"Azzy, free me right now." The fake Gideon roared at Azzy upon being restrained by the three beasts followed by a capture sealing chains.
Due to the massive difference in strength between Gideon and Azzy, the former couldn't escape the chains.
Like before, he once again planned to escape with energy eruption but Azzy didn't give him such an opportunity, sealing his soul orb through the Decarune seal.
It is the first time he used it on someone else but he didn't hesitate to do it in order to remove the possibility of assault from Gideon's mind.
"Gid, listen to me," replied Azzy as he walk forward. Upon reaching the illusion of his best friend, he said, "killing is sin. Not only will it cause harm to the victims and their families but even your soul will be corrupted in the process. Adding on top of that, you will face karma at the hell. Why face everything just for an unnecessary moment of desire.
You are smart and have over 140 IQ. I'm sure you understand how foolish your actions are, once you ponder on it with a cool mind."
"It's too late, Azzy. I reached the place where I can't return." Gideon shook his head in response. He appeared to be calmed a bit.
Thinking that his words are affecting a bit, Azzy replied, "No, you can still return. All you need to do is to repent by doing something to the families that you harmed in your life. They deserved at least that much."
The Reaper was silent, giving up on convincing his host. He could understand Azzy's thoughts. It wasn't childish but trying to talk with an inner demon is outright foolish when there's something at stake here. He decided to give one last chance to Azzy. After that, he will take action whether Azzy likes it or not.
Unfortunately for Azzy, it isn't easy to convince Gideon to drag him to the right path.
"It's easy for you to say that because you have never killed someone in your life. How would you know what I feel or how I view the world?" Gideon argued back. In the next instant, his behavior changed, displaying the signs of a psychopath. Laughing out loud while struggling to get free, Gideon said, "That feeling of blood rush when you stab someone in the heart is something you can never feel in your life.
Cutting the wrists and other vitals and slowly draining the blood while the victim is crying for help is another bliss moment. More than anyone, I guess I will get happier if I taste the moment of killing my best friend.
How about let me kill you? I promise that I will renounce my ways, okay?"
Azzy was taken aback by surprise. What kind of situation is this? It was a little bit overwhelming.
The Reaper gave a piece of suggestion for the last time, "even if you consider this illusion created by your mind is true, you have to kill him. This fake Gideon cannot be saved. Killing isn't a sin here. It's mercy. You are saving his soul from getting more corrupted so that he suffers less in the underworld."
As soon as the Reaper's words ended, Gideon's behavior worsened further. He was roaring again, trying to get free, "free me… free me… I'll you kill Azzy. Let me kill you… kill… kill… kill…"
Unknown to Azzy, tears welled up in his eyes as he raised the death scythe. One can say he let his emotions involve deeply into the situation. This is the effect of the inner demon.
He finally slashed at him. Gideon closed his pitch-black eyes tightly but nothing happened.
After a couple of seconds, he opened his eyes only to see the curved blade of the death scythe was stopped at his neck.
"No, I can't," said Azzy as his hands were shivering.
"Why…" The fake Gideon appeared to be confused. However, he didn't receive a reply.
The death scythe motioned back and then sliced his neck, separating the head from the body.
A deep voice escaped from Azzy's mouth, "Perhaps, it is my fault for letting you receive all the love and affection from everyone that you deserved. But, in return, it decreased your willpower and you developed a lack of conviction, Azrael."
The surroundings once again changed. This time, he was surrounded by at least 30 people. All of them are wearing church robes. A few of them have recognizable faces and the remaining faces were blurred.
The ones that have clear appearances were killed by Aria back when he and Claire were ambushed on the train. Apart from those, there's the late Royal Ancestor of Northern Qudour (Aethon Light), late King Brian, and currently imprisoned Timothy Light (father of Brian).
However, none of it matters because the Reaper is now in control of Azzy's body and the Reaper didn't intend to let Azzy finish the trial as he was in hurry to finish the race.
The leader of the group, the illusion of a Cardinal named Ophanim, who was defeated by Aegis Light during the invasion of Aclein Academy and was later bailed out by the Church of Light, spoke to Azzy, "the devil spawn, your luck has been good so far. Every time you are in trouble, someone will come to your rescue. But, now, you are alone. Let's see who can save you today."
This is the final inner demon of Azzy; well at least, it used to be one of his worries, where he used to constantly think of a situation when no one helps him.
However, the Reaper didn't think it is any worry because everyone's strength is limited to only peak-rank-6. It's not because of the suppression in level-3. The illusion realm can't be affected by the suppression in the material world.
It is because Azzy's soul power is around 8 million. From the beginning of the time, the unofficial rule of every trial states that the enemies faced by the said candidate cannot face opponents of a higher realm. This is why the children of heaven like Azzy and Leah often have it easier to complete the trials.
In response to Cardinal Ophanim's provocation, the Reaper brandished the death scythe like a whip, pouring the soul energy into it while creating a number of Protos Spears, "no useless talk, Human. Get ready to disappear."
As the enemies bombarded Azzy with spells one after another, The Reaper who is in control of Azzy, ordered Vajra and the other two undead beasts to attack freely, although restricting their ability to use soul skills to rank-5 so as to conserve the soul power.
He charged forward at the peak speed that Azzy's body can accommodate, evading every attack and slashing enemies, piercing them with the Protos Spears.
The massacre only lasted just 90 seconds. But, from his side, the four-headed Hydra was dead and the undead snow wolf is no condition to battle further. Vajra appeared to be a little bit injured but in good condition.
However, the Reaper dismissed the wolf along the both of them and calmly waited for the next challenge
The surroundings changed. Two caves appeared, indicating that the second phase is completed.
Azzy walked into one of them.
This time, it's an Arena without any audience though.
A 14-year-old boy was standing more than 50 meters away without any weapon or Arcana.
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