“So you’ve caught on, too.”
“!”
Kevin appeared before Lee Geon.
But at his appearance, Lee Geon scowled. He couldn’t help it.
‘An angel?’
There was no mistake.
Though the other party was unmistakably Kevin, the stench of Eden was wafting off him.
And not just any ordinary one.
But as if that didn’t matter, Lee Geon glared fiercely at Kevin.
“Caught on to what, exactly?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know. There’s no way a guy like you wouldn’t have noticed. Hugo, I mean.”
“…….”
“He’s a filthy monster. A lord-level one at that.”
At that, Lee Geon immediately shot Kevin a displeased glare.
“So what. What do you want me to do about it.”
Lee Geon’s tone turned razor-sharp like a ghost. And with good reason — the look in Kevin’s eyes was nothing like usual.
It was a look that treated Hugo, no, treated all of them as complete enemies.
Sure enough, Kevin looked at Lee Geon as if he were crazy.
“What do you want me to do? If that thing is a monster, you of all people should know who’s in the most danger.”
There was no need to answer.
‘Family.’
And not just them.
“All the humans you barely managed to save will end up dead because of that monster! So it’s better to kill him now. I don’t want to see a friend suffer because he ends up hurting everyone around him.”
But at those words, Lee Geon suddenly let out a scoff.
“You son of a bitch, so that’s when it was?”
“!”
“If you’re going to fool someone, pick your target better. Reeking of chicken, who are you trying to act like you care about humanity for?”
“…….”
“What, you got your old memories back and suddenly want to help your chicken comrades?”
“!”
Quick-witted Lee Geon could tell what had happened to Kevin.
When they had killed Raphael, his feathers had definitely fallen all around them. Kevin must have been hit by them and recalled memories from his soul.
Actually, hadn’t they heard that when they went to the divine realm?
Not all humans are like that, but the more special their abilities, the more likely an Awakened is to have a past life.
Then it was obvious.
Kevin was a talent that rivaled the top among the saints, an Awakened who had been called a genius swordsman from the start.
Of course, he’d never beaten Lee Geon even once.
‘Anyway, was he a throne-level angel or something?’
Sure enough, at that moment.
[We have come to escort you.]
[Our great captain.]
An unfamiliar voice came from Kevin’s shadow.
And at the angels’ urging, Kevin snorted and turned away.
“Yeah. You’re right. Well, thanks to that, I guess I’m lucky to have lost any lingering attachment to humans too.”
“You serious?”
“Yeah. So I’m going back to where I belong.”
At the words “where I belong,” Lee Geon laughed as if disgusted.
“Where you belong? You don’t mean a chicken coop, do you?”
“What if I do?”
At Kevin’s ambiguous look, Lee Geon laughed out loud.
“I’ve only got one answer to that.”
Lee Geon raised Celestial Judgment.
And it was then.
BANG!
[The patron god’s lost instinct has been awakened.]
* * *
Meanwhile, around the same time.
“You look happy.”
“!”
At the sight of the angel who appeared before him, Hugo’s eyes turned fierce.
“You!”
The one who appeared was Michael, the angel with one arm blown off.
“The garbage that should’ve disappeared long ago is grinning here instead.”
This bastard?
Hugo immediately summoned flames.
These bastards were the same kind as Raphael, who had taken his wife hostage.
“You piece of shit, how dare you break into someone else’s house?”
An intense blaze of fire struck at Michael as if to bind him. But at those flames, Michael’s eyes flashed.
Then something astonishing happened.
CRASH!!!
As if he could control fire just as well, the flames veered past Michael.
“!”
At the same time, Michael smiled and said.
“I, too, am a ruler of fire. Do you think the fire of Olympians or whatever will work on me?”
Calmly extinguishing the fire, Michael leisurely sat down on the sofa.
“The proxy of the great High God has come all this way, and this is the welcome you give? When an honored guest arrives, you should at least offer some te…”
But Michael couldn’t finish his words.
A chain of light suddenly flew and choked him.
“Urk!”
It was a skill Hugo had cast. And as the chain wouldn’t break even with divine authority, Michael gritted his teeth.
‘That must be the serpent god’s technique.’
So it was true he’d become a patron deity of Ophiuchus.
As Michael glared, Hugo sneered.
“Our Geon really loves chicken. You think resistance from some chicken bastards will work?”
At that, Michael, who had been dumbfounded, burst into cackling laughter.
“Has this son of a bitch forgotten he’s a Cruder? A Cruder following a serpent god, mating with a human, even popping out kids?”
As if telling him to get lost, Hugo tightened his grip on his neck even more roughly.
Honestly, after the sensation of killing Raphael and the goddess, he was in a chaotic state.
But what did that matter?
“Geon and my wife are people I chose because I liked them. They’re people I’ll protect from bastards like you from now on. If I’m really a Cruder like you say, do you think I’d feel that way?”
At that, Michael laughed as if he couldn’t stand it anymore.
“People to protect? Did you just say people to protect?”
“Yeah. And do you know what percentage my faith in the Serpent God is? A whopping 6…!!”
Hugo put a hand to his forehead as if hit by reality.
But he continued.
“Ha... Yeah, 60... No, 600%, it’s 600%!!! Like a Cruder would just do that to a god and pick a human wife…”
However, before he could even finish, Michael laughed like mad. But the laughter soon stopped.
“Hey.”
“?”
“So that’s why you chose those two. You moron.”
“……!”
Hugo frowned, but Michael spoke as if that was the real point.
“The Creators were originally craft gods. So while that insane combat power that could even be called war gods was something they raised themselves thanks to the Cruders, Lee Geon’s soul itself was still a demigod. Because he’s a half-breed.”
As if asking if he didn’t understand what that meant, Michael continued.
“Cruders love prey called gods the most in the world. That’s why you took a liking to Lee Geon at first sight.”
“……?!”
Hugo looked as if he’d been hit.
Was that why he had stubbornly tried to serve Lee Geon as a master even while getting pummeled like that?
No, the even more mind-breaking part was that he’d had such loyalty toward prey.
Hugo seemed to lose his mind for a moment, but soon just accepted it.
Well, he could see how that might be.
But his wife was different.
“Fine, maybe I was drawn to Geon because he’s a god, but my wife is different. I chose her because I loved…”
“Your wife is the same. You idiot.”
“…What?”
“Do you think a special ability like Lee’s, one that even threatened a High God, can appear in an ordinary human?”
This time, even Hugo couldn’t laugh.
Because he had caught on to the meaning of those words immediately.
And sure enough.
“Scribes were low-ranking gods belonging to the divine realm who managed the achievements of the High Gods and the records of the divine realm.”
Michael raised the corner of his mouth.
“In other words, your wife was also a nameless low-ranking god belonging to the divine realm.”
At the talk of his wife, he seemed completely frozen.
Because there was no way he didn’t know what that meant.
As proof, Michael looked extremely gleeful.
“Those you thought you chose as a noble human by your own will — you just picked them out through a Cruder’s instinct. And the very fact that you chose them only reveals your filthy instincts even more…”
Michael laughed as he said that.
It was because, as if in shock, Hugo’s hand holding the chain was loosening. And as if relieved, he waited for it to come off quickly, but.
CLANG!!
“!!”
Hugo tightened his grip on the chain again and glared at him.
“Why are you doing this to me?”
Though Michael was pouring out curses from the pain, he looked at Hugo without showing it.
“What. You’re curious about that?”
“Is it a grudge for having devoured gods?”
“If you know, then act right. The perpetrator pops out sons and daughters and lives happily-ever-after with his wife? Do you ever think about the victims? While doing that, you act like a hero of humanity and make a fool of yourself?”
At those words, Hugo froze.
The chain that had bound Michael slipped loose.
And at the sight of him completely broken, Michael let out a satisfied laugh.
In truth, a victim’s grudge or whatever — Michael had no such thing at all.
What did it matter if the lord had snatched up and devoured gods?
Those who were eaten were simply weak, and yes, there had been some losses from it, but there had also been gains.
In other words, he’d just come to torment this bastard because he couldn’t stand the sight of him.
In short, it was revenge.
‘Wasn’t it because of this bastard that my father also fell into a sleep from which he knows not when he’ll awaken?’
So it was only natural he’d be even more pissed off.
‘A vulgar wretch who, of all people, ran around with the Creators, no less.’
The Creators.
Those who had once been called geniuses of the divine realm as direct subordinates of the Primordial Gods.
But.
‘Those who dared try to teach the gods when they’re nothing but lowly craft gods themselves.’
Weren’t they just punks who threw their weight around by relying on the Primordial Gods?
And originally he had planned to finish Hugo off himself, but he’d been intercepted midway in Mahabharata.
Well, in the end, the overweening Creators were all dealt with too, and Asran, who had been the biggest thorn in his side, was gone, so he didn’t care about their gang anyway.
‘Still, this bastard probably only hung around them to eat the Creators himself.’
Why would a 1st generation lord, lacking for nothing, join hands with his prey?
Well, the past didn’t matter anyway.
‘Right now, he’s a wretch who’s gone through reincarnation and can’t even use his strength.’
Seeing Hugo completely out of his mind, Michael cackled as if satisfied.
He had stopped by this place to recharge the power the lord had done to him anyway.
‘Using the land of the god of life really was a good choice.’
Though he was only about half recovered, now that he had regained a certain level of strength, this bastard couldn’t touch him anymore.
[Holy Spirit Body Conversion (Phasing)]
‘Alright, the time has come, so I’ll head back first and gather the gods on Earth.’
He would quickly make the domain of the Serpent God his own.
And that wasn’t all.
‘If I torture him, I’ll learn how to wake Father, and find out where the throne angels hid their divinity.’
Just as Michael was about to unfurl his wings in a refreshed mood.
GRAB!!!!
“!!?”
Michael’s blonde hair was seized violently, nearly yanked out by the roots as he turned around.
And he was mercilessly dragged along.
“Wai… urk!”
And at the moment he wondered what was going on, Michael turned his head and was startled.
Hugo, gripping his hair, was grinning with a menacing look in his eyes.
* * *
It was around that time.
“It’s the captain!”
“Could it be? Is it truly Lord Gabriel?”
Eden was in a festive mood for the first time in hundreds of years.
It was all because of Kevin, whom the angels had brought. And it was for the position of the five captains of Eden, which had been vacant for so long.
“When we think of the humiliation Eden had to endure all this while because the ruling gods were absent…!”
Thousands of angels rejoiced at Kevin’s return.
“Do you recognize us now?”
“Yeah, I was late in recovering my memories, so my return was delayed. I’m sorry.”
“It’s a relief that you’ve come, even now.”
“Lord Michael will be happy too.”
Having left Lee Geon behind and come here, Kevin nodded while gritting his teeth.
“I’ve been shamed and disgraced all this time, playing a damn human game.”
“Yes, but everyone will be delighted.”
“Will they, now?”
“Yes! Inside, the preparations to welcome you are already…”
It was right at that moment.
SLASH!!
The head of the angel guiding Kevin fell.
And Kevin, who had beheaded the angel, calmly wiped the blood from his sword.
The screams erupted a few seconds later.
“Kyaaah!!!”
“O, angel of the Throne! What are you doing in front of our Father… hurgh!!”
Another head tumbled to the ground.
In an instant, the Garden of Eden turned into pandemonium, and everyone looked at Kevin accusingly.
“Lord Gabriel! What is this!”
But Kevin, who had mercilessly cut down the angels, smiled viciously.
“Want to die?”
“Lord Gabriel???”
“Gabriel my ass. Get lost, morons. You ignore me for ages and then come crawling back spouting bullshit. But thanks to that, I did get a thorough tour of you chicken bastards’ headquarters.”
The angels who caught on to the situation turned deathly pale.
It was because of the angelic power Kevin was wielding.
“Why are you doing this! That power is definitely…!”
“Ah, yeah. Thanks for the power you gave back.”
“……!!!!”
“You dare toy with humans, attack a pregnant woman, and then send pieces of trash like that as new saints?”
In the end, the angels who realized the situation hurriedly tried to form a defensive line, but a light that split the earth fell upon Eden.
BOOOOOOM!!!
[Eden Stronghold is being absorbed into the territory of the Ophiuchus.]
[Experience points are directed to the Serpent Bearer.]
It was the moment the angel camp was shattered in an instant.
It seemed he had intended this from the very start.
(To be continued in the next chapter)