Chapter 132: He Finally Returned... But
Seraphel
"I know where he is," Lumiel’s words resounded in my head as I stared down at Caelum and saw that his body was stiff, and even when Luceriel lowered his finger, he remained like that, completely unmoving.
My eyes widened in shock, wondering what on earth had happened.
"Is he dead?" I asked.
"Luceriel’s time stop usually makes anyone stuck in time forever, which is why he rarely uses it," Sariel responded in a low tone.
Lumiel pulled out a gleaming dagger, placed it firmly against Caelum’s neck, and then slit his throat without hesitation. "I guess now is the time to get rid of him, because once he is dead, Azriel will appear from wherever he kept him, and that’s it."
No one said a word as he slit the throat of Caelum on the cold stone floor.
"That won’t be enough. We need the human to use Castiel’s light on him. With that, it would stop his reincarnation—anything at all to make sure he doesn’t return," Luceriel suggested, turning his sharp gaze towards me. "Do it, human."
I nodded without questioning him and then pointed my palm directly towards Caelum.
Once the divine light burst out of my hand, everyone turned away to give me distance, and then I let go of the full force of the light. It hit Caelum square in the chest, and he fell heavily to the ground, his body rapidly disappearing into fine dust.
"I guess that it’s done," Taizel muttered slowly behind me.
"What about Azriel? Where is he?" I demanded, looking around frantically for any sign of him.
"Anytime from now, since Caelum is dead, he should appear," Lumiel responded. "Besides, you should start feeling the bond between you two now."
I wanted to ask how, but he was proven right because I was instantly able to feel it.
The soul bond returned just after he finished talking, but my heart started pounding hard in my chest because there was something terrifyingly eerie about the spiritual powers returning.
It made my stomach turn, and every single hair on my body stood straight up.
It was as if something deeply evil had been stirred awake.
What the hell was going on? I wondered, looking around us. The Kingdom had turned into complete shambles, and even as I was frantically thinking about Azriel, I also wondered what was happening with the Tower of Prosperity.
Has Malachi succeeded? Did everyone manage to get teleported out of the collapsing kingdoms? I was desperate to know, and maybe it was because I was now officially the consort and didn’t want anyone to die, or maybe because I just desperately wanted Azriel to return before I got teleported away.
I didn’t know which it was.
"There is something dark about what I am seeing," Sariel announced, looking towards the sky as if Azriel was going to appear right there at that exact moment.
But there was no sign of him, and instead, a sudden flash of black lightning split the air, and Malachi stepped out from it.
I couldn’t help but feel a sudden surge of deep disappointment, my heart sinking completely as my hopes crashed down, realizing with a bitter sting that it wasn’t Azriel who had returned to us.
"Has the teleportation been set into place?" Raizel asked immediately.
Before Malachi could respond verbally, he snapped his fingers, and a body dropped heavily to the ground. "I found this body by the side of the teleportation energy, and he was actively stopping the teleportation."
I frowned, looking down at whose body it was, and my eyes widened in shock as I realized who it belonged to.
"Lioren?" I gasped.
"You know who he is?" Luceriel demanded sharply.
I nodded slowly. "That’s one of Azriel’s top concubines."
"That annoying, treacherous manwhore," Sariel spat through gritted teeth, his temper flaring. "Azriel is so blind to not see that everyone around him is betraying him! Why else would one of his concubines try to kill the human while another distracted him and got him locked away in goodness knows where? If this is not pure, supreme foolishness, then I don’t know what is!"
"The teleportation is fully in place. I had checked around to see if the other cities were affected, and yes, they were affected with some casualties because some of the guards found bodies, but those who are alive are already getting teleported out of here to the new kingdom," Malachi announced.
I rubbed my hands together gently, relieved to know that at least not everyone had died.
But then I couldn’t stop thinking about Azriel.
What would happen if the teleportation sequence ended before he appeared again?
I could feel his presence again, but for no clear reason at all, his aura felt as if it were slowly fading away into nothingness.
"Will Azriel appear here before the teleportation ends?" I demanded, unable to keep silent for a single moment longer.
No one responded, because suddenly, a violent burst of crimson light appeared in the sky above.
It lit up the entire ruined courtyard so brightly that I had to cover my eyes against the raw energy of the light. Then, it slammed down hard onto the ground, and I was pushed backwards a bit by the shockwave, but luckily, Taizel’s steady hand was behind my back, holding and supporting me while Luceriel and Sariel instantly raised a defensive barrier against whatever had appeared.
"Did Elysium send someone else?!" Raizel demanded over the sound of the blast.
"No," Sariel responded, his divine gaze fixed forward. "That is Azriel."
"Azriel..." Just the mere thought of him was enough to send intense shivers running straight down my spine.
He was here? He had come back to us again? I couldn’t believe it, but why on earth had he suddenly appeared with such terrifying, suffocating energy?
What had happened to him? I wondered, slowly raising my head from the ground to look forward through the thick cloud of dust that was starting to clear.