November 18th, 1994;
It is the day of the finals and the Heavenly Academy was crowded with the people who ca to watch the gold dal and bronze dal matches.
Early in the morning, as usual, Azzy left his room and went to Affea's room where she and Avia were sleeping.
Surprisingly, the door was kept open and neither of them was in the room.
"Hmm? Where did they go? Perhaps they were in grandpa's room (Oakley Night)?"
The hotel has only two types of rooms, single and couple. According to the rules, a couple's room can be occupied by 2 at maximum. Due to the past cases of Avia's abduction, the princess of Snieca didn't let her daughter sleep in a separate room. So, she stayed with her daughter while her husband slept alone.
Azzy thought that Affea and Avia went to Oakley's room to wake him up or sothing. But, when he went there, even that room was also empty.
It was as if the family of three went sowhere in a hurry. But, where?
Azzy had no idea and he sent an audio ssage to Affea through the ssage item card.
The ssage was sent successfully but there was no response from his foster mother.
After waiting for like two minutes, he sent a ssage to his foster father/adopted grandpa, Oakley Night. And even he was unresponsive.
Thinking that they were busy, he walked down the stairs and waited at the lounge on the ground floor.
2 minutes beca 5 minutes, 5 beca 10, and when 10 minutes beca 20 minutes, he couldn't help but beco anxious. Just a couple of days ago, he was ambushed by a mysterious stranger. Maybe, the person was back? Or it is the church that sent people after them for taking revenge on him?
If that's the case, should he reverse the ti?
What if it is nothing? He would have to go through the sa day again. Maybe, it is better to ask other people. Soone must have seen them.
As Azzy's mind was filled with several thoughts, the Reaper gave him a suggestion, "Why don't you search for them using the Aura Sensing?"
"Ah!" Azzy suddenly felt how foolish he was, forgetting such a basic thing and thinking of directly resetting the day instead.
"Aura sensing"
He scanned his 5 km surroundings to check their auras.
After a few minutes, Azzy shook his head, "No, it's not enough."
From 5 km, he directly expanded his range to 100 km, covering the entire Central city.
Because of the influx of millions of tourists in the city, for a mont, Azzy felt a strong headache, which was reduced as he started eliminating every unfamiliar aura.
Soon, the locations of the familiar auras beca clear. Most of them reside within the hotel except for three.
"Still, no clue… If the three of them aren't in Central City, then, where are they? Either sothing happened to them or they might have returned to the Aclein city. Hmm, wait a second…"
As sothing popped up in his head, Azzy abruptly raised his head to look at the receptionist at the desk, talking with a couple who wanted to check in.
He rose to his feet and walked toward the desk while the couple was escorted by a staff mber.
"Good Morning, Mr. Azrael. How may I help you?" The receptionist greeted him with a smile as soon as she spotted him. He was staying at the hotel for a while. So, she was aware of his details. Not to ntion, she reads the newspapers where the front page articles were covered by him and Leah, lately.
Azzy enquired with her right away, "Hi… uh, I wonder if you have seen my family, um… parents leaving the hotel? They checked in 401 and 406 but their rooms are empty at the mont. Oh yeah, they should have a 9-year-old kid with them."
"Mr. Oakley and Mrs. Affea Snieca?" The receptionist quickly rembered their identities as soon as he addressed them as family. The articles about them were all over the newspapers too.
Anyway, it appears that she has no clue about their departure from the hotel. So, she could only apologize in response.
Hitting another dead end, Azzy now only had two choices. One is to reverse the ti. And the other is to use aura tracing just like how he traced Gideon and Estella when they were abducted, back a while ago. He decided to consult the Reaper. "Chronos, what should I do?"
Surprisingly, the Reaper offered a suggestion that doesn't involve either of the thods.
He suggested to Azzy that he should forget about finding them and focus on the finals instead.
Naturally, Azzy was taken aback, "Are you serious? My family could be in a dangerous situation, Chronos."
The Reaper calmly replied, "Rember what I told you about Galarian King when you wanted to kill it as it transford into Leonard Light, the fifth prince of Northern Qudour?"
Azzy went back into his mories and rembered that the Reaper didn't let him do it. Instead, he just told him to focus on his own mission of getting to the 7-star realm and return to the tiline. After that, Azzy could just travel back in ti and take out the Galarian King.
The mory made sothing click in his mind as his eyes widened. "Do you an that if I actually travel back in ti, then, one of my future counterparts was already on that job?"
"Either that will happen or that Demigod version of yours will take care of it. After all, in your original tiline, Oakley Night is alive. And Aspen hasn't been born yet. As the guardian of tiline, he is bound to save them." The Reaper casually replied as if this had nothing to do with Azzy.
Azzy couldn't help but complain, "Hey, stop talking as if he and I were different. We are the sa, you know."
"Not exactly," countered the Reaper right away. He further explained, "He is outside of ti, Azrael. The tiline has no effect on him. Even if you die, he will stay alive. Anyway, you have a long way to go to understand the mysteries of ti and death. For now, just focus on what you have to do at the present."
Azzy didn't find his explanation unacceptable as they weren't so strangers like Galarian King. The Reaper might be logically right but Azzy was emotionally connected with them, well, rather deeply one should say.
He replied, "The match is nothing, Chronos. As long as I get to the stadium in ti, I will defeat them in a blink of an eye. And at the mont, my family needs if they were in danger."
Azzy ran upstairs and visited every room of his friends and acquaintances that ca to support his team, gathering all of them at the terrace of the hotel.
At first, they didn't take the matter seriously because Affea herself is a high-rank-7 Arcana Master. But then, as Azzy revealed his encounter with the Church of Light's cardinal, everyone beca serious.
Claire was also with him during the incident and she confird the truth, although she didn't say anything about Cardinal Ophanim's death or the destruction of the soul orbs of dozens of priests. Since Azzy only talked about escape, she hid the complete truth too.
Reviews
All reviews (0)