As she left everyone's sight, Vesyrn inwardly sighed, "Affy is growing stronger quicker than I expected. It should be a good thing but her personality isn't improving either. She's becoming too spoiled because of Izora. That woman doesn't let me scold her even a little bit and Azzy, sigh… I don't know what's up with that kid either. He doesn't tell anything about his training or his work life.
Once, this preliminary war is over, I guess I should put more focus on my family."
Meanwhile, in a world located atleast ten light years away from the planet of Gaia, a six-foot handsome teenager with an athletic physique but messy hair was floating just above the ocean of lava.
He appeared to be in the middle of meditation while continuously absorbing a tremendous amount of natural energy from the lava flowing below him.
His soul was in spectator mode as a new planet-sized object was slowly forming within his soul orb. As the eighth planet was completed, he opened his eyes. A silver ring briefly appeared around both of his irises before they disappeared.
*Sigh*
A long sigh was heard in his head, followed by the words, "A pity indeed. You almost managed to knock on the door of the ninth tier of Divine physique. It looks like your breakthrough isn't enough for the task."
Azzy couldn't help but ask, "Why is it so hard to reach the ninth tier, Chronos?" He appeared to be slightly frustrated as it has been a couple of years since he reached the peak stage of the eighth-tier physique. For a person born with unlimited potential, the situation is indeed an abnormal one.
"Natural energy is a part of Goddess Gaia. The Jinn, on the other hand, was filled with dark matter, which is a purified form of demonic energy. Note that both are polar opposites in nature and it is almost next to impossible for those energies to coexist," explained the Reaper.
"Yeah, I figured that out long ago."Azzy nodded and asked the Reaper for an alternate solution. "What should we do now? Can't sacrifice Jinn for a mere breakthrough. He is now my Arcana spirit and proved himself to be quite useful. There must be another way."
The Reaper named just one place, "The forest of death."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet where there is nothing but ice and snow, Leah was seen sparring against the guardian god with everything she has got without worrying about the destruction caused in the surroundings.
The ground is splitting, the ice is constantly getting destroyed and reformed, and the cold winds were getting wilder as time passed by.
But, neither Leah nor the guardian god was affected by the changes in the environment. Their pace of the battle wasn't slowed down a bit.
"Izarok, use Glacial Spikes."
The Aqua girl (Leah's second Arcana spirit) unleashed a series of torrents of water and attacked the guardian god. However, because of the low temperature (-200C), the water turned to ice, becoming solid attacks.
The guardian god let out a smile as he gave a nod, "Good move. However…"
He then stretched his arms wide and mumbled, "Heavenly Push."
A gust of wind escaped from his body and struck the glacial spikes head-on at the same time. However, it didn't destroy them. Instead, the wind slowly changed the direction as fluidly as water and pushed them from the side.
The glacial spikes have changed their direction and entirely missed him. They crashed into each other and exploded into powder.
Looking at his stunned student, he said, "You need to be smarter, Leah. You have the perfect mastery over the elements, unlike that disciple of mine. However, it isn't enough. You need to control the elements as you own them, not host them.
If you want to revive the Empire of Arcana and rule it as the Queen Regnant, then, you must gain acknowledgment from your destined knight. And that can only be possible when your strength should atleast be in the same league as his.
Anyways, Azrael looked like he made a breakthrough. He will be returning to the clan to prepare for the upcoming war. Camelot has no role in this one. So, for the next couple of months, you will continue to train on this planet."
Leah nodded seriously, "I understand, teacher."
"Good… now, let's continue with the spar…" The guardian god split into two before one disappeared while the other gestured for her to proceed.
A couple of hours later;
In a 0-degree longitude region where the temperature is around 30 C, there was a tent placed on the ground which looked normal on the outside but is like a mansion inside. It was the same one Sapphire Magnolis gave Azzy a long time ago as compensation.
The three of them were sitting around the dining table like a family and having lunch.
"Wow, she has grown so big already," exclaimed Leah as she was looking at the pictures saved on Azzy's smartphone. "I wish I could return with you…"
"Yeah, I wish the same." Azzy nodded in agreement, "Affy likes you very much. You don't know how many times she asked me to take her to Camelot."
The guardian god then commented, "Too bad that her fate isn't linked with me. I cannot take her as my disciple. She has the potential to be the next Gaia."
As Azzy and Leah stayed silent, not knowing, how they should reply to his statement, a sweet but powerful voice interrupted their conversation. "It looks like someone is planning to retire me?"
All of them turned their heads toward the entrance of the tent where they saw a woman walking toward them.
Her presence was magnetic, drawing everyone's attention toward her as she gracefully walked into the room.
Her eyes sparkled with intelligence, and her infectious smile lit up the space.
Confident, yet humble, she carried herself with a natural ease that spoke of inner strength and resilience. She was the kind of person who made a positive impact on those around her without even trying.
"Gaia…" A pleasant smile appeared on the guardian god's face.
"Sorry for the late," said the woman whose presence bring a smile to Leah and even Azzy's lips. Both of them got up from their seat and bowed to the person who reminded them of their respective mothers.
"It's been a while, Leah, Azrael… Especially, you, Azrael. You grew up quite fast." Gaia returned the greetings as she approached the table.
"Thank you" Azrael and Leah continued to look at her feet. They refused to look at her face for some reason.
The mother goddess didn't mind that and took the seat beside the guardian god and said, "The meeting at the Olympia went longer than I expected. It appeared that Archangel Michael is planning something big and Zeus isn't happy about it as it will topple the balance of the universe. He proposed for the war as always."
The moment Michael's name came up, Azzy's face suddenly raised and he looked at her directly before turning his gaze away.
Sensing the changes in Azzy's emotions, the mother goddess smiled at the teenager and said, "Don't worry. No one is in favor of the war. Your father-in-law is safe."
Azzy blushed in embarrassment, "He is not my father-in-law. He doesn't even know my existence. And I'm not even sure whether Claire still loves me or even remembers me…"
As Leah tried to maintain a fake smile on her face, the mother goddess let out a chuckle, "Relationships of intelligent mortal species like you humans are quite interesting indeed. The gods at the Olympia have complex relationships. As for me… sigh…"
She wiped out the smile and let out a sigh of disappointment as she continued, "I can only see a person where it is a mortal or a god through the lens of a mother. Everyone is my child and even the gods see me as their mother figure." Her emotions suddenly changed and the smile returned to her face once again as she grabbed the guardian god's hand. "Fortunately, there is someone who would make me feel like a woman, even if it is for a brief period every once in a while."
"That's because my powers come from the null dimension and your inborn ability has no effect on me, Gaia," commented the guardian god in a casual tone while continuing to hold her hand. He locked his fingers with hers and the smile on Gaia widened.
The mother goddess joined them for the lunch and ate with them just like any other human does even though she doesn't actually need food in the first place. Strangely, until the end, the guardian god refused to leave her hand and was willing to use energy hands instead.
Leah found it extremely weird but she cannot speak it out as she knows her place. Gaia also found it weird but she likes it and didn't reject the skinship. Azzy looked like he doesn't care about it. Not to mention the fact that this wasn't the first time this scene was happening in the past couple of years.
After a while, the mother goddess left them and Azzy also bid his farewell to Leah, returning to the home of the guardian god along with the latter.
Once they appeared in the pocket dimension where only the master and disciple are present, the guardian god's expression changed to that of seriousness as he looked at Azzy.
As he raised his hand, a cube-shaped blue energy with a golden energy sphere inside appeared over his palm. "Be careful, Azrael. I risk my relationship with Gaia by slowly stealing her divine energy over the past couple of years without her knowledge. I hope this much will be enough."
Azzy carefully took it into his hands and placed it in his storage card. "Thank you, Master."
"I hope you know what you are doing." As the guardian god warned his disciple to not be reckless, the latter firmly nodded, "Yes, I am."
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