[Azure Kingdom]

2 days has passed since the event in the town had ended. All in all the only ones who survived the battle are Asagi and the rest of the whole group, both Hino and Fujino were apparently saved from the incident but the wounds they have incurred were so severe that it somewhat damaged their mana veins and will need a longer time for them to recuperate.

Due to urgent issue with their damaged mana veins both Fujino and Hino won't be able to accompany Sato on his journey and would need to be pulled out from the frontlines in order to recuperate. With that, the moment both Hino and Fujino regained their consciousness, the representative from the Orboume then escorted them back to the Kingdom to further recuperate from the wounds they have sustained in their journey.

Alongside it both Takahashi and Ban also were heavily injured as the latter sustained not only physical wound but also internal wound. Due to this even though both of them were taken back into the Kingdom to recuperate, the holy church led by pope Michael then visited the kingdom in order to retrieve the Saint herself.

As a Saint, the person herself held much popularity and hidden authority in the holy city. Upon hearing that the Saint encountered a demon and was heavily injured, they then quickly came in order to further continue its treatment for the Saint herself. In fact even Asagi don't know when she would come back in full health, due to her wounds it will take quite a long time for her to come back.

As for Takahashi the Celeste Kingdom took him in in order to further his treatment with the kingdom's best doctors. In the end the only one left who can still continue the journey was Sato himself.

Because of his trait as a hero, he was quite more durable than the rest of his party, in fact his trait and title alone as a hero had saved him from any critical wounds. Despite being heavily attacked by the demon, Sato had survived the encounter and somewhat withstood all of that. However because of his situation, he was left all alone as the rest of his party had backed out.

As if that wasn't enough, another emergency meeting was held between the leaders of all the territories from both the central continent and northern continent, as they all wanted explanation from Asagi in regards to what happened on the western continent.

Despite not looking good, she was bombarded with questions to the point that she had no choice but to reveal just how sickening the western continent itself. By far the western continent is the most gruesome land she had visited. Despite some sceneries which look majestic and attractive due to its natural structure, the beauty itself can't hide just how dark the continent was. Not only was it filled with deceit, many of its citizens can't even be trusted as greed, lust, and any type of sin somewhat overwhelmed the continent.

It was as if Asagi can't almost trust anyone. Even though she met some people whom she can trust, those people are the mediocre of the whole population of the continent, unless she was proved wrong, that will be her opinion towards the western continent.

Despite them winning the situation, in the end, they weren't able to save anyone. The demon was just too strong for the current Hero's party.

The moment they heard Asagi's words, most of them unanimously decided to hasten the training on the heroes and otherworlders in order to fight the demon's. With this incident as a reference, they now know what to expect in order to further strengthen their forces.

What's more if one takes a closer look, Asagi's guards in this situation are just ordinary angels, apparently due to the recent incident all Michael recalled all the archangels in order to held a meeting on what happened and why it happened.

Unknown to Asagi, the archangels held her safety to the utmost priority of them all, so when they sensed that an archangel was killed and her life was in danger, they mobilized their forces in order to save her. But the moment they got close to the town, an unknown power suddenly blocked their path rendering them unable to come to her aid.

Once the incident had concluded and the demon was taken down, they were then able to intercede and rescue Asagi and the rest of the survivors.

With that Azrael was brought to their presence in order to explain the situation and Jophiel's murder.

"Aside from Jophiel which will take another 5 days for him to be reborn, everyone is now present in order to exactly know what happened that day" said by Gabriel

"Then let's begin, Azrael! Do you have anything to say in this situation?" Asked by Michael

"I have no words... it is entirely my fault" said by Azrael

"Of course it's your fault, do you think we would blame her majesty? From the very beginning we believed your words Azrael, believed that her majesty could handle situations by herself alone and where did that lead us to? She's heavily injured that's what is.... as if the death of an archangel wasn't enough, her majesty's life was also put in danger" said by Uriel

"And I stand by my belief, because of this incident her majesty herself had grown, don't you feel it? Her divine aura had grown, she became even more dependable and this incident showed her that despite her grand magic on her hands, there will be enemies that will be too much for her to handle... we can't always protect her forever and such situation proved my point" retorted by Azrael

Hearing his words, Uriel was lost for words as he grits his teeth and somewhat glared at Azrael.

"Speaking of can't protect her... I want to know why you weren't able to protect her" said by Michael

"Simple answer... interference, someone interfered with me" said by Azrael

"Interfered? You've been interfered? So there's a human that can interfere someone as strong as you?" Asked by Sandalphon in surprise

"No... not human, Lucifer... he intered"

Hearing the name of Lucifer, all of the archangels present immediately stood up in shock as they didn't expect to hear the name come out from Azrael's mouth. What's more Lucifer existed in this world that should have been impossible.

He was sentenced to hell and became its ruler. The hell itself was supposed to be his kingdom and his prison, so they were quite surprised to know that he was in this world which was supposedly impossible to begun with.

This was not their world, their almighty father was not its creator, this world is a godless world, God doesn't exist here and if God doesn't exist then heaven in this world also doesn't exist and if such place doesn't exist the hell would naturally not exist in this world. Which then begs the question, how is Lucifer in this world?.

No matter how much they think, they can't seem to find the answer. Cause the only way for him to exist here is that hell is somewhat connected to this world.

"Lucifer... is here?" muttered by Michael

"Thats impossible! He can't be here, he is supposed to be imprisoned in hell and can only walk on the earths surface... but this is not earth, how is he here?" Reacted by Uriel

"That I'm not sure... no matter how much I think about it, I can't seem to figure out how is he here... even though I fought him, he only seemed even more aloof" answered by Azrael

With that statement, they then immediately understood what he meant as Azrael indeed fought Lucifer himself. In fact based on how everything was made from the start God created Lucifer, especially as it's right hand man from the beginning of time. However due to some unforeseen circumstances and reason, Lucifer led a rebellion which he lost and was sentenced to hell. He was not the devil, the word devil is simply a metaphor to generalize all the kings of hell in a single word and Lucifer is among them as a fallen.

Since Lucifer is made to be the right hand man of God and a former seraphim, he was somewhat much stronger than Azrael in terms of combat and rumors says that he is somewhat more powerful than Michael.

"Lucifer... if it's him then he can possibly stall for time against Azrael" said by Michael

"Thats not important right now, what's important is to know why he is here and how is it possible for him to be here, it doesn't make sense Michael" said by Sandalphon

"She is right Michael! This is  much more important, we need to deal with Lucifer as fast as we can, who knows why he is here" said by Ariel

In that ment Gabriel spoke up.

"No! If think about it, this world is perfect"

"Hmm? How so?" Asked by Michael as he looked at Gabriel

Alongside him, the rest of the archangels also turned towards Gabriel as they were waiting for his response.

"Think about it! What do Lucifer wants?" Asked by Gabriel

"Well isn't that obvious? He wants to be god" answered by Uriel

"No! I mean yes! But being God is just secondary" replied by Gabriel

"Secondary? What's more important for him other than being a God?"

As Uriel asked that question, Azrael somewhat guessed the answer as he answered it which caught everyone's attention.

"He wants to be free"

The moment Azrael said those words, Gabriel immediately backed it up as he said.

"Yes! Yes! That's it! For more than a couple of thousands... no millions upon billions of years Lucifer is trapped in hell even before life begun to exist... after all that time of being imprisoned what's he wants more is to be free from his shackles and the only way to do that is to become a god"

"!!!"

"What is this world again? A godless world, for him this world is an opportunity and a paradise, as long as there is no God, then anyone can become the God of this world as long as he has enough legend plastered into this world" added by Gabriel

"In a world not governed by the almighty father, Lucifer can do anything he wants here... this is not good" said by Uriel after he comes to a sudden realization

"We need to stop him!" Said by Ariel

"That won't be easy" said by Azrael

"Why?" Asked by Ariel

"Who knows how long Lucifer is in this world and how deeply he rooted himself in its history, as far as we know he may have already influenced the will of the world... I'd we want to forcefully summon him, we will need to destroy everything he's built meaning we will have to kill people influenced by him" said by Azrael

"A mass massacre...." uttered by Sandalphon

"Like the great flood" said by Gabriel

"... we can't do that, this world may be  ot our people, but they bore not the original sin" said by Azrael

"We all feel the same way Azrael" assured by Michael

"But if Lucifer is involved in this, then the other 6 prince of hell is also involved" said by Sandalphon

"Not only them but maybe also the whole Ars Goetia and the rest of the fallen" said by Uriel

The moment these words was said, the whole room became silent as the situation ever more becomes dire. If the demon's of hell is indeed involved in this, then this wouldn't just be the battle between the demon's and humanity, but rather between the entirety of hell agaisnt the entirety of heaven and earth. A holy war that was only uttered in the legends.

This will not be simple war of domination, but instead the war for survival and in this war a large amount of casualties can't be avoided.

From there the archangels are put into a situation where they begun stressing themselves, nevertheless with this evidence, it was time to suggest to Asagi that they should strengthen their military.

***ReadAtWebnovel***