Chapter 102 - Iluna's Quest (2)

'What, it didn't work...?!'

The Holy Knight who had ordered the attack scrunched his eyebrows.

A black fog from the back had defended the undead from the light.

A 'leech' that was in the rear of the wave of monsters had devoured Priests’ attack without even leaving a trace.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, countless skeletons started to climb the walls.

A commander that was nearby shouted with all his might.

"They're coming! Prepare for close-range combat! Push all these evil beings back to the ground!"

The outskirts of the city looked like a scene from Hell.

Skeletons climbed the walls, and the ghosts descended from the skies.

Ghouls, thanks to their jumping abilities, were able to jump over the wall without much effort.

High-ranking Holy Knights and Priests did their best to defend, but they weren't able to block all the incoming monsters.

'We're being pushed back…!'

One of the Heavens’ Commanders clenched his teeth while looking around.

They knew it would be hard to resist for a long time from the beginning.

The city was too big, and there weren't a lot of soldiers.

In battles like that, the defense line would crumble helplessly, and then the walls would be destroyed by the hands of monsters.

'Users were of help, but…'

The reason why the walls hadn’t crumbled immediately was thanks to the support of users.

The top rankers were defeating the incoming monsters one by one in an effective way.

The users and soldiers worked together and formed a defensive line.

But in the eyes of the commander, even they didn't seem reliable.

'It's not enough with this.'

Among the Heavens’ troops, users were a minority.

'There's too many of them.'

Radiette was thinking the same thing while looking at the battlefield.

There weren't a lot of things that users could do.

Suddenly, he remembered Ain.

—How bravely she’d waved her flames toward him.

Radiette analyzed the users who were fighting on the castle walls against the monsters.

—But none could be compared to her.

Some caught his attention, but they weren't good enough to change the battle's flow.

Radiette looked at the horizon.

The main magic circle was still quiet.

It seemed like there wasn't yet news from the Priestess.

Had there been a problem with the Angel summoning?

That was also a possibility.

Fulfilling the oracle's prophecy wasn't an easy task.

There were probably some monsters placed in the main magic circle. And Ain… Although Ain was a Heavenly Being, she wasn't as strong as him.

If, by any chance, they’d met a high-ranking monster, they would've found difficulties fulfilling their mission.

'They'll soon storm in.'

Radiette clicked his tongue.

Cracks were starting to form in some parts of the walls.

As one part was being torn apart, another one started to break, too.

If things continued like that, the last city would end up falling.

But the Heavens still had one card left.

Radiette looked to the center of the city.

Maria was on top of the highest place of the temple with her eyes closed and a serious expression on her face.

'Maria...'

Even Radiette didn't know what Maria was thinking.

The only thing he was sure of was that Maria was going to burn her life force to defend the Heavens’ believers.

'If that's your choice, I'm not going to try to stop you.'

Radiette stopped fighting for a little while and fixed his gaze on Maria.

Thanks to his superior senses, Radiette was able to see her eyebrows scrunched in focus.

As an old friend, he had decided to witness her last moments.

A Heavenly Being was half-human and half Transcendent.

But unlike Transcendents, they couldn't receive «Pray» empathy from humans, so to exercise influence over the world, they had to use their ego.

The soul was made of ego.

Using the ego was like using part of your soul.

Maria had decided to use all of her remaining ego.

After all, even if she used all her ego, they probably wouldn't be able to change the result.

"Hmm? Wait…!"

It was at that moment…

Radiette suddenly shouted with a voice that was full of hope.

He saw a ray of light rising from the horizon.

It was in the direction of the main magic circle.

'Finally…!'

The ray of light pierced Iluna's atmosphere, passed through the magic control circle, reached space, and opened the doors of the Heavens.

'They're descending!'

An Angel was about to descend.

It seemed like Ain and the Priestess had succeeded!

"Wait, Maria!"

Radiette's voice reached Maria, who was getting ready to burn her existence.

"Yes…?"

As Maria stopped, her shining body returned to normal.

Radiette pointed toward the sky while smiling.

"Look over there."

At the end of where his finger was pointing, numerous light dolls were emerging from the gates of the Heavens that had opened.

—Valkyrie.

An army of the Heavens that could be led only by an Angel that was at least of Royal ranking.

Thousands of dolls flew through Iluna's skies to support Iluna's last standing city.

Each Valkyrie shone with a bright light that made them look like little suns.

Tens of holy little suns illuminated the last city, which had been getting darker.

The people fighting in the city witnessed the scene.

A few users didn't understand what was going on and looked confused.

But was there any NPC that belonged to the Heavens who didn't know about that legendary battle that’d happened thousands of years ago?

"Those are, don't tell me..."

In the past, when Iluna had been about to fall into the hands of the Abyss, an Angel had descended after sending an army of Valkyries.

"An Angel is coming down!"

"Oh, God is helping us!"

"Offer your lives! The Angel's army is going to watch our backs!"

The news that the army of God had descended reached everyone's ears.

The morale of the commanders and soldiers who were fighting all over the place rose.

When the Valkyries appeared, the battle's flow reversed.

The silver dolls flew through the sea of monsters.

Those who were pierced by their holy lances scattered into dust.

The Priests prayed while crying.

They were finally relieved and moved by the fact that they were seeing the mythical fight repeat right in front of their eyes.

All NPCs couldn't help but tremble.

"Haha…"

Radiette, who was laughing while looking at the sky, turned his gaze toward Maria.

"Now you won't need to sacrifice yourself."

"Royal Angel…"

"Yes, if a Royal Angel descends, this fight is over!"

The fact that Valkyries had appeared meant that a Royal Angel would soon descend.

A Royal Angel wasn't as strong as an Archangel, but they had enough strength to blow up an entire city.

Both Heavenly Beings were sure about the battle's outcome.

Soon, once the Angel appeared, Iluna would be covered by light once again.

"There's something strange…!"

Radiette was sure of their victory when Maria shouted.

"The doors are closing!"

"What…?"

Surprised, Radiette turned his head around toward the horizon, and his face turned pale.

The Angel was supposed to have appeared after the Valkyries.

That meant that, for an Angel to appear, the doors of the Heavens had to remain open.

But why was it?

Right then, even though an Angel still hadn't appeared, the gates of the Heavens were closing!

Maria's lips fluttered as the blue light turned off.

"The descent… stopped."

"What happened…?"

At Radiette's question, Maria shook her head.

Even they, who'd been alive for hundreds of years, had never heard about a case when only Valkyries descended without an Angel appearing.

But what happened next horrified both Heavenly Beings.

—A dark-red magic circle had appeared on Iluna's surface.

"It isn't over yet…!"

A blood-red magic circle, big enough to devour a city, was quickly spreading through the city's walls.

The soldiers and even the High Priests weren't aware of what was happening. The blood-red magic circle's start and end then connected.

The magic circle that was surrounding the city emitted ominous energy.

"No!"

Radiette and Maria felt their hearts sink.

At that moment, inside Radiette's head, a certain face appeared.

—The Great Demon of Deception.

While in the shuttle, the Great Demon of Deception had appeared for an unknown reason. Was that somehow connected to what was happening now?

'How could a demon summoning circle…!'

A demon summoning circle hadn't appeared for thousands of years.

The only ones who knew it was a demon summoning magic circle were the two Heavenly Beings, Radiette and Maria.

After all, most people had only encountered demons while reading myths and legends.

"What's that grotesque thing..."

"What, I'm suddenly in a bad mood."

Even if they didn't know what the magic circle was, they could feel its ominous energy.

Both the Heavens’ people and users could feel that breathing was getting harder.

The energy coming out from the magic circle was applying pressure on them.

Crack-!

Outside of the city walls, hundreds of shadows rose, and from the shadows, bizarre-looking monsters that resembled ball-jointed dolls appeared.

—Reapers.

They were the demon equivalent of Valkyries, and each one of them had a scythe as big as its body.

If Valkyries brought hope, Reapers brought desperation.

After reaching the city, the Valkyries leaped downward.

The light and darkness clashed.

—White and black mixed together and created a huge impact.

It looked as if the darkness was devouring the light.

The Valkyries were cut by the scythes of the Reapers and disappeared.

It was simply because the Reapers outnumbered the Valkyries.

'We're in danger!'

After discovering what the dolls were, Radiette gulped.

Maria's face also turned pale.

The Reapers were already bad news, but the problem was what was about to happen.

Just like only a Royal Angel or one with a higher ranking could lead the army of Valkyries, only a demon with a rank higher than Royal could control the Reapers.

There was a chance that a demon of a higher ranking would appear.

'Don't tell me, is it Deception?'

It wasn't important which demon appeared because, once it did, it would be the end.

The city, the people, and everything that belonged to the Heavens would disappear without being able to resist.

Just when they thought that all hope was lost…

"Wait, the ceremony is stopping once again…!"

Radiette shouted again.

Things were getting absurd.

Just like the Angel summoning ceremony, the Demon summoning ceremony had started to stop.

—It was the result of Hyun stopping Louise from praying while inside the Symmetrical World, but those on Iluna didn't know about that.

'What happened…?!'

After a little while, that magic circle also disappeared without leaving a trace.

Just like the doors of Heaven had closed, the doors of Hell had closed as well.

—Both Angel and Demon summoning ceremonies had been canceled.

Things that couldn't be understood with even a Heavenly Being's knowledge kept happening.

‘Is this also because of Ain and the Priestess?’

He had no way of knowing what had happened in the main magic circle.

While Radiette was troubled, he heard Maria's voice.

"The time has come."

Maria closed her eyes and heard the cries coming from the city.

Screams echoed through the city walls.

Maria, who was a Heavenly Being, could feel the humans’ despair more than anyone else.

Although the Demon summoning ceremony had been canceled, she knew the situation hadn't improved.

The Reapers who had been summoned were killing the people that belonged to the Heavens… So she had to act quickly before the situation worsened.

As Maria unleashed her strength, wings that resembled those of an Angel appeared from her shoulders.

The strong energy covered the city with subtle light.

She was the Heavenly Being who had been protecting Iluna before Radiette.

Even before the battle had begun, she had decided to burn her ego in order to protect the people that lived there.

Fwoosh-!

A strong light covered the entire battlefield.

The ray of light that began from the city center started to spread as powder, and Maria's body faded the more the light spread.

Once the whole city was covered by light, Maria's body disappeared without her being able to say any last words.

Radiette closed his eyes after seeing his old friend die.

One could feel Maria's remnants from the warmth light that had covered the city emitted.

Her will was inside the brilliant light.

Although she was a Heavenly Being, because she'd paid the expensive price of using all her ego, she was able to exercise an influence that matched the one that a Transcendent could.

'So this is what you wanted.'

Radiette could feel people within the city walls disappearing.

All of the people who had become war victims were being sent back to Asra.

Kids, normal people, and Priests with no fighting ability were in that group.

Maria thought of the people inside the city until the very end.

—She’d sent all the people who couldn't fight back to Asra.

On the other hand, she’d given people that stayed on Iluna the power to fight against the Abyss.

All those who belonged to the Heavens could feel an unknown power rising within their bodies.

Users who belonged to the Heavens were receiving numerous buff messages.

- The sacrifice of a Heavenly Being has set a fire in your heart! You'll never be able to forget what happened today!

[All your stats have increased by 100 points!]

[Your MAX HP has increased by 8000!]

[The natural recovery rate of your HP and Mana has increased by 10 times!]

[All of your attacks deal 300 more damage!]

[A random skill of yours was strengthened!]

[These buffs last for an hour!]

"What…"

Users who were struggling while fighting didn't know what to say for a while.

All those who were watching the stream had the same reaction.

Each one of the buffs applied to the users was stronger than the average ultimate attack.

Even rankers had never experienced receiving so many buffs at the same time.

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