'Can he use that?'
He took a glimpse at Kim ShiHoon, who held the holy sword and had a sad expression on his face.
In reality, you couldn't say that Kim ShiHoon's soul was pure.
Just taking into consideration what kind of person he was, you could say that he had a pure soul, but he was a familiar spirit connected to him through the Authority of Subordination.
His soul was deeply connected to his.
'It seems like it isn't vomiting divine energy anymore.'
Unlike how it vomited divine energy as if it were having a seizure before, it looked quite comfortable.
Rather than accepting Kim ShiHoon as its owner, it was as if it were saying, 'Yes, I can at least resist this much.'
'Damn it.'
He thought he'd be able to get a Myth-ranked weapon, but he never imagined that weapon would be a sword with an ego.
'Well, the result still isn't bad.'
After the fight with Mamon, the sword Kim ShiHoon had been using was a Unique-ranked one.
'To be honest, it wasn't a weapon that matched Kim ShiHoon.'
To a real swordsman, the rank of the sword didn’t matter—such phrases were nonsense.
The higher your strength became, the higher the rank of weapon you needed to channel such strength.
'Tsk, that's too bad, but I guess there's nothing I can do about it.'
KangWoo clicked his tongue and turned his head around.
After all, he already had the Key of the Demonic Energy Sea—a Transcendent-rank weapon.
He didn't need to desperately hang on to the holy sword.
'When is this going to finish digesting?'
KangWoo took a glimpse at the ring that wasn't reacting.
It wasn't that he desperately needed a weapon, but not being able to use something he normally could was uncomfortable.
"ShiHoon, let's go back."
"Yes, Hyeongnim…"
Kim ShiHoon nodded, a heavy expression on his face.
KangWoo turned and began walking.
'Angels, huh…?'
He narrowed his eyes.
In reality, he had no intention of fighting against angels.
For example, if Ludwig didn't have the power to find the Sea of Demonic Energy, he wouldn't have done anything to him.
'There's no reason to fight.'
As long as they didn't notice him, he had no reason to make the angels his enemies.
That's what he thought.
"Hngh.
'They're probably going to keep coming.'
Ludwig had died, and not even KangWoo knew which demon had made him fall, but there was something he was sure about…
'I cannot stop here.'
The goal of the angels was to eliminate demons from the Hell of Nine Skies from all dimensions.
Even if it was something that happened in another world, there was no way they wouldn't react to the death of a Light Watcher.
'Also, there's no way Ludwig's worth to Raphael is low.'
Although it was another world, he was the one that was sent to help Earth's gods.
No organization sent a low-ranking being as a representative.
That meant that, even for the Heavens, Ludwig was someone quite important.
'Then…'
He kept thinking.
The more important Ludwig was to Raphael, the easier things became.
'Of course, that's as long as the Heavens don't have another object with the same capability as Holy Sword Ludwig…'
He'd learned that there were objects that could find the location of the Sea of Demonic Energy, which was a huge problem for KangWoo.
'The chances aren't high…'
No, he was sure the probability was close to zero.
He remembered Ludwig's last moments and how desperate he was to tell Raphael the truth.
'If there were other items besides Holy Sword Ludwig…'
Ludwig wouldn't have been so desperate.
If Raphael could find the location of the Sea of Demonic Energy, he wouldn't have tried so desperately. If that was the case, he would learn the truth even if he didn't try that hard.
He had to be careful about unexpected variables, but at that point, it would be okay to think there was no other item capable of locating the Sea of Demonic Energy.
'This…'
KangWoo narrowed his eyes.
A storyline started to be drawn in his head.
The Heavens’ forces that were formally going to start intervening on Earth and the Demon of Prophecy, Satan…
If he could direct both factions, it wasn't a complicated plan.
'Good.'
A smile appeared on his face.
Having a reliable ally was always good news.
"Mr. ShiHoon…"
Gaia seemed to be upset at how ShiHoon was crying.
She turned her wheelchair to the source of the sound, probably to console Kim ShiHoon.
"Ms. Gaia…"
KangWoo held Gaia's shoulders.
"Right now, it's better to leave Kim ShiHoon alone."
"Ah… but…"
"It's okay. He isn't the type of person to collapse from such matters."
"…"
She trembled.
She was shocked that the Heavens she'd placed so much trust in would collapse so easily.
"Who would do something like this…?"
"There's only one being I can think of…"
"…"
Gaia closed her mouth.
An immense darkness came to her mind.
She felt she could see a red mask appearing in the middle of an endless darkness with a bottomless abyss.
"How many more cruel things does he have to do before he's satisfied….?" she said in a sad voice.
KangWoo put a bit more strength into his hands that were over her shoulders.
He lowered his head and spoke in a trembling voice that made it sound like he was trying to hold back his anger.
"I won't forget what happened today."
"Mr. KangWoo…"
"I'm going to make him pay for it."
The Demon of Prophecy, Satan…
There was no need to think deeply about who had made Ludwig fall.
The culprit of everything was the demon among demons—the definitive evil that would make the world crumble.
Satan had spread so many seeds of despair that counting them all was difficult.
"You'll be able to do it…"
Gaia nodded while holding back her tears.
KangWoo made a faint smile while taking his hands off her shoulders.
* * *
[Hehere. Such an impressive ingredient… As expected from Master.]
It had been a week since Ludwig died after falling victim to Satan.
Balzac smiled while looking at the corpse that KangWoo had brought him.
KangWoo sat on a chair inside the research lab while making a tired expression.
He had built a research lab for Balzac inside Balrog’s residence. It resembled a lab belonging to a black magician or a mad scientist.
"It was pretty hard to bring it here."
KangWoo sighed.
Switching Ludwig's corpse for a fake one had been harder than initially thought.
Just as KangWoo expected, Heavens’ forces arrived on Earth after Ludwig's death.
It wasn't that Raphael or other angels had arrived on Earth, but quite a lot of Light Watchers had come to Earth to find out the truth about Ludwig's death.
Unlike Ludwig, they acted on their own; they didn't try to collaborate with Guardian.
'That's understandable.'
From their point of view, Guardians were also suspicious.
They couldn't easily trust them, even if they weren't the culprits.
After all, Guardian wasn’t able to do anything before Ludwig fell for a demon’s trap.
Not only that, but in the end, it was Kim ShiHoon who killed Ludwig.
Even if there was footage of the fallen Ludwig, the diplomat they'd sent had died, so it was understandable they wouldn't be able to trust people from that world.
'I'll have to solve this.'
It wasn't good for Guardian and the Heavens to suspect each other.
They weren't enemies, and they had to get together and fight against a strong enemy called ‘Satan’.
Swapping the corpse with a fake one was tiresome for KangWoo.
"So… how is it?" KangWoo asked while laying on the chair.
He'd gone through a lot to get Ludwig's corpse.
Balzac had told him about the abyss knights that were above death knights, so he had felt compelled to.
[Woah. Aah, good. It's really… impressive.]
He softly touched Ludwig's corpse.
"Is it that impressive?" KangWoo asked in a bit of a drunken voice.
[Yes. This… Something beyond our imaginations might happen as a result of this.]
‘Woah.’
KangWoo's eyes shone.
Ludwig…
Just taking into consideration his fight against Balrog, it was clear he was someone strong.
Even if he was the apostle of an archangel, being able to face Balrog was something worthy of respect.
'Is it really that impressive?'
He couldn't help but be suspicious.
From KangWoo's point of view, the extraordinary thing wasn't Ludwig himself but his holy sword.
He believed Ludwig had been able to fight on such a level due to his equipment, not his skills.
[No. His body isn’t the impressive bit.]
"Hmm? Then…?"
[I can feel a huge resentment coming from this soul. I can't even imagine what kind of unfair death he encountered.]
"…"
KangWoo went silent after hearing Balzac's words and nodded while making a heavy expression.
'It's understandable.'
Ludwig's beliefs were real.
He was someone who, even while being controlled by a demon, had warned Guardian and asked them to run.
The one who'd managed to make such a saint fall was Satan, so it was hard to imagine what kind of horrible things he had to go through.
'I cannot stand still and do nothing about it.'
How much would he suffer because of Satan?
KangWoo clenched his fists.
'It's time to seek revenge.'
A firm determination was imprinted in his mind.
* * *
There was a huge cavity in the middle of the transparent ice; in the center of it, a black sphere of about 30 meters in diameter floated.
Part of the black sphere fell off, and a woman with bandages all over her body walked toward it and kneeled.
"Mr. Satan…"
[What…?]
The black sphere moved.
Satan moaned as if he were trying to hold back the pain.
Black blood poured from the place that seemed to have been cut with a knife.
"Raphael's apostles are starting to come to Earth."
[Rahpael…?] Satan asked in disbelief.
[Is it to chase Lucifer?]
"No. I'm not exactly sure… but it seems like a demon killed Raphael's apostle."
[Ha…] Satan laughed in a mocking voice.
Raphael…
He was one of the four archangels of the Heavens.
Satan was very aware of them.
[What kind of stupid demon provoked Raphael?]
Satan laughed in disbelief.
