<strong>Somewhere in the snowy mountains of Helenus range, Freyles nation;</strong>
Two men were standing at the shores of the frozen lake for the past 30 minutes with their eyes fixed on the sky.
"When will Lady Avia arrive?" asked a young man of the Crescent clan.
Aspen Night shook his head with a sigh, "If I know that, would I bring you with me for the company?"
"Are you sure this she isn't getting back at you for your prank?" asked the young man.
Aspen shrugged his shoulders, "You know my sister. She is not the funny type. She would rather whip me in public than do things like these."
"Ugh… I wonder how much longer we have to wait for her." As soon as the young man complained, his eyes fell on the flying card in the sky, coming towards them.
Soon, the flying card and the people standing on it became visible. Aspen was taken aback by the appearance of his father. But in the next instant, he spotted Azzy standing straight behind them.
"Young master Azrael?" Aspen immediately recognized the teenager, who was supposedly missing for the past couple of years. The other person has never seen Azzy, Oakley, and Ethar before. So, he wondered who they were.
The flying card landed on flat ground and Azzy stepped down before greeting Aspen without any sort of expression as requested by Avia, on the way. "Hello, Aspen. It's been a while."
Aspen immediately fell on one of his knees and saluted, "Welcome back, Young Master." The other young man was taken aback and followed the suit while still wondering who the boy is.
Azzy walked forward as the both of them rose to their feet. Avia then ordered, "Aspen, open the gate."
With a thrust and a counter-clockwise turn from the mysterious card, the massive door opened. Azzy couldn't help but remember the first time he enter this place. He was in awe back then. But now, he doesn't care much.
After entering the clan village, Avia, Oakley, and Azzy flew on the flying card, leaving behind Ethar Night with the two young men to report to their respective clans.
Since it is pretty early in the morning, there isn't much traffic in the sky. Just a few flying cards were seen here and there. No one spotted Azzy either until the flying card landed right outside the Garcia Palace compound.
The entrance guards were familiar-looking ones for Azzy. He remembered them and they too remember him. Hence, recognizing Azzy, they kneeled on the spot, "Welcome back, Young Master."
Azzy solemnly nodded and walked through the gate.
As the three of them were walking away, the two guards whispered to each other. "Hey, how come I couldn't sense anything from Young Master? Did he lose his soul energy or something?" "Who knows… But, he is too late anyway. Prince Velez has already been appointed as the clan heir."
For a while, the three of them continued to walk straight at a steady pace before entering the palace. On the way to the throne hall, Azzy saw several guards who he was familiar with, and everyone was damn surprised by his appearance. At the same time, the presence of Avia scared them the most. Hence, they can only kneel for a moment until he passed them.
Eventually, he reached the throne hall, which is currently closed at the moment. These guards appeared unfamiliar to Azzy. Were they new? Perhaps.
They stopped the three of them. They didn't recognize Azzy and one of them directly spoke to Avia. "Elder Night, the monarch is having a chat with Lord Francis Blood. Please come by another time."
Avia calmly replied, "Report to the monarch that I have returned with Azrael Garcia."
"Eh?" "Eh?"
Both of the guards were surprised just like all the others Azzy met on the way.
Before they reacted to it, a voice was heard. It was faint but everyone felt like someone whispered in their ears. "Let them enter."
The doors opened and Azzy saw the two old men standing side by side, facing each other.
Azzy took a deep breath and entered the throne hall, walking forward as calmly as possible. The other two followed him, half a step behind.
Upon reaching the center of the hall, Azzy greeted with his left knee on the floor and his right fist hitting his chest. "Greetings, Ancestor." It's been a while but he hasn't forgotten the etiquette. Avia and Oakley followed the suit.
The frail-looking man let out a rare smile, "I knew that you aren't dead and will definitely return home, my descendant."
Francis Blood, the 8000-year-old fellow, yelped in surprise, "Kid, where is your soul energy? Did something to the soul orb?"
For a man who lived for so long, 2 years isn't that long, and for him, it was as if he saw Azzy very recently. Hence, he was cool with his return. The only thing that he didn't get is the lack of soul energy inside Azzy.
Azzy rose to his feet and replied with an answer that he didn't give it to Avia before when she asked the same question. "It's Decarune seal."
"Decarune seal?" "How do you know the lost technique of guardians?"
Both of the old men were taken aback. As the people who lived for thousands of years, they have heard of the sealing technique but neither have they expected Azzy to master it.
As Azzy nodded and unsealed his soul orb, directly revealing his 7-star realm, Francis was once again surprised and scolded him jokingly, "Exalt realm? Kid, can you give all the shocks at once? At this age, our hearts cannot take it."
Meanwhile, Qridus nodded in satisfaction. He was calmer compared to the Blood clan's leader as he expected this. The clan leader praised him, "I expected you will experience tremendous growth rate within small time but didn't expect it would be this quick."
He then looked at Avia, "Elder Night, your training has indeed cemented a strong foundation for Azrael. You have done well."
"I didn't do much, Your Majesty. It is entirely Azrael's hard work." Avia gave a modest answer, not intending to take the credit at all costs.
After hearing the words from the clan leader, Francis Blood also didn't hold back his praises. "If I remember the history correctly, you are the fourth youngest person in the history of our clan to reach the 7-star realm. I'm really proud of you, kid. I really wonder what dangers you faced at such a young age during the past couple of years to achieve it."
Azzy didn't give any explanations on the matter and just thanked him for the praise. Qridus and Francis understood and they didn't press the issue either.
Qridus then spoke, "Well, you have returned safely. That's enough for me. Anyway, since you are already at 7-star realm, I don't think no one would dare to raise an objection for you to return to your original post."
To which, Azzy replied, "I have returned to the clan for three reasons. One, I want my grandpa's expulsion to be annulled. Two, I want to see my parents. And three, I want to make sure the clan heir position is returned to its rightful person."
"Expulsion?" Avia furrowed her brows. She didn't like it for sure but she is helpless in front of the clan leader.
"Parents? So, you know the truth, huh." Qridus realized that Azzy knew the truth and he didn't bother to hide it anymore. He then looked at Avia, "Elder Night, I want you to send an announcement to all the sub-clan leaders and the pavilion masters that they are summoned at this instant."
He turned his attention to Oakley, "Mr. Oakley Night, I'm removing away your expulsion imposed by the Night clan as of this moment."
And then he finally looked at Azzy, "Follow me. I'll take you to your parents."
Bowing down to Francis as a formality for goodbye, Azzy then followed the old man to a room on the third floor. Surprisingly, it was on the same floor as his past room.
"Just three rooms away? I should have roamed a bit back then." Azzy blamed himself for not being attentive when he was still living at the palace.
As they entered the room, Azzy saw the two figures lying on the bed without any consciousness.
Qridus stopped at the entrance and didn't walk forward, "I have been working on it for the past 13 years but there was no result yet." He looked at the unconscious couple in pity.
Azzy calmly walked forward without an ounce of expression on his face. Upon reaching the bed, he closed his eyes, remembering the required symbols to unleash the seal.
However, he hesitated to proceed and requested the Reaper, "Chronos, why don't you do it?"
The Reaper understood Azzy's thoughts and agreed to his request. If it was anyone else, Azzy would have unleashed the gluttony seal but since it is his parents, he was nervous to do it, worrying about the consequences of his failure.
As the Reaper and Azzy switched their places, Qridus, who was watching from the door, raised his eyebrows, "Hmm? Arcana possession? Wait for a second…" Somehow, this feeling is a little bit too familiar for him, although he can't put his finger on it.
Meanwhile, the Reaper, who possessed Azzy, raised his hand, creating a complex seal, conjuring a strange beast with no eyes or limbs.
Looking at the black-colored slime with large tongue and teeth, Qridus frowned, "what is that thing? I have never seen it before in my life. I believe he was trying to help his parents but that seal was unknown to me. What if it kills them? Should I stop him for the safety or should I trust him and risk their lives?"
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