Raphael closely followed him, taking subtle glances at Lia along the way.
On the other hand, Lia was pretty excited. She really wanted to see more of this Tower and how many adventures it had for them.
Azekiel stopped at the entrance of the portal to the second floor and glanced back.
For some mystical reason, all the craters in the ground started healing themselves. The book stacks also repaired themselves and flew back to their original place as if nothing had happened.
Within a few minutes, everything was back in its place, and no marks of battles could be seen.
"Certainly a mystical place," Azekiel muttered, observing the surroundings.
He shifted his attention back to the portal of the second floor.
"Raphael, do you know what we'll face on the second floor?" he asked Raphael.
Raphael shook his head in refusal.
"Any guesses on how long the first King who cleared this floor could've taken?" Azekiel asked again.
"Since the first floor took two days to clear by the first person and assuming the Second Floor to be tougher, I suppose it took two weeks?" Raphael tossed out an assumption.
"Six Months..." Azekiel answered lazily. "The first person to clear the Second Floor was the King of Wrath, and he took six months to do it."
"Six Months? Just what exactly is the Second Floor Trial?" Raphael asked grimly. "Why so long?"
A trial that took six months? He was really curious what the trial could be.
"If you thought going against the King of Pride, Michael, was hard, wait till we reach the Second Floor. There, we won't have to go against any one King... We'll be going against all five remaining Kings! That's the Trial... The Trial of Kingship, " Azekiel smirked as he stepped closer to the portal.
Raphael was momentarily dazed, but he also followed. There was only one thought in his head... 'Going against all five Kings of Sins...?'
Raphael's expressions were really grim. With what Azekiel told him, he could feel that the trial was going to be really risky, especially since they needed to finish it in three months if they wanted to snatch the title of the floor.
On the other hand, Lia was really excited. She could feel that some interesting times were ahead.
Just as Azekiel was about to step inside the portal, he stopped. A subtle frown appeared on his face. He swiftly turned around and started walking away from the portal.
"What happened? Are we not going above?" Lia asked, stunned. "Don't tell me you are scared already?"
"Will you keep your mouth shut?" Azekiel lazily responded. Instead of advancing towards the flickering portal of the next floor, he was walking towards the portal of Floor Zero.
Even though he had gained access to the second floor, he didn't step inside right away. As for the reason, Lia didn't know about it. On the other hand, Raphael managed to decipher why it was happening. He had noticed the subtle movement of Azekiel when he was near the portal of the second floor, which gave him an idea about what happened.
Traversing through the rows of shelves, Azekiel finally reached the portal. Without wasting a single second, he stepped inside the portal. The two spirits also entered, following him.
****
Floor Zero... The Floor was in complete shock as they had just received the information about the King of Pride being killed by the new King... The King of Gluttony.
Most of the people here were in shock, especially the ones who had insulted and scolded Azekiel throughout the last two years for being useless.
They remembered just how badly they behaved with Azekiel. The one who was most scared at the moment was the man who had told the Lord of Lies about Azekiel being missing when they were searching for the missing guards. He was really praying to the gods that Azekiel wasn't going to find out about this.
The people who had commented that Azekiel couldn't even finish the trial of the First Floor were so embarrassed that they couldn't even raise their heads. They had called Azekiel stupid for selecting the Trial of Death, but now they understood that they were the idiots for not having faith in a King.
They were all looking at the screens available to find one glimpse of Azekiel in any of the trials; however, there were none that showed him now.
Amongst the crowd of people, there was a dark-haired young woman who looked somewhat conflicted. The woman was wearing a pretty decent dress that was covered in some dirt, yet she seemed fairly pretty. There was a look of regret on her face.
Seeing her expressions, her friend stepped closer to hers. "Ri, what happened? Why do you look so upset?"
"I missed the chance," Ri let out a deep sigh. "If only I weren't so blind, argh!"
"What are you saying? I don't understand. What missed chance?"
"Azekiel! The name that is on everyone's lips at the moment!" the lady exclaimed.
"What about him? You'll have to be more specific. Did you offend that guy somehow?" Minali asked, seemingly really curious.
"That, I don't know how to explain..." Ri scratched the back of her head.
As she noticed her friend glaring at her for not being clear, she explained in detail. "Azekiel used to study in my school. He was always a loner in the class with no friends. Once, my class friend gave me a dare..."
"What was the dare?" Minali inquired as she noticed the conflicting expressions of her friend.
She didn't know Ri in the past. The two of them only came closer in the Tower of Sin and became friends, so she didn't know what happened in the past.
"The dare was that I needed to invite Azekiel to the prom, and I needed to make sure he came," Ri let out a deep sigh. "To finish the dare successfully, I started acting nice to him before ultimately inviting him to the prom."
"Don't tell me you left him standing there?"
"The dare was only to invite him and make sure he comes. I don't have to do anything else, so I... I left him standing. I didn't even attend the prom and instead went partying with my friend," Ri explained. "If only I had gone, I might be his girlfriend now! I might be the girlfriend of a King! What a missed opportunity! Especially since that was just before the apocalypse!"
"You idiot, you're worried about missed opportunities? Don't you think you might've offended him? He's a King now! Aren't you worried for your safety?"
"Safety? I don't think he will hurt me. He isn't a person like that. Maybe, just maybe, I can get close to him again?" Ri muttered, losing herself in deep thought. "I'll need a really nice excuse on why I kept him standing that day, but it might just work. I'm sure he'll still have some feelings for me. Don't you think so?"
"Even if you can get close to him, will you even be able to meet him? He won't come to Floor Zero. He'll climb higher and higher. The meeting seems impossible. As you said, you missed your chance," Minali responded.
She hadn't even properly finished speaking when shocked gasps of people filled the space.
King of Gluttony, Azekiel had arrived on the Floor!
