Azekiel was back on the third floor, not too far from the portal to the fourth floor. Since he didn't appear in the same place from where he went back in time, he didn't have to face Lenora. Not only that, he didn't have to face another army.
The city of Abadon at the moment was surrounded by the Forces of the Empire, brought there by the Young Princess.
Since no soldier dared to enter the city, they all waited outside.
"My Lady, I think we are wasting our time here. If he really went inside, I don't believe that person is coming back. No one came alive from the city. If he went there, he must already be dead. There is no way we can punish a dead person. He already got his punishment because of his stupidity."
"You don't understand. He isn't an ordinary human. He is a Dark Magician! I saw him fly and use magic. If I'm not wrong, that person won't die inside. And who knows, he might be the reason for all those disappearances?" The Princess naively stated.
"Since he can do dark magic, it's quite possible that he is the reason everything happens in this city! He might also be the person who killed everyone who entered the city! He might also be behind the strange noises! All of this so he could keep a town in his control!"
"My Lady, that sounds like a conspiracy theory more than the reality. You already said that the man looked barely twenty. The City had been cursed for as far as we can remember. There is no way he is behind it," the Army Commander stated, finding it hard to believe.
For a moment, he even thought that the Princess had imagined everything, including meeting with the man. And because of her imagination, all of them had to come near this cursed city to wait for a person who was never going to come.
"You don't believe me, do you? Don't worry. I'm sure he'll come out. You'll realize that I was right."
The woman waited there for a day, yet Azekiel didn't come. There was not even a glimpse of him that could be seen.
The Army Commander could only shake his head as the army started placing tents here since they believed they were going to be here for quite some time even though they didn't need to.
More time passed, but the Princess didn't move from her spot. She kept standing near the entrance, waiting.
"Someone is coming!" She finally exclaimed, just when the Army Commander was about to enter the tent.
"Hmm?" The middle-aged man returned to stand beside the Princess, still finding it hard to believe her words. How could someone be coming?
Strangely enough, he also saw someone coming! It appeared like a woman, with a blood-red mark on her forehead. The winds started getting colder as the woman came closer to them.
Lenora was really furious after the sneaky act of Azekiel. Not only did he speak the Stone of Time, but he also used it, wasting it!
She didn't appear to be in a good condition either. Her left arm was missing now. Her clothes were torn in places, and she was even limping as if she was really hurt.
Despite being so hurt, she was still bloodthirsty in rage. Only she knew how she survived what happened after Azekiel left.
Since she couldn't satiate her anger with Azekiel, she decided to do it with the Army that she could see outside the Empire.
*****
"I'm surprised Lucifer isn't here yet. I thought he would be waiting for me here to kill me."
Azekiel was even somewhat disappointed to find the Third Floor empty. After he worked on increasing his strength and becoming stronger, he believed he could at least face Lucifer.
Even though it was good to avoid conflict, that also meant a delay in getting answers. He wanted to know why Lucifer wanted him dead, and that could only be achieved if Lucifer was before him.
To meet with Lucifer, he had only two options. The first option was that he could go to Lucifer himself, but for that, he needed to clear the floors and reach the same floor as him, which wasn't a fast process, despite him clearing the Floors the fastest someone had ever cleared them.
As for the second option, it was to have Lucifer come to him. That's what he wanted. That's why he even leaked the news that he wanted to kill Lucifer.
Lucifer was the King of Wrath. He should've been infuriated to know that someone wanted to kill him. According to Azekiel, Lucifer should've been here already. That's why he found it quite strange that Lucifer wasn't here yet. Then again, he didn't know Lucifer as well as he knew the other Kings.
"Hah." He let out a tired sigh. "I guess he isn't coming to me. I'll have to go to him myself. If I'm not wrong, he should be on the fifth floor at this point in time. At least that's where he was in the last timeline at this point. So I just need to clear the Fourth Floor to get to him."
Azekiel appeared to be talking to himself, a bit disappointed.
"Let's go to the fourth floor then," he told Raphael as he finally went to the portal of the fourth floor.
"The Fourth Floor... The Floor where almost all the Lords are going through their trials at the moment. All the kings except Lucifer should be there as well. It'll certainly be less empty than this floor. I'm sure you two will find that floor better than the floors we'd been to," he informed Raphael and Lia before stepping inside the portal.
Raphael also entered after Azekiel. For quite some time, he had been very quiet, only speaking on important occasions when he really needed to. He also appeared somewhat distracted along the way.
His mind was still stuck on what he saw in the Graveyard of Gods. When he heard about the Third Floor being called the Tomb of Gods, even he hadn't expected that it was going to be the tomb of his own people.
His missing memories... The death of people he knew... He had a feeling that both those things were related. Unfortunately, he couldn't remember.
Before entering the portal, he subconsciously glanced at the dark space in the distance on the third floor, where all the spirits were waiting for someone to fulfill their last desires.
****
The Fourth Floor... Azekiel had arrived on the Fourth Floor after clearing all the Floors along the way in record time! He was finally on the Floor where every other Participant was…
