"Chronos, I wish to go to the time when I caught Evan," requested Azzy as he was given permission to go back in time.
Usually, the Reaper had a certain disregard for the lives of human beings because, for him, it is just temporary while the soul is immortal.
So, he would always recommend Azzy to never use the hourglass to save strangers.
However, the current situation is different. The Reaper doesn't want Azzy to go into a dark path. All he wanted was his host to stop acting like a naïve brat and learn to be a responsible heir of the Death Clan. He wants Azzy to kill people but only the sinners, not innocents.
That's why, to protect Azzy's soul, the Reaper had recommended Azzy to change the destiny of those people who will die without his help.
Meanwhile, on the outside, the darkness was still there and Claire was depending on night vision goggles.
She caught up with Azzy only to see the latter stood like a statue. She waited until Azzy returned to reality and resumed walking.
On the way, he summoned the hourglass while making sure to hide from Claire's vision. As she was walking a few feet away from him, it helped Azzy to unleash the soul skill without getting caught by Claire or Agatha.
The divine sword knew of the Reaper's real identity but even she doesn't know about the Reaper's weapons. So, in Claire and Agatha's view, Azzy now possessed three Arcana. He doesn't want to give a reason to misunderstand that he had a fourth Arcana.
After all, he already revealed a couple of secrets to Claire. He wishes to take his time to reveal, somewhere in the future.
But, for now, his goal is simple.
<strong>"Soul skill: Rewind"</strong>
Azzy turned the hourglass upside down and unleashed the soul skill.
The world stopped for a moment before his surroundings changed to the streets of the village where Evan was hanging on his right shoulder.
Not only a few hours of the time was removed from the timeline but even the skeletons Azzy gained as subordinates for killing those werewolves were also disappeared from his mindscape.
Azzy looked around and nodded in satisfaction, "Good, Thank you, Chronos."
"Mention not, but you shouldn't depend on me too much. You have to make time to train the hourglass," replied the Reaper.
Azzy's mastery of the Hourglass is quite low. He doesn't want to go back to a whole day and go through everything. So, he sought the Reaper's help and the latter obliged.
"Okay, I need to follow the exact same routine until he confessed the truth." Taking a deep breath, Azzy continued to walk. After sending a message to Claire, he went to the house of the village chief and met them exactly at the same place.
<strong>Sometime later;</strong>
Claire offered Evan, immunity as well as a reward, successfully tempting him to take the offer.
"When should we leave?" Evan asked the others.
Just like before, Claire got up on her feet, and replied, "right away."
But this time, Azzy changed the course of the timeline from before, "not now, Claire. We will go first thing in the morning. We don't know what kind of opponents we will meet. So, we need to be in top shape, physically and mentally."
"Hmm?" Neal and Claire looked at him. Both of them were a little bit surprised, not just because of his reply but also his tone. It was more of a commanding tone as if he was the leader.
But, Claire was in-charge and she takes the final decision. So, Neal only waited for her response.
Fortunately, she respects Azzy's opinion and listened to him. Claire was given a separate room to sleep in at the house.
The caskets were placed in Evan's room while Evan, Azzy, and Neal were forced to sleep in the living room.
<strong>About one hour later;</strong>
Azzy opened his eyes and looked around. Everyone appeared to be asleep. While Evan was sleeping, he was tied by Neal's energy chains like some animal.
He didn't care about it and got up.
He slowly walked towards the door and opened it. It slightly creaked while opening. Neal who was very alert also opened his eyes, assuming that Evan is trying to escape.
But, as he turned his head, he saw Evan but there was no Azzy.
"Hmm? Azrael? Why is he going out?" Neal thought for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, "he's strong enough to look after himself, anyway." Neal closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
After leaving the house, Azzy rushed towards the mountain at his peak speed.
It only took him about 15 minutes to reach the eastern entrance of the mine. He took out a skill card that he didn't use last time.
It has an image of a transparent cloak on it and six black stars behind it.
He poured soul energy into it and targeted himself. <strong>"Skill card: Erasure."</strong> Azzy turned invisible.
This was the first time Azzy had ever used it on himself. Usually, he uses it on either Vajra or the platinum grade undead beasts to hide them, but this time, he decided to hide himself to not give any opportunity for the enemies to escape and strike them.
If he can use soul absorption once again, he wouldn't have bothered with this but what can he do? The cooldown timer of the soul skills he already used before will not be reduced even after reversing the time.
As this is his first assassination, Azzy thought he had to be careful to make sure in assassinating Loren before she blow up the hostages.
Turning invisible, Azzy made his way, deep into the mines. He remembered the exact way. So, there's no issue in reaching the dark tunnel.
He activated Aura Sensing and checked the situation. Surprisingly, the hostages weren't clustered like before.
Azzy frowned inwardly, "they were inside their sleeping chambers? Why did it change?"
"If your destination is changed, then, the road must be changed on the way, Azrael." The Reaper's voice echoed in his head, "Do you get it?"
Azzy fell into thought as the image of a young man appeared in his head, "Evan. Did he somehow send the information? If that's the case, why did Loren get fooled by our suppressed strength? She should have already known about her strengths even before.
Ah, right. She's a werewolf, talented enough to expel away my Protos Energy. She must have sensed Evan's presence with his smell and our presence with her senses from far away. It took a while for us to get there. That's how she shifted them to the jail and put a barrier."
After analyzing it and confirming with the Reaper whether there's logic in his thinking so as to not get lectured later, Azzy walked into the tunnel.
He ignored everything and went straight to the lab. Placing his palm on the steel door, he followed the same way as before.
However, this time, Loren wasn't prepared. She was taken aback by the sudden appearance of Azzy.
"Who are you?" She furrowed her brows as she got up from the seat.
Azzy glanced all over the room. There wasn't a single hostage inside. He nodded and raised his arm. The death scythe appeared in his hand. He unsealed his soul orb at the same time.
"I'm here to deliver the verdict, Ms. Loren." Azzy's gaze turned cold as he stepped inside.