Azekiel told his plan to the General, mixing it with some lies about what needed to happen before he could take part in the battle properly.
Hearing his demands, the old General couldn't help but look at Azekiel in confusion. "Do we really need to do that? Isn't there some other ways?"
"Even we Kings have some set of rules we need to stick to," Azekiel answered. "There is no other way. You people need a King if you want to fight back properly, and only one King is available to you... And that is me."
"Even I can't take the throne unless you do as I described," he further added. "I won't force you to do anything. I just want to save the Empire of my friend, no matter what I need to do, but if you aren't fine with it, it is alright. I will just leave and pretend as if I never came here. I'll be on my way."
He stood up and started walking away. "Oh, keep the body of my friend as a gift. Bury it properly before this Empire suffers its inevitable fall."
He placed his hands on the handle of the door and pulled it open, not even giving the old man a chance to think about it.
"Wait!" The General called out, stopping Azekiel before he could even take a step outside. They knew they couldn't win without his help. The other side had a Godly King that had immense power. Their army also had a high morale since their King was with them. Meanwhile, their army was all alone.
No matter what Azekiel demanded, it was better than the Empire falling in the hands of the alleged killed of their King.
Azekiel glanced back with a straight face. "Yeah?"
"We will do as said. The Royal City isn't far. Come with me. We will convene a meeting of the Ministers. As long as I manage to convince them, it'll be done." The General stood tall. "I will completely support you before the Ministers."
"What are you waiting for then? We don't have much time. The enemy army can arrive anytime."
"Yes, let's leave right away." The General took Azekiel outside, where Azekiel told the General that he needed his men to travel with him since they were carrying the food stock.
The General agreed. Not only that, he even commanded quite a lot of his own Soldiers to collect food from the town and carry with them after hearing how important food was to Azekiel.
The entourage of over a hundred people traveled through the grasslands, racing ahead without any break. The General let the entourage as Azekiel didn't know the exact direction of the Royal Capital. He followed the General, and the others followed them from behind.
It took them twelve hours before they actually managed to reach the Royal City, which was even more heavily guarded. Nowadays, no stranger was allowed to enter the Royal City of Pride. As Azekiel was accompanied by the General of the Army of Pride himself, he wasn't stopped even once along the way.
The General escorted Azekiel to the Royal Castle before he landed on the ground.
"Are all the Ministers inside?" The General asked the guards at the entrance.
The guard nodded. "Yeah. They've been in the castle since yesterday."
"That's good. It should save us some time.'
The General stepped inside with firm steps. The soldiers and the Porters of Azekiel were made to stand outside the castle, and only the General and Azekiel stepped inside.
"Soon, we'll be with the Council of Ministers. They were selected by the King himself, and in his absence, they ran everything. Only they can do what you ask," The General gave a briefing to Azekiel. "By the way, what is your name? I forgot to ask."
"I'm Azekiel. I'm sure people will be hearing this name a lot from now on."
"King Azekiel, I am General Amon. I hope we can win this battle." The General respectfully stated.
"I don't intend on losing after coming so far," Azekiel smiled. "When it comes to battle strategies, I'm sure we won't be lacking them."
He had Raphael, who was not only a powerful being but also a really clever strategist. Raphael had thought of all the possibilities of how this war could progress and how they should take precautions to make sure they didn't lose.
However, all these strategies needed a big army, and the armies couldn't be armies from any existing Empires.
"Here we are." The General stopped before the massive doors that appeared to be made purely of gold. "Behind these doors are the people that rule over the Empire of Pride in the absence of his Majesty."
Amon pushed the door open and stepped inside the majestic hall. Twenty ministers appeared to be sitting in the hall, discussing something. The Throne of the King was still empty.
All the Ministers stopped their discussion as they heard the noise of the door opening. Everyone looked toward the door in unison.
"Amon, you are back from the battle already? The battle shouldn't be over this fast." One of the Ministers glared at Amon. "Don't tell me you lost all our men and ran away from the battlefield?"
"I came here for something even more important. I have news that I need to deliver to you personally. I shouldn't send a Soldier with this news." Amon took a step forward to stand in the middle of the hall.
"What news could be so important that a General needed to abandon his post to deliver it personally?" Another Minister asked. "This doesn't seem like a sane decision. Whatever the news, I'm sure it could've waited!"
"The news better be worth our time, Amon."
Amon let out a tired sigh. "King Michael is dead."
Instead of moving around the issue, he directly told the shocking news without giving anyone the time to prepare for it.
One sentence... One sentence of Amon was enough to send a shocking current in the body of every Minister.
Each of the Ministers stood up in disbelief. "What nonsense are you spouting? Have you gone crazy?!"
"I won't blame you for this reaction. My reaction was the same until I was shown the proof." Amon gazed back toward the entrance. "King Azekiel, please come inside with the proof."
Azekiel finally stepped inside the room, carrying a heavy sack as if he was carrying vegetables.
He placed the sack before all the Ministers and revealed the lifeless face of Michael.
The jaws of all the Ministers dropped as they saw the lifeless body of Michael! So it was true! Michael was dead!
They also focused on how Azekiel was addressed by Amon... King Azekiel.
"Amon, did you betray the Empire for him?!" One of the Ministers asked.
Amon shook his head. "King Azekiel didn't kill King Michael. The two were friends. He discovered the body and brought it safely to us. The death was caused by an Assassin sent by the Empire of Greed, as you can see by the wounds."
"I brought King Azekiel here for a different reason altogether. Something that will decide the fate of our people!"
