Destroying My Own Novel

Luciel took a few steps back until her legs didn’t have the strength anymore to carry her body. She fell down as Mykel, Lucifer, and Bhatmelec stared at her with her whole body shaken by the truth.

“Now you know everything, is there anything else you want to know about me?” Mykel asked as he deactivated his [Nigh-Omnipotence] skill.

Luciel couldn’t say a word since she was still processing the things she saw and heard.

“I guess there’s none, but with that knowledge attached in your mind, do you think you can hide it from her?” Mykel approached Luciel and leaned his head toward her.

Luciel slowly lifted her head and realized that Mykel’s past had been exposed to Mara. She finally understood why Mykel didn’t reveal his past to anyone because it would only put himself in danger.

“If you can’t, don’t you think it would be wise to erase your memories and make you forget about my past?” Mykel asked as he put his right hand on Luciel’s head. “You understand now what kind of burden and risk of knowing my past, right?” Mykel slowly moved his hand down to her cheek.

Luciel looked down and for some reason Mykel’s hand on her cheek made her feel at ease.

“No, I can hide it and I’ll try to not attract her attention. With that being said, sending Demon Lords from the ninetieth floor would question my reasoning. I don’t think I can do that now, but the Demon Lords from the seventieth or eightieth floor should be fine,” Luciel answered as she tried to stand up, but then Mykel helped her until she could stand on her own two feet.

Mykel hummed and looked at Elena landing on the island and then waved at Mykel.

“I guess that should be fine since I own the Demon Princesses from the hundredth floor. I’ll use them instead,” Mykel answered as he waved back at Elena. “Just try not to stand out. I know you’re best at it, so please remember on what kind of burden you’re bearing now,” Mykel continued.

“There’s one thing left that I want to ask. The reason why you want to clear all the towers. What’s the reason behind it?” Luciel asked.

“That’s something that I can’t let anyone know, even the people who know about my past don’t know about the power I possess. Only these two know about it,” Mykel looked at Lucifer and Bhatmelec. “So, I’ll show you what it is later,” Mykel continued and then Elena came and hugged him from behind.

This time, Luciel had no reason to pry on it and let it slide because she knew Mykel wouldn’t tell her even if she begged for it.

“Father, I miss mother,” Elena said as she stared Luciel in the eye.

“I guess this will be the last time we see each other. We’re going to meet again when it’s about to start,” Mykel said and remembered the second vision Edith had when he burned the whole city down.

(On the hundred-first floor of Astaroth Tower)

“Another castle, huh? But this one is the biggest one so far,” Gunnar said as he looked at the castle where he couldn’t see how wide it was since his eyes couldn’t see that far. “This one is going to be a long one like in Asmodeus Tower…” Gunnar was dispirited and imagined how long it would take to find Astaroth.

“It’s because Astaroth is one of the seven sins holder, Envy. So he wanted everything that he owns to be the best, the better, and the biggest compared to the other Demon Kings. To be honest, Astaroth isn’t the original holder of the Envy,” Aurea landed next to Gunnar.

“It can be passed down?” Rozan was curious about it.

“Not exactly passed down. It’s more like he took it forcefully from the right owner of Envy. I heard stories in the past that Demon Kings used to be fourteen of them,” Aurea answered as she rubbed her chin. “Demon King Leviathan was created by Lucifer with Envy sin, but Astaroth seemed to have an incredible grudge against him for some unknown reason. He then killed Leviathan and took that power from Leviathan. But that’s just a childhood story, and I’m not really thinking about it,” Aurea explained.

“If you want to know the truth, Mykel should know about it since he knows everything. Before that, let’s hunt a Demon King,” Sven said as he stretched his neck and arms. “So, Jeanne, lead the way,” Sven continued.

They entered the castle and started looking around at which path they wanted to take. But demons welcomed them and started attacking them. The demons were quite unique because some of them were powerful in magic, and the other half were powerful in physical. Those demons they were facing were similar to the demons that they had faced from different towers.

It was quite a challenge for them because they had never fought in a situation that felt disadvantaged. It was a similar situation when they were dealing with the Demon Princesses in Aersland World, but a lot easier than that.

After they killed thousands of demons, they found a giant door with a bit of a mechanism that they needed to solve. It was like a puzzle that they had to find a key from the other side of the castle. They all then went their separate ways to look for the key.

They spent three days trying to find the key, and Edith was the one who found it because of her [Guardian Spirit] that helped her. They regrouped at the giant door, and when they tried to open it with the key, it wasn’t the key for the door.

“This Demon King is really a pain in the ass…” Sven leaned on the wall and slowly slid down until his butt touched the floor. “So that key must be for something right? Perhaps that key is to open a different door?” Sven looked at Rozan who was thinking so hard.

p “No, he’s trying to play a trick on us. Of course, after realizing it now, that motherfucker is trying to tire us out with this bullshit puzzle. We should learn things from Mykel. If there’s a rule and you’re strong enough to play without following it, why should we? We have these two as our insurance,” Rozan answered as he looked at Jeanne and Aurea.

Jeanne and Aurea looked at each other, and then Aurea laughed so hard.

“Nephilim and her father are both rotten to hell. I’m getting bored by exploring anyway,” Aurea spread her wings and flew toward the door.

She destroyed the door like it was made of thin wood and made a giant hole in the middle. She turned around and crossed her arms as she smugged at them.

“Come on, let’s just bust this place and go straight up to where Astaroth is,” Aurea said as she landed and hid her wings.

They all went to the second floor and ignored the rule of the castle as Rozan said. If they followed Astaroth’s play, it would take forever and they didn’t have the time since they had to kill 5 Demon Kings before the breakout happened. It was Mykel’s request, and they all agreed to it.

It took them another four days to finally reach the highest point of the tower. It was a lot easier since they weren’t troubled by incredible heat that slowed them down like in the Asmodeus Tower. There was also one thing that they finally realized about Astaroth and his power [Envy]. He tried to replicate or copy the demons that belonged to all thirteen towers.

Astaroth was a master both in combat, knowledge, and even magic that could be on par with all the Demon Kings combined. He even tried to create Angels like Lucifer had, and it shocked Aurea and Jeanne when they saw a few of them in the castle. They were strong enough that it worried both of them since they were almost the same as the one they fought during the breakout.

One thing that made him not so stand out compared to the others Demon Kings was that he lacked originality. All his power was from copying the other Demon Kings and trying his best to beat them in their main aspects, but it was impossible because of his [Envy] skill that always made him unable to focus on one thing at a time.

In the original story, when he was on the brink of his death, he realized his [Envy] was the reason he lost to Asmond since Asmond already knew how to deal with him after experiencing fighting the other Demon Kings. He understood that he could become stronger if only he didn’t take the [Envy] skill from Leviathan and blind him in jealousy.

“Alright, this is it. Break the door please,” Rozan looked at Jeanne and Aurea.