"You can just tell me the truth," Azekiel responded. "I just want to know your answer."

"The answer is yes, I am still angry a little, but I also give you the benefit of the doubt. It'll take me some time to get over this feeling of betrayal, but I won't let my personal feelings influence my actions. If you need help, I will be the first person to help you without hesitation."

"That's much better." Even though Azekiel didn't depend on Lia's help, it was still better to know that he had some backup in case he needed it.

He started moving deeper inside the Castle of Infinity.

The first hallway was the most important part of the Academy, which was also the safest part to travel through as there weren't any traps here. The path was also what most of the Kings took, just like him.

"Did you also create this castle?" Raphael asked Azekiel along the way, noticing the castle look quite interesting from the inside. It gave him the same feeling as the mysterious castle in his world used to provide.

The castle was almost identical to that castle, with there being only a few minor differences. The castle looked quite similar from the outside for the most part. Unfortunately, he couldn't compare from the inside since he never went inside that castle himself. Only one person was allowed to enter that castle, and that person wasn't hmm.

However, looking at the interiors, he just assumed that it was probably the same as this.

The walls and the corridor looked quite ancient, just from the looks of it. On the wall, there were also some cracks visible at this point which was the most surprising.

A castle with such great significance also had cracks which meant it wasn't unbreakable.

On the walls, there were also many paintings that looked like they were there for decorations. The paintings also looked to be hand drawn, as if a person made them himself. It was most probably created by the creator of this Castle.

The Paintings were mostly ordinary paintings that weren't too great or too bad.

"I didn't make it," Azekiel answered. "Moreover, this isn't the only castle like this, as you know. There are similar castles in multiple worlds that have existed for as long as anyone can remember. Honestly, even I don't know who made this castle, but it looked like an interesting place when I visited it. That's why I linked this castle to this place."

"Anyway, whoever made this place, I have a feeling that they are long dead, so it doesn't matter at this point," he further stated. "Though the Paintings are definitely good. Way better than anything I can make. If you saw my paintings, you would start laughing."

"My talents might be many, but painting isn't one of them." Azekiel tapped one of the paintings. "Though if I were to guess, the paintings were created about a million years ago, so it's no less than a miracle that they are still in such fine condition."

"The castle should be even older, so it makes sense that there are cracks and why no one knows when these castles were made."

Azekiel walked past the paintings, taking a glance at each of them.

"Are these places real?" Raphael asked, observing the places in the paintings. In some paintings, a beautiful landscape was shown with mysterious creatures that he had never seen before. He could see a sky made of flames and the ground made from Ice that wasn't melting. If a place like that really existed, it was quite interesting at the core of it.

A world of fire and ice was something he had never heard about, let alone seeing with his own eyes.

"That's the real world," Azekiel confirmed. "Though no life form lives in that place. That place is uninhabitable because of the two extremes.*

"All these places are real, even though they look like a fragment of someone's imagination."

Azekiel and Raphael started talking, and their equation seemed to be getting back to normal like it used to be. The only difference was that before, Azekiel used to ask Raphael questions, but now Raphael was asking him questions which made it look like the entire equation between the two had changed.

****

While Azekiel was inside the Castle of Infinity, the old man was still standing near the pond, staring at the young man who was surrounded by a Dragon who seemed to be his protector.

"Did you inform her about this?" The old man asked Zheng.

Zheng shook his head. "Not yet. For now, she doesn't know anything about it. Most probably because he isn't strong enough to have his presence be sensed by her."

"That's true. We are much closer to him, so we could feel the return of his same old aura. But she won't sense it. The aura is too weak to get to the top floor. So you want to inform her?" The old man asked. "You know, if you inform her, you'll get rewarded."

"I know I will. I can go to her now and tell her right away, but that isn't the ideal solution. If she finds out about it, she will just try to kill him."

"And you don't want him to die?" The old man asked, smiling in response. "Zheng, are you switching your allegiance."

"I never will. She is the reason we were able to rid of that demon. She is the one who stopped him before he could succeed in his goals... If not for her, we would all be dead at his hands," Zheng exclaimed.

"That Demon created this tower, just for his entertainment... He enjoyed seeing people compete and die in the process. Why would I want someone like him to live? He is the reason that this Tower was a hell in the past!"

"Then why won't you tell her about his return?" The old man asked.

Zheng's eyes were clearly filled with hate, which made it a curious case for the old man.