Chapter 392 (2): Humans Come in Ranks, and Heaven has a Hierarchy.
The black barrier above the castle fell apart completely. Hestia’s dragon hovered in the air, and the terrifying condensed energy in its mouth made the air pop explosively.
Hestia blocked the werewolf as soon as he moved. “If you want to go there, you have to go through me.”
Behind her, the dragon roared powerfully, shooting a thick energy beam at the castle to raze it to the ground, but a tiger of black light leapt out of the castle and opened its mouth at the light beam, swallowing it whole.
Tiger was one of the Lord of Gluttony’s symbols.
“Another?!”
Hestia turned around in surprise, her thoughts locking on the Lord of Gluttony’s vessel for a clear look. It wasn’t an empty shell. Just like the Wrath vessel she had been fighting, part of the demon lord’s thoughts had descended.
Boom!!
Unleashing a series of light beams without restraint left the dragon exhausted, its head hanging low. The vicious tiger lunged and broke its metallic body with a bite. It dispersed into light particles with a cry.
“Kekekeke—” x2
Hestia found herself flanked by a wolf and a tiger, with the majority of her energy exhausted. A bead of cold sweat dripped down her forehead.
“Throne Frey, I remember you. You’ve become more appealing after becoming human.” The tiger spoke in human language, salivating after her scrumptious body in the literal sense.
“It’ll be a waste to just eat her,” Wrath said while laughing out loud. “You’ve only descended with part of your thoughts, so you can’t keep all of her here. Rather than killing her and allowing her to return to Heaven, it’s better to capture her alive and tame her. I look forward to seeing her fall.”
Hestia raised her guard, pondering how she should defeat two powerful enemies.
Just then, a flash of golden light shot into the sky, splitting the darkness like a shooting star. Derrida flew up and hovered by Hestia’s side, folding his pristine white wings.
Seeing two demon lords had triggered Derrida’s memories, allowing him to remember who he was. The stigma on his left arm radiated golden light, shining through the fabric of his shirt.
“Another familiar energy. Who are you?”
“Throne, Fred.”
After the introduction, Derrida conjured golden rings of light at his feet with a golden glow surging in his eyes, taking Hestia into his domain. The light rapidly replenished her energy, rejuvenating her. She felt like she could exchange three hundred more blows with the demons.
Roooar—
The two demon lords raged. Not wanting to give Hestia a chance to recover, they charged at her from her front and back.
Two hours later, the depths of the darkness were in shambles. Over half of the stone columns had crumbled, and part of the black castle had collapsed.
Hestia stood where she was, panting. Her fair skin was covered in black smoke. The influence of the Seven Deadly Sins made her wrathful and thirsty for blood. She wanted nothing more than to defeat the demon lords and eat to her heart’s content.
Behind her, Derrida... well, he was suspended in the sky, turning into a cross-shaped star. With a halo encircling it, the cross star projected a faint glow that protected him from the Seven Deadly Sins. Within the star, he tucked his legs in with his arms spread, slumbering with his eyes closed and his head lowered.
He had shut himself in because he couldn’t win.
Derrida, or Fred in Heaven, wasn’t like those Seraphim who specialized in fighting. He was more adept at defense and healing. Moreover, he had only just awakened, having reclaimed only a limited part of his power. He couldn’t grant Hestia much help.
The four Śārim were the real one-angel army in Heaven. Each of them led a legion, and at their peak, they would all be able to win a one-on-two fight against demon lords.
Facing Hestia, the werewolf was panting like a dog, and the tiger didn’t fare much better. It meowed like a kicked cat.
“Nice. I never realized that you were quite good at fighting.”
“Good power. You’re gonna be satisfying to chew on.”
The two demon lords flanked Hestia. Within the projected Abyss, they could access as much energy as they needed, but the limited amount of thoughts they had descended with gave them a low ceiling. Though they were fighting only Hestia and a healer, it still wasn’t an easy fight for them.
When Hestia seemed to be running out of energy, they finally felt confident enough to declare their victory.
“Why?” Hestia asked in shock, breathing heavily. “Why are you so powerful, but you’ve only descended with parts of your thoughts? You could’ve controlled this country into opening the Gate of Hell quickly.”
Hestia grew concerned as she struggled. Her instinct told her that the two demon lords were intimidated. They could’ve descended with more thoughts, but had chosen to lie low. Their vessels, for example, were both regular vessels rather than forms that would best bring out their power. Gluttony’s strongest representation was a fly, while Wrath’s was a dragon. Those were the forms they should’ve taken. The tiger and wolf...
Others would’ve thought that they were merely lackeys!
Because of that, Hestia almost entertained the thought that the Lord of Pride was in the castle.
“This country isn’t what it seems...”
“There’s no point in telling her that. I’m starving!”
“Bastard, you can’t eat her. She’s a Throne. Her true value lies in her fall!”
“That’s what you think. In my opinion, she’ll only be valuable once she’s on the dining table!!”
The two demons disagreed on how they should use Hestia and ended up in a heated argument. Neither was willing to share such an appealing trophy, and neither could convince the other.
Such are demons!
Hestia closed her eyes and murmured. As she tapped into the last of the Holy Light in her body, the Seven Deadly Sins burrowed in and tainted her thoughts and body like viruses, making her groan out.
“!” x2
Alerted, the two demon lords hurriedly lowered their figurative champagne glasses and lunged at their trophy. They couldn’t allow the sitting duck to fly away!
“Good...” Hestia opened her golden eyes. She hadn’t planned to run away; she didn’t have enough energy to do that. She had pretended to be fleeing to draw the demon lords closer for an obvious goal: mutual destruction.
Golden light bloomed from her chest. Her cross-shaped stigma unleashed infinite holy intent and blinded the two demon lords. Wrath cursed out loud, while Gluttony opened his mouth wide.
Golden shockwaves shot out in violent ripples, conjuring the fleeting image of Heaven and banishing the two demon lords’ thoughts. They stretched and distorted as they were driven back to Hell.
“It’s no use. We’ll be back...”
“You, on the other hand, won’t be able to escape this place without your power. You’re doomed to become Hell’s captive...”
“Just wait. We’ll descend again soon!”
The two demon lords laughed as they departed, ready to pick Hestia’s body up the next time they descended.
Light faded. The black castle was reduced to rubble, and the entire projection of the Abyss wobbled with rumbling noises, showing signs of collapsing.
Hestia got to her feet with the support of her lance. Her shirt had burst open, the tattered rags unable to cover her heavy assets. Looking closely, one could see the fading cross-shaped stigma between the two mounds.
The moment her stigma faded, twisted black threads occupied her fair skin. They spread, climbing up her delicate face and turning her golden eyes ink black. In the depths of her eyes, a thread of golden light had become trapped.
Hestia cried out in pain. With her devoted faith—or perhaps it was her iron will—she managed to protect her autonomy from the Seven Deadly Sins. Flapping her weak wings, she took flight to grab Derrida and run away.
She had gathered information on the vessels of the demon lords and the Gate of Hell. It wasn’t safe to linger. They had to notify the Papal State immediately so that the other reincarnated angels could come and clean up this place.
“Kekeke—”
Wild laughter rang in the ruined castle. Hestia turned around stiffly and saw modified demon vessels rising from the rubble, amounting to more than a hundred. There were so many that she couldn’t help but despair.
“Such delicious angel!”
“A true reincarnated angel...”
“I can’t wait...”
“What do you suggest, Boss?”
“I’ll go first. Get in line.”
Unlike the demon lords, who were above base desires, the demonic pawns wanted Hestia’s body, but not as food.
“I’ll leave the rest to you, Wayne...” Hestia murmured.
“Hurry. Find us before the demon lords do.”
She closed her eyes in resignation. The stigma on her chest radiated blinding holy light that wrapped around her to form a cross-shaped cocoon. She hung in the sky just like Derrida.
The demon vessels couldn’t easily give up. One of them charged toward her and tried to get into the cocoon for some happy hours.
Bam!
A collision happened—an explosive collision.
Sacred flames devoured the vessel and burned him to ashes as he cried out. Thanks to his sacrifice, the others calmed down.
“What do we do?”
“Report to the SS and have them send a few Hell experts.”
“But the demon lords have descended. Don’t you see the angels—”
“Our master is the Führer, never the demon lords!”
***
Dawn.
Chancellery of the New Reich.
Chancellor Hidler began his busy, productive day. Looking at the piles of documents filling his desk, he rattled off a litany of curses, his smile fading.
He flipped through the documents with an expressionless face. His secretary told him where the documents had been sent from. Some were from the frontlines, some from within the government, and others were confidential documents that the secretary wasn’t authorized to read; the Führer would have to read them himself.
Hidler browsed the confidential documents and fell into deep thought, silent for a long moment.
Rudolf, the Vice Chancellor, walked in then. Taking the document Hidler handed him with both hands, he browsed through it and smiled. “My Führer, this is good news. You never like those demons. Now that angels have their eyes on them, you can seize the chance to kick them out of Prussia.”
Hidler shook his head. “This isn’t the time. We still have use of the demons. They shouldn’t exit the stage this early.”
“The angels’ arrival meant that the Church of Heavenly Father started paying attention to us. If we don’t cut ties with the demons now, we’ll suffer greater losses...” Rudolf trailed off, realizing that he had crossed a line. “My Führer, what do you think we should do with the two angels? Do we send them back to the church?”
“How foolish of you to suggest so!”
“You’re right, as always.”
“Sending our spoils of war back doesn’t make us seem merciful, but guilty. Since we’ve gotten our hands on some angels, we’ll try to gain Heaven’s power...” Hidler went through the other documents. When he saw the latest report from the Department of Logistic Support, he couldn’t help but read it out loud, “Christian has succeeded with the transformation into a demonic vessel... Who is he? Why is his condition reported in particular?”
After some search, the secretary explained who Christian was, including the key fact that he had taken a bullet for Hidler.
“So that’s him...” Hidler remembered the handsome young man. “I remember that he’s incredibly untalented and showed no progress for years, whether in the military or in administration. He had nothing but loyalty.”
“My Führer, because of his loyalty, he has overcome his limit. It’s your charisma that helped him achieve this feat.”
“Perhaps...” Hidler smiled, closing the folder. “Have Colonel Christian—no, Major Christian deal with the angels and the demon vessels. He’s loyal. He has the right to learn about the truth of his home country!”
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