****
Gabriel opened his eyes as he felt the cool morning air against his skin. He looked around, trying to make sense of where he was.
The last thing he could remember was that he was being pushed down by the mysterious force of the statue when he used his strongest offensive spell. He didn't remember anything that happened after that. Instead, he woke up here.
As he looked around, he soon realized where he was. It was the same place where he had been in his last dream! The mysterious waterfall dreamscape where he trained in his dream with the help of the creator of the earring Alion.
He was standing in front of it again. The sun shone brightly off the cascading water, creating an almost surreal atmosphere that sent shivers down Gabriel's spine.
He stepped closer to the edge, once again mesmerised by its beauty. No matter how many times he looked at the waterfall, he always had this surreal feeling as if the waterfall was a special place that hid more mysteries than it revealed.
As he stepped closer to the Waterfall, suddenly something strange happened; the water began to swirl around him like it was alive and beckoning him forward. Gabriel hesitated for a moment before finally taking a deep breath and jumping into the pool below.
The sensation was incredible as a warm energy started nourishing his soul. He also felt himself being pulled deeper and deeper into this dream world filled with vibrant colors and sounds that seemed almost too real for comfort.
He could feel his body relaxing as if all his worries had melted away in this new environment - until suddenly he heard a familiar voice calling out from behind him: "Just a meeting with a fragment of his remnant Divine Aura and your body was almost broken? You are really weak..."
Startled, Gabriel spun around only to find Alion behind him, surrounded by the same mysterious energy that he felt coming from the water. It was surprising to see Alion being able to talk even inside the water.
"Your body is much weaker than I thought. Training you would take much longer than I expected. It's hard to believe that someone so mighty could fall to this level..." Alion didn't even open his lips. Despite that, his words were heard clearly by Gabriel. It was clear that Alion wasn't speaking. He was using his thoughts to communicate.
"Can we use thoughts to talk inside the water?" Gabriel wondered, frowning. He had never heard of a place like that existing in the past. There were definitely treasures which allowed people to talk through thoughts but those treasures were all rare!
"You can. But it's better if you focus your time on training yourself. This time, it was just a fragment of a Divine Consciousness and you were already brought to your knees," Alion replied. From his reaction, he seemed really upset at Gabriel.
"Stay inside and don't you dare to go out! If you dared to leave the water before I told you, you'll never receive my help in your training... Do you understand?" he asked Gabriel.
The last time Gabriel was here, Alion was much calmer and talked in an usual manner. However, currently it was clear that he was angry. Gabriel didn't understand why he was so angry? It wasn't as if he wanted to fall to his knees. The pressure was just too much for him. Moreover, why did this guy even care if he fell to his knees somehow?
He didn't understand much about this man's strange reaction, but from his words, Gabriel did understand a few things. Firstly, it wasn't that the Stone Statue of the God of Flames was alive. It was just that the statue had some Divine Aura of his which was what pushed Gabriel down.
And secondly, Alion was actually here to help him train to make his body stronger. No matter how angry Alion was, in the end his intentions were good.
He nodded. No matter what, staying in the water felt helpful for now. He didn't know what kind of condition his body was in, but he had faith in Raphael. He wanted to heal his soul and his body before leaving and this place was the best when it came to healing. It was even more efficient than his healing spell somehow.
Alion left Gabriel inside the water and came to the surface. Water dropped down his long hair as he stepped on the surface, taking a glance back at the surface of the water. With his vision, he could still see Gabriel even though he was at the depth of fifty meters.
"This kid... He's really..." He sat on the ground, seemingly tired. He glanced up at the clear sky, sighing. "I wonder if I was too harsh on him. It's not entirely his fault either. Even if it was my younger self in his place, I would've had a hard time staying up. That Divine Aura... It was too soon for him to come in contact with that, after all."
"That was really impatient though. Attacking that place alone? Then again, I guess old habits really are hard to change, aren't they? Old friend?"
****
The sun was setting over the Empire of Arecia, casting a golden light across its majestic landscape. As night slowly descended, a mystical flying beast soared through the sky, carrying an unconscious Gabriel back to his home. The beast that was lent by Avilia also carried Raphael with it.
As for the Death Knights, for some reason, as soon as Gabriel was brought out of the City, all Death Knights disappeared, turning into specks of light which entered Gabriel's ring of Necromancy.
Gabriel hadn't left Arecia for a long time. However, now that he was being brought back, the City looked quite different than before. It was as if the City went through a large-scale war already.
"So this is the City that belongs to him," Raphael muttered, looking at the City in the distance. It was his first time coming to this city.
If he wasn't informed about this city and the beast that was waiting outside to take them back before Gabriel attacked the Church, he never would've known where to even take Gabriel.
****
From the start of the attack on the City to the end, the new Emperor hadn't made an appearance. Gabriel's reputation was already at his lowest now. Even the Saint Knight had shown up but the so-called Emperor didn't. Many citizens were starting to call the new Emperor a coward who didn't even dare to show his face before the Holy Lord.
Many citizens had lost their loved ones in this attack. Many of them lost their house, their property, their wealth as well. They all wanted to blame someone and this blame was tossed at the new Emperor!
At the moment, not a single person in the Empire knew how this anger and resentment toward the new Emperor was the foundation of something that had the potential to destroy the world's foundation itself…
