_Chapter Begins_
He stood frozen amongst the countless crystal shards that stretched in every direction.
Just in the distance, a divine being—an angel made of white—was standing right beside the corpse of a giant monster.
They were in a tense standoff at the moment. With his mind being driven by the sin of Envy, and her mind being driven by the virtue of Kindness, they were each other's natural enemies.
William grabbed his head and clenched his teeth as another wave of intense emotions were forcefully jammed into his mind.
Even after the angel made it clear she wasn't there to fight and only wanted to talk, the sin of Envy chose to keep twisting his emotions.
Thanks to William's tough mental strength, he was managing to hold himself off for now.
He let out a labored cough as he slowly removed his hands from his head.
The angel looked at him with a serious expression. Despite her voice being gentle and delicate, it still roared in William's ears like a thunderbolt.
"I see that you still struggle against the influence of your sin. That means that you're still on step one, right?"
At her words, William could only look on with a slightly confused expression.
"Step one… what the Hell does that mean?"
He had only spent a couple of days here in Hell, and to William's credit, he had managed to gather a good amount of information in such a short period of time.
But despite being impressive, it was still not good enough. William's lack of knowledge was becoming a real issue.
Of course, he had planned to fix this issue with the help of Elsa, but she decided to disappear at the beginning of his rematch fight with the wooden abomination for no apparent reason.
Before he could continue with his thoughts, the voice of the woman resounded once more.
"Pillar of Envy, I requested to have a conversation with you. So could I get your answer?"
A sigh escaped his lips as he straightened his back.
He really did not know what was going on anymore, but William could at least pretend like he did. This way, the angel would not see him as an easy target.
Ignorant people were usually seen as the easiest prey around, so he would need to pretend like he was aware of whatever situation was going on here.
William tried his best to make his voice sound confident and calm. Of course, the result was mixed, to say the least.
"I accept your request, angel. But wouldn't you agree that this place is a little dangerous to have a conversation in?"
The angel only responded with a slow nod, which prompted William to continue.
"Well, since you are in my domain, then I should be the one to choose the spot… wouldn't you agree?"
This time, the angel was not quick to give an answer, which made William tense up, and he even shed a sweat drop from his forehead.
But just as the silence started to feel a little too loud, the angel finally responded.
"Fine, you can pick the spot. But we need to be quick. I don't have a lot of time."
At her answer, he let out a relieved sigh, and his body finally relaxed a little.
Looking back at the angel, he gave a small smile and pointed in a certain direction with his finger.
"Then I suggest we head north. That's where my castle—"
He was promptly cut off by a loud bang that resounded across the crystal expanse.
He lowered his head just in time for a broken piece of crystal shard to fly by without hitting him.
"For the love of the Gods, what's happening now?!"
It seemed that Hell had decided to throw another monster toward his way, as if the wooden abomination and the monsters at the castle weren't enough.
William turned his head in the direction where the piece of crystal was launched from.
At first, he couldn't see anything, as a thick veil of purple particles was covering a large portion of the area.
But before the dust could settle, something shot out from the veil of dust with… normal speed?
"What… what the Hell is she doing here?!"
Jane ran from the thick wall of dust as if her life was on the line—which it probably was.
Behind her, the veil of dust was broken apart as something massive tore through the purplish particles. A massive claw shot itself forward, aiming to impale Jane as she ran.
Without hesitation, William used his reflection ability to instantly teleport between the monster and his sister.
It seemed that his conversation with the angel of Kindness would have to wait for now.
A sigh escaped his lips as he appeared into the physical world to face the claw of the giant creature.
"She's back…"
A sense of dread that William was painfully familiar with had once again crawled inside his mind. The feeling of being watched… it came from a very specific person.
It semmed that Jane had not made this far alone.
"You have some explaining to do… Elsa!"
_Chapter Ends_