The Apostle and the Angel (2)
The Apostle and the Angel (2)
When the Apostle and the angel, two transcendents, clashed, the surroundings would be scorched to nothing. Like a natural disaster, the backlash would devastate the land and erase countless lives.
If one wished to live, there was only one choice.
They had to flee.
The moment the fight began, Johan flew into the air.
Ignoring the explosions roaring behind him, he focused solely on escaping.
He was not very used to flying at full speed, so he was tiring faster than expected.
‘I should have practiced more.’
Right then, Illea, who was in Johan’s arms, spoke.
“This distance is enough.”
Looking back, they were quite far from the battlefield.
Rumbles still echoed and bits of debris occasionally flew by, but there was nothing life-threatening.
Johan stopped flapping his wings and slowly descended.
Before he even touched the open grassland, Gaf wriggled free and jumped down.
“How pathetic I must look.”
It was bad enough that he’d been forced to cower under the Apostle’s presence—being carried away in a demon’s arms like a coward was a humiliating day for Gaf.
Illea, meanwhile, was still clinging to Johan.
She looked up at him with a playful expression.
“You’ve grown taller again, haven’t you?”
“Get off me now.”
“You’re the one who picked me up.”
“It was urgent at the time.”
Johan pushed Illea off as she giggled quietly.
“What a shame. I wanted to touch you a bit more.”
When Johan frowned, Illea laughed and waved her hand.
“Don’t misunderstand, it’s all part of my research. Besides, your body is quite firm, you know? More like a carapace than skin.”
Illea’s gaze swept up and down Johan.
“White horns, black skin, red tattoos, bipedal, a body clad in a carapace. Hmm…… with this much information, it’s still hard to even guess your species.”
Johan clicked his tongue.
“If I could figure it out just by looking, I wouldn’t have been racking my brain over it.”
Illea formed a strange smile.
“Still, I’ve confirmed one thing.”
“What is it?”
“Johan doesn’t know what he is either. Am I right?”
It was true.
“I do. I wasn’t trying to hide it.”
“Then we know where to start. Let’s dig into your birth first.”
Her eyes shone, like a child who’d found a new toy.
‘I feel like I’ve turned into a lab frog. Maybe I shouldn’t have agreed.’
When Johan’s face turned sour, Illea gave him an innocent smile.
“I’ll say it again—there’s nothing for you to worry about.”
Just as Johan was about to respond, Gaf spoke.
“Neither of you seem the least bit tense for people whose situation isn’t over yet.”
He wasn’t wrong— the battle was still raging.
Rumbles came in waves, and broken trees and rocks still rained down.
To have a peaceful chat in the middle of all this— for Gaf, who’d lived his whole life as a mercenary, it was beyond understanding.
Johan spoke.
“Staying tense won’t change anything. We’ve done what we needed to do. Now we just wait for the victory report.”
“……Whose victory report, exactly?”
“Who else? Shaferia’s. The winner is already decided.”
Gaf frowned. He couldn’t understand a single word of what Johan was saying.
“Didn’t you unleash the Apostle to kill Shaferia? But now you’re saying you’re waiting for her victory? That makes no sense.”
Illea nodded as if agreeing.
“You probably should explain that one properly.”
Johan opened his mouth.
“My true objective was twofold, as you know. To steal the Great Saint’s corpse fragment and to remove Shaferia. The first is mostly done, so let’s talk about Shaferia.”
The father and daughter silently watched Johan.
“Shaferia’s power is fatal to demons or witches.”
Judgment Eyes— a power that pierced through the essence of its target. For Johan and Illea, who had to hide their true natures to survive, it was an intolerable threat.
“So she had to die. I borrowed the power of the Apostle to handle that.”
The Apostle Beris had indeed said that he’d torn Shaferia in half and killed her.
Illea tilted her head.
“Not only did she live, she awakened as a transcendent. She’s fighting the Apostle even now.”
“Shaferia has two lives. The moment the Apostle killed her, she would have revived. It’s the Great Saint’s blessing.”
Some people in this world were born with the blessing of the moon.
Shaferia was one of them.
Moon · Anastasis. The blessing she received granted her the power to revive from death once in her lifetime.
“Also, immediately after revival, she can draw out her entire potential. It only lasts for a moment, but right now Shaferia is an angel. Practically half a god.”
“A blessing like that must come with a price.”
Johan curled his lips.
“Exactly. Shaferia will soon lose all her power. Her holy power, her Judgment Eyes, even her future potential— all gone. In other words, she will become an ordinary human again.”
Illea let out a small sound of admiration.
“You used the Apostle to steal the Great Saint’s corpse, then had Shaferia take care of the Apostle when he was no longer needed. And now Shaferia will lose all her power and potential. You really laid out the board beautifully. Such a devilish scheme.”
Gaf looked at Johan.
“Shaferia had two lives, huh. So that’s what you meant by killing her.”
“Exactly. The real goal was to remove the threat she would pose later.”
The revived Shaferia would soon become an ordinary human again.
Without any power or authority— a powerless commoner. Such a person could never threaten Johan.
The Valkyrie Shaferia would no longer exist.
He had completely twisted the original story.
‘Something that would have happened in the far latter part has been brought forward.’
With the Valkyrie’s path sealed, many changes would come. The demons she was supposed to slaughter would now survive, and the resulting ripples would keep spreading.
It was something Johan would have to handle.
If he shrank back worrying about variables, he’d end up repeating the original course anyway.
‘The story has already changed. If I manage it well, I live. If I can’t control it, I die. Keep it simple.’
Johan reaffirmed his resolve.
Gaf spoke.
“So you tricked the Apostle too. You were never going to become his vassal.”
Illea tilted her head.
“You tricked the Apostle? What’s this about a vassal?”
Johan spoke.
“I made a contract with the Apostle. The moment Shaferia was erased, I would become his vassal.”
“There’s no way Beris could overpower an angel in his current state. If he were whole, maybe.”
A tenth of an Apostle could not defeat an angel.
“Exactly. The result is a foregone conclusion.”
“So you played Beris. The very Apostle of Contracts.”
Illea looked pleased, wearing a faint smile.
Gaf let out a hollow laugh.
“I have nothing to say.”
Johan shrugged.
“Well, that’s if it all goes as planned. I haven’t seen it with my own eyes yet, so nothing is certain.”
Variables could appear at any time.
For example, there might be a world where, by some one-in-trillion chance, the Apostle won.
It was an outcome he didn’t even want to imagine. It would be a disaster like no other.
Illea spoke.
“Then shall we check? It’s gotten pretty quiet.”
Silence was settling over the mountains.
Debris no longer flew through the air.
Just as Illea climbed onto her broom, Johan spoke.
“I’ll go alone. You two find Rail.”
He hadn’t been able to grab Rail in the chaos earlier.
He was still too useful a pawn to abandon now.
Johan spread his wings.
“I’ll see you again at the Great Saint’s coffin.”
He flew up into the night sky.
***
Her armor was unbearably heavy. She couldn’t muster any strength in her hand gripping the sword. She didn’t even have the energy to stand on her own two feet.
On the scorched plain that had been blasted flat, Shaferia was kneeling.
Her pupils trembled.
‘I can’t feel anything. No holy power, no Judgment Eyes……, nothing.’
An overwhelming fatigue struck her entire body.
Just as her awakening as an angel had come so suddenly, her decline had come just as abruptly.
She instinctively knew.
‘The Great Saint has taken all my power back.’
Was it because she had betrayed her conviction and yielded to the Apostle?
No. She had immediately corrected herself and defeated the Apostle.
She had made up for her mistake and upheld her conviction.
Yet the stigmata had vanished anyway. She could not understand why.
It was so bewildering.
As she was lost in her confusion, an unpleasant laugh echoed out.
“Marziel’s blessing has vanished. How delightful. You’re nothing but an empty shell now, angel. Just a pitiful human. How was it, tasting omnipotence for a moment? And the sense of loss when it’s snatched away? Come now, explain it! I want to hear your wailing!”
Malicious laughter shook the mountains and rivers.
Shaferia lifted her head.
Beris, his upper and lower body separated and his face half crushed, was lying prone on the ground, laughing maniacally.
“My vassal will be here soon! He’ll tear you to shreds and restore me to my true form!”
Shaferia did not answer. The Apostle’s words didn’t even reach her ears. She only wanted to deny reality.
“I will kill everyone connected to you, make them suffer! I’ll skin them alive and use the hide for a contract, signing in blood! I’ll nail their bones into the palace beams!”
Black miasma surged up. A manifest evil.
At that, Shaferia finally came to her senses.
Whatever the case, she had to finish this.
She tore a strip from her clothing. She needed it to tie her hand to her sword’s hilt. She could no longer grip it by her own strength.
Beris snickered.
“Think you can touch a hair of mine without your blessing?”
Shaferia forced herself to her feet and trudged forward.
“I sentenced you to death. Even if this arm breaks after a hundred swings, a Holy Knight does not take back her words.”
Life returned to her eyes.
Beris, still lying prone, shouted.
“Yes! Strike me all you wish! Carve your helplessness into your bones with every swing! I look forward to watching you slowly break!”
Shaferia mustered all her strength to lift her sword.
“I will cut you down, vile spawn of evil!”
Just as she brought it down, a sharp tearing sound split the air.
The ground trembled and dust flew.
Through the scattering dust, a red gleam shone.
A chilling voice fell low.
“How disappointing. You failed to kill him.”
Johan was gripping Shaferia’s blade with one hand.
Startled, she tried to pull back, but she couldn’t overcome Johan’s strength.
Without holy power to reinforce her body, Shaferia’s physical ability was no more than an ordinary person’s.
She was pinned in place as she muttered.
“G-Gakgwi!”
An Apostle wasn’t enough— now a Gakgwi had appeared too? What in the world was happening in the South? A terrible dread rose inside her.
Beris spoke.
“It’s because of you I couldn’t kill her! If you’d just told me—!”
Johan frowned.
“I wasn’t talking to you. I’m disappointed in Shaferia. Why couldn’t you kill Beris?”
Moon · Anastasis raised its bearer’s ability to the limit.
With Shaferia’s potential, she should have easily slaughtered a tenth of an Apostle, yet for some reason she had struggled.
It made no sense.
Beris roared.
“What nonsense are you spewing—!”
“Be quiet.”
Johan stomped on Beris’s head.
Black blood spurted like a fountain.
His already mangled face caved in further.
Beris was so dumbfounded he couldn’t even speak.
To be trampled by a mere mortal— it was beyond belief.
Johan spoke.
“Actually, it worked out better this way. Shaferia, I should thank you.”
Shaferia wore a bewildered expression.
“I found a way to use Beris— thanks to you for sparing him.”
Saying that, Johan looked down at the Apostle.
“Per the contract, the deadline for fulfilling the condition was midnight. Your failure is about to come due. You couldn’t even uphold a contract with a mere mortal, so you’ll pay the price. I wonder how that will play out.”
In truth, Johan already knew exactly what would happen to Beris.
Beris’s expression hardened.
Johan smirked and released Shaferia’s blade.
“There’s nothing more between us now. Run or do whatever you want.”
Johan grabbed Beris by the hair.
Then he began to drag him away.
“Y-You wretch! What do you think you’re doing! Unhand me at once!”
Though Beris had existed for an eternity, he had never suffered such treatment.
Shaferia stared blankly at Beris and Johan.
‘What in the world……’
She slapped her own cheek hard.
‘Get it together.’
Action came before understanding.
She could not let them just leave.
Shaferia limped after Johan.
“Don’t run! Stop right there!”
She struggled to catch up and swung her sword, but couldn’t reach him.
“You’re annoying.”
Johan clicked his tongue and swung his arm carelessly.
A dull sound rang out.
Shaferia’s body was flung into a nearby cliff.
“Keugh!”
Blood trickled from her mouth.
“Why won’t you just kill me and go! Fight me! Kill me instead!”
Her voice was like teeth grinding on steel.
Johan dug a finger in his ear and looked back at her.
“Why would I?”
“Because—!”
“You’re worthless now. Killing you would only dirty my hands. If you really want to die, kill yourself. I won’t stop you.”
He turned and started walking again.
He planned to snatch the Great Saint’s corpse and leave this place.
“Stop! I said stop!”
Despite her desperate cries, Johan did not look back. He simply vanished into the darkness.
“Damn it!”
Shaferia was powerless. Despite her unbroken will, her body would not move.
All she could do was clench her trembling fists into the dirt.