After Ten Millennia in Hell

Oh Kang-Woo's hands trembled as anger rose within him. He grimaced.

'Guardians corrupted Ludwig?'

That was complete nonsense. The Demon Cult had no idea about what had happened inside that dungeon, the content of the call, nor how Ludwig had died.

There was absolutely no proof to back up their accusation. What they were doing was purely agitation and fabrication; they were just throwing out a random fantasy they had thought up.

'They're trying to make the celestial realm distrust us.'

Thanks to what happened with Ludwig, the angels had started to distrust Guardians, and the Demon Cult was trying to take advantage of that. Instead of persuasion through evidence and logic, they were agitating the angels through lies.

"Hah," Kang-Woo forced a laugh in disbelief.

It was so absurd that it wasn't even funny. It was a foolish attempt.

'But…'

Kang-Woo's eyes narrowed.

'It's not good.'

He wasn't sure what kind of fake scenario they would lay out to enforce their lies, but the most important thing was what would happen if Raphael believed them.

It was possible that might be the case. There were many things about Ludwig's corruption and death that weren't clear, so Guardians didn't have a way to counter the Demon Cult's lies.

'And most importantly…'

Si-Hun had ultimately been the one to kill Ludwig. Even if Ludwig had already been corrupted at that point, it didn't change the fact that Si-Hun had killed him.

"I wonder how they're gonna go about this…"

Kang-Woo pondered while looking at Julia Vilkova through Si-Hun's eyes.

'I'm sure she won't just implore Raphael to believe her.'

It didn't matter if it was true that Guardians had corrupted Ludwig. Satan and the Demon Cult were both forces of darkness, so they would never be able to come to a compromise with Raphael. There was no way that they would use a strategy that relied on who Raphael trusted more.

"I would guess…"

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes.

'Authority of Insight.'

He expanded his vision through Si-Hun's eyes.

'I knew it.'

Kang-Woo saw the item that he had been thinking about. He smirked.

'So, that's your play.'

Kang-Woo got up. He put his finger on his ear and called his subordinate.

"Vaal Zahak."

- I am here, Master.

"Are the preparations complete?"

- Of course.

There was no need to ask what preparations he was referring to.

Kang-Woo nodded.

"Send it over right now."

He cut the call.

'Two can play that game.'

Kang-Woo wouldn't stand for their poor scheme of pulling the angels and Guardians apart through agitation and fabrication.

'Actually…'

It could be a great opportunity.

Kang-Woo raised a communication crystal orb as he walked.

"Lilith."

[Yes, Master Kang-Woo.]

A reply came immediately.

"Have you heard any information about the situation?"

[I have only just heard that one of Satan's apostles entered the angels' base. My apologies. I should have been quicker…]

"No, it's fine. More importantly…" Kang-Woo said quietly, "I need your help with something."

Lilith laughed lightly at Kang-Woo's words.

[Anything, my king.]

* * *

"What…?"

A suffocating amount of pressure emanated from the angel, with his five-meter stature, wide shoulders, bulging muscles, gold armor, and his eight brilliant wings…

Archangel Raphael grimaced upon hearing the words of the Apostle of Evil who had come out of nowhere.

"Nonsense!" Si-Hun exclaimed as he stood up and stomped on the ground.

He extended his hand, and a white light gathered, taking the form of a greatsword.

It was the holy sword Ludwig… The Mythic-grade weapon imbued with the power of Archangel Raphael and the blessing of a high elf exuded light.

"Stop," Raphael said, raising his hand. He looked down at Julia with deep, sunken eyes. "What do you mean?"

Julia lowered her head and answered, "It means exactly what I have said. Lord Satan and the Demon Cult have nothing to do with this incident. It was a plot self-fabricated by Guardians."

"Hah." Raphael feigned laughter and looked at Julia in absurdity. "Do you expect me to believe that?"

Julia's words made no sense, and there was no way Raphael would believe something like that anyway. What she said would be hard to believe even if the words had come from one of his apostles, let alone a servant of evil.

There was no need for him to think about it.

"Fufu." Julia smiled and slowly stood up.

"…"

Julia seemed confident.

Raphael grimaced when he saw her unashamed, confident demeanor. She was acting far too confidently despite being a servant of evil in a fortress of angels.

"In that case, are you absolutely sure that Guardians had nothing to do with this incident, Lord Raphael?"

"Well…"

"I am sure that is not the case. It is only natural since the one who had ultimately killed Ludwig was…" Julia slowly raised her finger and pointed at Si-Hun. "...That human over there."

"Shut up!!" Si-Hun shouted angrily while glaring at her. He expressed with difficulty, "Ludwig… was already at a point… of no return."

He remembered Ludwig's grotesque veins and pained appearance. He thought of Ludwig's final message, desperately telling them not to go to him and to escape instead.

"There was nothing else… I could have done," Si-Hun said, lowering his head.

Julia smiled brightly and replied, "There was nothing you could have done, you say? Do you have any proof of that? Was anyone else but members of Guardians present on the scene?"

"…"

"Tell me. Who else was there aside from Guardians members? There was nobody else… was there? Then—"

"Enough." Raphael raised his hand and glared at Julia. "How dare you try to trick me, servant of evil?"

"I apologize if that is how you interpreted it, Lord Raphael," Julia said, turning her head toward him. "But do you not find it weird? They said that Ludwig suddenly fell into a demon's trap, but… how exactly did he end up falling for it?"

"…"

There was a heavy silence.

"Since we're being falsely accused, we secretly took a look at the report made by the Watchers of Light," Julia explained with bright eyes.

"According to the report, Ludwig used the Gate in the Hall of Protection, the base of Guardians, that led here. Fufu. Isn't that too much of a coincidence? To think he would get dragged somewhere else while using a Gate within the base of Guardians…"

"You sons of bitches!!" Si-Hun yelled.

He couldn't hold back the anger anymore and stood up. The holy sword in his hand shone intensely.

Right when Si-Hun was about to leap forward…

Raphael commanded, "Wait."

BOOM!

"Kurgh!"

A huge amount of pressure weighed down on Si-Hun's shoulders, and he fell to his knees.

Raphael silently closed his eyes and began to organize his thoughts.

Five minutes… Ten minutes… Raphael kept thinking in silence.

Then he slowly opened his eyes and said, "Even if that is the case, it is not enough for me to trust—"

"I had a feeling you would say that," Julia interjected, cutting Raphael's words short.

She took out something from her pockets that she had prepared in advance. It was a black crystal orb.

"What is…"

"A mere servant no longer has the right to intervene." Julia smiled brightly. "I believe it would be better for the misunderstanding to be cleared through direct conversation."

Whoom.

A black light flowed out from the black crystal orb. The light then spread out radially like a hologram and showed a pitch-black darkness. A red mask appeared amid that darkness.

"You are…" Raphael said.

[I had never thought a day would come when I would be speaking to you in this way.]

"Could you be… Satan?"

[My appearance has changed quite a lot, but yes.]

Yellow eyes became visible from behind the mask.

[I am Satan.]

Raphael closed his mouth.

"Sa… tan," Si-Hun uttered.

His expression distorted into a scowl, and intense rage rose within him.

The culprit who had dared to corrupt Ludwig was trying to frame Guardians for the act.

Crack, crack!

"A-Argh."

Si-Hun pushed against Raphael's sacred power, which was weighing him down. He straightened his knees and stood up.

"What…?" Raphael uttered, his eyes widening in surprise.

He hadn't expected a human to be able to withstand his energy and stand up.

Bam!!

Si-Hun stomped on the ground.

"SATAAAANN!!!" he roared and charged forward.

Just then…

Crash!!

"Si-Hun!!!"

Someone grabbed Si-Hun's arm and pulled him back.

"H-Hyung-nim?"

"Calm down. If you act recklessly, you'll only be doing what he wants."

Kang-Woo had crashed through the ceiling of the fortress and stopped Si-Hun before he completely lost his sense of reason in a rampage.

"...You must be the older brother of that human known as Kim Si-Hun," Raphael remarked.

He was not bewildered. It seemed that he had already heard about Kang-Woo.

"I apologize for eavesdropping on your conversation," Kang-Woo said while bowing.

Raphael answered with deep, sunken eyes, "No, it is alright. From the beginning, I had not expected Guardians to send this human alone."

He was aware of the unstable relationship between angels and Guardians.

[What an interesting flow of events,] Satan, who was watching the scene unfold, commented while laughing.

Kang-Woo glared at Satan and said, "Bastard…"

Satan spoke in a relaxed voice, [Let us get back to the subject at hand, Raphael.]

"...Speak," Raphael replied.

[I did not lay a hand on the man known as Ludwig. If you suspect me so…]

Satan spread his hand.

A dense darkness contorted and took shape as a black sphere.

[This is my demonic energy. Track it down. If traces of my demonic energy are within the Hall of Protection, then that would be proof that I was involved in this incident. But if there are no traces of it…] Satan snickered. [It will prove that it was an act that Guardians fabricated.]

"…"

Silence fell once again.

Raphael's gaze wavered. He could not take this simply as a plot from Satan.

An angel's ability to track demonic energy was exceptional, and there was no way Satan didn't know that.

'If he is willing to go so far…'

He couldn't help but have some qualms.

No, he already had many suspicions regarding Ludwig's death. It was true that Ludwig had fallen into a demon's trap after using a Gate located in the Hall of Protection, and it was also a fact that the only ones who had testified to Ludwig's corruption were Guardians members.

A sense of doubt appeared in Raphael's eyes.

"You…" Kang-Woo uttered, grimacing.

He looked as if he'd been hit unexpectedly on the back of his head and that he had not expected Satan to do this.

[So, what do you think?] Satan laughed. [Is it not suspicious?]

* * *

A giant black sphere hovered in the darkness of a giant cave made of transparent ice.

Satan's fragment, which had been severed from the black sphere, was touching the mask on his face while shrouded in darkness.

[Hmm…]

There was a black crystal orb in front of him.

[What is going on?] Satan mumbled uncomfortably. [Hurry up and connect the call, Julia.]

The expected time had already passed, but still, there was no reaction coming from the crystal orb.

[Why is it taking so long?]

Satan tilted his head in confusion.