Lord Shadow-Chapter 1980: A Tree Inside A Temple

He takes a deep breath and then takes a step and in one step, the space around him distorted and he arrives at the edge most part of the tip of the island on the northern part of the island.

This northern part is facing the capital city of Arturia. And he stands there and he closes his eyes.

The snow is still falling but Katarina is still not here

"She probably would be escorted by Arthur first"

This island itself is secluded and hidden. Arthur needs to open the formation first. Azief himself had discussed this matter with Arthur.

He needs privacy to understand something and time to get up to date news of what is happening and make sense of it all.

Not to mention his experience with Wargod, the Divine Monkey and Odin had made him forget some things.

There are only so many things you could store in your mind before some is relegated to the back of your mind

All he needs to do is to take some time to bring back what is on the back of his mind to the front

He closes his eyes and then opens it. It felt like just a second, but he knew he had been standing there for half an hour.

And as he opened his eyes, he could see a swift sword light coming towards him from the distance.

Azief eyes narrow and his divine sense spread out and he sighed

The barrier has been put down. And now a sword light?

She is here.

The headache is killing him and all the ideas and plans he had before are slowly jumbling up that he even forgets what he is about to do now and what he wanted to do.

In his inner world, the leaf shines again and it is almost like a fire that burns the fog in his mind

And his mind is clear again. He did not know how long this would happen and what would happen if he did not have that kind of leaf in his inner world

He shudders to think what would happen if he did not have it. But he also has many questions that he now could not ask

"I am waiting for Katarina" the moment he said these words; he slowly reaffirms what he remembers

He shakes his head and there is a bitter smile on his face

"What the hell!"

"Every waking moment made it worse. I need to heal myself from this" lucid and fog, this state alternate and it is torture for him

And then the snow around the island stopped falling but the cold is intensifying. The sword light stops and a woman could be seen in the sky, slowly descending bringing down petals with her.

Slowly gliding toward him and Azief took a few steps backward as Katarina landed only a few feet in front of Azief

Katarina looks at him and he looks at her.

They looked at each other and for a moment everything faded away

Azief doesn't know what Katarina is feeling right now. But for him, he felt like he had not seen Katarina for a thousand years. Maybe even longer than that.

He smiles seeing her. Seeing an acquaintance and seeing a loved one has always been different

The things that had happened to him have always been mystical and incomprehensible.

To the world and even to some people, he is gone only for a few months.

Of course, this is relative

To the world, he is always there in Pandemonium.

It wasn't until recently that people believed that the one in Pandemonium is not him

To the people who knew him, they have been missing him for months.

There are not many people who knew he was in seclusion. And even fewer know the location of his seclusion

He had chosen one of the seas as his place and the place itself is hidden by all kinds of hiding and concealing formation.

Only a few know that he is there. And then even fewer know that he is no longer in seclusion.

Since the world has become bigger, since the distribution of the world landmasses and the reorganization of the Ten Seas, information about the world powers is not so easily accessible and true information is hard to find.

But for him….it really felt like thousands of years and even millions of years had passed. It is fortunate that his mind could compress all of those memories and choose only to remember what is important

When he saw all of those events in Odin recollection, how many years had passed? So, to him seeing Katarina right now, it felt like seeing a familiar face

More…...than just a familiar face.

He smiles sincerely for the first time since he has returned

"You are beautiful" Katarina hearing these unexpected words...blushes.

Yes, the cold Ice Queen that slaughters thousands of people without even batting an eye is now blushing. In this world, probably only Death Monarch could make her blush

"What…. are you saying?"

"Pft! No one will know this face" Azief said as he comes closer, grinning. Even in his current condition he could not resist to joke to see that face like this

He is the only one I the world that could make her show such an expression and just knowing that make his heart warm

Katarina never expected that the first thing Azief would say to her was to compliment her. She had many words to say. She is anxious. She is worried. She is fearful. Erika said some words that rattled her.

Katarina….is a woman who has never fell in love before. She never really knew how to love. She has a cold and hard exterior but that is simply to mask her own clumsiness.

The only love she knows is the kind of love her brother had shown her.

Protect the person you love.

Azief on the other hand teaches her love has many ways to be expressed.

Sometimes, leaving is loving.

Sometimes, even hurting someone is loving them. Sometimes, even the most inexplicable action is an act of love.

Love….is crazy. That is what Azief told her. And she still has many things to learn

But…. she never thought this is the first thing Azief would told her. And it caught her off guard

"You're joking again. This is serious" This is the first time that Katarina is the one being serious between them both.

When they are together, it was always Azief that is the serious one.

Unlike Azief, Katarina is even more hands off.

The reason is because, while she is powerful, she is not the most powerful in the Republic.

Because the Republic has Jean and it is actually her brother that deals with the day to day operation

She is more of a mascot; a figurehead and she is content of being a figurehead.

She is thinking so many things right now, and there are so many worries in her mind that Azief who is staring at her could not help but could tell what she is thinking

Azief does have some kind of mind reading ability akin to Hirate ability, but he did not have to use the mind reading ability to know Katarina is worried about him

And in just a few seconds Azief could deduce some things from Katarina

"It seems she knows that I am in danger even before she met me. Is it her?' 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Azief thought to himself, but he did not show his worries on his face instead he kept looking at Katarina

"It is no joke. You are beautiful"

And for a moment Katarina did not know how to respond to those words other than blushing.

But then she remembers why she came here and her face tightened

Azief looked at Katarina and feel his heart calm, but when Katarina was looking at Azief she was looking for the signs of pain. And once she knows what to look, her eyes could see it when it is there

"You are unwell" Katarina said as she comes closer and then she stands beside Azie fand held his arm.

Just by the initial touch, she could feel how cold he is.

This kind of cold that pierces through the bones is not the kind of cold that happens naturally.

Not to mention, a being of energy like Azief at this moment should not have been affected by a cold

This cold comes from his own energy. Like some potent poison coursing through his body right now.

The moment Katarina felt this her face fell

"Someone told you I'm sick?"

Azief asks.

Katarina frowned

"You could tell?"

Azief only smirks

"You are not your usual self. And you seem overly worried"

Katarina sighed

"The Oracle" hearing this Azief click his tongue. Her. The moment he heard her name; it is like an unpleasant feeling enter into him

"What did she say?"

"She said, someone leave a tree in the temple and that someone is waiting for someone destined to come. If you come you would know what to do to make sure the leaf of the tree of creation would not wilt"

Then Katarina paused for a moment and then added

"She said you would know who it is"

..