"I agree. The kid still goes by his naive understanding of the tower. He won't get far..."
Most of the people present here talked in a condescending manner, looking down on Azekiel even though he had killed three Kings alone.
"Who knows," Another person chimed in. "The Kid certainly is different from anything even this Tower saw. He managed to pull the Gauntlets that even we failed to get..."
"Heh, so what? Just because he got those Gauntlets doesn't mean he is strong. He hadn't seen anything. If he can get to the Eleventh Floor, he'll realize that he had been a frog at the bottom of the well. His worldview would be shaken."
"Agreed. He hadn't faced anything yet. As if defeating a bunch of kids who hadn't managed to draw out the full strength of their Sin is something to be proud of. That much is nothing in the grand scheme of things."
"So you think the Kid can't reach here?"
"Here? He won't be able to pass the eleventh Floor if he even manages to reach there. The child will die... He's in too much of a hurry. If only he had patience, maybe he could've achieved something."
"But he had the help of those two... I think we all know what those two managed to achieve... They almost reached here before dying. With their help, I have a feeling that he might achieve something that we can't even imagine."
"Heh, those two were failures. Two failures can't help anyone succeed." A young man scoffed. The man had wings similar to Azekiel, but he appeared much stronger than Azekiel.
"I've already seen Raphael. That guy doesn't even remember anything about his past, let alone what happened here. He only knows the basics about this tower but nothing about his past here. He can't help Azekiel in anything if he doesn't know himself. And I believe it's the same for the girl with him."
"Lia." Another man answered. He was the same person whose statue possessed the book that Azekiel used to enter the Temple of the gods. "And you're right. She doesn't remember anything. I believe their support won't amount to anything."
"The Sin of Gluttony will fail again... It must..."
****
Dead bodies of Liam and the other Lords were carried out of the Castle. They were buried by the Triads after Azekiel had used his Soul Snatch on them, increasing his strength by a little more.
He had thought for a little while if he should use his card on Liam to make him his Familiar, but as soon as the thought crossed his head, he rejected it. There were better options in the world than Liam.
"You are done. Now you can leave!" Leor informed Azekiel after following her every task. "From now on, we are equal. We won't trouble you or Orcs, and you won't trouble us!"
"I don't have time to stay here either." Azekiel was already done, and he had already decided to leave before Leor could even speak anything.
As Azekiel was about to step out of the Castle, Leor stopped him. "Wait. What about the Mark?"
"It'll disappear on its own after I leave. We don't need that mark anymore, so you don't have to worry about it. By tomorrow morning, you'll be a free person..."
Azekiel left the hall and walked away with his team, disappearing from Leor's view, who was left alone in the hall.
Leor looked back at the throne that used to belong to her sister. Now the throne belonged to her. She couldn't believe how much the Triad Clan had changed in just one day. They lost a war with the Orcs, they lost their people, and they lost their Queen.
"Maybe this was an awakening call for us. We have gotten really arrogant, forgetting that the world isn't as small as we think it is. There are people even stronger than us... Ones who can destroy us on a single whim. It's time we bring the Triad Clan in a different direction from before and gain a bit of humility..."
She took this whole incident as a lesson for her future as she walked to the throne that belonged to her now. She didn't want the clan to go through something like this again. She promised herself she was going to make sure that she didn't forget this lesson for as long as she lived...
****
Azekiel and the Lords stepped out of the Triad Clan. Azekiel was done with one of his goals. He had killed another King, making himself even stronger for what he was to face ahead. The only thing that was left was clearing this floor.
"The war between the two sides of Elves must've started by now, right?" he asked Layim as soon as he stepped out of the Triad.
"Most probably."
Azekiel nodded in response. "Good. It's time we clear this Floor then."
"Can I ask you something?" Layim asked Azekiel.
"It's about how I'm going to clear this floor?" Azekiel guessed the question, which wasn't hard at this point.
"Yeah. I asked even before, but you didn't answer. Can you tell us now? I'm really curious how it all links. A random murder, the stealth of a coin, stealth of a crown, a war, and all your other tasks? How do they relate to the mission of the fourth floor?"
This was the question in everyone's mind. Some were even sure that these things couldn't be related to the Floor Quest and that Azekiel was having fun with them.
"None of you are able to guess how all these things are related?" Azekiel asked, gazing at everyone here.
All the Lords lowered their heads in response. Not a single one knew.
"Alright. Who will tell me what the Floor Quest is?" Azekiel asked. This time, he used a question that everyone knew the answer to.
All of them had a system that informed them about the Floor Mission as soon as they stepped on this Floor. And it was hard for them to forget the quest since it was what they were here for.
"Everyone knows the Quest. What about it?" One of the Lords asked.
"That's not the answer to my question. I want someone to repeat the quest for everyone here once again. Let's see just how much you remember the quest. So, who will speak?"
Azekiel glanced at everyone who was present here, waiting for someone to take the lead.
All the Lords started speaking the quest at the same time, making it impossible to understand who was saying what.
"Silence! I'll speak for him!" Layim realized that it was useless if all of them talked at the same time. He stopped everyone else and took the task on himself.
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