11 11: Ruler!

"Even Michael couldn't kill me; you think you can?" Azekiel asked as he smirked. He could see a blood-red bar in the corner of his vision which was filled with Soul Energy after he had used Soul Snatch on so many beasts. 

The reason behind his confidence, despite knowing that these people were so strong, was also this Soul Bar. The Scales of Truth was the Weapon of Sin of Lord of Lies. On the other hand, the Saber of Hatred was the weapon of Sin of Lord of Hatred; similarly, this Soul Bar was a weapon of Azekiel! It was something he could use to summon someone... Someone who was his biggest weapon!

Watching the saber coming toward him, Azekiel wasn't scared. Instead, he was amused. 

"Summon... Raphael!" He declared, commanding his System of Gluttony. 

The Soul bar, which was full, started losing soul energy. On the other hand, a figure appeared right beside Azekiel... A figure which seemed like an angel from hell.

Raphael, who was just illusory until recently, was summoned to the real world. As his real body was summoned, his powerful aura also arrived, sending chills down the spines of the Porters who stood in the back. Even the Lord of Sins felt the strength of that aura. 

"Devil!" The Porters exclaimed as they ran back. A winged angel had appeared out of thin air. They all thought he was a Devil!

Despite the appearance of Raphael, the Saber of Jackal didn't stop moving. Raphael grabbed the wrist of Jackal before the saber could even touch Azekiel. "You're not allowed to hurt anyone."

With a flick of his finger, a wind blast appeared around Raphael. The intense pressure of wind sent Jackal flying back, but he wasn't the only one. Layim and Luna were also forced back. 

All three of them landed on their feet in the distance after regaining their balance. 

Raphael reached out his hand toward Azekiel. "Are you alright?"

Azekiel rubbed his throat. He didn't even have a scratch. "I'm fine."

Azekiel glared at all the Lords of Sins who stood in the distance, alert. They still couldn't understand what had just happened. Just who was this Azekiel? How did he Summon someone? There was no way he was a Commoner! Someone who could Summon an angel to fight for him? They hadn't seen anything like this before. They wondered if Azekiel was also a Lord of Sin. 

"Are you also a Lord of Sin?" Layim inquired. 

Azekiel ignored Layim as he turned around. "I'm not a Lord of Sin; I'm a Monarch of Sin. As I said before, tell Michael that his death has arrived. One day, his head will be under my feet. Tell him I'm coming… I'm coming to take everything that belongs to him!"

"My Hunger... My Gluttony... It won't rest until I swallow all hopes and dreams of Michael! Tell him to stop me if he can..."

After issuing a warning, Azekiel started walking away, laughing. The three Lord of Sins watched Azekiel leave with grim faces. None of them tried to stop him as they were too stunned. 

Even though Azekiel seemed like a powerful person due to Raphael's presence, it was also partially an illusion. If an actual battle started, Azekiel was already informed that Raphael couldn't kill all three Lord of Sins within one minute. Raphael only had one minute after all, and one minute wasn't enough with his current strength to kill three Lord of Sins.

That was also why Azekiel and Raphael didn't properly fight. He just showed arrogance to make it seem like he was letting them live because he was arrogant, but in reality, he was also avoiding a battle at the moment. He wasn't strong enough.

If they fought and the battle dragged on for over a minute, even if only one Lord of Sin survived, Azekiel knew it was going to be hard to take him out without Raphael.

After putting up a nice show of strength, he started leaving. Unfortunately, none of the Lord of Sins realized the truth. They had been fooled thoroughly.

"Monarch of Sin..." Layim muttered with a deep frown, watching Azekiel leave. "It seems like a big change is going to come in the status quo... Another King has appeared..."

"King? How do you know he is a King of Sin? Maybe he is left a Lord of Sin?" Luna asked. 

"Remember the first day we received our systems. There was a screen that showed the names and titles of all Lord of Sins. It showed a hundred titles, and all Hundred were accompanied by a name," Layim explained.

"On the other hand, the screen which showed the selection of Kings had seven titles... However, only six of those titles had a name before them. The seventh title... It was blank. You remember that title?" he inquired. 

"King of... Gluttony." Jackal muttered with knitted eyebrows. "This guy also mentioned Gluttony when talking about killing the King of Pride... This... Could he really be a King of Gluttony?"

"Monarch and King, they are almost the same thing," Layim explained. "It seems another King of Sin has appeared in the tower... The last King of Sin: King of Gluttony. And he seems to hate the King of Pride for some reason. Is a War between the kings about to start?"

"This guy might be strong enough to summon an angel, but King of Pride had a three-year head start. He has grown very strong. On the other hand, this guy might be strong, but he just became a King. I don't think he or his angel can stand before other Kings... He has made a mistake by making an enemy of the King of Pride; the ruler of two of the four cleared floors," Luna chimed in. 

He further continued, "This guy has just written his own death sentence. He will be dead soon."

"That does seem possible. He has challenged the King of Pride, after all. But I'm really curious. I don't know what it is about this guy, but it makes me want to not underestimate him," Layim muttered, rubbing his chin. 

He watched Azekiel pass through a golden barrier which was the entrance of the first floor of the Tower of Sin. Only Lords, Kings, and their team members could pass through the barrier to go to higher floors. Azekiel being able to pass through proved that he was indeed not a commoner. 

Luna didn't give up and further continued, "He has gone to Floor One... His real challenge will begin now. That Floor was cleared by the King of Pride first. He rules over that floor. And as we all know, the one who gets control of a Floor is stronger on that Floor while everyone else gets slightly weaker on that Floor."

"That's why everyone wants to be the first one to clear the Floors first. Since Floor one is under King of Pride, if he goes there, he would be stronger. On the other hand, the King of Gluttony will be even weaker now. I doubt he can even reach Floor Two," he added. "In any case, we should inform the King of Pride about the appearance of another King and his challenge to him."

Layim let out a sigh. "Yeah, Let's wrap up here. Our responsibility was only escorting his food here. He can't blame us for not fighting a King. It's better if we leave the business of a King to another King."

*****

Azekiel stepped onto the first floor of Tower of Sin, taking his first step toward a new journey that was going to be filled with battles, challenges, bloodshed, and hunger... He knew his peaceful life was over now... It was time for his ascent...

"Michael, I promised I'll snatch everything you hold dear, right. Let's begin by snatching your Control on the First Floor." Azekiel smirked as he cracked his knuckles. "It's time I become the Ruler of this Floor. Let the world see how weak you are!"

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