Raphael's face turned pale as he realized the implications behind these worlds. They were so distracted by finding Lia's killers that they entirely forgot that this was Raphael's past and that every moment that he was shown was important in his life. That meant death...
"Where did I go?' Raphael looked around, only finding trees everywhere. Since he had been following Lia from the start, they didn't keep an eye on his past self.
They had entirely lost him and now finding him looked like a task that was harder than climbing a mountain.
He flew straight up to get a better view of the forest, still not sure if he could even see a glimpse of him.
Even from the sky, it was impossible to find his past self as he could only see the leaves of trees covering the entire land.
Boom~
"There!" Even though he couldn't see his past self, he still heard an Explosion and smoke rising from the distance.
He flew straight to the area, expecting to find himself. If he was to die here today, that door only meant that battle was his!
The old man also flew after Raphael, along with Lia. Both of them reached the place where the smoke was rising from. They landed on the ground, noticing that it was covered entirely in smoke.
Raphael's past self was missing, but there was blood everywhere! It was clearly the blood of Raphael since his Bloodline made his blood somewhat unique and easy to distinguish, like the blood of the gods. Unfortunately, only his blood and some craters were there. His body couldn't be seen anywhere in the smoke.
Raphael looked around, trying to find his body or even any clue about him, but he couldn't find anything. It was as if he wasn't just killed, but he was thoroughly destroyed to his core.
"Look there!" Lia exclaimed, noticing a figure in the distance. It wasn't easy to see through the smoke, but they could still see some semblance of a human figure in the distance.
The person wasn't as tall as Raphael. Moreover, he had much darker hair, which wasn't as long as Raphael's hair. The man seemed not to be wearing any shirt. It was unclear if his shirt was destroyed in the battle or if he wasn't wearing anything in the first place.
Not a single wound or scar could be seen in the body of the person that was fresh. Still, there were definitely some scars on the person's back that seemed to be very old scars.
Raphael flew to the person to see that person's face. However, before he could reach the man, the man disappeared into the smoke.
Raphael kept searching, but he didn't see that person again. It was the second time that he had lost the person he really wanted to know the identity of! The only time he knew about that person was that scar on his back!
Even through the smoke, he kept searching the place thoroughly to find his body. How could it be destroyed so easily? Even if he was killed, he needed to know how and by whom!
Until recently, he used to think that he was killed in the tower by another King from his own World, but it was now evident that whoever killed him... That person wasn't a King from his own world!
"I think that's enough. This is the extent of your memories."
Raphael still hadn't stopped his search when the old man snapped his fingers. Their surroundings changed, and they all found themselves back in the temple where they had trained their souls.
"Wait! I had to find him!" Raphael exclaimed. "Let me go back!"
Raphael didn't want to leave without finding that person! He was so close to seeing that person!
"If you want to see that person, it's your responsibility to recognize that person by regaining your memories. I did my part. Now it all depends on his own conviction. Regain your memories, and you won't have to look for that person. It's all on you."
The old man didn't look like he was going to listen to them and send them back to the past again.
"Also, it's not my fault you didn't see him. At least not in this case... I didn't tell you to chase after another person instead of keeping an eye on yourself. If you hadn't done that, who knows, maybe you would've had your answers already!"
"You could've told us what was going to happen!" Lia exclaimed. "If you had told us, we wouldn't be chasing after the wrong person, right?"
"My responsibility was to take you to your past and to let you see for yourself. I fulfilled my responsibility." The old man smiled. "Now, do some work yourself and remember your past. I promise you; it'll really be worth it if you can remember."
After giving them minor instructions, the old man disappeared, leaving the two Familiars in the silence of the temple.
Now it was their responsibility to remember their past, and they couldn't blame anyone else.
Raphael sat down right away. Instead of worrying about the spilled milk, he decided to make the best use of the situation. He was already shown many times. If he could use them to remember his entire past, then he really wouldn't need to rely on the old man.
He wanted to use this feeling of anger, pain, and curiosity to remember his past.
Lia watched Raphael enter meditation instead of complaining. She was also positively influenced by him and realized that there was no benefit to complaining.
She also sat down and started trying to remember just who this person was.
****
Donning his dark cloak, Azekiel walked in the rain. He was more or less protected from the rain thanks to the cloak, but even then, his hands were still shaking a little.
This Floor had a weather similar to earth and had many seasons, but even then, the rain didn't usually last this long. This was certainly a rare occurrence, but at this point, Azekiel also understood what this implied.
"The rain isn't going to stop anytime soon... This means Yulia wasn't lying. They are really close to clearing the 80th floor. The closer they get, the more this rain increases.
"But I still can't understand Raphael. Why is his name on the Ranking and on top at that when he was supposed to be dead? How is he still alive?"
He wanted to see the ranking with his own eyes, but he couldn't see that unless he increased his level a lot more. Without that, even if he went to the Floor, which shows the ranking, he still couldn't see it.
Unfortunately, that meant he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Increasing the level meant appearing on the Tower Ranking, and that meant attracting unnecessary attention, which wasn't good at this point in time for him.
"Do I really have no choice?" he muttered, shaking his head in disappointment.
"If that's the case, I might as well do it properly!"
Since he had no choice but to climb the ranking, he decided to do it. He was already slightly impatient at the thought of clearing the floors slowly. Eventually, he was looking for a reason to drop the idea of being careful, and the thing about Raphael gave him a reason. He needed to see Raphael himself!
If Raphael was alive, that meant he was on the 80th floor at the moment! Azekiel wanted to see it with his own eyes.
Since there were no restrictions on which floor he could be at, that meant he could easily get there. Moreover, if he killed people on the 80tn floor, that was definitely good for his leveling up. It was hard but also the fastest way to level up so he could actually see the tower.
As for the unnecessary attention that it was going to get him, he decided to leave that for later to be dealt with.
After finalizing his plan, he straight went to the portal of the Top Floor, remembering the layout of this floor by heart.
Unfortunately, even though the layout of the places remained the same, the people of this world, the time, and the rules had slightly changed, which he didn't know about.
As he reached the portal of the 80th floor, he noticed that some people were guarding it. Moreover, the people who were guarding that place weren't weak either.
Usually, there was no need to guard these portals as they could neither be destroyed nor be stolen, so it didn't make sense to place guards here unless it was to stop people from entering. But why would they stop anyone when it was in the rules of the tower that anyone could access any floor?
Azekiel walked closer to the guards. However, just as he had taken a few steps closer to them, the guards drew out their weapons, noticing him.
