Azekiel shook his head in response. "It's not that. The knowledge I had was only up to the tenth floor, while the real tower starts at the eleventh Floor. Moreover, I don't know many of the secrets of those floors either. So more than these memories, I would say that my luck helped me."
"However, that's also not the reason why I say that I'm different from the other Kings."
"Then what is the reason? Why do you think you can't be compared to the other Kings? They also possess the same system that you do. In fact, many of those Kings would've probably had the System of Gluttony as well, won't they?"
"That's true. Many of them have the System of Gluttony as well."
"Then what's different?" Raphael asked.
"It's... Hmm, it looks like we found the person we were looking for."
Azekiel appeared like he was going to answer when he stopped, noticing a person in the distance. He said he wanted to meet someone, and it looked like he found that person.
Raphael was slightly disappointed that the person was found right when he was on the verge of getting an answer, but he still looked in the distance. Just who was Azekiel looking for, and why?
Fortunately, it didn't take him long to get the answers to his questions since it wasn't a stranger. It was a person that even he recognized.
An old man was sitting near a pond with his feet in the water. It was as if the man was resting. The old man was someone that Raphael and Lia both knew. All three of them had met that person twice already.
He was the same old man who was guarding the Heavenly Prison, which kept the Soul Demon and Avila trapped. The old man was also seen by them when they traveled back to the past. It was as if the old man could travel back and forth in time as he pleased.
What was strange was that Azekiel knew that the old man was going to be here. How? It shouldn't be in Alion's memories since Alion went toward the Castle of Infinity instead. Even in his original timeline, he would've gone to the Castle of Infinity instead of coming here.
With that notion, it was evident that Alion's memories didn't have this information. Then how did Azekiel know where this person was going to be?
Raphael looked at Azekiel with even more confusion. Azekiel's actions were becoming more and more mysterious with each passing second.
Azekiel stepped closer to the old man and sat right beside him, dipping his feet in the water as well.
Raphael and Lia also sat nearby. The old man glanced at Azekiel before noticing others as well.
"Greetings, old man." Azekiel greeted the old man who was meeting him a third time.
The old man didn't respond right away. He remained silent for a few minutes before finally speaking.
"It seems you remembered everything?" The old man asked. "This is quite troublesome."
"Is that so?" Azekiel glanced back at the old man, tilting his head to the left. A wicked smile appeared on his lips, which Raphael and Lia couldn't see.
"It certainly feels good to see you again, old man. It seems you've been having quite some fun at my expense?"
"If it's fun, then I hope you also experience this fun," the old man answered. "Too bad. I don't expect this moment to appear this soon. So, how did you get the memories?"
"Definitely not because of this Tower. Well, then again, I guess we can give partial credit to this tower."
Since everything happened outside the tower, even the old man didn't know how Azekiel received the memories, which made him know of things that he shouldn't. Despite that, the old man was quite upset and somewhat worried as well.
"Old man, shall I ask why you were following me everywhere in the tower? Didn't I tell you before that you should stay away from me or anyone related to me?'
The old man smiled wryly. "Technically, I wasn't following you. You came to the Heavenly Prison that I had been guarding for long. And if I'm not wrong, that must be because of a Tower Mission. Shouldn't you be asking that question to yourself?"
"Though I must say, I was somewhat surprised to see you there. Definitely surprised, but it looked like you didn't remember anything, which was quite a relief yet a headache at the same time."
Raphael and Lia heard their conversation. Even though they didn't receive the entire context of that conversation, they did manage to understand that Azekiel and the old man seemingly knew each other before they even met at the Heavenly Prison.
That information was enough to make Raphael believe that Azekiel had lied to him. Azekiel claimed that he didn't exist in Alion's future. If that was the case, then how did he know that he and the old man knew each other before? If he didn't exist in the future, then how did the old man know him before meeting him at the Heavenly Prison?
Moreover, it wasn't just that the old man knew him. Azekiel also seemingly knew the old man before. Moreover, there was something more to it than that.
The old man didn't treat Azekiel like a kid anymore. Instead, he was talking to Azekiel like an equal. If anything, he was talking like Azekiel was more than an equal. Just what was their equation? How did they know each other before? Raphael really hoped that their conversation was going to give him an answer to those questions.
"So, what do you want to do now?" The old man asked Azekiel. "You want to go down the same route as before?"
"What do you think I would do?" Azekiel asked in return.
"You're quite a stubborn person, aren't you?" The old man asked, shaking his head in disappointment. "Then again, you've always been stubborn, so it's not surprising. Unfortunately for you, things are different now. The world is different; the tower is different. You have no idea. If you think you can achieve what you want, then you're quite naive. I don't know what to say, but if you were to listen to me, take advice from me....'
