Destined Death

"That's right." Azik looked at Leon with certainty.

But for some reason, Leon sensed a strange new clarity in his gaze, as though he cherished someone who shared his plight.

"Before I joined the history department at Backlund University, I lost most of my memories. The only useful things I could remember were basic common knowledge and my own name."

"If I hadn't still had a document to prove my identity, I think I'd be a vagrant on the streets now."

"Didn't you think of using that document to look for traces of your past?" Like an attentive student, Klein blurted out the question.

"I tried, but found nothing, even though I can glimpse a corner of fate."

Azik shook his head and continued, "During my years at the university, I began to discover that I possessed certain special abilities."

"Abilities beyond the scope of ordinary people's understanding."

"Mr. Azik, did you try to find the cause at the scene?" Klein asked, still unwilling to give up.

"There was no meaningful scene to investigate. By the time I realized I had no memories, I had already left it who knows how long ago. It felt as though I'd gone to sleep and lost everything that came before."

Azik shook his head heavily, but his gaze remained fixed on Leon.

"That's why I said we're the same kind of person. I sensed the power in you."

That makes two people who've said that to me! Who am I supposed to believe?

You or that show-off Leonard?

Leon forced a smile. "I think you're reading too much into it, Azik. There's nothing wrong with me."

But Azik didn't drop the subject because of Leon's denial. Instead, he asked:

"Did your power first appear at a certain point in time? Was there nothing special about you before that?"

"Uh... that's true." Leon wanted to say that wasn't a problem, but the description didn't seem wrong either.

"Do you feel as though your memories of the past are becoming more fragmented, as if they were suddenly shoved into your head?"

Azik pressed on. "You have ordinary memories, but also completely different scenes, bizarre or strange."

Hiss~

That left Leon completely stumped.

The scenes of his travels through the Lands Between and various worlds had indeed become intertwined with memories of his predecessor's ordinary life.

That's not wrong either, but it's clearly not the same thing!

Yet for a moment, Leon couldn't think of anything to say in rebuttal.

Even if he did say something, it would seem too weak compared with Azik's vivid, heartfelt account.

So, after several seconds of silence, Leon, at a complete loss, could only nod somewhat blankly.

"Right," he said, then fell silent again.

"That's it." Mr. Azik poured Leon another cup of tea.

A trace of relief even appeared in his eyes.

"You two must have already joined an official organization and entered this special circle, although this meeting was only an accident."

"But I'd like you to help me find clues to my origins. You don't need to go out of your way to do anything; just remembering it from time to time would be enough."

At that, a bitter smile appeared on his face.

"Other than you two, I don't know anyone else with supernatural abilities."

Azik's voice gradually grew quieter.

"It's hard to imagine how a person without a past feels. It's like walking a road without knowing where the end is or how far away it is. You can't turn back, because you've long since lost your home. You can only feel your way through the darkness, again and again. Whenever you grow tired, you don't dare look back, because what you remember is that end whose location you don't know. You can never find peace."

No, Mr. Azik, I understand, because in a way, we really are the same kind of person.

Leon and Klein both answered silently in their hearts.

Leon thought of the road he had taken among the stars in search of his home, lonely and dark. Fortunately, he had Ranni's company.

Klein, meanwhile, thought of his own sudden transmigration. Fortunately, he still had the original owner's memories and a family who loved him.

As grateful as Klein felt, he also felt somewhat sorry for Azik, and asked:

"Mr. Azik, since you possess such power, why haven't you thought of joining this circle yourself?"

Azik opened his mouth, then gave a self-mocking smile. "Because I'm afraid of danger and terrified of death."

He sighed deeply. "I'm used to my life now, and I like this peaceful, ordinary life. I don't want to take risks, and I don't have the courage to do so. You and Leon are different. The curiosity and yearning you have for the unknown are what I lack."

"Take that power, which feels as though I was born with it. I don't even know what it is. I'm afraid that if I investigate it, I'll disrupt the life I cherish."

"But what if I told you your power came from death?"

Leon, who had been sitting there like a nobody, startled them with his words. Both Azik and Klein froze.

"You know the source of my power?" Azik looked at Leon in delighted surprise.

"No, but I might know how to awaken your power." Leon stood and looked at Azik, whose eyes showed hesitation.

Perhaps his attachment to his current life had made him hesitate.

Leon had never been interested in playing the good Samaritan. There were two reasons he had finally stepped forward.

First, he was curious what kind of being could make the Rune of Death, a primordial law of the Lands Between, respond.

Second, hearing someone with such great power say he feared death made him feel that this world was truly beyond saving.

In that case, it wouldn't hurt to have one more person stirring up trouble.

Maybe there would be a surprise.

So he said to Azik, "I understand your attachment to your life. I understand that you're worried the person you were with that power might have been a bad person. But sometimes problems don't disappear just because you reject them."

"As I see it, power never brings disaster. An adult holding a book can still commit evil, while a child holding a sword isn't necessarily trying to hurt someone; they might be using it to protect someone."

"It all depends on what kind of person you are."

With that, Leon pulled Klein along and prepared to leave.

"I promise that once we walk out that door, no one else will learn the secret between us. But there won't be a second chance either. You only get one."

But before Leon could even pretend to leave, he heard Azik say, "All right. Please try to help me awaken my power."

Hearing Azik's decisive answer, Klein and Leon exchanged a glance and sat back down on the sofa.

Leon saw hesitation in Klein's eyes, but Klein sat back down this time and used a silver dagger to raise a Wall of Spirituality in the room to isolate it.

Once the preparations were complete, Leon and Azik sat facing each other, while Klein stood at the edge.

The moment Leon called out that he was ready, an aura as black as smoke and dust, mixed with a blood-red aura, surged from his body.

At once, Klein's previously quiet spiritual intuition gave a fierce warning, as though death itself had descended.

Feeling the mighty power moving within him, Leon suppressed his excitement and began trying to call upon the power of Destined Death within him without harming the body.

It was a power once wielded by the Gloam-Eyed Queen of the Lands Between, later plundered by the Erdtree. Yet because the gods under the Golden Order feared dying from it, it had been stripped away and hidden.

After all, they had once hunted gods. This was a law truly capable of killing gods!