Chapter 203: Confronting Senior Asher
Being a Supernal is to live in a cutthroat world.
As the pillars of mankind against the Blue Void, there can be no lenience or error.
Every single Supernal must be able to utilize their God-sent divine bloodline to grow stronger and protect mankind. Death is always a strong possibility whenever a Supernal is assigned to deal with a Sky Gate or Ground Gate.
But to be an Angel is far worse.
It’s to live in the most brutal survival of the fittest world.
Angels always have a death penalty looming over their heads, and the only way to postpone it is to perform. Need to show mankind that they can be useful. And naturally, Angels would do anything to grow stronger.
Especially when not only were their lives on the line, but also their families.
Even the most suicidal Supernal would think twice about killing themselves due to this dynamic.
One that was guaranteed by the system in place.
Killing a young boy would never cross almost all people’s minds on the surface—even if there was no other choice. Some notorious killers would still hesitate to stoop that low. But this was nothing for Asher.
He and his squad meticulously planned everything from start to finish.
Planned in detail in order to get their lethal hands on Panas.
It was unravelled due to one mistake in answering Bree’s question about his Patron God.
Regardless, now that Kai got a whiff of it, he wouldn’t let Asher succeed.
Not in his watch.
Kai reached the portal in a breeze. He already activated his Nigh-phantom Imprint—making sure that his presence was light and invisible to those who don’t pay attention. But that’s still not enough.
Near the portal back to the world, Damas was alert.
He was all alone, guarding the portal, and yet he remained extremely vigilant.
Out of the entire squad, right after Asher, Kai was uneasy about Damas.
Seeing how fiercely he moved against the Noble Star Beasts earlier made Kai worry about him, too, and seeing him being vigilant didn’t come as a surprise at all. In fact, he had anticipated that Damas would be vigilant.
The other seniors must still be keeping an act.
Kai’s hand unwrapped the bandage that wrapped around his Blood-phantom Scimitar.
Since the others were still trying to distract the other porters from knowing what was going on, if Kai took out Damas right now, he wouldn’t need to worry about his back. He could fully focus on Asher.
Asher has his earpiece to communicate, but I hope the Sky Gate can mess up with the signal.
Nodding inwardly, Kai prepared himself to kill Damas.
But he stopped.
I can’t. Panas can’t wait too long.
As much as he wanted to kill Damas right now, if he failed to kill with one strike, then he’d be trapped in a fight. Panas would’ve died ten times over if that had happened, so he caged his murderous intent and saved it for later.
"Black Starfall..."
Kai threw a black star and controlled it around the big slab of rock while he hid.
Then, he charged mana into it.t
Crash—!
"Hmm?" Damas snapped his head to where the sound came from.
He didn’t move from his spot—the sound did not lure him away, but Kai did not need him to be lured away. Just a small distraction to shatter the vigilance for a few seconds was more than enough for Kai to slip through the portal without being noticed.
As soon as Kai exited the Sky Gate and entered the Second Sky’s blinding sunlight, he banked hard left without a heartbeat of hesitation—fucking low and cutting wide, making sure Damas wouldn’t catch even a flicker of movement if he happened to turn around.
Kai then flew.
Mana flooded his winged boots in a torrent, far beyond their normal draw.
The air screamed past his ears as he became a black streak against the endless blue.
The camp resolved in the distance in less than a minute.
He didn’t need to squint—the sunlight was merciless, and it showed him everything.
Asher stood by the boiling food pot, stirring in an eager, circular motion. His lips were pursed, and even from this distance, Kai could see the faint bounce of his head—whistling. The bastard was actually whistling like he was cooking in the morning.
And behind, lashed to a wooden stake like a piece of meat left to cure in the sun, was Panas.
Barely conscious. Head lolling.
The ropes bit into his chest and arms, and his skin had the grey, bloodless pallor of someone who had been hanging there for far too long. Seeing Panas’s condition, Kai went feral. Burning fury whited out reason and left only the animal need to destroy.
Kai descended like a comet, faster than the fastest bird in the sky.
The wind shrieked. The Blood-phantom Scimitar was ready in his grip, and it swung when he neared the camp. He blew past Asher, and the blade carved through the wooden stake with a single, splintering crack, and his free arm hooked Panas around his chest.
He caught Panas and skidded far, carving a long, hissing furrow through the cloudy floor.
Once he stopped, Panas was cradled against his shoulder, still breathing.
And Kai’s eyes, burning with unspent rage, were already searching for the next thing to break.
Asher.
"For Zeus’ sake..." Asher muttered under his breath and sighed deeply. He kept stirring the pot while he shifted his gaze to Kai. "What are you doing out here, Lesser Angel Kai? Go back to your station."
"Aiming for a kid? Really?!" Kai growled as he clutched Panas’ cold body tighter. "What kind of animal are you?!"
Despite the rageful scream, Asher didn’t seem to care.
He went to take a cloth on the side with deliberate slowness—and then wiped his hands clean of the trace of porridge that he was making. His slowness and calmness only served to fuel Kai’s rage even more.
But Asher didn’t care.
"Being a new Lesser God, Atreus forced those who are incompatible with him to do more than Demons with his bloodline." Asher wiped the stain between his fingers calmly. "If an Angel like me desired his power, the target needs to be no older than thirteen, have to be a boy, and have to have a male guardian. Since he couldn’t kill the Half-human Sons of Zeus, it would please Atreus more if his Supernals killed the guardian first before eating the boy.
"Would you imagine that. The kid fits all requirements." Asher chuckled inwardly.
Kai opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when he felt movement from Panas.
He looked down and saw Panas’ eyelids tremble and then open.
"Brother... What are you doing here?"
"Don’t talk. I’m going to get you out of here."
"No!" Panas clutched Kai’s collar. "Don’t waste your time on me; I’m dying anyway."
"What?" Kai’s eyes widened, and then he sensed mana. He turned Panas’ body a little and saw a glowing lamb-shaped mark. It was Asher’s mark. "No, you’re not dying. Just trust me on this and stay awake."
"Don’t..." Panas said breathlessly. "Leave me, but don’t tell Grines. Don’t tell Grines that I’ve passed away until the Sky Gate is closed. I am going to drag him down more and more in the future." A faint smile curled his lips. "My death is the best thing that could’ve happened to him."
Kai’s ears rang at Panas’ words.
He remembered Bella readily sacrificing herself in order for him to keep on living.
For some time, he had been wondering what could possibly be in her mind to be that decisive.
Bella had been suicidal, but after the first year, she returned to normal.
If anything, she should also want to keep on living.
But now, seeing the smile on Panas’ lips, a thought came to him.
Did she also believe she would only be a burden to me? That... she would drag me down until there was nothing—so she chose that moment as the right time to die? Did she understand earlier than I that my existence as a Lesser Angel made it impossible to protect her while I try to survive?
Kai chuckled inwardly.
He realized that she made the decision for him.
And as much as he wanted to argue, had she found a way to survive somehow—there’s zero chance for him to survive. Her decision was the right thing, and yet, the pain that it left behind was still greater.
"Listen to him." Asher finally turned to face Kai. "Even he wanted death."
"Shut up!"
"You can still walk away. Pretend that you never see. I’ve no intention of killing you."
"I said shut up!"
"This has nothing to do with you, Lesser Angel Kai. See this as what it is. Like our professors really liked to say—natural selection." Asher tilted his head a little. "Just walk away. That boy is nothing."
"Nothing...?" Kai’s eyes slowly and angrily shifted to Asher.
"Oh, you think the Angels are the lowest class? Let this senior tell you something." Asher lifted his hand and began counting. "Demons, their families, normal people on the surface, Angels." He paused for a second and then smiled behind his mask. "And lastly, their families. Angels already got shit for what they are, so anyone below that is simply nothing."
"Don’t do this," Kai whispered through gritted teeth. "Please."
Asher shook his head.
Even with all he said, Kai still refused to accept the situation.
"You’re telling me not to do this? As a Lesser Angel, you should know better about this than anyone." He scoffed—baffled at the request. "Think about what you’re asking. You’re asking me to stop; this is the same as asking me to go die. We, Angels, need to constantly grow stronger by any means necessary, or else we’d be killed."
"You can eat the children of Star Beasts! I’m sure Atreus won’t discriminate!" Kai refuted with desperation in his voice. "I’ll even help you hunt them!"
"I already am." Asher shrugged nonchalantly. He also hunted the children of Star Beasts, or anything that could check all the requirements. "If there’s a golden chance that fell into my lap, I wouldn’t waste it."
"Have a heart." Kai’s arms wrapped around Panas’ body more tightly. "Killing and eating a young boy... It’s barbaric! What would your family say?! If they knew what you were doing to make sure they live, what would they say?! They would be disappointed with your decision!"
"They would say thank you." Asher grabbed his sword from the side. "Throughout the history of mankind, barbarism has been a big part of it. We’re more civilized now—but we’re not exactly on the surface, are we? It doesn’t matter. Hand him over, or you’ll give me no other choice."
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