Chapter 175
Chapter 175
Uriel (3)
Uriel.
One of the four exceptionally strong angels among the twelve archangels that exist in the heavenly realm, and the most brave and righteous angel among all.
During the Heaven-Demon Great War, she contributed more than anyone else to protecting the justice of the heavenly realm, and ultimately met the fate of being sealed for 10,000 years after mutual destruction with Diablo of the Seven Seats.
"Uriel, how dare a mere archangel judge God, the Creator?"
Even while receiving Caron's anger head-on, Uriel's expression remained unchanged.
Rather, she snorted with a slightly annoyed expression.
"Huh, didn't you all make it that way in the first place? To dump all the troublesome dirty work on us."
DIING!
The light of the sword in Uriel's hand grew stronger.
That light began to flicker like flames and emit sacred light.
"That's why the Pantheon gave us archangels strength comparable to higher gods."
"Uriel, enough with your impudent words."
As the level of her remarks became quite high, Raihon gave a quiet warning.
"Oh, my apologies."
Uriel tapped her head with the flat of her sword.
"I need to quickly deal with you and have a heartfelt reunion greeting with an old acquaintance. So I'd appreciate it if you didn't bother me and just died quietly."
For someone who said 'apologies,' Uriel's tone remained exactly the same.
The person most shocked by Uriel's casual tone was Rudian.
'...Is that really Uriel?'
If you took away the sword and wings, she looked no different from some delinquent older sister from the neighborhood.
Originally, since Diablo makes his full appearance in Chapter 4 of the original work, Uriel also appears quite late in the original story.
At that time, she appeared together with other archangels without much significance, but the Uriel in Rudian's mind had the sacred and noble image of someone who boldly restrains Diablo, the god of destruction.
But... but...!
"Just because I'm injured, you think I can't handle one bitch like you!"
While watching Caron's appearance as he raged while emitting divinity, Uriel frowned.
"If you have eyes, why don't you assess the situation? You think I can't beat you up?"
Uriel became extremely annoyed and even started dropping her respectful speech.
"Even fighting at full condition in the heavenly realm, I have the advantage due to compatibility. All the more so now that I'm receiving backup from the Pantheon."
"Guh, guuugh!"
Watching Uriel consistently pressure Caron with her casual attitude, Rudian screamed silently.
Then Diablo looked at the situation in the arena and casually made this remark.
-The mad dog of heaven... Right, she had that nickname during the Heaven-Demon Great War too.
'M-mad dog?'
-From what I saw, all twelve of them were crazy bastards who went into fits whenever they saw demons, but the most impressive were definitely Gabriel and that bitch Uriel.
Looking at Raphael who supposedly smashed demons' heads with scriptures, and Gabriel who supposedly hurled profanities at Baal whenever he saw him... The archangels definitely seem to have some personality issues...
'No, my Uriel isn't like this!'
While Rudian was losing his grip on reality due to cognitive dissonance, the battle between Uriel and Caron began.
Naturally, Caron, who had already taken a huge hit from the resonance of the Seven-Colored World, had no possibility of defeating Uriel who was receiving assistance from the Pantheon.
Moreover, Uriel is the archangel who governs earth and fire.
For Caron, who deals with shadows, she was a very incompatible opponent.
"AAAH! It's hot!"
Caron's shadows were burning in the divine flames that Uriel shot out.
Having immediately subdued Caron, Uriel raised the corners of her mouth and mocked Caron.
"It won't reach complete annihilation, but you'll need at least tens of thousands of years of recovery time."
"AAAAH! AAAAH!"
"Be grateful for my mercy."
"AAAAAH!"
"......"
Was it his imagination that her expression seemed to show some enjoyment?
Uriel's actions were so relentless that he wanted to tell her to just kill him instead.
"Shouldn't we stop that?"
No matter how much of an enemy he was, it looked so cruel that Maria, unable to watch anymore, asked Raihon.
"It's fine."
Although Raihon seemed like he would have complaints about Uriel's impudent tone and behavior, surprisingly he seemed to have no particular objection to her actions.
"That's the work of pouring divine flames to reduce the backlash of causality that Caron brought upon himself."
"...It's not just torture?"
"Though it's essentially the same thing, it's to secure the legitimacy of causality that 'he drew upon his main body's power because he was damaged by divine power' before being reverse-summoned to heaven."
"Legitimacy of causality?"
"Though the order is different, it's a kind of trick. That way, at least he won't be completely annihilated."
Raihon looked directly at the burning Caron with cold eyes.
"For Caron, who violated heavenly law, it's an incomparably merciful judgment."
'...That is?'
Where in that scene could one find the word 'mercy'?
Raihon snorted and turned his gaze away.
"Uriel's irreverent attitude isn't new anyway. Nothing surprising about it."
As if his business was completely finished, Raihon began leading his following gods toward the heavenly rift where Uriel had appeared.
And just before entering that rift, he turned his head to look down at Rudian.
"This time we failed due to Caron's betrayal, but someday there will be a day when we face each other again."
"......"
"When that time comes, I'll watch with enjoyment to see what choice you make. Human who blinded the eyes of the goddess of fate."
Rudian shot back at Raihon with a blunt tone.
"Tell Garganta. His plan will never succeed."
"Heh, insolent to the very end..."
With those words, Raihon completely disappeared from the middle realm.
Except for Caron who was still burning, the affairs in Luuren were now roughly concluded.
'It'll take some effort to restore.'
However, because the area around Lu Gloria was completely destroyed due to the battle with the gods, Rudian was afraid that the spirits would throw quite a tantrum.
***
"Phew, that relieved some stress."
Caron, completely turned to ash by Uriel's divine flames, was reverse-summoned to heaven with only his soul remaining.
He would now become a body that couldn't interfere with worldly affairs at all, like Apophis.
"Well, now that the assigned work is all done..."
Uriel's eyes glittered as they turned toward Rudian.
More precisely, toward Diablo that Rudian was holding.
"Shall we have a proper face-to-face with our old lover?"
-Kehehehe, lover... Not a bad expression.
Diablo continued speaking to Uriel in a pleasant tone.
-While you were sleeping comfortably in the world, I had to spend 10,000 years of lonely time trapped in this sword. Now is the time to repay that resentment.
'...Looking at that, it was definitely a bit too much.'
He vividly remembered Diablo's sincere encouragement when he first caught him.
If it were him, he'd go crazy after not 10,000 years but just 1,000 years.
"Kihihit! I'm so happy because it's just as expected!"
-Now it's your turn to taste my pain. About 100,000 years would be good.
Ah, this is getting a bit dangerous.
The killing intent and anger that Diablo was emitting were gradually becoming so massive that they began to affect his physical body.
If Adi had been there, he could have mediated, but as Rudian now, it was difficult to completely suppress Diablo's rampaging.
If Diablo arbitrarily exploded his authority of wrath, Rudian would inevitably be swept up in it too.
It would be fortunate if the opponent avoided it, but there was no way Uriel, his worst enemy, would do that...
When the tension reached its peak, Uriel suddenly smiled brightly and sheathed her sword.
"I'll stop."
"Huh?"
-What?
Seeing Rudian and Diablo gaping in bewilderment, Uriel giggled and laughed.
"Beating up a guy who's still sealed in a sword and groveling wouldn't feel very good... no, it would be unpleasant."
"......"
Do one thing - either stop or continue.
Uriel showed signs of serious contemplation, then suddenly sighed again and shook her head.
"Haah, anyway, I came here as heaven's representative, so I can't use power for personal reasons. Also, we're not fighting in heaven or the demon realm, and if I squabbled with that guy here, I'd be no different from that idiot Caron, right?"
"Then... the reason you picked a fight with Diablo was?"
"Just to mess with him?"
-URIEEEEEEL!
Having completely sheathed her golden sword, Uriel ignored Diablo's raging and looked at Rudian.
"Anyway! Your name is Rudian, right?"
"That's correct, but..."
"I'm grateful to you. Thanks to you, I was able to wake up a bit earlier. Thanks to that, I was able to secure enough time to prepare for the apocalypse."
"I helped you wake up earlier?"
"Yeah, yeah, because you kept drawing on Diablo's power, the mutual seal between us became considerably loose."
Uriel and Diablo are, after all, mutually sealed.
The more one side's power leaks out, the more the other side is affected as well.
Rudian drawing on Diablo's power?
Certainly, considering both the amount and frequency, it wouldn't be strange for such words to come out.
"Even so, the reason I woke up but Diablo is still trapped in the sword... is probably because of the separate contract made between you and Diablo, right?"
"......"
-......
100 years.
The time of the contract made between Rudian and Diablo.
Actually, neither Rudian nor Diablo themselves would have known at the time of the contract whether Rudian would be able to handle and control Diablo's power this well.
-UAAAAH! Why did I make a contract with this brat for no reason!
'...That's too harsh. It hurts my feelings.'
When absorbing the demonic nature of Asmodeus and Marbas, he praised it as the best choice ever...
"So, now that you've had fun messing with Diablo, what will you do now?"
"I guess I should go back? Since I've seen your face and all."
"...My face?"
"Yeah, Raphael and Gabriel were full of praise. They said there was an impudent brat in the lower realm who messed up all our plans."
...Is that praise?
Rudian pouted his lips with dissatisfaction.
But that dissatisfaction didn't last long.
It was because of what Uriel said next.
"But Gabriel thinks you'll be helpful to 'our plan.' That's why I came to see what kind of guy you were, out of curiosity."
"......!"
Looking at Rudian's wide eyes, Uriel's expression became bleakly serious for the first time.
"Gabriel speculates that you somehow know about our plan... and looking at your expression, it seems right?"
Rudian's expression hardened.
'Heaven's Fall.'
A rebellion against the Pantheon and the archangels' plan to bring freedom to the angels who were created as a servant race.
Except for the final battle, it was essentially the episode that decorated the climax of <The. Chro. Seven.> and also the episode where the protagonist Abel would acquire all the Seven-Colored Worlds.
"How... may I ask what our Rudian thinks about my words?"
"Will your actions change depending on my answer?"
"Well? I don't know."
Uriel urged Rudian to answer with an ambiguous expression.
"Come on, will you give me an answer? Whether the human named Rudian Belstad is on our side, or just a greedy person who covets a god's position along with those women of yours over there."