Unsealing Emptiness

If Kure knew that Ozul was now strong enough to completely dominate the fight even if all three of the remaining Rank-10 Mages joined hands against him, he wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to visit the site of Darcia’s death.

Instead, he would have been racking his brain to think up all the ways he could make Ozul join the family.

If Ozul backed the Ashin family, then they would undoubtedly become the number one rulers of the entire Mainland!

Unfortunately, even if Kure did know about Ozul’s strength, he wouldn’t have been able to tie him to the Ashin family.

Although Raymond and Alver were a little surprised at their father’s sudden burst of energy, they quickly recovered since they also understood the importance of such an artifact. If they got their hands on it, it wouldn’t be difficult to take over the Leonard Dynasty if it ever caused any troubles for the Ashin family in the future.

“HAHAHA!!”

.....

Suddenly, Raymond burst out in maniacal laughter, successfully catching Alver and Ozul’s attention.

“What happened, brother?” Alver asked confusedly.

“Haha!! I just realized something, Alver. After this news brought by nephew, do you not understand why those Church rats have suddenly started to move so suspiciously?” Raymond replied with another fit of laughter.

Hearing him also caused Alver’s eyes to brighten up.

The news of a Rank-10 Mage dying was so shocking that, for a moment, they had forgotten what Darcia’s death meant to the whole continent.

Now that they thought of the wave of changes her death would bring, a smile couldn’t help but bloom on Alver’s face as well.

Darcia’s death created a void in the balance of power that was maintained by all the big organizations on the continent. The Church was also one of the 4 giant pillars solely because there was a Rank-10 Mage backing it like all the other organizations like them.

Now that Darcia, the Rank-10 Mage, was dead, the Church of Light was just like any other top organization with a Rank-9 Leader. Although powerful, it wouldn’t be able to compare to the remaining three giant factions that consisted of the Leonard Dynasty, the Mercenary organization, and the Ashin Family.

Although the Ashin Family didn’t have good relations with the Leonard Dynasty either, they had a special animosity with the Church for a long time. Now that they didn’t have the backing of a Rank-10 Mage, Alver and Raymond could start planning how to best take advantage of the situation.

Looking at the two brothers and their unusually stretched grins, Ozul understood that he wouldn’t have to go out of his way to deal with the Church.

Not only the Ashin Family but all those top organizations which had previously been oppressed under the Church of Light would also try to get back at them for the decades of humiliation and try to get a piece of all the resources owned by them.

“Did Old Gu choose anyone from the Ashin family for the event?” Ozul wanted to know just how many might be participating in the tournament.

There were also other questions like if Old Gu was looking for Mages with strength or just their potential. If he went looking for people with the potential and strength of Raven and Blaze at their age, he might as well find no one.

“Ah, we haven’t told you yet. Two of our younglings were chosen to be a part of the tournament!” Raymond answered while puffing up his chest in pride.

Having two of their members chosen was proof of the Ashin Family’s strength. But unlike Raymond, Alver showed a worried smile.

Being the head of the family, he was more sensitive towards the well-being of all the members. Although having two of their members chosen was a moment of pride for Raymond, Alver was only worried that they might lose their lives in that inhumane tournament. He only prayed that the tournament was different this time. Otherwise, their chances of survival would be quite grim.

“How strong are they?” Ozul asked again.

“One of the two selected is the same young man who had participated in the recent tournament. The other is a peak Rank-7 Mage. Is something the matter?” Alver questioned after explaining.

‘Peak Rank-7 Mage... Although strong, this level is nowhere near enough to survive that type of tournament,’ Ozul concluded. On the continent, a peak Rank-7 Mage could flaunt their strength wherever they went, but in front of a Rank-8 Mage, they would stand no chance whatsoever.

Since a peak Rank-7 Mage was chosen, there were chances that Mages even lower than that level could be participating. He even wondered if Fighters would be picked despite their limited capabilities.

‘What is going on in that old man’s head...’ Ozul could only make vague guesses which weren’t helpful at all.

He was only certain about the fact that the tournament might be completely different from the one in which Kure had participated during his time.

The main question in his mind was the criteria on which Old Gu was selecting the participants.

‘...Whatever. I will know when it starts.’

After thinking for a while, he gave up and simply shrugged his shoulders. As strong as he was right now, the only person who he had to watch out for right now was Old Gu. It didn’t matter even if suddenly all the organizations turned against him.

“Ah! I didn’t ask you, nephew. Do you... have any plans for the Church?” Raymond asked, hoping for a negative answer as he was thinking about all the methods he could use to bring down the Church of Light.

But it all depended on Ozul’s answer. It was him who had suffered the most because of the Church, so Raymond first wanted to make sure if Ozul had anything special in his mind or not.

“No. You can deal with them however you want,” Ozul waved his hand off, much to the pleasure of Raymond who wanted nothing more but to leave the estate and start planning the Church’s demise.

“Do not haste... Find out the members of the Church who were also chosen for the tournament, and avoid hurting any of them,” Ozul offered his advice.

His words made Raymond pause and take a moment to think. He and Alver both understood that it was better to avoid hurting them or Old Gu might not take kindly to the fact that his chosen candidates weren’t able to participate in his event due to their interference.

“What are you going to do now, nephew?” Alver asked as he noticed Ozul was about to turn around and leave.

Since he had obtained all his limbs back, Alver wondered if he had any specific goal in his mind.

“Uh-... Tell us if you need any help,” he added awkwardly, noticing that Ozul had no intentions of answering.

Only this time Ozul spoke, “Thank you... but I don’t think I will, from now on.”

The Ashin family wouldn’t be able to help him in anything that even he would find trouble handling from now on.

In the matters of helping the Three-Eyed Strangers, they rarely asked help from the Ashin Family as well. The organization had already solidified its standing in this world and many talented individuals would seek to join despite the harsh conditions like all the oaths.

Despite his words, Raymond and Alver didn’t think much of it. They didn’t think that their nephew had yet reached a point where he would never need their help.

Unfortunately, they didn’t know that he was even stronger than the three remaining Rank-10 Mages on the continent.

Raymond laughed with bright eyes, “Haha! Indeed, Nephew doesn’t need our help now. Farewe-”

But before he could even finish, Ozul disappeared from the Ashin Family’s estate, shaking his head internally. It wasn’t hard for him to notice that they didn’t believe him, but he didn’t care either way.

On his way back, he could easily feel the growing number of Mages with the Light Element in the Neutral City.

After getting his hand back, he hadn’t bothered to hide his presence while returning. So the news of his arrival had quickly reached Lammert as well. Although Lammert was confused at his return, what made him worry endlessly was the disappearance of Darcia.

Not only could he not make any contact with her using the communication artifact, Lammert didn’t receive any news of her appearance even days after Ozul’s return.

With his ever growing worries, Lammert had issued orders over orders in search of any news about Darcia. He did have fleeting thoughts about the possible outcomes of her disappearance and Ozul bieng unscatched, but he didn’t dare ponder on those possibilities for long.

He was afraid at even the thought of Darcia’s death.

At this moment, Lammert didn’t care what all the other organizations thought of the abrupt movement of all the members of the Church.

It was also because of this that Haley was able to quickly get the man responsible for Blaze’s miserable childhood as he was one of the many who were called to the main church for this frantic search.

As of now, Lammert still wasn’t sure of Darcia’s death.

Remembering everything that Lammert had done to his hand all those years ago, he had the urge to deal with him right this instant. However, he shook his head and continued to fly towards the direction of the Silverbird Kingdom or specifically, the Old Whispering Woods.

While he had ordered Raven and Blaze to infiltrate all the organizations on the continent just because of the small ray of hope that he might find any clues about his being, he again wanted to meet the only creature after Jinx that felt a deep connection to him.

Maybe... now that he was strong enough, could he find any answers to both their questions?