Chapter 263
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 263
Chapter Title: Remiel's Temple
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She harbored a strangely intense hostility toward the very existence of archangels.
Even though she herself was one.
I'd once seen Luna flare up upon spotting the demon Diablo back in the old Holy Kingdom.
But unlike her rage toward Diablo, she seemed far colder and more detached as she smashed the archangel statue.
"Archangel Michael... What about those broken ones over there?"
"The other fucking pricks."
It was an assessment devoid of even a shred of hesitation.
After venting her fury like that for quite some time and utterly demolishing the Archangel Michael statue, she let out a short breath.
Then she plopped down onto the floor with a thud and sighed heavily.
"So, did you find the ring?"
"Not yet. No luck."
Laplace's Compass always pinpoints its target without fail.
But the ring's presence wasn't detectable here.
I had embedded a trace of my magic in it back when Fate Lord crossed through space.
If the ring was really here, I should've sensed it the moment we arrived.
As I scanned the surroundings, I noticed something out of place among the statues lining both walls.
"Luna. Why'd you leave that one alone?"
Amid the shattered statues, there stood the only archangel figure Luna hadn't touched.
It depicted a girl holding a beautifully designed lyre in one hand, with three pairs of wings spread behind her back.
Unlike the others, she stood alone in the inner sanctum of the temple, aloof and majestic.
"I didn't plan on smashing that one."
"Who's she? She's pretty."
My honest appraisal narrowed her eyes.
"On second thought, maybe I should've smashed them all equally..."
"Kidding. But seriously, any reason?"
She had pulverized every last archangel statue.
Her own statue—as Raphael, God's left hand and archangel of healing—appeared to have been destroyed for reasons other than her handiwork, but this one alone remained pristine, piquing my curiosity.
"The Angel Who Sings for God. Her music soothes the world's sorrows and calms its grief. This is the temple of Archangel Remiel."
"Hm?"
"In simple terms, Remiel was the odd one out among the archangels."
Ah, the class loner? Now that's an intriguing and curious tale.
Hearing archangel gossip straight from an archangel— the Holy Kingdom's priests would've been drooling to record it.
"Aren't archangels supposed to lack self-awareness?"
"They moved solely by God's will. But Remiel was a bit different, even among them."
She was ostracized for it.
Of course, that's not how the archangels would put it. But apart from all archangels mobilizing at once when God's decree came down, Remiel had occasionally defied those orders.
"Couldn't understand it back then, but now I get it."
"Got any anecdotes?"
Nothing had blocked our path since that first divine beast, Barba.
She fell silent, seemingly unwilling to share.
But soon enough, she spoke slowly.
"Long ago, a wounded demon appeared in a small village."
Oh, an old legend. Color me intrigued.
Luna activated the inner temple door and, without a word, brushed her hand over Remiel's statue as she recounted a tale from ages past, unknown to the world.
The demon, gravely injured and on the brink of death, had been saved by a child from that village.
Despite her own harsh life, the girl took the demon home, nursed him with devoted care, and ultimately restored him to health.
The demon felt gratitude toward the girl and vowed to protect her for as long as she lived.
She was just a village girl, after all. How many threats could warrant a demon rampaging in her defense?
It probably never even violated the divine laws.
The girl had no other family.
So the demon became her brother, her father—her family.
As they grew close, he was father and daughter to her, friend to friend. They comforted each other and enjoyed their quiet peace.
The demon taught her everything he knew, and among it all, she shone brightest in the healing arts.
"A demon teaching medicine?"
"What, in a world where demons play high priest?"
"Fair point."
Not all angels are virtuous, nor all demons evil. That's just stubborn prejudice.
Krrrrrind!!!
As the massive stone door ground open, Luna glanced at the compass and descended once more.
Any hidden mechanisms in this temple posed no obstacle to her; she manipulated them effortlessly.
"Anyway, what happened next?"
"Around that time, a massive war broke out near the village where the girl and demon lived. Two great noble houses of the kingdom waged civil war, and one night, a noble struck by an arrow came seeking her out."
The girl, famed in the village for her miraculous healing, treated the noble, who thanked her profusely before departing.
That's where the trouble began.
For some reason.
After the noble left and the war ended, unexpected visitors came for her.
"The kingdom's prince had heard the rumors and summoned her to the royal court. The demon, worried about the beautiful girl, wanted to accompany her, but she insisted on going alone, concerned for his fragile health."
Fragile health?
"A demon's wounds don't heal with simple treatment. Anyway, she sent him letters regularly after leaving. She'd treated royalty and, as reward, enrolled in the medical academy of her dreams."
She stopped walking.
Having reached the temple's end, she sat and gazed at the statue of the girl playing her lyre.
"The letters kept coming. One year, two. But on the fourth year, they suddenly stopped."
Weakened as he was, the demon couldn't bear the worry. He left the village and headed to the kingdom's capital, to the academy where she stayed.
There, he learned her fate.
She had been branded a witch and executed in the public square.
The demon's shock was beyond words.
"To the demon, the girl was like a precious daughter. Hearing she'd been abruptly executed crushed him."
"Yeah, history's full of those innocent burnings."
Plunged into despair, the demon unleashed his full demonic power to uncover the truth behind her death.
And he learned it.
"The prince, smitten by her beauty, tried to take her, but she refused and fled. Enraged, he accused her of witchcraft and dragged her before the Inquisition."
The witch trials back then were a farce anyway—no justice involved. She was swiftly condemned, pelted with stones by the crowd as she was hauled to the square's center, and burned alive.
The prince had brutally executed others who displeased him before.
Furious upon discovering this, the demon raged.
"Bet he went berserk."
"The culprit was the prince, heir to the throne. But that meant nothing to the demon."
"Figures."
"Especially since this demon rivaled a legion commander angel in strength. Killing the prince would've been trivial if he wanted. But he couldn't."
The reason was simple.
Archangel descent. Angels and demons—especially high-ranking ones—were forbidden from freely using power in the human realm.
The demon was a high-ranking powerhouse.
Even on the verge of death, his might was beyond what that petty kingdom could withstand.
As the enraged demon moved to slay the prince...
Three archangels descended to judge him.
God's right hand of martial might, Michael.
The archangel of life's and death's flames, Raguel.
And finally, the archangel of God's knowledge, Uriel.
The demon was ultimately subdued.
Forced to kneel before the human prince, he screamed at the archangels looming arrogantly from the heavens.
Was driving that kind, virtuous girl to her death truly God's will? Why punish not the demon-like humans who slew countless innocents?
Luna, even in the heavens, heard what Archangel Michael said as he pierced the demon's heart with his spear.
[Do not question God's will. The fate ordained by God is not for lowly creatures to judge or decide.]
The prince spread word that the archangels protected him, bolstering his position.
There, the demon wailed. Let him slay the fiend. He begged God desperately.
But in the end, he couldn't fulfill that wish. Impaled by the archangel's spear, he had no means to endure.
The demon perished, and the prince proclaimed that God had smitten the demon threatening him, affirming his own nobility.
The archangels merely executed God's will, never interfering in the human realm's ensuing issues or changes.
God may have seen something else. Perhaps those two's sacrifices sparked some greater future event.
But what of the sacrificed pair?
That was why Luna rebelled against the world's system, harboring resentment.
"Long ago, I lost two precious beings to something similar. But I resent God... and yet I don't."
"Why?"
"I never expected anything from Him. Still, some archangels yet align with His will."
That must explain the icy demeanor she showed those trying to take her life.
In the end, all fell silent before the tragic conclusion.
All but one.
The archangel who sang God's blessings chose action over silence.
"Leon. Know of any kingdoms unrecorded in history?"
"A few. Why bring it up? Related to around here... Ah."
Soon after. An archangel descended upon the royal castle once more. And the kingdom's royals vanished entirely, reduced to ashes.
"That wasn't God's decree. It was her choice."
An action an archangel without self would never take—yet she punished them without hesitation, hurling the prince and all involved into hell, appeasing the souls of the wronged girl and demon.
"I don't know what became of her after that."
"But aren't all archangels still active?"
"By that logic, what about me?"
Fair enough. With former archangel Luna right beside me unscathed, it hardly mattered.
I never knew there was such lore among the archangels.
By her account, the archangel of melody might as well be dead.
"I hate archangels. The very idea pisses me off. But not Remiel."
I approached the statue slowly, not hiding her bittersweet tone.
Then I scanned it with the Heart of the Machine God.
In truth, Luna hadn't mentioned it, but temple ruins like this dotted the continent.
Yet divine beasts like Barba had never appeared before.
It could be due to Luna, but I doubted it.
"Ugh... Doesn't seem to be here either..."
Luna muttered glumly, rummaging through dusty old boxes in one corner.
That was when it happened.
New data flowed into the Heart of the Machine God.
Eh?
I began receiving information from deep within the statue.
And made contact with something inside.
-Can you hear me?