Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 905: Proudest Mother, Wife, And Woman [Magic Castle Bonus Chapter]

Within the Luxury Viewing Box where Azaron, Malrik, and Azazel sat, the three of them remained in pure silence. They were simply too stunned to speak, no, they were utterly speechless. Seconds passed, a minute passed, two minutes passed, yet none of them uttered a single word.

“The youngest… has a… star… as an… affinity,” Malrik finally spoke, his voice breaking mid-sentence as he couldn’t believe what he had just seen.

Azaron and Azazel didn’t reply. They remained seated as they simply stared at Asher, who remained in Star Form even at this moment.

“How is that even possible?” Azazel asked as his eyes remained on Asher, his heart trembling slightly from the overwhelming shock of everything he had just witnessed.

If Asher hadn’t made it so obvious, people wouldn’t have known he possessed Star Energy; they would have simply assumed it was another unique energy possessed by yet another Wargrave. But the Star Form, the Star emblem on his forehead, the Star Stanza rapier technique, even an idiot at this point could already tell that Asher possessed the Star affinity.

Azaron and Malrik already knew about the Star Form, but they never knew it came from an energy related to the Star.

“If that is the real Star Energy, does that mean Astra Energy is merely a byproduct or something lesser?” Azaron immediately deduced on the spot.

At his question, Azazel and Malrik’s eyes narrowed as they began to consider the possibility.

There was a reason Azaron had come to this conclusion. In the Wargrave’s hidden ancient records, it was stated that when the Star Fragment first fell upon the world, an unknown energy pulsed throughout the planet, but when people began to manipulate Astra Energy, it didn’t seem to be the same energy that had pulsed through the world at the moment of impact.

Of course, it had only been a theory at the time, as no one had a way to prove it, and people didn’t particularly care. After all, they were all focused on the sudden supernatural power that they had gained and possessed. Even if they cared, what could they possibly have done?

Azaron himself hadn’t really cared about the theory. He had only read it in passing and never thought much about it. But now, seeing his youngest son display something entirely different, his mind couldn’t help but drift back to those ancient records.

Azazel couldn’t help but sigh as he began to speak once more. “It seems your son has hidden himself so deeply that even you are surprised,” he said, shaking his head. “And it seems my daughter has… lost.” His tone was low and slightly broken.

He had believed in his daughter because he knew of her World Embodiment ability, and he had personally trained it alongside her and his wife. He had believed that even if Azaron’s son was so absurdly talented that he forced her to reveal such a trump card, it would still all be over in her favour.

Azazel didn’t care about the money he had lost. Yes, he was now poor, a true pauper, but he could simply farm Rank 8 and 9 beings and immediately become wealthy again. In fact, the money he received from people trying to curry favour with him was already enough to restore his fortune.

So, he cared for none of that. He only cared about how his daughter felt, how her emotions must have been churning violently within her chest at this very moment. Azazel knew how the mentality of the strongest usually worked. After all, he himself had once stood at the very summit until he met Azaron and fought him to a draw, not once, but twice.

But unlike him, his daughter had lost. He had no excuses for her because he knew she had done absolutely everything she could.

‘He even possesses the ability to sever one’s connection with Astra Energy. It truly is Star Energy,’ Azazel thought to himself as his heart ached for his daughter.

She was his pride, his joy, his laughter, his muse. Since his wife had died, only his daughter had anchored him to reality. If she had died too, Azazel would have had no more reason to continue living, as he barely had any friends.

At this moment, all he wanted to do was return home, embrace his daughter, and console her. He hoped that such a defeat wouldn’t affect her mindset and make her regress instead of improve. After all, a rival was only meant to make you improve.

Azazel’s black eyes rose toward the sky as they focused on his daughter, Arianna, who sat with her eyes closed.

“Your daughter losing was only a given,” Azaron finally replied as he placed the utmost trust in all of his children to enter any challenge and emerge at the very top. He was simply that kind of man.

Although he was shocked by Asher’s Star Affinity, his thoughts soon shifted in another direction; the rapier.

A melancholic smile appeared on Azaron’s face as his thoughts drifted toward Lily, his wife. This had been her dream, for one of her children to wield the rapier so she could teach them everything she knew. He also knew she had planned to ignore the Wargrave laws regarding creating one’s own personal technique and instead pass down her own rapier technique.

‘If only you were here, you would have been the proudest mother, wife, and woman,’ Azaron thought to himself, a tear slipping from the corner of his eye before immediately evaporating, as though his physique itself forbade him from crying.

Sometimes, Azaron hated the fact that no one had been responsible for his wife’s fate, because if someone truly had been, he would have known exactly where to direct every ounce of his fury.

‘The world will finally understand the beauty of the rapier, just as you once wished,’ he thought to himself as his mind replayed countless cherished memories of himself and his wife.

‘I’m sure he will climb to your level and even eclipse it,’ he thought once again, as he knew Asher’s rapier technique was already ridiculous, but it still hadn’t reached Lily’s level.

‘Should I give him Lily’s rapier?’ he wondered. He still had it sealed within a rectangular glass case, but the moment that thought surfaced, he shook his head.

He couldn’t afford to part with anything that had belonged to Lily. Besides, Asher didn’t even need the rapier for anything, as all Soul-bound weapons possessed by the Wargraves had consciousness and intelligence and were notoriously jealous weapons.

Malrik sat in silence as he felt slightly betrayed that Asher hadn’t told him about the Star affinity he had awakened. But at the same time, he remembered that two years ago, when he had met Asher after the awakening ceremony, Asher had actually asked whether he wanted to know about his affinity. It was he, Malrik, who had declined.

Malrik’s fist clenched. Although Asher was still far from reaching his ‘true strength’, Malrik still wanted to protect him. He wouldn’t allow his own younger brother to become stronger than him. He had to remain the big brother, and he would remain the strongest so that he would always possess the power to protect them.

Although Malrik was already outrageously powerful, he made the decision to intensify his training. After all, with Star Energy now entering the equation, a great many things had changed.

But make no mistake, Malrik’s obsession with protecting his siblings and remaining the strongest in order to possess the power to protect them would never make him sabotage his siblings’ training. If anything, he welcomed the challenge, as it would only force him to become even stronger despite the limitations imposed by the World Limit.

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Bonus Chapter sponsored by KrypticJ