Graveyard, Crescent Clan Compound;
The day might be an important one for the Death clan because of the hidden clan meeting and the arrival of the guests. However, for Kylan, it doesn't matter. The elders (pavilion masters) and others will take care of the guests. The Garcia Palace will accommodate them during their stay. There is no need for him to worry about anything.
Hence, just like every other day, Kylan Crescent, the Patriarch/head of the Crescent clan decided to spend his morning time talking with the graves of his deceased son and sister.
However, there was someone else standing there, waiting for him.
"Azrael?" Kylan was slightly surprised as he didn't expect him to meet his grandnephew like this.
Azzy shifted his attention from his maternal grandmother to his granduncle, "Good morning, Lord Crescent. Sorry for making a sudden visit without informing you beforehand."
Kylan waved his hand with a smile, "No, it's fine. I was just surprised, that's all. When did you return?"
"Just a few minutes ago," replied Azzy before adding, "I came here directly to meet you. There's something I need to talk about."
"Me?" Kylan was taken aback at first but he quickly controlled his expression and asked. "Okay, let's go home and talk."
Kylan planned on returning to the graveyard after finishing his business with Azzy but the latter didn't have any plans to follow him.
Without moving from the spot, Azzy said, "No, I believe this is an appropriate location to talk."
"Tell me." Kylan was curious.
Taking a deep breath, Azzy took out a small-sized urn from his storage card and looked straight at the confused Kylan, "I'm sorry to inform you like this but I don't know any other way."
"What is it?" Kylan's eyes fell on the urn. He recognized the object. It is kind of a typical vase that used to be stored with ashes. Who it might be? He wondered. The image of a little girl appeared in his head and his heartbeat spiked up all of a sudden.
Pushing forth his hands, Azzy answered, "This is all left of Barbara. I want to say it to you the last time we met but you were already too emotional when meeting my mom. So, I couldn't bring myself to say this. After that, stuff happened and I didn't get the perfect moment to hand it to you."
Kylan's hands shivered as he took the urn into his hands. His eyes welled up in tears but he held them back and questioned Azzy with a hoarse voice, "What… happened?"
Azzy didn't tell him the truth, not just because it contained the secret of time traveling but it is also because he was the one who killed her. If he revealed that, then, he will also have to explain why he did that. No matter how his granduncle took the news, the ending will not be good.
Hence, he told him the story the Reaper crafted for him.
According to Azzy, both of them somehow teleported to the Arcana world where they got lost in a level-4 region, which is full of danger everywhere. They trained together, fought life-and-death battles together, and looked after each other's backs.
And about a year ago, they happened to stumble upon a lair of a legendary realm beast where Barbara perished under its attacks while he managed to get out alive with her corpse.
Azzy then told that he trained vigorously for a whole year without looking for a way to return so that he can take revenge. It wasn't until he killed it did he finally leave the area and returned.
As Azzy ended his explanation with an apology, stating that it was his death energy that went out of control and affected her due to which all of this happened, the latter patted the teenager's shoulder while his tears streamed down from the eyes.
"You did nothing wrong, my grandnephew. It was just her fate. Don't feel guilty…" Kylan then stepped forward and hugged him, further thanking him for delivering justice to Barbara and bringing her mortal remains to her home.
Azzy didn't expect to be consoled in return and it only made him feel guilty for lying to him. But, since this matter had to end here, he didn't drag the conversation any further and excused himself.
After he left, Kylan collapsed on his knees while hugging the vase and continued to cry without making any noise.
Meanwhile, Azzy was scanning the whole village to search for Gideon. After finding out that his aura was at the Violet Pavilion, he too made his way to the location.
Soon, he reached one of the training grounds where a young man appeared to be practicing martial arts like a beginner. There were a couple of others who were sparring together.
Ignoring those two, he went toward Gideon. The latter stopped his practice after recognizing Azzy. "Young Master?"
Azzy didn't expect him to possess any memories of him. Hence, he wasn't disappointed and just calmly stated the purpose of his visit. "Gideon, I need you to come with me."
"Eh? Me?" Gideon was taken aback and hesitated. "Why?"
"Why? Do you need my explanation now that I'm no longer the clan heir?" Azzy tried to force him to use whatever words that came to his mind. Since he wasn't his friend, Azzy didn't feel the need to act all nice too.
Gideon immediately got scared when they heard it and immediately told Azzy that he will follow the order.
"Let's go…" Azzy started walking away. Gideon quietly followed him. The two people who were sparring with each other spotted them and thought that Gideon probably had offended the young master.
After going to a secluded location at the Violet Pavilion, Azzy once again took the help of the Reaper to create a spatial barrier that will cut off its connection to the world it belongs to.
As Gideon looked around, observing what happened after Azzy pushed his soul energy into the surroundings. He found nothing strange and returned his attention to Azzy.
Azzy then looked straight into Gideon's eyes and revealed what he learned from Leah when he visited Camelot to drop his parents there. "Now, the dear clone of Gideon, you have but two options. One, tell me the whereabouts of the original and why did he leave you here. Two, I will take you to Lord Qridus and make you spill the truth the hard way. Which option would you like to choose?"
Gideon's clone became silent for a while.
As the impatient Azzy stressed the matter once again, the clone spilled the beans without hiding anything.
More than 25 years ago, Gideon and Estella made their relationship public. The Moon clan didn't like it as Gideon was less talented and the identity of his master (Ramiel, the VP of WAMO) didn't appear to be enough.
Hence, he challenged the Moon clan that within 30 years, he will return as a Supreme realm expert and ask for Estella's hand in marriage.
The Moon Clan agreed and Gideon disappeared without a trace for more than a year only to create a clone and send it to the Death clan to act as him.
How this clone was created? How could it stay for more than two decades and grew like a normal human? Where did Gideon leave after that? The clone didn't have answers to any of those questions as it only had Gideon's memories before its creation.
With no useful information extracted from the clone's mouth, Azzy was slightly disappointed and told him to continue doing what he was doing until now.
He left Gideon's clone and finally went to the Garcia Palace to meet the clan head.
While exchanging greetings with everyone on the way, Azzy made his way to the throne hall, which was closed for the moment.
The two guards outside the giant door stopped Azzy and informed him that the monarch is in deep sleep.
Not intending to disturb his ancestor, Azzy went to the second floor to sleep in the room that was only allotted to him since he was eight.
However, surprisingly, even that door is closed with someone locked from inside.
Did his room was given to someone else just because he was out for nearly three weeks? Azzy wondered.
After thinking about whether he should knock or not for a few seconds, Azzy decided to choose another room on the same floor. Since this was also considered his ancestral home, he didn't feel the need to ask someone's permission. Not to mention, it is not like he wants to sleep anyway. He just wants to take a break until noon.
Azzy was about to walk away and suddenly, the door was opened. He turned his head to look at the person who occupied his room.
"An elf???" Azzy exclaimed in surprise.
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