Neither Azzy nor even Leah expected this spirit of demigod would offer a trail for everyone else too.
Upon realizing that the Jewel of Earth isn't a reward for releasing the spirit remnant of the demigod, Azzy finally understood why the Reaper mentioned getting prepared for what's to come.
The Reaper was probably talking about the trial. But, then, why did he change his words and suggested stealing the jewel?
Soon, the answer came to Azzy. The probability of the future. As the deity of time and death, the Reaper could see millions of futures at the same time. Every minute action of someone leads to a different outcome. But, it isn't that all futures are completely different from each other. Most of them would overlap at one point or another.
When he realized it, Azzy thought that the Reaper might have seen a lot of pretty bad ones that probably made him suggest doing that. He felt a little bit apologetic towards his Arcana but his decision won't change anyway. Leah might not be a close friend but she isn't a stranger either. She was also a benefactor, in a way.
He wouldn't harm her for the sake of his selfish interests.
Azzy stayed silent without moving from the spot as the spirit of the demigod created a portal nearby his tomb.
With a smile on his face, Demigod Amerys stretched his left arm towards the portal, "interested candidates can enter."
Izora walked towards Azzy and asked, "Do you want to go?"
"Well, I don't want to travel back and forth without doing anything. Now that I came all the way, I will have to take part in it." Azzy announced his decision.
Izora had already expected it since it is tough to go against the temptation of acquiring the treasure but she was different. She's more than 100 years old and often ventures outside. Naturally, she faced all kinds of people.
She was wary of the spirit, suspecting it might be a trap.
As she was about to warn Azzy, a voice interrupted from the side. "Leah, don't be hasty."
Leah, who was walking towards the portal without thinking much, stopped in her tracks and turned around, "Aunt?"
Amerys and the others also looked at her.
Staring at the floating spirit, Cynthia asked a couple of questions, almost in a way that can offend the listener, "How can we be sure that you aren't luring us into a trap? Moreover, why should we enter a trial to possess the shield? Can't we just snatch it away with force? With suppression around, I don't think your remnant spirit can defeat us, anyway."
"That's right…" Izora silently nodded in agreement. These are the same thoughts she was also having. It appeared that the adults are thinking on the same wavelength.
However, the kids, on the other hand, felt like Cynthia shouldn't have run off her mouth because their respective Arcana had warned their hosts beforehand, regarding the strength of Amerys.
In response to Cynthia, Amerys nodded with a smile, "Well, your questions have logic. I guess I have to prove myself…"
"Azzy, Careful" "Leah, careful"
The Reaper and Excalibur alerted their respective hosts.
In the next moment, an enormous force of suppression descended onto everyone.
"Argh…"
Cynthia and Izora fell onto their knees right away along with Izora's lightning dragon.
Soul energies escaped from Azzy and Leah at the same time, automatically covering their owners.
"Ho… now, this is a surprise." Amerys stroked his beard while being visibly surprised by Azzy. He expected Leah to resist his aura but never expected there would be another one.
He was even more intrigued by Azzy upon seeing how dense his soul energy is. It was at least three times denser than even Leah's.
Amerys suddenly became curious of Azzy. His attention lingered on him for a while, trying to probe the secrets of the kid.
Unfortunately for him, the Reaper was already prepared to protect Azzy. Now that Azzy is in the Upper Elite realm, the Reaper's own limits were increased by a lot, compared to the time when the future Azrael isolated him.
Amerys found himself no success. Glancing at Azzy and then, at Leah, a thought appeared in his head. He stroked his beard once again, "a fate, indeed."
"You bas***d, what are you doing!" Izora flared up in anger when she was suddenly ambushed by the aura. She was unafraid of him. To escape the suppression, Izora decided to unleash her unique skill, which is to merge with the dragon to transform into a humanoid dragon.
Thankfully, she didn't waste her skill for the suppression was removed within a few seconds.
On the other hand, Cynthia was shivering in fear from top to bottom upon realizing how powerful this remnant is.
Once his observations were finished, Amerys stared at the one who suspected his intentions, "lady, now, you should be able to understand that I don't need a silly thing such as a trap. I may be a spirit but I was also a demigod who lived more than a hundred lifetimes than you. You can be assured that I know a million ways to capture you, kids, and take over the possession of one of your bodies. But, that's not who I am.
As for the participation in the trial, both of you ladies no longer need to enter. I have already found out the qualified candidates."
The demigod turned his head towards Leah and then, at Azzy, "Both of you could resist my aura without issues. That clearly states your potential.
Before you make your decision, let me remind you that this wasn't the first time I was freed by the children of heaven like you. There are people who managed to unseal me but none of them had cleared the trial so far.
I was waiting for sixty millennia by now. I can wait another twenty millennia for another fated person. It doesn't matter to me. What matters is whether you want to grab this opportunity or not. The choice is entirely up to you."
After saying everything he wanted, Amerys waited for the decision of his selected candidates.
Izora stared angrily at the demigod but stayed silent. Meanwhile, Cynthia was greatly shaken by the earlier suppression. With her keen senses, she could feel the vast difference between a Supreme Realm expert like Aurelia and this Amerys.
If she never had sparred against the royal teacher of Camelot, she wouldn't have been troubled by the aura of demigod. Now, if a mere spirit can unleash such suppression in level-3 region, then, how powerful would have been this demigod when he was alive?
And how powerful those gods must have been who forced him into servitude and later, hide in this place.
It took a great toll on her mind. She was trying hard to control her emotions, right now.
As for Leah, she was the calmest person in the room. She turned her to look at Azzy who appeared to be in thoughts, "Good Luck, Azrael."
As Azzy was busy discussing with the Reaper about his second thoughts of not taking the risk, he couldn't give her a reply.
She didn't mind it and just walked forward, disappearing into the portal.
After a couple of moments, Azzy said bye to his mother and went ahead to participate in the trial.
Upon stepping inside, he found himself standing before the entrances of two caves.
He looked around. There was no sign of Leah. She was probably in another independent space.
Then, a voice was heard from the sky.
"Candidate Azrael, this trial is divided into three phases, namely, strength, inner demons, and Battle against oneself.
For every phase, you will have to randomly choose one of the caves before you. The difficulty of one test is a lot higher than the other. It depends on your luck on whether you choose an easy one or not.
If you are on the brink of death or cannot continue, your trial will be declared as a failure and I will forcefully bring you back to the real world whether you like it or not. Of course, you can voluntarily give up at any stage."
Azzy nodded in understanding and walked into the cave on the right.
The surroundings changed to that of a simple and plain barren land. A giant portal appeared in the sky far away from him.
In a couple of seconds, a fire dragon exited the portal. It wasn't much strong, just a rank-5 one.
"I guess I picked up the easy one," Azzy mumbled to himself.
"Unfortunately, no," The Reaper's voice echoed in his head.
As soon as his words ended, a large number of hounds and dragons started to jump out.
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