My Soul card is a Reaper-Chapter 949: Azzy and Azrael (Part-2)

Azrael gritted his teeth. His shoulders shook as another divine spear pierced him. However, he didn’t scream this time.

Instead, he glared ahead, letting out a heavy breath as a healing spell washed over his body, healing the wound for the nth time.

Azzy stood a few steps away. With hands behind his back, he said softly. "You should have already experienced a lot. If you move, your body will be pierced by the spears."

Azrael laughed bitterly. "Hard not to move when speaking about them."

"You meant the Death clan?" Azzy asked.

Azrael inhaled sharply and said, "The Death clan killed my entire family. Every single one of them." His fists clenched so hard his nails dug into his palms. "For what? All for the sake of treasure. These hidden clans are all hypocrites. They do actions in the name of protection, but in the end, they only act for their selfish needs. For the sake of the peace, my ass."

Azzy didn’t comment on anything yet. He merely gestured to him to continue his story.

"After I was teleported to the Llyne Nation, I settled there and worked wherever I could... in the farms, and docks, while living a low-key life. Didn’t stay anywhere long and continued to travel all over the places." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Later on, I joined a Marine trading company. I used to go with other men, sailing in the sea and catching various types of fish. The pay was high, and the people were friendly too. But then, in one of the sails, our ship was captured by sea bandits who imprisoned us and sold us to the slave traders. Then, slave traders sold me in the West to some noble who controlled islands there."

Azzy’s fingers twitched slightly, like he didn’t like that part.

Azrael noticed but kept going. "They put me in the mines. It actually turned out to be a blessing as I found a way to absorb energy from the ores there. I kept on working diligently while secretly feeding the energy to the seal in my body in the hopes of awakening the power that my Aunt gave to me. But certain circumstances forced me to go berserk there, and I escaped the place, ran away to the Arcana world, and started hunting down the wild monsters. And for the past few months, I worked at a guild until one mission brought me to the Werewolf Lord, where I was forced to reveal my demonic powers and you caught me."

He exhaled slowly, and the room finally fell quiet.

"That’s my story," he said. "All of it. There’s nothing more I could say about myself."

*

Meanwhile, inside Azrael’s Mindscape;

A low, amused hum echoed in the dark corners of his consciousness.

"Tsk... he’s not simple at all", the devil muttered. "Azrael of this reality seemed to be a lot dangerous than even Michael." A small ripple of irritation pulsed from the demon.

After a pause, the devil said to himself. "Still fine. I have plenty of time to counterattack."

The voice faded like smoke.

*

Back in the Real World

Azzy folded his arms, narrowing his eyes after absorbing the contents of the entire story. "So Barbara is the one who raised you, right?"

Azrael blinked at the sudden shift. "Yeah."

"And," Azzy added, "you awakened only black lightning?"

"Correct."

Azzy’s brows knit together. He looked away for a moment, deep in thought, trying to connect the dots.

Even if Azrael is from a destroyed timeline, most of the parts, the history, and such that predate Azrael should remain the same, because the timeline deviates only because of the Reaper’s successor’s actions unless Znuvo interferes. If Znuvo didn’t alter things before his birth, family ties shouldn’t have changed. In that case, Barbara should be his cousin, as it was the current timeline. But she wasn’t. She was his aunt, supposedly.

He exhaled sharply. "How old was she compared to you?"

Azrael shrugged. "Twenty-five... maybe thirty years older, I guess? All I know that she has raised me since I was a baby."

Azzy froze. "That gap."

That exact gap.

Azrael’s response indicated that twenty-seven years could be the age gap between Azrael and Barbara... It is the same distance as his own time-jump...

And in Azrael’s timeline... if Barbara were born at the same time as this timeline, she should have time-traveled. But logically, she couldn’t time-travel. So how did she jump generations? Why is she older? Why was she an aunt instead of a cousin? What changed? Maybe she was either born way earlier or Azrael was born way later, perhaps, due to Znuvo’s intervention in the timeline at some point, the butterfly effect caused this age gap?

Azzy stepped closer without realizing it.

"Azrael," he asked carefully, "did Barbara ever tell you your parents’ names?"

The 17-year-old thought back. His face stayed blank for a long moment. Then he shook his head. "No. She never said a thing about them."

Azzy’s heart gave a small, uneasy thump. "And... did she ever tell you why the death clan wants you?"

Azrael snorted. "Nope."

"And she never explained anything?" 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Nothing."

The answer made Azzy’s unease solidify into something heavier.

Something felt wrong.

Very wrong.

As something popped up in his head, he spoke as he raised his hand. "I need to check something first."

Azzy didn’t answer. He simply responded by stretching his hand forward. One of the glowing spears floating around Azrael reacted before returning into his hand.

Azrael’s heart skipped a beat. "What are you doing now?" He couldn’t help but wonder whether this guy would kill him or something...

Azzy this time answered through words. He inspected the spear, then turned to Azrael. "I need a bit of your blood."

Azrael opened his mouth. "Wait— What?"

"Don’t worry, it’s just a vial of blood. Not much..."

In the next moment, a thin slice of light shot out from the spear’s edge, nicking Azrael’s arm before he could even react. A drop of blood floated up on its own, shimmering.

Azrael groaned in pain, but he didn’t move, not intending to be pierced by those divine spears.

Azzy, meanwhile, caught the blood in a small vial. "You’ll have to stay here for another day. Don’t move too much. The spears will react."

Azrael’s face twisted. "Just free me, you bastard—!"

He jerked violently, trying to yank his arm free.

The divine spears sang with a sharp hum.

Shing! Shing! Shing!

Three spears stabbed through him again—shoulder, thigh, lower ribs, once again reminding him not to move. Azrael’s roar echoed through the pocket dimension.

And right after—

WOOOM—

The healing seal lit up beneath him, glowing warm gold as it closed the wounds.

Azrael panted hard, sweat dripping down his chin. "Damn... you... bastard..."

Azzy didn’t even look back. He placed the crystal away. "I’ll return after one day," he said calmly. "When I do, I’ll decide what to do with you and the devil inside you."

"Like hell you will—!"

But Azzy had already vanished in a ripple of space.

Azrael glared at the empty air. "This bastard... what the hell did he want..."

For a moment, it was silent. No one is there to respond.

But then a soft whisper echoed in his skull. "Azrael... talk with me."

Azrael stiffened. "Huh?"

The voice came again, steadier this time. Azrael... this time, I only wish to speak. Not take over."

Azrael blinked. This was new. "You? You’re the devil, right? The power that took over me a while ago."

"Yes, it was me. But don’t worry." The devil’s whisper filled his head. "I no longer had the intention to take over you. "

*

Meanwhile, at the Shadow Moon of the Arcana world;

Azzy stepped back into the real world, appearing in his room. Everything was quiet except for the slow, soft breathing from the bed.

Leiza was still curled under the blanket, completely asleep. Her hair had fallen over her face.

Azzy walked over and gently brushed it aside. "Sleep well," he whispered, pressing a kiss on her forehead.

She smiled unconsciously and shifted a bit.

Azzy’s expression softened. Then he vanished again.

A moment later, he appeared at a remote lake under the dark sky of the Shadow Moon without a single soul in sight.

He exhaled. "Good. No one will sense anything here or disturb me."

Azzy reached into his spatial ring and pulled out the treasure he had taken from the devil earlier.

He then sat cross-legged. "Alright... let’s try refining this."

He placed the treasure in his palm and let divine energy flow into it.

At first, it responded gently, like a wild animal slowly getting used to a hand.

Then—

BANG!

A concentrated beam of dark aura flew out of his palm and slammed into his chest like a hammer.

Azzy gasped. "Wha— argh!"

A wave of black-and-gold energy exploded over him. A curse shot into his veins, started burning his insides.

He hit the ground hard. "Agh—! Damn it..."

As the curse was in full effect, his skin began to peel—actual strips of it sliding off like burned paper.

Inside him, his death energy and divine energy lashed out, crashing into the curse like storms and attempting to nullify its power.

"Fight it... fight it..." Azzy gritted his teeth. "Come on..."

Meanwhile, the Jewel of Life suddenly manifested on his forehead, glowing fiercely. It poured healing into him—rebuilding flesh, repairing bone, restoring blood—only for the curse to tear it apart again.

His back arched violently as the curse tried to rip out his core.

His vision was also blurred. His breathing became too heavy to the point that he couldn’t breathe anymore. His heartbeat became too slow. His brain wasn’t receiving enough oxygen. His organs began to deteriorate.

Heal.

Destroy.

Heal.

Destroy.

It repeated. Over and over.

The following forty minutes crawled by like centuries. But eventually, the combined effort of his natural energy, divine energy, and Death energy managed to nullify the curse, and the jewel of life returned his body to its peak state. Just as the last speck of curse was about to disappear, a pair of eyes appeared in Azzy’s mind. His heart skipped a beat when he felt that.