Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

Releasing a weary yawn filled with tears threatening to fall, Laila glared with her arms pressed against her waist.

"Brother! How can you just yawn!" Laila shouted. Scrunching her brow as her golden hair fluttered through the winds over the patio.

"Oh, come now, Laila! The beta for that new Diablo game came out. And I was just a bit excited. Can you blame me?"

"Yes!!! Wait. How are you even tired? You're an Archangel. Wait… Diablo! Zad!" She squealed, pointing a finger, "Isn't that game about demons? And you said we'll play together! Traitor!"

"... they got angels too." I pointed out, too tired to recall. And I suddenly laughed as her glare turned to fury.

Let's change the subject before she blows a fuse, lol. "Laila, how are things coming along? You said Arsene came to visit? Is he still here? I'm quite curious to see the brother of my rival."

Curse that bastard Zariel. One day I shall defeat him in an FPS(First Person Shoot). One day... just one day, I shall defeat him, but till then…

"You're thinking of Zariel again, Aren't you." Laila mused with a set of bland eyes. She sighed and rolled her azure blue eyes. "Well, Zariels brother had just entered the city but left after what seemed like an altercation between Tiamat and him. But aside from a few unnatural earthquakes. There doesn't seem to be signs of a battle."

"So he's missing? Then why am I here? I was in the middle of a live stream, you know!"

'Are you trying to get banned? It's the Beta!"

"People need to know! That game was fucking awesome."

"You're an idiot, Zad!"

"Semantics!"

"No, it's not!"

Going back and forth with Laila, I couldn't help but start smiling again at how much she'd changed throughout a single Hell Cycle.

The Throne(Ophanim) that once almost fell into a Fallen due to having been indoctrinated into Heaven's Gate since birth. She lived a cold life that dangled on the edge of right and wrong for so long that her mind became so clouded by Metatrons bullshit that she broke.

Angels were never meant to stand in the middle like humans or any of Father's Lowly Creatures. To do so meant the prelude to our Fall. It takes structure. And it was something Laila didn't receive in Heaven's Gate.

She was a broken child when I found her. Eyes empty, surrounded by an ocean of still bodies, festering with rot.

"Forgive me," She'd said, shedding a drop of bloody tears. Her shoulders had been trembling for the longest, while her pure snow-white wings seemed to shiver, wrapping themselves around her small figure as if to mask her sin.

I never asked her why she was there, why she had killed so many people. But I could feel the same power Lucifer had held within her. It was festering within her heart. Awaiting for the day to pull her into the abyss like it did so many of my brothers and sisters.

I pulled her out of Heaven's Gate using my authority as an Archangel. And received backlash from Metatron for my interference.

But that day. When I saw Laila stationed over the bodies of a few hundred, I knew that this hadn't been a sanctioned killing. Angels were not permitted to kill anyone unless they were demons or devils.

And the scent of sulfur did not linger on any of the corpses that day. Not even the souls that Laila had collected as per the order by Heaven's Gate. In fact. All of them were pure souls, untouched by dark sins like murder.

I'd leveraged that information for Laila. And Metatron caved. Not much he could do. I wasn't weak, not to mention I had one of the highest amounts of authority within Heaven.

But it still disturbed me that Metatron was collecting Pure Grade Souls. Those are one of the requirements for creating an Angel. But he could also be using these souls to forge a Holy Weapon: one whose sole focus is only killing Fallen.

That would be dangerous.

"Shall we go out and search for him?" Liala offered. " You did say you'd like to meet him one day."

I thought about it but decided against it. " Naw. We got too much work as it stands. Let's leave it up to faith. How are things coming along here?"

"A few bandit attacks. But no casualties. All the bandits have a court date and will be judged based on their crimes. The clan's development, however, is going slower than I'd expected. Since Iluthath skipped a few Heavens during its ascension, we faced a lot of backlash in structural damage. The people also faced this issue as well. Many of them were on their deathbeds for a very long time. Fortunately, there were no casualties."

I nodded, but there was no helping it. But it's good no one died. It's a good thing I sent Laila here. She's my best doctor.

"That being said, we are also ready for Arcadia."

"Oh?"

"Then—"

Snapping my gaze towards the North Entrance, I frowned at the sliver of ice that sank into my heart. As if I was standing before a combination of Belfegore and Mephisto, the darkness I'd never felt before penetrated my nerves as I rose to my feet at the sight of the silver-headed man.

Arsene Snow

"He's an evil one," I mentioned peering over the city towards the Young man with a victorious smile. I'd seen that smile before. It's one people usually wore when they came back victorious from battle.

I wonder who he defeated.

"The young woman to his right is Tiamat," Laila said to me, and my gaze swayed to the beautiful woman beside him.

Cheeks a flushed red, she staggered after him as if she was drunk.

"Perhaps her legs got injured." She proposed. " I heard a few Low Rankers attacked Arsene a few years ago."

Hmmm. "Maybe. Well, it doesn't matter. Shall we invite him for lunch? Let's hope he says no so I can return to my live stream. Those graphics on Diablo are fire! I need to hit up Genisis to upgrade my Graphics Card. Hey Laila, can you set up an appointment for—"

"No! Not unless you invite me on! How dare you game without me, you bastard!"

"But all you want to play is Smash!"

"Tsk. Fine, we can play something else." And she rolled her eyes, somehow finding a smile. "I guess I am kind of interested in Diablo. You did promise we'd play together."