After Ten Millennia in Hell

Oh Kang-Woo took a step back and smirked so that Uriel couldn\'t see him.

\'Did it work?\'

He turned to look at the stage he\'d set.

Shalgiel was inside a cylinder filled with an unknown liquid.

Kang-Woo was honestly astonished.

\'I said to make him hideous, but this is a bit…\'

Shalgiel\'s organs were exposed and had been forcibly fused with the body of a demonic beast. It was hard to look at it.

He understood why Lilith and Vaal Zahak had confidently said to leave it to them.

\'Still, it makes me feel a bit bad.\'

Even if it was Kang-Woo, it was impossible for him to feel comfortable looking at such a thing. It was as if he\'d dug up a corpse and disrespected the dead, so he couldn\'t help but feel a bit bad.

\'But…\'

He narrowed his eyes while looking at the screaming Uriel.

The first thought that came to Kang-Woo\'s mind was that it couldn\'t be helped, which was partially true. After all, for Uriel to believe the fact that Raphael had fallen, the trust that they had built over thousands of years needed to be broken, which required Uriel to behold a shocking sight.

\'And most importantly…\'

He had to kill Raphael, no matter what, if he wanted to turn things in his favor. Of course, Raphael didn\'t know that Seraph\'s soul was within Han Seol-Ah. Raphael hadn\'t given the order to forcefully bring her; that was something Shalgiel had done on his own.

\'But…\'

Even so, Raphael had to be killed—he had to become a fallen angel and receive the judgment of light.

\'Raphael ordered Shalgiel to investigate Guardians in the first place.\'

If Shalgiel suddenly died in such a situation, there was no need to think about who Raphael would suspect first. Even if Kang-Woo tried to make Rakiel the culprit, there was no way Raphael would believe it.

\'I have no ill feelings regarding Raphael.\'

It wasn\'t personal, but it just ended up that he couldn\'t let Raphael live.

"…"

Kang-Woo closed his eyes.

The world was a cruel place.

Just as most murders were due to monetary conflicts rather than emotional ones, people harmed each other based on cost and benefit. Of course, there were laws, morals, ideals, conscience, and many other complex mechanisms to stop those things, but—

\'Fuck them.\'

Kang-Woo shook his head.

\'If I can avoid a war with the angels just by feeling a bit bad…\'

He would gladly plunge his hands into the filth however many times it took—no, he would even roll around in it with a smile.

That was how he had lived, as well as how he had kept winning. He was neither a hero in anime with a blazing sense of justice nor a kind person like Kim Si-Hun.

He had struggled to survive in a place bustling with demonic beasts and demons for ten millennia; he would not be guilt-tripped over morals and personal conscience after what he had gone through.

"No… There\'s no way," Uriel mumbled in confusion.

Kang-Woo smiled while looking at the blue-haired boy.

\'I guess I managed to get through the first hurdle.\'

If Uriel had thought that this was a demon\'s trick and trusted Raphael to the very end, it would have been a problem, but he could not feel an ounce of trust for Raphael in Uriel, who was crying in front of the cylinder.

\'Doubt is a poison.\'

Once it poisoned a person, even if they tried to convince themselves otherwise, it would continue to eat away at them. For example, let\'s say that someone learned that their childhood friend is a serial killer…

How would they react?

\'They would probably try to deny it at first.\'

They would probably think there was no way that their friend would do something like that. But what if evidence of it came out one after another? No, what if they saw the scene of the crime with their own eyes?

"Why… why would Raphael…" Uriel knelt and mumbled in a sorrowful voice.

He was now past the stage of denial and was now wondering why Raphael had done such a thing. Kang-Woo smiled while looking down at Uriel.

\'It worked.\'

The firm trust that existed between Uriel and Raphael had been torn apart.

Kang-Woo pulled down the corners of his mouth with all his might. He might have burst into laughter if he wasn\'t in such a situation.

\'Now, then.\'

The first act couldn\'t have been any better. Now it was time to prepare the second act.

"Lord Uriel, what in the world is…"

"…"

"C-Could… Lord Raphael have—"

"Shut up!!" Uriel exclaimed. He sprang up and grabbed Kang-Woo\'s collar. "What the fuck do you know about Raphael to say shit like that?!"

"…"

Kang-Woo hadn\'t said anything, but Uriel had reacted so severely, which meant…

\'You already know.\'

Uriel was frantically trying to deny it, but Kang-Woo wouldn\'t let him off so easily.

"… You are right."

"Right about what?"

"I do not think that Lord Raphael had done this either."

"…"

Kang-Woo dangled a thread of hope in front of him.

Hope appeared in Uriel\'s eyes.

Even though all the evidence was in front of them, there was a human who defended Raphael in such a situation.

\'He\'ll rely on that.\'

No, he would console himself, thinking that he was right all along: it had been the fabrications of a demon and Raphael had been nothing but a scapegoat.

\'If he wants to hold on to even a bit of hope… I\'ll give it to him.\' Kang-Woo snickered in his mind.

He said, "There is no evidence that Lord Raphael committed this atrocity."

"Th-That\'s right! That\'s exactly my thought!" Uriel furiously nodded.

"Lord Uriel, could you tell us what was written in Lord Raphael\'s notes?"

"Huh…? Well…"

"It\'s okay. I can more or less guess what they were about."

"…"

Uriel anxiously bit his lips and closed his eyes. He then repeated what was written in the notes.

Cha Yeon-Joo, who was silently listening, screamed. "Fuck! Raphael didn\'t do this, my ass!! The notes clearly show that he went bonkers!"

"Watch it, Cha Yeon-Joo."

"Screw that! Are you high, Oh Kang-Woo? Or does Raphael kiss your ass or something?! Just look at this! How can you still say that Raphael didn\'t do this when he did this kind of shit to his subordinates?!" Yeon-Joo shouted in rage.

Uriel\'s expression crumpled aggressively.

"How dare you, human woman!"

"What do you want me to say? I\'m sorry for interrupting your little angel circle-jerk session, but—"

"Cha Yeon-Joo!" Kang-Woo angrily shouted.

Yeon-Joo flinched.

He said, "I told you to watch it."

"U-Uhh…"

"The notes? Handwriting can be easily forged. The Chimeras? Has anyone here seen Lord Raphael make them with their own eyes?"

"…"

"Don\'t believe only in what you see. Rakiel\'s energy is all over the place for a reason. There\'s a chance that he might have orchestrated this whole situation."

"N-Ngh. Y-You don\'t have to get so angry…"

Yeon-Joo pouted due to Kang-Woo\'s attitude, which was different from usual. She found it a little unfair.

"…"

Uriel looked at Kang-Woo with a blank expression.

A human he had met for the first time had said what he wanted to say, which he had doubted people would believe.

He gulped.

"Y-Yeah. That\'s exactly what I wanted to say." Uriel furiously nodded again. "Since Rakiel is involved, there\'s a chance this whole situation was fabricated."

Kang-Woo said, "I agree, but…"

"B-But wh-what?"

Uriel looked at Kang-Woo with trembling eyes.

His eyes were filled with trust for the human named Oh Kang-Woo. It was only obvious, since a sturdy rope had appeared that he could grab on to when he had been desperately looking for even a sliver of something.

Uriel warily looked at Yeon-Joo but then took a step toward Kang-Woo.

Kang-Woo smirked.

\'He doesn\'t seem to be as stiff as Raphael.\'

Uriel was close to an immature child.

\'How weird.\'

Kang-Woo tilted his head. He would\'ve understood if a demon had such a personality. After all, a demon\'s body amplified one\'s desires and thus forcibly halted mental maturity, which was necessary because demons didn\'t have the concept of lifespan.

If it weren\'t like that, Hell would be a place full of sages devoid of any desire who lived in peace. Or, Hell would be full of beings with no desire to live and who did nothing but lie still.

\'Do angels also have some kind of restriction?\'

They also didn\'t have a lifespan, so it would make sense.

\'Well, regardless…\'

That wasn\'t important at the moment. What mattered was that Uriel was an easier angel to trick than he\'d thought.

"First off, the only thing we are sure about is that Lord Raphael is in a predicament."

"…"

"Considering that all of his subordinates have been killed, the fortress has become a den of the dead, and Lord Raphael is nowhere in sight. In the worst-case scenario… we will have to take into account the possibility that he has already been killed by Rakiel."

"That\'s… true."

Uriel nodded while making a depressed expression. He seemed to be somewhat resigned to the idea.

Kang-Woo glanced at Uriel.

"Let us look around the fortress a little more."

Uriel nodded, and the initiative was naturally passed to Kang-Woo.

Kang-Woo stepped out of Raphael\'s research room.

The location of the play\'s second act was already decided.

\'It\'s going smoothly so far.\'

Kang-Woo smiled.

In the end, what mattered were the emotions. Uriel had fallen into despair, but thanks to Kang-Woo, he\'d started to regain hope. Based on his reaction, he seemed to be hoping that Raphael had died honorably in battle against Rakiel rather than for Raphael to have fallen.

\'I guess that\'s just how angels are.\'

That seemed to be the case for Raphael and Uriel.

Kang-Woo couldn\'t understand why they cared more about honor than their lives.

\'Well, regardless…\'

It was clear that Uriel cared a lot for the honor of his comrade-in-arms.

Kang-Woo licked his lips.

\'Now that he\'s climbed back up with the rope of hope I\'ve given him… it\'s time to push him back down.\'

* * *

Raphael slowly opened his eyes in a space filled with brilliant light.

\'The treatment is more or less complete.\'

He slowly raised his arms. In a place known as the Embrace of Light created through the compression of sacred power, he had fully treated the wounds he had received from Satan. He had originally planned to slowly treat his wounds over a long period of time since the Embrace of Light was isolated from all forms of contact, but the situation had changed.

\'Rakiel.\'

Raphael had no more leeway now that he had discovered that the being who had corrupted countless angels and gods in the era of myths was on Earth.

\'But I am glad at least Uriel has come to help.\'

He was confident that, with Uriel, he\'d be able to defeat Rakiel.

\'I should get out of here.\'

He slowly raised his hands.

The space, which was filled with light, cracked. Like a bird breaking through the shell of its egg, he broke through it and got up. He saw the outside world for the first time in ten days.

"Hm?" A confused voice came out of Raphael\'s mouth. "What in the world?"

As soon as he emerged, he felt suffocatingly dense demonic energy. The problem was that he felt that the demonic energy was coming from him.

"What the…"

As he looked around his body, his eyes widened.

"M-My wings…"

His wings, which usually shone with pure-white light, had been dyed black. No, to be more precise…

\'Demonic energy was… painted over them?\'

Thick demonic energy was covering his entire body as if he had been coated with it.

Thud.

"A-Aaaahh."

"Uriel…?" He turned his head toward the sound.

"H-how could this have…"

"See?! What did I tell you?! I told you that he\'d been tempted by that son of a bitch Rakiel!!"

He saw the heroes who were protecting Earth and…

"R-Raphael…"

… Uriel in despair, as if all of his hopes had been shattered.

"RAPHAEEEEEL!!!" Uriel screamed in agony.

"…?"

Raphael looked around while making a confused expression.

\'Wha…\'

What in the world was going on?