Raizel casually stood up from his position and narrowly glared at Arfanez, while Arfanez was totally fearless and displaying a gentle smile on his face. Raizel brought his gaze completely upon Arfanez and began to walk ahead to him. While stepping forward, he spoke, "I'm looking for an answer to a question from you."
He intently glared at Arfanez and said, "I believe you'll answer it without any hesitation."
Arfanez smiled a bit and replied casually, "A question, you say? Go ahead and tell me, what do you want to know?"
While he was speaking, Raizel kept his gaze intact upon him. Though his expression was unclear, I could still sense the presence of an eagerness to engage in a battle against him within Raizel. Is it his anger? I really don't know. More importantly, does he feel anger to express? Does the emotionless warrior have the capability of understanding anger and emotions? I really don't know.
Following Arfanez's answer, Raizel directly asked him the question, "What do you think you deserve for the things you've done till now?"
"The judgement is upon you. You can be a selfish bastard who will step ahead to kill me just to fill his desire of avenging his fallen comrade, or you could be a selfless person who will kill me to ensure the survival of those foolish mortals. It's upon you; it's upon your heart and the given soul of yours that can judge the difference between dualities." Arfanez replied with a smile, calm as always.
He lifted his gaze upward to the sky and then spoke casually yet loudly, "The decision is upon you, and the desire of yours, that can shatter your innocence and turn you into a selfish bastard that you were never supposed to be.
The most heartless warrior of the story, Raizel, couldn't possibly fall for those words. But who is this person standing in front of me? Who is this red-haired person with those blank eyes? I wonder. It's not the Raizel we know; it's a different person.
Those words made him fall into uncertainty over choices. A question kept bothering him over and over: why is he doing this? Why does his heart keep telling him to destroy Arfanez right there? What is this feeling he's facing now? What's wrong with the heavy pressure in his heart, in his soul?
While trying to figure out the answer to his question, Raizel looked at me with his poor gaze and asked, "Maria….can you tell me….why my heart keeps asking me to kill this person? Can you tell me? Please, Maria, just give me an answer to this question, just a little answer."
I couldn't believe the scenario in front of my eyes. For a moment, I thought it was a fantasy dream I was witnessing. But in front of my gaze, Raizel's tears came out from his eyes as his poor sight kept asking me for a response. A bit of a smile appeared on my lips as my tears tried to come out, yet were forced to be held back and hidden.
"It's not a question that I can answer, but something that you have to figure out by yourself." I replied.
Raizel kept staring at me for some moments. Then he shifted his gaze upon Arfanez and said strongly, "If I can't decide the reason behind my intent of murdering you, then why would I?"
Removing his tears from his eyes, he spoke again, "I will wait until the moment when I can truly bring out the reason for my intent."
Arfanez casually smiled and replied, "I don't have anything to reply. Just try to be like the Raizel you used to be, not the Raizel you're going to be, with those tears in your eyes."
After saying that with his calm voice and a smile on his lips, he slowly disappeared from there along with his army, turning into pieces of golden mists.
"That's your decision?" Marco asked immediately.
"Yes." Raizel answered casually. He looked at Marco with a smile and added, "If I can't judge myself to be flawless, then who am I to judge others?"
"A moment ago, I was afraid; I was confused about myself. But now, that confusion has truly disappeared from the face of my soul, letting me declare myself to be a selfless weapon, like the way I always was." Raizel added later, a bright smile appeared on his face with some pieces of sadness lurking around it.
Arfanez exactly knew the way to deceive Raizel. As the Absolute Spirit, he created a domain inside his own realm and completely customized the entire Absolute Realm into a trap for outsiders. The entire plan behind the decoration in the realm was simply to bring out victory over Raizel. He knew he had to fight against Raizel, and so he prepared everything he needed for his victory over Raizel. However, the situation simply changed the point of his goal and plan; he was destined for the battle against Raizel outside his domain. Thus, he immediately changed his plan and manipulated Raizel right there in the Supreme Realm to prevent him from the clash against him. Successfully, Arfanez managed to stop Raizel from beginning the chaotic battle and remove the insecurity of his victory over Raizel. Though he did it on purpose, I could tell it was a little attempt from him to change Raizel from his ideals and make him follow Arfanez in his chaotic way of redemption. But it's not believable that Arfanez is going to accept Raizel so easily, not after what Raizel did to him in the past, and changed him once and forever.
Later on, Raizel took control of the realm in his hand. As we lost our world and our beloved realm, we decided to continue living here in this Supreme Realm. However, it's obvious for us to change destiny following our ascension. Though all of us were aware of what Arfanez is planning to do, we left the decision upon Raizel. As for Raizel, he prepared himself for another way to victory. So the question was simply: the one with their very superior strategy and plan is going to claim the victory and dominance over the 5th layer. Thus, it's all about which side will be the ultimate winner.