Azzy's answer satisfied his grandpa and the latter continued to explain the story behind the misfortune of Vesryn and Izora.
"I don't know the exact details as I didn't contact any of my acquaintances after I returned here.
But, according to what Ethar gathered information from the Night clan, they were ambushed by the assassins sent by Mystic. The member who was captured by your mother during the North and South war belongs to the same organization.
Perhaps, it is out of revenge or for another reason, but whatever the case, there were a series of assassination attempts on our clan members.
Our Night clan's Matriarch, Pandora Night was assassinated along with a few other important members who were in the outside world for their respective missions. There were losses from the Crescent Clan, Smoke Clan, and Silver Clan too.
It turned out that an elder of the crescent clan turned out to be working as a mole for the Mystic. That bas*ard killed himself and it took more than six years to uproot the entire organization from existence.
Anyways, if you want to visit your parents, you have to ask Lord Qridus for help. Only he knows where they were kept."
Since the perpetrators were killed, there's no reason for Azzy to look into the matter anymore. At least, that's what he thought and said, "Once we return to the clan, I will ask the monarch."
"We?" Oakley was visibly surprised.
Azzy looked at him, "of course, it's us. Don't you want to return to the clan?"
"Azzy, I can't return to the clan." Oakley reminded him that his banishment from the clan hasn't been removed yet. He added, "It's because of your awakening that Lord Qridus lifted the seal on my soul orb, letting me gain my peak strength. There's a reason I have never visited you during your stay at the clan."
"I know," Azzy remembered it but he didn't care. In the past, he requested his great-great-great grandfather to lift the banishment from Oakley once. So, he was confident about doing it again. But, as he doesn't want to bring up the past, Azzy replied, "I'm the heir to the clan. Surely, the monarch will be able to do that much for me."
"Well, actually, you are no longer the heir." Oakley dropped a nuke on him, all of a sudden. "Someone else was already chosen."
"Eh?" Azzy was naturally taken aback. "But, it has only been 2 years."
Oakley then explained the past events that transpired in the clan. After his mysterious disappearance, Qridus has mobilized almost every expert in the clan to search every nook and corner of both of the worlds (Gaia and Arcana world).
However, after they failed to find him for a whole year, everyone concluded that Azzy didn't teleport away but was probably erased from existence because of the second awakening.
The reason they conclude that way is the existence of such similar situations in the past. According to the data gathered by WAMO, for every 1000 Arcana Masters, one could die in the process of awakening, although there hasn't been any report of just being erased.
Everyone in the arena also witnessed the mysterious energy shot from Azzy and struck Barbara before their disappearance.
And now, since Barbara also couldn't be found out and Qridus cannot prove to the elders that Azzy is alive, he was forced to announce the tournament of the heirs where all the eligible descendants can participate.
"So, who is it?" asked Azzy, wondering whether it might be Gredor Crescent, the son of his maternal granduncle (Kylan Crescent) and the next leader of the Crescent clan.
But, to his surprise, Oakley gave another name, "It's someone named Velez Garcia. He is the second prince of Freyles nation."
"Velez?" Azzy went down into memory lane and remembered Velez's victory against Leah in the junior world league. "I know who he is, grandpa. I defeated him in the junior world league, although in a team battle. After returning to the clan, I will challenge him and get back my position."
"Ah! That's right. Team Twilight won against those kids from the Abel Tower back then." Oakley also remembered it as his grandson reminded him. He then added, "But, the one you fought is different from the one in the present. Avia must have taught you the rules of the clan, right?"
Azzy waved his hands in an uncaring manner, "It doesn't matter."
There's an ancient rule in the clan that in a case where a new clan heir is appointed, the former clan heirs of any generation can challenge him to a battle at any time to reclaim the position whether he was been exiled, dismissed, or voluntarily stepped down in the past.
However, there are conditions attached to it.
The first is that it required approval from the majority of the pavilion masters/elders (min: 4 out of 7).
If the first condition isn't fulfilled, then, the former clan heir can take permission from the Monarch of the Death Clan. In this case, it is Qridus Garcia.
Secondly, the current clan heir must accept it. Only then, the challenge will become valid. If the current clan heir has no intentions to battle, then, it is useless. Thankfully, no one in the right mind would do that unless in dire circumstances as it would give a message to the other clan members that the current clan heir is a coward.
Thirdly, a former clan heir can only challenge once against the current clan heir. If they fail, then, they can only wait until a new heir was appointed.
And finally, the challenger cannot kill the new clan heir even on accident while the latter can try to kill the former.
In a way, the conditions are completely favorable to the clan heir but those were the traditions followed for a hundred thousand years.
Azzy wasn't worried about those conditions as he was extremely confident in defeating Velez, who was once knocked by a single punch in the finals.
However, his grandpa Oakley couldn't help but worry. After all, Azzy just returned home. He would rather stay far away from him knowing that he is alive rather than letting him risk his life.
Oakley tried to convince Azzy, "just think about it once again. The last time I know, he is only one step away from the legendary realm. I also heard that he not only possessed the Death energy like you but also went through so many life and death battles."
However, Azzy didn't see Velez as a threat. With the undead skeletons of Cardinal Ophanim (peak-rank-8) and Guardian Vangelis (peak-rank-9), he doesn't fear anyone except for the clan leader and that mysterious grave keeper.
He replied, "Just trust me on this, grandpa. Or you just inform Avia and tell her to visit the house. She can evaluate my current strength personally before reporting to the clan."
"Well, if you say so…"
Since his grandson is too stubborn about his decision, what can Oakley do? He only hoped that his daughter will convince him.
After some time, he asked Ethar to contact Avia and inform her about Azzy.
Meanwhile, at the pocket world located in the Northern Qudour, a middle-aged-looking fellow in a floral patterned shirt, a hat, shades, and shorts, entered a chamber filled with futuristic tech. It's as if he was at some beach, not at a research facility.
"Dr. Mac, I'm here. What is this important thing that you wanted to tell me?" The Supreme realm expert (low-rank-9) asked her.
The woman, who doesn't look like she belongs to the mainland, responded by pointing at the empty seat before her, "Please, sit down first, Commander Aegis."
As Aegis Light, the commander of the special forces of the Northern Qudour sat down, Dr. Mac opened a file on the giant computer screen. It belonged to Azzy, whose image was captured by CCTVs at the Portal point.
"Azrael, or should I say, Azrael Garcia… He's spotted at Larnwick, a tier-1 city at Southern Qudour," She said.
Aegis furrowed his brows as he stared at the picture, "He didn't change a bit in 27 years. I guess your suspicions are right. He is the time traveler."
Dr. Mac wanted to say that it wasn't her suspicions and she had evidence to prove her point. But, she swallowed those words down her throat and calmly said, "I need your authorization to reactive Aria, once again. She is supposed to be his guardian, after all."
Aegis thought for a bit and finally asked her, "are you sure you want to pin your hopes on the kid? We only have 80-90 years until a full-scale invasion reaches the planet."
"Yes, I believe he's the key to completing my research on anti-matter weapon technology. And without that technology, we don't have any chance against the Arcturian Empire (United Federation of Arcturian)." Dr. Mac nodded firmly.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m