Destroying My Own Novel

“What? Agnez and the others haven’t cleared the Astaroth Tower? That’s so weird,” Jeanne asked as she walked toward the couch as she removed her armor. “I thought they would clear it before us since they have everyone with them,” Jeanne put the armor on the armor display next to the couch.

“The world they’re clearing right now is more complex. It depends on how keen their senses are and how patient they are. It’s more like solving a puzzle rather than killing demons,” Mykel answered as he looked at Rozan who looked a bit different after he got resurrected. “Get some rest, Rozan,” Mykel said.

Rozan wasn’t listening to Mykel’s words, and everyone was looking at him with confused looks. He kept staring blankly at nothing as he sat at the dining table.

“What did you see, Rozan, when you died,” Mykel asked with his arms crossed.

Rozan snapped back to reality when Mykel mentioned death, and then he looked at Mykel with empty eyes.

“It was just a thick mist with voices around me. I couldn’t move my body and was scared by the voices of people panicking because they had no idea what was going on in there,” Rozan answered. “It felt unreal, and I’m not sure exactly what happened either,”

Based on what Rozan said, it appeared those dead characters ended up in a place with nothing in it, and they were all there for eternity. Although it sounded scary, the reason behind it was that heaven was taken by Lucifer, the Empyrean World. Those who stayed in Gehenna or hell were for those who died after the world got conquered by the demons.

In the original story, everyone who ended up in that place would all go to the Empyrean World once Asmond killed Lucifer. There, he could meet his fallen friends, and he was happy to be able to see them again for one last time before the tower disappeared and glad they ended up in a world where happiness lasted forever.

“Don’t dwell on it too much, Rozan. You’re here now, and as I said, you don’t have to fear death since I’m here,” Mykel said.

“Yeah,” Rozan nodded his head with his trembling voice as if he was holding tears of fear.

“Go get some rest,” Mykel said as he patted Rozan’s left shoulder.

Rozan hummed, and then went to his bedroom hurriedly.

Jeanne, Nagy, and Edith silently stared at the closed door of Rozan’s room. They wanted to comfort him, but it was better for him to be left alone at that moment.

“So, where are they right now, Mykel? Are they stuck in there?” Jeanne asked.

Mykel opened Agnez’s feed, and they were already on the nineteenth floor.

“They’re on the nineteenth floor, and it appears they’re struggling to find a way to enter the twentieth floor,” Mykel answered as he sat down next to Jeanne.

“I bet Agnez is so pissed and frustrated right now,” Jeanne replied as she chuckled.

(On the nineteenth floor, Astaroth Tower)

Agenz was crossing her arms with her eyes closed as she leaned on the wall and breathed heavily. She was tapping her right index finger on her left elbow as she gritted her teeth.

“How’s this possible?! We are back on this floor again? We are sure we have been walking up the stairs! But why we ended up on this floor again?!” Glen said and he looked so angry and frustrated at the same time.

“Glen shut the fuck up! We know that already and we are thinking about how are we going to solve this. If you don’t want to help then at least shut up,” Roxanne said as she glared at Glen.

Lillith stared at the surrounding, and it was just a square tower with nothing but cells inside and stairs. She looked at the stairs that led to the lower floor on her left, and then she stared at the stairs on her right that led to the upper floor.

“Sven, go up there,” Lillith said.

“Why?” Sven asked with his eyebrows furrowed.

“Just do it,” Lillith said as she stared at him.

Sven sighed and didn’t say anything else as he walked toward the stairs. He walked up the stairs, and the moment he could no longer be seen, he appeared from the other side of the floor walking up the stairs.

“Now go down,” Lillith said.

Sven raised his eyebrows as he sighed deeply and turned around to walk down the stairs. It was the same, he ended up appearing on the other side of the floor walking down the stairs.

Lillith hummed as she walked around the floor and checked every single cell room. She looked at them and made sure they had missed something. She then suddenly stopped and looked at the cell in front of her. She entered the cell and looked at the weird-looking wall that appeared to be more polished compared to the others.

Lillith looked at the other cell rooms once more and made sure she was right about it.

“Sven, come here,” Lillith said.

“What is it this time?” Sven asked with his hands resting on his waist as he walked toward Lillith.

“You see that wall. Break it,” Lillith said as she pointed at the wall behind the cell.

Sven swung his scythe and cut the cell door open without hesitation. It attracted everyone’s attention, and they all decided to go and check out what those two were doing.

Sven tried to cut the wall, but somehow it bounced back and the wall didn’t even have a scratch on it. He furrowed his forehead with a puzzled look and then tried to break the wall next to him, and it broke so easily.

“Something is wrong with this wall,” Sven said.

“No shit, that’s why I ask you to break it,” Lillith replied.

Sven tried to break the wall over and over and over, but the one that got damaged was his scythe. He didn’t want to risk it because he only had one weapon on him, and didn’t want to break it.

“If only I have my sword on me,” Asmond said.

“Move,” Agnez voice could be heard from behind.

Everyone made a space for her to walk through, and then she entered the cell room. She pulled Sven back as she stared at the wall. She touched and knocked on it and noticed it was indeed a sturdy wall.

“Gunnar, can you come here for a second?” Agnez asked as she leaned and tilted her head to the left a bit.

Gunnar walked into the cell room and he was big enough to block everyone’s vision from seeing the wall. Agnez then used [Demonic Manifestation] and [Harmony] at the same time. She let her left arm transform into Mazikeen’s arm, and then she punched the wall as hard as she could.

The sound banging sounds of Agnez punching the walls over and over made everyone cover their ears. It sounded terrifying, and they didn’t want to hear the sound of bone cracking because of how fierce she punched the wall.

The whole floor was shaking because of Agnez, and they all couldn’t see anything of what was happening behind Gunnar’s massive body.

“Come on!” Agnez yelled and did a final blow to the wall.

The wall crumbled and a notification appeared in front of them. They had cleared the nineteenth floor, and the portal was right behind the wall.

“Fucking finally,” Agnez said as she entered the portal.

Everyone followed her into the portal, and they all ended in a familiar place.

[Muzon, The Second Demon Lord of Azazel, The Manipulator has been waiting for this moment]

“Wait, isn’t this the endless hallway? Are we inside the tower all this time?” Asmond asked as he looked around and saw the door at the end of the hallway.

“It doesn’t matter, right now those two motherfucker are waiting for us outside the tower. I’m sick of this bullshit and I want to kill them as soon as possible,” Agnez said as she walked past Asmond to the exit.

They all left the tower and then saw Sibrand and the knight standing in the middle of the field in front of the tower. Sibrand clapped his hand with a big smile on his face.

“Congratulation! You guys managed to reach this floor,” Sibrand said.

Agnez unsheathed Dainsleif and pointed at the knight.

“That knight is Muzon, isn’t he?” Agnez asked.

Sibrand grinned as he chuckled mischievously.

“Yes, Lord Muzon our savior! And now he’s going to kill you all!” Sibrand said in excitement.