"Azrael!" yells Arthur.
Azrael looks at his student's battered body and frowns. "I'm sorry, Arthur. I should have been more wary."
"No, I'm all good. It's Amanda that I'm—"
"I don't need you to worry about me," says Amanda, walking towards Azrael and Arthur. Arthur looks down at her tattered shirt. Her severed body has been reattached flawlessly. "And just so you know, I didn't need your help, Professor Azrael." She smirks from ear to ear, "Or should I call you Primordial God of Death Azrael?"
Azrael looks at her cautiously. "Y-You heard?" asks Arthur.
"I had my suspicions before this dungeon exploration. But I never expected a primordial god to be in the Mortal Realm."
"And I never expected to see a vampire," he retorts.
"A vampire?"
"Since when did you know?" she asks.
"I had my suspicions before the dungeon exploration."
She starts laughing. "Seems I can't fool those eyes of yours."
"So, what are you going to do? Spread the news?" Azrael creates a magical sigil in his palm. "If that is your aim, I will have to—"
"There's no need for threats, Lord Azrael," she says, raising her hands in defeat.
"Lord Azrael?" he asks.
"Vampires are denizens of The End but we are not like the demons born in the realm. We are humans who gained the undead's power through infection."
"Infection? Like a virus?" asks Arthur.
"No, through a bite. When a vampire bites a human, it will drain the human of its blood. However, there are rare cases where the victim survives. Through its survival, that human will be corrupted by the vampire's mana and have their body morph into a vampire's."
"How does that make Azrael your lord, though?"
"Most vampires see this new life as a gift from Lord Azrael. 'Only the chosen who are within his grasp are given new life,' or so goes the myth. But I never believed that was how vampires are chosen."
Azrael shakes his head. "I am the presider over death. I witness everyone's death, whether they are demons, angels or humans. But I have never manipulated a human's death. If you became a vampire, you can worship Fate for scripting your life as such. Or, you can curse your own strong will for fighting against death."
"Curse?" asks Arthur.
Azrael stares at Amanda, mournfully. "Arthur, remember when I said death is life's completion?"
"Yes. What about it?"
"When you become an immortal, you will never be complete. Amanda here knows that feeling, don't you?"
She cracks a hollow smile. "Death is something I have wished for my entire life."
"Your entire life? How long have you been alive?" asks Arthur.
"500 years."
"500 years!"
"Half a millennium lived. You've experienced countless deaths. Countless completions. But never your own." Tears roll down Azrael's face but his expression remains emotionless. "I am the Primordial God of Death. I am the presider over death. Knowing this, I can assume you want me to put an end to your endless misery?"
"Put... an end...? Azrael, you don't mean—"
"Yes," she interjects. "I've tried to kill myself many times before but this immortal body makes death an impossible goal to achieve. My only hope was searching for someone strong enough to kill me."
"That's why you let the angel slice through you?"
She nods her head. "Alas, I had too high of an expectation from a young angel."
"Wait, was that an actual angel?"
"Yes. That was a knight-class angel. They account for the gods' main attack force. This angel was, as Amanda said, a young one. Azazel must have manipulated him into joining his extermination plan. So young, yet so foolish."
Amanda looks at the angel's corpse and says, "That was a merciful kill. You could have made him suffer but you didn't. Why?"
"As I said, he was foolish, young and ignorant."
"Or, you are weak-willed."
The compassion within Azrael's eyes disappears. "Weak-willed? How so?"
"You haven't killed a human since you arrived, have you?" Azrael remains silent. "Humans are not worthy of such compassion. They are monsters more horrendous than demons. Why would you want to protect these mortals?"
Arthur looks at Azrael, speechless. She's right, he thinks. There exist too many humans who commit atrocious acts. Even I wondered why you would sacrifice yourself to protect humans from angels.
"There was once a time when I thought of killing humans."
"There was?" asks Arthur, surprised at Azrael's revelation.
He nods his head. "As you say," he says, looking at Amanda, "humans are vile creatures not worthy of a primordial god's compassion. The gods despise humans more than demons do because they continue their immoral behaviours despite the protection the gods offer them. They are handed the world and destroy it in the process. This hate has run so deep that even my twin sister, Gaia, has regretted creating humans. When I was asked to kill all the humans, I first descended onto this planet. Why? I don't know. Maybe deep down in my soul, I wanted to find a reason not to kill humans. But after witnessing the wars, genocides, slavery, betrayals and many other atrocities, I was close to giving up. That was when I witnessed one such sinner, a deplorable King who lost everything, being offered a helping hand by an elderly couple. Their kindness changed that man's corrupted heart. 'If such people existed, why did I never see this happen before,' I thought to myself. But it's not that I didn't see it. I chose not to see it. And so did everyone else. We ignored the good deeds happening around the world and paid more attention to the evils done by a select few. From this one-sided observation, we painted humans out to be monstrous creatures. Not all humans are alike. Some are good. And others are evil. If we say all humans are evil because of the evil deeds we see performed, what does that say about angels and demons? Lucifer was an angel who rebelled against the primordial gods' rule and was cast out of The Beginning, yet angels are still seen as holy beings. If we apply that logic, all angels ought to be bad. But they are not. There are bad angels and good angels, just as there are bad humans and good humans. It's this reason that made me appreciate human life more."
"Your logic is flawed," says Amanda. "That doesn't change the fact that evil humans exist. And they will continue to exist. Unless—"
"Wherever there is life, there will always be death. Just as wherever there is good, there will always exist evil. These two existences are inseparable. Killing the evil means I am killing the good as well. Knowing this, will you still tell me I should erase the human population?"
"They are necessary sacrifices for a better world."
"No, they are needless sacrifices that would create a hollow, lifeless world. Humans exist for a purpose."
Amanda sighs. She scornfully looks at Azrael and says, "I'll never get through to you, nor will Azazel. I knew this ploy was a waste of my time."
Azrael glares at her indifferently and threateningly says, "So, you're working for Azazel?"
"I am, yes."
"I see. Then this makes your death a much easier task to perform."
"Easier, you say. I never would have pegged the God of Death as an entity afraid of killing. It's disgustingly ironic."
"Think what you will. But don't believe for a second that I'll let you leave here alive."
The ground suddenly starts quaking. "W-What was that?" asks Arthur. A crack splits the ground beneath their feet, sending Azrael, Arthur, Tyson, and Calliope falling, through the crack. Azrael clenches his fist as he glares at Amanda, who watches them fall.
"Arthur! Grab Tyson. I'll get Calliope." As he ordered, Arthur grabbed hold of Tyson. "Nether Art: Gravity - Reverse." Sigils appear as halos above Arthur and Azrael's heads. Their fall slows down and they float until they reach the bottom of the crack. Once at the bottom, Azrael punches the ground and creates a crater.
"Azrael! Calm down!" yells Arthur.
"I am calm," he says, taking a deep breath. "If Amanda works for Azazel, we will meet her again, eventually."
Arthur nods his head. Then he looks around, asking, "Where are we?"
"We are on the lowest floor of this dungeon."
"The lowest floor? That means—"
"You're in the boss room," says Yukio, looking at them, surprised.
"Uhm, Professor Azrael? What are you doing in the dungeon?" asks Tokino. "Why are Tyson and Calliope unconscious? And where is Amanda?"
Arthur looks around the room—purple crystals and stalactites adorn the room in a vicious beauty. Behind Yukio, lies the corpse of a dullahan. "Is that—"
Karren looks back at the knight's corpse and turns back to Arthur and Azrael with a smile, "It's the boss."
The boss? Then the angel we fought wasn't the boss?
"This means our group wins the special reward, right?" she asks, excited.
Azrael looks at the knight's corpse and smiles. "Yes, group 1 has won this dungeon exploration. Yukio, Tokino and Karren, congratulations."
After the dungeon exploration incident occurred, Azrael explained the situation to the class, starting with the angel's interference in the class's dungeon exploration and ending with Amanda's betrayal. However, he left out Azazel's involvement in this incident.
"With all that said," Azrael bows his head, "as your class teacher, I am fully responsible for this class's well-being on explorations such as this one. I failed to notice the angel's presence and six students were harmed as a result. For this, I offer you all my deepest apologies."
"What are you apologising for?" asks Scarlett. "We lost to that angel 'cause we were weak, that's all."
"You lost," says Yukio.
A vein pops in Scarlett's head and she says, smirking, "You got a problem with me, Frosty!"
As Scarlett and Yukio bicker, Calliope says, "It's as Scarlett says. We lost because we were weak. There's nothing you should feel responsible for, Professor Azrael."
"That angel was after me and you, my students were caught in the crossfire. I am wholly to blame for this incident." Not to mention Azazel was the one behind this attack. "I deserve some form of punishment to atone for this blunder."
"Punishment?" asks Karren. The students look at each other and they all smile. "Then, how about you tell us an embarrassing secret about yourself, Professor Azrael?"
"An embarrassing secret?"
'The group that comes in last must tell an embarrassing secret about themselves.'
Azrael laughs. "Fine," he says, "let's see." He thinks for a while, then his face turns red.
"Ah! I think he's thought of something!" yells Tyson.
"He did! He did!"
"Spill it, Professor."
Azrael reluctantly says, "T-there was a time..." Ah! Why did I have to remember this of all things!?
"What is it? Spill."
Azrael takes a deep breath and says, flushed, "There was a time when I... wrote poems... with themes of death." It was at this world's poetic prime. I wanted to test it out and got absorbed in the craft. Ah, I want to crawl into a black hole and hide away forever!
Despite Azrael's embarrassment for this topic, the class looks at him indifferently—their expectations betrayed.