Lord Shadow

He remembers where he is and then the room stabilized. He remembers his fears so he also remembers how he overcame it. His heart now has a flame ignited by his bravery.

He remembers his uncertainty and how his heart answers his uncertainty and now there is determination in his eyes. He got up from the bed and the women around him, the pleasure that he did not want dissipated.

His eyes become cold but at the same time it become bright.

The golden figure looks at him and he look at the golden figure. This time, he not only recognizes that face, he also remembers whose face it is.

‘Death Monarch’ Hikigaya said. 

The golden figure smiles and Azief put his hand together like a monk. 

The moment that hand is put together, the sound of the hand was like someone had close a door. The room disperse into smokes and Hikigaya is now on a starry sky. 

There are millions of stars but wherever he looks, he could not see any planets. 

Instead there is only emptiness. But then the stars glow bright and like it had revealed itself, a Wheel appears from the void.

It was a titanic wheel, and it seems to expand infinitely. 

The Wheel spins and Hikigaya could see there is trillions of souls inside that Wheel, all living their lives in a realm of trials and tribulation.

‘How was it?’ the voice echoes all over and it felt like this word, could destroy the stars and any living beings but when it arrived on Hikigaya ears, it was gentle and welcoming.

Hikigaya then saw Azief appears. 

Only this time, he appears as a titanic golden figure. His eyes shining golden look toward Hikigaya. Hikigaya right now is no different than a speck of space dust compared to the size of Azief right now

Hikigaya did not feel fear. Because Azief did not appears in such manner to frighten him.

Hikigaya remembers the question that Azief had asked him

‘It drives away my fear, uncertainty, doubt and my evil desires’ he replies. Azief then said.

‘I just sealed it. I did not destroy it yet’ With a gentle smile, like an all embracing deity, and bathing in golden light, he declares with solemnity

‘I will slay that evil desires that Balfor had put into you. Since I could enlighten him in the Six Paths before, I could do it again’

Hikigaya finally understood why there is so many evil desires in his heart. When the backlash happens, Balfor Q’un put also his evil desire inside Hikigaya heart

Even though that evil desire would not be able to kill Hikigaya, it would weaken him. 

And even though it could eventually be rid of, it would take a long time and by then, there might be other hidden dangers that would appears inside Hikigaya mind and heart

Azief is intending to rid out that evil desire from Hikigaya heart. 

Since he would go away from Earth a week from now, the evil desire inside Hikigaya is like a ticking time bomb that Azief had to neutralize 

If not, he could not rest easy. Who know what kind of thing that the Demon king had planted inside Hikigaya heart.

He then put his hand together and the power of the Six Path gathers at his fingertips. 

The palm slammed each other and a sound echoes inside this empty space, like a bell tolling so loud that every living being that is in existence could hear it

The sound echoes and enters Hikigaya ears and then Hikigaya could see dark reddish aura is coming out from his body. 

He looks at it with disgust. At the same time Hikigaya also uses his energy to push that aura out of his body

‘Small things’ Azief snorted as he opens up his pal,

“With one strikes, driving Gods and Devils Away. Struggle with fate, kind nature must be cultivated, With One Strike, cut apart evil existence!”

The declaration turns into a Divine Decree as the forces of the Six Path of Reincarnation and Rebirth gathers around Azief palm

He then strikes toward that dark reddish aura. His palm is a gigantic palm that would smack any stars into dust. And that palm is now heading toward that aura.

A powerful pressure then descends down upon that aura. Before the palm had even reached the aura, the aura had thinned d considerably

And then when the palm does arrive, the aura was crushed into nothingness. 

At the same time Hikigaya felt like his body was released form something heavy. 

Like a chain that had bind itself upon all of his mind, he felt his mind opened up and the experiences that he had gained form the trials of his mind baptized him and he could feel that his cultivation rises again.

Hikigaya look toward Azief and he bowed.

‘Thank you’ Azief shakes his head and simply said

‘Give and take’ Hikigaya nodded and then as he blinks, the world inside his mind is no longer a she suddenly realizes he is back in his chamber. 

He looks around and he did not see Death Monarch anymore

He could only see a trace of footprints in front of him that was undoubtedly left by Death Monarch before when he had lower himself to smack down his palm onto his forehead. 

Only five second had passed from Azief smacking his forehead to now. 

It felt like tens of thousands of years had passed in his mind, but only five second had passed.

‘The illusion of the mind’ he mutters to himself.

The moment that Azief smack his hand onto Hikigaya forehead, he then solves Hikigaya backlash and then quickly went away. 

Unlike others, he did not have to talk too long with Hikigaya. The relationship between them is not close but to said it is distant is also not quite accurate either.

Hikigaya knows what he had to do and as such Azief had finished setting up protection for the people around him. If one plans crumbles, there is still other that would emerge.

With Raymond, Hikigaya protecting Sofia and his other friends, he could rest a little bit easy if he does not return back to Earth as he expected.

Hikigaya got up and he could see that his chamber was utterly destroyed. The palace that he had created had also cracked. 

He sighed and he crack his neck. Then he smiles

‘My recovery is faster than I anticipated. Death Monarch is a man with many means.  It is truly remarkable.’ He does not forget what he had promised Death Monarch. 

But Death Monarch is still here on Earth. 

Right now, he did not yet have to make a move to protect those people. 

But he does have a target in his mind that he needs to settle first before he would be at ease protecting other people

After all, he needs to protect himself first before he could worry about other people.

It is time to settle old scores and fortify his own position before the World Government had a chance to respond. 

‘I need to meet with Oreki. He must be jealous right now’ And then he laughed. 

Coming out from his palace, his eyes seems to be able to see through everything. 

The Laws around him were like strings and waves and he could see it very clearly. 

‘It is beautiful’ Azief had thought the same thing when he could see the Laws of the world with his eyes. It is very beautiful. It is quite a pity human could not see it before.

Only until reaching to some kind of advanced life from that they could see it. The beauty of it is hard to describe. It fills the vision and one hearts and mind. 

This feeling of expansiveness in one heart could not be described by words. That is how magical it is to see the Laws of the world with one own eyes.

Of course, Hikigaya could describe the shapes of the laws which is as numerous as all the sands on the beaches of Earth

He could describe their colorful colors that possess variety of hues and spectrums. 

He could describe all of this thing and still he would find it inadequate to describe the beauty of it all.

There are some types of beauty in this Universe, that words are lacking to describe it. 

This kind of beauty is something that could be experienced but not described. By describing, you are limiting it.

‘Death Monarch…. does he see every day? Did he see the same thing as I see or is it different than mine? His Grand Path is different than mine. It would not be surprising if he sees different things than me’ he thought to himself.

There is a smile on his face. Not only because he sees this kind of beauty but also because right now, he is feeling very liberated. 

There were many things that have burdened him in the past. But right now, as he stands above all others, he felt that the chains that had restrained him all this time is slowly unraveling.

He laughed inside the cave as his laugh echoes all over, expressing this feeling of happiness in his heart.