Chapter 51 - Violence Ordained By The Divine Law

The alarmed woman who had just appeared was not a Demon. And yet, neither was she human. With skin like milk that seemed to glow ever so slightly, hair that shone like woven threads of pure gold, and a pair of white, feathery wings on her back like those of a swan, the first thing to come to Jae’s mind could only have been that.

“...Angel?”

Naturally, the abrupt appearance of a woman with such a radiant, almost celestial appearance was surprising, not to mention the fact Jae had never seen anyone so concerningly white before.

Combined with the previous shouting and obvious distress, the snow-white armour covering most of her body made the newcomer resemble something like a Valkyrie more than an angel, but for some reason, she froze as soon as she rounded the corner and laid eyes on him.

...Something’s not right.

Before he forgot, Jae immediately activated Envy.

Soul State - Seraph

Name : Ariel [Divine]

Soul Level : 735 / 999

Title : Angel of Diligence

Age : 863 Years

Health : ―― [MAX]

Magic Energy : 672,700

Power : 242,641

Magical Ability : 2―

“Oh, Ariel’s here? Is something the matter?”

Skill 「Envy」 has been blocked

He only got to read through half of it before the angel―or rather, the Seraph, suddenly came to her senses at Jiera’s untimely call and obstructed him just as Nazar did in the past.

Tsk... I’m getting a real bad feeling...

It wasn’t that long ago that he asked the Sinful God about the possibility of Heavenly Virtue skills or something like ‘Virtue Apostles’ appearing as an antithesis to himself; lo and behold, here at the Demon Queen’s Castle, one showed itself right before him.

Sins and Virtues were two sides of the same coin. One could only guess what would happen if the two were to collide.

Diligence... That’s the counterpart to Sloth, right? How the hell am I supposed to deal with someone like that...?

Realising in an instant that there would not be a way to win against an opponent several hundred levels higher than him, Jae could only hope that Jiera, who seemed relatively unruffled by this angel’s unforeseen arrival, would sort it out. Still, in front of someone who was effectively his natural arch-enemy, he couldn’t afford to be careless. Keeping his gaze pinned on her without blinking, he planned to use Sloth to dodge immediately dodge the moment any attack came his way. And then, as he watched her in a tense silence...

Slam-!

“Cough, haahk...!?”

―He found himself suddenly pinned against the castle wall, a white, slender hand grasping him by the throat.

“Ariel...!? What the hell do you think you’re doing!?”

“My lady, please leave. This man is dangerous.”

“Haaghk...! Haaahk...!”

Witnessing the colour in Jae’s face gradually diminish as his windpipe was being steadily crushed as if held within the jaw of a slowly tightening vice, Jiera’s voice quickly grew in its impatience.

“Ariel look at him, he can’t breathe! Release him this instant!”

“...I apologise, my lady. I cannot do that.”

“Kh...!”

Before long, Jae felt the already tiny gap in his throat―probably his trachea―fully close shut so that even the slightest lick of air was prevented from entering his body. The best he could do was not resist―that was futile―but instead desperately focus all his effort on sustaining his depleting lifeforce with mana.

Of course, ordinarily, he wouldn’t have to worry about dying forever, because he would always resurrect right afterwards. However, this situation was different.

Let alone the many incalculable risks of revealing his effective immortality to others, even if they were currently allies such as Jiera, it was a chance Jae didn’t want to take if he could help it.

Moreover, in this instance, there might not even be a chance to resurrect, to begin with.

Because the killer this time was an agent of the gods themselves.

If this angel used divinity, or some other sort of unknown holy power, could it be possible to delay or even deny his resurrection entirely? It was a dangerous question to which he didn’t know the answer.

That’s why...

“Khh...!”

“Ariel, stop!”

His best...

“Ngh, gaaaahhk...!!”

“Ariel...!!”

He could only do his best to hold on.

“...Sinners like you need to be purified from the world.”

To hold on as the angel stared deep into his fading eyes and muttered.

“But, I wonder...”

“Why is a human like you so terribly corrupt?”

“What could you possibly have done to delve so far into the depths of sin?”

“It’s that revolting presence of yours I sensed lurking all around the castle.”

“Is the world truly so helpless without my presence that a temporary leave would result in such a mess?”

“I suppose that means I still need to work harder.”

“Work harder to cleanse filth like you.”

Following the angel’s long speech as she glared coldly into Jae’s eyes deprived of consciousness, he felt his body begin to fill with warmth. Did someone turn on a radiator or heater nearby? Of course not. Originating from Ariel’s hand on his neck, divinity spread throughout, searing and branding his skin like neatly controlled flames.

“Now. Begone, and do not ret--”

“―Hey. Bird bitch.”

All of a sudden, a new voice interrupted the angel; newly emerged in Jae’s vision, a bronze hand could be seen gripping the angel’s arm that held Jae in place.

“......”

For the first time since her arrival, she moved her gaze from Jae; just before glaring at the new arrival, he thought he saw her expression wince for an instant as she glanced at her arm being clutched.

“Hey. I called you, but you aren't going to answer me? I thought it was just the wings, but you must have a bird brain, too, hm?”

“...Remove your hand.”

“Are you gonna remove yours first? This is my friend you’re picking on, you know?”

“Your “friend” is a sinner against the heavens.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Ah. Did you say something? I wasn't listening.”

“......”

“Let go. Dear pigeon.”

What the...

The two snarled at each other right before Jae’s eyes. Seeing a pair of people whose strength he couldn’t even measure acting so hostile in front of him, he wondered how the world wasn’t already destroyed years ago.

“It is my duty to purify the world by removing filth. I would advise you to stop obstructing me and step away.”

“Uh-huh. Cool. And, it’s my duty to protect my friends. So? You really wanna do this?”

“Obstructing my actions is the same as obstructing the will of the gods. Getting in my way here will put you under extreme scrutiny from all divine forces. That amount of attention isn’t something that will go away easily, nor for a long time. I'm sure even you are aware of that much, Sand Devil."

"I said you will remove your hand, so you will remove your hand. If you refuse to comply, the gods will have a lot more trouble to deal with than just keeping an eye on someone new. You are the one who is in danger here, not me."

"...Let me ask you in return, then, Nazar Faisel of the Evil Eye. I don't think you have ever witnessed divine retribution with those prized eyes of yours. Do you truly believe you can bear the consequences of opposing the gods?”

A moment of quiet passed between the two as they watched the other’s reactions. Then, the corners of his lips rising ever so slightly, Nazar let out an involuntary chuckle.

“Hah. Hahaha...”

In an instant, all traces of his smile vanished. Moving his face just inches away from Ariel’s, he stared into her eyes, unblinkingly, and with not a hint of visible emotion on his face.

“Divine retribution? What gives you the impression I’ve ever been frightened by that?”

At that callous response, Ariel seemed about ready to throw down then and there, but fortunately―

“Stop, both of you!"

―Jiera mustered the courage to step in at that time.

"Please... Please don’t fight here. Ariel, I don’t know what your problem is with Jae, but you have my word. He is a man who can be trusted. He is the one who saved my sister’s life... Nazar, thank you for protecting him. You can let her go now.”

"Ah ah ah. Only when I confirm my friend's safety. So, you better convince this dear first."

Knowing instinctively that Jiera's earned ire from pushing this any further would not be something she would be able to remediate, Ariel decided to let it be for now. Giving one last glance to Jae’s face, contorted in pain, she begrudgingly released her grip on his neck, letting him fall to the ground and splutter. Now that Jae was free, Nazar did the same and let go of her arm, revealing a severe bruise.

“Unfortunately, as I seem to be missing some circumstantial context, I will follow my lady’s will and abstain for now... However, I will keep a watchful eye on this filth’s every move. Inform me of all his actions later and I will make my own judgement.”

“Yes, I’ll do that... So, just hold back from causing trouble, please.”

“Then, I shall visit my lady’s office this evening... And, Devil? I shall repay your "kindness" at a later date. Be sure of it.”

“Yeah, yeah, keep squawking. Don’t forget, I was being nice by giving you the option to resist in the first place. Next time, I’ll show you just how "kind" I can be.”

Silently clicking her tongue, a sudden flash of white light erupted and enveloped the angel; in the next moment, she was gone.

“Cough, cough cough-!! Haahk, haahk, cough cough-!”

Then, with the only background noise being Jae’s incessant coughing and wheezing, Jiera watched a servant who rushed over at the commotion begin to cast some kind of healing magic as she returned to the table they were previously sitting at, leaning her head forwards onto its surface as she buried her head in her arms.

“Haaah...”

Heaving a prolonged sigh, she rested with her eyes closed for a few minutes until Jae recovered enough to speak again.

“Ahh, goddamn it...”

Fuck... That bitch is strong...

Rubbing his neck where it had been almost crushed, he cursed the angel internally. He was previously apprehensive about what the effect of healing magic might be on his body as an Undead, but fortunately, it proved to be a needless worry. As both Jiera and Nazar watched the assisting servant help Jae back to his seat, they voiced their concerns.

“How are you feeling? I deeply apologise, something like this was completely out of my expectations... I’ll have a word with her and figure out what the deal was later.”

“Eh, don’t worry. If that bird tries to start anything again, I’ll be here.”

Jiera glanced at Nazar with a gaze of uncertainty as if to ask ‘Are you sure?’, but faced with his look of unfaltering confidence, she decided to let him handle it. Truthfully, he and Jae both knew the reason behind the sudden assault was that Ariel sensed Jae’s true identity as a being of sin, and though perhaps unaware of his title as Apostle, tried to “cleanse” him through death. That’s why, after watching the interaction silently, he could tell that Nazar was protecting him by keeping that fact hidden, even from someone who should be trustworthy like Jiera.

Clearing his throat, he asked something he was curious about in an attempt to change the subject.

“...Are all angels like that?”

“Hm...? Ah, well... In all honesty, I wouldn’t be able to give you a straightforward answer to that. How informed are you of the Seraphim?”

“This was my first time... I’ve only heard about them once.”

He had hoped to gain some information about the Heavenly Virtues beforehand, but now that he had met and almost been killed by one without even a chance to resist, he couldn’t afford to delay it any longer. The disparity in power level was unimaginable, so if he wanted to continue down this dangerous path, there was no choice but to prepare.

“I understand. In that case, let me fill you in, though I only know so much about them myself.”

After saying that, Jiera began to explain in simple terms about the Seraphim, or at least what she knew about them.

In summary, long ago, seven of the largest nations in the world were bestowed a ‘personal’ Seraph as emissaries of the celestial realm by the gods; these are the Angels of Virtue.

All nations possessing an angel belonged to a different race aside from two, the Kalype Empire and the Theosse Holy State. However, since their initial descent from above almost one thousand years ago, one of those seven nations has fallen into nonexistence.

“―Thus, the seventh Seraph now resides in the Theossian Cardinal Cathedral as the place with the single highest concentration of divinity in the world.”

“Wait, they have two? Isn’t that unfair?”

“Not exactly... The Seraphim are not weapons, Jae. It all occurred a very long time ago, of course, but it is said that the main cause behind sending them down to each of the most powerful of every race is to monitor the world and maintain peace from the most effective position beside the worlds' strongest players.”

“...Right. Then, does that mean you haven’t had a war since the angels descended?”

Nah, sorry, but I don’t buy that one bit. Of course, I’m sure it’s possible that having only one race be completely dominant over everyone else wouldn’t be great even for the gods, but I don’t believe that that’s the main reason for it. If they came down to monitor anything, it wouldn’t be that, at least.

“Hah, no, of course we’ve had wars. When I say “maintain the peace”, what I mean more precisely is just ensuring that no one is acting out of order by researching ‘forbidden magics’ and the like.”

The reality was, no god particularly cared if humans, Demons, or any other race started a war. They did care, however, the moment anyone began to mention such topics branded as ‘taboo’ by divine law.

“As history is told, the once prosperous seventh nation practised a lost form of that forbidden magic; the gods, noticing this, sent the angels down to prevent further progress, but it was too late.”

There are no records of what exactly happened at that time, and none of the Seraphim present ever came forward to mention any details about it.

To this day, all anyone knows is that the kingdom that once served as home for many, is now no more than a corrupted land with an awful aversion to life.

“It’s called the Forbidden Continent now because nobody is allowed to go there?”

“It’s called the Forbidden Continent because all information regarding its existence is strictly regulated. Of course, by regulated I mean that all knowledge about the place has practically been destroyed actively ever since its ruin. Think about it this way; I am the heir to the Demon Queen’s throne and I don’t know something so simple like where the location of the continent even is. Practically no one does, because it's 'forbidden'.”

“Oh, wow, really?”

I didn't think it was to that extent... Hm. If you put it like that, it really does sound suspicious. Man, I wonder what happened...

It was such an intriguing mystery that Jae couldn’t help but be curious. The first thing to come to mind was the Sinful God; if the angels were sent to the human world to search for the Dungeons for whatever reason, or if he had something to do with that so-called Forbidden Continent, it might make more sense than simply to ‘maintain the peace’ like Jiera said, but there also was no evidence for that theory.

Then again, if they have been searching for so long, there’s no way they wouldn’t have found them already. Also, I don’t even know when the Dungeons first appeared or anything, so maybe that’s not the case...

At the end of the day, that was a separate matter. In regards to the Seraphim, Jiera didn’t have much more to say.

“With the exception of Ariel, I’ve met two of the seven Seraphim in my entire life. They are the Angel of Charity, Sachiel, who belongs to the Empire, and the Angel of Humility, Samael, who belongs to Theosse. I only glimpsed them for a brief moment, however, so I couldn’t tell you about their personalities in comparison to Ariel.”

Nevertheless, it wasn’t that much of a loss. After all, even Ariel, who primarily lived in the Demon Queen’s Castle herself, was not someone Jiera could say she knew well despite being together since she was born. This wasn’t because Ariel was particularly distant in any way, but rather that she was so adamantly focused on the duty of ‘purifying evil’ that she spent most of her time outside somewhere, returning only occasionally.

“Although, I suppose it is an attitude like that that is the true essence of ‘Diligence’, is it not? In any case, that is about all I can assist you with; if you would like to hear anything of more depth, I’m sure Nazar over here knows much more than me, as someone with vastly more worldly experience under his belt. Isn’t that right?”

At that, she gestured to the Devil, standing with his arms crossed and back to the wall. Glancing at them both, he shrugged.

“Well, maybe. I have met a few of them in my time. In particular, Uriel... The Angel of Chastity lives in Kanburk Odysseus, the largest Laquadan settlement, and we’ve certainly interacted more than once or twice. Still, it’s not really within my field of interest, so there isn’t much I can say about the topic.”

All he could state with certainty was that the characters of Uriel, whom Nazar claimed was along the lines of a ‘friendly acquaintance’, and Ariel, whom he was on contentious terms with since even before she assaulted Jae, were dissimilar.

“Of course, they’re all angels with a duty to rid the world of anything their masters in the sky don’t like, but they’re their own people at the same time, you know? Some of them are more gung-ho on purifying anything than the others, and some are more interested in focusing on their own matters than mindlessly doing the work of their owners up above.”

At the end of the day, the takeaway was simple.

“Regardless, they are angels, and whatever quirky traits they might have, you have to treat them as exactly what they are―agents of the gods.”

Leaving it at that, Nazar gave a final look in Jae’s direction. Almost as though he could hear the Devil’s silent voice echoing in his head, Jae understood the meaning behind that glance well.

‘As beings of the divine, avoid them at all costs.’

No matter what, as someone whose very existence was taboo.

“......”

Something imperative to his survival. Belatedly realising just how dangerous the earlier situation truly was, Jae gulped. Only now did he begin to understand how deep the pool he had so brazenly stepped into was.

For it wasn’t a pool, but an ocean.

Never go to the Theosse Holy State. Never go to the Theossian Cardinal Cathedral. Never go to church...

And so, he swore to himself.

Stay far away from any kind of religious temple like that, and I should be fine... Hopefully.

To never be purified.