CH 321

Gi-Gyu’s sword moved at an alarming speed with incredible power.

Kaboom!

Every swing caused a large explosion that destroyed everything around it. But despite this, Gabriel was still standing. He dodged Gi-Gyu’s attack expertly, and he even counterattacked effectively using his white sword.

This sword appeared the moment the battle had begun; Gi-Gyu had also realized its identity as soon as he had seen it.

‘It’s an angel.’ Gi-Gyu realized that it was an angel turned into a holy sword. Gabriel wielded the angel like a weapon and attacked Gi-Gyu.

‘Dammit.’ Gi-Gyu swore silently as he dodged the attacks. Gabriel was an archangel, and he had lived an extraordinarily long life. He had survived a great many battles, and his skills were as great as his reputation suggested. He managed to injure Gi-Gyu several times, which was annoying.

Gi-Gyu desperately wished to use all of his power to rip Gabriel apart, but he couldn’t.

‘His body belongs to Michael, who must still be inside somewhere.’ 

Gi-Gyu yelled, “Michael! Can you hear me?”

Gi-Gyu asked similar questions many times during the battle, but there was no answer. Meanwhile, Gabriel’s sword followed Gi-Gyu obsessively. He had perfected his swordplay over the past few thousand years.

Gi-Gyu couldn’t kill Gabriel, so he couldn’t use his big skills; consequently, things weren’t going his way.

‘He’s stronger than I thought.’ Gabriel was a more formidable opponent than Ha Song-Su. While Ha Song-Su enjoyed using his strength to crash into his opponent, Gabriel used his power precisely and sharply like a needle.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

As for Gi-Gyu, he was currently only using near-basic sword strikes. Of course, that didn’t mean the power inside the sword wasn’t enough to destroy everything around it.

Kaboom!

When Gi-Gyu heard an explosion that his fight hadn’t created, he turned toward it.

‘El!’ El’s fight with the archangels was responsible for that blast.

It was then that Gabriel, who had been quiet until now, asked, “Can you afford to be distracted?”

Slice.

“Ugh,” Gi-Gyu groaned. He had been distracted only for a moment because of El, but Gabriel was talented enough to take this chance to slash him. A long gash appeared on Gi-Gyu’s shoulder.

‘As expected…’ Gi-Gyu’s wound refused to heal when such a cut should have healed instantly.

‘Is this the power of a holy sword?’ Gi-Gyu’s Life failed to heal this minor wound.

-Master, I’m fine.

El’s voice rang in Gi-Gyu’s head as he resumed battling Gabriel.

-I do not want to be a burden to you, Master.

El’s voice sounded different from before.

-Please do not worry about me. Please… concentrate on your safety.

There was renewed determination in El’s voice.

‘All right,’ Gi-Gyu replied. From the last explosion, he had sensed corrupted divine power that only belonged to fallen angels. He could tell that El had made a decision.

‘I won’t worry about you,’ Gi-Gyu promised. He believed that El wouldn’t be defeated. He trusted her.

-Thank you.

Almost simultaneously, Gabriel turned pale.

With a big smile, Gi-Gyu said to him, “I guess we won’t be interrupted anymore, huh?”

Gi-Gyu hadn’t been able to focus on Gabriel because Gabriel was inside Michael’s body. He had also been worried that he might accidentally hurt El. But moments ago, El had taken the archangels away to a farther place. She was so powerful that the archangels had no choice but to follow her will.

“...” Gabriel became quiet.

Fwoosh.

Finally, Gi-Gyu began exuding massive amounts of energy. Now that one of the two worries he had was resolved, he felt comfortable using more of his power. Gabriel appeared to know what Gi-Gyu was about to do because he moved further away.

Black and sticky energies poured out from Gi-Gyu. He mumbled, “I’m sure Michael wouldn’t mind if his body gets a few nicks.”

Suddenly, Gi-Gyu appeared behind Gabriel, who had failed to sense him.

“...!” Gabriel turned in shock, but he was too late.

“Can you afford to be distracted?” Gi-Gyu asked as he plunged Gabriel’s head into the ground.

***

After El had left, the situation reversed. Gi-Gyu had pushed Gabriel into a corner.

Whack!

Gabriel’s body was covered in wounds, and he had also suffered severe internal damage,

“...” But Gi-Gyu didn’t look happy. In fact, he looked more concerned than before. The two paused briefly but not because they were fatigued.

“Just what are you hiding?!” Gi-Gyu shouted. The surrounding area was in shambles as if a comet had stuck it. Gi-Gyu yelled again, “I asked you a question! What are you hiding?!”

Search tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w for the original.

Gi-Gyu had cornered Gabriel numerous times, but Gabriel hadn’t once done what Gi-Gyu had expected him to do. His eyes sharp, Gi-Gyu asked, “Why aren’t you revealing your wings?”

Gabriel was an archangel; he had wings, but he wasn’t using them. This wasn’t his body, but Michael had wings too. Gabriel undoubtedly had even bigger wings than Michael since he was more powerful. An archangel’s wings were to be greatly feared, as angels could only use their full power when their wings were out.

Yet, so far, Gabriel hadn’t taken out his wings. At first, Gi-Gyu thought it was because it hadn’t been long since he had taken over Michael’s body. But now, he didn’t believe this.

‘Something feels odd,’ Gi-Gyu thought in concern. If Gabriel really couldn’t use his wings, the angels wouldn’t have had left with El. They would have found a way to stay and protect him. After all, Gabriel was the only one left to lead them. But the archangels had left Gabriel alone with Gi-Gyu and had followed El to continue their battle. This had to mean that they were confident Gabriel could protect himself with Michael’s body.

“This is strange,” Gi-Gyu muttered. He was getting a bad feeling about this. It all felt so wrong. He continued, “It’s as if you wanted the situation to turn this way.”

Gi-Gyu watched Gabriel, who was badly wounded and panting. He wondered if this was some kind of trap. It almost looked like Gabriel wanted El to leave with the other archangels.

‘It’s like the archangels taunted El on purpose so she would take them away from here.’ 

Since then, he had constantly been cornering Gabriel. This had to be the moment Gabriel had been waiting for. He could finally get his reward for being forced to spend all that agonizing time inside Chaos.

Yet Gabriel was reacting strangely. Except for when he had insulted El, Gabriel had been keeping quiet. He spoke from time to time, but all he said were meaningless things.

‘Is this a trap?’ Gi-Gyu looked around and summoned more of his power. He grew increasingly certain of the idea that he was falling into a trap. It looked like Gabriel was waiting for something, and it seemed like he would endure it until then.

Gi-Gyu couldn’t put everyone in danger again by falling into a trap.

Fwoosh.

Death began pouring out of Gi-Gyu. It quickly co-mingled with Life to form something gray—Chaos. The same shade appeared in his eyes as well, and the ground around him began to boil. This giant energy devoured the air and everything around.

“I’m sorry, Michael.” Gi-Gyu’s voice was filled with bloodthirst. He had no choice but to give up on Michael and whatever information Gabriel held. This was a better choice to make than putting everyone in danger again.

Gi-Gyu added, “But I’ll get your revenge too, so don’t resent me.”

Gi-Gyu rushed toward Gabriel. He was about to destroy this space and everything in it. This was the power of Chaos. This was the kind of power Gi-Gyu could wield now.

Dun dun dun dun dun.

“I’m sorry,” Gi-Gyu apologized again as he got ready to release Chaos. His sight blurred, and the space around him slowly began to disappear.

Suddenly, he heard Michael's voice in his head.

-No, you mustn’t…

“Michael!” Gi-Gyu yelled.

Kaboom!

The world perished.

***

Lou wiped the blood off his face. Of course, it wasn’t just his blood on his face. Most of it actually belonged to Tao Chen, who had collapsed nearby. His body was soaked in blood, making him look like a corpse.

“Tao Chen!” Sun Won screamed.

Thankfully, Tao Chen was still alive. He gasped loudly, “Haa!”

On top of it, his body healed very quickly. Lou was impressed that the blood on his hand didn’t solely belong to Tao Chen.

“Not bad…” Lou mumbled. “I guess you are worthy of being a ruler.”

The rulers used to reign over the worlds Kronos had destroyed. Lou decided that perhaps Tao Chen was even better than those original rulers. His last attack had been especially powerful. Lou had been so startled that he almost went too far.

“Gosh, I almost killed him,” Lou muttered.

“...!” Sun Won, who heard Lou’s mumble, flinched.

Lou thought about Tao Chen’s last attack. Lou would have felt more threatened if it had been sharper and a bit more controlled.

‘If he became a ruler earlier, or if he challenged me later, then…’ Lou admitted that he might have had to use his full power. But at the moment, Tao Chen still couldn’t use his full potential. Perhaps this was a good thing.

“Is this what Gaia planned?” Lou wondered. Surprisingly, Gaia had gifted this man with such power when he was only a small pawn in this world. This had to mean that something major was coming their way.

‘Maybe it’s not just this guy,’ Lou told himself. If this was what Gaia had arranged, it didn’t make sense that she only made one of Tao Chen. If she had meant to do what she did, then there was much more to come.

“I guess the end is near,” Lou shook his head and mumbled.

‘Is she doing the right thing?’ Lou wondered for a moment. They were now finished with the battle in Rome. All the angels and monsters were dead, and those humans controlling these monsters were imprisoned in Eden. As for the evacuees, Lou didn’t care about them.

“Huh…?” Sun Won suddenly gasped. When Lou turned, he saw something very unexpected. He thought everything was under control around him, but he saw that the light beam, which he had assumed was gone, reappeared.

“The beam…!” Sun Won screamed while still leaning against Tao Chen.

“Fuck,” Lou cursed. The greatest beam they had ever seen appeared in the middle of the Colosseum. Its divine power was so huge that it was enough to make Lou shudder. He knew that he couldn’t close this one. It wasn’t because he was drained now. Even if he were in perfect condition, he couldn’t have dealt with this beam.

‘The descent of God.’ Lou believed that the light resembled God’s halo. Such a phenomenon occurred when God appeared physically. The immense divine energy engulfed Rome.

“What the hell is happening?” Lou muttered. It was too late to stop it, but Lou still headed toward it. He couldn’t close it, but he knew something was coming down from it.

“What the hell is going on now?” Lou murmured, knowing that something or someone was descending in the Colosseum.