Gabriel reached out his slightly trembling hands, gently touching Zena's cheeks. It was only after he touched her that he was able to confirm about her being his sister. She wasn't an illusion but a real person.
"How are you... alive?" he asked. "I thought you..."
He looked behind Zena and saw the Holy Priestess of Summoning Avilia also looking at him.
Unlike Zena, Avilia knew about Gabriel separating from Karyk as she noticed the changes in Karyk and asked. Just like Karyk, she had also thought that Gabriel had died.
Unlike Zena, she understood why there were two Karyk. The other was the person she had known for much longer. It was Gabriel, and he was alive. From his words, she also understood that he had thought they were dead.
"So he's still alive. Looks like we were all wrong about him," the Goddess of Nature Eia walked over next to Karyk. She had seen how down Karyk was about Gabriel's death. With his return, she was certain he could lower his burden.
The Demigod of Strength Alion also started laughing. "I knew nothing could happen to you. Where were you all this time?"
He had known Gabriel for even longer than Avilia and the others as he had always been watching over the young man to make sure he didn't die in his early days. Seeing him back, he felt as if the missing puzzle piece was also in its place again.
Zena looked at Karyk, momentarily stunned and unable to comprehend why there were two brothers there. She also didn't understand what the others were talking about.
At that moment, Alion stepped forward. He understood that Gabriel was just as confused as Zena.
"Looks like an explanation is in order." He placed his hand on Gabriel's shoulder like a friend, taking him to the couch.
Karyk tapped Zena's shoulder and gestured for her to follow. Curiosity piqued, Zena followed.
After making Gabriel and Zena sit down, Alion Alion started explaining how Gabriel had separated from Karyk. He explained everything that he had personally heard from Karyk about the journey from the moment Karyk and Gabriel left their world to the moment they separated as two entities.
He also talked about how Karyk was caught in the ancient temple and couldn't come out for the time being, only to find out that Gabriel had died when he returned.
After that, he told Gabriel how Karyk went to their destroyed world and brought Avilia back to life. He also explained how Karyk saved Zena and them from the adjacent realm.
He intentionally skipped the part about Zena's mind being completely broken at that moment as he didn't want anyone to be reminded of that moment.
An unknown amount of time passed. Alion had finished his explanation. After the explanation, Gabriel spent some time with Zena and the others.
He even spent time with Novious and Cylix, who had been like his brothers and teachers back in the tower of challenges. It was as if everyone that he cared about was safe and in this place.
At that moment, he felt very conflicted. He realized that he had misunderstood Karyk a lot. The man wasn't truly enjoying life with the enemies. Instead, the truth was that Aliac was never the enemy, at least not directly.
Moreover, it wasn't that Karyk didn't feel bad about their sister and others' deaths. Instead, he had saved them and he had always kept them with him.
The only thing was that he didn't try to get revenge on Caen, but that was also because Karyk was busy saving Zena and then distracted by the matters related to Elzeria.
Unable to take it anymore, Gabriel walked away from the others, as if looking for a moment of privacy.
He reached the balcony of the house, and looked into the distance where Ezekiel was standing.
Ezekiel asked him in gestures if he was fine. Gabriel could only nod his head, but his eyes remained distracted.
"It would've been so much better if you were as bad as I thought you would be," he mumbled, thinking about Karyk.
He felt truly torn. On one side, there was Ezekiel whose life was on the line. On the other side was Karyk, the person who was Zena's real brother and the one she cared about the most.
If he killed Karyk, he would take a brother from Zena. But if he didn't kill Karyk, he would lose Ezekiel.
"What am I supposed to do here? What should I do now?"
His mind had never been this conflicted before. It was already a hard enough decision to decide to kill Karyk but now all this happened.
"What should you do about what?" While Gabriel was lost in thought, Karyk's voice came from behind.
Startled, Gabriel turned around to see Karyk standing there, his expression a mix of concern and confusion.
Gabriel took a deep breath, trying to compose himself. He couldn't let Karyk sense his internal struggle.
"Just...just thinking about some things," Gabriel replied, his voice slightly down.
"Are those two of your friends?" Karyk asked, looking at Ezekiel and the Clone of the Princess in the distance.
Gabriel nodded. At least it was true for Ezekiel. "More like family."
"I see." Karyk muttered. "It's good to have friends that you can consider your family. The Undeads you killed were also like my family. Unfortunately..."
Gabriel didn't know how to respond. It wasn't just the Undeads that he killed. He couldn't tell Karyk that his aim in coming here was to kill him.
Karyk sighed, his voice carrying a slight trace of sadness as he thought about the ones he had lost.
"Nothing can be done about that. And I won't blame you. But it's only for Zena's sake. You're as much a brother to her as me. Make sure to never disappoint her. If you do that, I won't forgive you."
After he finished, he turned around and went back in, but not before leaving a sentence behind. "One more thing, you can call your 'family' in as well."
"I won't ask for your forgiveness. Because what I'm destined to do, I don't think I'll ever deserve it," Gabriel muttered, taking another glance at Ezekiel.
