki wasn’t having it. Before it ran away, Kazuki surrounded his entire head with both a layer f ki and several layers of aura. At the same time, he allowed on orichalcum in and nothing out until there was no more space inside his head.

The Azirian blood had no place to go.

(I’ve got you now you fucking bastard.)