—Outer City, Inside Cabin Outhouse
Azrael and Marchioness Atalante stare at the boy, their mouths agape. Rasui, nicknamed 'The Sleeper', lied in a pool of his own blood with a gaping hole in his chest. His body was cold and he was unresponsive. Rasui was undeniably dead. Marchioness Atalante and Azrael have both come to this conclusion.
"I'm... still alive?" he stutters, eyes wide and body trembling.
"How can this be?" asks Marchioness Atalante. She turns to Azrael and confirms, "He was dead, Lord Azrael. That I can say was the undeniable proof."
"I know," says Azrael, his mouth slightly open as he takes slow measured breaths. How is this possible? he thinks as Rasui turns his head, scanning his surroundings. As Atalante said, Rasui was dead. He had no pulse, his body was ice cold... Azrael's eyes fall to the hole in Rasui's chest, Then there's that gaping hole. The only ones capable of bringing people back to life are me... and Gaia. But even then, when we bring anyone back to life, all of the wounds they sustained before death disappear. This can't be Gaia at work. And with my power sealed, it's most definitely not mine. But if it's not Gaia or me... who else could this be?
Rasui's mouth falls as his gaze turns to Azrael and his body shakes. He jumps back shrieking, "AAHH!! Y-you are... The God of Death!"
Azrael squints his eyes and says, "Oh? You know who I am? That's surprising. I have no recollection of meeting you before. So that begs the question, who are you?"
"Who am... I?" Rasui's eyes blaze with fury, "You want to know who I am? As if killing me in that cursed dungeon was not enough of an insult, you dare act as though you do not recognise me?"
"Killed you? Surely you jest. I can assure you, I've never killed a human before. And I never plan to do as such."
"A... human?" Rasui's head descends to his small, blood-stained, human hands and his breathing stops momentarily. He hastily fondles his face and tears start welling in his eyes, "This... cannot be. How is this possible? Why? Why have I become a human?" He looks at Azrael and leaps toward him maniacally, screaming, "You! It is you! You have done this to me!"
Azrael does not flinch at his sudden charge. He stands firm, gawking at the ground as Marchioness Atalante intercepts Rasui. She pins him to the ground with relative ease and holds him down. "That is far enough."
"Let me go, you brutish woman!"
"Bru..." She sighs, twisting his arm even further. Rasui roars in pain and squirms around attempting to break free from her hold but to no avail. After he calms, Marchioness Atalante looks at Azrael and says, "Lord Azrael, what do you make of this situation?"
Azrael stares at Rasui, who glares back at him like a mad dog. "I... don't know. I will have to look into this more. But from how this boy acts, I can certainly say that he is not Rasui."
"He is not... Rasui? What do you mean?"
"Every living being across the three realms, save for the Primordial Deities, has two bodies: The physical body and the spiritual body. The physical body is the materialistic vessel that contains the spiritual body. When the physical body dies, the spiritual body fades into obscurity and enters the heavenly realm. There, they are judged based on how they lived before a panel of gods. At times, though it is a rare occurrence, one's spiritual body may not fade into obscurity but possess the physical body of a newborn child—which is the reason for dual personalities and reincarnation in the Mortal Realm. I believe something similar has occurred with Rasui... Or, to be correct, whoever this person may be." Azrael crouches down before Rasui and blankly stares at him. His eyes roll in various directions, scanning the boy's face. "Tell me, who are... No, who were you before Rasui?"
"I... was... Lumos..."
"Lumos? The angel?"
"You know this person?"
Azrael nods his head. "Lumos is an angel under the command of the Goddess of Light, Ziv. He is the angel behind the dungeon incident."
"The one in the Dungeon of Creation?"
"Yes."
Lumos grits his teeth as his head falls to the ground. "Dungeon incident? Is that what you call it?"
"What should we call it? A one-sided beatdown? A stage for revelations?"
"Hahaha, None of that, no. You should call it the beginning of the New Age."
"The new age?"
"I have finally figured out why I still live."
"You have? Enlighten us then."
"Lord Azrael, you are the Primordial God of Death, no? Have you ever wondered what that means?"
"Wondered... what it means? What are you talking about?"
"As the Primordial God of Death, you, Lord Azrael, are the embodiment of death. That means without you, death does not exist."
Without... me? Is he talking about my sealed powers?
Lumos laughs maniacally, "Your expression tells me you did not know this. It appears even the omnipotent Primordial Deities are not all-knowing."
Marchioness Atalante lifts his head like a glass and bangs it into the wooden floor, knocking him out. Azrael stares at his unconscious body with droopy eyes. "Lord Azrael, it is as he says. I used all my strength to shove his head into the ground and yet he is still alive. Unconscious, but still alive."
"He said without me death doesn't exist. That much, I know. What surprises me is the rate at which death is deteriorating."
"The rate at which death is deteriorating?"
"As Primordial Deities, we understand the importance of our existence. That said, we also understand that without any one of us seated on our thrones, the three realms could crumble into disorder. With my powers sealed, death will slowly fade into oblivion. No one in the three realms will die, no matter who kills them. As you can see with Lumos, that is the case also." His eyes and mouth droop and he watches Lumos with a pitiful stare. "Death's deterioration has happened much faster than I thought. There could be more cases throughout the three realms and I'm nowhere near unsealing my powers." He clenches his fists. "It's frustrating."
Marchioness Atalante does not attempt to console Azrael. Though it irks her not knowing what to say, she understands that as someone who has only recently pledged her loyalty, she still has a long way to go before Azrael can place his utmost trust in her. So, instead of consoling him, she says, "There might be a way for us to unseal your powers."