Monarch of Gluttony: System of Sin

"Do you recognize this painting?" Raphael asked. "Did it trigger some memories?

It was clear by now that Azekiel was able to connect to this painting for some reason which he didn't with other paintings. Just what was this painting about? Why was Azekiel feeling sad over it? Many questions floated in Raphael's head.

"I just found this painting really beautiful," Azekiel smiled, shaking his head. "There's nothing more to it. Don't you find this beautiful?"

"What's beautiful in the sea of blood?" Raphael asked. "And why were you crying if you found it beautiful and not sad?"

"Of course it's beautiful... It contains a part of history that is never to be forgotten. This painting... It contains a life of its own, which only some can understand."

"So you do know more about this painting. Where is this sea of blood?"

"Nowhere..." Azekiel answered as he turned his back on the painting. "That place doesn't exist anymore. It's only in my memories now."

"Anyway, we have wasted enough time. Enough chattering and more working."

Azekiel opened the door at the end of the hallway, which was supposed to lead them to a different part of the castle.

Until now, their path had been the same as the others, but this was where their paths were going to separate from the others.

On the other end of the door, there were three new hallways. One led to the left, the other to the right, and he went straight ahead.

It was where the maze of the Castle actually began, and this was also where most of the Kings separated, each taking a guess of their own and selecting a path.

Most of the Kings decided to take the path that led straight ahead, and only a few took other paths since, most of the time, the straight path was what led to the better rewards, but Azekiel wasn't after the better rewards. He was after the greatest reward in the Castle.

Azekiel selected the path that led to the left instead of the central part. According to the map that he had, the left path was the most dangerous and also the one which brought them inside an even more complicated maze, but thanks to the map, he didn't worry about the maze.

Instead, he knew that it was the only path that led to the central chamber of the Castle of Infinity which he wanted to get to. The only thing worth concern were the traps, but he was prepared for them as well... At least as much as he could prepare, since even he didn't know what kind of traps there were going to be.

The path that he selected further split into ten paths, leaving the choice to him on where he wanted to go. The maze kept getting more and more complicated. With so many options, there was no way someone could find the right path without the map of the castle. That's also why the map was so important for him.

Standing before the divide, Azekiel opened the map once again, looking at the right path.

He selected the third path out of the ten openings before him, but as soon as he stepped inside the new hallways, the floor disappeared. The first trap had appeared, which was supposed to lead them all to a fall that was impossible to get out of.

Fortunately, as soon as the floor disappeared, Azekiel called out his Gauntlets of Gluttony and stabbed his claws into the walls that were closest to him.

With another hand, he grabbed Lia's hands, protecting her from the fall. As for Raphael, everyone knew that he didn't need much help. He just called out his beautiful dark wings and flew up, protecting himself.

Raphael reached out his hand toward Lia. "Give me your hand."

Lia held Raphael's hands, freeing Azekiel from the additional burden. After taking Lia, Raphael reached out his other hand to Azekiel as well.

"You too. Hold my hand. I'll carry us to the other end."

Azekiel didn't hesitate either and held Raphael's hands.

Holding the hands of Azekiel and Lia, Raphael flew to the other end of the hallway. It was better than going back since they needed to clear this hallway. This was the right path, after all.

The floor in the hallway never appeared. Fortunately, Raphael didn't need it to return.

The floor was only present at the end of the hallway, where the hallway further split up.

Raphael landed on the floor with Azekiel and Lia. "Which path?"

"The first and the third will lead us back to the main entrance of the castle. We'll be back when we started. So the middle one is the right path. Though be careful. The traps have started appearing. The same traps might appear again, but it could also be something new.

He hadn't even finished speaking when hundreds of arrows flew to them, coming out of both sides of the walls.

Since the hallway was only four meters wide, the arrows didn't need to travel much distance before hitting the target. Azekiel only had a fraction of a second to react.

Fortunately, even as he was speaking, he was keeping an eye on his surroundings. As soon as he saw a projectile coming out of the walls, he instantly cast a barrier around him to protect himself from the arrows.

The barrier came at the right time as well, but not fast enough. One of the arrows had managed to pass through before the barrier could even appear, hitting Azekiel's shoulder. The other arrows were stopped by the barrier.

Even as an arrow stabbed Azekiel's shoulders, he didn't react much. He didn't even let out a pained grunt, as if this much pain was nothing. He just pulled out the arrow and tossed it away, letting his shoulders bleed.

Lia cast a healing spell on Azekiel's shoulders, providing him with some form of Protection. Following the spell, the bleeding also stopped.

"The traps are increasing..." Raphael frowned. "And it's just the beginning…."