After calming Patty down, Sephirot let his consciousness sink into his mind and began taking stock of his gains.
The system prompts he had deliberately blocked earlier now flooded his mind like a waterfall.
[Yamato Trial Card Consumed]
[Skills Acquired: Iaido, Rapid Slash, Void Slash, Judgment Cut, Judgment Cut End]
The string of skill notifications gave Sephirot a jolt of excitement.
These skills were all exclusive to the Yamato. He never imagined that just using the trial card once would let him keep them for free.
He had originally assumed these skills would vanish once the Yamato trial card expired.
Sephirot's gaze lingered on the skill descriptions for a moment.
Iaido needed no explanation; the subsequent skills were all derivatives of it.
Rapid Slash was the skill he had used to save Angela. It was essentially a single-point breakthrough technique: a super-high-speed dash in a specific direction, executing an Iaido slash along the way.
Void Slash was an anti-group skill. By charging power, he could unleash a single slash forward.
He recalled that this move had extremely strong armor-breaking capability.
It was just that...
None of these skills seemed usable by his current self?
He didn't have a Tachi in hand. Alastor was a Greatsword.
Even if he spent materials to craft a scabbard for it, with the Greatsword's length and his own arm span, just drawing it out would be a problem.
Sephirot mentally pictured himself building up power for ages, only to fail at drawing the Greatsword. He decisively dismissed the idea.
He didn't dwell on it much either. Having extra skills was never a burden.
Skills gained for free were still a win.
Setting this unexpected pleasant surprise aside for the moment, Sephirot calmed himself and continued scrolling down.
[Darkness Approaches Point Quest: Ambition of the Demon Prince]
[Quest Objective: Prevent Mammon's Descent Ritual]
[Failed]
[Solo Kill: Mammon, Son of Hell]
[Kill Reward: 20000 Points, Bloodline Awakening Degree 7%, Item Acquired: Mammon's Original Sin Demon Soul ×1]
Sephirot studied these system messages.
The quest failure was within his expectations.
After all, the system quest's requirement had been to prevent the descent ritual.
And not only had he failed to prevent the ritual, he had actually presided over Mammon's descent ritual.
But by the same token, the reward for killing Mammon was, as he had anticipated, far more generous than completing the quest step by step.
Ten thousand became twenty thousand, and the bloodline awakening had also risen from the original 5% to 7%.
The corner of Sephirot's mouth couldn't help but lift. High risk indeed came with high reward.
Then, two more system prompts popped up.
[Bloodline Awakening Degree +1%]
[Bloodline Awakening Degree +1%]
Sephirot figured these two percentage points had likely been beaten out of him by the enraged Gabriel after killing Mammon.
It only went up by 2%, probably because Gabriel was simply too powerful, and him just getting beaten up didn't achieve any combat growth effect.
Finally, he took a deep breath and opened the side quest that had been worrying him.
[Side Quest: The Debt-Ridden Sparda]
[Current Progress: $12,500,000/$100,000,000]
Seeing the completely unchanged debt figure, Sephirot felt a wave of relief.
It seemed his speculation had been correct. As long as the scale of destruction is large enough for the authorities to classify it as a natural disaster or accident, and no one dares to show up at the door with a bill to demand compensation, the system will not count it against the debt.
At that moment, a new prompt popped up.
[Demonic Bloodline awakening degree has reached threshold, and all materials required for advancement have been collected]
[Consume Demonic Essence immediately to perform bloodline breakthrough?]
[After breakthrough, Devil Trigger form will be officially unlocked, and an exclusive talent will be obtained]
Seeing this system information, Sephirot froze, then understood.
His bloodline had already awakened to 11%, and with the battle at the Psychiatric Hospital plus the current mission rewards, the bits and pieces added up had now reached 20%.
He forcefully suppressed the impulse within him.
He had no idea what would happen during a bloodline breakthrough, so he had to find a safe place where he wouldn't be disturbed, to prevent any accidents.
In the afternoon, sunlight slanted down.
After releasing Carrie from Silent Hill, Sephirot left the Agency.
With Dante at the Agency now, he didn't need to worry about anyone sneaking in to wreck the place.
Besides, he also had to make a trip to Constantine's place.
Angela was still inside the world of Silent Hill, and on top of that, there was the matter of those strange patterns and the demon seal from before; he needed to ask Constantine about that too.
Pushing open the door, a plume of smoke drifted out of Constantine's small cabin.
Sephirot frowned, fanned the air a few times, and only walked inside after the smell had dispersed a little.
Constantine sat at his desk staring blankly, lost in who knew what thoughts.
And on the sofa in the corner sat a figure in a sweater.
Hearing movement, Gabriel in the corner jerked his head up. Seeing it was Sephirot, he walked straight up to him and said provocatively, "Kill me. If you don't kill me, I'll kill you."
Sephirot's expression remained unchanged as he threw a punch straight into Gabriel's face.
This birdman still wanted to return to Heaven? Dream on.
"Urk!"
Gabriel took the punch solidly. The searing pain made his features scrunch together.
As an angel, he had gone far too long without experiencing the physical pain of mortals.
Clutching his mouth and saying not a word, he silently returned to his corner to shut himself away.
"You dare come here?!"
Hearing all the commotion, Constantine raised his head. His bloodshot eyes glared at Sephirot, his voice barely suppressing his fury.
"You indulged your own selfish desires, helped Mammon descend, and got Angela killed!"
"Correction: I saved her in the end."
Sephirot's tone was calm.
"Bullshit, Angela is missing now."
Constantine shot to his feet, erupting into a coughing fit.
"If you want to find her, I can help."
Constantine's roar came to an abrupt halt. He eyed Sephirot suspiciously, as if sensing the other was cooking up some kind of malicious scheme again. "Really? You'd be that kind-hearted?"
"Of course. But you'll have to agree to one thing."
Sephirot said.
"What thing?"
Constantine asked warily. This man had screwed him over far too many times already.
Sephirot did not answer. He simply raised a hand and waved it through the empty air.
A figure crashed to the floor out of nowhere.
Angela's crisp suit had been torn with numerous gashes. The moment she landed, she instinctively crouched beside a desk corner, her expression tense, as if evading something.
Watching this scene, Sephirot felt somewhat helpless. It seemed Alessa had been thoroughly pent-up lately.
Constantine froze for only an instant before tossing away his cigarette and rushing over, pulling Angela tightly into his arms.
Catching the familiar scent of smoke, Angela wrapped her arms around him in return.
In the corner, Gabriel, still clutching his face and grimacing, stared at Sephirot's feat of pulling a living person out of thin air with a stunned expression. "You've actually mastered a Divine Realm?!"
"What's a Divine Realm?"
Sephirot raised an eyebrow slightly. This was the first time he'd heard the term.
Gabriel took a deep breath and explained, "It's a domain only a six-winged angel can reach. Every angel's domain is unique."
"For example, my own body's domain, as long as the Divine Realm remains undiminished, my body is in a state of invincibility. Any fatal damage received is converted and dispersed throughout the Divine Realm."
"The more expansive the Divine Realm, the stronger the power it feeds back to the angel."
Listening to this explanation, Sephirot felt a stir within.
He examined the Silent Hill within his body. The ash that had perpetually drifted in the sky had vanished for some unknown reason.
Silent Hill Town had always borne a deathly, lifeless air. Then it absorbed Jotunn's corpse and was filled by a patch of forest.
Now it was not only deathly still but deeply ominous, looking less like a Divine Realm and more like a netherworld Hell.
Seeing Sephirot remain silent for a long while, Gabriel assumed he was awed by his own breadth of knowledge.
He pressed on, "What's the property of your Divine Realm?"
Sephirot glanced at him. "Guess."
Nevertheless, the existence of a Divine Realm did give him quite a bit of inspiration. Perhaps he could conduct more research on it later.
Having confirmed that Angela was unharmed, Constantine's expression softened considerably.
After settling Angela down, he finally turned his gaze to Sephirot.
"So, can you tell me now? What do you need me for?"
"I've run into a bit of a problem and wanted to see if you, the expert, could provide some clues."
(Translated by yourtl.app)