"Fate?" Azzy didn't in the same line as the Reaper for a second. He questioned the coincidences that happened to him until now. "Chronos, are you sure that some god is using me to collect the cosmic gems so that they will acquire them at once?"
The Reaper threw away that possibility right away, "No, that's not possible. Until I saw it, even I don't know that a cosmic gem was inside the box, Azrael. The cosmic gems share the same divinity as the other gods. Not even Zeus has the ability to track them. Maybe, it is possible for only two beings."
"Life and Space?" Azzy wondered as the Reaper admitted that he can't trace them.
"No, you are right about Space but the second being is not Life. It is the missing soul of the creator." The Reaper corrected him.
"Missing soul?" Azzy only had more questions.
The Reaper gave a brief explanation, "Remember the day of the royal feast where the auction is being held and you first heard of the cosmic gem? I told you about something about the history."
Azzy recalled his words and said, "You said that the creator's soul was divided into six parts of which, four are Life, Space, Time, and Death. A part was the cosmic gem, which was forcefully split into 11 parts based on attributes. That means the sixth part of the soul is…"
"Yes, it is the creator's soul which was lost in space. However, it wasn't the complete truth," The Reaper confirmed it.
After a brief silence, the Reaper proceeded to reveal the cosmic secret, which only the true gods have the knowledge of.
"At the dawn of the universe, the creator's soul was only split into five equal parts. The four of us entities had powers of a certain thing but that fifth part appeared to possess all of our powers, although not to the extent we have.
At first, we thought of co-existing with it but the creator's soul remnant had the intention to absorb us and reform its soul once again.
As it attacked Life, Death, and Time came to her rescue, and the three of us worked together to split the soul into two parts. One formed the cosmic gem, which was handed to Zeus for protection. And the other sought the help of Space to protect its existence.
Except for Space, no one knows its location, and neither that guy would reveal it because he gave his word. Officially, it is a missing soul. Or maybe, the soul has already taken the form. No one knows.
Well, even if the creator soul's remnant acquires all of the cosmic gems, it cannot defeat me. So, there's no risk to the universe but still, the being would become powerful enough to topple down the heavens and perhaps, even replace Zeus as the King of Gods.
But, it doesn't matter. Once you attained the status of a god, I will guide you in absorbing all the cosmic gems you gathered to put the risk to an end for once in all."
Most of Azzy's memories of his future self are still locked. He doesn't know that the future Azrael had completely absorbed the Protos energy and the powers of Reaper, and maybe, including Vajra and Ruby too.
And the Reaper intended to slowly change the timeline without harming the world so that he may be stuck with Azzy until he becomes the God of Death, replacing Thanatos.
So, the clueless Azzy really believed that the Reaper is trying to help him. After digesting all the information that he received from the Reaper, he then asked, "Is there any chance that this remnant soul might have been reincarnated into a human again and again like the other souls?"
The Reaper understood Azzy's crazy theory.
If Azzy is really connected to the cosmic gems, maybe, his soul is that creator's soul remnant? Of course, he doesn't seriously believe that but it just came across his head and he couldn't help but ask it.
The Reaper quickly crushed away those thoughts, "No, your soul is indeed very special but it isn't the creator. Anyway, you have been standing there for a while. There's an ancient seal placed on the chain. Let me take over your body for a moment. I will remove it for you. That Moon Clan's girl should also be rescued right."
"Ah, that's right. I almost forgot about them." Azzy remembered where he was. For a moment, he was lost in thoughts due to the presence of a cosmic gem.
The Reaper then possessed Azzy while sending him to the mindscape.
Looking at the pendant, he poured death energy into the creation of an ancient mystic seal known as the Gluttony seal. As soon as the seal was formed successfully, it took the shape of a strange beast. The beast has no eyes or nose or limbs. It's like a black-colored slime but has a large mouth with teeth as well as a tongue.
The Reaper carefully controlled the skill and let it only devour the seal placed on the pendant. After its job is done, the Reaper stopped feeding the Death energy to the beast and it disappeared right away. This task consumed almost 30% of Azzy's soul power in the process. But, anyway, it is worth the reward.
"This is Azzy's payment as his share of the spoils of war. It's not stealing. The rest of the items can be given to someone else as compensation. Not to mention, he must pay a price for keeping his life intact," The Reaper justified his actions to himself as he closed the lid of the box and kept it in Azzy's storage card.
He then turned around to walk toward Estella who was facing the other side and has no idea what happened behind her back.
The Reaper then applied the same Gluttony Seal onto the girl. The gluttony beast entered her body and went straight to her soul orb and ate away the seal in the same manner. Of course, it was only because of the Reaper's complete mastery over the sealing technique. If it is Azzy or someone else, the moment they make the mistake, the Gluttony will out of control and eat something else along with their target. After all, the beast can eat even the material things except for divine objects like a cosmic gem.
Azzy, who was watching from the mindscape, became fascinated by the effects of the skill. He decided to learn it in the future.
Soon, Estella became free of her paralysis as well as her soul orb restriction and the Reaper returned his place, letting Azzy stand in front of her.
"Thank you," spoke Estella softly as she rose to her feet.
Azzy simply nodded in response and walked to his friend. Unlike Estella, his soul energy was sealed by a normal sealing technique. There were chains all around his soul orb.
Fortunately, Azzy knows how to deal with it. All it needs an outside interference to break those chains. Placing his hand on Gideon's chest, Azzy poured death energy into his body and freed him before taking back the death energy.
As Azzy picked him up, a concerned Estella reached them and caressed Gideon's cheek, "He was only trying to protect me. If only…"
Without looking at her, Azzy cut her off, "I don't think Gideon regrets what he did for you. It's because his feelings are sincere. Just for that reason alone, I won't blame you.
For the help I have done to you, I ask you to repay me with something. From now onwards, please do treat him like an equal, not a person beneath your status because of the difference in your Arcana. I think he deserved that, atleast."
Estella didn't say anything and stared at Gideon for a while before letting out a mumble, "reckless fool."
Soon, both of them returned to the Aclein City. Azzy brought Gideon home. Estella also followed him, intending to stay by Gideon's side until he woke up.
As Estella stayed upstairs, Azzy briefly explained the situation to his family like how he trained in a forest, then, left for Moon City to meet his childhood friend Barbara, then, Gideon and Estella's abduction happened, they escaped, and he saved them in time. He left the important details like the cosmic gem, his 8th tier breakthrough, how he killed those abductors, etc…
The others also didn't pay too much attention to the matter, atleast Affea and Oakley. They were happy with the fact that their foster had finally returned home safely.
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