After the lunch, Azzy practiced on his own, perfecting all kinds of basic seals to build a strong foundation just like the Reaper suggested to him.
Slowly, the sunset and he parted his ways with the team to return home under the watchful eyes of a mysterious sniper and her clones.
After spending a couple of hours with the family, he went to his room and locked the door to sleep.
Lying on the bed, he fell into thoughts regarding his life on where he started, and where he ended up with twists and turns.
"Sigh…" Letting out a deep sigh, Azzy put those thoughts away and closed his eyes.
Imagining the appearance of his great grandfather, he recited his name five times as advised.
Soon, he drifted into sleep.
After an unknown amount of time, Azzy found himself at the familiar throne hall where the old man was sitting on his throne. "I didn't expect that you would contact me on your own, kid." Qridus appeared to be pleased to talk with his future heir.
Remembering the Reaper's warning from the last time, Qridus doubted Azzy would want to come to the clan village. So, he wondered whether there is something that's troubling him.
"Greetings." Azzy slightly bowed as a courtesy now that the other party knew his identity.
"So, tell me. What kind of help that you need from me?" Qridus directly came to the point.
"I need a small favor. It involves the Night clan." Azzy replied to him.
"Favor regarding the Night clan?" Qridus didn't expect Azzy to talk about the Night clan all of a sudden.
Azzy nodded and explained starting with a small lie that he had prepared beforehand, "Months ago, during one of my trips to the Arcana World with my classmates, I fell in danger as a Hydra run rampant. A person named Azrael saved my life back then.
By sheer coincidence, I got to meet him because of the Champions League. It seemed like he was adopted by Oakley Night and Affea Snieca. I'm not sure whether you know their names or not, but they were expelled because of the clan rules.
And I know that the Clan head has the authority to override the decision of the Night clan's Patriarch and let them return to the clan. My debts with him can be paid off if you do this favor to me."
After placing the request, Azzy then bowed to him until he got the reply from the old man.
"It's a small matter." Qridus waved his hand calmly. "Not only I will let them return to the clan, I will even provide your savior with vast resources for his development."
Azzy was taken aback by his response. He immediately rejected the kind offer as he doesn't want to be contacted with any more clan members. "No, it's alright. My debt isn't that big that you need to do that. Just helping out his family members would be enough. Moreover, I heard that he's the disciple of a rank-8 expert. I don't think he would need any resources from the clan."
"Well, if you say so…" Qridus wondered whether his descendant doesn't want his savior to become stronger. Since that person has no blood relation with the clan, Qridus wasn't also keen on focusing on the matter.
Putting the matter away, the old man talked about other issues, "come to think of it, we haven't had a proper conversation until now. The first time, I didn't know about you, and the second time, it was interrupted by the Reaper. Anyway, I want to know how long you intend to stay in…"
Before he finished the question, the connection was cut off by the Reaper and Azzy disappeared from his view.
Now that the matter is already finished, the Reaper didn't think there's a need for any conversation to prolong further as it can potentially give an important piece of information to Qridus.
He still didn't know how the clan head found his existence within Azzy as it is impossible unless there's an intervention of demi-gods. If that the case, then, it is even more important to keep him away from the Death clan in this timeline, at least, until Azzy can defend himself from the strong powers.
After the dream has been cut off, Azzy slept peacefully until the morning.
"The royal family really thinks everyone is a pushover, isn't it?" Barton was angered upon receiving a letter from the King.
Although it stated that the royal ancestor wished to meet Azzy, he knew that the King was using the royal ancestor's name to pressure him.
His anger rose even more with the church to side with the royal family regarding this matter. He knew that being a necromancer and the owner of twin platinum grade beasts, Azzy was an indefinite threat to the church.
So, in his view, sending Azzy or even accompanying him to the royal palace is the same as committing suicide. Barton isn't willing to do that.
The Envoy, who is the Arch Bishop that oversees all the churches present in the Northern Qudour, smiled in response, "Aethon Light entered the realm of nine-star. So, I don't think you have a choice. Accept it and come for a trial. If your disciple is innocent, then, naturally, he won't be harmed. If guilty, I don't think either you will be left unscathed too.
You have guests from various academies. The royal family doesn't want to disturb this joyful atmosphere.
So, either Azrael comes for the questioning within a week of time and proves himself to be innocent or looks for a place to hide. Because rejecting this invitation is the same as insulting a rank-9 Arcana master. And one has to face the consequences for doing that."
After threatening him directly, the envoy left the place.
Originally, this kind of job is humiliating for a person with such status as him.
However, after hearing that the matter from the headquarters, he volunteered himself to be the envoy.
After all, he was the one that sent the team of priests to assassinate Azzy without making a fuss.
The team consisted of five peak-rank-5 priests, two peak-rank-6 Bishops, and even a low-rank-7 Bishop.
Such a powerful team was assembled only to kill a mere low-rank-5 expert and yet, not only their mission failed but in return, all of them ended up missing.
Every Bishop has an imprint of a cardinal on their soul so that the latter know when the former dies, although the Cardinals couldn't track the location of the death of a Bishop.
Only the Supreme Pontiff has the power to track down the location of the ones with his/her imprint.
Since the Archbishop knew that Azzy couldn't kill such a powerful team, whose light attribute itself is the nemesis of the necromancer (according to their beliefs), he speculated that everyone might have been killed by this rank-8 before him.
That's why he wasn't able to act nice before Barton.
Leaving the building, he turned his head and glanced at the window on the third floor, "The saints are watching from the above. Goddess Thea will sure bring justice to her believers. And the incarnations of demons will surely be punished."
***
Five days passed away in a blink of an eye. Within this time, team twilight won the match and advanced to the knockouts. On the other hand, team Unicorn ended up in second place in the group rounds and wasn't able to advance.
With the Night clan's matriarch present in the Aclein city, Qridus sent a message to her, ordering to cancel the expulsion of the couple.
While Oakley and Affea were happy to hear that, they still didn't return to the clan as the princess doesn't want to abandon Azzy once again when she just reunited with her.
At the same time, she also missed Avia. After thinking for a long time, she requested the matriarch to give two years when Azzy graduates and enrolls in the special academy for advanced studies.
She saw Azzy's skills in person. So, she wasn't worried about him getting an admission even in Dragon Academy. At that time, she felt it would be the right time to return to her daughter.
Pandora Night didn't have much thought on it. So, she was like whatever and just left the place after reporting their decision to Qridus.
In the meantime, Barton decided not to send Azzy to the trial. Before the tournament is over, he intended to send him away to one of the top academies putting aside his own feelings.