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(TPD) Chapter 30: Azazel's Resolve
🕑 Added 2025-01-04 12:34:56 +0000 UTCChapter 30: Azazel's Resolve
Slightly longer chapter! Enjoy!
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Valkorion, Fallen Angel Capital.
Dripping, the faint, pattering sound of water droplets leaking from the moss-covered ceiling and dripping onto the stone floor was the only thing breaking the unnerving silence of the underground prison. There wasn't a single guard in sight, since having one there would've served no purpose if the only prisoner present were to ever escape. Not that such a thing had any concrete chance of happening, especially when they had been stripped of all their might, and reduced to a state where they hardly even qualified as a sentient being.
One cell, that was all there was in sight. One singular, dark, rustic cell with the air of decay, disappointment, and failed ambition looming over it like a plague. Ambition that was never grounded, ambition that was never even remotely feasible to begin with. Yet, it was an ambition that had attempted to turn itself into reality nonetheless—and failed.
The lone prisoner had long, black disheveled hair that fell onto the cobblestone ground of which he was seated cross-legged on, his once piercing vermillion-colored pupils could now barely even be described as dim, his attention focused on the collar strapped around his neck that seemed awfully high-tech in contrast to everything else around him.
His skin was a sickly pale, even worse than how it usually looked. His fingernails were all grown out and filled with grime, his wrists bound by chains that kept him bound to the wall behind him. The strength he was capable of mustering at the moment was not even enough to give them a somewhat forceful tug.
A corpse, that word fit his current state of being better than any other.
And then a different sound persisted, one that wasn't the dripping of water onto the floor. It was the sound of a doorknob clicking, followed by the door itself creaking wide open, a figure with a bleak expression on his face and a glass in hand.
Step after step, he neared the prisoner's cell, breathing an aged exhale before crouching down to get a look at his face.
"It's been some time since we last talked hasn't it?" He opened with rhetoric, the prisoner's face slowly rising from the ground to face him. "Kokabiel," the glass-wielding man was none other than Azazel himself, the Governor-General of the fallen angel race. "You look like you've seen better days," he followed up with a dry chuckle.
"And who's fault is that?" Kokabiel retorted, still having the strength to speak clearly in spite of the living conditions he had been exposed to.
"You, it's your fault." Azazel didn't mince his words, looking Kokabiel dead in the eyes as he spoke with resolute conviction. "Everything that's happening now, to me, to you, to our people—you're responsible." He groaned, uncorking the lid of the glass of alcohol he had brought with him and taking a swig. "I'm also responsible for not stopping you, we've both ruined our people. Well, almost, as long as everything goes to plan there should still be some hope."
"Is that what you came here to talk to me about? Hope?" Kokabiel scoffed, eyeing the drink in Azazel's hand.
"It doesn't matter what I want to talk about, you'll have to listen regardless," Azazel glanced at the power-suppression collar around Kokabiel's neck, the one that he had personally manufactured. "You knew didn't you? That once you pulled the trigger, our people would be too blinded by hate to listen to reason."
Kokabiel just snickered, offering Azazel no verbal response.
"That's been solved," Azazel added, causing Kokabiel's eyes to widen as he stared at him as if he had just seen a ghost.
"Nonsense."
"You think I would come down here just to lie to you? Please, don't drag me down to your level." As much as Kokabiel wanted to deny it, Azazel was in fact being truthful. "It took a sacrifice, a heavy sacrifice, but it's been solved."
"What are you talking about?" Kokabiel tried to raise his voice as if to intimidate him, but only ended up hurting his throat as a result.
Azazel took an even larger gulp of the beverage, swallowing almost half of it in one go, letting the burning sensation in his throat linger. "Armaros, Penemue, and Sahariel—they're all dead." Kokabiel fell silent, his mouth hanging open. "It happened over a year ago actually, but losing them helped our people realize the fact that we aren't as invulnerable as you tried to delude them into believing."
He paused for a while before speaking, "Which one?"
"Pardon?"
"Which Satan killed them?" Kokabiel asked.
Azazel shook his head, reaching into his coat and pulling out what looked to be a remote. "It wasn't a Satan," first, the hologram depicted the image of a young boy with slicked back dark-green hair, and a girl with light-blue hair clashing with Sahariel.
Second, the still frame of a slightly older looking girl with light-red hair, staring down Penemue from a perspective that appeared to stem from the visor she had worn. "The fight ended so quickly for Penemue that she didn't even get to gamble with the abomination of an item you received from the Bael Clan and reverse-engineered."
And finally, the sight of a young blindfold-wearing devil with brown-hair facing Armaros, followed by a second frame that showed him with white-hair and animalistic ears for some reason. His blindfold now removed to reveal his enigmatic violet eyes, the perspective probably coming from Armaros' helmet. "Armaros succeeded in absorbing that piece you obtained, but he still died."
Kokabiel's expression was that of pure, unadulterated shock, for a myriad of reasons that his mind was struggling to comprehend. "You're lying, those are children. They weren't so weak as to be killed by mere children," he settled on denial, his lack of strength preventing him from raising his voice.
"They weren't weak, it's just that their opponents were stronger." Azazel drummed his fingers across the moss-ridden stone floor. "Especially those last two, I have pretty good reason to believe that they're the same type as Sirzechs and Ajuka."
"Bullshit! Cough cough! Miracles don't happen twice!"
Azazel paused, watching as blood spurted out of Kokabiel's throat when he tried to give his words any volume. "Apparently for them they do," he flared his brow. "Then again, we also have a miracle of our own, or curse depending on who you ask."
"Is she—?"
"She's alive, more alive than the rest of us that's for sure." Azazel let out a thoughtful hum, looking back at the hologram of the strange blindfolded child. "She told me that she had planned on leaving once a Cadre had fallen, and that supposedly would've been the case if it weren't for that one." He tapped the child's face on the hologram, "She said she had unfinished business with him, so she's decided to stay."
"They fought?"
"No, calling it a fight would be a grave exaggeration, but that one piqued her interest for some reason—so she's staying," he shrugged. "It's the same for Baraqiel actually, I sent him back to the Human World so he could look after Shuri, but much to my disappointment Armaros's death encouraged him to return with vengeance on his mind."
Kokabiel didn't show much surprise on his face, "Armaros was his closest friend, of course he'd want to avenge him." He stared at the holographic figure intently, "Does that one have a name?"
"I don't have as much information on him as I'd like, but he's definitely connected to the same people that helped you start this whole mess to begin with," the fact that the fire he had used to kill Armaros had been imbued with the Power of Destruction, alongside the traces of the Clan Trait left on the battlefield sufficed as evidence.
"He's a part of the Bael Clan?"
"Probably, he doesn't have the hair unlike the girl who killed Penemue so I doubt he's a Gremory or direct relative of Sirzechs, but maybe I'm wrong. Our people started calling him a Weeping Angel, which I don't think is too far-fetched after reviewing the combat footage." This time the hologram displayed footage from a Scourge at the back of a formation, Kokabiel squinting as he leaned closer.
"I don't see anything," some of the Scourges on camera were sliced in half, some imploded, and some just fell inactive for seemingly no reason whatsoever.
Azazel paused the recording, pointing his finger at what looked to be a faint blur at the very edge of the screen.
"What's that supposed to be?"
"A Weeping Angel—apparently," he grinned. "None of the cameras installed in the Scourges or equipment of our men seemed to have caught him unless he was stationary, the fastest person in the Underworld between both us and them is supposed to be a devil named Souji Okita, which your daughter confused this one for. Even though that's clearly false, I still think they have some kind of connection."
"How'd she get a child mixed up with a grown man?"
"She's your daughter, you tell me," he retorted. "We know he's fast and a Bael, but getting more information would require me to get past Ajuka's security measures, which I am in absolutely no position to even think about doing." Actually judging by his face I'm pretty confident he's Ajuka's son, it would certainly explain quite a bit.
Silence ensued, Kokabiel falling into considerably deep thought before continuing. "We're losing aren't we?"
Azazel was shocked he even had the audacity to ask that question, "Ya think? They have two devils capable of going toe to toe with the very Gods themselves, and by the looks of things that number is going to increase to four at some point."
"Isn't there a fifth?"
Azazel thought for a moment, eventually realizing who Kokabiel was referring to. "The Crown Princess? Rizevim?" Kokabiel nodded, "How should I know? She's been an even bigger recluse than she already was since the Civil War ended, which is probably for the best taking our current situation into account."
"What do you plan on doing now?"
"Saving as many of our people as I can, just like I did in Mortis by evacuating everyone before the battle began." Azazel took a deep breath, "I'm going to retreat them to the Human World."
Kokabiel scoffed, "Evading Sirzechs just to get slaughtered by Michael—a spark of true intellect."
"I made a deal with him."
"Michael doesn't make deals, his wings would've long since turned black if that was the case."
"It's not the kind of deal you're imagining, he simply agreed not to directly go after us with his legion of Angels—we're still going to be hunted by the church. Moreover, if we do anything that causes Michael's Seraphs to pressure him into getting involved more than they already will, he won't make any effort to ensure that we're spared."
You're both too cowardly to ever make proper use of the iron first, constantly twiddling your thumbs in front of one another like children. Kokabiel sneered, "So our people will continue to live like rodents in a sewer? That's your master plan?"
"No, my plan was to have peace between me, Sirzechs, and Michael, but you undid that Kokabiel," the word "peace" alone seemed to be enough to earn Kokabiel's sheer dissatisfaction. "I want our people to live on, and if I have to be the one to force them to lower their heads and tuck their tails, then so be it, but believe me—they will live on."
"Peace, it's all about peace with you isn't it? Azazel, the Governor-General who is above everything else, never sharing the same desires as his brethren, never sharing the same heart as his brethren, never sharing the same hate, lust for vengeance, and superiority," Kokabiel's words were laced in a thick coat of venom. "We repel one another on a biological level Azazel, peace is even less grounded in reality than my desire for war."
Azazel's composure didn't waver in the slightest, a belief that had lived as long as his could never crumble so easily. "It has to end at some point," the way he worded it made it seem more like a declaration to himself rather than a rebuttal to Kokabiel. "If it doesn't end, then all three of us will inevitably vanish."
"No, if it doesn't end one of us will be crowned the victor, and I think I have a good idea of who that's going to be at this rate."
"Victor of what? The Underworld and Heaven must both exist at the same time, without that there's no balance, and without balance there's nothing to conquer—just ashes." Azazel pinched his nose-bridge, "Zekram Bael is clearly the one who really spearheaded this whole disaster with you, she would never settle for ashes."
"Zekram's a relic," Kokabiel huffed.
"So are you, and so am I," Azazel once again pointed to the hologram. "That's the present, and that's also the future we'll be facing, one that our people are incapable of handling at the moment."
"Eurus could handle it."
"Eurus is one person, they have four, five if Rizevim ever decides to show her unsightly face ever again. Even if Eurus were to defeat the two younger ones, they still have three that are fully matured." Eurus wasn't even 20 yet, no matter how powerful she was at the moment she still amounted to little more than an insect in front of Sirzechs and Ajuka.
"Where's she now?"
"She was insistent on trying to lure out the Weeping Angel, and since I knew I couldn't stop her even if I tried, I decided to give her a mission instead."
"What kind of mission?"
"A recovery one, nothing extreme. Baraqiel's with her as well for good measure," he added.
"If it weren't extreme, you wouldn't be sending Baraqiel alongside her."
"The point is that they won't be fighting a Super, and since this is Eurus we're talking about I think that qualifies the mission as non-extreme for her." It won't be a problem if they end up failing and having to retreat by some terrible stroke of ill fate, but success would definitely make everything better for us in the long run. Azazel picked up his glass, gulping down the rest of it in one swift motion before getting up and preparing to depart.
"If you're planning on deserting the Underworld, what'll happen to me?" Kokabiel asked the dread-inducing question.
"I'll probably have to execute you since you're too much of a threat to be let go, but it's better to die by the hand of one of your own than a devil isn't it?"
"I suppose it would," he sighed, leaning back against the stone walling. A faction is only as powerful as their strongest member, I should've taken that more seriously.
---
"I don't understand, if Azazel's plan is to have us surrender the Underworld while we retreat to the Human World, then why bother undertaking a mission that would only provoke them while they're dormant?" A woman with obsidian colored hair fashioned into a ponytail spoke, donning a tight black robe that only left a little bit of space near her ankles. Her skin was a pale, vampiric white, coupled with her blood-red eyes and sharp glare. "It's counterproductive," she added, folding her arms together and awaiting an answer from the man beside her.
Her name was Eurus, the only Super Fallen Angel, and the daughter of the imprisoned Cadre Kokabiel.
"If you ever took the time to understand what the object we're hoping to retrieve actually is, then maybe you'd understand why he put such heavy emphasis on trying to secure it," her accomplice was a burly man with a bear-like figure, a bushy black beard, and a towering frame that dwarfed everything around him. "I don't even really understand why you're still here in the first place, does the Weeping Angel really bother you that much?" He corked his head with a questioning gaze plastered on his face.
He was Baraqiel, the only Cadre still capable of using Holy Power, and one of Azazel's closest and most trusted comrades.
Eurus scoffed, "You say that like you're any different, you came back for him to avenge Armaros didn't you?"
"That's what confuses me, I have a reason, but you don't—unless there's something more to it you'd like to let me in on?" Baraqiel closed one eye, pressing the matter further.
"I don't plan on remaining like this for millenia like the rest of you," she pointed to her back, all ten of her dark, feathery wings sprouting out like a blossoming flower. "If I don't strike now while the iron's red hot, I might miss my chance to take the final step for quite some time."
Baraqiel thought for a moment before speaking, "You're lying."
"Excuse me?"
"If it were just about strength you wouldn't have come exclusively for him, there are plenty of powerful people in the Human World as well, and knowing you, you would've probably just attacked Azazel if you were so dead-set on trying to get your sixth pair." He observed her expression, confident that his explanation was correct. "It's personal for you as well, isn't it?" Their one and only encounter was reported to hardly have lasted a minute, what kind of impression could he possibly have left on her in such a short period of time?
"It's not personal, his presence has just been irritating me as of late."
"That's literally the definition of personal," Baraqiel deadpanned. Don't tell me she's after him merely out of pettiness? Well, she is Kokabiel's daughter, I shouldn't put it past her. "Whatever the case, since we're all leaving now you might as well stick with us for the long run."
"Oh? Would you be lonely without me?" Her lips curled up into a devious smile, "Maybe I'll let you have some fun if you impress me enough against Wilbert," she lifted up her robe a little, revealing her supple thigh.
"I'm married."
Eurus huffed, "I was just joking, I'd rather bone the Weeping Angel over you."
Isn't he supposed to be a child though? Baraqiel recalled his figure through the recording Azazel had shown him. Oh well, I'll kill him long before she has the chance to make her move. "Let's just get this mission over with so we can finally leave," he looked ahead at the 100 foot obsidian wall that stood in the distance.
The wall surrounding their former city—Mortis.
"So impatient, you should learn to enjoy moments like these more," Eurus commented as they both shot into the distance with speed only a Cadre level fallen angel was capable of producing, stopping only once they found themselves in front of a thin coating of Demonic Power surrounding the city.
Wilbert had been ordered to reverse engineer the once Light Magic-powered detection barrier with the help of members of the Astaroth Clan that had been alongside him, which had enabled them to swiftly detect and eliminate any scouting parties that had been sent to scour the area.
"You should be able to handle this one shouldn't you?" Baraqiel looked at her expectantly.
"Who do you think I am? A barrier of this level hardly even qualifies as child's play," unfortunately, unless Ajuka Beelzebub came in person Wilbert wouldn't be able to produce a barrier on the same level of Grigori's technological prowess. Orion, she conjured a gathering of stardust which formed together to create a small hunting knife, reaching her hand out and making a large circular incision in the barrier, not a single alarm being raised in the process.
She's able to keep her infiltration hidden that easily? Baraqiel marveled at the spectacle, what terrifying stealth. Just because the barrier Wilbert's efforts had constructed weren't on the same level as Grigori's, didn't mean they were weak.
"After you sweetie," she gestured for him to go first with a playful grin.
It's really hard to respect you when you have that attitude, Baraqiel grimaced as they slipped past the detection barrier—freely flying up to the top of the 100 foot wall within seconds giving them a full birds-eye-view over what was going on below them.
"Do we even know where they're keeping it?" Eurus asked.
"I can make an educated guess," Baraqiel pointed to the central tower that had once belonged to them. "Azazel said it's in the possession of a half-devil, so there's a good chance that they haven't done anything rash yet, if they've even figured it out by now."
She shrugged, "You never know—they could've already dissected it by now."
"I'd rather you not jynx it," he groaned. The Longinus Institute hasn't reported it reentering the waiting period, so whoever has it should still be alive at the very least.
They both reached into their spatial storage pouches, pulling out a pair of presence-masking cloaks and wrapping it around themselves in unison before carefully hopping from rooftop to rooftop towards the central tower, limiting the chance of them being even accidently spotted as much as possible.
The central tower was divided into two sections, an inner area, and outer area, the outer one being mostly open with guard posts stationed around all angles, and the inner one being where all the command personnel operated alongside the barracks of important figures such as the Blindfold Devil's peerage, and of course, Wilbert himself who was in charge of the entire operation.
"Do you think you can scan for him from here?" Baraqiel asked, both of them probably only a few meters away from touching the actual command post itself, perched on a nearby railing.
"Yeah, if they're here they should be within range—" Eurus paused midway through her sentence, tilting her head a little as something appeared to catch her attention.
"What's the matter?"
"Down there," Eurus pointed to the open grassy area near the tower, where a figure with slicked-back dark green hair was strolling alongside some company.
Baraqiel's eyes widened once they entered his line of sight, his fists clenching to the point where his nails started to dig into his palm, "...Sahariel." He recalled both the boy, and the light-blue haired girl from the recording. I never was a fan of your malicious take on the pursuit of science, but you were still a comrade of mine.
"I think they're connected to the Weeping Angel," she pointed to the boy, "He was watching when me and him were fighting."
"They could've just been a part of the same unit, the fact that they were in the same location doesn't prove a direct connection." Baraqiel narrowed his eyes, noticing an even younger boy with snow white hair following behind him. "And him?"
Eurus grinned, "I believe that would be our little dragon." In order to make identifying the Sacred Gear easier for Eurus's senses, Azazel had exposed her to the signature of Fafnir beforehand.
"Divine Dividing awoke at such a young age?" He was taken aback, such an early awakening was the mark of an exceptionally talented wielder. If that's the case, then this generation's Divine Dividing is far more valuable than Azazel had assumed. "I'll handle Wilbert," even if the detection barrier failed, Baraqiel knew full well Wilbert would sense what was happening the second they began. "You focus on snagging Divine Dividing, and try not to loiter for too long."
"How come you get to fight Wilbert? I'm clearly the stronger one here," she raised her brow.
"Because you keep playing with your food, this mission is supposed to have an emphasis on haste." You should've committed and killed the Weeping Angel back then. "After you," he pointed to the group of children below while ignoring Eurus's frustration.
"Fine."
She hopped down, landing in front of Lars, Esdeath, and Vali with a loud thud. Startling each of them as they all reeled back, none of them having detected her presence beforehand. They're all so weak, maybe I should let Baraqiel have a little "accident" so I can fight Wilbert instead.
"Who—!" Lars yelped, barely managing to create a defensive formation of spheres in front of him before Eurus slugged him with her right fist, sending the Bishop flying into the central command post's walls back-first. A torrent of saliva jetting out of his mouth while he clutched his stomach, the breath being forced out of his system from the impact—leaving him winded.
"If you really are related to him, then he must be rather disappointed." She remarked, paying little heed to the frozen expressions of the surrounding guards, each of them completely paralyzed by the fear Eurus's presence alone instilled them with.
"Cadre!"
"There's a Cadre attacking!"
"Quick! Inform the General!"
They all scurried to get into position, the aftershock from a Cadre appearing out of nowhere shocking them to their very core and inducing them with unparalleled dread. I guess not all devil children can be as strong as him, what a shame. "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost," Eurus looked at Esdeath, who remained completely motionless as she tried to put together what had just happened. "Here, if you need some help waking up, then allow me to lend a hand."
Eurus clawed her hand, pointing it upward as bright yellow circles filled with Light Magic appeared below the feet of the nearby guards, spears shooting out of them at a speed none of them could even hope to react to, impaling them straight through the groin.
"Esdeath! Snap out of it!" A voice called out to her, followed by a torrent of bright-red flames assaulting the side of Eurus's body and enveloping her whole.
"Ruval! Lars is—!"
"He's alive, I'll toss him a Phoenix Tear later, for now we need to focus on getting rid of her."
"I don't think that's going to be as easy as you make it sound," a cold sweat ran down Ruval's brow, the flames around Eurus dissipating even though she made no effort to actively defend herself, enduring the heat with nothing more than her physical constitution. Oh? What's this now? "Don't I remember you from somewhere?"
Ruval's expression soon turned feral once he made eye contact with her, the memory of his bedridden father flashing through his mind, causing him to grit his teeth as anger started to surge through him.
She hummed, "You certainly seem to remember me—Ah! I remember now! You're the fiery brat from back then!" She chuckled, "I was shocked when you actually managed to singe me, although, your father did most of the work so I'm not sure how much credit I should actually hand you."
The woman Ruval had sworn to defeat before coming here was now right in front of him, laughing in his face without a care in the world as she slaughtered the guards around them.
"I'm going to do a lot more than just singe you this time," he coated his hands in Hell Fire, staring Eurus down as he fought off the sense of fear holding him back. There won't even be ashes left when I'm done with you.
"So you've grown a little," she applauded him. "Well done, but unfortunately for you—" She appeared next to him in a split second with some kind of movement technique, "—So have I," she hammered her first into his scalp, creating a medium-sized crater in the ground as Ruval immediately lost consciousness, his immortality regenerating his shattered skull and ensuring he at least remained alive.
No matter how much he tried or wished for it, the behemothic gap between High and Super-Class couldn't be closed so easily, especially now that Eurus had obtained her fifth pair.
"Well?" She turned to Esdeath, spreading her arms wide and waiting for her to make her move.
"I'll slaughter you!" Esdeath's hair and eyes flared with ice-cold intensity, the temperature around Eurus starting to drop as she sensed particles of Demonic Power starting to gather around her.
"This is the instant-attack you used against Sahariel isn't it? How ingenuitive for someone your age," she hummed while scratching her chin. "However, I wonder what'll happen if I do this?" A thick bright-yellow aura covered Eurus's being, immediately causing Esdeath to flinch in horror.
Her attack had failed.
"As I thought, if the density of energy covering your opponent is greater than your particles of Demonic Power, the attack won't be able to reach my skin. Such a simple solution for such a complex tactic," a solution very few people could afford to utilize. "Taking into account how you killed Sahariel—I think it's only right that I return the favor, but I'll gladly face you again if you somehow survive it."
"Kuh!" Blood spurted out of Esdeath's mouth as a javelin far more intense than Sahariel's pierced her abdomen, sending her hurling into the distance just like Lars.
"Alrighty then," she walked over to Vali, who was shivering in place with Divine Dividing active and his hand stretched out. Yet, he was unable to bring himself to activate his ability, knowing full well that attempting to do so would result in his immediate death. The strength required to use it on Eurus being completely out of reach for him as he was now. "Either you come with me willingly, or I'll force you—the choice is yours."
What choice did he really have? She was capable of ending him in an instant, and had dispatched of Lars, Esdeath, and Ruval, without so much as breaking a sweat.
He was completely outmatched, there was nothing more for him to do other than comply.
"Good boy, I like obedient children." She ruffled his hair while grabbing his hand, "As a reward—I'll let you watch Baraqiel's fight with me."
---
"Colour me surprised Baraqiel, I never took you for the ambush kind." Wilbert's heavy footsteps paced towards Baraqiel, the weight and pressure of his towering frame matched only by the Cadre in front of him clear for all to see. His expression had darkened significantly from his usual peaceful demeanor, a pressure passively leaking from his core strong enough to cause almost everyone to submit just at the sight of him alone.
"It's been a while, Wilbert," sparks of Holy Lightning began to erupt around Baraqiel, their intensity gradually beginning to rise as the Cadre steeled himself for the fight that awaited him. A fight he knew he couldn't afford to take even a little lightly if he hoped to emerge out of it the victor. "I am merely following the orders of my Governor as I always have, I shouldn't need to explain that to you of all people."
Wilbert hummed, "To this day I'm still shocked—I always pegged Azazel as someone who desired peace just like I did, imagine my shock when this conflict first began." Strangely enough, there wasn't much confidence in his tone of voice, as if he were waiting for a particular response from the Cadre.
"Azazel isn't responsible for this."
The corner of Wilbert's mouth curled up into a faint smile, "I thought as much," somehow, he believed the Cadre immediately. "Is the Bael Clan involved?" For a second, it seemed like they were about to have a casual conversation instead of brutally trying to murder one another.
Baraqiel nodded, "They are, they colluded with the now imprisoned Kokabiel to make this all happen."
"Kokabiel, I see, he's definitely the easiest one to turn into a collaborator." Zeoticus's son is now engaged to the person responsible for all this needless bloodshed, Avalon's face flashed through his mind. "Granted, I still hold Azazel accountable for not keeping a tighter grip over his subordinate."
"He holds himself accountable as well," Baraqiel answered with a solemn look on his face. "But what's done is done, words alone won't suffice as a resolution."
"For now," Wilbert half-agreed with his statement. "Let's save the chatter for another time shall we? If we're both alive after this," a bright red aura erupted around him, the product of his boundless Gravity Magic flaring to life.
"Indeed, it has been a considerable amount of time since I've fought someone of your caliber, so I hope you've been keeping yourself in good shape." The clouds above Baraqiel darkened, gathering together as the sound of thunder rumbling reached the eardrums of everyone in the city. Holy Lightning Trident! An enormous three-pronged spear the size of a skyscraper poked its head out of the cloud formation, staring Wilbert down as the horned patriarch looked up to face it.
"You were able to wound people with Ultimate-Class strength in one strike then, and time appears to have only strengthened your already terrifying ability." Wilbert nodded approvingly, taking a deep breath before another rumbling started to tremor, this time from the ground instead of the sky. Gravity Reversal! Pebbles slowly started to rise from the ground into the air, a force stemming from Wilbert, prepared to clash with the trident that was would soon attempt to turn him to dust.
The duel between the two monsters had begun.
---
This time Avalon isn't around, and I think it's nice to have chapters every now and then not centered around him. I feel like it gives the world more depth, and makes everything happening around the MC also feel more animated. Let me know what you think though, I'm always open to suggestions.
