Chapter 267
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 267
Chapter Title: No Room for Forgiveness
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BAM!!
Remiel, bound tightly in chains, made a massive movement.
The chains stretched taut with a resounding snap, sending out a faint shockwave.
"You and I can't tolerate each other, nor can we forgive. That's our atonement for the innocents we killed."
"You're right. No denying that."
Luna nodded with a gloomy expression, staring down at the floor.
No need to argue who was better.
"You're right. I was too complacent."
Luna clenched her fist, then released it.
She slipped on a pair of black gloves pulled from her subspace pocket.
"Neither of us can erase the sins we're born with. I foolishly thought that since we shared painful memories, we could understand each other—and that maybe, someday, we'd create a better outcome together."
"Hand of Fury?! Why do you have that...?"
Remiel's face drained of color. She was suspended in midair, wrapped so tightly in chains that not even a gap was visible.
"What a shame. I thought we could be good friends. But like you said, we can't."
They both hated archangels equally.
If they couldn't empathize and become friends, didn't that just mean the other was one of those damn archangel bastards?
"You bite your tongue, you fucking dog. It's not like you get to curse me alone."
"Uh... uh?! Stay back... stay back!! Don't come any closer!!"
Her face pale as she swung her body back and forth like a swing, Remiel let out a scream.
Screams then echoed from the altar bearing the suppression formation.
The sudden boom reached even me and Diablo, who were outside the sanctuary housing the altar.
"High Priest!! What's that noise from the altar...?"
"Oh, it's nothing. Just a routine inspection, so no worries. The altar's made of material that could withstand a meteor strike."
"W-well, if you say so..."
We weren't the only ones who'd heard it, so holy knights came rushing over, but Diablo dismissed them quite naturally.
Without a word, we headed straight for the altar, where we witnessed a breathless chase unfolding.
Luna was the pursuer, while Remiel desperately circled the altar in escape.
The golden chains that had once bound Remiel so tightly were nowhere to be seen.
That's an archangel?
It looked like kids fighting, but given their current situation, it was almost inevitable.
Luna's unique speech pattern wasn't an act or concept.
She had simply established her ego, and it wasn't yet familiar to her.
Lately, she didn't seem to care much about it anymore.
"Is that suppression formation really holding up?"
"The chains are just a manifestation. Archangel Remiel's power is suppressed to the extreme. Otherwise, even Luna Basilrin wouldn't find it easy."
"W-wait a second!"
"She won't kill her. Just beat her enough to vent. If she wants to make me atone for my original sin, she can come at me."
"Has this bitch lost her mind?!"
With their powers suppressed to a similar level, it came down to pure personal skill from there.
Naturally, Remiel—who ranked low in combat ability—stood no chance against Luna, who was practically a god of war, in a bare-handed brawl.
It was inevitable that she'd be on the receiving end of a one-sided beating.
Diablo spoke up.
"That suppression formation will hold indefinitely. In a few days, it'll keep her suppressed even outside the altar."
In other words, a leash around her neck.
I stared silently at Diablo, who explained so calmly, and he cleared his throat awkwardly.
"More importantly, shouldn't we stop them? Leon, if we leave them be, Luna Basilrin might beat Remiel to death."
"...Nah, let's leave it."
They weren't kids; I wasn't expecting them to bicker and make up.
I had no idea how they'd ended up like this, but as long as Luna was safe, I didn't care what she did.
She'd always ground her teeth at the very existence of archangels anyway.
Remiel seemed more focused on individual archangels than the concept itself.
Either way, if they couldn't be friends, they were enemies.
That was their choice as archangels, not something I could force.
Honestly, Remiel had a point.
Even without egos, archangels had caused plenty of sorrow in the name of God's will.
I wasn't altruistic enough to blame Luna for it.
Luna and Remiel fought to their hearts' content, ending with Remiel passing out.
But this seemed to leave Luna with a lot on her mind.
The moment we returned to Cascadia territory, she vanished, wanting to be alone.
Knowing her habits, I found her on her favorite terrace under the moonlight.
"You okay?"
"No issues. Personally, though... not so much."
"When do things ever go easy?"
"Remiel wasn't wrong."
She'd been squatting with her face buried in her knees but slowly lifted her head to stare at her open palms.
"I knew my hands were stained with blood."
I quietly sat back-to-back with her.
"Like Remiel said, how dare I talk about justice with blood on my hands..."
If she'd gone mad like Remiel and wanted to destroy everything including herself, it might've been a cleaner situation.
But Luna still held hope that something could be done, even now.
"Who cares? It wasn't even your choice."
"An assassin's sin doesn't vanish just because they took a contract to kill. Why did I delude myself into thinking Remiel would see me positively...?"
She probably hadn't done anything different back in her archangel days.
Was this what a kid who couldn't make friends looked like?
"Remiel's staying there for a while. They say she'll be a big asset against the rampaging outer gods, like it or not."
"..."
I kept talking to her silent form.
"It'll be fine. Lisper Elde said that, but if she truly hated you beyond endurance, she'd have lunged at you the moment she saw you, like when she glimpsed your true form."
She was an archangel. No matter the suppression, if she'd really wanted to tear Luna apart, that formation couldn't have held her.
"She was probably confused too. She's never met someone like you."
Unlike the archangels Remiel knew, Luna had awakened her ego, tormented herself over it, and was trying to change. That must've shocked Remiel more than she'd admit.
"You can't fill up on the first sip. We'll find the path slowly."
"Yeah."
"And about those innocents who died by your hand... Honestly, I see the old archangels as little more than machines."
You punish the murderer who stabbed with the knife, not the kitchen knife itself—there's no point.
"You're not just a tool anymore. Since awakening your ego, you haven't harmed anyone recklessly."
After her seal broke, she'd never blindly lashed out at anyone.
That was enough.
I snapped my fingers, summoning a light rain over the mansion grounds.
"It's raining. It'll drown out any noise."
At my joke, I felt Luna shift against my back.
Then came a soft chuckle.
"Pfft... You should read romance novels in moderation."
Guess it's not meant to be novel-like.
Trapped in the suppression formation, Lisper Elde Remielria—Archangel Remiel—gazed calmly at the night sky while plucking the strings of her lyre.
Beautiful melodies flowed from it, filling the air with peace.
Priests of the Holy Kingdom, weary from overwork and passing by, stopped one by one at the lyre's sound, turning toward it as if entranced by her song.
The song wasn't long.
But its magical calm washed away their built-up fatigue and stress in an instant, bringing serenity to their faces.
"Your playing is as masterful as ever."
The Holy Kingdom's heart, the Papal Palace, had countless spires, and the roof of the one Remiel occupied was off-limits to most.
A massive man approached the girl sitting there indifferently and spoke.
"Thanks, Diablo."
"No problem."
"At least I don't have to see that damn true form."
"She's still the main god the Holy Kingdom reveres."
"And that's my problem how?"
Her giggling, with that blue hair—it was hard to believe she was an archangel.
But Diablo said nothing more.
Remiel was under the suppression formation's effect.
She couldn't draw her full power, but her music wasn't the sort that could be blocked by mere suppression.
"Are you dissatisfied with having your power restrained?"
"I would've been before... but now?"
She lowered her gaze.
"Not sure. I just feel off. Really off."
"Because of Raphael?"
Diablo asked, hands behind his back, looking up at the sky.
Remiel said nothing, but her silence was answer enough, and Diablo caught it.
"It must be confusing. Honestly, Raphael has changed a lot from before."
"One of the three fucking bastards changes, and what does that matter?"
"Fair point. But among archangels who've gained egos, she's the only one besides you who regrets and rebels against God."
Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raguel, and so on.
Of the seven archangels, all except Raphael and Remiel remained unchanged.
"Meaning you're not the only one sharing that conviction."
"Spare me the preaching. Think that'll change my mind?"
"Not at all. Your choice, and whatever happens isn't my concern. But I do owe Luna Basilrin..."
Remiel shot a glare at his chuckling form and turned away.
"What a pain in the ass."
"She's the only one who can truly understand you."
Diablo brushed dust off his pristine white robes.
"Fighting's a personal choice, but shouldn't we prioritize stopping the outer gods threatening humanity right now?"
"If I help the outer gods, we can drag God down."
"And in turn, all the lives you tried to protect on this land would vanish."
Protect, or avenge. Choose one.
Remiel pouted discontentedly, then muttered softly while gazing at the moon.
"What a pain..."