It was unclear what happened that caused it, but the seal that was on Raphael’s memories appeared to have a minor crack.

A small fraction of his memories had suddenly flooded his head, making him relive that moment.

Unfortunately, the memories were just too vague, making him unable to understand what actually happened. The memories started from the moment when Raphael was cursed…

*****

Raphael was sitting on one knee with his head lowered.

He appeared to be in a beautiful and majestic hall. There were five people standing before him, having an aura that could destroy a world with a single thought.

“Raphael, I didn’t expect this from you…”

The person in the middle appeared to be the most disappointed in Raphael. His white hair was so long that they were touching the floor, even though the man was seven feet tall with a well-built body.

The man was donning an Armor similar to what Raphael had when he fought the Spirits sent by the Soul Demon. Not only similar, this Armor appeared to be completely identical, including each marking.

“Are you really sure he did it, Alziem?” the old man asked, glancing behind Raphael.

“Yes, Your Excellency. I saw it with my own eyes.” A hoarse voice came from the back, making Raphael look back.

The voice was similar to the voice that Raphael heard in the darkness before, mocking him. He was also the person Raphael hated the most. It was because of him that he had to suffer for an eternity.

The white-haired man let out a deep sigh which appeared to encompass the sadness of the entire world in it.

Two Gauntlets appeared around the white-haired man. As for the Gauntlets, they were no different than the Gauntlets of Azekiel.

The old man stepped closer to Raphael, each step being heavier than the last. “I thought you could be the one taking my place after I’m gone, but you really broke my trust. You can’t even control your hunger, let alone be able to control yourself. You’ve disappointed me.”

Raphael didn’t argue back. He was prepared to even die for his mistake, instead of fighting back. In any case, fighting back wasn’t an option since the person before him was not the one who could be defeated…

Raphael kept his head down.

The old man placed his right hand on the head of Raphael, still donning those Gauntlets.

“I, Ziem, curse you! You… Who couldn’t control his hunger and chose to steal… This Hunger will be your biggest punishment!”

“Arghhhh!”

The gauntlet started shining brightly, sending a frightening pain in the body of Raphael, making him feel as if he was going through the worst pain he had ever experienced.

“I am taking away your ability to satiate your hunger! No matter how much you eat, no matter what you eat, you’ll never feel full! Your hunger will never decrease! The hunger that made you commit the sin… I grant you an even worse hunger for an eternity! As long as even a sliver of your existence exists, that hunger will accompany you!”

It was unclear how the man actually made the curse, but it appeared to be related to the Gauntlets that he was using. It was as if he was stealing Raphael’s ability to satiate his hunger through the mystical Gauntlets, forever!

It was only when the Gauntlets stopped shining that the old man retracted his hand.

He turned his back on Raphael, who still sat on his knees weakly. The Hunger had already started taking its hold.

“Alziem, Take him away from my sight. He has been banished from this place. Inform everyone that Raphael should never be allowed to step foot in our land. If he does, then he is to be killed on sight. Also, make sure he understands it…”

“Y-yes, My Lord. I’ll make sure everything is done as you wish…”

Alzeim smiled as he moved closer to Raphael. “Come with me.”

Raphael stood up, despite feeling extremely weak. He didn’t show his weakness, trying to hide it as much as he could.

He started dragging his body, walking with Alzeim.

Tremble~

As Raphael was being taken out, the entire palace suddenly started trembling for some reason. It was as if there was a powerful earthquake. Something like this had never happened here before, which stunned even the old man.

“Are we under attack? But there’s no one who can care to attack us. Then what is it?”

*****

The small Fragment of the memories returned to Raphael, but that was the only extent to it. That was all the memories he had recovered.

In the past, he remembered that he was cursed. He thought that it was also when he was killed, but it was only now that he realized he wasn’t killed by the old man. Instead, the old man had just banished him. However, that also raised a question. If he didn’t die after being cursed, then how did he die?

Even though the new set of memories only showed him a few extra minutes of his lost memories, they were the most crucial minutes, which raised even more questions in his head.

*****

Azekiel went down to his knees, placing his hand on the forehead of Raphael. He tried to make sure of his assumption by touching the soft cheeks of Lia as well.

“Yeah, I can touch you both. It looks like the effect of you being able to touch things were gone as soon as we left that city. The only reason we didn’t know was because I was carrying Raphael, which made me think that it was because he was in the material world.”

Even though it was slightly bad news since Raphael and Lia couldn’t contribute to his battles without being summoned, there was also some good to it. For some reason, now he was able to touch Raphael and Lia. That ability was still there.

He was unclear how that ability came into existence, but there was a small doubt in his head that it was because of the apple he had eaten. The old man probably gave the apple to him for some reason.

‘If he gave me one for a reason, that means he gave Lia and Raphael for a reason as well. Should I have them eat theirs as well?’

Even though he wanted to have those two apples for himself so he didn’t suffer the backlash, he couldn’t help but be curious about how those two were going to help Raphael and Lia. Was it going to help Raphael by finally breaking his curse? Or was it going to bring both his Spirits to the material realm for real? He knew it was worth the risk.