A Peacock Husband of Five Princesses by day, a Noble Assassin by Night-Chapter 194: Raw -

Azzy opened his eyes slowly, like someone waking from a nightmare rather than meditation.

Sweat trickled down his face, dripping off his jaw and soaking into his shirt. His breath came in uneven pulls at first, then steadied when he forced himself to take long, deep inhales.

He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and muttered under his breath, more to himself than to the empty lake around him. "What was that…" The shock in his voice wasn't something he could hide. "It's been… years since I even felt pressure like that." He stared at his trembling fingers. "No… not pressure. That was presence. Pure presence… divine and old."

He swallowed, thinking about the eyes that appeared for that single second. "Hera… has to be Hera. No one else looks at me like that." He rubbed his chest lightly, as if checking whether the curse left anything behind. The thought bothered him more than the pain did. "I wonder if she saw me… really saw me."

He leaned back and stared at the sky. It had been months since Uriel came to him with that hushed warning—the archangels forming an alliance with the Olympians, all of them aiming for one thing: him, and the soul of the supreme angel he still sealed inside his own body.

He had waited for signs, battles, messengers, anything… but the world stayed strangely quiet, too quiet for his taste so far. "They'll make their move eventually," he said, mouth tightening. "Maybe during the tournament… or after the birth of my son."

After a minute, he sat up and exhaled slowly, trying to settle the lingering dread. He searched inside his ring and pulled out the music box, its surface gleaming faintly under the Shadow Moon's light.

The box was small, elegant, carved from orichalcum with tiny runes that looped around the edges like vines. A treasure forged with the spell of fate—something mortals never touched and even most gods avoided.

Now that the curse was removed, it felt strangely light in his hand, almost peaceful, yet humming with quiet danger. "So this shows the fate of the listener, huh?" Azzy murmured. "Let's see what mine looks like."

He opened the lid.

A gentle tune floated out, soft but piercing, like someone whispering directly into his thoughts.

The melody barely lasted a few seconds before Azzy's vision blurred. Something struck his mind—clean, swift, unavoidable. His body reacted on its own.

He sank into a lotus position, eyes closing without his permission. He didn't resist. Instead, he allowed the force to pull him deeper, like a river guiding a leaf. The world around him melted away.

Then the scene formed.

Azzy saw… himself. Slightly older, hair reached as down as his waist, expression calmer but heavy. This older version stood at the edge of a white portal, one that pulsed like a living thing. In front of him, someone out of sight listened silently. Azzy watched himself take a breath, shoulders stiff, and say in a low voice, "Sorry, Leah… but this is how it has to end. I… I have to go."

And then the older Azzy stepped into the portal, swallowed by white light.

The vision snapped apart.

Azzy blinked rapidly, heart pounding. The music faded, leaving the lake quiet again. He gripped his knees, feeling the cold wind cut through his clothes. "What… what was that?" he whispered.

His breath trembled a little as he tried to make sense of the scene. "Is that… my fate? But why… why was I apologizing to Leah?" He paced in a small circle, running a hand through his hair. "Why not Claire? Why not Leiza? Why was it Leah of all people?" His eyes narrowed, trying to recall every detail. "And where was I going? What was that portal?"

The confusion felt like a knot in his chest.

He clicked the box open again and let the melody spill out.

The world swirled. The force pulled him under.

The same scene replayed—older Azzy, the white portal, the heavy apology. But this time, Azzy noticed something he had missed. Before stepping into the portal, the older version tilted his head upward for a moment. The sky—Azzy hadn't looked at it before. Now he saw it clearly.

The sky above was blood-red, dark as fresh wounds. Lightning forked across the clouds again and again, Thunder cracked so loudly the vision shook. Azzy felt his own heartbeat stutter at the sight.

The scene ended again.

Azzy opened his eyes with a sharp inhale.

"What… is that place?" he whispered. "Is it another world? Or is something happening here… in the future?"

The music box closed with a soft click.

Azzy didn't move.

He kept replaying the red sky in his mind, trying to stitch it into something that made sense. The vision felt like a warning but not one he understood.

His thoughts tangled themselves around the same questions—why was he apologizing, why Leah, why the portal, what world was that?—and the more he tried to pull the knots apart, the tighter they became. The air stayed still around him, as if even the breeze hesitated to interrupt his thoughts.

Then, without any warning at all, a faint crackle of energy shimmered in front of him, like lightning trapped inside paper.

An envelope materialized in midair and floated gently down, opening by itself before it even reached him.

Azzy blinked, momentarily shaking off the heaviness of the vision. The envelope unfolded into a floating script, and a voice echoed out in a hurried whisper. "Lord Azrael, this is Estella. It's an emergency situation. Please come to the Moon Clan village ASAP. Orion is in danger."

The weight of those words hit him instantly. His whole expression shifted from tired confusion to sharp alertness in the span of a heartbeat. The vision, the fate, the red sky—all of it dropped straight to the back of his mind.

Orion's name alone was enough to sever everything else.

Azzy sent a quick message back, his voice low but firm, telling Estella he would arrive within seconds and to send someone to receive him at the entrance. He didn't waste another breath.

"Come out..."

His sword of radiance appeared in his hand with a flash, and divine light wrapped around him like wings folding over his form.

In one movement, he turned into his angelic state—golden feathers, bright eyes, and light humming under his skin. He raised the sword, muttered the spell, and used its long-distance teleportation. Space around him twisted, and in an instant, the lake vanished.

He appeared at the Moon Clan village entrance, the cold wind hitting him first. The stone path stretched quiet and empty ahead, though the air felt nervous, like something big had rattled the entire place.

After dismissing the sword and returning to human form, Azzy waited for several minutes before Selene came running, her steps hurried and uneven. The moment she saw him, she bowed quickly, her breath shaky. "Lord Azrael… thank you for coming. Orion… he isn't waking up at all." Her voice cracked, but she forced herself to continue. "The seal on his body—created by that Alexander—it's reacting again."

Azzy's expression hardened instantly. He lowered his wings, letting them fade, and looked at her with steady seriousness. "Tell me everything. From the beginning."

They walked through the village paths, Selene walking just a little too fast, as if trying to outrun her own anxiety.

Along the way, she explained everything—how the fallen angel Azazel had suddenly appeared, how Orion fought, how the fight spiraled out of control, and how Alexander, called the Destroyer, a Supreme being, interfered.

Selene's voice rose and fell, trembling at parts when she remembered the destruction, then turning frustrated when she mentioned how easily Orion was overwhelmed. She rubbed her arm nervously before she added, "That Alexander… he was terrifying. Stronger than anyone I've ever seen. Stronger than Zion, stronger than any elder, stronger than anyone. But still…" She glanced at Azzy out of the corner of her eye with a faint breath of admiration. "He wouldn't be a match for you, of course. I'm sure of it."

Azzy didn't reply. His face stayed unreadable, but his silence said enough—he wasn't underestimating anyone who could hurt Orion that badly.

By the time they reached the Moon Clan's main residence, the air felt heavy with tension. Elders moved around in hurried steps, but everyone seemed to quiet down the moment they noticed Azzy.

Estella stood waiting with one of the grand elders by her side. She didn't smile, didn't waste time with soft words. She greeted him respectfully, her eyes tight with worry, and motioned for him to follow. "Come. Quickly."

They walked through the corridor into the guest wing. The hallway was silent, as if the whole building was holding its breath for one person.

When Estella opened the door, the room was filled with healers and seal-breakers working around a single bed. Their faces were pale and tense. No voices. No discussion. Only the sounds of anxious breaths and faint glowing spells.

Azzy stepped closer.

Orion lay on the bed, upper body exposed, sweat beading on his skin. His chest rose slowly, too slowly. At the center of his torso, an eye-shaped seal pulsed faintly, its edges dark like burnt ink.

Luna sat at Orion's side, holding his hand tightly, her face exhausted. Her tears had dried into thin streaks on her cheeks, leaving her eyes red and dull. She didn't even look up at first. She just squeezed Orion's hand again and again, whispering something too quiet to hear.

Azzy stood beside the bed, his eyes fixed on the seal, his breath tightening.