Azik's situation wasn't fully resolved, so Alaric wasn't rushing to concoct the potion for advancement. He turned to Azik. "You're not in the right state to keep recovering memories today. Rest up. Tomorrow, I'll arrange for you to meet your daughter. Be ready to take her around Backlund and have some fun."
Given Azik's condition, seeing his child would help anchor his humanity.
Azik's eyes lit up, and he quickly said, "Thank you, Your Excellency Lucifer. I don't know how to repay you."
"No need to repay me. This is just a necessary step to help you overcome divinity. If you really want to thank me, survive this war." Alaric said with a faint smile, then glanced at the Death Consul, who had been silently watching Azik since their return to the villa. "Don't you have anything to say to him?"
Azik turned to the Death Consul. Though different from the figure in his memories, he knew this was him... the past Death Consul, stripped of his father's influence.
The Death Consul met his gaze, their identical eyes locking. Neither spoke, neither looked away.
After a long moment, the Death Consul broke the silence. "Are you happy now?"
A simple question, yet Azik considered it for several seconds before nodding solemnly. "I'm very happy. I have some troubles, but I love my life now."
"…Good." The Death Consul said after a brief pause, offering a faint but gentle smile, resembling Azik in that moment.
"Then keep being happy, Azik. I'm jealous of you, but I'm also glad. The future me finally has a self, with the emotions I once longed for."
"So don't let the past consume you. Move forward. Don't be devoured by our father like I was."
Azik pursed his lips. He'd once found his Death Consul self foreign, but in this moment, he felt a sudden release.
This was him too... the past him, a Death Consul whose self was suppressed by Death, with only a sliver of deeply buried emotion leaking through.
So Azik said, "I won't let Salinger consume me. I'll overcome divinity. I'll…" He paused, giving the Death Consul a gentle smile. "I'll save my past, reclaim it from Death's grasp."
The Death Consul visibly froze, lowering his eyes and murmuring, "So I can become someone this good?"
"It's not that. Your essence was never bad. Reincarnation only washed away divinity and Death's influence. If you were truly rotten, no amount of reincarnation would change that." Alaric interjected, pulling out his pocket watch to check the time before addressing the Death Consul. "Time's up, Mr. Death Consul. Are you afraid? You're heading back to that hell."
The Death Consul looked at him, shaking his head calmly with a smile. "I'm not afraid. I'll wait patiently for the future I hope for."
"Thank you, Lucifer. I like this future." He said earnestly.
"Glad to hear it! Until next time, Death Consul!" Alaric smiled, then canceled the summoning.
In the Fourth Epoch, within the Balam Empire's palace...
The Death Consul opened his eyes. The familiar influence of Death flooded his mind, hardening his expression into cold indifference. He lowered his gaze to the book in his hand... a storybook by Mr. Door of the Abraham family, detailing the tale of the Night Emperor and his Blood Moon Queen.
Before the summoning, the Death Consul had been alone in the study, reading this forbidden book... banned by the Night Emperor but said to be eight parts true... during a rare moment of leisure. He wasn't particularly drawn to the romance in it, only curious.
Could gods love?
Did such beings truly experience love?
The Death Consul didn't know. He'd never seen it in his father, the Death, who was cold to everyone equally.
He recalled glimpsing the Primordial Demoness, a Sequence 0, walking with his father, plotting something. He didn't care much, but he remembered the twisted, nostalgic look on her face when mentioning the fallen Blood Emperor... like a serpent coiling around its prey, never letting go, even if it meant mutual destruction.
Was that love?
The Death Consul didn't know.
His gaze drifted to the bookshelf, lined with books, many written by an Abraham family member. Standouts included The Secret History of the Blood Emperor, Amon's Solo Love and Hate, Pallez, and Secrets of the Night Kingdom, all by the same author... Bethel Abraham, revered as Mr. Door.
The Death Consul often read these, not out of love but curiosity and confusion. Why could these angels, like him, have the family, love, and friendship described in the stories?
Were they real, or just fabrications?
He couldn't ask Mr. Door or the figures in the books. He could only read the words repeatedly, unable to imagine what those experiences felt like.
Maybe I'm not strong enough to have them.
He'd thought this at times, but growing stronger wasn't an option. The Death, Darkness, and Warrior Pathways already had Sequence 0s. He was just a Sequence 2, a Death Consul.
Even if Death fell, he might not advance... only face a worse fate.
So, the Death Consul never looked to the future. His world was stagnant, his past unchanging, devoid of the vibrancy in those stories. His best future was likely remaining the Death Consul forever.
But now, the stagnation was broken. He had a future brighter than he'd ever dared imagine.
His hand instinctively touched his chest, feeling his heartbeat. In that moment, he felt a daze.
He was alive, wasn't he?
***
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