The Fragment of Memories
"Goddess's Tears."
"No."
"Giant's Footprint."
"No."
"Soul Reaper."
"No."
"Are you messing with me?"
Faced with one refusal after another, Baek Do-ha finally snapped.
Are these guys running a personality test on me?
Whatever I name, they just say no.
"You said fifty percent, didn't you?"
"Everything you have named so far exceeds fifty percent."
"You want to keep talking nonsense? I know exactly what those things are worth."
Goddess's Tears, Giant's Footprint, Soul Reaper. All three were rare and extraordinarily useful, but the claim that any of them would devour fifty percent of Heaven's entire budget was absurd.
"Keep testing my patience and I might just annihilate fifty percent of Heaven's forces instead of taking fifty percent of the reward."
"……."
At Do-ha's words, Metatron's brow furrowed. He knew full well how grating and arrogant the man's speech was — the real problem was that Do-ha actually followed through. And he had the power to do it.
"Well… I don't actually plan on it, though."
Watching Metatron, Do-ha shrugged. The threat had been real enough, but in truth he preferred Heaven's military strength remain intact.
"I need you people in one piece."
"……As I have told you once before, we have no intention of lending you our strength."
Metatron answered at once. Heaven needed to stay intact? That sounded an awful lot like he intended to use Heaven's forces. Decades ago, and again when Baek Do-ha had gone to the Demon Realm, not a single angel had moved.
"I know."
"Do not take it personally. We have our own position to consider."
"Position, huh……."
Do-ha let out a short, dry laugh. Metatron's refusal to help him had nothing to do with position. He simply did not want to fight. A thoroughgoing pacifist. Even when demons crossed into Heaven, they barely lodged a formal protest with the Demon Realm. They would raise the issue to a point — and the moment the Demon Kings ignored them, they did nothing further.
"Yeah, I get it."
"I appreciate your understanding."
"Don't mention it."
"?"
When Do-ha shrugged, Metatron's eyes narrowed. What was that? The instant he saw Baek Do-ha's expression, a chill ran through him. There had been no threat, no loaded remark — and yet that look left him deeply unsettled.
"Then let's finish settling accounts."
"Name what you want."
"What's the point of naming anything?! You just say no to all of it!"
"You need to name something that does not exceed fifty percent……."
"Then give me the Fragment of Memories."
That was what he had been after all along — the earlier demands had only been setup.
"The Fragment of Memories??"
Metatron tilted his head. The Fragment of Memories was little more than a sacred relic that let its user observe what a chosen target was doing. Calling it a sacred relic was generous. He had nearly sent it to the scrap heap once, then kept it only because it was useful for monitoring troop movements.
"How did you even know we possessed it……."
"I saw one of the Principalities carrying it a long time ago."
"Hmm……."
"Don't tell me you're going to refuse this one too?"
"Of course not."
Metatron shook his head. He could hand over the Fragment of Memories without a second thought. There was only one, but they would manage fine without it. Still, giving away nothing more than this left a bad taste.
"The Fragment of Memories falls far short of the fifty percent you spoke of. At best, one or two percent."
"What, suddenly playing the good guy?"
"Not playing the good guy. It pricks my conscience. Name something else as well. I will give it to you."
"Oh."
So this is what an Archangel looks like, is it?
Do-ha slowly turned his head and looked off somewhere.
"Then send me to the Sixth District."
"Have you truly lost your mind."
Send him to the Sixth District — the place that held the altar, the space where one faced the Heavenly God? He would rather hand over the Goddess's Tears, the Giant's Footprint, and the Soul Reaper all at once.
"Whatever you are thinking, going to the Sixth District will not let you meet the Heavenly God. Even I must offer long prayers before I can barely……."
"I'm not planning to meet him."
"……Surely you do not mean to destroy the altar……."
"What exactly do you take me for? I'm not a Demon King."
"……."
For a split second Metatron nearly said, You're worse than a Demon King. Baek Do-ha was that unpredictable a threat.
"I just have something I want to say to the Heavenly God."
"No. That place is sacred ground."
"What, am I too dirty for it?"
"More than that — if I send you up alone, the other angels will raise hell……."
"Come with me."
"What?"
"Come to the Sixth District with me. If I try to smash the altar or pull anything stupid, you can stop me."
"……."
Metatron's face shifted into something close to confusion. Go together? Hadn't the demand been to let him go up alone?
"I really do have something to tell the Heavenly God. About five seconds' worth?"
"Then tell me. I will deliver the message."
"I heard something from the Demon God…… want me to keep it to myself?"
"?!!"
At the words Demon God, Metatron's eyes went wide. To Baek Do-ha it might be nothing, but in Heaven the Demon God's words carried enormous weight.
"Is…… is that true?"
"Yeah."
"……."
He hesitated. If Baek Do-ha was telling the truth, sending him to the Sixth District was not impossible. The elder angels would object, but since the matter involved something heard from the Demon God, they would not be able to push too hard. And more than anything — he himself would be going up as well.
"Haa. I truly do not know whether this is the right choice."
"In the old days, humans who received an Archangel's blessing sometimes went to the Sixth District and had the honor of praying before the Heavenly God, didn't they?"
"That was ages ago…… and it applied only to holy knights."
"Think of me as a holy knight."
"What a dreadful thing to say……."
"We're going to the Sixth District, right?"
"Very well."
In the end, Metatron nodded. Had Do-ha simply demanded to go up, he would have refused. But he was going to deliver something heard from the Demon God — and so Metatron allowed it.
"Take it."
In Heaven's treasury, Metatron retrieved the Fragment of Memories and handed it over. Even as he brought it out, the question nagged at him. What on earth did the man intend to do with something so useless?
"Hmm. Definitely the Fragment of Memories."
"As if I would give you a fake."
"Alright, let's go."
"Ugh……."
At Do-ha's gesture, Metatron bit his lip. Now that the moment had come, the anxiety was crushing. Was this really the right thing to do? It felt like carrying a time bomb into his own bedroom.
"You not coming?"
"Haa. Let's go."
Having made up his mind, Metatron set his hand on Do-ha's shoulder.
A soft rush of light. Glittering white motes poured out and began to wrap around them both.
"Hey, this isn't pollen, is it? Laundry's a pain."
"I need to concentrate. Do not interrupt."
"You come and go from the Sixth District all the time — what concentration?"
"Come and go?! Do you think the Sixth District is the front yard of some neighborhood house?! Even I cannot enter that place as I please!"
"Alright, alright, I get it."
A long, rising whistle of power. A sharp crack.
While Do-ha and Metatron were still bickering, the motes of light formed a vast pillar and carried them away.
"Baek Do-ha. From this moment on, no more jokes and no mistakes. If you do anything foolish, I will……."
"I told you not to worry."
The pillar of light faded, and a space thick with clouds appeared — as if they were floating in midair. Far ahead stood an altar of marble, and a staircase climbing upward.
"What's with that staircase? Looks like the stairs to heaven."
The stairs broke off halfway; there was no path beyond.
"When the Heavenly God descends, He comes down that way."
"Couldn't He just float down on His own? Why bother with the stairs?"
"……Baek Do-ha. Stop the idle talk and go to the altar."
Footsteps on stone. A soft shift of movement.
"O Heavenly God. Your child has come before You."
Having ascended to the altar, Metatron dropped to one knee and bowed his head. Do-ha stood beside him, making no particular gesture. He did not serve the Heavenly God, after all.
"I have come to this place together with the Absolute Being, Baek Do-ha. We bring a message to deliver — I humbly ask that You hear us."
"You have to beg Him to listen just to say something out loud? You people live exhausting lives."
"Baek Do-ha."
"Fine, fine."
At Metatron's low warning, Do-ha nodded.
A slight turn of the head.
"Not sure where I'm supposed to look when I talk, but — hey there, Heavenly God. I'm Baek Do-ha."
"Wh— what are you doing?!"
Hearing him, Metatron nearly jumped out of his skin. Had the man truly gone mad? After all the trouble of bringing him here — hey there, Heavenly God?! He had not expected Do-ha to prostrate himself. But at the very least, some respect was in order!
"The Heavenly God is not your friend!"
"Hey, I curse out the Demon God to his face — call him this bastard, that bastard — and I'm supposed to use honorifics with the Heavenly God?"
Metatron leaned in close and hissed under his breath; Do-ha's brow furrowed. Looking at them, the lot in Heaven really were fanatics, weren't they?
"Move aside for a second."
"I…… what have I done……."
Do-ha pushed his face away, and Metatron hung his head. He never should have brought him to the Sixth District…….
"I don't particularly want to hang around a place like this either, so I'll just pass on what the Demon God said and leave. What he said was……."
"……."
Metatron swallowed hard. His expression turned more solemn than it had ever been. What had the Demon God said? That he would attack Heaven? The Heavenly God's location? Or rage directed at the Heavenly God himself?!
"What the Demon God said was this: 'If the Heavenly God were here, I'd want to tell him. That there's someone other than you who fights me like this.'"
"???"
Metatron's face, which had been listening in perfect silence, twisted strangely. Wait…… that was it? That was really it??
"H-hey, Baek Do-ha. That can't be all, can it?"
"That's all."
"……."
Metatron's expression froze solid. What kind of lunatic was this……. He had expected something of enormous importance — and it was just the Demon God venting? And for something that trivial, he had come all the way to the Sixth District?!
"The Demon God said it, okay? He said if the Heavenly God were around, he'd want to tell him."
"That was not because he genuinely wished to tell him……."
"Then why?"
"……."
Do-ha tilted his head; Metatron pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed. For someone who called himself the Absolute Being, the man could be astonishingly dense.
"Haa. Forget it. It will be faster if I simply beg forgiveness later."
"What forgiveness? I just came to deliver what the Demon God said……."
"Enough. We are leaving."
With a deep sigh, Metatron descended the altar, shoulders slumped.
A soft shift of movement.
But watching his retreating back, Do-ha smiled thinly and glanced at the Fragment of Memories.
Sixth District imprint complete.
Metatron had no idea. Not Metatron alone — no one in all of Heaven knew what this object was truly capable of. What the Fragment of Memories in his coat truly did. Only two beings in existence knew its real power.
Himself.
And a Vampire Lord who had died long, long ago.