The Throne, the Crown, and the Scepter

The Death Angel descended and swept his sword out. With a hiss, sword energy sliced through the air and severed the tentacles sealing the Palace, revealing a door with a distorted human face on its surface.

Green swung his sword, ready to break down the door and see what was happening inside.

Unexpectedly, the twisted face on the Palace door let out a shriek like metal scraping against metal. With a clang, the door opened by itself. Green's strike cut through empty air. Slightly surprised, he grew more cautious.

Just then, a monster slowly emerged from the dim Palace.

It was enormous, covered in dark red growths. Exposed muscle and fascia bulged and contracted across its surface like a beating heart, while foul-smelling purplish-black slime kept oozing from within. It was as disgusting as it was ugly.

Has Sinai Alfred mutated into this? Green wondered. He did not yet know why Sinai had mutated, but it would not have mattered. Ordinary people feared contamination by Divine Power, but Green's Death Angel Clone was itself a Divine Artifact capable of using Divine Power Blessing. Far from fearing that power, he could absorb it and put it to use.

Sinai's twisted features were barely discernible on the monster's surface. Green had seen his face often enough to recognize it.

But Green looked past the monster, into the depths of the dim Palace.

He could sense that although the monster had formed from Sinai's mutated body, the real Sinai remained inside the Palace. Peering through the darkness, Green saw a crowned figure sitting on the Throne deep within. It was Sinai Alfred's soul. He had lost his original consciousness, leaving only hatred for Green and boundless malice toward all intruders.

So his soul is still here. Green sneered inwardly. The Death Angel sprang