Wings of Repentance
One hour before launching the operation to ambush the Tearful Marionette by using Bahel as bait. I was deep in conversation with Iriniel—one of the Seven Stars who had accompanied me as my bodyguard on this trading expedition. She was also known as the Atoning Winged One, or the Wing of Repentance, and the daughter of Gahenna, the fallen archangel and an Original Prisoner.
“So what you’re saying, employer, is that the Cathedral of Misfortune lies hidden beneath this remote principality?”
“Correct. More precisely, it would be accurate to call it the newly constructed Cathedral of Misfortune.”
At my answer, Iriniel paused mid-swirl of her glass of red wine and furrowed her brow.
“Why are you suddenly dumping classified information like this on me? My job is to guard the guild leader, not hunt monsters.”
I gave a light shrug. At the same time, my gaze drifted to the long coat tails draping behind her. Normally concealed by magic, but beneath that fabric lay six pairs of wings befitting her title as the Wing of Repentance.
‘There was a setting briefly mentioned in the original work during the fight against the Tearful Marionette.’
The fallen archangel Gahenna. Iriniel carried the grand ambition of tearing apart every Original Prisoner who had blocked her father’s return to the heavenly realm. Yet in the original story, she never achieved that goal. Her power fell just short of what was needed to handle a fully restored Tearful Marionette, no matter how fierce her desperation.
I studied the space behind her for a moment, then drove straight to the point with a serious tone.
“Don’t you want to avenge your father?”
“…….”
The air in the room seemed to shift. Then—
Six Wings of Black and White
From behind Iriniel, six pairs of wings—half pitch black, half pure white—unfurled wide enough to fill the entire lodging. The wine glass in her hand shattered instantly, splattering red liquid across the table. Finally, a razor-sharp killing intent clamped down on my throat.
‘As expected… She’s an equal even without the Original Prisoner title.’
“You bastard… Did you dig into my past?”
Her voice dripped with fury and bloodlust. The menacing aura suggested she was one second away from ripping the battle axe off her back and splitting my skull open. Yet I didn’t even flinch. Instead, I calmly tilted my teacup and continued.
“I looked into a few things. What kind of guild leader entrusts his life to a bodyguard without knowing their background?”
Normally I would speak politely to those who deserved respect. But to keep the current atmosphere rolling, informal speech was the right move. I had to make it clear who stood above whom, or things would become exhausting later.
“It’s fine to be angry, but shouldn’t facing reality come first? Do you honestly believe you can hunt every Original Prisoner with your current strength? No. You absolutely cannot. You must feel that limit in your bones already.”
“…….”
At my provocation, Iriniel opened her mouth to snap back, then clamped it shut. Her massive wings trembled. I had precisely stabbed the weakness she most wanted to ignore, so her reaction was only natural. Of course, this assumed all the Original Prisoners had reached their final stage of growth—a fact she still didn’t know.
“But right now, the Marionette is incomplete. She’s using that idiot Bahel—the principality’s heir—to gather despair and restore her power. In other words, if we don’t strike now, before that monster fully regains her past glory, you will never avenge your father.”
“…So?”
“We’ll use Bahel as bait. While the fool reels from being betrayed, we smash through the cathedral ceiling and launch a surprise attack. Your overwhelming might as the strongest of the Seven Stars combined with my complete knowledge of that monster’s weaknesses… turns this from a gamble into a certainty.”
I smiled faintly and extended my right hand.
“How about it? A rather tempting offer, isn’t it?”
“⋯⋯.”
The killing intent that could have slaughtered hundreds slowly receded. Iriniel continued glaring at me with eyes still flickering with rage, but her mind had clearly accepted that my words were correct. If an Original Prisoner revived in perfect condition, even the title of Seven Stars offered no guarantee of victory. After all, even her father—who had been far stronger than her—had lost his right arm in the process of winning.
The deliberation didn’t take long.
The six massive wings dissolved into particles of magic power and faded back behind her.
“Fine… Well, this isn’t the time for pride. My goal isn’t to defeat the Marionette. It’s to cut off her breath once and for all.”
Iriniel, who had calmly acknowledged her own shortcomings, took my hand firmly.
“If we can truly kill the Tearful Marionette through this surprise attack as you say, guild leader… I’ll return every one of the five thousand gold coins I received as my escort fee.”
“No. I won’t accept that.”
Why would I take back five thousand gold coins? That was precious money I had forced out the door, ignoring even Elenoa’s tearful screams, all to drive the guild into bankruptcy.
“…First time I’ve ever seen a merchant refuse money even when it’s offered back. Well… understood.”
Although she had clearly promised to help in the fight and lend her strength, I ended up doing nothing at all. I could only watch quietly as two supreme beings clashed.
The reason was simple.
‘There’s… literally no opening to step in.’
The battle between the two strongest was simply too ferocious and too sincere.
“You damn puppet whore! If it weren’t for you, our father would have—!!”
The black-and-white wings extending from behind Iriniel whipped up a violent storm. At the same time, pure white light began condensing above her battle axe.
Fallen Angel's Execution
The slash traced a semicircular arc and tore across the cathedral floor as if slicing tofu, hurtling straight toward the Marionette.
Of course, the Marionette had no intention of simply taking the hit.
“How dare a pathetic bird in a cage—!”
Tears gushed from her empty eye sockets, clumping together in midair before forming a massive spiderweb-like barrier.
Weeping One's Bloody Cradle
The instant the blade of light and the blood-red spiderweb collided head-on, a tremendous explosion shook the entire cathedral.
I snatched Bahel by the scruff of his neck just before the shockwave could send him flying and hurled us both behind a massive, undamaged altar pillar.
“Huff… huff. W-what the hell is…”
Bahel collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath. Having witnessed a clash of mythical calamities he had never even imagined, he was completely out of his mind.
‘Finally realizing what kind of being you’ve been cozying up to?’
‘Still, I get it. Even after his fiancée cheated and his purity… Ah, damn it.’
I roughly shoved him into the corner and cautiously peeked out from behind the pillar to survey the battlefield.
Even though the Marionette had not yet regained her full strength, she was radiating tremendous magical power worthy of an Original Prisoner. Countless strangling threads danced wildly from every direction, aiming to slice off Iriniel’s wings.
Yet a smile far more relaxed and maniacal than the Marionette’s played across Iriniel’s lips. At the same time, her eyes weren’t locked on the puppet’s head or heart. Instead, they obsessively tracked a slightly twisted spot near the right shoulder joint.
‘That damn puppet’s true core isn’t the head. It’s the tiny Clockwork Core hidden inside the right shoulder joint—the first place the creator’s thread was sewn.’
This was the fatal weakness I had revealed to her right before the operation. Only veterans of the original work would know it.
And the moment the Marionette crossed both arms to widen her barrier and draw out every ounce of power, the gap in her right shoulder joint was left completely exposed for the briefest instant.
Iriniel, who would never miss such a microscopic opening, exploded all six pairs of wings at once and vanished from sight. The next moment, her battle axe—having pierced straight into the upper body—slammed precisely into the Marionette’s right shoulder.
Crack—!
“A-aaaaaaaagh!”
With a single lapse in vigilance, the Clockwork Core was completely shattered. The Marionette’s body convulsed as if struck by lightning. The bloody tears pouring everywhere boiled and evaporated. The taut blood-red threads all snapped at once and scattered across the floor.
“Go tell our father hello, you worn-out old puppet.”
“You insolent—!!”
Iriniel retrieved her battle axe and swung it horizontally. The Marionette’s upper body shattered completely and scattered into the air.
It was the moment one of the Thirteen Calamities crumbled into a handful of ashes before she could even display her true power.
I stared at the center of the cathedral as the dust settled, then stood up while brushing the dirt from my pants.
With the Original Prisoner dealt with, it was time for the next phase.
I walked over to Bahel, who was still trembling with his back against the pillar, crouched down, and met his eyes at the same level.
“You saw it clearly with your own two eyes just now, yes?”
“Y-yes…?”
“As we discussed earlier, you will lend us your full strength when we attack the Valta Principality later. Understood?”
To bring the entire eastern civil war under my complete control. To cleanly destroy the Valta Principality that was cooperating with the Witch of No Desire. And to borrow Iregos’s power to accomplish it.
This was the picture I had drawn to salvage some benefit from an already twisted situation.
“⋯⋯.”
Bahel’s gaze darted between the devastated half-destroyed cathedral, the Original Prisoner reduced to dust, and finally Iriniel, who hovered in the air flapping her wings while sheathing her killing intent. Eventually he swallowed hard, his face half-dazed, and nodded.
“I will… definitely cooperate.”
“Thank you.”
Well… at least the calamity had been eliminated. Since he had promised to keep the secret, this Iregos affair would be neatly wrapped up here.
“So… Bahel. Everything that made you seem so talented until now was all… because of an Original Prisoner?”
By the time everything had been settled and Ideon Caldia, leader of the Caldia Merchant Guild, along with Seven Stars Iriniel had returned to the Serbenrote Empire, Bahel had decided to reveal the entire truth to his father.
He poured out every detail—the events that had occurred, his own rage, and his desire to set things right from the beginning before it was too late—to Aibenter Iregos, the current ruler of Iregos and the wisest prince on the continent.
Aibenter was left utterly speechless by his son’s sudden and shocking confession.
“…….”
Aibenter remained silent for a long time. His gaze shifted back and forth between the crown of his son’s bowed head and the bundle of documents scattered carelessly across the floor.
An Original Prisoner. The realization that his son—who hadn’t shown much anger even after being betrayed by the one he loved—had actually been holding hands with a calamity that could destroy the world was a truth even a nation’s ruler struggled to bear.
“…….”
After an excruciatingly long silence, Aibenter slowly rose from his seat. He approached his son, who still hung his head low.
Bahel squeezed his eyes shut and hunched his shoulders, bracing for the harsh rebuke he expected. But what touched the top of his head was not a fierce slap, but a rough, warm hand.
“First of all… thank you for speaking honestly, even now.”
“F-Father…?”
Aibenter gently pulled his foolish yet pitiable son into his large arms.
“As your father, I should have noticed your suffering sooner and helped you… I’m sorry. It must be because this father was so lacking that you ended up taking the hand of that terrible sinner.”
At his father’s voice, heavy with self-reproach, Bahel’s eyes reddened instantly. He let out the breath he had been holding and began to sob uncontrollably. Aibenter simply patted his son’s back in silence.
It was the moment he bitterly regretted all the times he had turned a blind eye to his son’s wounds under the excuse of protecting the family and the territory.
“I don’t know how long it will take… but this father will bear that heavy burden together with you.”
“…….”
“And the Den Barbier Principality and their princess, who caused all of this, will be held properly accountable.”
“Thank… thank you. Thank you so much.”
Inside the broad, warm embrace his father offered, Bahel wept for a long time, as if washing away all his past pathetic grudges and blind thirst for revenge.
After seeing off Bahel, whose eyes were now swollen, Aibenter returned to his desk, sank heavily into his chair, and covered his eyes with one hand.
After a moment of quiet reflection, he carefully picked up a single document that had been placed neatly on the corner of his desk.
It was the weapon supply contract left behind by the young leader of the Caldia Merchant Guild, Ideon Caldia.
Party A: Caldia Merchant Guild — Ideon Caldia
Party B: Iregos Principality
Terms: Full cooperation in eastern matters. Overwhelmingly favorable conditions granted to Iregos with no additional compensation required.
“Ideon… Caldia.”
A man who had cleanly resolved a crisis that could have reduced the entire principality to ashes—without demanding any compensation. No, he had instead offered overwhelmingly favorable conditions.
‘He must have known everything from the start.’
Now it made sense why he had rejected the overtures of so many powerful nations and chosen Iregos. He had already known that a prisoner branded by the world was targeting his son.
“Truly remarkable… at such a young age.”
Before that overwhelming insight and strategy, even he—a ruler of a nation—felt infinitely small.
“Duke Caldia.”
Aibenter ran his finger lightly across the signature and let out a hollow laugh.
“I never imagined that among those exceptional bloodlines, they would have hidden such an absurd monster so thoroughly.”
I don’t know what that man is truly looking at. But compared to the foresight that could toy with even the Beginning Demon Beast in the palm of his hand, the military power of the Iregos Principality might be nothing more than a single useful piece on the board.
Precisely because of that, Aibenter decided to willingly become a piece on that vast board. Rather than becoming enemies with such a monster, faithfully playing his role within the man’s grand design and collecting the crumbs that fell would be the most perfect and wisest choice for his territory.
He opened the drawer and took out the seal of the Iregos family.
“Therefore, we who have been fortunate enough to recognize the unknown true value of that monster first…”
Thud!
The seal crushed red wax onto the contract, leaving a clear imprint.
“…will borrow it for a while.”