BOOM-!
The pitch-black sword and spear clashed and shook the sky.
"Ah, aah."
"Mr. Raphael…!"
The angels and Light Watchers clenched their fists as they watched Satan clash with Raphael.
"Mr. Shargiel…"
"Sh-should we still watch and do nothing?"
Shargiel remained silent.
He raised his head and looked into the sky.
He couldn't interfere in their battle.
The difference in strength was too high.
'Titan…'
He remembered the story of a giant they said used to rule over the world long ago in the era of myths.
Satan and Raphael were fighting so intensely that it looked like a fight between the giants that appeared in those myths.
"There's nothing we can do about it."
Shargiel shook his head and anxiously bit his lip.
'Mr. Raphael…'
He wished for the light to win.
"Leave the Demon of Prophecy to Mr. Raphael. We need to deal with the other demons."
Shargiel turned around.
There were still many cultists left.
'Those demons…'
He glared with hatred at the Demon Cult and gave an order to the angels and Light Watchers.
"Kill them all. If they side with darkness, it doesn't matter if they're young or old. Let the judgment of light fall onto all those tainted by darkness!"
"Let light judge them!"
"Let light judge them!"
The angels grabbed their weapons and flew toward the cultists.
Shargiel breathed heavily while making a tired expression.
He had fought against thousands of demons in the forefront, so he had become very tired.
'If it happens here…'
Seraphim had taken part in the mythic years.
He thought of the angel that had sacrificed himself to seal a huge darkness.
Shargiel shook his head.
'It isn't time to think of things like that.'
Even at that moment, some demon forces were devouring the light.
He gripped his sword that was shining with a silver light.
"Let light judge them."
He stomped on the ground without hesitation.
* * *
In the air, where Satan and Raphael were clashing…
[AAGGHH!]
An angry scream left Satan's mouth.
He swung his sword while having lost his mind because of 'Anger.'
Raphael managed to block his attack.
The Authority of Extinction was a destructive Authority that destroyed everything it touched, and it was putting him in danger.
[Ugh.]
Satan's strength was incredible.
Raphael gulped.
'This…'
It was the strength of the Demon of Prophecy.
Raphael kept fighting while swinging the spear of light, and he calmly blocked all of Satan's attacks.
Each time he blocked an attack, a huge impact shook his body.
'Where did he gain such strength?'
The war of a thousand years was a long war they said had taken place in Hell.
They didn't know who had caused that war and who had won, but what angels knew was that, thanks to that war, Hell had almost been destroyed.
Angels thought that was an opportunity, and led by Michael, they increased their strength.
'But…'
Lucifer and even Satan had become stronger than before.
Raphael looked at Satan with a troubled expression.
It wasn't strong enough that he couldn't handle him.
No, even if that had been the case, he couldn’t back off.
"Ludwig…" he mumbled.
Raphael pointed his spear at Satan with a glare on his face.
"Satan! Free Ludwig!"
Ludwig had fallen after becoming an undead.
An honest servant of light couldn't meet such a tragic end.
[I don't know! I don't know who that bastard is and where he is!!]
"How dare you tell such a lie!" Raphael angrily replied.
To think he'd try to act dumb…
Wasn't it Satan who'd told him to come at him and that he wouldn’t be able to escape?
"What nonsense are you planning?!"
[No! No!! I didn't make Ludwig fall!!]
"Nonsense! I saw with my own two eyes how you made Ludwig fall!"
[That wasn't me!!]
It didn't make sense.
Raphael's expression distorted.
"How shameless can you demons can be?!"
[I TOLD YOU IT WASN'T ME!!!]
Satan twisted his body as if he were about to go crazy.
He scattered away the black sword energy and screamed in agony.
[Demon King, come out! You fucker!! I'm going to reveal the truth here!! I'm going to take off your disgusting mask!!]
Satan spread his sword energy to find the Demon King he couldn't see.
BOOM-!!
A destructive power that was close to a natural disaster split the earth.
Everyone, both Demon Cult and Guardians, were swept away by that attack.
"Stop!"
Raphael spread his wings as he held the spear of light, and his eight wings let off a bright illumination.
It was unleashed at an incredible speed.
'Why is he trying so desperately?'
Raphael couldn't understand it.
The Satan he'd watched in the video was too different from the one before him.
'Don't tell me…'
* * *
Was the Satan that appeared in that video not Satan?
"Ugh."
He was confused.
'Don't listen to him.
Hadn't Michael said that one mustn't listen to what a demon said?
Their tongues were like a flower with a deadly poison.
If that sweet scent deceived you, the poison would spread through your body and end up killing you.
[Ugh.]
Raphael looked at him while making a confused expression.
"…"
He remained silent, and he became even more confused.
'There's something different.'
The difference between the Satan he'd seen in the video and the one in front of him was too big.
There was the Satan that was full of evil energy in the video and the one that was in front of him, who looked pathetic.
Satan's desperate cry made Raphael even more confused.
'Maybe…'
He began to doubt.
'What if the one I saw wasn't really Satan?'
What if he was being deceived by the one he said was the true Demon King?
What was the truth?
'Is Oh KangWoo the Demon King?'
Raphael shook his head.
It wasn't that he fully believed in the human called Oh KangWoo, but he was with him when they watched the footage of Satan.
There was no way he wouldn't be able to feel the demonic energy of someone called ‘Demon King’.
He couldn't believe he was the Demon King.
[AGH!! Oh KangWoo, you piece of trash!! Come out!!!] Satan desperately cried.
"…"
He felt the anger and desperation in his voice.
'What if all of that was acting?'
What if everything was a play?
Raphael closed his eyes.
He felt Satan’s attacks weakening.
'Oh, Light…'
Raphael looked at Satan with a troubled expression.
'Please, give me an answer.'
The truth scared him, obscured in darkness as it was.
He couldn't see it at all.
* * *
"The angels are doing a good job."
KangWoo smiled in satisfaction.
The angels were fighting more intensely against the demons, not afraid of dying.
It wasn't that he could completely trust angels, but it was good news as long as they could protect the Guardians as much as possible.
'It seems like they're also leveling up like crazy.'
The unique capability of leveling up that players had was still happening in the middle of the battle.
"Hmm?"
At that moment, KangWoo looked at Raphael.
His movements had become slower.
'He doesn't seem tired.'
The light coming out of Raphael's wings was still shining intensely.
"Tsk."
KangWoo clicked his tongue.
"Is he being deceived by a demon?"
Satan was an evil being—he was desperately trying to tell lies and hide the truth.
"Pathetic."
How could the words of a demon so easily shake up an archangel?
'I guess I have no other choice.'
As an apostle of the Hero God, he couldn't stand still and looked at the light being corrupted.
'The entire truth…'
He was going to reveal it all.
KangWoo grabbed his communication crystal.
* * *
"Satan," Raphael said in a low voice while holding his spear.
"Do you have proof that Oh KangWoo is the Demon King?"
[Haa, haa. Proof? Proof?]
Satan's eyes trembled.
The proof that Oh KangWoo was the Demon King?
There was no need to think too deeply about it. The Sea of Demonic Energy that was inside him was the proof.
'But…'
The Demon King hadn't been found out while being next to Raphael; that meant he had a way of concealing his demonic energy.
There was a chance that couldn't become proof of what he was saying.
'Damn it.'
To make his plan work, he needed to drag the Demon King there.
He grabbed the base of the Root that was inside him.
'Ah.'
At that moment, a certain thought crossed his mind.
He remembered the Demon King waving light sticks while looking at their fight.
[Look at what that guy is doing at the moment! He's looking at us fighting, making fun of…]
Satan raised his hand and pointed at where the Demon King was standing.
The eyes behind the mask trembled.
[Huh?]
‘Where's that bastard?’
Where he pointed, there were only traces of red blood.
BOOM-!
Tap, tap.
A being tainted by darkness walked out of the remnants.
Raphael's eyes shook after seeing who he was.
"Lud… wig."
He saw Ludwig's body covered by horrifying green tentacles, and the corpses of angels were held in his hands.
"Ah!"
Ludwig kneeled, opened both arms, and looked at Satan.
"Great Satan!!"
[Huh?]
"My owner, my king!"
[No, wait.]
"Just like you've ordered, I am drowning the surface in the blood of angels!"
[Hey, you fuck…]
Ludwig ripped apart one of the dead angels he was holding.
The wings were torn apart, and its feathers scattered away. White blood wet the floor.
"Sa… tan."
Raphael's body trembled.
The sight of the fallen Ludwig was horrifying, and he couldn’t sense and divine energy within his body.
A tear dripped from Raphael's eyes.
His loyal apostle. A child that was so loyal to light had become like that, yet he had hesitated at a demon’s lies.
'Michael was right.'
Anything a demon had to say was trickery.
Raphael grabbed his spear tighter.
He wouldn't hesitate anymore.
[Ha, haha.]
Satan laughed in disbelief.
[Oh fuck… Haha.]
He grabbed his head with his hand and raised his sword again with an empty laugh.
[Yes! I made Ludwig fall!]
His yellow eyes behind the red mask teared up.
[HAHAHA!!! Yes! Fuck, I was the one who did everything!! HAHAHA!!!]
A tear dripped down from behind the mask.
Finally…
The truth had been revealed.
