Surrounded by black flames that devoured everything in its way, there lay an unconscious, almost lifeless piece of mass covered in a pool of blood on the blood-dyed wooden surface of a hall, slowly breathing and maintaining what was left of himself and his life.

His vital signs kept on wavering like the flames of a candle exposed to the ferocious wind and it seemed like it will only take a moment or two for him to pass on to the other side.

But, in the end, his supposed death never happened as whenever it would seem like the body’s life was going to end it would all of a sudden get revitalized out of nowhere, like there was some kind of force that was forcefully keeping it alive.

*Crackle crackle*

Nothing was spared under the influence of the mighty black flames as they kept on devouring anything and everything that crossed their way, whether they be, the wooden furniture, metallic utensils, and even the bodies of the 5 humans, 1 man, and 4 women.

Everything kept on burning under the influence of the black flames, nothing was spared, nothing apart from the only breathing person inside the inn.

As his chest moved up and down the almost dead piece of mass suddenly got back its glow and woke up while coughing heavily, “Cough! Cough!!”

His eyes shot open revealing two bloodshot pupils that clearly indicated the difficulty he must have had in order to even breathe under such a gruesome scene. He was choking for breath and his eyes were full of tears.

“Cough! Cough!!”, his coughing continued in the empty hall but ignoring it the boy looked down at something and his expression changed to that of shock.

With eyes wide open he couldn’t help but look up and down with a confused expression on his face.

The boy’s reaction was perplexing, to say the least, but it totally made sense for him to act this way, after all, the stab wound in his chest that he got from the protagonist, Adam as a parting gift was now nowhere to be seen.

The only remnant of an injury that stayed on him was the blood that had spilled everywhere on the chest region of his clothes.

Clutching his chest the boy tried to get up from the floor, he kicked his legs against it to make himself get up but he failed, next, he tried to hold a table and use it as a support to get up but he failed this time as well.

Desperately looking around the hall to find any source of relief the boy soon realized that all of his efforts were in vain as the only thing he could see before himself was a tsunami of black fire devouring everything in its wake.

The boy was terrified, even though he thought that he didn’t care whether he lived or died he was still scared especially after seeing the fate of those who had been previously hit by the same thing.

Right now the only thing he wanted was for this hellish scene to end, it didn’t matter to him how it happened, he just wanted to get over this situation.

It was so nerve-wracking for him that he would prefer to die an easy and fast death rather than to keep on surviving in such a hellish environment.

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‘Should I just close off my eyes and pretend to be asleep?’, the boy thought as his face suddenly gained some of its vigors and he closed off his eyes in desperation to get over the hellish scenario.

Honestly, closing off your eyes to escape the pain of death was the most stupid thing for anyone to ever do, but considering the situation Aziel was in, it didn’t matter to him as long as his heart felt at ease.

Even if he had to fool himself in this situation, he’d gladly do it without even thinking twice.

But then all of a sudden a thought crossed Aziel’s mind, ‘Am I really going to die like this?’,

The moment this happened Aziel recalled everything that had happened just before his death on earth, his vast memories came flooding into his mind as a formless golden gaseous mass suddenly got ejected out of his body taking with itself every single bruise or injury that Aziel had on his body.

With his eyes closed and his brows knit Aziel went over everything that had happened before his death and he slowly shook his head in resignation, sorrow, and anger as he went over his death over and over again.

He was dissatisfied, he was extremely dissatisfied. Even though he was an orphan he still had other family and friends important to him.

The boy was regretful as he now knew that no matter how hard he tried, he won’t ever be able to go back to his old world since his last rites had already been completed.

And right now even his new life was going to come at an unexpected end.

But why? Why is this happening to him? He didn't do anything wrong, then why?

With nowhere to go, with no place to call home, the boy was confused at first, but his confusion didn’t last for too long as he opened his eyes with a new resolution reflecting through them.

The boy had finally realised something,

He didn’t need to have a place to call home as he is now, he didn’t need to have people to protect as he is now, all he needed was a will, a will to survive!

Looking in front of him where the gaseous mass lay floating the boy nodded his head and said in an almost inaudible voice, “I will take care of everything, thanks for your help, Aziel”, after which the gaseous mass got dispersed into thin particles all around the massive hall and a black void, out of nowhere, got conjured in mid-air.

Sensing the suction force it had, the boy who had just referred to the gaseous mass as ‘Aziel’ jumped in the void and vanished from the establishment as it continued to crumble under the might of the mysterious black flames of gluttony, Purgatorio.

Around a few miles away from the establishment, there was an extremely handsome individual with blue eyes and black hair who was sitting on the bench of a roadside shop sipping what appeared to be tea from a clay-made tumbler.

The man had an ecstatic expression on his face as he kept on drinking slowly through the tumbler made up of clay while looking at the bunch of children playing hide and seek just a bit of a distance away from him.

Looking at them he couldn’t help but remember the days when he used to play with his siblings.

‘Those days were the best’, he thought as indulged himself in drinking the delicious tea, but then all of a sudden his expression contorted and he got up from his seat.

Turning his head towards his left side he started searching for something as his eyes with their enhanced vision eventually landed on the distant inn he had just set on fire.

Noticing his behavior the one at the tea stall tried to help him but stopping him at a distance with just a swing of his hand he continued looking at the inn.

Then after a moment, with a smile on his face, he shook his head and sat down with a pleased expression on his face as if he had seen something extremely extraordinary, and said, “I will be looking forward to your growth, you imposter”, in a voice that seemed to be particularly happy but in reality was even colder than an iceberg.

His smile, even though it seemed to be amiable at first, contained traces of bloodlust and murderous intent that washed over everyone in his surroundings leading them to faint even without realizing what had happened to them.

Looking at his surroundings once again, the man put down the now empty tumbler and left the place while fixing a black sword at his waist.