Azekiel didn't even bother taking the two beasts back to the mansion. He found a way to start a fire and cooked the meat himself.
He prepared the food. The smell attracted even more beasts to that part of the city, but no matter how many beasts came, they all died at the hands of Azekiel.
"Raphael, Lia, come taste as well."
Azekiel stood between hundreds of dead bodies. All the beasts in the city were dead, leaving only the three of them alive.
Ever since the beginning, Raphael and Lia stood in the distance, just observing Azekiel's actions. They didn't know what was happening here, but Azekiel seemed a bit distant to them.
It was like he was a bit different. He wasn't confiding in them like before. He wasn't telling them to fight. He did everything himself, and now he was calling them to eat as well when he knew that they were in spiritual form and couldn't eat.
Raphael finally stepped closer to Azekiel after enough observation. "What was in the memories that you saw?"
"Hmm? You mean Alion's memories? Just some minor stuff related to his past. You don't have to worry about it."
Azekiel vaguely answered as if it was actually some small stuff that didn't matter. Raphael didn't quite believe him. No one changes this much after finding out minor stuff. It was clear that Azekiel was trying to hide something.
"Oh right. I forget. You are in spiritual form. You can't eat like that. Come to the real world." He tapped Raphael's shoulders, using his Summon.
Raphael was Summoned to the material realm. Azekiel handed him something to eat before moving to Lia.
"You too." He placed his hand on Lia, summoning her as well. Surprisingly, it also worked. It had been the first time since he had managed to Summon two familiars, and both at the same time when until recently, he couldn't.
Lia stared at him in amazement. "How did you do that? I thought summoning two was impossible?'
How did he Summon the two of them? That was the biggest question in her head. Even Raphael thought the same.
"It's not necessary that what wasn't possible will always be impossible. What was impossible yesterday is possible tomorrow, so don't worry about it. After killing Alion and absorbing his strength, my Summoning Skills have leveled up as well. Now I can Summon both of you simultaneously."
Azekiel provided the most basic of explanation regarding how he did that. His explanation even made sense to some extent since the spiritual energy he absorbed was definitely quite a lot.
Lia believed the explanation, thinking that it was also why he was now strong enough to kill all those beasts that easily. With strength, a person gained more confidence which could also explain why Azekiel was acting somewhat differently.
Raphael wasn't that easy to convince. He knew there was more to it than just that.
If there was one person who could answer about the truth, then it was Azekiel, but at the moment, it seemed unlikely that he was going to tell. Raphael knew that it was going to take time to get the truth from Azekiel. More time and more observation were needed.
Before Raphael came out of the Tower with Azekiel, he had complete faith in him, but now there was a seed of suspicion sown in his mind, and he couldn't calm down until he had an answer.
For now, he went along with it and started eating. He casually took the first bite, not expecting much from it, but as soon as he took his first bite, he was slightly taken aback. This was quite tasty. Azekiel really made it delicious somehow.
"Oh right, the time of summon is also more. Instead of one minute, you each now have five minutes. So take your time eating, but not too slow either. Even I can't keep you out for longer than five minutes... At least not at the moment."
Azekiel reminded the two about the new time limit before he also returned to eating. He had been starving.
Just as Azekiel had stated, Raphael only had five minutes. He ate for five minutes before he went back to his spiritual form. Not long after him, Lia also disappeared. Fortunately, the two of them had eaten to their heart's content, for now, being warned in advance. There was only one person who was still eating, and it wasn't surprising.
Azekiel ate to his heart's content, taking his sweet time. He wasn't in any hurry at all. In fact, he enjoyed the weather as he ate, as if he was at a picnic spot.
After he finished what he had prepared, he cooked more beast meat as he didn't lack the beasts here.
Only after taking an entire hour did he stand up, wiping his lips and cleaning his hands.
He walked to the beasts that he had killed and used Soul Snatch on them, taking even more soul energy.
The Soul Energy was in no way comparable to what he received from Alion. If their soul energy was like a bucket of water, Alion's soul energy was like an entire pond. Still, even a drop of energy was better than nothing.
After cleaning up everything, he placed his hand in his pocket, bringing out the pendant that he kept there. He placed the pendant around his neck.
As soon as Azekiel wore the pendant that he had never really paid attention to, the pendant turned blood red. From a cheap imitation accessory of becoming, the pendant was now looking like a blood gem.
"Shall we get back to my tower?" he asked Raphael and Lia, but he didn't even wait for their response before he started walking on his own.
"Your tower?" Raphael asked. Those words were quite strange to speak.
"My tower, our tower... It's our home now, isn't it? I'm sure we can call it ours," Azekiel responded. "Don't you think so?"
Raphael nodded. Technically it made sense, but still, it was a strange way to put it.
