The Angel Who Drew the Holy Sword (7)
Have you ever heard of the Christmas Truce? It was a small incident on Christmas Eve during World War I. The front lines were deep in the midst of war. Just moments before, soldiers had been desperately trying to kill each other, consumed by hatred, enduring the cold and pain as they held the line. It was an ordinary day like any other. The only difference was that it was Christmas Eve. And then, carols began to drift in from somewhere. Carols praising the heavens and their angels. Carols rejoicing in the arrival of the Savior. Those who heard the carols could no longer fight. And so, a miracle occurred. The people stopped the battle.
In the same way... the plea of an angel holds a similar power. Even the blood-maddened war goddess Rusa, even the sword saint Park Jinho who had coldly pressed Jeogwol... that voice had the power to make them turn back. The power to calm people.
"Hah, hah... Stop. Please..."
Refri gasped for breath, murmuring for them to stop.
Stopping a tragic battle is truly an angelic deed!
You have acquired Angel Power.
'Good. Drawing the holy sword will require a ton of Angel Power.'
The boy smiled brightly, relieved that the fighting had stopped. Watching him, Park Jinho spoke in a cold tone.
"Refri, do you even realize what you're doing right now?"
"Yes, I know. I'm stopping the massacre of an entire race right now."
"No! What you're doing is tantamount to shielding the Demon King's minions! There will be disciplinary action for this later, so stand down!"
Refri looked at Park Jinho. His expression was as cold as his moniker "Iron Blood" suggested, but upon closer inspection, there was a faint crack in it.
"Professor. The Dalgoyang clan fled to this world to escape the Demon King. And they've even been cursed as revenge by him. Do you really think people like that would become his subordinates?"
"If it means survival, humans will bow even to the killer of their own child. You still know far too little about this world."
Park Jinho's overwhelming pressure was impossible to hide. Even Jeogwol, who had been facing him until moments ago, shrank back and took a step away. But Refri did not retreat.
Angels grow stronger when they do what is right!
And saving a race from massacre, saving the hundreds of thousands living in Gumyo Fortress—that was truly the right thing to do.
Angels transcend their limits when they truly do what is right!
Refri felt himself growing stronger than ever before. Thus, he did not yield to Park Jinho's pressure.
'Sacrifice...'
His mother, who had hidden him under the sofa. And who, to the very end, had refused to reveal his location to those thugs. Refri held back the tears welling up.
"If it's for their child, humans will throw away even their own lives without hesitation. Professor, you still know far too little about this world."
Park Jinho glanced around. Even Jeogwol, the matriarch of the Dalgoyang clan, and the famed war goddess Rusa had retreated before his aura. But what was this boy, who not only refused to yield but advanced step by step?
'Such a boy... no, such a warrior deserves to parley with me.'
Park Jinho acknowledged Refri.
"The Dalgoyang are thieves and assassins. They are corrupt to their very roots."
"Even so, you have to give them a chance."
"Why?"
Refri's face filled with earnest desperation. It was as if an angel was pleading with him directly.
"Professor, why do you fight the Demon King? To save the world from destruction, right?"
"Indeed."
"Then you have to give the Dalgoyang a chance at salvation too. That's why we fight. To give warriors—and ordinary people—a chance at salvation, isn't it?"
Park Jinho's voice grew rough.
"We know that too! We know the Dalgoyang need a chance! We know they walked a dark path because subhumans are rejected across both the otherworld and the human realm! But it's already too late!"
"Why? If we can just break the Demon King's curse, the Dalgoyang could be a huge help to humanity."
"I know. But there's no way anymore. As you must know..."
Park Jinho shouted in a resolute voice.
"Only the True Holy Sword Lande can sever the Demon King's curse. And no hero has yet been found to draw Lande."
"I see."
Refri gathered his Angel Power. And he walked toward the center of the sanctuary.
"Then there's no choice."
Watching Refri walk forward, Park Jinho shouted.
"Believe this professor's words! They're too late! They've already walked the dark path! What is there to fear in an even darker one?! Refri! I'm right, so don't—"
"It's not too late."
Everyone there turned to look at the boy. And in that moment, they realized what he intended to do.
"That boy... he's going to draw the holy sword."
"No way, even seeing our fallen kin like this... he's still going to try for the holy sword?"
Refri approached the holy sword.
'This is the holy sword the hero wielded. The True Holy Sword Lande.'
The sword looked utterly ordinary. No flashy glow, no ornate patterns on the blade, no elegant crossguard—nothing. Aside from the rusted pommel and grip, it was just an arming sword. A bit short, too.
'Forged from midinium, a material whose hardness and strength increase over time... Judging by that hardness and strength, it was probably forged right after creation itself.'
Forged right after creation. A sword made by the gods themselves. The holy sword among holy swords. The divine punishment it inflicted on the unworthy was incomparably severe compared to others... Truly a sword only a hero could wield.
Yet no hero had appeared before the world faced destruction. They couldn't wait any longer.
'And I'm an angel. Last time with that holy sword replica, nothing bad happened... so I should hold out this time too.'
What Refri was banking on now was his angelic racial trait (resistance to holy swords) + the angelic buff from saving an entire race + all the Angel Power he'd accumulated through good deeds so far. The ultimate trinity. This was the best he could do. Honestly, he was a little scared...
'But with my angelic trait, I'm confident I'll survive. Even if I burn a bit for a moment, I can recruit Hongwol as a hero candidate. Plus the goodwill of the Dalgoyang, the Angel Power I'll gain this time...'
He muttered to himself.
'...When I add it all up, it's a huge profit!'
Finally, even factoring in the worldly gains.
"It's not too late."
Refri grasped the holy sword.
* * *
The people didn't witness a miracle. They merely saw a boy striving to create one.
It was a fact everyone knew, but Refri was no chosen hero. The moment he gripped the sword, divine punishment engulfed him, and he began turning white bit by bit. With the punishment already wrapping his entire body, survival was impossible. Unless an angel descended and performed a miracle.
Hongwol shed tears as she lay collapsed.
"Idiot... idiot..."
Beside her, Park Jinho wore a hollow expression. Rusa bitterly lit a cigarette.
"Why... such a sacrifice..."
"Damn it..."
And Soya, having pulled her hat brim all the way down, crouched with muffled sobs. "Hic... ngh... ugh."
But the boy did not let go of the sword. Even if he wasn't the chosen hero, even if he wasn't heaven's appointed foe of the Demon King, if there was someone pressing on regardless...
It was coincidence. The divine punishment was a fire fiercer than any other. Such flames would eventually melt even the stone sealing the holy sword. And melted stone could no longer seal the blade.
Thus, though no hero, Refri drew the sealed holy sword.
"Refri...?"
The people didn't witness a miracle. They saw only the boy making one.
Park Jinho, entranced by the sight, could only mutter:
"No way..."
The boy walked forward. Because angels were the race most resistant to divine punishment by nature, because angels were the race able to wield holy swords, because angels grew stronger when doing right—and by expending the Angel Power accumulated through countless good deeds on his divine abilities—the boy endured.
Park Jinho murmured.
"Was I... wrong...?"
The boy silently gazed at the curse on Jeogwol's wrist.
Slash— The curse that had doomed an entire race was severed.
"Wrong..."
And the boy collapsed.
"It's good that I was wrong..."
The man called Iron Blood, who was said never to have cried once since becoming an adult—Park Jinho—was weeping now. No, not just Jeogwol and Hongwol—most people there were already in tears.
"Park Jinho! What are you doing? Call the healers now!"
"I-I'll go!"
"Bring the best healers from Gumyo Fortress, fast!"
Professors, Dalgoyang—everyone rushed to the boy.
And they cried out desperately.
"Save this boy, no matter what!"
* * *
Deep into the night, bloodlines etched across the dark sky. Flows of power like veins connected the stars in beautiful patterns. A terrifying yet awe-inspiring sight. The majesty of nature itself.
The bloodlines spread further. A light vaster than any constellation. People watched, speechless. Some from the otherworld murmured the names of long-vanished ancient gods.
It was the light of Refri's Angel Power merging with the holy sword's might, spreading outward. One could call it the afterglow of a miracle.
One person who saw that light muttered:
"Finally! Finally...!"
Hexi, the top archer and junior professor at Central Superhuman Academy's Archery Department. Ignoring Park Jinho's order to hold position, she ran toward the main building like a madwoman.
"That light...!"
The pure white light pouring from the main building. Hexi knew it well. How? Because she had been the hero's companion.
Of course, she'd never actually met the hero... Wait, if she'd never met the hero, why was she called his companion?
It was a tragic tradition of the otherworld. To prepare for the hero who would one day appear, they selected the finest among them and appointed them to the hero's party. But could ordinary humans suffice as the hero's companions? Even if not chosen directly by heaven like the hero, they had to do something similar, right?
The method people devised was simple. Revive the corpse of a dead angel via necromancy, then use that angel to select children as heroes.
But this was something that should never have been done. Just as Refri was a guardian angel needed by Soya and Hongwol, every would-be hero needed a guardian angel. To a hero, a guardian angel was more important than anything...
"Angel-nim."
There was a girl named Hexi. The duke's daughter, the most outstanding child in the capital. On the day she survived that brutal selection and was finally appointed a hero's companion, she descended into the dark basement beneath the grand cathedral and received an embrace she could never forget. Holy power filling her body. The feeling of being chosen. And her precious guardian angel, unforgettable.
It was withered and shriveled.
"Angel-nim..."
An emotion that could never be fulfilled shattered the young Hexi's heart. Hexi wept without even screaming in grief, and her new siblings wept with her.
Hexi, one of the four in the hero's party—now classed as top-tier professor level—murmured:
"Angel-nim..."