< Chapter 193: Power (1) >
『In the name of the heavens, I judge thee.』
The melodic voice of the Valkyrie, an elite of the Angels, adorned the sky.
The colossal greatsword bared its fangs at Asmodeus.
“You, traitorrrrr!”
Though Asmodeus desperately tried to resist, it was to no avail.
“Add the bindings of light!”
“Don’t let the other commanders intervene!”
It had been a long time since Asmodeus was completely isolated. The coordination from the Saviors was impeccable.
“Lucifer! Are you just going to stand by and watch?”
Balrog, completely cut off from approaching Asmodeus, retreated for a moment and approached Lucifer.
“There’s nothing we can do.”
Lucifer calmly replied.
Despite the relentless pressure, Lucifer remained incredibly composed.
“Nothing we can do?”
“Yes. The enemies’ prepared plan exceeded my expectations. It’s my mistake.”
“And you’re admitting that now… Tsk!”
As Balrog was about to retort, a combined spell from the Dragon and the Angels came flying.
Lucifer and Balrog dodged simultaneously.
Balrog, moving away, gritted her teeth and glared at Lucifer, her expression suggesting that Lucifer would be held accountable later.
“Hmm.”
Yet, Lucifer seemed indifferent to Balrog’s disdain.
He merely glanced at the location where the Demon God battled, a faint smirk playing on his lips.
‘Perfect.’
To Balrog, she admitted a mistake, but in reality, this situation was no accident.
On the contrary, this was the intended outcome.
The reason for not revealing this to Balrog was simple.
‘I can’t tell the other commanders that I’m using Asmodeus as a sacrificial pawn.’
The sacrifice of one of the Seven Sins implies that any other commander could be used in the same way.
Therefore, he kept the true nature of this operation hidden from Balrog and the other commanders.
‘Use Asmodeus as the pawn and dispose of either the Dragon Lord or the Angel. Whichever.’
Sacrifice the flesh to keep the bone.
That was the crux of this operation.
And it was going perfectly.
‘In front of the Demon God’s all-knowing foresight, all preparations are futile.’
Lucifer skillfully dodged the attacks, observing the Dragon Lord and the Heavenly God.
‘Blissfully unaware that they’re dancing in the palm of the Demon God’s hand, and still they smile so proudly.’
The thought of their hopeful smiles soon turned to despair brought a peculiar pleasure to him.
“Lucifer!”
Asmodeus screamed in agony, calling out to Lucifer.
“What are you looking at? Save me! Luciferrrr!”
The colossal holy sword, known as the [Mark of Execution], aimed at Asmodeus, began to shine brighter and brighter.
It shone so brightly as if it was about to devour the demon before it in the next moment.
“Balrogggg!! Behemothhh!”
Despite just being under its light, Asmodeus’s skin began to burn from the intense holy energy emanating from the sword.
“Come and save me! You damn bastards!”
Balrog and Behemoth were trying their best, but breaking through the double barrier of the Angel’s boundary and the Dragon’s wall seemed near impossible.
“Balrog, we should retreat.”
Behemoth, who had stepped back significantly, approached Balrog with these words.
“Nonsense! Regardless of my personal feelings towards him, he’s our ally. We can’t just abandon him!”
Balrog’s expression grew even darker.
“Snap out of it. Look at the holy energy flowing from that sword. Asmodeus is done for.”
Contrary to his brutish appearance with his massive halberds and barbaric attire, Behemoth was a warrior with a rather cold and calculative judgment.
“…”
Balrog stayed silent.
“Given the circumstances, it’s best for us to retreat for now. And…”
Behemoth glanced once at Lucifer and the Demon God, then hesitated.
“And what?”
“… Nothing.”
Behemoth couldn’t voice the suspicion clouding his mind.
‘I can’t tell Balrog that it seems like the Demon God and Lucifer have some trick up their sleeve.’
Among the Seven Sins, Balrog was the most compassionate. She couldn’t just abandon a comrade, regardless of personal differences. Behemoth couldn’t tell her that there was a chance the Demon God used Asmodeus as a pawn.
“But still…”
That’s why Behemoth decided to take a different approach to persuade Balrog.
“Hurry up. If we dawdle, it might affect the commanders carrying out operations elsewhere.”
“Tsk.”
Balrog hissed, frustrated. But she knew Behemoth was right.
“We have no choice then…”
In the end, even Balrog, their last hope, gave up on Asmodeus.
“You bastards, bastards! Traitorrrs!”
As he watched the backs of Balrog, Behemoth, and Lucifer turning away, Asmodeus screamed in desperation.
“Your wicked deeds shall be your downfall.”
Looking down on Asmodeus with contempt, as one might look at a detestable bug, Michael began to pray.
“Open the True Demon Slaying!”
Stepping back, he shouted. Following Michael’s cry, the Valkyries, who were concentrating their holy energy right below the holy sword, echoed the call.
『True Demon Slaying.』
At that moment, the chains of light binding the holy sword began to release one by one. Soon, the freed holy sword lunged at the bound Asmodeus.
“Damn! Damnnn it!”
Watching Asmodeus, with bloodshot eyes, scream in utter despair,
“Wait for me in hell. Soon, your friend…”
Michael’s eyes sharpened with intensity.
“I’ll send Lucifer right after you.”
* * *
Turning back time a bit,
Just before the [Mark of Execution] began to emit its full brilliance.
I was frantically running towards a certain place.
“Seo-yul!”
Ai was chasing after me.
“Where are you going! The Heavenly God just told us to discreetly prepare to leave…”
“It’s a trap!”
“…What?”
“It’s a trap! If we stay like this, either the Heavenly God or Ini will surely die!”
“What do you mean by… trap?”
Ai looked at me with a puzzled expression.
Before I could answer, I looked up at the sky.
“That sword. Do you see it?”
“Yes.”
The enormous holy sword that seemed ready to descend and annihilate Asmodeus at any moment.
“That sword will serve as a signal. The Heavenly God plans to activate an artifact that has an emergency teleportation ability to retreat. Probably an artifact prepared to be unaffected by the Demon God.”
“What do you mean by unaffected by the Demon God?”
It means exactly what I said.
“The Demon God’s power is so overwhelming that in his presence, you cannot use precise magic like teleportation.”
That’s why you can’t teleport in front of the Demon God.
“So that artifact is…”
“Either an artifact that can ignore the control or an artifact that has a high-speed magic circle embedded to activate before the control takes effect. It has to be one of these.”
Though it sounds simple, it must be an artifact made with tremendous effort.
“So, isn’t that not a problem?”
I shook my head.
“Chances are, that ring won’t activate.”
“It won’t? Is it defective?”
“No, it’s not that… Ai, get down!”
I grabbed Ai and hurled us both to the side.
The next moment, something black crashed into the ground.
“Damn Angels…”
It was a soldier from the Abyss.
Having been attacked and thrust into the ground, he must have been.
As I held my breath and concealed my presence, the demon flew high into the sky.
“Whew.”
“…That was close.”
Luckily, it seemed the demon hadn’t noticed us.
Letting out a sigh of relief, I looked around. Fortunately, our path wasn’t blocked.
“Let’s move on.”
“…Okay.”
We began to run again.
Trying to avoid any battle and taking the shortest route.
Thanks to the attention being pulled towards the [Mark of Execution], it was relatively easy.
“Where did we leave off?”
“You said the ring wouldn’t activate.”
“Right.”
While running, I once again checked the [Mark of Execution].
It seemed three times more powerful than before. We were running out of time.
“I’ll keep this brief since we’re short on time.”
“Okay.”
I quickened my pace and spoke.
“The Demon God has a way to neutralize the Heavenly God’s ring. An artifact that can forcibly modify the ability of an item.”
The Rewrite Ring.
The green skull ring the Demon God wore.
If he used the Rewrite Ring, which can modify the abilities of gear, nullifying an item would be a breeze.
“The simplest and most convenient modification is the ‘equip condition’. I believe he might have set a condition that makes it unusable by the Heavenly God.”
The simplest adjustment that could be made with just a touch would be the ‘equip condition’.
Perhaps, in the midst of battle, he discreetly touched the ring and changed its conditions.
He probably did it subtly so the Heavenly God wouldn’t notice and without causing any backlash.
Likely allowing it to be worn, but needing an additional condition for the special ability to activate.
“So, Seo-yul, you have a way to deal with that?”
“Yes.”
To me, the equipping conditions mean nothing.
Even if the Demon God absurdly modified the equipping conditions, it won’t affect me.
Due to a system error, ‘equipping restrictions’ are meaningless to me.
That’s why I’m moving so urgently right now.
“So, the place we are heading to is…”
“It’s where the Demon God is fighting.”
Ai’s complexion turned pale.
“We’re going in between them?”
As we ran, I pointed to where the Demon God was battling.
Of course, I couldn’t see it clearly.
It’s moving too fast to be seen.
Only when it occasionally stops, one can deduce that a fight is happening there.
“…We have to.”
At least, we need to reach there before the Mark of Execution is fully activated.
“We must hurry…”
That’s when it happened.
KUGUGUGUNG-!
The heavens and earth trembled.
The light imbued with holy power flickered, and
“NOOOOOOOOOOO!!”
Asmodeus screamed.
It was a scream that signified the Mark of Execution had fully opened.
‘It has started.’
Lucifer, along with the other three executives, had already left their positions a long time ago.
Asmodeus is certainly going to die.
And exactly 3 seconds later,
“AAARGHHHHHHHHHHH!”
Asmodeus, with a loud scream, turned into dust and was completely annihilated.
“Let’s go.”
I immediately shifted my gaze.
We can’t delay any longer.
Every second is crucial.
“While all attention is still on the Mark of Execution, we must hurry.”
“Yes.”
Ai and I moved as quickly as we could. However, unlike before, the battlefield had expanded, slowing us down considerably.
“…We’re not late.”
It took precisely 40 seconds to reach right below where the Demon God, the Heavenly God, and Ini were fighting.
‘I was worried they’d keep changing their positions during the fight…’
Perhaps because Ini used spatial freezing, the location of the battle remained unchanged.
‘What are they talking about up there?’
Fortunately, we weren’t late.
If I can get the ring from the Heavenly God in this state, it’s mission complete.
“What do we do now?”
“…I’m not sure.”
“But we actually don’t have a way to get the ring.”
There’s no way to approach the three, who are battling higher than the clouds.
If it’s that high, even our shouts won’t reach.
“…Don’t we have something to cover our faces?”
If we could at least cover our faces, I could use a relic to approach them.
‘Should I go up before it’s too late, not thinking about getting in the Demon God’s sight?’
While I was lost in that short thought,
“Seo-yul! Look up there!”
“Up?”
Something was falling from above. A familiar woman, dragged by a glowing shield.
“Ini!”
Her face was pale; she was plummeting at an alarming speed.
“Don’t we have to catch her? Even if she’s a dragon, if she falls at that speed…”
“It’s okay.”
That shield isn’t the Demon God’s.
The shield carries holy power, not magic. That means the shield belongs to the Heavenly God.
“It’s a means used by the Heavenly God to evacuate Ini. So, don’t worry.”
“Ah.”
Sure enough, the shield that was nearing the ground quickly reversed direction, positioning itself between Ini and the ground.
KWAAAAAAAAANG-!
And the next moment, with a roaring explosion, dust flew everywhere.
I rushed towards the center of the dust.
“Cough, c!”
Ini, with a pale face, was gasping for breath atop the shield.
“Ini!”
“Ka, Kang Seo-yul…”
In a weak voice, she called my name.
“Ini! Tell the Heavenly God to come here right now! Don’t ask why! We don’t have time!”
The emergency escape ring, rendered useless by the Rewrite Ring.
If that ring gets into my hand, every problem is solved.
“But I can’t… muster… the strength.”
“…What?”
But Ini had suffered from overusing her power and was now completely drained.
Right now, she’s even weaker than me.
“If you can just call a subordinate to buy us some time…”
Just as I was about to rush to Ini,
“…Huh?”
I noticed the mask she held.
It was the mask the Heavenly God wore every day.
It’s a relic of the Angel race, called [Sky’s Cloud], I think.
But that’s not the important thing right now.
“That ring…”
“This…”
She smirked, looking resigned.
“It’s our mistake, our arrogance… and the Heavenly God’s legacy. All I can leave behind is this…”
Tears filled her eyes as she stared at me.
“She told me to pass it on to you. Saying you’d find it useful.”
Looking at Ini, whose face seemed on the brink of tears,
“Okay! Got it!”
“What?”
I cheered.
I don’t need to call the Heavenly God now that I got this.
Swiftly, I slipped the ring onto my finger.
‘No matter how the equipping condition was changed, it won’t work on me!’
Feeling triumphant, the moment the ring fully fit my finger,
“ARGHHHHHHH!”
Unbelievable pain surged throughout my body.
“Ka, Kang Seo-yul!”
“Seo-yul!”
10 seconds passed, then 20 seconds.
It felt like 30 hours of excruciating pain before
“Heh, heh…”
I slowly opened my eyes.
“Seo, Seo-yul?”
“You…”
Ini and Ai looked shocked, pointing behind me.
Still dazed from the pain, I slowly turned my head.
“…Huh?”
At that moment, clarity rushed back.
Was it a shocking awakening?
“Wings of the Angel and… wings of the Demon race?”
On the left, the wings of the Angel.
On the right, wings of the Demon race.
Both wings, representing opposing races, were attached to my back, shimmering.
“What’s this…”
Again, what’s going on…?
< Chapter 193: Power (1) > End.
