Chapter 30 - Apostle and Angel (2)

The instant the Apostle and the angel clashed, the two transcendent beings would devastate everything around them. The force of their collision would ravage the landscape like a natural disaster and extinguish countless lives.

Anyone who wanted to live had only one choice.

Run.

Yohan took flight the moment the battle began. Ignoring the explosions behind him, he focused entirely on escape. He was unaccustomed to flying at full speed and was tiring faster than he had expected.

'Should I have practiced more?'

Just then, Ilea spoke from his arms.

"This should be far enough."

Looking back, he saw that they had put considerable distance between themselves and the battlefield. The thunder of explosions still reached them, along with the occasional flying debris, but nothing threatened their lives.

Yohan stopped beating his wings and descended slowly. Before he could touch down on the open grassland, Gaf shook himself free and jumped to the ground.

"What a sorry sight I make."

As if being reduced to a quivering wreck by the Apostle's presence hadn't been enough, he had fled in a Demon's arms. It had been an utterly humiliating day for Gaf.

Ilea, on the other hand, was still pressed against Yohan. She looked up at him, her face full of mischief.

"You've grown taller already."

"You can let go now, too."

"After you went out of your way to hold me."

"It was an emergency."

Yohan pulled the chuckling Ilea away from him.

"What a shame. I wanted to feel you a little longer."

When Yohan grimaced, she laughed and waved her hands dismissively.

"Don't misunderstand. It's all part of my research. Besides, you're quite solid, aren't you? You feel more like carapace than hide."

Her eyes swept over him from head to toe.

"A white horn, black skin, red tattoos, a bipedal gait, and an armored body. Hmm... Even with all that, it's hard to pin down so much as your species."

Yohan clicked his tongue.

"If a quick look could tell you that, I wouldn't have been puzzling over it myself."

A curious smile crossed Ilea's lips.

"Whatever you are, I do know one thing."

"What?"

"You don't know what you are either. Am I right?"

It was true.

"Yes. I wasn't trying to hide that."

"Then we have a starting point. Let's dig into your birth first."

Her eyes shone like a child's upon finding a new source of amusement.

'I feel like I've been reduced to a laboratory frog. Should I not have agreed?'

At his dubious expression, Ilea smiled with an innocent crinkle of her eyes.

"As I keep telling you, none of the things you're worried about will happen."

Yohan was about to reply when Gaf spoke.

"This isn't over yet. You both seem far too relaxed."

As he said, the battle was still raging. Explosions sounded at every turn, and debris—trees, boulders, and more—flew endlessly through the air. Chatting so peacefully amid such warfare was utterly incomprehensible to Gaf, who had spent his whole life as a mercenary.

Yohan said,

"Staying on edge won't change anything. Our part is done. All we need to do is sit back and wait for news of victory."

"... Whose victory?"

"Whose do you think? Shaperia's. The winner of this fight has already been decided."

Gaf frowned. He couldn't make any sense of Yohan's words.

"Didn't you release the Apostle to kill Shaperia? Yet now you're waiting for her to win? None of this adds up."

Ilea nodded in agreement.

"I do think you owe us an explanation."

Yohan began.

"As you know, I had two original objectives: steal the fragment of the Great Saint's corpse and eliminate Shaperia. The first is all but taken care of, so I'll skip that and explain Shaperia."

Father and daughter watched him in silence.

"Shaperia's power is lethal to Demons and witches."

The Eye of Scrutiny. A power that saw through to a subject's true nature, it was an intolerable nuisance to Yohan and Ilea, who had to live with their identities concealed.

"I had no choice but to kill her. So I borrowed the Apostle's strength to do it."

The Apostle Beris had indeed said that he had torn Shaperia in half and killed her.

Ilea tilted her head.

"Not only is she alive, she's awakened as a transcendent being. She's fighting the Apostle even now."

"Shaperia has two lives. She would have resurrected the moment the Apostle killed her. It's the Great Saint's grace."

Certain people in this world were born with the moon's grace. Shaperia was one of them. Moon · Anastasis. The grace bestowed upon her could resurrect its recipient from death once in their lifetime.

"It also lets her draw out her full potential immediately after resurrection. It only lasts a moment, but right now, Shaperia is an angel. A being close to a demigod."

"Grace that powerful must come at a price."

The corners of Yohan's mouth rose.

"Exactly. Soon she'll lose every bit of her strength. Her holy power, the Eye of Scrutiny, even her future potential. In other words, she'll go back to being an ordinary human."

Ilea let out a small exclamation of admiration.

"You use the Apostle to steal the Great Saint's corpse, then use Shaperia to dispose of him once he's outlived his usefulness. And Shaperia loses all her power and potential in the bargain. You've laid things out beautifully. A truly demonic scheme."

Gaf looked at Yohan.

"So Shaperia had two lives. Is this what you meant when you said we should kill the girl?"

"More or less. The real objective was to eliminate a future threat."

The resurrected Shaperia would soon become an ordinary human again. A commoner without strength or supernatural powers could do Yohan no harm. Shaperia the Valkyrie would cease to exist. He had completely derailed the original novel's plot.

'I've brought forward something that wasn't supposed to happen until late in the story.'

With the Valkyrie's future cut short, many changes would follow. The Demons she would have slaughtered would survive this time, and new variables would keep emerging as a result. Yohan would have to deal with them. If he let fear of those variables make him timid, he would merely retrace the original novel's course.

'The plot has already changed. Handle it well, and I live. Lose control, and I die. Keep it simple.'

He steeled his resolve once more.

Gaf spoke.

"Then you deceived the Apostle. There was never any chance of you becoming his thrall."

Ilea tilted her head.

"Deceived the Apostle? And what's this about a thrall?"

Yohan answered,

"I made a contract with him. The moment Shaperia is annihilated, I become his thrall."

"Beris can't defeat an angel in his current state. If he were whole, that might be another matter."

An Apostle divided into ten would find it difficult to defeat an angel.

"Exactly. The outcome is already decided."

"You've played Beris for a fool. The Apostle of Contracts himself."

Ilea wore a somehow satisfied smile. Gaf let out a disbelieving laugh.

"I'm speechless."

Yohan shrugged.

"Well, that's assuming everything goes to plan. We haven't seen it for ourselves yet, so nothing's certain."

An unexpected variable could arise at any time. Perhaps there was a timeline, with odds of one in several trillion, in which the Apostle won. He didn't even want to imagine it. There could be no greater disaster.

Ilea said,

"Shall we go and check, then? It's gotten quite quiet."

Silence was settling over the mountains. No more debris came flying toward them.

Just as Ilea was about to mount her broom, Yohan spoke.

"I'll go alone. You two look for Reil."

He hadn't had time to collect Reil in the earlier rush. The man was too useful a pawn to discard just yet.

Yohan spread his wings.

"Meet me back at the Great Saint's casket."

Then he soared into the night sky.

* * *

Her armor was unbearably heavy. She had no strength in her sword hand. She didn't even have the energy to stand on her own two feet.

Shaperia knelt in a wasteland blasted flat by the battle. Her eyes trembled.

'I can't feel anything. My holy power, the Eye of Scrutiny... It's all gone.'

Crippling weakness struck her entire body. Her regression had come as abruptly as her awakening into an angel. Instinctively, she knew.

'The Great Saint has taken back all my powers.'

Was it because she had abandoned her convictions and submitted to the Apostle? No. She had immediately recovered her resolve and defeated him. She had corrected her mistake and upheld her convictions. Yet her holy mark had vanished. She couldn't understand why. She was utterly bewildered.

As she sat lost in confusion, an unpleasant laugh rang out.

"Marziel's protection has vanished, has it? Serves you right. An empty shell of an angel! You're nothing but a wretched human now, bitch. How did it feel to wield omnipotence for that brief moment? And the loss when it was snatched away again? Tell me! I long to hear your wails!"

Malicious laughter shook the landscape. Shaperia raised her head. Beris lay on the ground, his upper and lower halves severed and his face crushed, roaring with laughter.

"My thrall will arrive soon! He will tear you to shreds and restore me to my former self!"

Shaperia didn't answer. The Apostle's words barely registered. She only wanted to deny reality.

"I will give every human connected to you an agonizing death! I will flay them alive and use their skins for contracts, signing in their blood instead of ink! I will stud my palace beams with their bones!"

Black demonic energy surged forth. It was malice given form. Only then did Shaperia come to her senses. Whatever else had happened, she had to finish this.

She tore strips from her clothing to bind her hand to the sword hilt. She could no longer hold the weapon by her own strength.

Beris snickered.

"Do you think you can harm so much as a hair on my head without grace?"

Shaperia struggled to her feet and trudged toward him.

"I sentenced you to death. Even if I must strike your neck a hundred times and shatter this arm, a holy knight does not take back her word."

Life returned to her eyes. Still prostrate, Beris shouted,

"Yes! Cut me to your heart's content! Strike a hundred times, a thousand, and engrave your own helplessness into your bones! I look forward to watching you slowly break!"

Shaperia raised her sword with every ounce of strength she had.

"I'll kill you, you filthy abomination!"

As she brought it down, a sharp whistle cut through the air. The earth shook, and dust billowed up. Crimson eyes flashed through the drifting cloud. A chilling voice sounded low.

"Disappointing. You couldn't finish the job."

Yohan held Shaperia's blade in one hand. Startled, she tried to pull back at once, but she couldn't overcome his strength. Without holy power to reinforce her body, her physical abilities were no greater than an ordinary person's.

Rooted to the spot, she murmured,

"A h-horned spirit!"

First an Apostle, and now a horned spirit. What in the world was happening in the south? A dreadful unease rose within her.

Beris spoke.

"It's your fault I failed to kill her! Had you given me information about that bitch, this would never have happened!"

Yohan frowned.

"I wasn't talking to you. I'm disappointed in Shaperia. Why couldn't you kill Beris?"

Moon · Anastasis raised its recipient's abilities to their absolute limit. With Shaperia's potential, she should have easily slain a mere tenth of an Apostle, yet for some reason, she had struggled. He couldn't understand it.

Beris roared.

"What the fuck are you babbling about?!"

"Shut up."

Yohan stamped on Beris's head. Black blood spurted like a fountain. His already mangled face crumpled into something even uglier.

Beris was too dumbfounded to utter a word. Being trampled under a mortal's foot was something he could never even have imagined.

Yohan said,

"No. On second thought, this works out nicely. I ought to thank you, Shaperia."

She stared at him in incomprehension.

"I've found a use for Beris. All thanks to you leaving him alive."

With that, Yohan looked down at the Apostle.

"Under our contract, you had until midnight to fulfill the condition. Your failure is drawing near. You couldn't even honor a contract with a mere mortal, so you'll certainly pay a price. I look forward to seeing what form it takes."

In truth, Yohan knew what would happen to Beris. The Apostle's expression grew rigid.

Yohan smirked and released Shaperia's blade.

"I've no further business with you, bitch. Run away or do whatever you like."

He seized Beris by the hair and began dragging him away.

"Y-you wretch! What do you think you're doing? Let go of me at once!"

Beris had lived for eons, but never had he been treated like this.

Shaperia stared blankly at the two of them.

'What in the world...'

She slapped herself hard across the face.

'Pull yourself together.'

Acting took priority over making sense of the situation. She couldn't let them leave like this.

Shaperia limped after Yohan.

"Don't run! Stop right there!"

Somehow, she doggedly caught up and thrust her sword at him, but it failed to reach him.

"What a nuisance."

Yohan clicked his tongue and gave a careless sweep of his arm. A dull thud rang out. Shaperia's body flew through the air and slammed into a nearby rock face.

"Guh, h-hah..."

Red blood trickled from her mouth.

"Why are you just leaving? Fight me! At least kill me before you go!"

Her voice sounded as though she were chewing on a blade.

Yohan picked at his ear and looked back at her.

"Why should I?"

"Because...!"

"You're worthless now. Killing you would only dirty my hands. If you're so desperate to die, kill yourself. I won't stop you."

Then he resumed walking. He intended to take the Great Saint's corpse and leave.

"Stop! I said stop!"

Despite her desperate cries, Yohan never looked back. He simply vanished into the darkness.

"Damn it!"

Shaperia was powerless. Her fighting spirit remained unbroken, but her body refused to move. She didn't even have the strength to get to her feet. All her trembling hands could do was clutch tightly at the mud.