CH 318

Fwoosh.

A chilling wind blew on the silent battlefield. One could see a mountain of corpses, dripping green blood. The flesh was falling off the carcasses, and the green blood was poisonous enough to scorch the ground.

The mountain of corpses was as tall as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. And Lou sat atop the mountain, yawning.

“I guess it’s almost done now.” He looked around to see several areas still burning. He could still hear screams and shouts, but they had lessened dramatically since he had begun. It appeared that the battle was almost over now.

“And those things are closing too.” Lou looked at the sky to see the light beams gradually disappearing. As morning approached, the light beams’ artificial brilliance dimmed.

Angels had descended from all the beams. There were close to a thousand of them.

‘Not as bad as the Great War, but…’ Lou realized it was almost as bad. Many angels had participated in the war; of course, none survived.

“Ugh,” groaned one of the angels in the mountain, its wings twitching.

“Aren’t you dead yet?” Lou looked down at it and stabbed it. “You guys love peace so much, so rest in peace.”

The dark sword in Lou’s hand ended the angel’s life. As he retrieved his sword, Lou smirked, “Well, I guess maybe you won’t really get to rest.”

A moment later, the angel’s corpse twisted oddly before turning into black dust, which Lou absorbed.

“I can’t believe all of you became corrupt. How ridiculous.” An awkward smile appeared on Lou’s face. He almost looked a little bitter.

‘El… That wench must be pretty sad and angry.’ 

El had finally found the other angels, but they had all gone corrupt and wanted to kill her precious master. Lou didn’t realize this at first, but as he had battled more of them, he had learned the truth.

“By now, she must know as well.” Lou was certain that El, who had accompanied Gi-Gyu to the Vatican, had also learned the truth.

‘There is no more of her kind anymore.’ 

El had been desperate to find and protect her angels. She had wanted to regain her kind’s old glory, but the revered angels who used to work for God existed no more. Now, they were neither angels nor demons. They were grotesque beings praying for the extinction of all other creatures.

“Tsk,” Lou clicked his tongue when he realized he was worried about El.

“I used to want her dead so badly…” He couldn’t believe how things had changed. It was all because of Kim Gi-Gyu.

“Anyway, I guess it’s finally over.” The last beam disappeared, and no more doors to the Vatican shone down to Rome. As for the angels who had descended to Rome, they were all dead.

“Khoff… Khoff… What’s all this…?” Tao Chen walked up to the mountain of corpses. “This is pretty bad…”

Sun Won and Tao Chen stood nearby, but Lou didn’t bother greeting them. As a matter of fact, he glared at Tao Chen coldly. It appeared that Sun Won had difficulty breathing because of the toxic smoke. He stepped away a little.

“We need to take care of this when Kim Gi-Gyu returns. Just make sure the humans don’t get close,” Lou ordered.

“O…of course.” Sun Won bowed respectfully toward Lou. He didn’t know Lou’s exact identity, but the two horns on Lou’s forehead were demonstrative. Sun Won had difficulty remaining calm in front of such a powerful creature.

Lou said to Tao Chen, “You’re pretty good. I’m impressed by how many Cherubs you defeated.”

Lou’s cold glare turned into an odd interest.

Tao Chen replied, “All the fights have ended. The players are currently protecting the Roman citizens, so…”

Tao Chen unsheathed the Green Dragon Crescent Blade and aimed it at Lou. Lou’s face twitched, but he also took out his sword.

Tao Chen categorically asked, “I would… love to learn from you.”

“You…”—Lou hopped down from the mountain—“Things have taken an interesting turn for you, haven’t they?”

An oddly competitive look appeared on Lou’s face. When Tao Chen had been staying in Eden, he had challenged Lou fearlessly. Lou had defeated him instantly, of course.

Unlike the others who used to spar with Tao Chen gently, Lou had fought mercilessly.

“That wound you gave me still hurts,” Tao Chen muttered. Lou had left a long gash on his back, and even El couldn’t heal it. Since then, Tao Chen had asked Lou for another match several times, but Lou had been ignoring him.

And now, in the middle of the burning Rome, where the screams and shouts were still abundant, Tao Chen had asked Lou for a sparring match.

“Is this coming from some kind of bloodthirst?” asked Lou.

“You know that’s not the case,” Tao Chen muttered.

“Heh.” Lou smiled. “All right. Let’s do this.”

It was the first time Lou had accepted Tao Chen’s challenge since their first and only battle.

Lou explained, “I do want to see what a newly awakened ruler can do.”

“...”

Just as Lou had stated, Tao Chen had become a ruler during the battle. Earlier, he had heard Gaia’s voice.

[You have satisfied all the conditions of becoming a ruler.]

[You have obtained the right to become a ruler.]

***

“We must create a place to hold the non-players!” ordered the leader of a player group.

“But there are too many of them! And because of the destroyed buildings and corpses, there isn’t enough space!” his subordinate replied.

The battle was over, but now they were fighting another problem. Their enemies had stopped moving, but the people’s screams and yelling continued.

“Dammit! Where is Branch Manager Alberto?! And how about all the other chiefs?!” an association worker helping the evacuees yelled. Everyone was frustrated because all the leader-level political figures and the association branch manager were missing. No one knew where they were. For all they knew, these important figures might have already died.

Or perhaps they had run away for safety.

“Please come this way!”

“Help the elderlies and the children first!”

Italian, Chinese, and Korean guild players worked hard to regain order. It was impossible to tell how these guilds had known to arrive so quickly. If it weren’t for them, Rome would have disappeared from the map.

Just then, someone approached the hardworking players. He looked very familiar to them.

“Mr. Heo?” the player in charge asked.

“Nice to meet you,” Sung-Hoon greeted. The Italian players had already been informed that Heo Sung-Hoon had led the Korean players as the chief of the new association named Eden.

“Branch Manager Alberto and the other leaders have all been severely injured,” Sung-Hoon explained.

“...!”

“So can I trust you to take over?” Sung-Hoon asked.

The man didn’t hesitate for long. “Of course.”

The Italian player wished someone had told him sooner about this. He had been working blindly while his frustration built up. Since the leader of the Korean players had asked him officially, he could now legitimately take over. After all, if the branch manager and the other leaders were injured, it only made sense for him to lead the Italian players.

Watching the Italian player, Sung-Hoon mumbled, “He has talent.”

Gi-Gyu and Alberto had told him in advance about this particular player. They had assured him that this man was not a spy and a leader material. This was why Sung-Hoon had asked him for help.

“Haa…” Sung-Hoon sighed, his legs throbbing. Slowly but surely, order returned to Rome. Now, he had to return to the Colosseum.

‘Alberto…’ Sung-Hoon worried. Alberto had been badly wounded during the battle.

“Ranker Kim Gi-Gyu…” Sung-Hoon began dragging his leg to walk. If not for El’s feathers and Alberto, the giant energy explosion would have killed both him and Alberto. Alberto had used all of his power to save Sung-Hoon, which had resulted in Alberto receiving most of the injuries Sung-Hoon was supposed to suffer. This was why Alberto was still in the Colosseum being treated.

“Dammit,” Sung-Hoon swore. He wished Gi-Gyu would return soon and fix this situation. “I guess I should pray that things in the sky are going well.”

Sung-Hoon did all he could. Anxious, he ran faster toward the Colosseum.

***

“Things must be winding down there too,” Gi-Gyu whispered, looking below. After entering the Vatican, he hadn’t been able to contact his Egos. It felt almost like the same difficulty he had when Michael tried to contact him. But Gi-Gyu could still tell how his Egos were feeling.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

“I’m glad to hear that,” El replied.

“El…”

El sighed when she heard Gi-Gyu and stopped. After entering the castle, she had been moving faster. Even Gi-Gyu had suggested that she should take a break.

“What’s wrong?” Gi-Gyu asked. There weren’t any enemies around them. Those who had attacked them were already dead on the ground. And since most of the residents—angels—had descended, it made sense that they didn’t have to fight much.

The problem was that the castle was huge and had a complicated layout. Consequently, they were advancing slowly.

“Is this place also familiar to you?” asked Gi-Gyu.

El moved without hesitation as if she knew the place very well.

El nodded. “Yes.”

She must have thought she should take Gi-Gyu’s suggestion to rest because she began walking.

“This place is”—she closed her eyes as if she was reminiscing—“the seventh Keter.”

“Keter?”

El opened her eyes and looked at Gi-Gyu. “This is the castle where I and other archangels resided.”

“...”

“It’s not the same castle, but they managed to… reproduce it well.” El looked around.

“El, do you really think Gabriel is here?”

“...” El stopped when Gi-Gyu asked.

The two didn’t come all the way here blindly just to kill angels. They had noticed a few odd things, one of which was that the angels seemed to resent El. Both El and Gi-Gyu had read each angel’s memories as they arrived here. They couldn’t read everything, perhaps because their memories had been partially blocked somehow, but they learned enough to know that this place was ruled by a pope named Gabriel.

Gi-Gyu and El knew that this name’s owner was different from the pope on Earth.

“Do you think Gabriel corrupted all the angels here?” Gi-Gyu asked. On their way here, they had learned that every angel in the Vatican had been corrupted. Gi-Gyu suspected that El knew more, but she chose not to tell him. It was hard for him to understand why El and the angels hated each other so much.

“I’m sure he’s here,” El replied.

Gabriel had fallen into the space where Chaos used to reside. It had worked with Kronos to betray her.

“And he has arrived.” El turned to look at something.

Creak.

A door suddenly appeared. It opened, and when a figure walked out, Gi-Gyu muttered, “Michael…”

The man who had walked out was none other than the man they were here to rescue.