My Soul card is a Reaper

"Where am I?" Azzy looked around in his surroundings and then at the guy, "What's going on?" He couldn't help but wonder aloud.

The guy let out a smile, "Well, in short, you were beaten by your enemy and under the influence of anti-divine energy's personification, you were about to release it and bring destruction to the timeline. So, I stopped the time and here we are."

"Uhh…" Azzy felt like it was lot to take it in, when he suddenly remembered what he was about to do earlier without thinking about consequences, but at the same time, he couldn't help but become curious of this one's identity. After all, this guy isn't the that older one he was familiar with. "Just want to ask, which future version are you?"

In response, the person chuckled once again, "I'm neither your future nor past, kid. Well, if I think about it, I can be considered your past too. We are the same in a way, but we actually aren't in the same way you think it is."

"I don't understand," Azzy only felt confused by the latter's words.

The person then spoke, "I guess this will clear up your confusion. My name is Azrael Orkney Garcia."

"Orkney?" Azzy's eyes widened in realization, "as in my ancestor, the founder?"

The ancestor nodded.

Azzy looked at him with his confusion still not being cleared, "I still don't understand. Why would you… I mean how… Is it time travel?"

The ancestor shook his head, "Not really. This is just a remnant of my soul that's left as I have gone through reincarnation." He then followed it up with a sigh, "unfortunately, only I could hold it out for this long. The other remnants were extinguished over the time."

Azzy simple stared at this ancestor of his as the latter walked back and forth while continuing to ramble more mysterious words that generates questions, "But then again. I get to meet all eighteen of them and even lasted until I meet the last reincarnate too. So, I guess it is fine, I guess. Oh, I'm sorry. Let me explain. Sit."

Azzy sat as he was told. The ancestor did the same and continued to speak, "I have been watching you since you were born just like other reincarnations. So, I will limit myself and speak of the information that needs to be spoken. You can ask any doubt but if I say I can't, then, you should just forget it, understand? In time, you will find answers to the questions."

Azzy nodded in understanding.

The ancestor started his narration.

"You have already heard the story of the creation of cosmic jewels. So, I won't repeat it again. But, what you should know is that when cosmic jewels are being shaped into oval gems to fit into various adamantine accessories and such, fragments were scattered all across the universe.

Some of these fragments gained consciousness over time and eventually possessed mortal bodies.

But when these mortal bodies died, the fragments returned to their original state as they pass through the spirit realm and the God of Death, Thanatos, took it as an advantage to acquire them. You know, the cosmic jewels or their fragments cannot be tracked by anything but a fellow cosmic jewel.

Of course, their usage isn't strictly to use to track the other cosmic jewels too.

Thanatos was using the death jewel fragments to create his own Apostles. These Apostles are not only way stronger and talented than your top tier genius with the potential of reaching even the Junior God realm but they also could use the personal weapons of their deities.

They are basically war machines controlled by Thanatos.

Eventually, the other deities took notice of it and they waged a war to claim those things.

As a result, Tezka, I mean Chronos, meddled in the matter and whatever acquired were evenly distributed among the principal deities, i.e. ones that rule over attributes, but with a condition that the remaining fragments or the cosmic jewels remain untouched.

Since then, it was always the job of Space and Chronos to take care of these remain fragments and their reincarnations. They don't pass through heaven or hell. They just reincarnate at the whim of Chronos."

Azzy looked at his ancestor intently, understanding what he was trying to say, and asked, "are you saying that we are these fragments?"

The ancestor nodded firmly, "Based on my conversations with the other reincarnations over the period of 100,000 years, I can confidently say that we are one of these fragments, most probably, the Jewel of Death's fragment that was under the protection of Chronos. The bigger the fragment, the more its potential.

The fact that you managed to bind with three cosmic jewels and the fact that the anti-divine energy is so attached to your soul clearly indicates that we are the biggest fragment.

If the anti-divine energy takes over us, our true soul will become corrupted by it, and through which, it can slowly corrupt the cosmic jewels, destroy your soul cards to remove Chronos' influence over you too. With three cosmic jewels in its hand, it will become more powerful than those immortal principal deities sitting in Olympus."

The memory of his future self that doesn't have a soul card of the Reaper appeared in Azzy's head. With his head hung down, he slowly mumbled, "I think it has already been successful."

The ancestor heard it and shook his head, "How do you know that the one who you met multiple times isn't from a destroyed timeline and he was merely trying to protect you to protect your timeline?"

"Eh?" Azzy raised his head to look at his ancestor. "So, he is actually not me?" That was indeed a shocking revelation for him.

The ancestor shook his head with a smile once again, "My child, don't take the words literally. I merely meant a possibility. A future was never certain. It was always one of the possibilities that results from the actions of the present."

"So, what should I do now?" Azzy couldn't help but ask.

To which, the ancestor asked in return, "Speak your thoughts, my child. To think of a solution, you must understand what is your problem first."

Azzy explained, "The cosmic jewel of earth is only used for defensive purposes. I don't know how to use it other than detective metals in earth or creating metals through its power. If only I could use the other cosmic jewels or even an hour glass, this battle should not be as hard as now. And without Chronos' support, I just can't think of a proper strategy to take on the enemy.

With the amount of soul energy I have left, I can go with one big move. I don't have instant soul power recovery cards in my storage card either. Sage energy is the only way to win this battle, but natural energy is too limited in our clan village cuz it is a pocket dimension.

As the Protos energy and Jupiter's powers were of opposite nature, the toll of my body is beyond one could imagine. It was already too much for me to control the Protos energy at will without losing my mind and the little control over Jupiter's divine powers made me mentally weaker and weaker. I don't have time to train Jupiter's powers either.

Chronos has suddenly logged off and wasn't responding to my calls. All I get a response like wait and hold. I cannot even enter my minds cape anymore to question in person. I don't understand what he want me to do, when I was on the brink of my death and I'm the only one who was standing behind that demigod and my clan's destruction.

A number of my soul skills cannot be used because of the fact that Chronos never imparted the knowledge of them to me. Neither my Arcana spirits nor my soul skills have much effect on the enemy. The only thing that could hurt him is the protos energy. If ancestor has any solution, I'm willing to follow it."

After listening to everything, the founder of the death clan simply let out a smile as he stretched his hand, patting his descendant's shoulder, "The solution is quite simple. Just ask for the help."

"Eh? Help?"

"You have elders in the clan who have way more experience in battles that you have. You have a demigod friend who you trust more than even your own parents and who seemed like she is willing to do anything for you. You even have a master whose prowess rival that of Thanatos. Why not ask for their help?"

When Azzy heard his ancestor's suggestion, he was quite surprised at first, but then as he listened to the rest of the explanation, he couldn't help but blankly stare at his founder as if he was asking whether the latter was serious.

In the end, he let out a sigh and replied, "Since you have been watching me over, you should have known that my master is away and out of contact. Leah is a demigod who still hasn't stabilized her powers, and as for those elders, sure, they have experience. But, they could die with a simple slap from my enemy.

Do you think I would have time to discuss strategies with them while making sure they don't die?"

Earlier, he was being polite but his current mood was so much spoiled that he was speaking quite sternly as if he was scolding his ancestor.

However, the ancestor didn't seem he minded Azzy's tone. He simply responded by resting his elbow on his thigh and his cheek on his fist, thinking for a bit, "Hmm… I see…"