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Return of the Fallen Volume 10 Chapter 120

Kazuki had agreed to help Nevius first with his family but he had a question.

“How do you know the soul of your wife and child still remain. If the energy of their souls is used up, they could completely fade away right, so how are you so sure they even still exist?”

Instead of just explaining, Nevius took his hand and grabbed at his chest before slowly pulling away. As he did, an invisible energy slowly drifted out. Kazuki could not see it but he clearly felt the energy with his aura.

“This is, a soul, no fragments of two souls. Are these your wife and child’s soul fragments?”

Nevius gave a nod.

“When your Mage core was stolen from you a small piece of your soul was taken that day. That was a traumatic event for you but when it comes to my species it is different. A parent will naturally take a fragment of their child’s soul the day they are brought into the world and store it in their own soul world. At the same time, A husband or a wife will exchange a fragment of our souls with one another. This is to announce to the universe that we are and always will be connected. The way this is done, neither of us is harmed, and is seen as a right and bonding moment for a family. These small pieces, each one is distinct and each one feels different. I can sense it, I can still sense them. They are somewhere out there.”

“Wait a minute. You can sense their souls. Why then do you need Arc?”

Nevius pushed the fragments back into his chest and shook his head.

“Just as I had difficulty locating Arc, finding the souls of my lost ones is no easy task. It took so long just to narrow down Arc and that still had me searching countless Realms before I wound up here. Arc was picked up by someone and was brought here. It was brought directly from point a to b to c. After the Realms move that already was difficult but souls do their own thing. Whether they still have thoughts or are dragged around by the natural forces, the movements are unpredictable in that sense. Again add the fact that the Realms move and the difficulty rises exponentially. My sense for their souls becomes muddled the more time that passes. I had to make a choice. Keep searching aimlessly for them and have the possibility that I never find them in all my years or find something that could aid me in my search. That is where Arc comes in.”

(So the searching becomes infinitely harder as time goes by. Without some type of tool, his searching would have been for naught. Placing his bet solely on Arc, it was a gamble nonetheless.)

Kazuki started to wonder about his granny master and old Tilly. He did not know if either of their souls persisted through all this time but he was confident they were still around.

(For Nevius’s family’s souls to still be around after thousands of years have passed. Surely Tilly and granny are still around. After all, it’s only been a few years at most. They have to be around.)

Kazuki was nervous and confident at the same time. The mixing of emotions was annoying, to say the least. He just wanted to get things over with as soon as possible so he immediately asked for Arc’s help.

With the Origin energy gathered earlier, Arc didn’t hesitate and pulsed before shooting two beams of light. One directly into Nevius’s head and the other into open space. Very quickly, Arc used Nevius’s memories to locate the exact point and time in which his family had died.

Nevius was shocked by the sudden light but the moment it pierced him his shock became nervous excitement. As his memories were played before Kazuki, Nevius didn’t care about him seeing them. Most people would die of the embarrassment of having their innermost memories seen but Nevius buried his shame long ago and only wished for his family. Nothing else mattered.

Kazuki was a little surprised by this man. Even though the man had lost everything, and had gotten revenge on those that had delivered him nothing but pain and tragedy, the man persevered and never gave up. Not only that the man had changed in many ways. After he had gotten his revenge, the man was empty but with a glimmer of hope that he could get his family back, he strode forth and let nothing stop him. Even then, his methods were not violent. Even when the man entered the 7th stage and stood above most, he still did not use violence to achieve his goals. This nonviolence was opposite to Kazuki.

Kazuki would not hesitate to break someone were they to stand in his way. His methods could be said to be brutal but they have served him well up to this point. Watching Nevius’s memories though, he began to have a change of opinion. Some of the methods Nevius used to come to this point required him to be patient, and learn many different things along the way. It was these tools that came together and brought him all the way to this point. Had he brute-forced his way along his path, he would not have reached where he is today.

He would not have narrowed his search in finding Arc, he would not have run into Kazuki and he would not have been able to use Arc now.

Seeing these memories play out gave Kazuki, even more, to think about.

Fractions of a second later, Arc had tracked the movement of both wife and child. The two had stuck together for thousands of years and had drifted to and fro from Realm to Realm seemingly without purpose but to Nevius’s shock, mother and child talked with one another and they both had a single goal. Find Nevius.

Even now, the two were in search of a husband and father that had been lost to them. When Nevius heard their words, he broke down and cried.

“All this time…All this time they were looking for me as well.”

Arc located their souls wondering around a nearly void Realm.

“Kazuki, I have located them. They are 4,000,068,237 Lower Realms away. Shall I bring them here?”

Kazuki was stunned.

(They are that far away and not only can Arc find them but it can even use its powers and bring them here. Is it the Origin energy itself or Arc that is amazing.)

“Yes, bring them here. They’ve all waited long enough.”

Arc pulsed and spun and dark purple energy began to race across its surface.

*Crack boom*

Arc suddenly shot bolts of dark purple lightning forward and they collided with one another forming a small rift no bigger than a fist. The rift was made up of dense Origin energy and both Kazuki and Nevius were shocked.

The amount of power emitting from this small rift was more than anything either had ever felt up until that point. The only thing Kazuki could compare it to was that of his grandfather Orberus. At this moment though, Kazuki couldn’t be sure which held the edge over the other.

(For this power to be comparable to a God’s, is this real. Moments ago I felt my own power and thought nothing in this Realm could match it. Even when I compared myself to Lin and Alutra, I felt I now had a small edge over even Demigods but Arc’s power…This is incredible and yet terrifying.)

“There, there, right there!”

Nevius pointed into the depth of the rift and shouted in excitement. Kazuki once again could see nothing but he could feel the faint presence of two souls.

A beam of light, colored in purple, gold, and grey shot directly into the center of the rift and surrounded the two souls, suspending them in space. The beam of fused light pulled back and the rift closed immediately after.

Two souls had in an instant traversed the vast cosmos of space. Covering billions of Lower Realms at a speed unfathomable they had reached here and now safely and unencumbered.

Nevius stood there in stunned silence. His hand slowly and softly reached forward and the souls of his family entwined around.

“My precious child, my beloved. Finally…Finally, we are together.”

Nevius wanted to fall down to his knees and praise Kazuki and Arc right there but Kazuki was not one who enjoyed such things. Besides, he felt all the credit should go to Arc. After all, he just stood there.

“Enough of that Nevius. Shouldn’t you put them into their bodies before anything else?”

Nevius’s eyes widened and he began to nod frantically. With a snap of his fingers, two large crystals appeared out of nowhere. Inside were the bodies of his wife and child. His eyes began to glow and he waved his hand, guiding their souls into the crystal coffins.

The souls entered the bodies and strong heartbeats echoed outward. The crystal casing then crumbled and the two slowly floated toward the ground.

Kazuki waved a hand and clothes were draped around them following after he placed a soft bed beneath them to catch them. The two laid silently on the bed before their eyelids slowly fluttered open.

Nevius was right next to them in an instant as a tiny voice spoke up.

“f…Father?”

Nevius grabbed his daughter’s hand and tears flowed like a river as he cried.

“My child, my dearest child. I’m here, father is here.”

Kazuki did not wish to interfere in such a reunion and he and Arc quietly stepped through a new rift. A second later, the rift closed and they were gone.