' So uncle Drax, what exactly do I need to do for the upgrade? I don't really want to pass out from pain here inside the auction house ' Max said in his head as he shuddered from remembering the first time he tried to fuse with the Agni-Astra and passed out cold.
' Well, it ain't exactly a painless process, fusing with the Agni-Astra, what did you expect? The power of a god doesn't come without its price ' Drax said in an agitated tone as if talking to a spoiled brat as Max pouted and mentally prepared for the pain.
' Just put the bracelet on your arm, I'll do the rest, it's not harmful to your body or brain, just painful, so man up and grit your teeth '. Drax instructed Max as the old A.I. prepared to fuse the second piece of the Agni-Astra.
Max placed the odd looking ancient bracelet on his arm, right below where the first piece was and instantly the old rustic metal began to shine bright hot red, as Max felt his skin burn and melt from the heat as he yelped in pain.
Fire elemental mana flooded his veins and unlike the first time where he had no mana, this time the pure fire elemental energy of a god threatened to completely destroy Max's weak mana circuit as it violently coursed through Max's veins.
Max felt like he was on fire, that he was being fried by a microwave and being cooked from the inside out as he could feel the temperature of his blood rise rapidly in his veins.
' Too hot, too hot grandpa Drax ' Max complained in his mind, however, there was nothing Drax could do about it.
Max was already extremely lucky to be half-dragon and have a body that could handle the fire elemental mana and the heat that it brought, as the process would be several times more painful should Max not possess a high degree of fire resistance.
' I'll begin fusion now, keep circulating the mana in your body at high speeds ' Drax instructed Max as the old A.I. tried to take over the will of the fire god left behind in the second part of the Agni-Astra and tried to suppress it and fuse it with the first part and Drax.
When the two pieces of bracelet finally touched, it caused a heatwave to erupt from Max's body and caused the entire room Max was in to spontaneously catch fire as the fire prevention inscription was activated and water began drizzling from the top of the room.
An alarm was sent to the auction house managers that there was trouble in VIP box 7, but when the officers tried to rush to check, they found a dwarf standing at the door while leaning on his sword as he said " Sorry, come back later "
Sebastian was sure that whenever Max was ready he would walk out of that door himself, and that it was his duty to not let anybody inside till he was.
Although Max had never explicitly asked him to leave the room, or asked him to be on guard duty, Sebastian was the one friend to whom Max needed to convey no words.
The two had spend enough time training and suffering together to have developed a bond that was going to last a lifetime and were at a stage where gestures like nodding the head were enough to convey entire conversations.
The auction house staff were reluctant to not go in and check, but when Sebastian refused to budge they had no choice but to wait for Max to walk out himself.
Meanwhile, Max was drenched in rain from the rain mechanism overhead but the water on his body was evaporating fast as his internal body temperature reached a whopping 60°C.
Had it been a normal human, they would have died from organ failure by now, however Max's two hearts furiously pumped blood and tried to circulate the heat as fast as they could across the body so that the load on Max's internal organs could be reduced.
' Agh, fuck me ' Max cursed in his head as he could physically feel the metal of the first half of the Agni-Astra fusing with the second one along with his bone and his flesh as at this point Max's arm looked nothing like that of any bipedal species but rather like a skeleton dipped in lava.
If Max did not have Drax to contain the power of the Agni-Astra and regulate it in a way that Max felt minimal effects, he would have been incinerated to ashes by now as the Agni-Astra was in essence a tier 9 weapon and not something a tier 3 warrior like Max could ever hope to tame.
The late fire god Agni, made the weapon in a way that each piece he left behind had a small part of his will inside, and should that judge the wearer to be unworthy, unless the wearer was above tier 7 they would die from the heat.
One part of that will was Drax, and Drax had considered Max to be worthy and hence was now helping him subdue the will of the second fragment and convincing it to fuse with the first part so that Max could use its power.
After 30 painful minutes and countless suicidal thoughts, Drax managed to subdue the will of the second fragment of the Agni Astra as it fused in full with the first part over Max's right arm bones and allowed flesh to regenerate over itself, concealing its presence completely.
' Congratulations Kid, You have successfully fused the second part of the Agni-Astra. Good job on not dying ' Drax said at the end, sounding completely exhausted as Max laid down flat on the charred Matt of the once luxurious VIP room and wondered if Hazriel was really his well wisher or just a sadist who had set Max to a path of maximum pain.
' I hope you enjoyed the show ' Max thought as he rolled around and coughed out fire before standing back up on his feet.