After Ten Millennia in Hell

An explosion rang out right after Satan finished speaking.

Raphael frowned and asked, "What happened?"

"W-We are being attacked!"

"Is it Satan's retainers?"

The Watcher of Light nodded.

Some of Satan's retainers, who had been surrounding the fortress, finally made their appearance.

Rumble!

"Ah! A-Already?!"

Magic poured in from all over.

The angels' base was the size of a fortress, but the construction was still in progress. So, it did not have the defensive capabilities to block the barrage of magic attacks.

A huge crack appeared on the ceiling, and white stones fell.

Raphael quickly raised his sacred spear, emitting light that deflected all of the rocks. However…

"Ah…"

One of the fragments, which was the size of an adult human, was deflected toward one of Raphael's subordinates. The priestess trembled in fear as the fragment flew at her at blinding speed.

Raphael reached for her.

Crack!

"Please be careful."

However, before Raphael could do anything, a young man with a piercing gaze and a golden sword pulled the priestess backward into safety. It was Oh Kang-Woo.

The stone fragment shattered over the floor.

The priestess hesitated for a moment before bowing and saying, "Th-Thank you… very much."

Kang-Woo walked past her and looked at Kim Si-Hun.

"Yes, hyung-nim," Si-Hun said.

He immediately raised his holy sword as if he knew what Kang-Woo intended to say.

Without a word more, the two of them quickly ran outside.

"Kuh! When did they prepare such forces…?!"

"Change the golem to battle mode!!"

Outside the fortress, Kang-Woo and Si-Hun saw the Watchers of Light and angels busily preparing for battle.

"This is an order from the Aspect of Evil!"

"Wipe them out!"

Demons and Demon Cultists had surrounded the angels' base, which was being destroyed by a barrage of magic. These were the forces that Satan had dispatched to find the demon king's clone.

"They've finally shown their true colors," Kang-Woo remarked while raising Del Lain.

"I will take the left side, hyung-nim," Si-Hun said.

Kang-Woo nodded.

As if they'd decided on it beforehand, Si-Hun and Kang-Woo each went to opposite sides.

'Let's see…'

Kang-Woo stomped on the ground and scanned the demons surrounding the base.

He clicked his tongue.

'Tsk, they're not even worth devouring.'

The team had obviously been formed at a moment's notice since the strongest demons that he could see were from the Fifth and Sixth Hells.

'They must've been in a hurry.'

There was no way that this was the Demon Cult's elite force. Satan had likely thought that he needed to stop the fake Satan before he did anything crazier.

'I mean, that was all I prepared, though.'

Kang-Woo turned his head.

The footage in the Mirror of Darkness had ended once Julia Vilkova died. Everything had gone as Kang-Woo had expected—no, it was better.

'I honestly didn't think it'd go this well.'

Kang-Woo wouldn't have even bothered showing up if he knew it would go so well. He had only appeared so that he could take care of the situation if Raphael reacted unexpectedly.

'I guess it wasn't necessary.'

Pre-recording the video as if they were talking hadn't been hard for him to do. After all, a conversation was all about flow.

Take for example a scenario in which a third party was listening in on a conversation between two people. However, the third party could only hear one of the two people, like listening to a friend speaking to someone over the phone. Nevertheless, the third party was more or less able to guess the subject and flow of the entire conversation just from hearing one side of it.

'Assuming the conversation is purely an exchange, that is.'

If that was the case, Kang-Woo just needed to use sentences that forced such an exchange. The problem had been with timing, but fortunately, it had not veered too far off from what Kang-Woo had expected from Raphael.

'The situation improved thanks to that.'

He had made it clear to Raphael that Oh Kang-Woo and Satan were two separate beings through this incident. He'd created a perfect alibi, just like when he'd attacked Guardians' secret vault.

With this, Raphael wouldn't even consider the possibility that Kang-Woo was Satan. The possibility itself had vanished from Raphael's mind, which was the best possible way to get Raphael to trust him.

"Nice."

A wicked smile appeared on Kang-Woo's face.

He walked forward as demons surrounded him, and he lightly swung his sword.

Slash!

"Kurgh!"

He cut the demons, and black blood spewed from their wounds.

"Execute the intruders!"

"Wipe out Satan's subordinates!"

Angels soon joined the battle.

Raphael was leading the charge. He swept away the demons like a raging bull with his immense, glowing spear.

Kang-Woo glanced at Raphael while casually killing some demons.

'He's strong.'

Breathtaking sacred power was pouring from Raphael as he swung his sacred spear. Comparing Ludwig's sacred power to Raphael's was like comparing a firefly to the sun.

'I guess they really have been accumulating their strength during the thousand years of war in Hell.'

Kang-Woo remembered what Lucifer's retainer had told him before. During the thousand-year war that had made the Nine Hells into a vortex of chaos, the angels had been silently amassing their strength.

'If he's that strong…'

A faint smile appeared on Kang-Woo's face.

'He should be more than capable of nullifying unexpected variables.'

Kang-Woo would have been troubled if such a powerful being were his enemy. Nonetheless, at this moment in time, angels were not his enemies. They were comrades as well as allies that would help him and Guardians fight and kill Satan, the Demon of Prophecy.

'It's too bad I'll have to give up on getting the sacred power, though.'

If Kang-Woo started collaborating with angels, he would have trouble accumulating sacred power.

Of course, he was able to use the Authority of Predation so that no one could see him do it. He could just make it seem like they had turned into dust and disappeared.

'But it's too dangerous.'

In any case, Kang-Woo couldn't do that in front of Raphael. He wasn't sure how strong Raphael was at the moment, but he didn't think such a trick would fool Raphael.

'I wonder who would win if we fought one-on-one.'

Kang-Woo had no idea. After all, he wasn't some martial arts master who could figure out the result of a battle without even fighting. All he knew was that it would not be an easy battle.

Crack.

"Kurgh! K-Kaarghh."

While Kang-Woo was facing a demon charging toward him, he suddenly heard something break. Then he saw a demon with four eyes, each one the size of a basketball, squirming in pain.

"Hm?" Kang-Woo murmured, tilting his head puzzledly.

He hadn't done anything to that demon yet.

"GRRR!!"

The demon let out a beast-like growl and exuded chilling demonic.

Kang-Woo's eyes narrowed. The demonic energy felt familiar.

'He must be Satan's Familiar.'

He smirked.

[You… bastaaaaaaaard!!]

The demon's voice changed as it let out a scream of rage.

A mere demon from the Sixth Hell charged toward him at a surprisingly incredible speed.

'But…'

In the end, the demon was nothing but a Familiar. Satan had great power, but he couldn't be of any threat to Kang-Woo by controlling a Familiar from a long distance.

Crack.

Kang-Woo extended his hand and grabbed the demon's neck. The demon's four eyes had a mad look as they gazed at Kang-Woo.

[How… How dare you!]

"Satan," Kang-Woo smiled brightly. "Do you feel the madness?"

[…]

"Do you feel your reason flying away from the rage? Is your head getting hot? Is your vision blurring? Is your heart beating faster?"

[You son of a—]

"Ha, HAHAHAHAHAHA!!" Kang-Woo laughed and twisted the neck of the demon that Satan was possessing.

"Do not forget that feeling, Satan," he said to the Prince of Wrath. "That is wrath."

[Raaaaaahhhhh!!] Satan let out an enraged scream. [I will kill you, demon king. I'll rip you into little pieces, killing you as horribly as possible!!]

"Give me your best shot."

'After all…'

"You can't beat me. You know… don't you?" Kang-Woo laughed. "Who I am?"

Crack.

Black blood poured out as Kang-Woo wrung the demon's neck like he would with a chicken's neck.

Then he turned his head and saw Si-Hun swinging the holy sword and Raphael massacring the demons. Watchers of Light and angels were supporting him.

The battle did not last long. The Demon Cult's forces had been nothing but an impromptu unit, so it had not even been a challenge to destroy them.

'Right, then.'

Kang-Woo began walking slowly.

After cleaning the blood off the holy sword, Si-Hun came running toward Kang-Woo and stuck right behind him.

'Are you a dog?'

Si-Hun was looking at him with sparkling eyes. Kang-Woo couldn't help but laugh at how trusting Si-Hun's eyes looked.

Then Kang-Woo turned back toward the front and walked toward his destination.

"…"

He saw Raphael standing blankly while holding his glowing spear.

"Ludwig was… a good person," Kang-Woo expressed.

"…"

"We are sorry for not being able to protect him," Kang-Woo apologized with a bow.

Raphael slowly turned his head toward Kang-Woo and said, "Ludwig is still in pain."

"…"

"Even after death, he wasn't able to go to Heaven. Both his soul and body have been corrupted and have fallen into the pit of despair."

Kang-Woo could see the sadness in Raphael's eyes.

"I will be honest." Raphael looked at Si-Hun and Kang-Woo. "I do not see Guardians in a good light. I regretted many times that I agreed to help Lord Uranus."

There was no way Raphael would see them in a good light since they had failed to do anything to stop Ludwig from experiencing such great suffering.

"But…"

Raphael trembled. Immense energy poured from him and devoured his surroundings.

"If it is for the sake of eradicating demons…"

The Demon of Prophecy, Satan…

If he could kill that cruel and evil demon…

"I will do whatever it takes."

He could endure the death of his beloved apostle.

Raphael walked toward Kang-Woo and Si-Hun. He looked at Kang-Woo, who had stepped up to save one of his apostles during the sudden attack.

Then he looked at Si-Hun, who had managed to inherit the holy sword, which had accepted no one but Ludwig. Raphael could instinctively tell that Si-Hun had been truly enraged by Ludwig's death.

"Can I ask you…" Raphael extended his hands. "...To lend me your strengths?"

There was a short silence.

Kang-Woo took a step forward and grabbed Raphael's hand.

"Of course."

Raphael and Kang-Woo… Angels and Guardians… Two lights joined as one.

An intensely bright light shone like it was burning, and although it was night, a brilliant radiance illuminated the vast wilderness.