Somewhere on Mt. Sunderboia, a team of three was busy digging with shovels made of energy with the sun at its peak position.
Around them, there were at least six skeletons without skulls.
"Here, we go, another one was found without a skull." Neal took out a skeleton and placed it on the ground. Looking at Azzy, he asked, "how many more are there?"
Azzy, who still had his God's eyes, looked everywhere, "maybe about 100-150?"
"Let me inform the government and they will send a professional team to handle this work," Neal said to Azzy. "This isn't our job."
"Then, don't do it. Who asked you to help us out?" Azzy snarled at him. Neal kept saying that this isn't their job. They aren't obligated to this and that. With the sun on his head, he was incredibly annoyed.
It was clear for Claire that her boyfriend was getting ruder with his words as time passed by. She could understand Neal's point but cannot agree with it. She and Azzy had the same view, which is to get justice for the victims before them.
Trying to find the middle ground between their views, she said, "Captain Neal, if we involve the government, then, there's a high chance that the culprits get alert and leave this place.
But, Rael, we don't need to dig up everything to get their attention. I think we have dug up enough. So, now, we should spread the news all over the village. Once our mission is finished, we can inform the authorities about other skeletons."
Since she's the prime investigator for this case, both of them agreed with her.
About half an hour later, the villagers saw the three of them back but not without empty-handed. Along with them, there are floating bubbles where each one contains a skeleton inside them. Meanwhile, their uniforms were dirtied with red soil.
The news passed around the villagers faster than sound. Before they even walked a few hundred meters into the village, the village chief was seen rushing towards them.
Taking continuous short breaths, he asked about it.
Claire answered him, "don't worry. These skeletons don't belong to your grandson and his friends. It takes atleast a year to decompose into skeletons. However, someone is killing people and taking their heads while burying the remains in the mountains.
An officer will be here within two days to collect the samples and send it to the lab to identify the skeletons but until then, we have to store them. Can you provide caskets and a place to store them? We'll provide compensation out of our own pocket."
"I will arrange it." The old man was visibly a little bit disappointed that his grandson's mortal remains weren't found. As for the possibilities of life, he had already lost hope. Now, all he wanted was to give a proper burial to his grandson before his health deteriorates further.
After handing the skeletons to the village chief, the three of them went to Arvid's house and cleaned themselves. Azzy was the last to take a shower.
By the time he changed into casual clothes and came downstairs, the two 7-year-old kids were seen sitting on the ground and got themselves immersed in Claire's story.
"And then, I picked up my sword and dashed forward and cut down its head. And two more heads popped up again? I don't know what to do. No matter how many times I cut off its head, two more getting popped up every time.
What can I do? I can only try to cut their heads one more time. But thankfully, I had a reliable partner.
Mia used her Oak Tree Arcana to capture it with its branches and this time, I did what she suggested and went for its abdomen, completely slicing it two parts, thereby successfully killing it. This is how we saved those two people…"
As the kids were amazed to hear the story of Claire's recent adventure in the desert, Azzy commented, "You should have gone for its vitals, Claire. My recent experience taught me that even a powerful rank-6 beast can be killed if we can locate its organs and damage them."
"That kind of fighting doesn't suit my style, you know," replied Claire, turning her head. She added, "I'm more suited with reckless attacks."
"I know but still, you can't take your recovery ability for granted. If you meet tough opponents who can do more damage than you recover, it will become difficult to win," Azzy countered her statement with a hypothetical situation.
But, Claire didn't worry about it. She said with a confident look on her face, "With you standing beside me, I don't worry about the opponents we will face in the world league."
Azzy didn't reply this time. He was filled with thoughts, wondering whether to tell her now or not. Because they were in a village where almost no one understands the concept of Arcana, he thought it is the right time. He made his decision.
After a brief silence, he opened his mouth, "There's something I need to say to you. Come outside."
"Hmm, what is it?" Claire looked at him curiously.
As Azzy stormed out of the house immediately, Claire smiled at the kids, "Melton, Marine, I will be right back. After that, I will tell you even more of an amazing story of my adventure."
Upon reaching the courtyard, Azzy stopped and waited for Claire to catch up. Once he reached him, he looked at her, "Claire, you have to participate in world league with someone else."
"Why?" Claire furrowed her brows in response. Was he intending to participate with Estella or something? If that's the case, she will never allow it.
Azzy closed his eyes for a second, summoning his soul card. Taking a deep breath, he pushed his hands into the soul card and pulled out a handle, soon, a curved blade is also revealed. The weapon was twice his height and has a very intimidating appearance.
"My third Arcana, which I kept hidden until now. It's called the Death Scythe and it appears that I'm a descendant of Death Clan." At last, Azzy revealed the truth to Claire and waited for her reaction.
To his surprise, she was very calm. "So, what does this have anything to do with not participating in the world league?"
Azzy was taken aback by her response. Does she already know of his truth or was she unaware of what is a Death Clan?
As he dismissed it, he asked, "Does this mean nothing to you?"
Claire shrugged his shoulders, "why would it be? In fact, it would be a surprise if you belong to a commoner family. We have been known each other for nearly 1 and a half years and have been in a relationship for more than 8 months now.
During this time, there are a number of incidents that occurred around you. After witnessing all of that, if I can't even assume that you are a member of a hidden clan, I would be a fool. And Izora Crescent, she's your guardian, isn't she?"
"Thank goodness." Sighing in relief, he replied, "I thought you will become angry or get confused or ask for further explanation about my secret. But, this makes it easier for me to explain.
Claire, you aren't the first person to know this secret of mine. There's someone else who knows it, long before you. You know her and it's not Estella."
The image of a peerless beauty appeared in Claire's head and suddenly, everything became clear, "Leah Pendragon. You are participating together with her, aren't you?"
Azzy nodded, confirming her doubt, "Yesterday, I and instructor Crescent went to a pyramid. There, we met…"
Except for the cosmic gem, which he described as treasure, he explained everything in detail from how they coincidentally to how the Reaper made a deal with her.
"Senior division? Was she crazy? Tell that you won't participate in it." Claire was indeed upset that Azzy was going to fight together with a person whom she believed was a potential love rival but more than that, she was worried about his life.
Azzy is indeed strong. There's no doubt in that. However, the senior division will be filled with contestants who are below 100 years old. There will be rank-7 Arcana masters. How could a rank-5 like Azzy be able to face them? That's why she readily told him to not honor his promise.
Her angry outburst was within Azzy's expectations. He grabbed her hands, "there was something else I was hiding from you. I was worried that you will get angry. So, I didn't tell you yet. The truth is that I'm already close to reaching the peak stage of rank-6."
"What?"
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