Right outside the Capital of Arecia where Avilia's execution was going to take place, a powerful barrier was erected by the Temple of Time.
The City was filled with members of Temple of Time, each on high alert.
Less than two days were left until Avilia was going to be killed. If Gabriel was ever going to come, the Temple of Time believed that this was the time.
The Second Head of the Temple of Time, who looked like a little boy, was sitting on the throne in the Royal Place, lazily glancing at the woman in the middle of the hall.
Avilia's hands were tied in some mysterious shackles from the Temple of Time, which made it impossible for Avilia to summon anything. As for her strength, it wasn't enough to break those shackles either.
"You are a fool if you think he will come to save me." Despite being imprisoned, Avilia's face was perfectly calm, as if she wasn't scared about her coming death.
Instead, her eyes looked mockingly at the little boy on the throne, as if laughing at his nativity in thinking that she was important enough for Gabriel to come here despite knowing that it's a trap.
"Oh, I know he won't come." The little boy lazily answered. "If anything, I know him much better than you. The man who killed my little brother..."
"It doesn't matter even if he doesn't come. Now that he has returned, there is no place in this world where he can hide from us," he further added, not explaining further. However, from his words, Avilia managed to receive some hints.
"He should've stayed dead. Then again, I'm happy that he's back. My biggest regret was that I didn't manage to kill him with my own hands last time!"
"Stayed dead?" Avilia frowned. Since she was imprisoned, she didn't hear any rumors outside. She knew the Temple of Time hated Gabriel for some reason but she didn't know why exactly. Just what was so special about his identity?
Thinking to this point, she couldn't help but remember the words of the Lord of Wind, who said that there were many people who wanted Gabriel dead, even without him having to do anything.
"Honestly, I have no enmity with you. If you want to blame anyone for your death, blame Karyk for getting close to you. If you still have some hate left after that, then blame yourself for working with him."
The young boy closed his eyes after he finished speaking, not paying any more attention.
"Karyk?" Avilia muttered, frowning. She couldn't remember hearing that name before. Even as she read all the books in the Church of Summoning, there was no mention of this name.
But from what she understood, Karyk was some ancient being who had enmity with the Temple of Time.
When she thought to this point, she remembered something. The records mentioned that the Temple of Time had something stolen from them! The name of the person who stole wasn't mentioned in the records. However, through the years, the Temple of Time had been searching for that item.
Putting the pieces together, she had some assumptions which even she found absurd. Gabriel was the rebirth of Karyk who stole from the Temple of Time! Not only that, Karyk used to be so strong that he had killed many people from the temple of Time, including the brother of the young boy on the throne.
She didn't know how accurate her assumptions were, but she had a feeling that she was quite close to the truth.
She didn't say anything and the hall returned to silence. She simply lowered her head. Even though she believed that Gabriel wasn't going to come to save her, somewhere deep in her heart, she couldn't help but hope that he was going to come and save her.
****
Outside the Royal City, far away from the barrier erected by the Temple of Time, there stood three people.
A young man, who was almost twenty years old, stood in the middle, accompanied by a man and a little girl.
"These guys are really shameless, aren't they?" Jia scratched the back of her head, looking at the barrier in the distance. "On one hand, they taunt you to come to the City. On the other hand, they do everything to prevent you from entering the City. Something seems to be wrong with their heads."
"Something had been wrong with their heads for over a thousand years," Alion lazily responded. "How else could someone come up with such an absurd plan a thousand years ago about the use of Orbs of Time?'
"Orbs of Time? The thing Karyk sto- cough, I mean confiscated?" Jia subconsciously talked about the rumor she heard in the past, but she quickly corrected her words, remembering who was standing next to her.
"It's been so long since I last saw that barrier."
Gabriel completely ignored the chatter of the two people next to him. Instead, he observed the barrier that reminded him of the last time he dealt with the barrier.
It was the time where the Temple of Time had placed an elaborate trap for him. Not only did they use the barrier to make it impossible for him to leave the place, but they also sent their Second in command at that time to kill him, along with many high ranking members.
For Gabriel, it was as if it had happened just yesterday where his hands were covered in blood! Bodies were lying all around him, lifelessly. Almost everyone who was sent to kill him was dead and the barrier was also half broken when he left.
The barrier before him at the moment was similar to the barrier last time, yet it was also different, as if it was slightly improved, correcting the flaws of the last barrier.
The space inside the barrier was sealed, making it impossible to pass through the barrier without completely destroying the barrier.
The barrier also passed through the earth, leaving no flaws. As for the core of the barrier, it was supposed to be in the hands of the leader sent by the Temple this time.
"This is going to be harder than expected. We can't sneak inside. It would have to be a frontal assault. But that would also mean a head on clash with no advantage to us." Alion stated, as he sat on the ground.
Currently, they were in the dark while the enemies were in the open. However, once they attacked the barrier, that advantage was going to be gone.
There was still a little over a day left so they weren't short on time at least.
