My Soul card is a Reaper

The next day, Orion returned to Violet Pavilion again. But this time, he wasn't with Fiona.

Affea was there, waiting for him. "You are earlier than I thought." She commented, her back was facing him. Her gaze was distant.

"Yeah, this place here doesn't have sun and moon to understand the time properly." Orion shrugged. "I just came here as soon as I woke up."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" She asked then.

Orion clenched his fists. "Of course."

Affea finally turned to him and smiled. "Alright, nephew. Just don't blame me if I go harsh on you."

"That's alright." Orion spoke in determination. "Don't need to start slowly. I wish you to start with 100g right away."

Affea studied his face. The smugness was gone. The smirk had vanished. In its place… quiet fire.

She exhaled slowly. Then she raised her hand, and graviton energy erupted from her.

"Gravity Fold: 100x."

It hit him like a mountain.

"Argh…"

Orion collapsed instantly, his knees slamming into the stone floor. Blood rushed to his head, his spine groaned, lungs refused to expand. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't even move a finger.

Affea walked around him slowly. "You asked for this."

He didn't answer. Or rather, he couldn't.

Every muscle in his body burned. His skin felt like it was about to peel off. His bones? Creaking under pressure like dry wood.

He passed out within three minutes.

Two days later;

Orion, with his veins popping out all over his body, got up.

Not easily. Not heroically. He crawled first. Then stood on his own two feet, sweat pouring, blood leaking from his gums, and a fractured ankle trembling beneath him.

Affea raised both brows, arms crossed. "You did it, nephew."

Orion replied in a quiet voice. "Yes. But I'm not satisfied enough."

"Ha!"

An instant roar escaped his body, and the divine energy formed a layer around him like a second skin. He stood upright and easy this time. "I need you to push my limits more. Increase the gravity to pressurize this state. And when I managed to resist such gravity with my normal body, that's when my training ends."

Affea quietly mumbled. "Then, so be it."

"Gravity Fold, 300x"

The moment the gravity fold surged to 300x, Orion dropped even with the divine energy armor. His divine energy flickered violently as if it could go out of control, and before he could stabilize it, pain lanced through his legs, his femur bones cracked, and blood vessels ruptured.

"Argh…"

He screamed in extreme pain, his voice filling the surroundings.

And still, he refused to bend his knees. He stayed in the position with shivering legs.

Ten minutes.

Twenty.

Finally, when it reached the 28th minute mark, Affea saw that Orion was in a daze. He was still standing, but he was out of consciousness. She let out a sigh and terminated the field herself.

She used the 9-star Healing Card, flooding his limbs with Life energy. The fractures sealed, the torn muscles restored, but he still stood there like a statue with divine energy enveloping him.

Later that night, Azzy was seen walking in the corridors of the third floor. The guards made a way for him to enter Orion's room, pushing it open quietly.

Inside, the young warrior lay sprawled on his bed, breathing heavily in sleep, bandaged legs faintly twitching from pain.

Azzy stood still, arms folded behind his back, and watched his son for a long while.

There was no trace of the overconfidence from before, nor of the proud smile from the arena. What he saw now was the sleeping face of a boy who pushed himself to the edge of ruin for strength…

Azzy stepped closer, kneeling beside the bed. His hand hovered over Orion's chest as divine light flickered between his fingers. In a whisper almost drowned by the wind outside, he spoke: "I don't want to see you suffer like this, but… sigh… I can't enforce my will on your actions. You get to decide who you want to be. All I can do is to mend your pain."

The light spread through Orion's body, silent and warm. The leftover injuries, the strain, the aching fibers of muscles torn that still left even after the healing skill card application… all healed, melted away like snow under spring's breath. When he stood up again, Azzy left no trace of his presence, disappearing into the wind.

The next morning, Orion snapped his eyes open and got up. He awoke feeling… light.

He stretched his limbs and blinked.

No pain.

Not a trace.

"What the…" he muttered, standing and bouncing lightly on his feet. His muscles, bones, everything felt like it was reborn. "Is it the effect of divine energy? I guess a good night of sleep helped me…" Orion couldn't help but smile, clenching his fist. "Anyway, even with divine energy, I found that my limit is around 300 times the gravity. But I only have 3 weeks before the main tournament starts. Instead of challenging my limits, let's try to grind daily under 150g without using any divine energy, mastering fighting techniques."

As he planned, under Affea's mentorship for the next couple of weeks, his movements began to refine: footwork smoother, punches tighter, counters sharper. His body began to move like a blade rather than a hammer.

One week before the grand tournament, Orion was summoned to the forge chambers beneath the mansion. There, his parents were waiting.

Leiza stood there while holding a sleek bow forged of pure mithril, curved and gleaming with soft silver light. Inlaid with dark etchings of ancient design, the string hummed with arcane tension.

Of course, this bow isn't made in the forge but in Dr. Mac's secret laboratory. It is just that no one knows of its existence in the Death Clan, and Leiza planned to keep it that way from her son, too.

"This," she said with a soft smile, "is a gift from us, Orion. So far, I heard that you are practicing close combat with Affea. Since you are good with bows too, try to use this and practice range combat too."

Orion accepted the bow, reverently running his fingers over the metal. "Thanks, Mom. Dad…"

Azzy then stepped forward. "Come with me. There's one more thing you need to learn."

They sat at the edge of a cliff behind the Pavilion, overlooking the wide forests. The wind rustled through Azzy's cloak as he turned to face Orion.

"It's time you learned to control your divine form," he said. "The power of Baphomet."

Orion's eyes lit up. "You mean… You really want me to use that power in the tournament? I thought you didn't want to do it because there isn't time to practice."

Azzy replied. "The reason why I didn't let you learn it before because it is an advanced technique and you barely covered your foundation. It is like letting you attend post-graduation classes of a university when you barely have a middle School education. Lately, your progress impressed me, and so I decided to train you."

Orion's heartbeat rose in excitement. He couldn't help but clench his fists. But right then, Azzy spoke. "However, before you try to control the form, you must understand what is Baphomet and its powers."

He placed a hand on Orion's chest. The world vanished around them.

Orion opened his eyes to find himself in an endless void of shadows and bone. A massive silhouette loomed before him, horned, with fire burning in its chest.

The divine form of Baphomet stared down at him.

"Do not fight it, Orion," Azzy's voice echoed. "Understand it. Command it."

The goat headed god roared, and Orion's spirit surged to meet it—fear clashing with will, chaos against purpose.