Chapter 8 8: The Lords

The Tower of Sin... It was a frightening place for many that contained too many secrets. It wasn't easy to survive in this place since food, water, and other necessities were scarce. Only by clearing floors could people get such things; that's why being a Lord of Sin was such an amazing thing.

Only the hundred Lords of Sins and Six King of Sins could go to the higher floors. As for the rest of humanity, they could only live on Floor Zero, working at the mercy of the Sinners.

The humans on Floor Zero had established a small civilization where they exchanged the items of necessities from one another to keep going, all thanks to the Lord of Sins.

Amongst the thousands of humans that had managed to survive the Apocalypse, each of them either worked for a Lord of Sin or a King.

Through the Lords, they received many important items that they were tasked with selling on Floor Zero to others that worked for other Lords. For example, if there was a Lord who controlled a floor with access to water, he could use his men on Floor Zero to sell that water and collect the currency of the Tower that each Lord had come up with after mutual consideration.

Using that currency, that Lord could buy food from the Lords who controlled access to foods. That's how the small civilization was working.

Even Azekiel was part of the status quo before. He used to work for a Lord of Sin who was one of the weakest out of the Hundred. He barely had access to anything; surviving was so difficult for him.

Still, despite all the adversity, he had managed to survive for the last three years in the Tower until he received an opportunity to work for a King of Sin. He took that opportunity right away.

The arrival of the hunted beasts, carried by the Porters of the King of Pride, caused a huge commotion on Floor Zero. The people who could afford such things couldn't wait for the sales to begin. From what they had experienced, the stronger the beast was, the better it tasted to them.

The poor, on the other hand, couldn't afford it, but at least they could see it. They were happy at just the fact that another floor was cleared.

Since the Porters were but mere weak humans, the King of Pride had hired some Lord of Sins to help them escort the items back to Floor Zero safely. As Michael didn't have any Lord of Sins in his team due to his pride, he could only hire them when he needed to.

However, even if they didn't want to, no Lord of Sin was ever going to say no to King of Sin Michael! That man controlled two of the Four cleared floors after all.

As he was the first to clear the First and the Fourth Floor, these floors now belonged to him. As for the Second and Third Floors, other Kings controlled them for now. It could be said that there was a race amongst the Kings to see who could control more floors since each floor came with something special.

Since they needed to clear the floor in any case, they wanted to be the first to clear it to control it.

The Porters carried the heavy bodies of the beasts in the trolleys, escorting them towards the tent at the other end of the Floor. Meanwhile, the Lord of Sins just walked around the hunt lazily. They knew that no one was going to attack them. These items belonged to Michael! Only an idiot would dare attempt to take these for themselves.

They knew that even if they hadn't come, it still would've been safe.

However, the idiot that could attack them that they were thinking about was already inside the tent, and they had no idea.

Azekiel had already cleared all the blood marks outside to make sure no one knew what took place here. He also hid all the bodies behind the massive food stock, making sure that no one was going to see it.

Opening the entrance of the tent just a little bit, Azekiel gazed outside as he heard the commotion. He could see some people coming towards the tent.

"Just as it happened last time. The outcome will be different now, though." Azekiel closed the entrance once again before he went back, hiding behind the mountain of fruits.

Raphael also stood with him even though he didn't need to since no one else could see him in any case.

"There are some strong people coming here," Raphael pointed out. "I sensed three such auras."

"Yeah, they would be Lord of Sins. They got their abilities from Minor Sins. If I'm not wrong, those three are Lord of Hatred—Jackal, Lord of Lies—Layim, and Lord of Violence— Luna," Azekiel explained. "Even amongst the Hundred Lord of Sins, these three would be considered in the top twenty. Michael certainly selected some strong people for this task just like he did last time."

"If I absorbed all the bodies and completed the Soul Bar to Summon, can you take them on? Can you defeat them?" Azekiel asked Raphael. "They were much, much stronger than the humans we faced."

"I can only be summoned for a minute. I doubt a minute would be enough to kill them. As your advisor, I would advise you against a conflict at this time. We should avoid it for now. Our focus should only be to make you stronger. Because the stronger you get, the stronger I'll be when you summon me. Currently, I'm also restricted to only one percent of my strength," Raphael explained.

He further added. "If I could use my full strength, even one second would be too much to kill them."

"I'm limiting you because I'm not strong enough? You're right. Instead of relying on you all the time, I need to start relying on me. This is my war and my revenge." Azekiel clenched his fist as he looked at the bodies in the surrounding area.

The three Lord of Sins reached the massive tent with the Porters, who were stunned to find this place empty.

"Where are all the guards? They shouldn't disappear on their own? How can they leave such a place without any protection?" One of the Porters asked.

Lord of Lies smiled as he rubbed his chin. "This is certainly very interesting. And just before we were about to arrive?"

Slightly amused, he opened the tent and entered. "Let's solve the mystery."