Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Beneath the Abyss
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Humans can become endlessly cruel for the sake of profit.
I had prided myself on knowing that fact well,
and I knew just as well that I had seen the very bottom of it.
However.
At this moment, I realized.
Beneath the bottom...
lies an even deeper bottom.
That God has ample reason to punish humanity.
I realized that fact.
...
{Sob... sob... sob...}
The little angel shedding tears before me.
The story that came from her mouth—of angels being misused.
Hearing that tale, for the first time I realized that even without a mouth, I could feel nauseous.
{I'm... sorry... I... I just wanted to live... I just wanted to survive... So... so please... stop...}
She poured out tears of remorse.
Seeing her like that, my heart ached even more.
Sorry?
What on earth was there to be sorry for?
This child had done nothing wrong.
This pure, innocent young soul, knowing nothing, had simply followed the orders given to her.
The sin lay solely with those demons who had shoved hell into the blank slate of this little angel's heart.
This child's hands, stained with blood,
were still impeccably clean.
{!...}
...
I spread my wings, carefully enveloping her small body.
I had no idea how much this would help.
But even so,
I hoped it would bring her at least a sliver of peace to her heart,
and ease even a little of the guilt she needn't bear.
With a calm voice, I spoke to her.
[You bear no sin.]
{...B-but...}
[I will say it again. You have no sin. I guarantee it.]
{...}
She fell silent for a moment.
I couldn't be sure if my words truly comforted her.
But there was one thing I could say for certain.
This child trembling wordlessly in my embrace.
If anyone cast stones at her actions,
it would be no god, but a devil.
And...
'The ones who drove her to such deeds... they must surely be devils worthy of the name...'
No matter what humans called them,
no matter how great their power,
for whatever reason,
those who committed such acts
had no right to exist in this world.
'I've been too complacent all this time. I had some inkling from the talk of living sacrifices... but to think such creatures... such scum were calling themselves gods and ruling this world.'
Beings who valued human lives like those of flies,
who delighted in their blood,
exploiting them,
and violating them.
How could such things be called gods?
This world was still being drained of its vital blood by these very beings,
with countless souls shedding bloody tears.
The little one now cradled in my arms was merely one part of that cruel sacrifice.
The moment I acknowledged that fact,
a single purpose took root in my heart.
Going beyond merely uncovering the cause of Heaven's fall,
to completely liberate this world...
this world dominated by those fucking false gods.
And the beginning of that would naturally be this very place, filling me with such vivid rage at this moment.
Sodom.
The ones who defiled angels and spilled their innocent blood countless times... their sins demanded they pay with everything they had.
With that resolution,
I immediately set off toward that damned city.
But...
[!...Damn.]
*
{Guh... ugh...}
{Sob!..}
With pained groans, it collapsed to the floor.
They had pink hair and pink eyes.
Angels.
Among them, those who had survived to this point by killing countless others.
But at this moment, they realized.
This time, the ones to die
would be no one else, but themselves.
A being with the exact same appearance as them.
No—outwardly similar, but possessing power beyond anything they could touch.
Seeing it defeat them utterly with pure force,
fear began to rise in their hearts.
They knew.
They were mere creations for experimentation.
The role of failed experiments
was simply to become fodder for the victor in death.
Even knowing this to their bones, a corner of their hearts still clung to the desire to survive,
and with unmoving bodies, they simply gazed at it in terror.
But...
{?...}
Wh... why...?
She neither finished them off nor sheathed her weapon—she simply watched them quietly.
It couldn't be.
It was impossible.
Like the sun rising in the west,
the loser's life was forfeit to the victor by rule.
Regardless of their pure wish to live, this was an occurrence that could never happen.
A miracle akin to the sun rising backward.
As they felt doubt
and confusion,
she gazed at their fallen forms and spoke softly.
[Just... wait a little... I'll pay it back... definitely... your debt... I'll pay it back...]
{?}
Words their knowledge couldn't comprehend.
Yet at the same time,
a vivid emotion they too could feel...
what was called sorrow.
Leaving them with even greater doubt,
it vanished from the spot.
Without finishing them off, even at the very end...
*
There is a proverb in the East.
螳螂搏蟬 (The Mantis Hunts the Cicada)
This phrase means the mantis, fixated on the cicada before it, fails to notice the bird stalking from behind.
And now.
The man who had been smoothly advancing the great Baal God's plan.
Archmage Gai Anar.
Realized too late that he had become the mantis.
-Boom!!!
A heavy, bone-rattling vibration.
From far below,
toward this topmost floor where they had hastily evacuated,
it climbed slowly, pulverizing layer after layer.
Its presence chilled Gai to the spine.
"The... Fourth... Suppression Squad... all... wiped... out..."
"Fifth defensive line collapsed! It's heading to the next floor!"
It began from a completely unexpected place.
A sudden rampage by an 'experimental subject.'
Starting with the massacre of the mages in Lab Zero at the lowest level, it was laying waste to every facility in the magic tower as it ascended.
Its form was no different from the countless subjects used in experiments before.
An angel with pink hair and white wings.
The differences were just two.
One, it didn't obey their control, like the recent defective product.
And the other, the power it wielded surpassed every experimental subject they had ever created.
They deployed every magic beast they had developed.
Simple chimeric constructs.
Magic hounds infused with demon blood.
Hydras with dragon heads grafted on.
Even disposal squads made from angel remnants.
But it was futile.
That thing,
still emitting sounds of ripping something apart as it approached,
crushed every creation of theirs like insects.
They even threw in incomplete Great Seraphs with similar forms, just in case.
But even those could at best cling to its ankles.
Inflicting no meaningful damage, they were simply subdued.
'Why... why did this happen?'
All experiments were conducted under perfect control.
There was no possibility of variables,
and the brainwashing had been flawless.
Yet what was this incomprehensible failure?
Could it really end like this... just like this?
'No... no... it can't end... like this!'
There had to be a way.
Though the exact process was unknown, they had succeeded in creating a Great Seraph—or something comparable—with their own hands.
If they could just capture and study it,
they could surely recover from all losses so far.
With that decision,
Archmage Gai issued new orders to those around him.
"Mobilize every available force immediately. We will seize that experimental subject no matter wha—"
At that moment.
-KABOOM!!!
"!"
Before his words finished, a massive explosion erupted.
Thanks to activating his shield, he barely defended, but the space around him was devastated.
Moments later, as the thick dust settled,
Gai's eyes caught sight of it.
"Guh... ugh... heuk..."
It stood there, blood-soaked, having ripped out a mage's neck—and spine—with its bare hands.
And.
[...Found... you.]
"Kkh!"
The moment it turned and spotted Gai,
it flashed a chilling smile.
As it approached slowly, crimson eyes gleaming, Gai unwittingly staggered back in fear.
Y-you bastard! Wh-what is the meaning of this? How dare a mere created being defy its creator like this?!"
[...Creator...?]
Its voice was utterly icy.
Seized by confusion, terror, and rage, Gai spewed whatever came to mind.
Th-that's right! I made you! I breathed life into soulless husks with my own hands! And you betray that grace to do this? How dare a worm not even worth a lab rat—!!! Guheuk!!"
In that instant.
It reached out toward Gai.
The choking pain that followed made Gai clutch his throat, gasping desperately.
St-stop... p-please... enough..."
[Filth...]
"U... g... h..."
[You don't even deserve death.]
With a cold voice, it tore something away.
The intense agony that hit at the same time.
Gai realized too late what it meant.
The soul.
His soul forcibly ripped from his flesh.
In pain worse than death, he screamed,
but no sound escaped him anymore.
A soulless body has no mouth.
All it could do was flicker violently like a dying flame.
Toward that soul, losing its form and slowly crumbling,
she—
Arcroyal, bearing that name, continued pouring out her blazing hatred.
"Ha... haha... hahahahaha! Ahahahahaha!!!!"
Tears of blood streaming from crimson eyes.
Hatred.
Madness.
And empty laughter laced with futility.
At that moment...
[Stop.]
[!..]
The voice ringing in its ears.
A sound so clear it stirred her heart even in this situation.
At that,
it—the Great Seraph
Arcroyal—
slowly, tremblingly turned her gaze toward the source.
Beyond the shattered wall, gazing at her.
The one she never wished to face in this shameful moment.
Looking upon that figure,
Arcroyal twisted her lips into a smile
and painfully opened her mouth.
[Se...raphim... nim...]