It was Raphael who was holding onto the man. If he wanted, he could even crush the man's neck. However, he couldn't. He didn't know why but he couldn't tighten his grasp. It was as if a mysterious force was keeping his hand as it was.
Not only could he not tighten his grip, but instead, it had only started loosening up.
"A Fallen Angel thinks he can hurt me? Kid, I was fighting Gods when you weren't even born yet." The man let out a hearty laugh. "You lost the battle the moment you touched me!"
The man grabbed the wrist of Raphael instead.
Raphael felt a terrifying burn on his hand. It wasn't as if his skin was burning, but it appeared to be more than that. He could feel his strength being sucked by the man.
Raphael wanted to free himself, but he couldn't. His body wasn't listening to him as if it was paralyzed.
Azekiel was unaware of Raphael's plight. He took Raphael on his word that he could handle the man, so he left the task to Raphael, especially since Lia was also there for backup.
Instead, he focused on the lady who appeared to be the boss.
Unlike the man from before, who at least had his face visible, the lady was completely covered from top to bottom. She wore a beautiful silver and black Armor that fit perfectly around her curvy figure.
A darker shade of silver robe was attached to her shoulder plates which waved with the wind behind her.
Many scratches could be seen all around the Armor, but it was evident that the scratches were all the extent of damage that was on the Armor. It was as if no attack had managed to penetrate the Armor to hurt her.
Even the face of the woman was covered entirely by the helmet, which matched the color of the Armor.
The woman also had two Gauntlets around each of her hands, but hers looked to be slimmer, more like gloves. Moreover, the finger portion of her gauntlet wasn't as sharp as Azekiel's Gauntlets which appeared to have mini knives in place of fingers.
It appeared to be intentional since these slimmer Gauntlets allowed the woman more flexibility in using her hands which she needed to carry the long sword she held in her right hand.
The five-foot-long Sword appeared to be made from a single piece of metal, including the hilt. Some strange characters were also inscribed on the sword, most of which were unreadable.
"Are you the Soul Demon?" Azekiel asked, despite being sure that it was the case. He didn't want to make the same mistake as before.
The woman didn't answer. Instead, she appeared to be looking down at the Gauntlets of Azekiel.
"The Gauntlets of the King..." she spoke. Even though her tone was somber, her voice was melodious. "That means he has died..."
Azekiel didn't know who she was talking about, but he didn't ask. He already had a question that wasn't answered in the first place.
"I'll ask again. Are you a Soul Demon?"
"Soul Demon? I'm not. I'm Avila, the Queen of Demons and the conqueror of Seven Realms."
"Queen of Demons? If you aren't a Soul Demon, that means the Soul Demon is..." Azekiel turned around, realizing that the soul demon wasn't this woman. It was the man he had attacked in the first place who was the Soul Demon!
Just because the system said that the Soul Demon fought against the Heaven, he thought that the Soul Demon was going to be the strongest person here, which made her misunderstand the woman as Soul Demon.
Hearing Avila's clarification, he understood that the Soul Demon wasn't the leader of the Assault on Heaven. He was most probably the General or something since only he was trapped here with Avila, who claimed to be the queen.
"Raphael!" As soon as Azekiel glanced back, he noticed Raphael in the hands of the Soul Demon, seemingly like a statue who couldn't move. His lips were turning pale, and his condition seemed to be getting bad.
He ran to Raphael to help, but before he could even take a few steps, Avila appeared before him, blocking his path.
"Our conversation isn't over yet."
"Step out of my way!"
Raphael's life was in danger. Azekiel didn't have time to discuss. Each second he wasted with her was a second Raphael was hurt more.
Even with Avila before him, Azekiel didn't stop. He swung his claws. Since the woman wasn't going to let him go past her, he was going to walk over her dead body!
Clank~
The woman effortlessly blocked Azekiel's claws using her Sword.
The sharp claws that could even slice the strongest of Swords couldn't even leave a scratch on the sword.
Azekiel jumped back, creating some distance from the woman again but not before he was scared. Instead, he gathered more momentum after creating some distance before shooting straight to Avila again, but this time, he expected her to block the attack.
As he swung his claws again, Avila seemingly shook her head as if she was disappointed with the same mistake again.
As per his plan, Azekiel's Gauntlets changed to a hammer which he swung. If she could block his claws, he was going to use the Hammer, which didn't use the sharpness. The hammer of Gluttony used brute force!
Instead of blocking the attack, her figure flickered. She appeared behind Azekiel.
Azekiel's hammer only passed through thin air since Avila wasn't there anymore. He felt a really intense sense of danger as soon as Avila disappeared. He had seen a similar tactic used before and realized where the attack could come from in a situation like this!
As if disappointed in Azekiel's skills, Avila swung her sharp sword.
Fortunately, Azekiel anticipated this attack.
He immediately dropped to his knees, letting the sword miss him. At the same time, he didn't miss the chance either as he swung her hammer.
Thud~
His hammer finally managed to get a clean hit on Avila, landing straight on her chin which was also covered by her full-face helmet.
The Hammer of Gluttony was indeed very powerful. It boosted Azekiel's brute strength by multiple folds. The impact of his hammer should've been enough to crush the skull of an enemy.
Avila's body flew back, following the impact. Unfortunately, the damage wasn't as bad as Azekiel expected.
Avila controlled her body in mid-air before she could fall. She successfully landed on the ground, barely fifty meters away from Azekiel.
"That wasn't half bad, but not good either. It seems you truly don't know how to use what you have."
