Chapter 16 - Fate Or Coincidence?
Chapter 16 – Fate Or Coincidence?
Aelius Crescent, dubbed as the lightning god, belongs to a branch family of the Crescent clan.
To be specific, he's the ancestor of Kylan and the last Crescent clan leader who reached the peak stage of rank-9.
Even though Aelius Crescent is in the same generation as Qridus Garcia, and Francis Blood, he's far more talented than them. In just 2000 years, he reached the peak stage of rank-9.
His black lightning was the most concentrated form of lightning energy that's recorded in the top-10 most deadly Arcana ever.
But, genius as he is, he is also someone with notorious fame that massacred twenty million innocent people taking revenge for his eldest son and his wife who were assassinated by an enemy empire.
It took so many rank-9 experts to hunt him down. Qridus was one of them.
Back to the present, the old man didn't mind Kylan's outburst and let out a deep sigh as he stared at the black lightning orb in Azzy's hands. "He awakened the Vajra, huh! It's nostalgic indeed."
The appearance of such powerful Arcana made the clan leaders even forget for a moment the fact that 103 out of 108 runes were lit up.
Meanwhile, Azzy who doesn't know who the hell is Aelius didn't think too much about it and concentrated on the lightning orb.
Since he can't summon the Reaper to enhance its abilities, he touched the stone slab with the orb.
Once again, his surroundings changed, and found himself at the same spot.
The black lightning spirit that took the shape of himself, spoke, "I'm Vajra, once wielded by the King of Heavens, and now, just a banished lightning spirit who embraced the power of darkness.
Azrael Garcia, I sense an enormous amount of dark power within you, and yet, there's no darkness in your heart. I hope you would use my power to right the things that I have done…"
"I don't understand," Azzy scratched his head in a little bit of confusion, what does it mean by right things. He also felt something amiss in its speech but can't put his finger on it. "What do you mean by that?"
But, the lightning spirit didn't give an explanation and vaguely said, "You will understand once you reach rank-7."
'For what?' thought Azzy.
Leaving Azzy in confusion, it spoke in a loud voice, looking at the sky, "I'm ready, Chronos."
A new figure suddenly appears beside the lightning spirit. Strangely, this skeleton has some kind of Jar in his right hand.
He immediately greeted this deity with a bow, "Hello, Chronos. It's been a while."
The Reaper looked at the boy without any emotions and nodded, "I'm watching you. You are doing well with the death scythe and the hourglass, Azrael."
Then, the Reaper turned his head towards the lightning spirit and said, "Is there any left to say to the boy before disappearing?"
Vajra replied, "Just one more thing."
The spirit joined both of his palms and generated lightning energy before releasing it towards Azzy. As it was flying towards the boy, suddenly, it transformed into a black wolf.
It looked at him with its big eyes before moving in a zigzag manner towards him at a lightning speed. Before he knows what's going on, the wolf hit his chest and disappeared into his body.
"This skill is my final gift to you, Azrael before I disappear from here," Vajra spoke to him with a smile.
"Disappearing?" Azzy's confusion increased and fell into thoughts, "Does that mean, they can't share this space or something? Hmm, now that I think about it when I awaken the Arcana, I didn't see corpses or the Reaper. But, I saw the lightning during my first awakening though.'
Azzy, who rarely voices out his doubts, didn't speak of it either and stayed silent.
But soon, his expression changed as the Reaper raised the death scythe.
Looking at him, the lightning spirit maintained his smile, "It's a pleasure knowing you even though it's only for a few moments. I'm entrusting my power and legacy to you. Goodbye, Azrael."
The death scythe slashed the lightning spirit, turning it into a mass of energy before collecting it into a Jar.
It was then, Azzy understood what's going on and he shouted as he took a step back, "Chronos, what are you doing?"
After all the energy was collected in the jar, the reaper answered, "doing my job as the Reaper. Vajra betrayed the King of heavens and embrace the power of Protos to become stronger."
Azzy looked at him like, so what…
The Reaper then explained himself, "I sentenced him to death but the King banished him to the spirit world.
But, he has once again broken the rules and looked for a way to return."
"So, he awakened in the form of Arcana?" Azzy tried to confirm his suspicion.
The Reaper nodded, "Yes. With the power of the corrupted energy of Protos, he became the culprit of 20 million innocent deaths. The King ordered his death.
After the death of Aelius, he returned to the spirit world.
All the spirits in the spirit world are immortal. So, he can't be destroyed. So, I waited.
Whether it was just coincidence or it was really a fate, he found the direct descendant of my previous host all of the five Billion people in this world. It made it easier for me to descend to use the same thing as him."
"So, it isn't a coincidence that I was chosen by a deity. It's because you have a mission to fulfill. No wonder.
I have read so many books but I have never seen a case where one cannot summon their Arcana even after the purification.
From the beginning, I wondered why a deity like you is an Arcana. Now, I get it…"
Azzy became disappointed at the moment that he felt his world was collapsing. He expected on the day he left his home, he was like a tool to the Death clan that only cared about him because of his Arcana.
The ground below him started to shake while a pitch-black aura completely enveloped him as it escaped from the jar.
Reaper frowns, looking at the disgusting aura even though it is highly similar to his. "Protos?"
Meanwhile, Azzy started seeing illusions in his head.
Finishing the job, the Reaper leaves him, leaving him as a normal person. The clansmen are looking at him in disdain. He was getting kicked by the clan members. Avia and Evelyn ignore him.
He got kicked out by the clan head and on the way, someone kills him…
Followed by the illusions, a whisper echoes in his head, "this is your future, Azrael. Come on, accept my power and go against your fate…"
"I won't let it happen." For the first time since his emotions were taken away, Azzy roared in anger.
The aura around him erupted, although unable to push away the Reaper, who shook his head with a sigh, "I guess it was too early."
He quickly disappears and appears behind Azzy and knocks him out with the death scythe's handle.
"You haven't even bothered to hear all of my words… The minds of humans are really shallow."
Looking at the jar, the Reaper then mumbles, "in exchange for your sacrifice, I'm fulfilling your wish. Since the Protos energy already infected his soul energy and can't be removed, I might as well use this opportunity to tame it with yours."
Back to reality, everyone in the Arena stood up in shock as soon as Azzy touched the relic using the orb.
Enveloping in the aura of darkness, he fainted on the spot followed by floating in an unconscious state.
"Purification, right after awakening?" The clan leaders once again were stunned. It's because the less time the Arcana take to acknowledge its owner, the more it becomes easy for the owner to master its power.
If it was some other Arcana, they would have taken it lightly but Vajra is something that's not easily tamable.
It was at that moment, even the Crescent Clan leader thought of dismissing all the thoughts of letting his son be the next clan head.
The same thing ran in other clan leaders' heads except for a certain clan leader.
Avia displayed a rare smile on her face, feeling proud of her student, and then smirked as she takes a look at the clan leaders and everyone else, 'Hmpf, actions speak louder than words. I guess I need to show them, Azrael's potential.'
In the meantime, the disciples who looked down on Azzy because of the rumors, now, felt worse. If lighting 103 of runes is considered a mediocre talent, then, they don't know what to make of the rest of the clan members.
If having a second awakening the second Arcana is called a mediocre talent, then they don't know about the rest…
If awakening an Arcana that's giving off an intensity far stronger than a purple grade is a mediocre talent, then, they don't know what to call themselves…
At that moment, they really want to find out the one who spread the rumors and execute him.
At that moment, several low born clan members became worshippers and hailed him as the son of heaven in their hearts while Qridus is extremely happy that the future of his clan is safe.
However, not all of them are happy or amazed.
In the stands, a disciple looked at floating Azzy with seriousness and mumbled, "I need to inform Young Master."
But, suddenly, something strange happened.
One of the two soul cards are circling around each other, suddenly shattered into specks of light while Azzy continues to float.
***
*Wow*
He heard something barked near his ears.
Azzy opened his eyes and found a black wolf sitting on the floor while he was on a bed.
The wolf loudly barked a couple of times again. "You are finally back, Azrael." He understood the meaning perfectly and the voice is also too familiar. "Vajra?"
Then he looked at his surroundings, "where am I?"
"You woke up…" Just then, a familiar voice was heard from the direction of the door. As he turned his head, Azzy was taken aback to see two people standing together, "Grandpa?"
Both of them looked at each other and then, looked at him with a frown, "who?"