Gabriel couldn't see Cylix and Novius anywhere, but he was sure that they were still seeing him.
"You can stand back," he told the Infernal King. "I'll be fighting him myself."
Just like in the previous trials, Gabriel told the Infernal King to stand back since he only wanted the Infernal King's help when it was absolutely necessary.
By now, the Infernal King had also become accustomed to it. He just stepped back, giving some room to Gabriel.
Initially, when he was called by Gabriel, he wanted to go back to his world as soon as possible, but after coming this far, he actually wanted to finish it and see just what was on the final floor.
Gabriel also took off his gloves and kept them in his pockets, revealing both his Elemental Marks. As the gloves were already useless on this floor before these Projections, he didn't feel the need to use them for now. He also felt freer without them.
He didn't know why, but he was feeling really excited about the battles he was going to go through instead of feeling nervous. It was as if he was filled with battle intent.
He had already seen Garrick fighting outside. Since Axion managed to get here, that meant he was definitely way stronger than Garrick of his time. As both of them were Mages of Light, for Gabriel, this battle was like fighting a stronger version of Garrick.
Axion hadn't spoken anything. He just stood in the distance as if waiting for Gabriel to be ready. However, Axion couldn't control himself for longer as he spoke his first sentence.
"What is the world outside now?"
This version of Axion never left the tower, which was also why he didn't know anything that happened after his time. He had been here for a long time, which somewhat intrigued him as to how much the world could change in such a time.
"You can also speak?" Gabriel asked. Since Axion had been silent until now, he assumed that, unlike Cylix and Novius, Axion didn't have the personality and consciousness of the real Axion.
He had assumed that Axion and Qin only had the battle skills of their real ones and nothing more as they were looking so lifeless initially.
He didn't realize that it was because they had been here for such a long time that all this scary silence of this place had molded their personality into something else. They had become more lifeless than when they used to be initially.
Even Cylix and Novius had changed a bit, but not as much as them. They had still managed to hold onto some semblance of their old personality for now.
"I can," Axion answered. "I asked you a question. You should answer me. After we start fighting, I won't stop until you are dead or you leave. We wouldn't get an opportunity to talk later."
"The outside world?" Gabriel didn't know what to answer in response. He decided to tell the truth. "It's a mess now, partially thanks to you."
"Thanks to me?" Axion frowned. "What did I do?"
"After you attacked the Church of Darkness and destroyed it, the world changed... The Dark Mages went mostly extinct, and even the ones who are alive are being hunted by all the other Churches, thanks to you. What do you think the world would be like?"
"I attacked the Church of Light?" Axion asked. "How can I destroy them? And why? I'm not strong enough."
"You're right. You weren't strong enough when you were inside the Tower, but after leaving, you became much stronger. You were selected by the Holy Grimoire of Light, becoming the Holy Priest of the Church of Light."
"After that, you led them to a war against all the Dark Mages. All the other Churches joined you and waged a war on the Church of Darkness."
"The Church of Darkness was under assault, and it was destroyed..."
Gabriel gave a brief history lesson to Axion, who looked stunned after hearing. He couldn't understand why he would do that? He didn't have any ill will for the Dark Mages. He also knew that there were some really nice Dark Mages. Why would he demonize them and destroy them all?
Axion wasn't the only one who was surprised. The ones back in the main hall could also hear the conversation, and amongst them was Qin...
"Is that why I never returned?" he muttered softly, as his eyes showed some semblance of understanding.
When this imprint of his was left behind on this floor, it was when his real self was in the third year. There was also one more year for his real self to become stronger and return to the tower to attempt to reach the hundredth floor, but he never returned.
Qin could never understand why that was the case, but he understood now. When he was created, Axion was the Head of the Church of Light in the real world. The timing matched. If Axion and the entire world attacked all the Dark Mages, that meant his real self was also attacked?
He even considered the possibility that he was killed in the outside world right around that time, and that's why he wasn't able to return. His fists clenched on their own.
The other Four Youngsters who were sitting in the hall knew about this part of this history; however, they never told anyone since they didn't feel that it was important to tell. They were the only ones who weren't surprised.
However, this revelation came as a surprise to both Cylix and Novius as well.
"All the Dark Mages were killed?" Novius gazed at the Elemental Mark on the back of his hand.
Even though the Dark Mages weren't his real family, he still felt like they were a part of his clan. Moreover, his best friend was a Mage of Light. He couldn't understand how a Mage of Light could destroy all the Mages of Darkness.
Even Cylix was stunned.
He glared at Izen, who was the last person to come here before Gabriel. "Is what he says true? All the Dark Mages were killed outside when you came here?"
"Not all, but it's true that most of them were killed in that event," Izen answered. "Only a few of them managed to escape that tragedy, but they were being hunted by the Churches and being killed by the other Churches who considered them Demons now."
"I'm not sure how it's the situation now since I've been here, but it's quite possible that the rest have also been killed by now," he added.
