Meanwhile, that was around the time.
“So, why are you following me?”
Heiji looked at Hayley with a face that said she couldn’t understand.
She seemed clearly displeased that Hayley was trailing after her.
“I’m just going to buy some food. Why are you following me?”
Why else?
Because the one that food is for is Lee Geon.
Hayley couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud, so she just pouted.
What if she demanded some weird compensation from Lee Geon again, calling herself a lunchbox master?
That’s why Hayley quietly furrowed her delicate brows.
“Don’t mind me and just go your way.”
“If it were you, wouldn’t you be bothered if someone followed you like a stalker?”
That wasn’t all.
“And why is that person, Geon’s older sister...”
Heiji looked at Yeonu, who was pressed close to her side, and broke into a sweat. Then Yeonu flashed a radiant smile.
“Ah. Don’t mind me. I’m just going to buy a dessert that Ji-u might like.”
“Ahh...”
Unlike Hayley, Yeonu wasn’t hostile toward Heiji, but she knew Heiji very well.
After all, she had still been alive when the Twelve Saints appeared in the world.
And, most crucially...
—Oh, the Eastern Witch is nice. She’s cool. She’s my type.
Geon had watched TV and liked that damn woman—no, no, that wonderful person.
And Heiji was one of the first two Saints. Lee Geon had also liked Stephen quite a bit, but he was especially fond of Heiji.
He said he liked how she fought with lightning speed.
But Yeonu remembered clearly.
—Nice. Sexy costume.
—It’s just the clothes. I could wear something like that.
—Uh... Yeonu, I don’t think that would suit you...
—Where are you looking?
In the end, as she recalled that moment, Yeonu’s smiling face tensed with veins.
Sure, her intelligent and pretty appearance with that sexy (?) costume was one thing, but she acknowledged Heiji’s combat sense and brilliant mind befitting a leader of a magic group.
‘So let’s quietly get rid of her.’
Former god. With an angelic face, Yeonu smiled brightly.
But at that moment, Hayley had something else on her mind.
It was because of a conversation she’d had with the Scorpio Constellation Holy Spirit.
—What?
It was when she went to the divine realm.
The Scorpio Constellation Holy Spirit had secretly called her out and, unexpectedly, brought up Hugo.
—Separate Hugo Otterus from Lee Geon’s side.
—What? Hugo?
The Scorpio Constellation Holy Spirit, taking a monstrous form, seemed to hate Hugo. She’d guessed as much, since whenever she helped Hugo, the Scorpio Constellation Holy Spirit had always shown clear disgust.
But each time, he’d never told her the reason.
—That bastard is a predator that will destroy not only the divine realm but Earth as well.
—...!
—I intended to let Asran live, and anyway, he had the karma to die a miserable and wretched death by blank, so I was going to leave him be.
—...!
—But blank has disappeared, and that bastard is still alive. So if you have any feelings for Lee Geon, tear that bastard away from him and make sure he dies.
—...!
Startled by the Scorpio Constellation Holy Spirit’s words, Hayley tried to say something, but he cut her off flatly.
—That cunning bastard must not be allowed to live.
* * *
Meanwhile, Hugo, confronting the angels, was dumbfounded.
He couldn’t help it.
“This filthy Lord, shamelessly pretending to be a human.”
Along with Raphael’s sharp glare, the angels beside him attacked Hugo.
“Don’t touch us! You filthy Lord!”
“Do you think putting on human skin will wipe away that filth?!”
“???”
At the angels’ growling, Hugo’s expression was something to behold.
‘What the hell are these bastards talking about?’
Forget looking for Lee Geon; they were calling him a Lord?
At the same time, Hugo realized. It was because of the bow he carried.
‘Could it be because of this bow that Geon turned into a Lord...!’
It was surely its scent causing this misunderstanding and ruckus.
Always so unhelpful. Hugo glared at the angels.
“Hey. I get why you’re mistaken, but it’s because of the weapon, alright? Don’t turn a perfectly fine person into a monst—”
“Don’t play innocent with that naive face, disgusting!”
“After tearing through the divine realm, you dared insult and mock the great ancient gods, you beast. Do you know how many gods died because of you?!”
Feeling wronged, Hugo’s face grew even more bewildered.
“You dicks! I beat up gods for badmouthing Geon, but I didn’t kill them!! So how can you frame a human as a monster...!”
“Yes, you’re merely deferred as a human for now.”
“......?”
At that point, Hugo seemed to sense something strange.
The look in the angels’ eyes was far too unusual to be simple bluster and trickery.
And sure enough.
“I still cannot forget. The sight of you grinning as you devoured even the Seraphim!”
“......????”
Just as Hugo, wondering if angels these days always used this kind of mental attack, was about to retort—
—What is the Snake God thinking, hanging around with something like that?
—I don’t know what the Scorching Lord was thinking, making that thing a Saint.
“......!”
In an instant, words he’d heard in the divine realm flashed through his mind.
Come to think of it, hadn’t the Goddesses of Fate said the same when he was imprisoned?
That he had accumulated too much karma.
That wasn’t all.
Not long ago, when he regained his soul, a scene flickered past his eyes.
—It’s a monster!
—The ancient god has been defiled by that bastard!
—Damn, Gabriel has been eaten too!
—He’s too strong! Run!
The sensation of him devouring someone who looked exactly like Kevin, and enjoying it, was still vivid.
And amid that chaos, the angels sneered.
“A mere Kruder, brazenly transforming into a god, pretending to be one, deceiving the ancient gods and gods.”
“Hah, by turning into some mere human, do you think your filthy instincts and that soul will disappear?”
As if nothing else mattered, the angels stood as if guarding Raphael.
But that very moment.
“Though filthy, it’s true that this thing devoured our Seraphim and took their divine ranks.”
“!”
“Lord Raphael!”
The man who forced himself up glared at Hugo.
Now that Hugo had been reborn as a human, it wasn’t desirable for them to directly interfere, but...
“Since things have come to this, we must at least recover the divine ranks of the Seraphim.”
At Raphael’s words, the high-ranking angels seemed flustered.
After all, that bastard was...
‘Even among the Lords, a first-generation...’
But as if reading their thoughts, Raphael smiled.
“Hmph. That bastard is bound by restrictions due to his own karma. Moreover, with a human body, he can’t use that much power. Seize him.”
Hearing this, Hugo immediately unleashed his magical power.
He knew that causing a commotion here would bring harm to his wife, so he’d tried to resolve this quietly, but...
Whoosh!!
The moment Hugo kicked off the ground, fierce flames surged toward them.
And in an instant, he drove them outside through the wall.
Boom!!!
He’d clearly broken the wall, and a dizzying thought crossed his mind that Lee Geon would rage and beat him up, but right now, that wasn’t what mattered.
“Burn to death, all of you.”
With a powerful heatwave, sunlight burst from beneath the enemies’ feet.
Amidst the light, the enemies’ screams could be heard.
But just then.
“Don’t move.”
“!”
Along with Raphael’s voice from behind, a familiar voice was heard.
“Kyaa!!”
“Ji-u!”
A scream from Cheon Ji-u came from inside the building.
Perhaps Raphael’s power. A shining wind had entered the building.
And Raphael spoke threateningly.
“I said don’t move. Resist, and your wife and the child in her womb will die.”
At those words, sparks flew from Hugo’s eyes.
“If you lay a single finger on either of them, I won’t let it go.”
Seeing this, Raphael approached Hugo as if he’d gotten exactly what he wanted.
“Don’t worry. As an angel of healing, I have no intention of harming a human and a new life. If you quietly follow us...”
That moment.
“!”
Raphael, approaching Hugo, froze for an instant.
Though only for a moment, Hugo’s enraged eyes had turned like a monster’s.
Realizing what that meant, Raphael broke out in a cold sweat.
‘Even in a human body, the Kruder instinct...’
Surely when Hugo was killed, the separation of body and soul had been loosening that seal.
And indeed, completely sealing the soul of a Lord must have been impossible.
‘No, where in existence is there anyone who can control a Lord?’
So for an instant, he thought he should stop.
But.
“!”
Hugo clutched his forehead as if in pain.
At that, Raphael’s eyes gleamed.
‘Could it be that Aphrodite’s divine rank is holding it back?’
He didn’t know who, but a non-combat divine rank was undoubtedly suppressing the Kruder’s ferocity.
So Raphael moved again.
‘The Snake God has declared war on Eden.’
And in the current situation, where they were trying to turn Earth into a battlefield for gods, Michael had even been harmed by the Lords.
‘I must recover the Seraphim.’
He intended to read the memories of Hugo’s soul to find the locations of the Seraphim he’d devoured—namely Gabriel and Uriel.
Only by reclaiming the divine ranks he’d hidden somewhere could they pass them on or do something.
And just as Raphael finally approached the faltering Hugo!
“Dad!”
Flash!
“!!”
Like lightning, Yuha, appearing from the sky, struck down upon Raphael.
Raphael groaned.
‘This woman...!’
He could sense Athena’s divine rank.
And in the current situation, she was excessively strong.
But caring little, Yuha confined Raphael and spoke.
“Dad, are you okay?”
Hugo, as if his head hurt, pressed his forehead.
“Where’s your mom?”
“She already moved elsewhere...”
But at the sound of an explosion from the building, they were startled.
[Call to the Sky (5-star)]
Above the building, a giant bird soared.
And the bird, flying through the air, held Cheon Ji-u as if strangling her with the wind.
“Ugh...! Huk!”
“Ji-u!”
“Don’t move. The angels of Eden can take humans to the sky with a mere flick of their fingers.”
“......!”
Raphael’s eyes widened.
That meant they could kill her.
At this, the father and daughter tried to kill the angel.
“It’s the same even if you kill me.”
“This bastard.”
Raphael smiled.
In a hidden dimension, they were already capturing a Lord and extracting its power for use.
And no matter how ferocious and strong this Lord had been, in the end, he was just a beast.
A creature fated to be used by the gods eventually.
“If you wish to bear a grudge, bear it against the Snake God who made an enemy of Ed—”
Right then.
Craaash!!!
With a sharp tearing sound, the wind bird holding Cheon Ji-u screamed.
A startled Raphael turned his head to see the wind bird frozen solid.
And a familiar voice rang out.
“Die.”
Along with that voice, the frozen bird screamed and shattered into pieces.
At the same time, as Cheon Ji-u fell, Hugo immediately flew over and caught her.
“Ji-u! Are you okay?”
In Hugo’s arms, Cheon Ji-u nodded.
Then.
“Kurgh...!”
Raphael, pierced by the enraged Yuha, looked somewhere.
It was where the voice had come from.
“That bastard is...!”
Hugo looked to the same place and was surprised.
He couldn’t help it.
“Kevin...! You were alive?”
“Don’t go dying on your own!”
It was Kevin, the Virgo Saint, who had gone missing and was presumed dead.
“The angels’ scheming was far too suspicious, so I just faked my death and was secretly tracking them.”
And as he glared at Raphael as if ready to kill, Raphael flinched in shock.
“Gabriel?”
“...Huh?”
Looking at Kevin, Raphael realized something and urgently shouted.
“You were here, Gabriel!”
“Who’s Gabriel?”
Raphael cried out in frustration at Kevin’s expression.
“You are a Seraphim! And the one next to you is the one who devoured you!”
“......!”
At those words, Hugo flinched momentarily.
Because he remembered the memory of devouring an angel who resembled Kevin.
‘No way.’
“Anyway, you are...!”
But right then.
“Ah. What are you bastards doing in front of my house right now?”
At that menacing voice, everyone’s bodies trembled.
(To be continued in the next chapter)