"Your Majesty, I would like to challenge Prince Velez for the reclamation battle." Vesyrn directly expressed his desire to acquire his clan heir's position.
Naturally, it took everyone by surprise.
Kylan, Vesyrn's uncle-in-law and the Patriarch of the Crescent clan, strongly objected right away. "Vesyrn, you just woke up from the comatose state after 13 long years. There's no need to hurry. You can take your time and recover completely."
In response, Vesyrn let out a smile as he shook his head, "Taking a long time will mean that I accept Prince Velez as the new clan heir, Lord Kylan. I'm sorry but I cannot accept a member of a royal family to lead our clan."
After replying to Kylan Crescent, he turned toward the young man standing in the center of the hall, "No offense, Prince Velez, but you are the heir to the throne of Freyles after the demise of your elder brother. You have a responsibility to help out your father, not us."
Velez furrowed his brows in displeasure, not liking a bit that he was being lectured by someone he deemed a weaker guy. "My father has other heirs, Vesyrn. As the direct descendant of the founder born with Death Energy, I believe my power should serve the clan."
Velez countered Vesyrn using his legitimacy and took a slight dig at this former clan heir, who was known to inherit the light attribute like his forefathers.
Vesyrn had lived for long enough to understand Velez's words. In his mind, he too agreed with what Velez just said but he will not just shut his mouth either as he needs to make sure that this prince will accept the battle.
Following the plan made by Azzy, he said, "Then, we can only resolve our differences through a formal battle. I lose, then, not only me but even my son will also relinquish his right to challenge for the clan heir position ever. If you lose the battle, you will have to return to your home and succeed your father, fulfilling your responsibility as the son to your father and duties of the prince to your citizens."
There was pin-drop silence in the room as Vesyrn gave everyone the shock of their life.
It was one thing if he challenges Velez but Azzy will also get dropped from the race? This was something that the pavilion masters usually cannot accept it. However, the fact that they couldn't sense anything from Azzy made them wonder whether their beloved young master actually turned into a mortal, and that is probably why Vesyrn had taken such a decision.
At the same time, they cannot put aside the fact that Vesyrn and Izora woke up only after Azzy returned. Is this really a coincidence?
Obviously, they aren't fools to think that way.
Since they don't believe that Azzy can cure them, they were sure that Azzy had acquired a miraculous elixir or a heaven-defying treasure during the past couple of years.
So, the only question is whether he probably acquired it by sacrificing his soul orb or he just had managed to find a way to hide his soul realm. The latter seems more plausible.
Even then, they wouldn't have guessed that Azzy is in the 7-star realm. Hence, they couldn't but think that perhaps, after his defeat, Vesyrn might leave the death clan with his family and relocate somewhere else. Such thoughts disturbed everyone, who isn't on Velez's side.
Meanwhile, Qridus stared at Vesyrn and Azzy for a while. He couldn't see what Azzy was thinking but he believed that Azzy had given his consent for this bet. Seeing how the kid brought back his father with the Reaper's help, Qridus decided to support him once again.
Worst comes to worst, he will make Azzy the successor to the guardian of the clan instead.
After making up his mind, Qridus nodded and made an announcement without bothering to ask the opinions of the pavilion masters or gathered before him. "On the evening of the awakening ceremony, Velez Garcia will battle Vesyrn Garcia at our clan's arena. Whatever stakes you wanted to decide, discuss with Avia Night. The judge will act as the mediator and she will be the one to submit the final agreement to me, on the day of the battle. Everyone is dismissed."
Soon, all of them exited the throne hall and then started chatting with the family of three while Velez and a few pavilion masters excused themselves.
"Kid, you have really grown up during the past couple of years." Evelyn couldn't help but ruffle Azzy's hair in affection.
Azzy couldn't help but gave a cheeky reply, "You too looked like you have grown older, Elder Crescent."
"Hey, call me big sister, you brat." She arm-locked his head playfully and then asked in a casual tone, "Say, what happened to your soul energy anyway."
The Death clan knows how to resurrect one's soul orb, although the user's potential would be reduced. But, still, for a guy like Azzy whose potential was shown at the maximum, he might be able to reach the Supreme realm or at least the legendary realm. Hence, Evelyn didn't think too much of the loss and was mentally prepared.
Thankfully, Azzy didn't say to her that he lost his soul orb. Instead, he simply said, "You can find it out when we spar again."
"Oho! the little brat has become cheekier, huh." Evelyn went on to pinch his cheeks as little punishment while feeling happy that her fears aren't true. Azzy let her do that as he too was happy to reunite with this maternal aunt of his.
On the other hand, Kylan became emotional and shed a few tears as he hugged his niece, who he dearly loves more than his son. He knew the curse of Eros that was plaguing the Death clan, or specifically, the Garcia family, hence, he was always worried about her from the moment she got married to Vesyrn.
After a while, Vesyrn and his family first made a trip to the Garcia family's cemetery to visit Vesyrn's parents, who were buried there. At the same time, he also wanted to meet the clan guardian, Pierre Garcia. Kylan followed them as he intends to take them to his home after this.
And just as he wished, Vesyrn did see the old man who was pretending to be a grave keeper for several millennia.
Looking at him from far away, Kylan let out a sigh and commented, "It is really a pity, isn't it. A former clan heir, who was once a Supreme realm expert, reduced to such a state."
"What do you mean, Grand-uncle?" asked Azzy. Until now, he only thought that Pierre was probably hiding his secret by posing as a grave keeper. But, it appeared that there was something more to the story.
Kylan looked at Azzy and explained, "Pierre Garcia was born in the same generation as Lord Qridus. We actually didn't know his relation to the monarch and neither do we have any idea why he was being punished like this but all we know is that he doesn't talk or meet anyone and neither would he even bother to reply to anyone else except for the monarch. Being very close to the monarch, no one tries to mess with him. All the people who did that ended up being expelled or executed."
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