My Soul card is a Reaper-Chapter 958: Help or Not?

Azzy stood in the silent clearing, the hourglass still hovering in front of him, its glow settling back into a dim, steady pulse. He whispered it again, almost testing whether he had heard it wrong.

"The dimension of the Protos race...? You sure about it?"

"Yes, Master," the hourglass replied once again, its sands glowing faintly from inside. "The Protos Dimension, originally called the Negative realm, where the races of Protos are imprisoned, was a place outside space and time. As a result, it is easier for the Master’s time variant to create a timeline, because there is nothing there.

Azzy listened quietly as the world around him seemed to pause. He then asked, "So, you’re saying now there is a timeline that exists in that place?"

Tempus replied, "No, Master. I can sense timeline, but it didn’t spread to the entire dimension. It is limited to the Gaia Planet, but due to the absence of laws of heaven, your time variant laws exist there. As an additional reminder, someday, Master will have to go there to revive Master’s lover; So, Master might as well do two jobs at once."

Azzy’s breath caught for a momentremembering about Claire’s revival. He once wanted to step into the realm of the Protos but knew that he wasn’t strong enough to face that place... Even still, since it is regarding Claire, he was willing to risk it...

Since this is not a destroyed timeline, Tempus can’t take him there. According to Claire, the forbidden dimension is also accessed through Mt. Olympus, where Zeus and other Olympian gods live.

However, the sword of radiance has the ability to take him anywhere in the universe. The barriers don’t matter. The world laws don’t matter. All it needed was to be a part of the universe. It can take him right to the heart of Olympus, from there, he can out to Protos dimension.

But...

The problem is...

Going there because of Azrael?

Azzy shook his head immediately. "Nah..."

Claire was worth any risk. But Azrael?

A version of him twisted by hatred, and under Lucifer’s influence?

If he stepped into that dimension, everything he built, the unified clan, Leiza’s safety, and his unborn child would all be left behind, while anything could happen to him. Inside that forbidden dimension, even he had no guarantee of returning.

Azzy wasn’t sure whether it was worth facing the risk.

Adding on top of that, if Azrael might be the fragment left behind by that god, then he isn’t considered a time variant. That means he is just the same as a stranger with the same face.

Azzy paused, letting the thought settle.

"The best thing," he murmured to himself, "is to just stop forcing him and let him live his own life. But I need to make sure that he won’t step into the dark path. that’s more challenging because..."

First of all, he knew Azrael wouldn’t believe the truth. Adding on top of that, his soul is linked to the devil’s soul. So trying to convince him they were the same person was a dead end. What he needed to do was far simpler but far harder:

Earn his trust.

Give him space.

Give him time.

And give him a place where he wasn’t hunted or scared.

A friendship, not a lecture, would reach him faster. But he needed to bring a person whom Azrael could trust. And that person is Barbara... But even if Barbara is not dead, she would still be in the Protos dimension. It would be easier to bring her if it were just another destroyed timeline.

Azzy sighed heavily. "But without Barbara... how am I supposed to reach him...?"

The weight of that question pressed down. Barbara had been Azrael’s only emotional anchor, the only warmth he knew. Without her, Azrael was a ship with no harbor, and the Devil was the one who was steering the wheel.

For a brief second, only a second, the darker thought crossed Azzy’s mind.

"If I kill him now... everything ends. No risk. No danger. No, Lucifer."

But the moment the thought surfaced, Azzy crushed it.

"No." His voice was firm and clear as he murmured. "Never."

Unnecessary killing went against everything he lived for. It wasn’t who he was, not as a Reaper, not as a leader, and certainly not as Azrael Garcia.

But then again, he couldn’t blindly help Azrael either.

Not without confirming what he truly was.

He stared at the horizon, frowning, "I haven’t confirmed it yet. Is he my time variant... or just an avatar of that god-version of me?"

If he were the time variant, then Azzy would do everything in his power to save him. But if he was just an avatar...

Then Azzy had no obligation to protect someone with a devil fused into his soul.

He drew in a long breath, gripping the hourglass energy threads again. "Tempus... there’s something else I need to check."

The sands inside the hourglass stirred lightly.

Azzy focused his mind. "What about the realities where I wasn’t alone? Where do I have a twin brother with different powers?"

The white sands brightened at once, drinking in more of Azzy’s divine power. The hourglass floated in the air, slowly rotating as Tempus answered, "Yes, Master. There exist more than ten realities where you were born with a twin."

Azzy’s eyes narrowed. "In all of those realities, did I travel to the past as I did here?"

"No, Master," Tempus replied. "You traveled to the past in only one of them. Only one."

Azzy frowned. "Then tell me the story of that one. The story of the time variant where I had a twin brother."

The sands inside the glass began to swirl, forming outlines as Tempus spoke, "In that reality, only one twin survived the birth. The other twin was born dead."

Azzy’s breath stilled. "Dead twin brother?"

"To save both children," Tempus continued, "your time variant’s parents used a forbidden ritual. They split the living soul into two halves and infused it into both children."

Azzy’s heart sank. He knew where this was going.

Tempus went on, voice slow and weighted: "One twin, carrying the Death Energy, was raised within the Death Clan. The other twin, carrying raw divine and spiritual essence, was abandoned for reasons unknown."

Azzy’s fingers twitched slightly, but he stayed silent. "So, Azrael could be..."

"Master," Tempus said, "the one with the Reaper’s will was born with half a soul. He possessed tremendous potential but a fragile body. His life was one of constant weakness, illness, pain, and suffering. he was bedridden most of his youth, unfit to shoulder the clan’s expectations."

Azzy closed his eyes for a moment, imagining a child version of himself trapped in bed, too weak to stand, carrying power that tore him apart from the inside.

"To save him," Tempus said, "clan leaders sought the abandoned twin. They intended to sacrifice him, merge the soul halves again, to make the stronger twin whole."

Azzy let out a slow exhale. The more he heard the story, the more it seemed like it was Azrael’s story. In that case, it becomes easier to bring Barbara.

Or so he thought until Tempus continued, "And a few years later, the surviving twin, your time variant, accidentally traveled fifty years into the past. And Barbara traveled with him. After staying there for years, your variant was betrayed by Barbara, but he didn’t kill her. Instead, he spared her and left her in the timeline. He alone returned to the timeline. In that timeline, the twin brother was taken care of by Barbara Crescent, who raised him out of revenge for the clan and your variant. She put poison toward him since he was a child."

Azzy shook his head after listening to the rest of the story.

"No," he said quietly. "This doesn’t fit."

He lifted his head, eyes sharp again. "In Azrael’s story, Barbara was twenty-five to thirty years older than him. That means she is in her 40s. But if he came from that reality... then she would’ve been in her 60s instead."

The sands inside the hourglass dimmed, accepting the rejection.

"This rules out the twin-split timeline," Azzy murmured.

He stepped back, thinking through everything again: Barbara’s age, Azrael’s childhood, the destroyed timeline, the Protos dimension.

The pieces shifted until the picture became clear. "He’s not my time variant," Azzy concluded. "He’s an avatar, created by a god-level version of mine in a banished reality."

"Which means," Azzy added, "I don’t have to treat him like a past version of me. I don’t have to be too generous. He might look like me, but he’s not me."

He looked up at the hourglass one last time. "Thank you, Tempus. That’s all for now."

The sands steadied once more, and Azzy pulled his divine strings away, releasing the hourglass back into his mindscape.

He then straightened and got up, dusting off his hands. "Well then, let’s go back and take him out of that pocket dimension."

Letting out a faint sigh, he turned and vanished from the clearing.

After a while;

Azrael walked through Dr. Mac’s lab with the stiff steps of someone trying very hard not to look suspicious.

The collar around his neck hummed faintly, suppressing the demonic whispers and locking down his power, but he still felt the pressure of his own heartbeat echoing in his ears.

He shouldn’t be out roaming in this strange place, but Lucifer’s instructions tugged at him like an invisible chain.

Find the imprisoned brother, Lucifer had said.

Absorb his essence, Lucifer had urged.

So Azrael pressed on.