The next day;
Garcia Palace, Hidden Village of Death Clan;
As nearly sixty-four thousand citizens of the clan were arriving at the Red Pavilion Arena at a slow pace, the throne hall of the Garcia Palace was bustling with Clan leaders and their close relatives waiting for the main party to arrive.
The entire place was filled with whispers and murmurs with their arrival.
"Man, this is one of the craziest ascension ceremonies in our clan history. He is what, 18? A tenth of my age..." "Shh... how dare you use that tone... even at 18, he is still a Supreme Being. If someone hears it, you'll be punished severely." .net
"Hey, I heard a rumor that Young Master defeated Monarch?" "Really?""Yeah, the servants heard Young Miss bragging about it." "C'mon, she is a four-year-old spoiled brat. Don't need to take her seriously"
"Look at you and Young Master. Both of you are of the same age and participated in the second awakening ceremony and awakened your Arcana spirit at the same time. He is already a Supreme Being, and you are still loitering around the Elite realm (rank-5)." "C'mon, Dad, you can't compare both of us.
It is like comparing a peddle on the side of the road and the mountain that you look at from far away." "No, with your talent, you should have at least been in the Exalt realm by now. You should stop studying in that academy and return to the village and train under the clan head.
After all, you are going to be the future leader of our Silver clan." "Ugh... I hate that sound of it..." "Marius..." "hiik... sorry..."
"Say, this is the ascension ceremony of our Death Clan. Why do these elves come here? I also heard that the Moon Clan's princess and even the Minamoto Clan's heiress are also going to attend the ceremony." "The early bird gets the worm, Brother." "What do you mean?" "Obviously, our Monarch is young and has the potential to reach God's realm just like the hidden clan founders.
They would want to form a solid relationship with our clan by marrying their daughters to him. The first wife of our Monarch will have a lot of authority, you know." "Do you think they are even qualified?" "Unfortunately, I don't see any girl in this world who is qualified to marry our Monarch.
Maybe Camelot's princess, but she is a bit too old for him." "Well, that age difference will be nothing after a few decades." "Well, that is true, I guess."
"Hey, I heard that Blood clan is going to leave?" "Hmm? Where did you hear it?" "Some blood clan members are spreading the rumor that their clan will become a new hidden clan." "Well, it will be their loss if they do that. It is actually better this way. They are nothing but strangers anyway."
"Hey, look at Lady Avia. I never expected she could look like this way, too." "Yeah, she is so beautiful in those clothes." "I wish she could wear such clothes from time to time, you know, like her on off days." "Yeah, she is usually very cold, grumpy, and terrifying.
Qridus then called out to Azzy, "Azrael Crescent Garcia"
Azzy stepped forward, walked a few steps, fell to one of his knees, and bowed, "Your Majesty."
"Rise."
Qridus got up from the throne and stood on the side. Azzy, who knew of the procedure beforehand, walked forward more and started climbing up the steps.
There were a total of twelve steps to the throne; each was a foot in height and a couple of meters wide. Each step represents a month of the calendar.
Upon reaching the throne and taking a seat on it for the first time, Azzy's eyes fell upon the guests who were there to look at them. Some of those gazes had envy, some of them had admiration, some of them were filled with respect, some of them had hope, and some of them actually had disapproval too.
This was different from feeling gazes from the surroundings. Cuz, this time, he was actually seeing their faces head-on. It was a first-time experience for him; nevertheless, Azzy maintained his cool and calmly sat on the throne.
Qridus then raised his hand, which glowed in light for a second.
Soon, a tetrahedron-shaped object materialized in the hands of Qridus. It looked like a solid adamantine and a gold alloy object at one glance because of its black material with the shape of a typical weighing scale engraved with gold on each of its sides, but Azzy, who was sitting so close to the object, could sense terrifying power inside of it.
Qridus then raised the object and addressed the crowd, "This is the Death Clan's most prized treasure, The Pagoda of the Death. Our Clan founder won this treasure from the Lord of Death, Thanatos himself, in a wager. Since the founding of the clan, various clan heads have used this treasure to maintain the balance of life and death on the planet.
Carrying this is the same as carrying the fate of the world in your hands. Misusing this power means you are going to doom the world, too. This was passed down to me five thousand years ago, and once again, it is going to change its owner."
"Azrael."
Azzy looked to the side and finally had his gaze on the object that made his insides uncomfortable for some reason.
"I entrust the responsibility of the clan and the treasure to you."
As Azzy grabbed the heaven-grade treasure, Qridus announced, "I hereby declare Azrael Crescent Garcia as the 64th Head of the Death Clan."