Chapter 99: Three Great Monsters (III) - Akemi Leviathan, Ryou Behemoth, and Zephyrus Ziz

Camael pulled out a sword, and the three watched as he move toward Zephyrus slowly.

For Akemi and Ryou, it felt like everything stopped from them, seeing that they're on the verge of death is filling their mind with darkness, and right now they'll see something that'll haunt them forever.

The death of someone they deeply care for.

The blade was almost near at Zephyrus' face.

"Stop! Stop! Zephyrus run!" Ryou was being restrained by one of the angels, he was trying his best to escape; screaming for Zephyrus to run away. "Please..! Please..! Zephyrus run... Please Zephyrus..."

Akemi was trembling in fear; sitting on the ground frozen stiff from fear of what's happening right now, she kept on forcing herself to do something but every time she does, her body wouldn't respond.

While Zephyrus was kneeling in despair while holding his mother's hand; mind-blanked from what was going on and was eager to finally die so that he can be with his mother.

'Why do I exist? Why am I even living right now?' Those thoughts came to his mind while he was waiting for his death to come.

Camael was already close to Zephyrus. he looked at Zephyrus with a smile and Zephyrus looked back at him in a blank state; no emotion or feelings, just blank...

His execution has finally started, Camael swung his sword upward and aimed directly to Zephyrus' neck for a clean and painless cut.

The sword was already close and before Zephyrus knew it his mind went black, looking at his surroundings he saw that he was in a land with very long grass and a civil twilight sky.

"Is this the place where people go when they die?" That's what he asked himself.

Zephyrus looked around at the grassy land and saw a single silhouette coming toward him.

He saw that the silhouette was a beautiful lady with long orange hair and has feathers on her clothes.

"So you must be Zephyrus that everyone is talking about? So young yet so talented, anyone who knows you would be envious of the talent you have Zephyrus."

"Uhmm... Thanks for the compliment ma'am, but if I may ask... Who are you and how do you know my name?"

The woman sat at the ground and patted the ground beside her. "Sit here Zephyrus, I want to talk to you about something."

"Okay..." Even if it feels bizarre for Zephyrus that he was in this weird place and a mysterious woman was talking to him, he decided to listen and sit down. 'This feels suspicious... What does she want from someone like me? Also, why is she saying that I have a talent that anyone would be envious of? Because looking at myself right now, I can see that I, Zephyrus is someone who has no natural talent, and is only a failure in life.'

"You might be wondering why I called you here right? After all, you're always verbally abusing yourself; saying stuff like 'I'm untalented' or 'my friends are better than me' that's what you always say to yourself right? And I see that you belittled yourself again."

"Hmm... Ma'am, I don't want to be rude but I want your answer, who are you, and what is this place?"

The mysterious woman smiled and looked above the sky, Zephyrus looked at the sky too and saw the clouds moving peacefully. For the mysterious woman, the clouds moving on the sky was a beauty far more beautiful than anything in the world, while Zephyrus could only say to himself 'why?'

He was confused about why the mysterious woman looked at the sky like it was a drama play of some sort, looking at the lady now Zephyrus felt a chill down his spine because he knew that she isn't an ordinary being.

"The truth is Zephyrus... You're still alive, I know you wanted to die due to the death of your last family; your mother, but I did everything I can to let you live Zephyrus."

"What?!" Zephyrus shouted in anger. "What do you mean?! Do you know what you have done?!"

"Yes, I saved your life, after all, I can't let anyone who has potential die a cowardly death."

"Potential..? Hey, I think you're talking to the wrong person because there's no way you can mistake someone talented for someone like me who has no talent or significance in this world."

"There's no way I could mistake another person from you Zephyrus." She laughs. "After all, who's the devil named after a God in the first place? Isn't it only you?" The woman stood up and looked Zephyrus in the eyes with a smile.

"What do you want..?" Zephyrus asked.

"Hey Zephyrus, can you show me your wings?"

"My wings? Why?"

"Just show me, come on."

"Sure..." Zephyrus stood up and let out a sigh, he closed his eyes and showed his wings to the woman.

"How beautiful isn't?"

"What do you mean-" Zephyrus looked at his back to check his wings and was surprised to see it change. "What is this? How did it change?"

Instead of having black wings like a bat, Zephyrus now has wings different from what a bat or a devil would have. Its appearance is more like a bird than a bat, he has wings with orange feathers, and what surprised him the most is that he has four wings instead of two.

"Those are my wings Zephyrus, I gave them to you so that you can use them. I hope that you'll clean them properly, okay?"

"Wa- wait! What do you mean by you gave your wings to me? What even is this? It looks weird having wings that are like an angel but just dyed with the color orange..."

"How rude... After I gave you those beautiful wings and my name as your last name that's the thanks I get? Someone ought to teach you some manners, young man." The mysterious woman said while pouting...

Hearing that made Zephyrus more confused about his situation right now, he felt that everything was happening very fast and he couldn't process it all on his mind properly. "Wait... What do you mean by giving me your name as my last..?"

She gave Zephyrus a smile and she pulled out a haladie from thin air. "This is my haladie, its name is Solis Pluma, here take it Zephyrus, it's yours now." She threw Solis Pluma at Zephyrus and he tried his best to catch it but ultimately fails to do.

He was almost cut by Solis Pluma but in relief and luck, he didn't. "Why are you giving me this haladi-"

"Solis Pluma."

"Hala-"

"Solis Pluma! That's its name, it's not just an ordinary haladie, hear that?" The mysterious woman looked angry when Zephyrus keep on saying that it was just an ordinary haladie, so he decided to just say the name instead.

"Okay... So why did you give me Solis Pluma ma'am?"

"I have no use for it anymore, so I decided to give it to you Zephyrus- wait no that's wrong, I'll call you in your full name instead got that?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"*Cough* *Cough* Okay let's start again. I have no use for it anymore, so I decided to give it to you, and I hope that you'll take care of it and use it to protect your friends from now on okay? So if you wake up I want you to beat up that annoying Archangel Camael got that?"

"Okay... I'll save and protect my friends from the Archangel Camael..."

"I'm glad that you'll do it because if you try and ask Camael to kill yourself again, I'm gonna visit you and scold you got that?"

"Okay!" He responded in fear.

Just by staring at her eyes, he knew that the woman was serious when she said that, he felt like he has a connection to her somehow but couldn't find what that connection is. But all he knows right now is that he doesn't want to die, even if he's confused why he changed his mind, he still knew that there's still something he needed to do before dying.

Even if that's the reason what's he's gonna do is not something he knows of, all he knows that by doing what it is, he will finally avenge the death of his parents. No, Zephyrus knows that by surviving he would not only avenge the death of his parent from the angels but also the citizens of Hell.

"Now, do what you wanted to do and be sure to be safe always... Remember that I'll be always here for you, Zephyrus Ziz."

Zephyrus' mind went blank and he fainted. "So that's who she is... The mysterious woman I spoke to on that land was none other than the late Archduke Ziz, the Archduke that I admired a lot and the Archduke that did her best to save the two people he care for. Now that those three monsters are known as the Ruler of the Seas Leviathan, Ruler of the Land Behemoth, and finally the Ruler of the Sky Ziz is deceased, they finally have someone they could trust that would bring their name to glory. Those three are none other than Akemi Leviathan, Ryou Behemoth, and finally me Zephyrus Ziz."

"Zephyrus! Zephyrus! Wake up!"

He could hear them screaming for his name, the people he cared for the most, and the people that Archduke Ziz asked him to protect.

It felt odd for Zephyrus to know that he's finally an Archduke of Hell, despite the fact that he wants to say he is useless and untalented he stopped thinking about it, after all, he knew that Ziz would be mad at him if he did that.

He opened his eyes slowly and saw two figures in front of him, it was Akemi Leviathan and Ryou Behemoth. The two were already in tears when they saw Zephyrus fall but seeing that he has finally woken up they were very happy.

"You idiot, you scared us!" Akemi shouted in sorrow and hugged Zephyrus. "Don't scare us like that again idiot!"

"Okay..." Zephyrus was flustered to see Akemi hugging him, but he was relieved to see that she and Ryou were safe. "Don't worry, I promise that I wouldn't do that again."

"*Sigh* Seriously Zephyrus, how did you even survive that? I clearly saw that the Archangel Camael beheading you, but your neck is tough... Really tough..."

"I guess so..." Zephyrus couldn't reply properly for he was still shocked to see Archduke Ziz visiting him and entrusting him to give glory to her name.

"Good thing your safe kid, but I want to ask what did you do to survive that? Because any normal person wouldn't survive a sword like that, especially since that sword has light-based magic on it." From behind the two was Gremory; inspecting Zephyrus suspiciously.

"I-I-"

"I know the answer to that." Everyone screamed when they heard an unknown voice talking, looking for who it was they saw that it was Jarren who spoke.

"Oh it's just you Jarren, seriously you scared the hell out of us..." Gremory said.

"Really? Sorry about that, but *Cough* To answer your confusion Gremory, the answer lays on Zephyrus." Jarren looked at Zephyrus with a smile and went closer to him. "You saw her right? And she's also the reason why you are still alive."

"Yes..." Zephyrus couldn't respond properly to Jarren, because he was afraid of disrespecting the King from what he's gonna say.

Jarren smiled happily after hearing Zephyrus' reply. "From now on the three are finally complete! We have finally brought back the three monstrosities of Hell!"

Ryou and Akemi were confused by Jarren's remark, but Gremory knew what he was talking about and was smiling happily. "Really..? Good job kid." Gremory said and gave Zephyrus a thumbs-up.

"What's your name boy?" Jarren asked.

"Zephyrus, my name is Zephyrus, my King."

"No that's not your name Zephyrus, tell me your full name, the one she gave to you."

Gulp. "My name is Zephyrus, Zephyrus Ziz."

Hearing Zephyrus, Akemi and Ryou were surprised and Gremory along with Jarren were celebrating the newly delivered Archduke.

"From now on! Zephyrus, now known as Zephyrus Ziz has inherited the name of the former Archduke Ziz and will be a new member of the Archdukes of Hell!"