After pondering for a bit, Qridus decided to trust the Arcana of his heir. Not to mention, he was the leader of the Death clan. If he was attached to the living, it would be a joke. However, the only thing that worries him is how the failure will impact Azzy's mind.
But, it is already too late for him to think. The Reaper already unleashed the seal of gluttony.
The gluttony beast enveloped the both of them like a cocoon before completely eating away the seal placed on them. Once the job is done, Azzy returned to the real world.
"The seal was removed?" Qridus was stunned on the spot. He was worried about the consequences of failure but it appears that he was the fool here. In the next instant, light teardrops filled his eyes as Vesyrn let out a groan. However, he quickly wiped it away without letting others see him being emotional.
Meanwhile, Vesyrn slowly opened his eyes. As his face was titled to the left as per Qridus' wishes, the first person he saw ended up being his wife. In the meantime, Izora's pupils were moving left and right but she wasn't opening her eyes yet as if she was in the middle of a bad dream.
"I… zo… ra?" Vesyrn managed to force out those words and Izora's eyes opened widely at the same time. "Dear!"
Unlike him, she abruptly sat on the bed and grabbed her husband without worrying about the surroundings. "Are you alright?"
"Ye… ah…" Vesyrn let out a smile.
Qridus then cleared his throat, earning their attention. They also saw Azzy standing there beside the bed emotionlessly while actually staring at them.
Naturally, Izora didn't recognize Azzy but she felt that he was quite familiar, especially with his eyes and face cut. Did she know the kid? Nope, she doesn't, but first things first, she should greet the old man.
Quickly getting down from the bed, she knelt down, "Greetings, Lord Qridus."
Azzy was quite surprised to see that his mother was completely fine. She woke up 13 years after the coma but was full of strength and without any aftereffects. On the other hand, Vesyrn looked more like a sick guy.
Waving his hand, Qridus told her to be at ease. As Izora relaxed and rose to her feet, the clan leader then casually introduced Azzy to her, "By the way, that is Azrael, your son. I'll leave you guys alone." Qridus then disappeared.
"Eh?" A trace of surprise appeared on Izora and she turned toward Azzy. Vesyrn also forced himself to turn his head to look at Azzy upon learning that his son is there.
"Azrael?" Izora's eyes turned moist, all of a sudden. Azzy greeted them calmly, "Hello, mother. Hello, father."
Izora rushed forward to hug her son instantly. "Azrael? My baby…" She looked at him again and caressed his face with tears in her eyes, "Look at you… Just a while ago, you were a baby and now, you were already so big."
Azzy had a few memories of them but he doesn't have much emotional attachment to his parents compared to Oakley. Not to mention, he just had seen them a couple of days ago.
Hence, he could only respond by hugging back his mother who was being quite emotional, different from the person that he knew from the past, "Welcome back to the world, mom. It's nice to meet you."
It was the first time he addressed someone as mom directly, but for some reason, it felt good. He looked at his dad and freed himself from his mother before crouching to the bed's level, "Nice to meet you too, dad."
Vesyrn forced out the words with great difficulty, "how… old… are… you?"
Azzy looked at him and then at his mom, "I'm 14 years old and this is 2021."
"Sorr… sorry… for… leav… leaving… you… alone… for… for… all these… years," said Vesyrn as he tried to get up but collapsed on the bed again.
Izora hurriedly grabbed him and said, "Take rest. No one is going anywhere."
"What happened, mom? Why are you fine but he is too weak to sit?" asked Azzy, worrying whether it is because of the side effect of the gluttony seal.
Izora let out a deep sigh and shook her head, "I'm not sure. I guess it is because I possessed a special constitution."
Azzy immediately contacted the Reaper. To which, the latter gave a shocking reply.
"Protos energy? How could my mother possess it?" Azzy had seen his mother battle in person. Hence, he knew that he was sure that his mother didn't have any Protos energy. Something clicked in his mind. "Is it my future self?"
The Reaper confirmed his suspicion immediately, "Yes. Remember how you unknowingly provided Barbara, your Protos energy? If you can do it unknowingly, then, a demigod version of yourself can do it willingly. However, there's nothing to worry about. Your mother has a diluted form of Protos energy and is completely swallowed by her own soul energy. She won't turn like Barbara."
"Barbara…" Azzy couldn't help but remember her death and became sad. He cannot tell the truth to her family and neither does he want to lie.
If he was living in the Death clan and will one day become the clan leader, then, everyone who is a part of the clan should be his family. He felt that it is too unfair to Barbara's parents.
As he was looking down at the floor, he felt a pat on his shoulder, forcing him to return to reality and look at the source.
Izora asked, "Is there anything that is disturbing your mind? I just had this feeling somehow."
At the moment, Azzy didn't seal his soul orb and looked emotionless on the surface. But, Izora just figured out that her son is different from a moment ago.
She wasn't this perceptive in the past. So, Azzy was a little bit surprised but he forced himself to be calm and told her that there is something that he had forgotten.
"Anyway, take a seat. I have lots to talk about with you two."
Azzy shared about the important things that happened in his childhood so that his parents understand his personality, likes, and dislikes, making it easier for them to communicate with him, later on.
Vesyrn was feeling extremely weak but he attentively listened to everything that Azzy spoke of.
Izora just woke up and would usually go outside for the fresh air and also meet her uncle, if he is still alive. But, right now, for her, there appeared to be nothing else important.
Listening to Azzy, she maintained her smile continuously for the next fifteen minutes.
Meanwhile, in order to hide his time-traveling secret, he spoke of his past two years as the experience in an unnamed academy.
Azzy didn't speak of any names of his friends as they were acquainted with his parents. Not to mention, he doesn't have any time-tested relationship with his parents as he had with Oakley Night. There's that too.
Izora and Vesyrn felt delighted when they heard that Azzy already got himself a girlfriend but soon, the smile disappeared from Vesyrn's face as he ended the story with how she decided to return to her homeland in order to get stronger.
Thankfully, Azzy then told them that he was completely fine with it and he will wait for her. That recovered their mood properly.
Once he was done with the story without confidential ones that he cannot reveal to anyone else, Azzy said to Izora, "I have told everything that happened in my life. Now, I want to know what happened to both of you. At first, people told me that both of you died in the Forest of Death. Then, recently, Grandpa Oakley told me that it is the work of a dark organization named Mystic. So, I just want to hear the truth from you, mom."
The moment he spoke of the name of the organization, Izora and Vesyrn flinched for a moment. She raised her voice and warned him, "No, it is better if you don't learn about them."
"But why?" Azzy informed them that this organization was already uprooted by the clan leader. No one from Mystic is left, according to Oakley.
Izora was taken aback by that piece of information but she didn't appear to believe it. "There's no way. The leader of the organization is in the same league as Lord Qridus. Did he really take revenge for us?"
Azzy shrugged his shoulders, "who knows? Anyway, there's nothing for us to worry about that organization, mom. And even if it exists, I don't fear them. I'm already at 7-star realm and won't take long to reach Supreme realm too."
This statement from Azzy gave them another wave of surprise.
As Izora is in a condition to sense it, she immediately probed his soul realm and when she realized that her son has entered the same realm as them, her face was frozen in shock before a wide smile appeared on her face. "Seriously… My senses aren't kidding. You are really in the 7-star realm. But, you are just 14 years old. Did you awaken platinum grade Arcana or something?"
Azzy then rose to his feet and got back a couple of steps before summoning two of his soul cards. The black lightning wolf jumped out of one of the soul cards and landed beside Azzy.
"Mom, dad… Meet Vajra." He introduced the wolf first.
*woof*
Vajra sat on its butt and raised its paw, greeting them amicably. Izora couldn't help but sense its terrifying aura. At the same time, she felt a sense of friendliness.
Azzy then was about to summon the Ruby, who turned into a humanoid Arcana after its evolution into celestial grade, but then, his first soul card glowed on its own and the specter directly appeared in the real world, scaring the hell out of his parents with its scary appearance. Surprisingly, it has wings too, which is a new thing for Azzy.
"Chronos?"
The specter turned its skeleton head to look at Azzy. "Hello, Azrael."
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