Azekiel could only smile as he heard all the dissenters. He carefully observed each of them.
The more these people talked, the more they managed to sway others. Within minutes, the majority was against the idea now as they started looking at surrender as the better option.
The young General simply stared at Azekiel, wondering why he wasn't doing anything as more and more people were being swayed for something else entirely. He couldn't understand why Azekiel seemed to be waiting for everyone to turn against him.
To the dismay of the General who supported him, Azekiel stood with his hands behind his back as if he was just a spectator here.
Ten more minutes passed, and finally, all the Ministers were convinced that it was better to surrender to the King of Greed than surrender to another King only to fight more.
"So you've all made up your mind?" Azekiel calmly asked just to be sure.
All the Ministers nodded. "Yes. We have made up our minds. With Michael gone, we all want to surrender now. We don't want the flames of war to extend beyond what it already has."
Azekiel seemed to be really understanding as he nodded; however, instead of walking back and leaving, he stepped closer to the first dissenter who had ignited this fear in the hearts of everyone.
The Minister appeared to be scared, watching Azekiel move closer to him. The Man couldn't help but take a step back, only to fall on his seat. There was no way back.
"Since you've all made up your mind to support the one who killed my friend Michael, I don't have to hesitate anymore either. You're all traitors now, and you'll get what traitors get."
Azekiel grabbed the Minister by his throat, raising him in the air. The minister struggled but to no avail. Before long, his neck was crushed, and the lifeless body of his was tossed in the middle of the hall.
Azekiel, who appeared to be really calm and patient until now, was looking like a Grim Reaper who had awakened. After killing the first dissenter, he glared at the second one. Within the blink of an eye, he appeared before the next man, doing the same thing.
His powerful yet emotionless voice echoed in the entire hallway. "Just because I gave you the right to choose doesn't mean I gave you the right to do whatever you want. Just because I was calm, you think you can climb on my head and dance?!"
"I thought I made it clear? I don't need your permission to take over this Empire! If I want, I can destroy you all, and even then, I can get what I want! And none of you here can stop me! Let alone you; even your father can't stop me!"
Azekiel kept killing the people around him like a grim reaper as he moved from place to place. He had already killed five ministers out of the twenty present there. And he still didn't look like he was done.
He glared at the oldest Minister, and with proud steps, he moved closer to the old man.
Watching Azekiel move closer to him, the old man felt like he was watching his death moving closer to him. He went down on his knees hastily. Even though he was old, he still loved his life a lot.
"My Lord, please forgive my ignorance. I was swayed by the honeyed words. I forgot that this was more about the Empire itself. This was about the dignity of ours. We really couldn't give the Empire to the intruder! I support you!"
"Anyone else who shares the same thought?" Azekiel glared at the other Ministers in response.
The other Ministers also went down on their knees, observing the bodies of the dead in the hall. They had no choice but to agree with Azekiel since their own lives were on the line.
"If only you all had agreed at the start, those people wouldn't need to die, would they? I suppose that's why people say; Kindness is never appreciated. Only fear paves the path." Azekiel walked to the Throne and sat like he was the King of this Empire.
"Now, start preparing a declaration about the Division of the Empire."
"R-right away!"
In an official document, one of the Ministers made the declaration that following the death of King Michael, it was their responsibility to run the Empire now and that they had decided that it was more efficient to have the Empire divided up into small kingdoms.
In the declaration, they also clarified which part of the Empire was going to go to which Minister and who would be the King. After the official map was divided, all the Ministers signed it, making the declaration official.
From that point on, the Empire of Pride had ceased to exist and what took its place were fifteen small Kingdoms, each under the control of one of the Ministers.
The Ministers gave the document to Azekiel, who went through the document, mainly letting Raphael see if there was any problem with it or not.
"It looks to be fine. This should work." Raphael gave his approval to the document.
"Good. Now we aren't taking over an Empire but smaller Kingdoms, making it the first Empire of Gluttony."
"Congratulations! Now the fifteen of you are the Kings. Now it's time for you to return what should be mine. Make another declaration, giving my Empire to me."
The Ministers were like hostages at this point. Even though they were doing everything willingly, it was also true that they had no choice. Their choice was either to oblige or die.
Each of the Ministers created a document of their own, giving their Kingdom to King Azekiel. Within minutes, Azekiel had Fifteen Kingdoms under him, which he combined to form an Empire, officially giving it the name: Empire of Gluttony.
Finally, after a long and indirect route, he had managed to cheat using the loophole. Now he had a Massive Empire and an even more massive army of his own which gave him an advantage.
Now that the small things were taken care of, Azekiel left the main hall with the Generals.
He didn't want any Minister to know the battle strategy that they were going to follow since he didn't trust them entirely.
He told the General of his army the plan of Raphael, including all the formations and strategies that Raphael had come up with.
Walking through the empty hallway, Azekiel suddenly stopped before a door as if sensing something.
He turned to the old looking door.
