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Palan made his way to Raea’s room with Andrea in tow, but first, he dropped off Pyre’s corpse in his sister’s room. She could have him as a snack later for nearly causing her to get killed. “How angry was she when she attacked you?” Palan asked as he tugged Andrea along by her hand. “Like, what were the size of her flames?”
“Um, I don’t know,” Andrea said and shook her head. She avoided Palan’s gaze, but luckily he wasn’t looking at her anyway. “I ran out of the room without looking back. Cory told me to do that at the first sign of danger.”
“Mm. I think it’s best if you stay outside the room while I confront her then,” Palan said. “It’d be bad if she attacked and I had to focus on defending you.”
Andrea frowned. “Okay,” she said and bit her lower lip. What if Raea didn’t explode right away and blamed her? She couldn’t let that happen. “There’s around an hour left before she can open the door on her own.”
“That’s plenty of time,” Palan said. They were almost in front of Raea’s room.
“What…,” Andrea said and hesitated.
“Hmm?”
“What are you going to do to her?” Andrea asked and pursed her lips. She glanced up at Palan with wide eyes. “Are you going to kill her?”
Palan’s brow furrowed. “I’m not sure,” he said. His expression darkened as his hands twitched. Could he subdue her without killing her? Last time they fought, Raea had killed herself. Then again, he could always revive her as long as her wounds weren’t too serious. He had conducted a few experiments with the archbishop centaur in his spare time. They discovered the limitations of revival by killing angels in different manners and reviving them. As long as forty percent of their bodies were intact, including their head, then they could be brought back to life. He had also tested Cory’s reviving ability that she claimed to have. It was completely useless unless the corpse was fully intact and, even then, the corpse would explode seventy percent of the time.
“Then … what are you going to do?” Andrea asked, tilting her head.
“I said I don’t know,” Palan said, clenching his hands. Andrea squealed and tried to tug her hand away. Palan’s expression softened as he released her. “Sorry.”
Andrea pouted and rubbed her hand. “You know … I think Raea’s dangerous,” she said and lowered her head. “She’s locked up in that room for a reason, right?” Her voice lowered as she lightly grabbed onto his pants. “I don’t think you should contract with her again.”
“Mm.” Palan’s brow furrowed as they arrived in front of Raea’s room. The door still bulged outwards like a hemisphere. He pressed his ear against the metal and winced as he pulled back. The metal was hot, burning his flesh just by making contact. Faint crackling sounds could be heard beyond the door. Palan’s expression darkened as he lifted Andrea. “I’m going to take you very far away from here. And we’re going to hide out for a bit until she gets exhausted. Actually … I think I know the perfect place to go.”
Andrea bit her lip. It wouldn’t be good for her if Raea calmed down enough to have a reasonable talk with her brother. She debated pressing the button that would open the door, but in the end, decided to hold back. Her brother would be even angrier at her if she did that. She allowed herself to be whisked away without struggling. Palan only retreated when he wasn’t sure of his victory; well, it was more accurate to say Palan never struck unless he was certain he’d win.
Palan fled towards the centaurs and told them to strategically retreat back underground. Whether or not they’d listen was up to them, but he had a feeling they would. It’d be problematic if the archbishop died because who’d revive the reviver? The next place he went to was to the harpies’ nest. He located Cory by smell and warned her about Raea. Even though her chances of performing a resurrection were slim, she could still do it which is why he decided to keep her around as well. His last destination was towards the floating cube in the sky. Those existences would want to keep him and Raea around even if their motives were a bit unclear. Maybe they’d even help Andrea evolve to an existence beyond archangel. They said they needed a glutton, right? The question was, how receptive would Raphael be to taking him in after he threw the angel out of the room.
Palan and his sister arrived underneath the floating room. “Wait here,” Palan said, placing Andrea onto the ground. “I’m going to check with them first.” If they were hostile, he definitely wouldn’t bring his sister up there. He leapt into the air, and entered the room from the uncovered ceiling. The six beings were sleeping, their guards completely down. It made sense that they didn’t have to worry about having their sleep disturbed. Palan located Creed and stalked over to the sleeping demon.
“Creed,” Palan said and lifted the plain-looking demon.
Creed’s eyes flashed open. He yawned and rubbed his eyes before blinking a few times. “You know, Raphael still has a grudge against you, right?”
“That’s why I didn’t wake him up,” Palan said and snorted.
“I see,” Creed said, glancing at his sleeping companions. His eyes narrowed. “Of all the people to wake up, why the sloth demon?”
“You’re the most sensible one,” Palan said and shrugged.
“I’m flattered. Now get straight to the point,” Creed said and rolled his eyes. He separated himself from Palan’s grip and sat on his bed. “What do you want?”
“I found a potential candidate for gluttony.”
Creed’s eyes flashed. “That’s great,” he said. “Where is he?”
“It’s a she, and I didn’t bring her up in case Raphael went berserk,” Palan said. “I’ve had bad experiences with wrath angels recently.”
“Are you talking about your contractor? I can guarantee you, Raphael won’t harm your gluttony candidate at all. I may look like the plainest one here, but that’s because I’m the strongest. I evolved to an existence beyond archdemon purely by indulging myself in sloth. I didn’t take shortcuts in eating stronger demons which is why I haven’t changed appearances.”
Palan scratched his head. Did that mean Andrea had to change in appearance if she continued eating demons, or did it mean she wouldn’t change due to her indulging in gluttony? That didn’t matter right now though. “So even if an outside force, say Raea, wanted to harm the gluttony candidate, you’d be able to protect her?”
“I have confidence. I may not be able to defeat Raea, but I can also guarantee I won’t be defeated by her,” Creed said, cracking his neck. “I feel like you’re using me though, and it makes me a bit annoyed.” Before Palan could say anything, Creed laughed. “But I’ll indulge you this time. There’s really nothing better to do.”