After Ten Millennia in Hell

Kim Si-Hun's eyes widened in surprise.

Meanwhile, Oh Kang-Woo's mouth was agape, at a loss for words.

'Mother of fuck…'

His head started to hurt.

He'd created the character Fallen Angel Rakiel without thinking too much about it. He had just thought that there should be at least one fallen angel among the Four Heavenly Kings and had thought of the character in no more than five seconds.

But Raphael knew him?

'That doesn't make sense.'

Kang-Woo's expression paled.

Raphael was just as troubled and expressed, "I cannot understand. How could Rakiel have… If Lady Seraph's seal was broken, then that could mean the other Constellations have also…"

"Lord Raphael?"

"Ah, my apologies."

Raphael raised his head.

"Who is Rakiel?" Si-Hun asked in frustration.

"…"

There was a short silence.

Raphael closed his eyes and fell into thought. After thinking for a while, he sighed. "Talking about Rakiel is usually taboo, but since you have already met him, I guess I have no choice."

With deep sunken eyes, Raphael said, "Rakiel is an angel who had fallen to the temptations of Demon God Bauli in the era of ancient myths. He is currently… one of the Constellations of Evil."

"…"

The scale was so big that Kang-Woo wasn't even sure where to start asking questions.

'Why the fuck does it have to be the fucking era of myths?'

His mind turned blank.

"… Your expressions tell me that you need more details."

"We know absolutely nothing about myths and the Demon God."

"I see. The record of Titans must have vanished from Earth. Mm… It seems this will be a long story." While making a troubled explanation, Raphael said, "In the beginning, there was chaos."

'Dayum, we're starting off that big? Yeah, I would have guessed as much for there to have been chaos.'

"And within that chaos…"

'You're not gonna say some shit like light and darkness were born, are you?'

"Light and darkness were born."

'Fuck. They really were born.'

Kang-Woo looked at Raphael in disbelief, and so did Si-Hun. The scale had gotten as massive as the entire universe, so he seemed to be confused about how to react. If anyone other than Raphael had said such a thing, Kang-Woo would have smacked them to make them stop with the nonsense.

Unaware of their reactions, Raphael continued, "Titans were born from that light and darkness."

"Titans…"

"Each Titan designed their own creations and a world for them to live in."

"And are those creations angels and demons?"

"Humans as well. No, it would be more apt to say that they had created all things. Lady Gaia and the other gods are also the Titans' creations."

"…"

"One of those Titans is Demon God Bauli."

Kang-Woo grabbed his head.

'What the hell is going on?'

He couldn't understand why the era of myths was being mentioned just because he had used the name Rakiel. Kang-Woo began organizing his thoughts as the scale of events got bigger and bigger.

Titans…

It was an unbelievable story.

'Come to think of it, back then…'

He recalled a certain mage who was providing Guardians with all sorts of valuable magic items. The mage had yelled something back when Kang-Woo had gone to their workshop to console them as they were being enslaved by endless labor.

"Aaaaahh! At this rate, the 'Book of Hecate' will never be…!"

Kang-Woo remembered asking the mage who Hecate was.

"She is the Great One who had stood at the pinnacle of magic, even among the Titans, in the era of myths! It is no exaggeration to say that all magic had been derived from her. We mages have a duty to pursue her knowledge and the truth of true magic—"

"No, your duty is to pay off your debt."

"Y-You damn swindler!!"

"It is your fault for signing the contract. Now, now, get up. It's time to work."

"Aarrgghh!! You damn demon!"

"I am indeed a demon, kekeke."

'Mm.'

Kang-Woo had thought the mage had been hallucinating after getting too tired from overwork, but he now thought otherwise.

'And besides…'

There was a Titan whom he was even more aware of than Hecate.

Kang-Woo's eyes narrowed.

He thought of the being in the Abyss, the deepest layer of the Ten Thousand Demon Core. The being had been an absolute monster so massive that his full size could not be fathomed.

'If he's a Titan…'

To be more precise, if he was Bauli, the story made sense.

After confirming that Raphael wasn't talking out of his ass, Kang-Woo focused on his words more.

"Demon God Bauli possessed unending resentment for all creations made by Titans."

"Was he on his period?" Kang-Woo spat out.

"Period?"

"It's nothing. Please continue."

"Mm. It had never been recorded why the Demon God came to have such resentment, but it had been told that the Demon God had gone to war against the most powerful gods among the Titans' creations."

"It feels like we're getting more and more off-topic… So who is Rakiel?"

"Rakiel was one of the beings who had stood with the Demon God to destroy the universe."

"In that case… the beings who stood with the Demon God…"

"We call them the Constellations of Evil."

"…"

Kang-Woo remained silent. At this point, it didn't even surprise him anymore. The scale was so massive that he just wanted to gloss over it while swearing.

"So… who won the war? Oh, I guess there is no need to even ask."

If Bauli had won, there would be no universe for them to be in.

Raphael nodded.

"Celestial Goddess Seraph, Lady Gaia, and the Heavenly Dragon joined forces and managed to kill the demon god. They then divided the demon god's corpse into three pieces and placed each piece in a different world."

'And I ate one of those three pieces.'

He could more or less understand, but he still had unanswered questions.

"I have three questions."

"Go ahead."

Kang-Woo asked in a sunken voice, "You said the war was between Demon God Bauli and the creations… What were the other Titans doing?"

From the perspective of the other Titans, Bauli was an outlaw who was trying to kill their creations. It made no sense for them to not do anything.

Raphael said in a heavy voice, "There was an invasion from the outer world."

"Outer world?"

"There is not much known about them. All we know is that… the Titans refer to them as beings of the Void."

"Then the other Titans…"

"They were battling the beings of the Void. Many Titans died in that battle, and Bauli took that opportunity to take action."

'What a scumbag…'

Kang-Woo laughed in disbelief. It was as if he'd tried to rob a burning village instead of helping to extinguish the fire.

Kang-Woo frowned and said, "Then… my second question."

Kang-Woo swept his hair back and opened his mouth. Now that he had heard of the myths, there was something that he just couldn't understand.

"Why did you think that the Demon of Prophecy was Satan?"

If the angels knew about this myth, the one they should have suspected first was Demon God Bauli. After all, there was no being more fitting for the title of Demon of Prophecy than the Demon God.

'Could they not have suspected him because he was dead?'

Nonsense.

Kang-Woo shook his head.

If they were talking about the dead, Satan had also been dead.

Gods did not die in the truest sense unless their soul itself was annihilated. Gaia, Seraph, and the Heavenly Dragon had failed to annihilate Bauli's soul.

'As proof of that…'

Bauli was alive within the Abyss of the Ten Thousand Demon Core.

Kang-Woo couldn't understand why he was there, but there was one thing he was sure about: the demon god wasn't dead yet, and the gods should've been more aware of that fact than anyone else.

'Wait, then…'

Kang-Woo's eyes shone.

'The Demon of Prophecy wasn't me but him?'

There was a good chance that was the case. Every piece of information that was revealed was pointing at Demon God Bauli for being the Demon of Prophecy.

'What the hell? It's not matching up.'

Gaia had clearly said that she didn't know who the Demon of Prophecy was, but she definitely knew that Bauli's soul hadn't been annihilated, so there was no way she would've said something like that.

'Don't tell me that she doesn't know.'

Kang-Woo shook his head. Even if she didn't know, he was the first one she should've suspected. In that case, why had Gaia said she didn't know who the Demon of Prophecy was?

"Fuuu. That is the most confusing part of all this." Raphael took a deep breath. "The one who told us about the Demon of Prophecy was Uranus."

Kang-Woo had heard that name before—the god in charge of protecting Earth in Gaia's place.

Kang-Woo nodded.

"We also suspected the Demon of Prophecy to be Bauli at first, but from what Uranus had heard from Gaia herself… the Demon of Prophecy and Bauli are different beings."

"…"

Kang-Woo's mouth remained closed, and he turned his head to stare at Gaia in the wheelchair. She was considerably calm, as if she had already known about this myth.

"Is that true?" asked Kang-Woo.

"… Yes. I remember hearing that the first moment I received the revelation."

If the incarnation of Gaia was corroborating it, then it meant that Raphael was not mistaken.

Kang-Woo's eyes shook.

'It isn't Bauli?'

Then who…

'Oh.'

Kang-Woo clenched his hair.

Assuming Bauli wasn't the Demon of Prophecy, then there was only one other person it could possibly be

'It fucking is me.'

The Demonic Sea and 666 Authorities…

The only ones who matched those conditions were Bauli and him.

'Wait, then this son of a bitch…'

Kang-Woo's eyes widened. The scattered puzzle pieces had finally been completed.

'Fuck… so that's how it is.'

Bauli knew about the prophecy and also knew that the gods would try to find him through the prophecy to kill him once and for all.

'And so…'

He had hidden from the prophecy… within the puppet known as Oh Kang-Woo.

Gaia was likely confused out of her mind, since she was sure that Bauli was supposed to be the Demon of Prophecy, but the prophecy was pointing at someone else entirely.

Even if both were using the same body, they were clearly different beings. It was only obvious that the prophecy would be interpreted incorrectly. It was like trying to find the way with a broken compass.

"…"

Kang-Woo clenched his mouth shut. The fact that he was being used by another being was unpleasant beyond belief.

'It doesn't seem like things are going according to his plan, at least.'

He recalled how Bauli had excitedly tried to crawl out of the Abyss, saying that the time of prophecy had come. He had likely planned to take control of Kang-Woo's body after Kang-Woo had absorbed a part of his corpse.

'But he failed.'

The puppet Bauli had created to hide from the prophecy had stopped him from crawling out of the Abyss.

Kang-Woo closed his eyes and organized his thoughts.

It didn't matter which of them was the Demon of Prophecy.

'What matters the most right now is Rakiel.'

"Fuuu. I can understand your confusion," Raphael mumbled. "If it is not Bauli or Satan… not even I am sure who it could be. However, the fact that Rakiel is serving the Demon of Prophecy points to Bauli being the Demon of Prophecy… No, even if that is the case, there have been no signs that Bauli had been revived for that to be the case…"

"I will ask my final question, then." Kang-Woo cut Raphael's words off and remembered what Raphael had said when he mentioned Rakiel's name. "What did you mean when you said that 'the seal has been broken'?"

Raphael's eyes shook. There was hesitation in his eyes, as if he were wondering if it was something he should be telling them.

Kang-Woo opened his mouth.

"We are all already in the same boat. I know that you do not fully trust us yet, but if you keep hiding information, we will not be able to battle a great evil."

"Urgh."

It was exactly as Kang-Woo had said.

Raphael sighed.

"After successfully killing the Demon God, Lady Seraph sealed all of the Constellations of Evil by sacrificing her own Divinity."

"Then if Rakiel appeared, that means…"

"That the seal has been broken."

"No way!"

Kang-Woo pretended to be surprised. Although he was making a serious expression, he was cheering his heart out while clenching both fists in his mind.

'Sheesh, I was worried for nothing.'

Raphael likely did not know this, but Rakiel's seal hadn't been broken yet. After all, the one who had appeared in the last incident was Kang-Woo, not the real Rakiel. Meaning, it was perfectly fine for him to use Rakiel's name however he wanted, as long as he stayed sealed.

'I thought my coin plummeted as soon as I had made it.'

It would be really bad for him if the real Rakiel appeared when Kang-Woo was impersonating him, just like what had happened with Satan.

He nodded in relief.

'I guess we're in the clear for n—'

"Kuh. It ended up turning out as Lord Michael had feared…"

'Hm?'

"What… do you mean? He had feared that this would happen?"

"Haaa. Correct. There have been signs."

"Signs?"

Raphael nodded. "Lady Seraph's power had been severely weakening since a few years ago. We had partially expected… for the seal to be broken."

"… I see…"

"But still, for it to have happened so soon… How could Lady Seraph's power have vanished so easily?"

Kang-Woo nodded. He was acting calm with all his might on the outside, but his mind was in chaos.

'What the actual fuck?'

It was absolutely unreal. He thought that he'd finally be able to relax, but… Rakiel's seal was on the verge of breaking? Kang-Woo was going out of his mind due to the borderline-forced plot progression.

'Could it just be a coincidence?'

Kang-Woo shook his head. There was no way that it could possibly be.

'Wait.'

Kang-Woo's eyes widened; something had crossed his mind.

"When exactly… did that seal begin significantly weakening?"

"Three years ago."

"…"

Kang-Woo lowered his head.

Three years ago was when the Demon Cult suddenly became more active, when demonic beasts began to appear within Gates, and when the Earth became vulnerable to otherworldly threats due to the Gaia System's impairment.

And…

'Again?'

Kang-Woo grabbed his head.

'It's me again?'

… Three years ago was when a certain human had returned to Earth after ten millennia.