"So, anything I should do in the near future?" Quin asked Raziel who leaned his head against his right hand.
"Hmmm, nah, nothing really, everything will progress fine without you doing anything, so you're free to do as you have in the past," Raziel said as he yawned a bit before moving a piece on the board.
"My victory again, you lost your focus there Quin."
"Dammit, again?!" Quin yelled out in frustration before sighing and leaning back. He was never that good when it came to playing such games or strategizing for a battle. Instead, he was the one that was best at simply following a plan and dealing with any unplanned events that occurred with his great instinct.
In battle, he was unmatched by anyone in his realm, his instinct and drive for battle were above and beyond what others could even dream of, and it was the very same instinct that allowed him to rise up to his position and stand right next to Raziel at this moment.
Raziel's true thoughts and plans were never shown to others, not even his own students. But, when it came to a handful of those that were with him since the very beginning, he never hid a single thing and trusted them immensely, allowing them to know almost everything.
Miriam, although not one of his oldest students, was one of those he trusted the most, even though she was one of the rare ones that had other teachers other than himself.
Raziel never forbade his students from going under the tutelage of another person, even though he was called 'The Immortal' thanks to himself being one of, if not the oldest being in the universe and knowing many things, he was not a master at some forms of combat or magic, letting his students learn from those that had devoted their entire lives in studying the same thing was something he would never prohibit.
The only time he would not allow it was if the army and the person in question had hostile relations, but those kinds of beings were incredibly rare to find since nobody was willing to become an enemy of the army.
There were of course squabbles and fights when it came to the Nephilims that ventured out as Raziel was not one to go after petty quarrels. Even if a Nephilim was killed by someone, if it was done during a mission and without a being that was many times more powerful than the said Nephilim, Raziel would not do anything to the killer.
What the other Nephilims would do, however, was not for him to question, and as long as they wished to take revenge without doing anything underhanded or bringing a person that was an entire realm above the person, he would allow it.
He disliked bullying and would not allow his men to do it. Of course, if anyone was to spit on the name of the Immortal Army or was arrogant enough to sully its name, they would face his wrath, even if the person in question was a Nephilim.
Bringing dishonor to the army was one of the biggest crimes that a Nephilim could commit and Raziel would not show mercy to those that did so. The Army was just, they never used their standing or power to force anyone into doing anything, and they hated those that did so.
"But master, seriously, can't you just give me a hint?" Quin asked Raziel who smirked at him.
"No, it is your path, and you have to get to your own answer, otherwise you will never be able to reach the pinnacle," Raziel said as Quin scoffed.
"I know, that's why I'm looking for a hint, any kind of hint."
"We are Nephilims, beings that are a living representation of balance, we have light and darkness inside of us, and it is perfectly balanced, with neither side being stronger," Quin said as his face turned serious.
"And yet, that very idea is destroyed by our ability to control souls, it is an unnatural ability that allows us to do something that does harm the balance of the universe by allowing us to manipulate and use souls."
"By not letting souls go to where they're supposed to go after a person died, we are harming the balance of the universe, and yet we have no qualms about it," Quin said before looking out of the window.
"You always taught us to never be afraid of anyone, and to never be afraid to kill those that needed to be killed, life and death are natural parts of life, and killing those that wish to harm you is nothing out of the ordinary."
"But what is the true balance then, what are Nephilims supposed to be doing then?"
"Has everything we have done so far been a mistake, did we do wrong, or were we right all this time?"
"Perhaps neither of those, maybe we were always stuck in the middle, making both the correct and wrong choices," Quin said with a serious expression as he mused.
The question was one that had been on his mind for many millennia now, and he had traveled far and wide in hopes of finding out the answer. He had explored the universe, and spent an incredibly long time trying to think of an answer, but was yet to fully get one.
"Ah, that's the problem with you, you're looking at things a bit too deeply." Raziel suddenly said before staring at him.
"Quin, tell me, what is evil, and what is good?" Raziel asked Quin who suddenly stared at him.
"What, what do you mean, in what context?"
"Exactly, people and their actions will be defined as good or evil depending on the context, that is the same in the universe, there is no good side or bad side, and no organization is inherently evil or good, well, in most cases, there are those weird, rare occurrences where an organization or civilization is clearly evil or good."
"But you, you have started thinking of things in such a context, remember, the universe is gray, and the lines between good and evil are blurred and not clear, that's something I thought I taught you when you were a kid, and yet you have seemingly forgotten about a such simple, yet important thing," Raziel said before letting out a sigh of disappointment at the very end.
Quin's eyes widened before he stared out of the window with a smile on his face.
"Be careful when you're outside, don't get yourself into trouble," Raziel said to Quin who quickly disappeared from inside the castle before making his way out of the planet as well.
Raziel's words, as simple as they were, were enough to get Quin's eyes to open. He had focused so much on the extremities and on the fact that balance meant that everything should be perfect, that he had forgotten that the universe was never like that.
He had forgotten that what something 'balanced' for him might be, was not the same for somebody else, just like it was with the notion of good and evil. With that in mind, Quin was certain he would be able to get some answers soon, and made his way through the universe, almost fully forgetting about what he was discussing with Raziel before.
'Tch, teacher, was this a way to get me away from the mountain?' Quin thought before a smile bloomed on his face.
'Perhaps he thinks I wouldn't be such a good role model for the kid." Quin thought before unfurling his wings, all six pairs that were on his back, and flying through the void.
'Well, no matter, I do need to go over what teacher has said, who knows, I might even be able to improve my power after this.'
As for Raziel, he was staring out of the window and looking at the direction in which Quin had left. He smiled and shook his head before looking down and seeing the troops training while Asmodel and Aioel were sparring.
The poor young man was already down on the ground as Asmodel was stretching his neck, clearly not impressed by what Aioel had shown so far.
"Come on Aio, we're just getting started, get up, come one, up up," Asmodel said as the young man got on his knees before standing up and clenching his sword, ready to continue.
Back on Earth, however, Reign and Wolf had just left the base that had fused with Reign and was inside his soul. Knowing that he can easily put anything, even people, inside, Reign left the young man inside, fully aware that the young man would be unable to do anything to the base or himself.
The duo of Reign and Wolf decided to go and see what lay at the end of the area. They had heard of the ocean being there, but they were more excited to see if anything lay ahead.
As the two neared the ocean, it was just like the elders had told them, many nests were created at the end and many Tier III monsters came charging at them, only for most of them to fall down and shake in fear after Reign and Wolf released their auras.
The two killed a couple of peak Tier III monsters that were still hostile to them before climbing up and looking ahead. As they saw the sight in front of them, both of them froze before glancing at each other.
"Hey Wolf, I'm not seeing things, am I?" Reign asked as Wolf shook his head.
"You're not, I can see it too," Wolf said as he stared at the tall statue that was visible in the distance. The 93-meter-tall statue that held a torch in her right hand was clearly visible to the two men who were staring at it in shock.
Th𝓮 most uptodate nov𝑒ls are published on freew(e)bnove(l).𝓬𝓸𝓶