The Forbidden Fruit
The Observer of Wisdom widens one eye in shock.
The Heavenly God is horrified.
The One Who Eradicates Sin is startled.
The Hawk Wearing Overlapping Crowns shows curiosity toward your proposal.
…….
The thin veil of clouds parted to the left and right.
A blinding radiance pierced straight through the crown of my head.
Hmm.
Just sending a ‘message’ was enough to shake the very balance of the Tower. These guys really weren’t ordinary.
—They all seem far from ordinary, partner.
Of course you wouldn’t know, Goddess.
Quite a few unfamiliar constellations have shown up, haven’t they?
The One Who Eradicates Sin—Vishnu, God-King of Veda.
The Hawk Wearing Overlapping Crowns—Horus, God-King of the Ennead.
Both were God-Kings on par with Zeus or Odin.
Only those two had their messages projected earlier, but dozens of other S-rank constellations had sent messages as well.
And then—
The Lord of the Polluted Throne remains silent.
The One Seated on the Throne remains silent.
Even Metatron and Baal.
Constellations could only interfere directly with the Tower by expending their spiritual power—‘divinity.’
Yet the number of God-King rank constellations alone was already beyond what I could count on one hand.
With dozens of S-rank constellations showing interest, the very space where the trial was taking place began to feel the strain.
—Just what is this forbidden fruit that has them all in such a frenzy?
Hmm.
Of course you wouldn’t know, Goddess.
The Forbidden Fruit.
More commonly known as the Fruit of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
It was the symbol of the taboo that had supposedly separated gods from humanity.
After the Garden of Eden vanished beyond the Veil, the fruit’s whereabouts had become a mystery.
And I had pointed exactly at that fruit.
The One Seated on the Throne cannot hide his bewilderment.
Naturally, he would be shocked.
The fact that Angelus possessed the Forbidden Fruit was classified as top-tier confidential information.
Who told me?
In my previous life, someone had revealed the structure of the Sephiroth Tree to me.
And in this life, a certain angelic bastard who loved to stir up trouble had secretly whispered it to me.
***
The One Seated on the Throne proposes changing the reward.
He says he can even offer one of his own holy relics if you wish.
Yeah. No deal.
—It is a holy relic of a God-King. You could devour its essence.
Just wait a little longer, will you?
There’s a reason I’m doing this.
Negotiation?
Normally I would have used this to squeeze out something even bigger.
But the situation right now was a little different.
I leisurely crossed my arms and waited until Metatron offered the reward.
The One Seated on the Throne lets out a soft sigh.
The One Seated on the Throne fulfills the contract.
A crimson fruit fell from the sky.
I snatched the apple-like berry before it could touch the ground.
◈ A fruit containing the wisdom to distinguish good from evil. Consuming it allows one to comprehend phenomena beyond the Sea of Understanding.
It was the genuine article.
Before the constellations could start screaming even louder—
“Log out.”
I immediately left the Tower.
Whew.
My scalp was still burning.
—Contractor.
“Yeah. Looks like you need an explanation.”
—It would be wise to break that nasty habit of making me wait.
After nearly getting grabbed by the collar by those constellations right from the first floor, she was still acting like this.
Hmm.
I fiddled with the Forbidden Fruit in my right hand and opened my mouth.
“The Forbidden Fruit is a holy relic created through a joint effort between Angelus and Pandemonium.”
—Hoh. Those two sides that are practically mortal enemies actually joined hands?
“Angelus had a reason worth doing so.”
The monsters that existed beyond the Sea of Understanding.
They had done it to observe the Outer Gods—beings from beyond the universe.
—Such reckless behavior… for what purpose?
“To find the Absolute One.”
The absolute existence said to have created Angelus.
Furthermore, the one who had shaped the entire universe.
In Olympus, it was called ‘Chaos.’
In the Avesta scriptures, it was known as ‘Ahura Mazda.’
***
Angelus’s goal was to locate the primordial deity whose traces appeared across countless mythologies.
“Do you remember Metatron’s constellation name?”
—The One Seated on the Throne, was it not?
“It means he is a proxy sitting upon an empty throne.”
The angels who served the Absolute One.
That was the entire reason for Angelus’s existence.
Even though the ‘being’ they were supposed to serve didn’t actually exist.
Metatron had gone so far as to join hands with the demons standing at the opposite extreme because he wanted to know where the Absolute One was.
“Holy power and dark mana. The Forbidden Fruit is an object created by colliding those two symmetrical forces.”
An artificial recreation of the Big Bang.
The holy relic that forcibly parted the Veil and allowed one to peer beyond the Sea of Understanding—that was the Forbidden Fruit.
—It is far grander in origin than I imagined.
Nyx carefully examined the fruit.
—But would it not be dangerous to take a relic connected to the outer universe?
“Insanely dangerous.”
Honestly, I had been extremely tempted by Metatron’s holy relic.
But my ability tree already contained the ‘Void’ attribute, and I had that suspicious thing stuck on the back of my hand.
So, swallowing my tears, I had rejected Metatron’s offer.
—Then at least drool a little while you speak.
“Ahem. You have no idea how hard it was on me.”
—You are drooling right now.
Tsk.
Our Goddess was getting better and better at verbal jabs.
I had no idea which rotten bastard was teaching her.
If she only learned from a good person like me, she wouldn’t be nitpicking every little thing.
It must be Jiyoung.
That girl. Training session added once more.
—You are having strange thoughts again.
“No I’m not?”
—Just eat the fruit you worked so hard to obtain. I shall stand guard for you.
It was inside the guild house, so nothing should happen, but I didn’t refuse the Goddess’s kindness and sat down in the lotus position.
The Forbidden Fruit.
It was a holy relic I had never eaten even in my previous life.
I couldn’t be certain what would happen when I consumed it.
Even so.
There had to be a reason why both Metatron and Baal had been so shocked.
The Shining Trapezohedron attached to the back of my hand.
If I wanted to make the burden Yog-Sothoth had placed on me into my own power, I needed the Forbidden Fruit.
Crunch!
Without hesitating any longer, I bit into the Forbidden Fruit.
* * *
The highest place in Angelus.
Inside the sanctuary built above the clouds, someone was bowing their head so deeply it touched the floor.
***
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m really, really sorry!”
Long pink hair swayed up and down without pause.
Her face was buried so deeply in her arms that it couldn’t even be seen.
The archangel facing her let out a short sigh.
“Stand up, Ariel.”
“But, but, but……”
“I will not repeat myself.”
At the firm tone, Ariel reflexively straightened her back.
Seeing her shrink back and avoid his gaze, the wrinkles on Metatron’s face deepened even further.
However.
Metatron relaxed his expression and put on a gentle smile.
“Rather, it is I who should apologize to you.”
“Y-yes?”
“I asked a mortal to defeat you.”
It had been Metatron himself who had asked Jinho to take Ariel down, even staking a holy relic on it.
“Th-there must have been some grand purpose beyond my shallow understanding.”
“Thank you for forgiving me. I hope you will not hold it against yourself either, Ariel.”
“But to use something as precious as a holy relic just because of someone as worthless as me!”
“What matters is what you felt from it.”
Metatron gazed at Ariel intently.
“What did you learn from today’s battle?”
“I learned that not all mortals are weak and pathetic.”
“Correct. There is no such thing as a truly worthless life.”
A pale hand pointed at Ariel.
“That includes you.”
“Y-yes? Y-yessir?”
“You are a treasure of Angelus. There is no need to belittle yourself so much.”
“Ah, aah. Saying something like that so suddenly……”
“I hope this opportunity helps you cherish and love yourself more, and learn to be kinder to others as well.”
Why had Ariel turned out with such a personality?
She had been born with an overwhelming amount of holy power.
Her combat sense, talent for holy laws—there wasn’t a single area where she fell short. She had quickly been chosen as a candidate for the vacant seventh archangel seat.
The problem was that despite her immense talent, her personality was incredibly timid.
‘If she were an ordinary angel, it wouldn’t have been a big issue.’
She possessed an enormous amount of holy power from birth.
Chosen as the next archangel, she had undergone rigorous training.
At the mortal level, she was already beyond comparison.
Even among the seraphim who stood just below the archangels, some found it difficult to handle Ariel’s strength.
‘Because of that, she even learned the emotion she should fear the most.’
The being who had once been Metatron’s brother and the archangel most suited to sit upon the empty throne.
Yet he had tried to seat himself above the stars only to fall to the earth—a sinner.
The emotion that had caused Satan’s fall—‘pride.’
How shocked he had been when he discovered even a fragment of it within Ariel.
That was why.
He had asked the rising mortal named Jinho to defeat Ariel, even staking a holy relic on it.
‘Do not forget this defeat. Free yourself from pride.’
The seed had been planted.
Since Ariel’s nature was not evil, it would surely bear fruit.
“Hic! Archangel-saaaaama!”
***
“That is enough for today. Go rest.”
“Y-yes, yessir.”
At the gentle dismissal, Ariel quickly retreated.
Metatron watched her go with gentle eyes, then suddenly clicked his tongue.
“Do not pester me.”
【Kikiki. I waited quite a long time, didn’t I?】
The sanctuary fluttered violently in a fierce wind.
A mouth sprouted from the long shadow cast across the floor.
Crimson eyes flashed as they stared directly at Metatron.
“I believe I warned you before not to enter the sanctuary with those filthy feet.”
【Then why don’t you come to Pandemonium immediately when I call?】
“Hmph. Do you think you can handle it?”
【If you want to fight, we can settle it right now.】
Baal lightly provoked him.
“I’ll pass. I have no desire to do something that would delight the other gods’ societies.”
【You really are no fun at all.】
“I have no intention of dancing just to entertain your amusement.”
At Metatron’s blunt reply, Baal, who had been giggling, suddenly dropped all traces of laughter.
【That thing. Where did you get it from?】
“I do not know.”
【You’re certain it wasn’t one of your chicken-wing brats?】
“Let me ask the opposite. Can you swear on the stars that you had nothing to do with it?”
【If you want, I’ll swear. Shall I even walk the River Styx for you?】
“……There is no need.”
Swearing on the stars—staking one’s presence as a constellation—was a heavy burden even for a demon who lied as easily as breathing.
The fact that Baal was acting so confident meant he truly had no connection to it.
“Just how did that mortal learn about the Forbidden Fruit?”
【Isn’t recovering it more important?】
“He knew its value. He must have eaten it immediately.”
【Kikiki. You gave up fast.】
“At the point it left our hands, it is better that it disappears entirely.”
The Forbidden Fruit was a relic that symbolized one of Angelus’s darkest histories.
Joining forces with Pandemonium had been shameful enough to make one kick off their blankets in the middle of the night for thousands of years.
Yet even after peering beyond the Sea of Understanding, they had gained nothing.
On the contrary, the angels who had witnessed the outer gods had fallen into corruption.
Wasn’t the current vacancy of one archangel seat also a lingering effect from that time?
“We only kept it because we couldn’t bring ourselves to destroy something so valuable.”
【And now a mere mortal has taken it.】
“Wasn’t he the one you were watching so closely?”
【That guy… he might actually be able to control the power contained within the Forbidden Fruit.】
“You evaluate a mere mortal far too highly.”
【He’s the one who crushed your little pet, isn’t he?】
“Ariel is not a pet.”
【Sure, whatever you say.】
Metatron fell silent.
【The Forbidden Fruit. You’re certain there are no more?】
“You should know better than anyone.”
【You might have hidden one or two without me knowing.】
“I swear on the stars that there are none.”
***
【Kikiki. Then that’s that. The other God-Kings will be annoying, so let’s make it clear.】
The Forbidden Fruit was a holy relic that many gods’ societies had coveted.
Since it was an object created through the collaboration of two opposing forces—light and darkness—analyzing the power within it was thought to allow one to reach a higher realm.
That was why, the moment Jinho had specifically mentioned that precious relic, even the arrogant constellations had panicked and rushed to send messages.
【Do you think Yu Jinho can awaken the ability contained in the fruit?】
“It is impossible.”
Metatron declared firmly.
Even if he had defeated Ariel.
Jinho was still a mortal bound by the yoke of fate.
The forbidden power that even noble angels could not fully withstand.
If he managed to accept even ten percent of it, that would be a success.
Separately from that—
‘Yu Jinho. I will have to keep watching him from now on.’
Metatron held two conflicting emotions: gratitude and wariness.