My Soul card is a Reaper

Blow after blow followed, hooks, jabs, spinning kicks enhanced by lightning speed, but none of them touched Azzy.

He didn't use a speck of energy this time. He simply… moved.

Like water slipping through fingers. Like a shadow slipping between sunbeams.

"You're not even…" Gideon grunted, swinging again with a side kick that cracked the floor.

Azzy weaved under it and tapped Gideon's foot aside mid-air, redirecting the attack and breaking his balance without force.

Gideon landed, crouched low. "Fine."

He reached behind his back and summoned it.

FWOOOOOM.

A radiant surge of purple and silver energy split the arena in half.

In his grip now was Raiga, his soul weapon. Once gold-grade, it had evolved into platinum-tier.

Azzy's eyes narrowed. "He was able to evolve it somehow… The only way an Arcana spirit can evolve between rank 7 and rank 9 is through a third-party essence merge. Come to think of it, he should have scarlet lightning right? I guess that evolution is because of that purple lightning instead."

Lightning danced across the blade's length as Gideon slashed it forward, unleashing a soul skill that fired a horizontal wave of condensed plasma.

Azzy didn't move, though.

THWOOOM—CRASH!

The wave hit his hand and it stopped.

It froze there, light crackling and struggling against the invisible force field forming around Azzy's palm. With a twitch of his fingers, the wave crumbled into sparks.

"Next," Azzy said.

Gideon snarled and dashed again, this time unleashing a flurry of soul energy-imbued sword strikes. Every slash carved through space, leaving gaping scars in the fabric of the pocket dimension.

Storm Step. Thunder Breaker. Godsplitter Slash. Tempest Surge.

The soul skills were unleashed one after another, but each time, Azzy moved no more than inches: tilting, rotating, lifting a forearm to parry, and each time, Raiga's deadly arcs were neutralized.

"I can't believe you are still holding back?" Gideon hissed while panting heavily.

"No. You're strong, Gideon. But…" Azzy stepped forward, his foot pressing down softly. Yet the ground trembled. "I think you still are not at your peak."

Gideon's eyes narrowed. He backed off and drew deep from his core. "Then you leave me no choice."

He raised his blade to the sky, screaming as his aura exploded upward, cracking the ceiling of the pocket dimension.

"Hidden Skill: Final Descent!"

A pillar of lightning descended from the sky and enveloped Gideon. His energy surged beyond limits. Wind and thunder howled as his realm temporarily entered the demigod rank.

From the heart of it, he emerged, flying down like a lightning god, the sword pulsing with every ounce of strength he had.

As the blade came down like divine judgment, Azzy raised one hand and caught it. His hand, however, was enveloped by Divine energy.

BOOMMMMMMM

The entire world around them shook. The shockwave destroyed everything within a 200-meter radius. The walls of the pocket dimension cracked in every direction.

But Azzy hadn't moved from his spot.

He held Raiga's blade under his Divine Energy hand.

Gideon's eyes widened in disbelief as his body started to shake from the recoil. Before he could react, Azzy's other hand drew back and then struck forward, striking Gideon's chest with a palm strike.

BANG.

It was like getting hit by a falling star.

Gideon's body rocketed backward, smashing into the cracked wall of the dimension, destroyed finally, and Gideon fell out to the real world.

Azzy stepped out of the broken dimension and landed beside him.

"I yield," Gideon muttered, lying flat on his back, arms sprawled. "I… am absolutely… not a match for you."

Azzy sat down on the floor with a small grin on his face. "Still want to measure the gap?"

"Not for another hundred years," Gideon chuckled weakly. "Damn. You're not just ahead, you're in a different league altogether."

"It's not because you are weak, Gid. It's because I broke through. Obviously, a Supreme Being is not a match for a demigod unless you have some heaven-defying treasure."

Gideon blinked once. Then he burst out laughing, though it ended in a groan of pain. "Figures," he muttered. "You were already Supreme seventeen years ago. Of course, you'd reach that stage."

Azzy didn't say anything. Instead, he turned his palm over and showed it to Gideon.

A faint red bruise marked the heel of his hand.

"This might not mean much," Azzy said softly, "and I'm not saying this to look down on you, but… of everyone I've faced below the demigod level, you're the only one who managed to bruise me."

Gideon looked at the mark in disbelief.

"That alone," Azzy continued, "tells me that you're one of the strongest in this world under a demigod."

"Hahaha, yeah, I was strong, indeed." Gideon closed his eyes again and chuckled. After a brief pause, he added. "You know, Azzy… you've always been my best friend. But at the same time…" He turned his head slightly. "I was envious of you. You had talent beyond anyone. Powerful background with unlimited resources. A monstrous bloodline. And even with all that, you never slacked. You still pushed yourself harder than anyone I know."

Azzy didn't reply right away. Then, slowly, he stretched out his legs, casually letting his arms rest on his knees.

"Gid," he said quietly, "you might've been envious of me. But when we first met… I was actually envious of you."

Gideon turned to him, a puzzled look on his face.

"You could talk to people. Laugh. Cry. Fall in love. Be part of a crowd. I couldn't. I didn't even know what it meant to be… normal," Azzy murmured. "You were the first person I leaned on."

Gideon blinked.

Azzy continued. "You know something, Gid?"

"Hmm?"

"I never told this to anyone else before," he said. "Not even Claire, my wife, Leiza, or even my own parents."

His voice wasn't heavy with sorrow, but it carried the weight of years.

"I never wanted any of this, you know. The titles. The power. The wars. The endless decisions I have to make every day."

He turned slightly, glancing at Gideon over his shoulder.

"Since young, all I ever wanted was a simple life," he confessed, "grow up in the countryside, help people, live freely. That's it."

Gideon's brows furrowed slightly.

Azzy continued. "I wanted a life where I could go to school, make dumb mistakes, fall in love with the girl next door, grow up, work in some office, marry the love of my life, live somewhere in a countryside with more peace, complain about taxes, and grow old without carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders."

Azzy chuckled bitterly. "But I was forced to grow up too quickly. Reaper's deal. War. Betrayals. Death. People depended on me before I even knew who I was. So many things happened that… I can't even look back anymore. The past feels like smoke."

He finally turned fully to Gideon, his eyes calm, distant. "But you know what? I'm still hopeful."

Gideon blinked.

Azzy smiled faintly, as if he was picturing a different life in his head. "Once I'm free of my burdens… once I've done what I need to do… I'm going to disappear. Just vanish from the world's eyes."

He sat up and firmly said. "I'll get a boring office job. One of those 9-to-5 types. I'll come home, sit on the couch, and watch some dumb sitcom with my wife. Maybe complain about traffic. Go on a vacation twice a month, nothing fancy. Just some forest lodge or a quiet beach."

He looked at Gideon now, at his face.

"I want friends. A lot of them. I want to laugh. Drink. Argue about nonsense. Be part of a group where no one bows, no one whispers behind my back. I want a life that's… unremarkable."

Azzy let out a slow breath.

"That's what I want for my life, Gid. Just a normal life with a lot of freedom and a lot of less burdens."

Gideon was staring at him now, completely silent. His expression was partly stunned and partly moved.

Azzy leaned back on his palms and chuckled softly. "Surprised, aren't you?"

Gideon nodded slowly, his lips curling up in a crooked smile. "Yeah. I am."

He looked away for a moment, then back at Azzy. "But… I get it now."

As Azzy left his sight, Gideon continued to lie there for a few seconds before bursting out into laughter, crazy one at that. "Hahahaha… hahahaha… man… I was truly defeated this time. There was never a reason to compete with Azzy, whether it was the strength or the intention. Hahahaha… you won, Azzy… You won, truly this time…" Tears automatically flew through his eyes.