Chapter 316 – The Price of Corruption (4)

“I guess this must be…” Gi-Gyu looked around. “The Vatican.”

The space was so quiet and empty that he could only hear his voice. And the place was surprisingly devoid of divine energy, filled with just white and light.

“It actually feels more like a mental hospital.”

The place reminded him of a psychiatric ward, as if an obsessive patient had discarded all things black. It filled Gi-Gyu with an unpleasant feeling.

“Master.” El’s eyes widened as she looked around. When Gi-Gyu turned toward her, he saw that El was about to cry.

“This place is…” El whispered.

Many beams of light had shone down on Rome. A moment ago, Gi-Gyu had chosen the one with the most potent energy, and after killing the descending angel, he had jumped into the source of light.

The light beam was a kind of door, and just as Gi-Gyu had suspected, it led to the Vatican, a place whose location very few knew.

“El…”

“This resembles the place I used to live in.” El, with sadness on her face, wiped away her tears and mumbled, “This is amazing.”

She looked around slowly and continued, “Many things here remind me of my home, and even the energy here feels the same. However…”

Her face crumpled angrily as she added, “It is distorted with lies… It is like an illusion.”

When El waved her hand, the space warped to reveal a different scenery. It was only for a second, but Gi-Gyu saw an ugly, dark color before it disappeared. The space turned white again as if it had regenerated.

“What trickery…” El became emotional, and Gi-Gyu could feel her intense sadness. However, she quickly regained control of her emotions and announced, “I think they’re coming out to greet us.”

Gi-Gyu turned and mumbled, “I guess the house owner is coming.”

He had been feeling oddly unpleasant sensations in this silent place.

The space a distance away from them warped and opened. From it, several angels with their wings wide open walked out. They were also angels, but El didn’t seem to consider them her own. The burning resentment in her eyes made that clear.

The angels approached them at an alarming speed, and El opened her wings. She had dozens of them, and her wings looked more magnificent than theirs. In addition, she had a golden crown on her head.

Gi-Gyu warned, “We’ll have to hurry. If they are out here attacking us, it means that everyone involved knows we have infiltrated the Vatican.”

Michael was in danger, so they needed to destroy their enemies quickly.

‘I think it’s that place.’?

Gi-Gyu saw a large castle that stood tall among the whiteness of the place. It looked very noticeable, and he felt certain that Michael was there.

Ba dum.

Gi-Gyu’s heart began beating wildly.

-Hurry… Please…

He could now hear Michael’s voice clearly. Michael appeared to be dying, and his energy indeed came from the giant castle.

“El, we must hurry…” Gi-Gyu turned to El, but before he could even finish his sentence, El was gone.

Boom.

El ripped through the air with a loud explosive sound to fly toward the angels.

“Ackk!” the angels approaching them screamed.

“I guess it’s me who needs to hurry up.” Gi-Gyu activated Super Rush.

He smiled bitterly, but no one noticed, because the queen of this place had finally returned.

‘El, the Queen…’?

Gi-Gyu rushed to catch up to her. On his way, he caught one of the angels who had dodged El. He grabbed the angel’s neck and twisted it.

Crack.

An ugly sound rang, and the angel stopped flapping his wings.

“I will clean up the garbage in my way,” Gi-Gyu muttered, deciding that these angels didn’t deserve a second chance.

***

“Hmm.” The man seemed contemplative as he waved his hand. The two horns on his head were a telltale sign of his identity.

It was Lou.

Lou waved his arm haphazardly to throw a sword as if he was throwing a toy.

“Kwerrk!” The sword flew toward a monster, pierced its head, and then plunged into a man’s foot. The man screamed in pain and tried to pull out the sword, but the black sword, like Excalibur, refused to budge.

Suddenly, someone whispered in the man’s ear from behind him.

“What should I do…?” Lou whispered.

“Ackk!” the man screamed with a flinch.

“Hmm…” Lou contemplated again. The man hurriedly unsheathed his sword while trying to swing the feather in his other hand. However, before the burgundy feather could do anything, Lou snatched it from the man’s hand and destroyed it, turning it into dust.

Fssssh.

The man had been controlling the monster from a dark corner. He was human, yet he was helping the angels kill his kind.

“Should I kill you?” Lou wondered out loud.

“Hngggg!”

“You’re too noisy.” The man’s incessant screaming annoyed Lou, so he smacked the back of the man's neck. The man fainted. Lou must have controlled his force because the man didn’t die.

“Haa…” Lou sighed. While he was watching the man, several skeletons approached him.

Rattle.

The skeletons expertly placed the unconscious man on top of a griffin and bowed to Lou before leaving. It looked like they had done this many times before.

“Dammit,” Lou cursed in frustration, wondering why he had to waste his time like this. The man he had just found wasn’t the first one he had seen controlling the monsters from the shadows. He had met many players like him. It would have been easier just to kill them, but Gi-Gyu had ordered his creatures to send them all to the Colosseum alive.

This was why Lou had to do this menial task.

“Haa… Just killing them all would make this so easy.” Because Lou couldn’t kill the humans, he couldn’t use any of his big skills; consequently, he spent way too much time killing the monsters. Of course, he was still faster than anyone at destroying the monsters, but he still couldn’t help but feel annoyed.

Gi-Gyu had explained to Lou earlier why these men needed to be kept alive.

“They are… the former members of an organization called Argus. I’m sure they will be useful someday. And…”

Alberto had asked Gi-Gyu not to kill them. He promised that if Gi-Gyu allowed them to live, he would be loyal to Gi-Gyu for the rest of his life. Without syncing, there was no guarantee that he would keep his promise, but Gi-Gyu agreed and burdened Lou with this annoying mission.

“Oh!” Lou suddenly looked happy. “I’ll go kill a pigeon now.”

He eagerly gazed at a light beam that had appeared nearby. He could feel an angel descending from it. Unlike humans, he was allowed to kill angels. Killing these angels was especially helpful because they were stronger. Their energies helped Lou increase his strength, which stemmed from Death. Lou now had the power to convert the angels’ divine energy, which originated from Life, into Death.

Lou kicked the ground and rushed toward the light.

“...!” A confused look appeared on the descending angel’s face.

Lou casually swung his sword to kill the angel, but he was surprised by what came next.

Clang.

“Huh?” Lou gasped. None of the angels so far had managed to block his attack. The sound and the sensation that reached his hand suggested that he had failed to slay the angel. Lou’s eyes widened, and he stared at the angel.

“I guess you’re a Cherub?” Lou wondered. In his former life, he had experienced countless wars against the angels in hell. Lou had seen many high-ranking angels, and he knew how powerful they could be. Tens of millions of demons had died at their hands.

The angel armies were infamous for their destructive ability. The Cherubs, a group with a limited number of angels, led them. While hell had seatholders, the angels had Cherubs.

Lou backed away when the light beam’s divine energy began concentrating on him. Divine energy was helpful to him, but too much of it could be poisonous.

Crack.

Meanwhile, the angel began changing. He twisted and turned; before long, he had transformed into a giant beast with several horns.

“Kwerrrrk!” The Cherub glared at Lou.

Lou smirked and asked, “Did you smell your friends’ blood on me?”

Seemingly, the smell of his fellow angels’ blood had agitated the transformed Cherub. A Cherub after transformation was no different from a mindless beast—an incredibly powerful beast, that was.

Lou shook his head in irritation.

With a house-like neigh, the Cherub galloped toward Lou. It reached Lou quickly and rammed into him, but Lou didn’t budge. Instead, he grabbed the Cherub’s horns and muttered, “You have no idea who I am, do you?”

With a smirk, Lou continued, “You may be slightly stronger than the other pigeons, but I used to specialize in killing creatures like you in my past life. Don’t you know I was the hell king?!”

Lou raised the Cherub by its horns and slammed it into the ground. Stuck in the ground, the Cherub groaned loudly.

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Lou stepped back with an annoyed look.“You keep surprising me, huh?”

The beast was turning black.

***

“Hahahaha!” A crazed laugh filled the Colosseum. Hamiel screamed, “They were my friends and family!”

Hamiel cornered the monstrous Cherub Castro and laughed. But although he was laughing, his eyes remained serious. The pain from losing the two angels had dulled a little from the satisfaction of battling Castro, but he could never forget that they were gone forever.

Kaboom!

Hamiel slammed the Cherub into the ground. But despite clearly winning this battle, Hamiel didn’t look happy.

“Fuck!” he swore. Though Castro was his enemy, it didn’t change the fact that he was still an angel just like him. They had chosen opposite paths and different masters, but they still belonged to the same species.

Castro had killed his kind, and Hamiel was about to do the same.

“But I have already fallen…” Hamiel didn’t regret his decision. The badly wounded Cherub looked up, but Hamiel shot down to the ground and punched the monster’s face. His face twisting to one side, Castro moaned loudly.

“Let’s end this,” Hamiel announced, dark energy wafting from his half-horn. This energy reached his hands to form a sword sharper and more poisonous than any other.

“Die, ghostly apostle,” Hamiel whispered as he plunged the sword into Castro. He thought it was finally over, but he was surprised by an abrupt energy attack.

“Ugh!” The pain made Hamiel groan. Castro, who had been at death’s door, was glaring at him now. Castro’s mouth slowly opened. Until now, only beastly screams had come out of it, but for the first time, a low and dark voice spoke. “Do you think you’re the only one who gained that power?”

Castro began turning black as he continued, “You’re not the only one who has fallen.”

Energy much more powerful than before danced around Castro. He declared, “There are no innocent angels anymore.”

Castro suddenly rose and stormed toward Hamiel.

It turned out that Hamiel wasn’t the only one who had obtained the power of corruption. Castro had paid the price of becoming a fallen angel as well.

1. In the previous chapter, it was never mentioned that Hamiel had half a horn