The dark red blood soaked through Raziel's trousers and pooled around his knees.
The magic burned the severed arteries shut and the flesh knitted together under his glowing palms.
HISSS!
The physical wounds closed.
Raziel pulled his hands back to cut the mana flow, but the dark energy refused to let go.
The fusion of holy light and abyss bypassed the physical tissue and sank straight into Gideon's spiritual core.
It hit a massive void.
The Church purged Gideon's artificial Gift weeks ago and left an empty crater inside the boy's soul.
The Umbral energy poured into that exact empty space, and the void resonated with the intrusion.
VMMMM!
A brutal shockwave of pure emotion traveled up Raziel's arms and slammed into his brain.
Raziel gasped and his eyes rolled back in his head. He did not feel his own suppressed seventy-three percent empathy. He felt a thought bled into his consciousness without any spoken sound.
'I am worth nothing.'
