Chapter 49
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Fallen Angel's Sanctuary
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"Man, it really is one tough bastard."
At Leon's snide remark, Barba's eyes flashed fiercely once his regeneration was complete.
The eye that had been pierced at the start was already back to normal.
Of course, Barba had burned through a massive amount of energy in the process, so he no longer saw Leon as mere prey to hunt at will.
Instead, he was treating him like a genuine threat, proceeding with extreme caution.
Even amid the endless waves of aura and death spirit mana pouring from Leon without respite, Barba's presence remained rock-solid on the surface.
To be precise, no matter how weakened it was, for Leon to be clashing head-on with a divine beast capable of shredding even Sword Masters meant he had to be insane.
While Leon kept fighting, Melissa had led Luna Bazilin Raphaelía to a spot some distance away for safety and was in the process of breaking her seals.
Once those seals were undone, she could assist Leon.
"Ah, hold still for a sec. This is tricky to unravel."
"Does that even make sense? How can any living creature be that unbalanced?"
To Luna Bazilin Raphaelía, the sheer volume of death spirit mana and aura Leon wielded was anything but normal.
It was a vast power so immense that even she couldn't fully comprehend it.
And his situational awareness and combat instincts were so swift and sharp they barely seemed human.
Yet his realm and current physical condition were far too feeble by comparison.
No, could you even call it feeble?
It wasn't feeble per se, but it fell woefully short compared to those other two aspects.
It was like some overwhelming powerhouse had lost their realm entirely, with only their mana or aura left intact while their body reset to square one.
But that wasn't a real solution.
At that moment, Luna Bazilin Raphaelía's head turned toward the rift that served as the exit.
It looked fine at a glance, but she belatedly realized something was wrong at the entrance.
"Damn, looks like the rift's entrance is already sealed off. No time. Undo this side first."
With her decision made, she shifted her wings and made her request.
"Wings first? Hang on a minute."
Melissa carefully began untangling the chains binding her wings.
One by one, the firmly secured chains crumbled away with a crumbling hiss, like flakes from a weathered wall, until one of her gray wings flapped powerfully.
"Good. That's plenty."
With those words, her wing erupted in blinding white light.
The light simultaneously enveloped Melissa, Luna herself, and Leon's bodies.
At the same time, another beam of light twisted into chains that wrapped around Barba's form, halting its movements.
It was a power much like the one she'd used to subdue it initially.
The lights extending from those chains also erased every claw mark and blazing sacred flame scarring the empty air.
As if healing wounds in the very void itself.
"Need a hand?"
"I crammed in curses deep enough that only a sliver remains. It's poisoned now, so if I just stall and buy time, it'll be fine. Got a spot to hole up?"
Leon replied during the brief lull, reeling in his explosively surging momentum.
"There's one place in this space that's truly safe. We'll head there. Why'd you stick around so stubbornly instead of just bailing?"
"No dice. That thing dies here."
Though not as intense as before, Leon's eyes still flickered with sharp, sky-blue ferocity.
It was a bone-chilling killing intent.
"Teleporting now."
Her wing scattered a muted glow, and the scenery around the three of them shifted in an instant.
A cozy little cabin. And breathtaking scenery all around it.
Stunned by the sudden change, Melissa looked around.
"Where... is this?"
"This is the innermost sanctum of the seal—even Divine Beast Barba can't just barge in. I couldn't enter originally either, but..."
She turned her head toward the wing whose chains had been freed.
Meaning entry was possible now that the seal was partially broken.
"Anyway, we're safe here for the time being."
As if she'd exhausted all her strength, she collapsed limply to the ground.
"Carry me, please. There's a bed inside the cabin."
Leon carefully scooped her up at her request, and she giggled softly with her eyes closed.
"How long do we need to hold out?"
"As long as possible. Its resistance is way down—at least three hours holed up here, and not even Barba's ancestors could take us down easily."
"Divine beasts aren't that fragile."
"Even at sixth circle, I jammed in seventy curses and poison spells. It won't last."
Even among sixth-circle necromancers, those were high-mana spells they could only cast once or twice before being tapped out.
But with near-infinite fuel, it was a feat only Leon could pull off.
"Shouldn't be an issue."
Barba was strong, no doubt—but with its weakness exploited and poison coursing through, it was out of options.
In front lay a serene, crystal-clear lake.
Behind rose a massive mountain blanketed in pristine snow.
Was this what perfect feng shui felt like?
The cabin was spartan in its simplicity, yet it carried an oddly comforting warmth.
I laid the thoroughly limp Luna Bazilin Raphaelía down on the bed inside.
"Your space?"
"No. Not where I lived."
She spoke calmly, but a subtle emotion laced her words.
Nostalgia? Guilt?
Hard to say.
"This is the place where the two most precious people in my life once lived. Of course, it's just an illusion crafted from my memories—not the real thing."
In other words, this space—including the entire interior of the rift—was born from her recollections.
This cabin must have been tucked away in the depths of her memories.
The interior wasn't large.
Just the right size for two people. A quick scan of the furnishings clearly showed traces of their life together.
"Leon! Check this out! A golden apple... Ah!"
Melissa, who'd apparently circled the area, came back holding a gleaming golden apple—and screamed.
The apple in her hand dissolved into motes of light.
"Everything here is mere memory. No physical substance."
"Never seen an apple like that before."
"It's no ordinary fruit. Humans never get the chance to lay eyes on it."
What, like the fruit from the tree of knowledge or something?
She seemed reluctant to elaborate, so I dropped it.
"What a shame... Anyway, I'll finish unbinding those chains."
Melissa calmly began untangling the remaining chains on Luna Bazilin Raphaelía's body, one by one.
All she was doing was loosening the knotted links—no magic involved.
"Hold up. You've got an injured leg yourself—what do you think you're doing? Let's heal that first."
"Oh. Right."
Melissa jolted as if she'd completely forgotten about the major gash on her leg.
But then she stared blankly at her now-perfectly fine leg.
"Huh? Why's it all better?"
"I healed it. Basic treatment's child's play for me."
Her nonchalant explanation prompted me to grab her leg roughly and inspect it.
"Hey, hey! Don't manhandle a lady's leg like that!"
"Pipe down. Gotta make sure."
I checked her muscles and bones with a serious expression. Miraculously, it was fully healed.
After that, Melissa bounced on the spot a few times to test it, then wore a satisfied grin as she resumed freeing Luna's chains.
I'd originally planned to handle it, but she'd refused, saying I couldn't just grope a young girl's body.
In the meantime, I chatted with Luna.
"So, what's your deal, exactly?"
"Luna Bazilin Raphaelía."
Her speech pattern was ridiculously unique, same as the librarian's.
"Not asking for your name. Your identity."
"Hm? You don't know? Got it. I'm a fallen celestial."
She stated it matter-of-factly.
"Fallen celestial?"
"An angel who betrayed God. My wings were originally pure white, but they blackened upon my fall."
She mentioned being a fallen angel with zero fanfare.
Sure, the black tint on her wings and halo ring made sense that way.
"Do angels all talk like that?"
I lobbed the blunt question without hesitation.
"No. I'm a special case. Wasn't on purpose."
She didn't bat an eye.
"Why keep your eyes shut?"
"Circumstances. I see what I need to."
She casually flapped her newly freed wing as she spoke.
"So you fell, became a fallen angel, and got sealed up? Something like that?"
"Close enough."
I didn't pry deeper into her personal history.
"Angels in the flesh... I thought the church stories were just tall tales."
"Angels aren't anything special. The upper seven archangels are another story, though. Even ordinary angels and battle angels can't just meet them. And they lack any sense of self."
The upper seven she'd mentioned were pretty famous.
God's right hand, the angel of martial might.
The angel bearing God's revelations.
God's left hand, the angel of love and healing, and so on.
House Cascadia wasn't particularly devout, so I only knew the basics from hearsay.
Stuff like how one kingdom survived a catastrophe because the revelation angel descended, warned of disaster, and left—saving countless lives.
"One more time: I'm a fallen angel. Betrayer of God. You still gonna free me?"
Melissa and I exchanged a glance at the question.
Then answered simply.
"Our house isn't big on faith. Don't really care. No reason to buy into angels blindly."
Especially Melissa—she had no love for God.
"If God actually watched over us, He wouldn't have let Mom, Dad, and Arsha slip away so pointlessly."
Luna reached out with her freed arm and gently stroked Melissa's head at the venom in her voice.
"Well done. Believing or not—that's a right granted to all living beings. We angels never had that luxury."
In the end, she'd sparked some incident, fallen, and ended up sealed here.
That raised a question.
"So, do all fallen angels get sealed like you?"
"The sin I committed dwarfs a mere angel's fall."
"At this point, personal or not, I have to ask."
I posed the question.
"What'd you do?"
She fell silent for a moment, then shrugged.
"Defied God's will. For an angel, God's will is everything."
Born to serve God, living solely for Him—for an angel, that was a sin beyond measure.
Though it might be grave to angels, to us it just felt like... so what?