[216] 6. Trouble in Heaven (3)
Rian inched closer, looking for an opening to attack, and Tess shouted in exasperation.
"You big bear! Forget fighting for now—untie us first!"
"Damn it! I'd do it if I could—!"
He wanted to charge forward right then. But with an archangel guarding them, looking away from that place was tantamount to suicide.
Arian explained calmly.
"Kanis, the Rite of Life has already started. You have to remove the panels stuck to their foreheads. If you don't, we'll all gestate Nephilim."
Before Kanis could answer, Rian's eyes widened and he shouted.
"What? You should've told us that earlier!"
"I told you, you idiot! If you don't want to see me lose my mind, untie my cuffs first!"
"All right! Wait a second!"
Rian and Tess were cut from the same cloth. Unlike a mage who waits and analyzes until the odds turn favorable, Rian ran forward thinking they should rip the panels off first.
At that moment a shockwave erupted before them. Rian staggered back with a jolt of pain and raised his gaze. Kariel hovered in the air with a displeased expression and an outstretched hand.
'What is that? Not much to it?'
A shockwave in empty space was startling, but its destructive power was weaker than expected.
Rian, who had been cowed by the title of archangel, gripped his greatsword with renewed hope.
Kanis also took note of the information Rian had gleaned.
- The archangel's power is weaker than expected. This could be our chance.
- It's probably because of the Rite of Life. Making humans isn't easy, after all.
- Maybe. Still, it's surprising. Are they really going to continue even with us here?
Angels are powerful, but they don't exist solely for combat.
For example, the archangel Ikael's ability seemed unrelated to fighting—it was an activation of a concept. But that concept was so vast that even great mages and angels trembled before it.
Kariel, too, wielded a vast concept: birth.
Explosion, ignition, machinery, drugs—
The number of combinations you could use to cause a birth was almost infinite.
Above all, Kariel took the greatest pride in life itself.
No matter what he produced, the energy focused on the act of birth was enormous. Especially when the ritual was to birth a living creature, even an archangel would have to pour most of his mental power into it.
"How dare mortals interfere with an archangel's mission. You humans who won't even live a hundred years are so presumptuous."
Kanis quietly slipped a Harvester into the darkness. The plan was to stall and then ambush Kariel, using the opening to rescue the women.
"An angelic mission? What do you intend to do by making Nephilim? Unlockers can be found in our world too."
Amy spoke up. She had seen through Kanis's stalling tactic.
"Heaven plans to use Nephilim to attack the human world. Because there are so many Unlockers on our side now, they want to rebalance the scales."
"Conquest? Are they going to wage war?"
"Yes. Nephilim aren't divine apostles. They're spies sent into occupied lands."
Kariel did not deny it. He had no regard for the petty thoughts of humans.
The Law is supreme and angels are exalted. There was no room for human concepts to interfere with what an archangel did.
"You should thank us, in fact. Because of you, we can wage the final war."
Amy and her group turned their gazes to Kariel. The phrase "final war" made them uneasy, and they couldn't grasp what he meant by saying it could be waged because of them.
"The final war?"
"Literally. The human world will soon perish. Until now, that wretched Miro was preventing the end, but because of you, the prelude to war has begun."
Kanis was stunned. The woman Shirone had been searching for was the one preventing the end?
Then he remembered Arkein's reaction. If humanity's destruction were at stake, he could understand why his master had erased memories.
"But why say it's because of us? What did we do?"
"Miro blocked the passage between Heaven and the human world. But a new path opened through the Meta Gate you brought. Soon Heaven's armies will mercilessly burn the humans."
Everyone's hearts dropped. If Kariel spoke the truth, they had done the irreversible. They would have hastened humanity's doom.
Kariel pointed to the mechanical device and cried out.
"Look! The Meta Gate Ikael brought! When the Rite of Life ends, I will analyze the coordinates. The moment a new portal opens, your world will be annihilated!"
All eyes in Amy's party turned at once.
"...."
Silence fell over the Grand Battlefield. No one spoke.
Kariel, puzzled that nobody reacted as expected, slowly turned his head. Then the same confused expression crossed his face.
"...."
The fairy holding the Meta Gate stared at them with her mouth agape. Kariel opened his mouth to speak, then closed it.
Why was the fairy here? It was neither the Law nor, even if not the Law, a situation with any clear causality.
Peope broke the awkward silence first.
"Ah, hello."
Kariel cocked his head. Was the greeting directed at him? If so, at least the creature wasn't insane. Hoping the question would provide some plausible explanation, he asked it.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Peope."
Kariel felt something tighten in his throat. But showing emotion would be beneath him, so he forcibly composed himself.
"Right, Peope. Why are you here?"
"Ah, I was going to take the Meta Gate."
"I see. Then why…? Sigh, why would someone like you try to take that?"
"Because there mustn't be a war."
At that moment Kariel's patience snapped. He reached out with the intent to obliterate the fly before him in one strike.
One blow, and it would be over.
"Die."
- Harvester! Now!
A Harvester leapt out from the darkness of the Grand Battlefield.
The instant it swung a shadow sharp as a blade, Kariel shot up to the ceiling.
Kanis seized the opening and ran for the women, shouting.
"Rian! Protect Peope! Don't let her be taken!"
Rian immediately changed course and sprinted toward Peope. He wanted to rescue Tess right away, but in a crisis it was wiser to follow the mage's plan.
"Peope! Over here!"
Startled by the sudden fight, Peope heard Rian's voice and flew over.
Kariel tried to shake off the Harvester's pursuit and go for Peope, but when Rian planted himself with his sword, Kariel abruptly changed direction and flew back to the ceiling.
Relieved for a moment, Rian looked back at Peope.
"Phew, you okay?"
"I don't know! I thought I was going to die from fright! Hurry, take this!"
Peope's face was white as a sheet. She had dared to provoke an archangel. Even now she didn't know how she'd managed to withstand him.
Rian took the Meta Gate from her. Even the most stone-hearted man couldn't help being moved.
If he activated the Meta Gate right now, at the very least he could get home.
He had no intention of doing that, of course, but remembering how the situation had improved gave him courage.
"Thanks, Peope."
"Don't get the wrong idea! I didn't help because I wanted to—!"
Peope cut herself off. The situation was so obvious she couldn't find words to hide her true feelings.
She had defied an archangel's command and aided humans. It wasn't a mere breach of the Law; it was outright burning it.
Giving up excuses, Peope grumbled in a sulk.
"So what now? I'm finished."
"Come with us."
"What?"
"Come with us. There are fun things in the other world too. You saved us, so we'll do our best to save you."
Peope spun around in a hurry. Honestly, it was touching.
But she couldn't accept the offer. Going to the human world wasn't difficult, but that hadn't been her motive.
"Forget it, you idiot! Think about it after you save your friends!"
Rian kept watch while checking Kanis's progress. Kanis was cutting the women's cuffs with the power of darkness.
- Rite of Life progress: 40 percent.
A voice echoed from the ceiling and Amy shouted.
"Hurry! There's no time!"
"Shut up, you pumpkin! If your head wobbles I'll cut your wrist off too!"
Kanis spun a shadow sharp as a blade and was cutting the three cuffs. Because they were pressed directly against the women's flesh, the work had to be precise.
Kariel, weaving to avoid the Harvester, was growing irritated. He considered cancelling the Rite of Life and annihilating them all outright.
With the power of birth, there might be fifty thousand ways to kill.
But he couldn't cancel the Rite of Life.
Even though the transmission had passed forty percent, no female subject had shown a positive reaction.
'They're the finest specimens. I can't possibly give up.'
Left with scant mental energy, Kariel opened a portal as a desperate measure.
With what remained, he could summon a fairly decent mara—and a suitable candidate came to mind.
"Respond to the call, Baalb."
When the new mara appeared, the Grand Battlefield took on an ominous hue. Everyone except Kanis glanced up, checking how many horns it had.
It was a two-horned mara.
"Sleep-mara Baalb. I obey Kariel's command."
He appeared as a stylishly aged middle-aged man. His hair was slicked back; his exposed ears were slightly pointed.
He was as tall as an angel and wore a cloak with a collar higher than his head.
"Subdue the humans. The Rite of Life must not be interfered with."
"That is surely my specialty. Understood."
Baalb placed his right hand on his chest and landed on the ground.
"Peope, hold this for a moment."
Rian entrusted the Meta Gate to Peope and charged at Baalb. But even though he rushed forward as if risking his life, he couldn't get close. The moment he neared Baalb his mind clouded and his consciousness began to blur.
'What is this? Suddenly sleepy…'
Feeling drowsy while fighting for your life was impossible unless you were mad.
Realizing it was some ability, Rian hastily retreated.
Once he left the invisible zone, his senses returned. But the fatigue from the sleepiness clung to his body.
He had every reason to be furious.
"Damn it, what sort of trick is this now?"
From giants to fairies, from mara to angel, each of them wielded absurd abilities. Looking back, he felt ashamed that he had only been a burden since coming to Heaven.
Baalb turned with an urbane bearing.
"It's useless. You won't even be able to swing a blade at me."
Red gems slowly orbited Baalb. Could those be the cause?
Rian took a sword stance and closed the distance slowly. As expected, once he crossed a certain threshold the gems glowed and the drowsiness flooded him again.
"Damn. So that's it. What the hell are those?"
No one knew what the gems were, but the Harvester could sense their unique wavelength.
- Kanis, this is bad. You should fall back for now. It's an Object.
- An Object? That's an Object?
Kanis had only heard of such things from Arkein; he had never seen one himself.
An Object is a thing. What sets it apart from ordinary items is the strange influence it exerts on the outside world.
Some Objects are even familiar to humans.
Cursed blue diamonds, flying carpets—examples of such Items.
Since humans collected them, it wasn't strange for mara who had traveled many worlds to possess one.
A vampiric Object owned by a mara could suck up nearby blood. An Object of Hatred could stir murderous rage.
Baalb's Object was an Object of Sleep—anything within its influence fell into slumber.