A familiar yet unfamiliar feeling was slowly approaching from afar.
His body was trembling involuntarily, as if caught between longing and fear. Some ancient, long-sealed memories were constantly recombining at this moment.
The battlefield, death, blood, countless severed limbs and shattered corpses, gazes that could not be looked at directly…
Azik's head was splitting with pain. He crouched down, both hands covering his head.
He could clearly feel his soul stirring violently, as if it wanted to break free from his head.
This was the soul's yearning to become complete again. Yet another familiar yet unfamiliar force was helping him suppress this yearning, binding his soul tightly within his body and preventing it from escaping.
The intense pain at this moment came from the struggle between these two forces.
During those repeated tugs and tears, he saw a pair of pale eyes whose flames were about to die out looking toward him. A feather stained with pale yellow grease drifted down, splitting his originally complete spirit body into two halves.
One half entered the Cloud of Bones, while the other half fused with a golden ornament that suddenly leaped out. Amid the burning of the pale flames, it returned to his flesh-and-blood body.
Fortunately, the balance of the struggle gradually began tilting toward stability and calmness, and the pain slowly subsided.
"Sir, sir? Are you all right?" The owner of the bookstall looked worriedly at the customer who had suddenly developed such an abnormal condition.
"I-I'm fine. Sorry to have worried you."
Azik gradually overcame the headache and reluctantly stood up. His face was so pale that it seemed utterly devoid of color.
"Sir, if you're feeling unwell, there's a pharmacy 200 meters ahead. Turn right, then walk another 300 meters. The doctors there are very professional."
Azik forced a smile. "Thank you for the suggestion. I'll consider it."
In the end, he selected two books from the stall, paid for them, and left.
Azik tucked the two books under his left arm and walked through the bustling streets. He chose a café facing the street and sat by the window, watching the streets outside while tasting bitter coffee.
The coffee in the Southern Continent was very bitter, and people there did not like adding sugar or milk. The intense bitterness was quite invigorating.
After resting for a while, Azik's headache eased considerably. His scattered and fragmented memories also began to gradually converge, restoring the truth of his past.
He was the son of the Death God Salinger and the Death Archon of the Balam Empire in the Fourth Epoch.
During the era of the War of the Four Emperors, he had followed his father, the Death God Salinger, into the war. On the battlefield, he lost his memory after being glanced at by the Blood Emperor Alista Tudor.
From then on, he began an endless cycle of death, losing his memories time and time again and starting over again and again.
Compared to the cold life he had lived as the Death Archon, every reincarnation afterward had been exceptionally warm, even his memories carrying warm hues.
The flames of war reigniting in his homeland had illuminated his memories of the past, yet the person he saw in those memories was not the person he had imagined himself wanting to become.
Azik stared blankly at the street outside, his emotions complicated.
Suddenly, the busy murmurs and conversations of the café seemed to be pressed into a pause.
A burly figure walked in from outside. An aura of authority that made people want to submit emanated from him. His eyes were filled with reverence as he walked up to Azik and knelt on one knee, saying with utmost respect, "The God has sent us to welcome Your Excellency, the Death Archon."
Azik merely glanced at him indifferently. This man carried the bloodline of the royal family of the East Balam Empire and was the current ruler of the East Balam Empire.
Had this day finally come? When he recovered his former memories, he understood the truth hidden behind his countless cycles of losing his memories.
His amnesia came from the incompleteness of his soul, and the culprit responsible for all of this was his father, the Death God Salinger of the Fourth Epoch.
The so-called welcome now was actually a welcome for his father. He would replace Azik's body and resurrect himself. This was a method of resurrection that had been left behind when he fell long ago.
There was no one more suitable to bear his resurrection than his own son. The so-called affection between father and son was far too childish and simplistic when it came to gods.
But Azik had no intention of refusing either. His expression remained calm as he prepared to face the ending that should have come to him long ago.
At this moment, another figure appeared inside the café, a woman with ordinary facial features and deep-black eyes. She wore a simple robe fastened with a bark belt, her black hair hanging loose, and she wore no shoes or socks, walking barefoot.
"You still have a chance to choose."
"It's too late."
Azik smiled at the woman. "You came too late. He has already returned. The reason He is only coming for me now is because He has absolute confidence."
After a pause, his gaze seemed to shift toward the existence behind the woman. "If He descended personally, there might still be a chance. You, however, are merely a qualified believer."
"I can try to send you away from here."
"But I no longer want to keep running away."
Azik politely declined the woman's goodwill. All he wanted now was to calmly face the ending that belonged to him.
"His return will cause even more chaos and death. Your voluntary sacrifice will destroy everything you once cherished."
"Perhaps." Azik glanced into the distance before continuing, "My long, muddled life should also finally reach the ending that belongs to it."
"You should not so easily abandon the human side of yourself."
Azik merely said calmly, "But humanity will eventually be replaced by divinity."
"Still, there is a difference."
With those words, the mysterious woman left the café with Azik, who offered no resistance whatsoever.
But they did not actually go far. Instead, they inexplicably became trapped within the Spirit World. When they emerged from the Spirit World, they were still inside the café.
Azik was not surprised by this result, nor did the mysterious woman show any expression. Her action just now seemed to have been a test of something.
The atmosphere instantly fell silent. The King of the East Balam Empire, who had been kneeling on the ground the entire time, finally said with some difficulty,
"Your Excellency, the Death Archon, the God merely instructed us to welcome your return. Other than that, there was no additional divine revelation."
"It seems He does not need my sacrifice yet." Azik appeared to understand something.
"Chirp."
A crisp sound broke the silence of the entire café.
A carriage stopped outside the café. A girl as exquisite as a doll stepped down from it. A tiny phoenix stood on her right shoulder, its pair of eyes quietly observing everything here.
When the girl entered the café, the little phoenix flapped its wings and landed on the table in front of Azik.
It first looked at Azik, then the mysterious woman, then the King of the East Balam Empire, before its gaze returned to Azik.
After observing him for a while, it let out another crisp chirp.
It was as if a thunderclap had resounded through Azik's mind. The restless half of his soul was reinforced by a golden phoenix seal.
The mysterious woman understood at this moment as well. The existence that had returned from resurrection was the ancient Death God, not purely the Death God Salinger.
If she forcibly devoured Azik at this moment, it would cause Death God Salinger to truly resurrect. This was not the situation the current Death God wanted to see.
What He wanted was for Azik to continue living with half of his soul intact until He had completely grasped the authority of the Death God, after which He would seek to restore the soul to wholeness.
"Salinger himself probably never expected this ending." The woman whispered softly. Her gaze then shifted to the exquisite, doll-like girl, carefully and seriously examining her.
Azik also fell silent. Although his distant memories and feelings of familial affection were somewhat blurred, that shared bloodline still made him feel an indescribable sorrow.
He glanced at the little phoenix on the table, which looked bewildered and thoughtful. He instinctively wanted to reach out and touch it, but halfway there, he withdrew his hand and instead turned his gaze toward the girl accompanying the little phoenix.
He wanted to find out exactly what was different about the person who could travel alongside Him.
Gerald Eggers, who was still kneeling on the ground, also raised his head slightly and sized up the girl, because he simply did not dare to look at the little phoenix.
When the divine revelation had been passed down by the God, what he had seen was a phoenix flying with its wings spread wide. Its appearance had resembled a gigantic version of the little phoenix before him.
The fear originating from the depths of his heart had already clearly told him the relationship between the two.
"..." Being watched by three pairs of eyes at once, Sharon was somewhat dumbfounded.
Although she did not know any of the three people before her, the aura and feeling emanating from them made it absolutely clear that they were Beyonders far stronger than herself.
Especially that woman whose expression was as calm as still water. Her gaze seemed capable of seeing through everything, leaving Sharon with the feeling that she had no secrets at all before her.
That feeling seemed even more terrifying than that of her teacher.
She had no intention of entering this place in the first place. It was just that while she had been sitting in the carriage, the little phoenix had suddenly urged her to get out and come to this café.
To investigate the little phoenix's purpose, she had gotten out of the carriage and come here. The moment she stepped into the café, she had a strange feeling, as if everything around her had fallen into some bizarre state.
Although the customers were drinking coffee and chatting normally, it was as if only the three people before her were truly real, and they seemed to be discussing some momentous matter.
Sharon remained silent for a while before turning her gaze toward the little phoenix on the table.
She felt that she should quickly leave this place with Hastur's Spirit World messenger, lest something unexpected happen.
"Chirp."
Gregrace turned around and waved her wings, giving Sharon a reassuring look.
The look seemed to say: "Don't worry. It's fine. I've got your back."