"That's right! Instead of giving it to them, you should give it to me! They are all after your Treasures; I'm not!"
Every King here was surprised at how naive Azekiel was. Just because they asked, he was willing to give them the treasures? With that kind of person, no one wanted to stay behind! They all wanted to be the ones who received the treasures of the castle.
With more than twenty people asking for a treasure, Azekiel looked a bit hesitant as he stepped back a little.
"But I now have one treasure that I found at the core of the Castle. I can't distribute that one treasure to all of you. I can only give it to one of you..."
From his words, he genuinely looked concerned about this problem.
"Treasure at the core of the Castle?" Hearing that, the Kings were even more elated. Throughout the years, no one had managed to reach the core of the Castle. It was also rumored that the Castle Core possessed a really incredible treasure.
If Azekiel had received that treasure, they believe it was incredible for them if they could get that.
"Give me! I'm the strongest! I'm the best choice!"
One man stepped forward, only to get his robe grabbed by someone else. He was pulled back with great force, which made him fall down.
Another King stepped forward, but no matter who took the lead, everyone was pulled back as no King wanted to see someone else get this Treasure.
Just as Azekiel had planned, the small conflicts evolved into a full-blown battle between all the Kings who were engaged at the others for pulling them back. Then all brought out their weapons of Sins, and a battle ensued.
The only King here who wasn't a part of the battle was Azekiel. Instead of fighting him, all the kings tried to avoid him to make sure the attacks didn't reach him and hurt him. If Azekiel was willing to hand over the treasures, there was no need to do anything more.
All they needed to do was take out the other Kings, so only one of them was left to receive the treasure from Azekiel. They didn't want their attacks to accidentally kill Azekiel since they could never receive the treasure then, which was probably in his inventory.
The battle of the Kings resulted in a lot of bloodshed and death. Azekiel just stood in the back with his arms folded as if he was enjoying the battles.
One after another, the Kings kept dying as the number of dead increased. On the other hand, Azekiel just enjoyed the sight to behold.
These people wanted his treasures, and he was sure if he hadn't done anything, they would've attacked him.
Even though they were all Kings of different Sins, it was their greed for Treasures that they all shared. Azekiel used the same greed to reduce some of the enemies.
Moreover, to him, it didn't matter who killed who. He could use the Soul Snatch on anyone as long as they were recently dead. Only the Gluttony of Knowledge had a limitation that it could only be used on the people who were killed by him.
Gluttony of Knowledge didn't matter to him at this point either since he didn't want to steal their knowledge. He was sure that their memories weren't going to be of use to him. Only their Soul Energies could help him.
"Who do you think will win?" Azekiel asked his two friends as if he was watching a movie and asking his fellow viewers about who was going to win in the battle on Screen.
Raphael didn't comment on it. It wasn't a good battle. It was more like a battle where everyone could attack anyone. There was no pattern or order in the battles and the attacks, so most of the victories depended on luck to some extent.
There were Kings who were stronger than the others, but those Kings were also taking the brunt of all the attacks. They were being attacked by many enemies, which took away their advantages.
"I can't decide who can win. Though I'm sure that all of them are going to lose." Azekiel answered.
"How so?" Azekiel inquired, wondering how he came to the conclusion that they were all going to lose.
"Whoever wins, they would've been weakened beyond expectations. In the end, you'll kill that person since there's no way to give them the treasures we were here for. In other words, all of them are going to die, even the winner. That's why all of them will lose," Raphael explained.
Azekiel nodded in satisfaction. Raphael's perception was still as sharp. That's what made him even more surprised that his lies had managed to pass through Raphael not once but many times.
'You're right about most things when it comes to others, but not all things. Then again, it's only good that you don't know my story... It's better that way as that keeps you and me both safe...' Azekiel thought, gazing at Raphael.
Even though he had to lie to Raphael and Lia about many things, it wasn't because he just wanted to lie. Instead, he actually had a reason to lie.
On the other hand, the battle continued as the number of dead only increased. Even the ones as prosperous as the Kings couldn't avoid the battles of greed.
Moreover, until this floor, the Kings faced against the fellow kings of their Worlds to reach here. But on the floors, all the other Kings were also the best of the best of their worlds. They weren't the same as the ones that these Kings fought.
Just as Raphael had expected, the battle ended after three hours of intense battle with only one King surviving. And surprisingly, the King who survived was none other than the first person who asked Azekiel for the treasures.
He was the last man standing, even though his body was already covered in Blood from top to bottom.
The man could barely stand straight, but he still looked proud that he had won, defeating all the others.
He raised his hand toward Azekiel. "See? I told you I was the strongest. I can protect your treasures. Give them to me."
Even as he was breathing heavily, trying to gather his breath, he asked for the treasures from Azekiel.
Azekiel also obliged. "Y-yes. You are so strong. You can definitely keep me and my treasures safe."
He stepped closer to the young man who sat on the ground to rest a little. The young man felt a bit pleased to hear his praise as well.
Since Azekiel looked like such a coward and a fanboy, the man didn't doubt him even for a moment. Even as Azekiel moved closer to him, the man was only smiling and resting.
"Of course, I am the strongest. There might be many kings in the tower, but only I'm the King of Kings," the young man answered proudly.
"Now give me the treasure."
"That's right. You are the King of Kings. Can I stay with you and learn from you?"
"I'll let you follow me and work for me. I'll teach you many things as well. But first, give me the treasure!"
Azekiel was only a few feet away from the man who was still dreaming about getting an incredible treasure. Even though he had to fight so many people and get hurt so bad in the process, he still found it all worth it.
Only when Azekiel was two feet away from the man he stopped.
"Right. It's something I found in the center of the castle."
Azekiel started talking in the air. The man felt that he was opening his inventory to give the treasure to him, but he was quite wrong.
Azekiel called out his Gauntlets of Gluttony instead of any other treasure.
"What is this?" The man noticed two sharp Gauntlets appearing in the hands of Azekiel.
He didn't feel right. "What is it?"
"It's what will give you your treasure... The treasure of death. Thank you for making things easier for me here."
[Swiss]
Before the man could even react, the sharp claws of Azekiel's Gauntlets entered his chest, stabbing straight in the middle of his heart.
The man's eyes widened at being betrayed after he did all this… He realized one thing! This man before him... He wasn't a naive young man! Instead, he was a very cunning Man, almost devilish!"
Azekiel pulled out his claws and sent them back. At the same time, the eyes of the young man closed. He wanted to speak something, but no voice came out of his mouth before he eventually died.
His body dropped to the ground, increasing the number of the dead by one.
At the moment, all the Kings who had managed to come out of the tower within the last day were dead, all becoming feasts for Azekiel in his quest to gain eternal strength.
Azekiel placed his hand on the chest of the young man.
"Soul Snatch."
