Blaze sat in the fighting pit, the world around him reduced to the weight of the cooling body in his lap. Anna was gone.
He stared at her pale, bruised face. She had taught him more in their brief, frantic acquaintance than he had learned in a lifetime of drifting. She had given him the secret to unseal her King.
The grief that had initially hollowed him out began to coagulate into something denser, darker. It transformed into a pure, unadulterated rage that simmered in his marrow.
From the observation deck, the Captain's voice drifted down, casual and bored. "What a way to die, hm? Quite poetic. So, boy... are you going to be sensible? Are you going to tell me the secret, or do we continue this farce?"
Blaze tilted his head back. His eyes, bloodshot and wild, locked onto the Captain's bronze face. The rage boiled over, coating his tongue in venom.
"Go fuck yourself," Blaze spat.
The Captain's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, surprised by the audacity of a broken man. Then, he threw his head back and laughed. It was a cold, jagged sound.
"Well, well. You want to do this the hard way?" The Captain looked over his shoulder at a shadow lingering in the corner of the gallery. "Barnes. Make him scream. And make sure those screams form the words of that secret."
Out of the shadows stepped a man who looked like he was crafted from the nightmares of a butcher. He was bald, his scalp a map of jagged white scars. He wore a simple black shirt, sleeves rolled up to reveal forearms corded with muscle, and in his right hand, he loosely held a rusted, curved sickle.
Blaze looked at him and felt a physical weight press against his chest. Barnes possessed a dark red aura, so deep it was almost black—the mark of a man who had forgotten the meaning of mercy. Barnes looked down at Blaze, his eyes gleaming with a sickening, predatory hunger.
*******
Deep within the bowels of the enemy ship, time ceased to exist.
The Captain sat in his cabin, the soft glow of a lantern illuminating the charts spread across his desk. He traced the recent path of the vessel; they had been sailing for days.A sharp knock echoed through the room.
"Come in," the Captain said without looking up.
The door creaked open, and Barnes stepped inside. The torturer's black shirt was stained with fresh, dark patches, and the smell of iron and copper followed him into the room like a loyal dog.
"Well?" the Captain asked, finally looking up. "Did he break?"
Barnes wiped a stray drop of blood from his cheek and gave a slow, jagged nod. "He broke."
The Captain stood up, a thin, cruel smile touching his lips. "Good. Let's go meet our key."
They walked through the narrow, creaking corridors of the ship. The air grew colder and fouler as they descended. When they reached the heavy iron door of the torture chamber, Barnes pulled it open with a flourish.
The sight inside was enough to turn the stomach of a hardened soldier.
Blaze was no longer a man; he was a ruin of flesh and bone hanging from the ceiling. He was suspended by heavy chains hooked directly through his shoulders. His hands were gone—severed at the arms and cauterized with brutal indifference. His face was a landscape of scars, and his left eye had been carved out, leaving a hollow pit.
Below his waist, there was nothing but a jagged mess. Where his legs should have been, the flesh was covered in a writhing carpet of flesh-eating maggots. These were no ordinary parasites; they pulsed with a healing energy, releasing a faint glow that provided a constant, vicious cycle of healing. They ate the necrotic tissue as fast as it rotted, keeping Blaze on the absolute brink of death without ever letting him cross over.
The Captain stepped closer, peering into Blaze's remaining, hollow eye. "So. What was it? What finally made you give up the secret? Was it the pain? The loss of hope? Did you finally lose the wish to live? I am truly curious."
Blaze's lips moved, but no sound came out.
Before the Captain could grow impatient, Barnes leaned in. "Actually, his voice box was repeatedly cut and healed during the sessions. Just before I came to fetch you, I cut it again to keep him quiet. Do you need me to heal it so he can speak?"
The Captain waved a hand dismissively. "No need. ."
He leaned in close to Blaze's ear, his voice dropping to a whisper that felt like a snake's hiss. "Whatever it was that broke you, remember this: it was you who betrayed her trust. You could have died an honorable, tortured death. You could have been a martyr. But you clung to life. You betrayed her, and for that, I thank you."
The Captain turned to leave, his boots clicking sharply on the blood-stained stone. "Keep him alive," he commanded Barnes. "We need a massive amount of blood to unseal the altar. Let's make him our final sacrifice."
********
The ship finally reached a secluded, unnamed island. It was a small, emerald jewel in the middle of the vast blue, covered in a lush, suffocating forest. At its center, rising above the canopy like a broken tooth, was an ancient temple.
The Captain docked the ship and began the procession. His men moved with purpose, carrying a heavy, lead-lined box. Inside, stripped of dignity and humanity, lay the remains of Blaze.
They traversed the forest carefully, the silence of the woods only broken by the occasional snap of a branch or the heavy breathing of the guards. When they reached the temple's heart, they found a massive stone altar, weathered by millennia and stained with the shadows of forgotten rituals.
The Captain directed his men to place Blaze directly onto the cold, flat stone.
Inside Blaze's mind, there was only agony.
The physical pain was a dull roar now, but the mental torment was a screaming vortex. He couldn't forget the torture, but more than that, he couldn't forget the moment he had spoken. He had betrayed Anna. He had betrayed the only person who had ever looked at him with kindness in the Nightmare. He wished for death, prayed for it, but the maggots and the magic kept him tethered to the altar.
He tried to look at the ceiling of the temple, his vision blurring. He barely registered the carvings of gods and daemons that danced in the shadows. He was a broken vessel, waiting to be drained.
In the final minute, as the Captain drew a ritual dagger to begin the sacrifice, Blaze gathered the last shards of his consciousness. He didn't pray to the divinities who had built this temple. He didn't pray to the King Anna had hated
'Gods, Daemons... whoever... whatever is listening... Blaze's mind screamed into the void. Help me. I give you everything. My soul, my pain, my future. Take it all. Just... please... I beg you... I beg you...'
Suddenly, the world went silent.
The sound of the Captain's chanting vanished. The wind stopped. A voice erupted in Blaze's mind—not a sound, but a vibration that made his very soul shudder and fray at the edges.
"K-kid... you... are... p-pathetic..."
The voice was ancient, distorted, as if it were being filtered through miles of ice and static.
"Let... me... help... you. In... return... b-be... like... me..."
The mere contact with the entity's mind drove Blaze to the brink of insanity. It felt like his brain was being scrubbed with broken glass. Yet, he could sense that this being—whatever it was—was currently suppressed, its power lowered to the absolute minimum.
'Who... are... you? 'Blaze thought, his mental voice trembling. 'Are ....you..... one ....of ....the.... gods?
"No... I... am... Angel... Z-a-r-a-t-h-o-s..."
Blaze didn't care about the name. He didn't care about the cost. He looked at the Captain's descending dagger, and then back into the cold, beckoning darkness of the Angel's mind.
'I... accept,' Blaze screamed internally.
Outside, the temple began to tremble.
Suddenly he felt temperature rise anything,and all of a sudden he heard the voice:
[You have gained an Attribute]
[You have killed a Transcedent Beast:Aletes of the Nine]
[Aspirant!Your trial is over]
=========================
Guys the Nightmare is over,For those who dont know,Angels exists is SS Universe,Just not in a good way